Chapter 117: Morning Before the Game
"God, it’s freezing," Sheva muttered, rubbing his arms as he looked around at the gray sky. It was pretty early in the next morning, and Sheva had already found himself shivering under the cool wind outside. His teeth chattered a little, and he cursed himself for not packing better. "I swear, whoever made that TikTok about Iceland is not full of ice needs to be slapped on their face." He clenched his fist inside the jacket’s pocket, trying to keep it warm.
Next to the boy, Bagas shivered, pulling his hoodie tighter around his neck. "Yeah, no kidding. This is insane. I thought Iceland was supposed to be cool, not freezing stupid cold. I swear, I saw on my phone earlier that the temperature will be around 7! Fuck! 7! What is this, a Cristiano’s day?! Who the hell has the good idea to make a living here?!" He ranted nonstop.
It was clear that Bagas was not having a great day here. Fortunately, there were not a lot of people around them right now, and they talked in Indonesian, so those two didn’t have to worry about offending someone else in this foreign land.
Still, this temperature was indeed beyond their expectation. Even though they had already thought about this and prepared a lot of thick jackets for one week, the two teenagers still felt that those were not enough to handle the weather here. As someone who spent their entire life in a tropical country, Bagas and Sheva really overestimated their cold resistance, and now they were suffering from it.
"Man, fortunately, it is April already. Imagine we are still in December or early January, we would definitely be frozen to death, right?" Bagas mumbled under his breath.
Sheva shivered at that image, not wanting to know that. Yeah, even though the temperature was still quite cold, he heard that this was far warmer than during the winter season. Someone told him on the plane yesterday that the temperature could reach –1 °C in January, which was below the freezing point of water. He shuddered at that thought, not knowing how the Icelanders could survive in such harsh conditions.
"Hey, you two are good already?" A voice greeted them from behind, and when they turned around, those two teenagers could see Master Irene waving at them with a little smile. She also wore the same attire, thick and covering her full body. However, unlike both Sheva and Bagas, she seemed to adapt quite well to this weather. "Claudia is still busy with her clothes, so be a little bit patient, okay? Oh, also, here. Use this, it will help you a lot later." She handed two little sticks to the boys.
"What is this?" Sheva asked confusedly.
"That is a lip balm, not a lipstick, so don’t worry about it. Make sure you wear it or the cold will torture your lips, okay?" Irene said.
Both Sheva and Bagas stared at each other for a moment hesitantly. After all, the lip product was often associated with female makeup, and it was a bit embarrassing for them to use it. However, if what she said was right—and they trusted her in this case—not wearing this product would only make them suffer later, and honestly, they didn’t want to challenge that. So, in the end, they gritted their teeth and went back to their room first to apply it quickly before going back to the lobby, where both Irene and Claudia were already waiting for them.
Yeah, just in a minute after the boys went back to their room, Claudia was done with her preparation. She wore a thick blue sweater and a long skirt, with a comfy shawl covering her neck. Just like Sheva and Bagas, though, she was also affected by the cold here.
"Good, since we are all here already, let’s start our day with breakfast first. Unfortunately, there is no Asian restaurant here, so just accept whatever the hotel provides, okay?" Irene said.
Sheva somehow had a bad feeling here, not knowing what kind of food the Icelandic people enjoyed for breakfast. He read a lot that people from Europe always liked their food to be bland, and honestly, while he was up for an adventure to try the local custom, the boy didn’t feel like he wanted to do it right now, especially not before the first game of the tournament.
Fortunately, while there were a few strange foods on the table, he also found warm pastries like croissants or cinnamon buns, and while it wasn’t rice, Sheva wouldn’t complain about it. Also, two pieces of Croissant and a hot coffee were really good combos to help him activate his brain.
"So, who is your first opponent?" Bagas asked, having not checked the tournament website first.
"An International Master from England. The name is Brandon Clarke." Sheva answered casually. Still, the boy couldn’t even hide his excitement as the smile spread on his face. "What about you two, Ia? Sister Irene?" He asked the two female members of the group.
"A local International Master, Vignir Vatnar Steffanson," Claudia answered shortly. "This is going to be my first time playing against a real grandmaster in an official match, so I am gassed here." She also had a similar smile on her face.
"Just contain your energy and manage it properly, okay? It wouldn’t be funny if you somehow got exhausted before the game is over." Master Irene advised. "As for me, I am going to play a lower-seeded player from Switzerland. I forgot his name, but his rating is around 2055." She shrugged nonchalantly.
Sheva was deadpanned when he heard that, feeling that it was quite irresponsible for Master Irene to forget about her opponent’s name. Still, with the opponent being more than 300 points lower than her, the woman had the capital to be arrogant. Hopefully, that wouldn’t come back and bite her ass in the future.
"So, basically, we both have already known our first opponent, right?" Sheva asked for confirmation. At the simultaneous nods from the other, the boy grinned widely and said, "Well, then, I only have one last message here. Don’t embarrass yourself, okay?"