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Coming back to the hotel, Fang Rui and Zhang Jiale were chatting happily while Sun Xiang was quietly following. They waved off the others that were on a different floor.
It was a bit strange that the organizers had separated their hotel rooms from each other but they couldn’t exactly complain since understandably it took a lot of coordination to organize a World Championship Glory event.
Sun Xiang had been rooming with Zhang Jiale. A few others had made dinner reservations for later that night, of which everyone else elected to go back to their rooms to get changed. Though Zhang Xinjie had headed straight to the restaurant to make sure their reservation was in order after the match as he brought a change of clothing with him, and so that left Sun Xiang, Fang Rui, and Zhang Jiale to head back to their rooms on the 5th floor.
Overall their current moods were quite pleasant, having won a set of matches against Team France in their bracket. Their next match up was against Team Japan.
“Phew. That match was tough, their sharpshooter kept guarding their berserker’s back. Couldn’t get my grenades in close enough range.” Zhang Jiale lamented.
“I think if you had side stepped over by the trees you probably could have avoided getting targeted.” Fang Rui commented. Zhang Jiale nods in agreement.
“Yeah, I see that now. At the time I thought their shots were coming from the left, near the spring mountains. Didn’t expect them to have used the knockback from Su Mucheng’s [Anti-tank Missile] to reposition themselves.”
Fang Rui put his arm around the Spitfire. “It’s ok. Everyone makes mistakes, some just more than others.”
Zhang Jiale was about to thank him but then Fang Rui interjected with a cheeky “But if it were me I wouldn’t have missed,” and a thumb pointing to himself smugly.
“Ugh. You. Just when I thought you were being nice.” He chased him down the hallway.
Sun Xiang followed behind at a leisurely pace, watching Zhang Jiale and Fang Rui disappear around a corner towards Fang Rui’s room. He keyed open his own that was across from the one they disappeared into. At the start, room assignments were assigned randomly, and thus Sun Xiang shared one with Zhang Jiale.
Sun Xiang actually didn’t mind rooming with Zhang Jiale, as he was rather friendly and it was fun hearing him lamenting over things.
He threw his jacket onto his bed and flipped through his suitcase. He picked out some clothes to change into and laid them out.
Sun Xiang sighed, though Zürich wasn’t exceedingly hot during the summer months, the inside of the stadium could not be said the same. Just the sheer amount of people present and the tense atmosphere during the solo and group matches raised the temperature to a sweat. The present heatwave roaming through the region certainly did not help. He couldn’t be more eager to take a long shower, washing away all that grime and stickiness.
Though as soon as he stepped into the shower he remembered that he had forgotten to pack his shampoo and hadn’t picked up a bottle in a nearby convenience store. He tried to balance on one leg to reach his phone to message Zhang Jiale to ask if he could borrow his.
Zhang Jiale replied with a thumbs up and also that he’ll be out for a bit longer since Fang Rui had seemingly forgotten something back at the stadium. Sun Xiang gave a shrug and lightly tossed his phone back onto the sink counter.
Sun Xiang didn’t think there was anything too out of the ordinary until he started to wash out his hair and saw red start to drip down. He paused for a sec before feeling his scalp concerned that he had unknowingly gotten injured somehow. He tried to wash off all the red, the dye slightly staining his hands and getting underneath his fingernails.
Sun Xiang stood there aghast; he picked up the bottle of shampoo and carefully read the label this time.
Cherry Red Color-Boosting Shampoo
Sun Xiang felt a bit betrayed. Though this was entirely on his part as he had just assumed the two bottles that Zhang Jiale had were the exact same. He hoped that none of the color stuck, though he could see a few that were part of his bangs were now a faint pink color.
Now Sun Xiang had indeed contemplated just continuing to run his head under water in an attempt to wash it all off but decided against that as the water continued to run clear and he could still see the color. He grimaced at the thought of having pink hair for the next few days, not that he hated pink hair, but the knowledge that it was a complete accident will taunt his mind.
Taking a few minutes, Sun Xiang quietly angst over his mistake, going through the five stages of grief before accepting his fate of being teased.
Staring down at the towel he used to dry his hair, it looked like a mild bloodbath. He felt a bit sorry for the hotel cleaning staff.
Nothing he can do now. He could only wait for it to wear out.
He could feel the stares people were giving him, far more than normal, though given his current appearance it was not unfounded. He could hear a snicker coming from a certain cherry Spitfire. “What?”
Zhang Jiale tried so hard to try and stifle his laughs so much that it started to hurt as he felt out of breath. “Sorry sorry. That was my bad for not specifying which bottle. I just assumed you would have at least checked the label first. I’ll give you a heads up next time.” He tried to pardon himself.
“So your red head isn’t natural huh.” Sun Xiang retorted.
“Gasp! Yeah well, I do actually have red tones but I enjoy having them be more visible most of the time.” Zhang Jiale ran his hand through his own hair, picking at his bangs. “It’s not like I do much else anyway, it's pretty low maintenance.”
Fang Rui popped out from around the corner, pausing as he stared at Sun Xiang’s pink hair.
“Wow Little Sunflower, decided to become a cherry blossom instead. Are you trying out to join Hundred Blossoms next season?”
“Yeah yeah ha ha very funny.” Sun Xiang rolled his eyes.
Fang Rui patted him on the shoulder, leaning against him. “At least you might get some new sponsorships. Doesn’t Zhou Zekai get his hair dyed all the time? You can match now!”
“Hey, I liked my blond hair.” Sun Xiang argued.
“Don’t worry. You still look fine. Handsome even.”
Sun Xiang tried to stifle a blush but he could feel heat creeping up his face.
“Come on. We’re having dinner soon. If you’re really bothered about it, I’m sure we could find some toner in the stores to make your hair a dirty blond instead. Zhang Jiale can help, since it was his shampoo that turned your hair pink!” Fang Rui pulled Sun Xiang along to join Zhang Jiale.
Sun Xiang accepted the offer.
Teasing Sun Xiang some more during dinner, they ordered him a strawberry lemonade to match his hair.
“Lesson learned, always read the label.” Sun Xiang sighed.