Sunday, September 8th, 2022
Demien's Apartment, Bergamo
10:47 AM
Demien woke to sunlight streaming through the curtains and his phone buzzing on the nightstand, and when he checked the screen blearily he saw forty-three new notifications from Instagram, twenty-seven from Twitter, and six missed calls from his mother.
He sat up slowly, his legs still heavy from yesterday's ninety minutes, and he unlocked the phone to find his social media feeds absolutely
exploding.
Instagram:
His follower count had jumped overnight—427,891 followers, up from around 150,000 yesterday morning, and the number was still climbing in real-time as he refreshed.
The comments under his last post—a simple photo of him holding the man of the match trophy—had reached 14,000 and counting:
@calcio_fanatic:5 goal involvements at 18??? This kid is SPECIAL 🔥
@atalanta_ultras:Walter is the future. Mark my words.
@football_scout_italia:Serie A just got a new superstar. That free-kick was INSANE.
