Nirvana Top Laner, Reborn Tokyo Girl

Chapter 135, Section 132: Shimamura vs. Zeus, did you know?

[Sigh, I guess Shimamura genuinely wants TES to make it to the finals. After all, HLE is a team they really don't know how to beat, but it seems like they could easily beat TES.]

[Shimamura's true feelings are clear to everyone.]

[This feels a bit forced, Shimamura-san]

To most people, Shimamura's statement at this moment can only be described as a publicity stunt.

At this point, it has little to do with what she herself actually wants.

Because everyone will naturally have their own understanding.

When a team plays poorly, it's natural to feel like the whole world is against them.

To denigrate him is to kick him when he's down, to praise him is to be sarcastic. Even if you say nothing, people will think you're avoiding trash.

When everyone dislikes a team, public opinion will naturally amplify all factors that are detrimental to that team.

That's exactly the situation TES is in right now.

The air is filled with joy.

Finally, the reporter asked, "So, Shimamura, what are your thoughts on the upcoming finals? What are your chances of winning? Are you confident you can make history for the LCP, a relatively new region?"

After thinking for a moment, Shimamura replied, "I want to try my best to win the championship, and I will do my best no matter who my opponent is."

"Although getting here so easily has exceeded my initial expectations, and I feel it's already better than I anticipated, well, as expected..."

"Even though it's come down to the final step, I still feel like I want to take that step. So..."

"I will work hard."

Yuna Shimamura's answer was very ordinary and very conventional.

However, anyone could see a strong, burning fighting spirit in her eyes.

You could sense a longing for victory in her tone.

The desire for championships, the desire to shine, the desire to be the only one under the spotlight—this is something etched into Yuna Shimamura's very being.

At this moment, this emotion, through the internet, through the screens of mobile phones and computers, has been accurately conveyed to the ears of the audience.

Everyone could sense one thing: she really wanted to win.

And everyone was willing to believe that she could win.

Even if not today, even if not now.

But one day, she will stand where she truly wants to be.

She will become position zero.

Despite Shimamura Yuna saying: "I hope TES can win."

Although Shimamura Yuna has already wished TES well.

But her blessing was clearly useless, or rather, in the face of hard power, such intangible things are worthless.

HLE is undoubtedly the strongest team in this competition, with a huge gap between them and a top-tier team like TES.

Just like many viewers have said.

TES's entry into the semifinals is the biggest disappointment of this tournament.

Originally, it would have been incredibly hilarious if the LPL had been eliminated in fifth place in the group stage, becoming the last place in the entire region.

As a result, they surprisingly won against TL and ended up securing fourth place.

In terms of sheer magnitude, this is far less satisfying and exhilarating than finishing fifth in the group stage.

However, to put it another way...

If TES really changes their previous sluggish performance after making it into the semifinals, and starts to work hard and reverse the situation all the way, then...

First take down HLE, then get revenge on the CFO—that's certainly a good job, a truly inspiring story.

If this can be achieved, then all the previous setbacks can be considered as preparation.

Advancing to the group stage based on head-to-head results and points can also be seen as a beautiful story of fate.

However, none of this happened.

TES's performance did not exceed anyone's expectations.

Indeed, they made it to the semifinals just like everyone else, and then got kicked out just like everyone else, making a disgrace.

Without a reversal, this semi-final will be a truly terrible, utterly disastrous endeavor.

In these three games, TES, whose mentality had already collapsed, displayed an even worse level of performance than before.

It was already a spinning top that was struggling and unable to fight back.

Now it's more like a spinning top that's been whipped until it looks like a pure maggot.

The only highlight of this game was probably 369.

To everyone's surprise, 369, who has always been controversial in various teams and in every world championship, became the best performer in this TES World Championship.

However, this only fueled the audience's anger.

No, even the person who always loved spinning like a top isn't spinning anymore. What are the rest of TES doing?

What are some of those so-called champions who are paid the highest salaries but do nothing?

