Tad.

  Tad.

  Tad.

  Up and down. The sound of Lars's basketball jumping up and down was the only thing to fill the silen the living room.

  Lars was ying on the sofa and threw the ball toward the ceiling, then caught it and threw it again. As usual, he had perfect mastery over- wham! The ball crashed on his face!

  The ball rolled downwards and fell off the sofa but Lars didn't betting it. He just kept staring at the ceiling as if nothing happehe ball jumped a few more times on the floor and rolled toward Yuel.

  “Here,” Yuel picked the ball and tossed it over. Uh-oh. The ball went in a pletely different dire roe some reason. 10/10 accuracy.

  WHAM! The ball crashed into a shelf and rocked it. One book slipped off the edge and dove straight toward the floor. , a few of its neighbors followed suit and itted suicide as well.

  “I-I aimed there,” Yuel jumped from the chair and hurried to the mess.

  “Haha...” Lars ughed weakly. “Nothing is going our way today, huh.”

  “You say that again.” Yuel stared at the pile of scattered books. The ball kicked them off the high ground and they fell to oblivious, just like Yuel and Lars.

  They lost their ce. After aire year of training and improving themselves, Yuel and Lars lost against Howard and Ellen. They should have had an advahanks to having Roi and Dan oeam, but they still lost. It was a decisive defeat.

  If only Yuel could go ba time and fix the numerous mistakes he made today. His shot-calling was beyond atrocious. It was full of risks and gambles all over the pce evehose were pletely unnecessary.

  Especially, i portion of the third game, Yuel messed up multiple times in a row. First, he allowed Lars to chase Ellen because he couldn't imagine what sort of bait Ellen had in store. Unfortunately, that’s how Ellen “trained” him to think throughout the matbsp;

  She seeded the expectation that each of her escapes had to lead into a gank from another pyer because she wasn’t strong enough to handle Lars herself. Yet, at the very end, she subverted that pattern by fighting ba her own. Yuel and Lars's awareness of Ellen’s repeating trap pattern was a trap in its ht, as expected from that fox.

  That’s strike one. , Julia saved the game by killing Ellen but Yuel didn't order her to retreat right away. Instead, he told Julia to get the red buff first because that’d help the team’s push. That was greedy ao a gank from Taison.

  That’s strike two. Lastly, Yuel failed to order Julia to retreat against Taison. He did order a retreat at the beginning but, apparently, Julia wasn’t able to switch from Attack Mode to Defense Mode in that situation. So, her defense was flimsy and she cimed it was better for her to stand her ground and fight back.

  Yuel didn't have enough match experieh Julia’s Attack Mode, so he chose to trust her judgment. Even now, it was harder to tell whether that decision was a mistake. But, even if it was, Yuel simply didn’t have the necessary data to work with so it wasn’t his fault.

  His real mess up was not telling Julia to retreat after she gaihe upper hand against Taison. At that moment in time, it should have been possible to disengage peacefully. The overall state of the game was a 1v2 at the time, so Yuel should have known that things could easily go south at any moment if they don’t proceed carefully.

  Yet, he chose to be greedy and prioritized getting a kill on Taison. The gamble almost paid but not thanks to Yuel. It’s Julia who was amazing. She got Taison down to 2% HP and even fired the decisive shot. For all is and purposes, she won that 1v1.

  But, then Howard happened. Yet again, the imperable defense exhibited its strength. Even though Howard’s shot-calling seemed sluggish during the te-game, his defense was still airtight when he was the one doing the defending.

  In the final decisive moment, right before Julia sealed the deal, Howard turhe euation on its head. Yuel should have been wary of this development, but he chose to gamble on Julia's strength. And... he lost.

  That’s three strikes; shot-caller out. But, that wasn’t the end of it. After going over the game time and again in his head, these were far from the only mistakes Yuel itted.

  There was also that unfortunate 2v2 between Yuel and Lars vs. Taison and Gregory. Yuel was overfident about beating that duo, so he insisted to keep fightie the rocky start. Nothing was stopping Yuel and Lars from disengaging troup elsewhere but no, Yuel refused to do so. He saportunity to get kills that’ll crack the enemy's imperable defense, so he leaped on the opportunity like a hungry beast.

