Cricket System:Second Chance For Raj
Chapter 75: SPARKS IN PUBLIC

Chapter 75: SPARKS IN PUBLIC

The silence of the Red Room hadn’t fully faded when Raj returned to the main camp dorms. The path he walked was the same gravel trail as always, but his steps felt weighted differently now. No alerts pinged. No cameras followed. Yet he knew — something had shifted. Something had seen him.

What waited at the other end wasn’t solitude. It was noise.Voices.Flashes.

A tension in the air that didn’t belong to training. It belonged to outside.

As Raj passed the final row of smart-hedges near the squad cluster zone, he saw them — a crowd gathered along the campus press zone boundary. Coaches, scouts, junior players, and a few too many people holding cameras. Beyond them stood his squad, boxed in like a strange exhibit.

Harish was arguing with a man in a black cap holding a mic. Zoya stood stiff, arms crossed. Veer, ever still, looked like he was waiting for a storm to either pass or swallow him. Pranay’s fingers were curled, and Uday had his head low, gaze scanning like a radar for something they hadn’t been warned about.

Raj stepped in.He didn’t ask.Didn’t announce.Just placed a single hand on Zoya’s shoulder as he passed and said, "What happened?"

She didn’t flinch.

"Media drill," she replied. "They said it was randomized."

Harish scoffed from the side. "Random, my foot. Only we got pulled out for it. Specter Eleven walked by untouched."

Raj turned toward the camera crew. Their leader, a tall woman with a branded polo and mirrored lenses, raised a single brow.

"Ah. The quiet one arrives," she said. "We were beginning to think you weren’t real."

Raj didn’t respond.He didn’t need to.

The system chimed softly in his ear.

⟐ SYSTEM UPDATE ⟐

▸National Exposure Trial: Phase Triggered

▸Format: Media Stress Simulation

▸Visibility Mode: Public Relay

▸Objective: Observe Candidate Composure + Public Influence

▸Score Impact: Moderate

▸Risk Flag: Misrepresentation Event (Active)

This wasn’t a test of skills. This was a test of narrative control.

The real field was now perception and they had been thrown into it without preparation.

Uday walked beside Raj and murmured, "They want us to break under the light. Say something dumb. Look unsure. They’re looking for cracks."

"Then we don’t give them any," Raj replied. "We show them thread."

The woman with mirrored glasses spoke again.

"Alright, squad FZ-042," she said, glancing at her tablet, "you’re the current attention point. Unexpected win in the Silent Scrim. No clear star. No celebrity mentor. No academy tie-ins. That makes people curious."

She waved a finger, gesturing for the cameras to roll.

"Tell us why you’re here," she asked. "Tell us what makes your squad special."

Harish stepped forward. "We’re not special," he said, voice flat. "We’re stitched."

"Stitched?" the woman asked. "That sounds vague."

Zoya answered without looking at her. "That’s because you’re listening for sound. But we built our rhythm in silence."

The reporters stirred.Raj remained calm. This wasn’t going to be a clean encounter. But it could be a defining one.

The woman stepped closer to Raj.

"You don’t talk much. That’s the reputation. And yet here you are, leading a team no one expected to pass Day One. How does it feel to surprise people?"

He tilted his head slightly.

"It’s not about surprise," he said.

"It’s about staying stitched when others try to pull you apart."

Her eyebrows lifted for a split second.That was enough.

The system responded quietly in his interface.

⟐ SYSTEM RECOGNITION ⟐

▸Public Presence Impact: Thread Surge +4.1%

▸Interview Drift: Controlled

▸Media Pull Score: 91.8

▸Trait Activation: Whispered Flame (Active)

Someone in the media circle whispered to a nearby producer.

"Who gave this squad a script?"

The producer answered, "No one. That’s the point."

More questions followed.Each player was targeted.

-Harish was asked about his lack of consistency history.

-Zoya was grilled about emotional responses in match footage.

-Veer was ignored until he spoke — and then made everyone go quiet when he explained pressure using only five words.

And Pranay?

He was asked why no one picked him earlier.

He looked straight into the lens and said, "Because they didn’t need saving. We did."

The silence that followed wasn’t scripted.It was earned.

Raj gave no rallying speech. No big quote. But by the time the reporters were dismissed, something subtle had been sewn across the room.

The crowd hadn’t just met a squad.They had met a presence and it didn’t come from the screen.It came from the threads between the voices that refused to be pulled apart.

