Page 11 of Let the Games Begin
ONE DAY BEFORE THE OPENING CEREMONY
Zeke and Haruki Endo met for the first time at their first Olympic Games in Rio. They had bonded over the fact that they were both fiercely competitive when it came to their sport yet incredibly easygoing when it came to everything else. Now, at twenty-five, Haruki was six foot seven with broad shoulders. He had the kind of bright, boyish face that won him a fierce fandom—there were thousands of fan accounts dedicated to him and just as many spicy fan-fiction stories. Usually, his teenage fanbase wrote him in the role of the intense, brooding athlete who was way too focused on winning gold medals to date. In fiction, Haruki was the introspective type who only had time for casual but incredibly steamy situationships that usually involved late-night swims and rushed moments in changing rooms. But, in reality, Haruki was a hopeless romantic. And when he had a crush, his best friend, Zeke, was the first to know.
“Honestly, I just feel like the love of my life is somewhere in the Village,” said Haruki as the two of them walked across thegym toward the treadmills. They always trained together on their first day in the Village.
“I thought the love of your life was in Tokyo, or Rio, or London,” said Zeke, teasing him. Haruki had never been in love before, but he’d been saying he was going to fall in love in the Village for as long as they’d known each other.
“No—for real this time. It feels like fate.” They stepped onto their treadmills and started running. Zeke was well versed in his friend’s theories on infatuation and his much slower running pace. And this wasn’t the first time Haruki had spoken to a girl for five minutes and started talking about fate. Haruki had two older sisters who’d raised him on a solid diet of rom-coms. And his parents had met at a swimming pool on New Year’s Day twenty-six years ago. He was born to be a hopeless romantic.
“So, what is it about this time that feels different?”
“The chemistry, Zeke. The chemistry. All I did was take a photo of her by the Olympic rings, but I just felt like we clicked,” he said, smiling into the distance the way he always did after meeting a girl he liked.
“Do you have her number?” asked Zeke.
“Well, no,” said Haruki, who hadn’t thought that far in advance about how he was going to reunite with the love of his life. “You’re so obsessed with practical things, Zeke. Love finds a way.”
“And you spoke to her for how long?” asked Zeke.
“Three minutes… but we have the same favorite movie! Did I tell you that? She lovesCool Runningstoo. That’s got to be a sign, right?” Haruki said.
Zeke didn’t have the heart to tell him that pretty much everyone likedCool Runnings.
“I just feel like I already know her, you know? We only spoke for a short time, but it just felt… easy.”
“What’s her name?” asked Zeke, curious.
“I…” began Haruki nervously. Haruki wasn’t just a star athlete; he was a celebrity. He met a few dozen of his fans every time he went out, and while he tried to be present in each interaction, he heard so many names that he couldn’t remember them all.
“Something with anaor avor ano?” Haruki said, looking panicked as he realized that thousands of people walked in and out of the Village every day. “Wait, I’m never going to see her again, am I?” he said, laughing in despair at the reality of the situation.
“You’ll find the one, eventually,” said Zeke, teasing him.
“Easy for you to say. You and Valentina met in the Village and look how that turned out,” Haruki said, increasing his speed to catch up with Zeke, who couldn’t help but turn every training session into a race. Haruki was stronger than Zeke in almost every way—he was a swimmer, after all. But Zeke was one of the fastest men in the world.
“Valentina and I broke up, remember?” Zeke said, running faster.
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Haruki said, matching his pace. Haruki was captain of the ValenZeka fan club, there was no convincing him.
“We did!” said Zeke. He’d spent the past year trying to persuade Haruki that he and Valentina really werejust friends, who were never getting back together.
“Let me know when you pick out the engagement ring,” Haruki said in a singsong voice. Trying to keep up, but Zeke’sOlympic-medal-winning speed left him gasping between words. “Zeke, you’re so competitive it’s annoying,” he said, turning the pace up on his treadmill.
“You only say that because you’re losing.” Zeke increased his speed again. Haruki glanced over and did the same thing. Zeke felt sweat dripping down his back, and Haruki ran out of breath. The swimmer threw his arms up in defeat and stepped off the treadmill. As he walked over to the water fountain, Zeke followed.
“When else in our lives are we ever surrounded by this many people who are, one, the same age as us, two, as obsessed with sports as us. And three—understand exactly what it’s like to have a life likethis,” Haruki said as he made his way to the window on the opposite side of the room. He gestured outside. “If there’s any place to fall in love, it’s the Village.”
Haruki wasn’t wrong. There was a certain romance about the Village—even hardened cynics walked onto the grounds and started to believe that anything could happen.
10Zeke
ONE DAY BEFORE THE OPENING CEREMONY
If Zeke had met Olivia when they were twelve, they probably would have become friends. Zeke would have laughed at Olivia’s quick, scalding wit, and Olivia would have smiled at Zeke’s boyish sense of humor. They would have been put next to each other in Year Seven maths because a teacher would have figured out that Olivia’s focus would rub off on Zeke and that Zeke’s easygoing nature would rub off on Olivia.
If they’d met at seventeen, they would have run for head boy and head girl and spent the year antagonizing each other. Olivia would have rolled her eyes at Zeke’s teenage humor, and Zeke would have shaken his head at the fact that Olivia always had to be right. They would have hooked up at the last sixth-form party before results day, and it would have been earth-shattering.
If they’d met at university when they were nineteen, they would have become debate club partners. And if they’d met at eighty-six in a care home, they would have become fierce bingo rivals. There were a dozen alternate universes in which Olivia andZeke could have first met. But on that day in Athens at the end of July, they met when Olivia was falling into a pit and Zeke was slipping into the worst version of himself.