  It's not like Yuel's estimation was wrong. He and Lars eventually gaihe upper hand in that fight and were about to kill Taison. However, then Howard happened. Again. The imperable Aegis was everywhere, shutting down every angle of attabsp;

  Yuel insisted to partake in that drawn-out 2v2 and, as a result, he wound up dead while Lars barely escaped at the cost of his ult. Thinking of it, maybe that’s where the third game’s entire disaster started. After Yuel died in that fight, he was no longer around to keep Lars safe and that's how Ellen lured Lars into that accursed 1v1.

  It almost felt like the enemy's goal with that 2v2 was to get at least one kill, no matter whether it was on Yuel or Lars. Of course, Lars was their top priority for obvious reasons, but the enemy seemed satisfied with taking Yuel down. Was that their pn? To get one kill by putting Taison and Gregory’s lives on the line?

  It didn't sound like something Howard would go for. But, if it were Ellen...

  “Okay...” Yuel finished returning the books to the shelf. Good thing he didn't break anything valuable with his crappy pass.

  “Here,” Yuel dropped the ball on Lars.

  “........” Lars caught the ball by instinct alone. His empty gaze was still directed toward the ceiling. “Say...”

  “Yes?”

  “What we gonna do now?”

  “Is there anything we even do?” Yuel dropped on the sofa chair.

  “, dude. You're the one who got the brains here. Ain't ya got any cool Einstein shenanigans that'll let us get into the first-string?”

  “What the heck Einstein got to do with any of this?” Yuel chuckled. “Actually, I heard if you move faster than the speed of light then you go ba time.”

  “Sign me up, yo. I'mma go practice my light speed running right away!” Lars tried to ugh but it came out as a cough instead.

  This was frustrating. Lars hated everything about it. Howard and Ellen were some serious pain it for standing in Lars and Yuel’s paths.

  Thinking of it, this must have been the first time Lars felt this way about his own teammates. Back when he pyed basketball, it was unthinkable for him to not be on the first string. Everybarded him as Michael Jordan Jr. and he always made it into the opening roster.

  Therefore, this felt s. What did it eveo be on the bench? Why he couldn’t pete in serious matches? During the first year, he was a scrub pared to the seniors so it was fio stay on the bench.

  But, this was already his sed year. He improved a ton since he joined and gonna improve even more throughout the year, so he was totally ready to face the world, yo!

  But, he couldn’t. Because he lost. Because he and Yuel lost. That och sealed their fate for the entire year.

  At the back of his head, Lars uood that not everybody could always make it in. Even ba basketball, he had pals who attehe club for years but never made it into the main team. Especially, when it was their st year of grade school, some of these dudes were real mad.

  There was Kevin, who bickered a lot with the basketball coach over the starter position aually stopped showing up to practice. Oher hand, there was Derek who poured many hours into training after school. Dude was real diligent a w toward a starter positioire year.

  I remember Derek looked like he was about to cry whe the bad news. Lars jerked. It was so unfair. I hope he prot into the main team in middle school. Dude really deserved it.

  There were many other sustances. Even Taison has been throwing a tantrum quite often, but at least he made it into the first string o year so he had nothing to really pin about.

  Ead every one of these pyers was really talented. Lars khat first-hand because he pyed with them every day. But, there were only five spots on the main team while the club had like thirty students. Kevin and Derek simply didn't cut it and even Taison only got there on his st year. So, they were stu the bench throughout the majority of grade school.

  At the time, Lars thought he sympathized with them. What did he tell them, again? Stuff like “Keep trying!” or “You gonna make it ime for sure!”

  Lars thought he uood their frustration, but now he learned - he knew absolutely nothing about how they felt. Somebody like him, who passed all the sele tests with a breeze and spent the ey of grade school pying on the main team, couldn't possibly uand how it felt to be left behind.

  This was the first time somebody forced him to sit on the bench like this and for aire year too. It felt like a truck ran over him. Suddenly, all the encing words he gave to Kevin and Derek sounded like total bullshit right now.

  “Keep trying”? “You gonna make it for sure”? It was all bullshit. Yuel and Lars lost the seleatch. They won't get a sed ce from Howard. It was game over.

  And, it was all Lars's fault. Why did he chase Elleime? He khat witch always had something up her sleeve, yet every time a tasty opportunity preseself - he couldn't help but charge in. He wao get these kill so hard like they were worth millions or something.