And just like that, the public opinion atmosphere completely exploded.

We really have to thank TES. They've brought LPL back from S15 to S5. And they seem to get younger and younger as they play, just like the teams I used to watch back in the day.

[Does 369 miss those two cautious and skillful carries from 23?]

[The crocodile is no longer getting pushed out of lane by Aatrox, and he's no longer roaming around in team fights, but the mid and bot lanes are no longer dominated by Knight and Ruler.]

To be honest, no one can save TES from this state.

[It's ironic. At the beginning of the season, everyone was saying that Yuna was incapable of playing professionally and was just relying on hype, but she's already won second place and might even be a contender for the championship. Meanwhile, some players who earned high salaries by winning championships are now relying on sheer luck to even reach the semifinals.]

[TES has truly made a disgraceful spectacle; they are undoubtedly the fourth-best region in the league.]

[Disgusting to watch]

From now on, I'll only watch Shimamura's matches; I don't want to watch LPL anymore. Every time I watch her, I'm disappointed. I'd rather watch Shimamura make history as a female player.

It's fair to say that TES's reputation completely collapsed starting from this match.

With such a subpar performance at the World Championship, unless TES wins the World Championship to wash away their shame, they can be said to never be able to salvage their reputation.

However, for many LPL supporters, this World Championship is not over yet.

because
"The CFO hasn't lost yet."

Yes, the CFO hasn't lost yet.

Although TES has been eliminated, the appearance of Yuna Shimamura has given LPL viewers around the world a little extra expectation for the competition.

At least Shimamura got the runner-up title, and she might even win the championship, right?
Although statistically speaking, it seems really low, or even almost impossible.

But as long as there is even the slightest possibility, everyone will look forward to it.

HLE wasn't exactly a very popular team internationally within the LCK.

It could even be said that due to Zeus's departure from T1, a large portion of Faker's fans overseas harbored hatred towards him.

HLE's popularity has been affected as a result.

T1 fans who hate Zeus
Ordinary passersby who have a crush on the female contestant.
The LPL fans who are looking forward to receiving this message
And LCP's local fans.

From that moment on, it can be said that Yuna Shimamura truly garnered the world's expectations.

If there were a poll to gauge approval ratings at this point, we could roughly see that the CFO's approval rating would be 91/10. And of that 90% approval rating, 99% would likely come from Yuna Shimamura.

This is the kind of star that Riot Games wants.

For Riot Games, tomorrow's match is more than just a game.

This is a ritual of becoming a god.

A rising star in the esports world, belonging to LOL, to Riot, and to the global esports scene, is emerging.

RIOT is looking forward to it.
This was the moment that made Yuna Shimamura famous.

After the match that day, HLE's Zeus player was interviewed by reporters.

As expected, the reporter asked him questions about Shimamura Yuna.

The question is this: "What are your thoughts on Shimamura, the player you will be facing in the final battle?"

Zeus simply replied, "She is an opponent I must give my all to. HLE has also been preparing well for the match against the CFO, so... well, I hope I can perform well then."

Although his answer was brief, his tone was very serious.

Having prepared for the battle against the CFO long ago, it means that HLE basically knew that their final opponent would be the CFO as soon as the elimination round list was released.

The value of these words is truly substantial.

How will this female player, who even LCK teams take seriously, perform in the match?
The whole world is watching closely.

On the eve of the final, Shimamura Yuna, as usual, checked the online comments.

The rhythm of "starting a game" is still there, but the malice is not great, and a large part of it has been deconstructed into jokes.

My stable performance in the game today made everyone feel that whether or not I played against Kujo was not important.

Moreover, the fact that the person involved in the rumored affair is a woman makes people more forgiving of the matter.

As expected, more attention shifted to the competition and the anticipation of tomorrow.

What do you think the odds are on Shimamura's side against Zeus?

To be honest, I feel that Shimamura has a slight chance against Zeus, but overall, I don't think she has a very high chance.

