Chapter 13 — The Machine of Dreams

The bus departed from school at six o'clock in the morning, when the sky was still dyed the pale blue of the incomplete dawn. Bảo Châu sat next to the window, holding a small box of drawing and repair tools close to her side, looking at the robot carefully placed in a specialized foam cushion box in the last row of seats, with Đức and Tấn Phát taking turns checking the whole way as if they were taking care of a newborn baby.

"Everyone remember to bring enough spare batteries?" Hoàng Nam asked for the third time within half an hour, making Tấn Phát laugh.

"Okay, okay, you asked three times," he replied, holding up the bag containing spare parts for Hoàng Nam to see. "Can you sit still? Watching you walk back and forth in the car makes me feel nervous."

Hoàng Nam sat down on the chair next to Bảo Châu, let out a long breath, clasped his hands together on his thighs. Bảo Châu noticed that she was still not completely comfortable, even though she tried to hide her anxiety behind a calm appearance.

"You'll be okay," she said softly, loud enough for only him to hear. "We have prepared as much as possible."

"I know," Hoàng Nam replied, but his voice was still tense. "It's just... this is the last chance to save the club from the risk of budget cuts. If we don't get to at least the regional semi-finals this year..."

"We'll face it when it actually happens," Bảo Châu interrupted, her voice gentle but firm. "For now, let's focus on what we can control."

Hoàng Nam looked at her, a relieved smile gradually appeared on his lips, the tension on his face eased somewhat. "You're right," he admitted. "Thank you for always knowing how to calm me down."

The sports arena where the regional qualifiers were held appeared before the team after nearly two hours of travel, a massive building with a parking lot filled with buses carrying banners of different schools in the area. Inside, the atmosphere was overwhelmingly bustling - dozens of competing teams with robots of all shapes and sizes were busy preparing in clearly divided working areas, loudspeaker announcements rang out continuously, mixed with cheers from the stands that gradually filled the audience.

"It feels like a completely different world," Bảo Châu whispered to Thục Hiền on the phone while waiting for her team's name to be called to register, even though her close friend couldn't come watch in person because of midterm exam schedules. "I've never seen so many robots in one place."

"Do your best!" Thục Hiền shouted passionately over the phone. "I will follow the organizers' livestream. Text me as soon as the results are out!"

The morning was for technical inspection—each team had to take its robot through an inspection station to measure weight and size and check safety before being officially allowed to compete. Lê Quý Đôn's entire team waited in line in anticipation, watching other teams pass one by one or sometimes being asked to make urgent adjustments for violating regulations.

"Robot number twenty-three, team Lê Quý Đôn," a tester called out, and Hoàng Nam carefully lifted the robot and placed it on the inspection table, his hands shaking a little with nervousness even though he tried to stay calm.

Inspection staff carefully examine every detail, measure dimensions, and place the robot on an electronic scale. "Four point eight five kilograms," he read aloud, then nodded. "Satisfactory. Beautiful design, rarely see a team invest so much in aesthetics."

That unexpected compliment made the whole team breathe a sigh of relief, and Bảo Châu felt a warm sense of pride spreading in her heart when hearing comments dedicated to her efforts from a complete stranger, unaware of the story behind each design line.

The first group stage took place in the early afternoon, with each team having to play three group stage matches to calculate ranking points before entering the knockout round. Lê Quý Đôn's team's first match went quite smoothly, the robot completed most of the assigned tasks, only missing a few small points in the object picking challenge because Tấn Phát's control operations were a bit slow compared to his opponent.

"It's okay, there are still two more matches," Hoàng Nam reassured the team after the match, although Bảo Châu could clearly see the worry still hidden in her eyes.

In the second match, the opponent was a strong team from a specialized school in the area, with a robot with a complex mechanical design and outstanding speed. The match was intense, the two robots continuously kept close to each other's scores until the last seconds, when team Lê Quý Đôn's robot took advantage of its low center of gravity to go over the inclined ramp faster, winning a close victory.

The whole team hugged each other to celebrate right outside the stadium, cheers rang out with excitement. Bảo Châu, in that moment of excitement, accidentally hugged Hoàng Nam who was standing closest, and the two stood there for a moment longer than necessary before realizing their unexpected closeness, hastily letting go in cute embarrassment before Tấn Phát's teasing eyes.

In the third and final match of the group stage, Lê Quý Đôn's team faced Bảo Long's Nguyễn Huệ team. Both teams greeted each other friendly before entering the match, there was no hostile tension at all, only the fierce fighting spirit of opponents who respected each other.

"Good luck," Bảo Long said, shaking Hoàng Nam's hand before the match started, a confident but sincere smile on his face. "This match will definitely be tense."

As expected, the match was dramatic until the last second, with the two robots continuously chasing the score closely. In the end, Nguyễn Huệ's team won with a very small score difference, thanks to faster processing speed at the stage of picking up objects at the end of the match. Despite losing this match, Lê Quý Đôn's team still maintained a high enough position in the overall rankings to enter the knockout round taking place the next morning.

"The results were much better than I expected," Hoàng Nam said when the team gathered at the end of the day, checking the robot's condition before returning to the hotel to rest. "Two wins and one loss, ranked third in the group. Tomorrow we will play in the knockout round, just need to win two more matches to get to the semi-finals."

Looking around at the tired but radiant faces of the team, Bảo Châu felt an indescribable pride rising in her heart. The first day of competition didn't end perfectly, but well enough to give her hope, and most importantly, showed her clearly the value of what the team had built together over the past months — not just a beautiful and well-functioning robot, but a team that trusts and supports each other through the most stressful moments.

That evening, the whole team had a late dinner at a popular restaurant near the hotel, the atmosphere was much more comfortable compared to the stress of the whole day of competition. Teacher Vinh ordered a few more local specialties and told stories about the times he had led the team to competitions in the past, making the whole table laugh at the funny and sad situations he had experienced.

"When I first graduated, I led the team to the first competition and forgot to bring a spare battery charger," he said, laughing while eating. "The whole team had to run around the gym to borrow chargers from another team, but in the end they still barely made it on time. From then on, the teacher always prepared extra things, it's better to have more than enough."

After dinner, when returning to the hotel room, Bảo Châu and the girls in the logistics team were arranged to share a room, while the boys were in the opposite room. Before turning off the lights and going to bed, Bảo Châu's phone vibrated, it was a text message from Hoàng Nam.

"Thank you for today," the message read simply. "Without you, I probably wouldn't have been able to stay calm through all three matches."

Bảo Châu smiled at the phone screen, typed a few lines in response before putting the phone down, lying still in the dark listening to the steady breathing of her roommates who had fallen asleep. She thought about tomorrow, about the challenging playoffs that awaited, but for the first time before an important day of competition, she felt more secure than afraid, surrounded by a sense of belonging to a team that she never imagined she would find when she reluctantly stepped into the factory at the beginning of the school year.

Before falling asleep, she opened Hoàng Nam's message again, reading it over and over as if she wanted to engrave every word into her memory. Outside the hotel room window, the unfamiliar city lights still sparkled endlessly, and in her heart, a feeling of excitement mixed with gentle suspense kept growing, as if she herself was standing on the threshold of something important, no less meaningful than the result of tomorrow's match.