  Every time, it led to a disaster. How many times did he run into somebody and got his ass whooped? It's like he smacked himself in the face, realized that it hurt and then proceeded to smack himself again anyway. What kind of idiot would do that? This idiht here.

  On top of that, why did he keep losing to Taison in the first pce? When the heck did Taison bee stronger in 1v1? They have been training together almost the entire year, so they should have gaihe same amount of experience.

  Yet, Taison was clearly stronger. Even when Lars was using Trickshooter, Taison almost kicked his butt. What an insa.

  Lars should've trained harder. He should have been stronger. If he just were a little better in bat, he would have destroyed Taison every siime in 1v1s. That would have smashed all of Ellen's pesky traps.

  But, Lars couldn’t do it. He lost every siime. Damn it. He wasn't good enough, so he and Yuel got screwed.

  “I ran into Howard after the match,” Yuel smiled wryly. “Even though we lost, he said we were difficult oppos to deal with. He also said that, if you and I pyed for any other school, we would have been on the first-string for sure.”

  “How nice of him.”

  “I knht?” Yuel chuckled. Such what-ifs were pointless. They were part of StormBlitz and they were denied from entering the first string.

  Perhaps Howard inteo ence by saying these words, but to Yuel they sounded like nothing more than sarcasm. What did it matter that Yuel could bee a first-string pyer on some other unknown middle school team? He wao py and pete with the best. StormBlitz wasn't even as renown as the Leopards, yet Yuel didn’t make the cut even here. He stood way too far from the top of the petition. Dammit.

  “Wait,” Lars jumped from the sofa. “Another school? You think we would have made it in another school?”

  “Yeah, most likely. Aside from StormBlitz and the Leopards, I doubt any other team in the region has enough high-level pyers to form a full team. Based on the level of Bot Laners from st year, I believe we’d rank somewhere among top three duos in the region. So, yes, we’re quite likely to make it into the first string in other schools.”

  Yuel's vi wasn't based ance, he had the data. Last year, he helped the first-string with gathering data oeams. He also often participated in the first-string’s strategy meetings. Thus, he had a good idea what other schools in the region had to offer.

  The Leopards were the stro and most prestige team in the region, no question about it. Their school had a huge Cssmancers club which allowed many members and they even had a personal coach. In fact, it was the only middle school in the region with a coad that coach was no pushover.

  So, it’s no surprise the Leopards have been taking the regionals every year. Their pyer lineup st year was crazy, especially their captain and Jungler, Fenrir. That monster seized trol of the ech by himself the moment the enemy showed the slightest sign of hesitation.

  All these strong pyers were seniors st year, so they graduated. However, with such a big club, there was no doubt a new powerful lineup of pyers will e forth to repce them this year. Therefore, there was no doubt that the Leopards will have some of the stro Support & Carry duos in the region this year as well.

  , the sed-best team in the region was actually StormBlitz. Beiricted to a maximum of only 15 club members sounded harsh at first, but turned out it was among the more luxurious deals out there. Most other Cssmancer clubs in the region typically allowed up to 12 members.

  There was also Stratus, a team whose club couldn't have more than nine members. Yes, just was absurd.

  In short, StormBlitz and Leopards had the number advantage and will likely boast the stro lineups this year as well, including the stro Bot Laners. As frustrating as it was to admit, Yuel and Lars were still inferior to Howard and Ellen at the moment, if only by a little bit.

  But, the good news was that Howard and Ellen will surely be among the top pyers in the region this year. So, being a little below them meant that Yuel and Lars would have also ranked among the best. Most likely, among the top three or top five Bot duos in the region.

  Therefore, just like Howard said, Yuel and Lars assuredly would have made it into the first-string in any other school. Worst case, even if they somehow failed to cim their main roles, Yuel was als in Top and Lars was great in Mid. So, they would have gotten at least SOMETHING. There was no doubt they would’ve peted iour along with the stro pyers the region had to offer and would have made a name for themselves.

  As, their defeat in today’s seleatch guarahat nobody will know Yuel and Lars year. They'll spend the entire year as nameless benchwarmers who won't get to participate in a sich.