Based on the group stage, it feels like a 10-0 split, with Shimamura at 0. The main issue is that the CFO's tactics are completely ineffective against HLE.

[Not necessarily. I noticed that CFO changed his playstyle in today's game, and Shimamura was also playing the Wolf Mother. I feel like there's something special about Shimamura's Wolf Mother strategy.]

[There's a point to this: when she plays the Wolf Mother, she's basically a dead person, leveling up all by herself, only good for bullying weaker opponents.]

She's basically a lower-tier version of TheShy, even more selfish, and she played terribly in the third game yesterday, relying entirely on her teammates to carry her.

[Winning one game is already a good achievement, don't overthink it. HLE's strength in this World Championship is just a gap in quality.]

The prevailing opinion online right now is that the CFO is absolutely no match for HLE; there's no question about it.

On the one hand, everyone agrees that the CFO is definitely better than TES.

However, it is also believed that for HLE, whether the CFO or TES is the opponent makes no fundamental difference in the outcome.

Perhaps the CFO can struggle a bit more than TES.

However, winning even one game would be good enough.

That's it.

Moreover, Shimamura Yuna's performance in the third game yesterday was actually quite controversial.

In that game, Shimamura Yuna visibly died many times.

Although the gap in skill level was so large that her two sudden deaths didn't affect anything, her teammates were still able to carry her to victory.

This also reminds people of previous internal information from the CFO that Shimamura Yuna was unable to maintain her form in high-intensity matches due to health issues.

Previously, because it was all BO3, it wasn't very noticeable.

But in today's game, everyone really saw through it.

The first two games were fine, but in the second half of the third game, his reaction speed and concentration started to plummet.

How can anyone trust this?

It's not just the audience.

Even Shimamura Yuna herself felt that the chances of defeating Zeus were slim.

It should be said that before the start of this competition, she never imagined that she and Zeus would be playing a best-of-five series in the finals.

It feels like this is a bit too far removed from my own life.

But now it's right before our eyes.

Reason tells her that the chances of winning the championship are slim, and that the tournament format and luck have played a part in getting this far.

However, emotionally, she felt that if she didn't seize the opportunity tomorrow, she would regret it for a long time.

Before the match, Mingming thought that it would be good enough if he could play well.

But when you actually have a chance to win the championship, you feel that if you don't win, you will feel very bad, and you will feel that you have missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Feeling this way, she lay in bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

Feeling conflicted and anxious.
tension.

Anxious about gains and losses.

Her small body kept tossing and turning on the hotel bed.

At that moment, she suddenly remembered something that Akari Kujo had said to her after the match earlier that day.

Don't worry too much about the outcome; you've already given it your all this way.

So, now just enjoy the game. You were the underdogs to begin with, so winning is great, and losing is natural too. With that mindset, you might actually play better than if you're too focused on the outcome.

The outcome may be limited by your abilities, but having a freer and more relaxed mindset can help you get closer to the limits of your abilities.

In short, it boils down to one sentence.

Do your best, listen to destiny.

Yes
Do your best, listen to destiny.

The more anxious you are now, the worse the outcome might be tomorrow.

The more you agonize over things now, the less likely you are to get the result you want tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Shimamura Yuna took two deep breaths and lay down.

Then, she kept chanting mantras to fall asleep.

"I am Zeus. I am TheShy. I am Nuguri. I am GimGoon."

"I'm."

As she kept reciting, Shimamura Yuna finally managed to fall asleep herself.

And time, in this unobserved state, began to pass rapidly.
-
The next morning came.

With TES officially eliminated and sent home, the climax of this Pioneer Tournament is finally about to begin.

Zeus, the newly crowned strongest player of the modern era, who just won his second world championship.
The opponent is the world's first female player to enter the World Championship, who has just made a name for herself and is likely to be the world's strongest top laner in the future.

The top lane matchup was undoubtedly the most anticipated part of today's game.

A famous blogger even made a video about it.

"SHIMAMURA vs. Zeus, do you know that?"

(End of this chapter)