⟐ SYSTEM RECORD ⟐

▸Public Scrutiny Phase Complete

▸Cohort FZ-042

▸Vocal Stability: 93.2

▸Composure Sync: Verified

▸Public Response Curve: Positive

▸Next Trigger: Invitation Match Scrim (Live Broadcast)

Raj stood by the field’s edge long after the cameras left.Not because he was thinking about the exposure.But because he had a feeling that this wasn’t the last time their silence would be dragged into light.

And next time?

It wouldn’t be questions they’d face.It would be rivals.

By midday, the silence returned—but not for long.Raj and the rest of the Stitched Flame cohort barely had time to sit when the system pulsed again. No warning. No pre-match notice.

Just a countdown.Right there on their wristbands.

3:00:00....2:59:59.....

Zoya glanced down.

"Is this... a live match alert?"

Raj’s display confirmed it.The flame crest was lit in gold and beneath it, a line appeared:

"Your next match is public.You don’t play to stay.You play to be remembered."

The campus announcement system, normally silent, echoed a rare broadcast:

"All squads report to Dome Arena 4.

Invitation Match Scrim begins at 1500 hours.Live Relay Activated. Draft Eyes Open."

That line.Draft Eyes Open.It meant the scouts weren’t just watching.They were deciding.

Harish looked up from tying his shoes. "They’re putting us in front of sponsors already? We haven’t even played Tier 2 trials."

"They want to test who breaks first," Uday muttered. "Who pretends to be a star under lights they weren’t born into."

"No," Raj said, rising slowly. "They want to see who stops stitching."

The group moved like one now. No shouting. No backtalk. They followed, because they remembered what it meant to walk in as the uninvited. And now, they were being shown off not because they were ready.

But because the system wanted to see if they truly belonged.

Inside Dome Arena 4, the walls curved into white flame-like ridges.Cameras hung in silence like waiting crows.No commentary desk.No crowd.

Only watchers — scouts, analysts, flameboard observers who all seated behind tinted glass.

A digital panel updated:

Invitation Scrim:

▸Squad FZ-042 vs Squad Viper Trace

▸Match Type: Target Defense

▸Overs: 12

▸Visibility: Full Broadcast

A system window slid open inside Raj’s interface.

⟐ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⟐

▸ Match Format: Invitation Scrim

▸ Challenge: Defend Target Score

▸ Visibility: National Feed + Sponsor Access

▸ Team Status: Trial Leader

▸ Captaincy Pressure Mode: Elevated

▸ Reward Pool: Cohort Flame Marking + Elite Camp Access Point

"Target defense," Veer murmured. "That means we bat first."

"Low total or not, it’s about holding it," Pranay added.

Zoya rotated her shoulder once. "Then we start like we always do. Quiet."

They padded up without the need for orders.

Uday stepped out first.Harish followed.Raj kept the order same.Because this wasn’t about tricks.This was about proof of thread under spotlight.

The innings began.

First over — dot. dot. two. dot. single. dot.

No boundaries.

But no nerves.Harish stayed patient.

Uday placed two more singles in the second.

By over four, only 24 runs were on board.

But not a single false shot had been attempted.Inside the broadcast studio, one analyst whispered:

"They’re not playing to impress."

"No," another replied. "They’re playing to belong."

By over six, they reached 41.

Then Uday fell — edged trying to glance a slower one.

Harish followed two balls later — mistimed sweep.

Silence.No collapse.Veer stepped in and batted like a page from an unwritten book.

Singles.

Dot.

Double.

Back-foot glide for one.

He didn’t light the field.He lit the timeline and in a game where every move was being scored for flame worth, that mattered.

By the end of 12 overs, the score stood:

FZ-042: 83/4

Modest.Forgettable, some might say.But not to the ones watching deeper.Because they saw something most missed:

The players never chased.They stitched.

⟐ SYSTEM UPDATE ⟐

▸ Phase One Complete

▸ Final Target Set: 84

▸ Defensive Readiness: 87.3%

▸ Squad Sync: High

▸ Commentator Tag: "Thread Discipline"

▸ Bonus Trait Trigger Opportunity Active

Raj stood just behind the line as the bowlers took positions.He didn’t look at the fielders.

He looked at the glass.

Because behind it, scouts weren’t watching the score.They were watching who cracked first under broadcast and Raj had no plans of cracking.

Because the pressure wasn’t heat.It was thread and he had spent a lifetime learning how to stitch in fire.

TO BE CONTINUED.....

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