"He's... what?" Leon whispered, turning away from the joyous, noisy team bus.
"He's coming to the next home match," Sofia's voice came again, calm and steady, but with an undercurrent of… amusement? "He wants to 'observe your methods', Leo. He said it just like that. Like you're a... a 'fascinating new species of tactical-frog'."
Leon let out a sound that was half-laugh, half-choke. Professor Antonio Bianchi. His former mentor. The man who wrote the book—literally, a 600-page book called The Geometry of Space—that Leon had based his entire philosophy on. The man he hadn't spoken to in two years, not since he'd "abandoned" academia to get his hands muddy in the real world.
And he was coming to Kirkby. To watch a team built on bakers, badgers, and Biyon's 'emergency megaphone'.
"Leo?" Sofia asked, her voice softening. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine," Leon lied, rubbing his face. "It's just... great. It's fine. I have to go, Sof. I'll... I'll see you at home. I love you."
