*MC thought*
**MC speech**
'Other's thought'
"Other's speech"
"With the last pick of the 2018 NFL Draft…"
Kobayakawa Sena knew this was going to be him. He just knew it. You know that feeling you get when you feel the 'IT' in your gut? Like a sixth sense, or maybe a seventh even? Like something big is coming, and you just know it? That's how it felt to Sena, sitting in the great AT&T stadium surrounded by his friends and family, everyone waiting eagerly to hear the announcer call out his name.
It felt magical to Sena, everything around him did. All the lights, the backdrops, the people and most of all, the great anticipation that saturated the air; all of this made him nervous but excited. Sena had sat through the entire draft night, hearing names being called out one after the other. He saw the best of his generation walk onto the stage and pose with their new jerseys in their hands. He saw Clifford Lewis get picked first by the Cleveland Browns. Panther was picked up second by New York Giants. Denver Broncos got Kongou Agon with the 5th pick. And 250 picks had followed the selection of the gifted Kongou twin including Seijurou Shin, Mushanokoji Shien, Gaou Rikia and Honjo Taka. And finally it was Sena's turn.
"the Washington Redskins select…"
*It has been a long time coming* Sena thought, *and finally it's here. I'm going to test myself against the best of the best, and come out of it a winner!*. The fact that he would probably get picked last was known to him all along. He was the first player ever to appear in the NFL draft list who got scouted from a Japanese college. Kongou Agon had the honor of being the first Japanese player to get selected, but he had gone to play college ball in America right after graduating high school. All his contemporaries who were serious about Football did the same, recognizing the fact that playing college ball in Japan would not give them the exposure they needed to get noticed by NFL scouts. Only Sena had remained in Japan, choosing to run the ball for Enma University.
Sena had no regrets. In fact the only sad thing about this whole night was that Kaitani Riku was not selected even though he had played in America. *I guess playing anything short of otherworldly doesn't cut it when you're a Japanese among Americans*, Sena thought. Riku's career had been fraught with injuries, and so Riku didn't manage to show the scouts how much of a runner he actually was. But it didn't matter. Sena had learned long ago that worrying about your fallen comrade is not the job of the running back. He only had one thing to do: run the ball past the opposition. Nothing else mattered. The touchdown was still to be scored, and Sena knew it would be his legs that carried the will of his fallen teammates into the end zone. Riku was a mere afterthought as Sena listened to the announcer drawing the crowd at the edge of their seats, his intentional silence before the final reveal pregnant with raw anticipation.
"Tetsuma Jou, wide receiver from Pennsylvania State University!"