"Get hyped! Hype, hype, hype!"

Haeri groans at Joonmyun shouts his battle cry for the five-hundredth time.

"For God's, sake, Joonmyun," she yells back. "We get it!"

He grins at her, a maniacal look on his face. "It's the first competition! You better get used it, because it's going to be my mantra for the rest of the day." He checks his watch. "Oh, we're up in five minutes."

Everyone gathers together, and they all cross hands, right over left, and form their pre-game circle. The freshman have excited, scared looks on their faces, and even the returning members are jittery and on edge. Everybody is caught up in the fervor of competition season.

Joonmyun clears his throat and calms down slightly. "Alright. So, it's that time of the year again; our first competition. I have confidence that you will all do wonderfully, and if not, there will be other competitions! I am so proud of all of you that we've come this far, and I hope you are all proud too. For new members, this circle is something we do before every match for our emotional pep talks." He squeezes the hand on the person on his left, and each successive person then squeezes the hand on the left of them. "This is something we do while circling up. When your hand is squeezed, you sqeeeze and pass on the heartbeat. I'll usually begin our circle talks, and after I'm done anybody can speak, old or new."

Haeri squeezes the hand next to hers and smiles. "Guys, I want you all to know that no matter how nervous you are, you can do it! When something goes wrong, you get stronger. Don't think about it during the match, just get back in the match. Don't let wrong answers bring down your confidence, okay?" Nods all around the circle, and then another member speaks up, then a couple freshmen. Finally, when their five minutes are almost up, Joonmyun produces a bag of lifesavers and passes them around.

"This is another tradition of ours. now, not later!" There's a collective laugh that relieves the tension somewhat, and then they've broken the circle and are heading into the competition building.

The freshmen are up first. Haeri watches, nervous for them, as they take their seats in front of the buzzers. Scratch paper and pencils are handed down the row, and then the proctor is clearing his throat. The other freshmen team from the rivaling school looks equally nervous, and Haeri smiles, remembering her first math competition as a freshman.

"Welcome everyone! I'd like to thank you all for attending our math today. On this side we have Seoul High School. And on this side, Seoul Private Academy! Now our team captains will speak. First, the visiting team." He gestures to Joonmyun, who everybody looks at expectantly.

Joonmyun dips his head graciously. "Hello, I'm the coach of all the teams at Seoul High. I'd like to thank Seoul Private Academy for having us today. We always look forward to this match and I know it'll be a great one."

Finished, he steps back. The Seoul Private Academy captain speaks next. "It is always our pleasure to have you guys here. Thank you for your kind words!"

The proctor nods, satisfied, and gestures at the two supervising teachers, who start the clock.

"First tossup! What is the integral of..."

And the game begins. Both captains and team members watch tensely as the freshmen engage in their first ever match. It is a close game filled with fun and laughter, and Seoul High wins by just three points. Afterwards, the freshmen shake hands good-naturedly and wish each other luck in the future games of the season. Joonmyun smiles, relieved that everyone is being a good sport. He's seen games when students have gotten absolutely vicious.

Next come the advanced matches. Haeri isn't a starter player, so she sits in the front row to watch. If Seoul High gains a lead later on, Joonmyun will switch her in so she has a chance to buzz. Sehun, who has turned out to be really good at math, is in fact a starter. Haeri finds in the first couple of minutes that her eyes keep drifting to him, and she tells herself off mentally and tries to snap out of it. But it's definitely difficult, because though he's neither the team leader or a returning member, he answers almost half the questions that are asked.

In the end, the game is pretty close, so Haeri doesn't get to play, but she doesn't mind. There are plenty of other games left, and she knows she'll get switched in for sure, when they play schools that don't usually do so well and have a huge lead of up to seventy points.

Seoul High wins again, by a wider than the freshmen did. Some of the hand shaking gets to be a little rough, but nothing too extreme. Haeri's experienced worse.

The team gathers outside the building to hear Joonmyun's comments. "Great job, guys!" is his first comment, and he follows up with some suggestions and observations. "So, freshmen. How was it? What did you think? Pretty cool, right? I noticed a couple of you were way too nervous. Loosen up, don't be afraid to buzz! Remember, if you're not buzzing, you're not having fun! Advanced team: nice job out there today. If you didn't get to play today, don't worry; I'll be sure to switch you in later." He winks at Haeri. Sehun coughs.

"Can we go now?"

Joonmyun waves his question airily away. "Yes, yes. Hope you all can make the meeting this week. We'll be practicing on the buzzers again to get our reaction times up. Get some rest guys, and great job once again!"