  Worst of all, Yuel had nobody but himself to bme. He was the one who insisted to attend Riverstock Junih because he heard good things about StormBlitz. But, he failed to at for the fierpetition he and Lars would have to fa a strong club. So, maybe attending a school with a weaker team would have beeer...

  “Then,” Lars jumped restlessly in pce. “Why don't we try it? Let's py on a different team!”

  “Huh?” Yuel blinked. “And how do you suggest we do that? We're students of Riverstod only oeam is allowed to represent the school.”

  “My dude, you ever heard of transferring schools? I re that's a thing, haha.”

  “Transfer...” Yuel mumbled. This idea was so sudden and so unventional that it required time to process “You're suggesting to leave our current school to go py elsewhere?”

  “Yep, why not? It's a bummer we’ll have to leave our dudes behind, but I y petitively together with ya. We gonna rock the pro se together, yo!”

  “You rather py on a weaker team just to be iour?” Yuel asked. “It’d be like we’re running away from the challenge, running away from fag Howard and Ellen.”

  “, don’t say it like that,” Lars smiled wryly. “I like petition, I really do. As much as I hate Ellen, I also really love her. She’s a great rival! A super mega ultra annoying one, but a good one. She forces me to improve and everything.”

  “Howard is the same for me,” Yuel admitted. Normally, he’d rather choke than say this out loud, but indeed Howard was a great rival for him.

  Aegis was the ultimate form of defe celed all of Yuel’s offeactics. By g with Howard time and again, Yuel improved tremendously.

  Deep down, Yuel wao keep challenging Howard. He wao keep chasing Howard’s shadow, to catch up to it and to finally surpass by it. One day, Yuel will surely find a way to break through that imperable defense. As long as he keeps trying, he’ll find a way.

  “So, if we both feel the same way,” Yuel said. “You should uand what I’m saying. Leaving the club just because we ’t beat them right now is like running away from the fight.”

  “Nah, it’s backwards,” Lars said. “I wanna keep improving so I beat Ellen and take the Carry spot oeam. But, that’s no longer possible.”

  “Right, because we lost the seleatch...”

  “Yeah, exactly,” Lars nodded. “Howard said it clearly: if they win, they gonna be on the first-string while we gonna rot on the bench. There’s no petition anymore. No matter what we do, we ’t get into the first-string this year. We’re screwed.”

  “Well, we try challenging them again ter down the line,” Yuel was fully aware he was talking nonsehere was no way Howard would go ba his word.

  The only way to ge Howard’s mind was to defeat him thhly on a rematch. However, unless Yuel and Lars e across a magical artifact that grants them a miraculous power-up, there was no way they’ll be able to create the necessary skill gap. They might surpass Howard and Ellen during the uping year, but they won’t be able to get a level where they mop the floor with Howard and Ellen.

  “That’s what I’m saying, dude,” Lars nodded repeatedly while Yuel was sharing his thoughts. “We’re screwed at this point. No matter how hard we try to beat them, we ain’t getting to py. If we gonna lose before even trying, what’s the point? Dunno about you, but I know I won’t be motivated to train hard like this.”

  “You make a good point,” Yuel said. “Losing to rivals is supposed to motivate you to improve. But, when you know you ’t get anywhere no matter how muprove... yeah. That makes it hard to keep g about the rivalry.”

  “Totally,” Lars nodded. “Besides, this year is our st ce to beat them. They gonna graduate after that, so we gonna have to wait till high school if we wanna fight them again. So, we gotta beat them this year! I figured if we transfer schools, we actually py them iour and stuff. It gonhe best stage for a rematch, yo!”

  “You’re right about that,” Yuel lowered his head. “But, transferring schools because of this sounds a little extreme.”

  “Hm? What’s the problem with it? Wait, don’t tell me you’re actually fih sitting on the benext year? You don’t care if you don’t get to py petitively?”

  “Of course not,” Yuel shook his head. “I also want to py petitively, but...”

  It wasn't that simple. True, it was teically possible to trao another school and try to get into the first-string there. However, this was a huge and sudden move.

  First, his mom will kill him if he tells her he wants to transfer. He already begged her st year to let him attend Riverstock even though she wanted him to attend another school. So, askio transfer again was a bit too much.

  “Don't worry, yo,” Lars thumped on his chest. “I'mma talk to yo mom and vince her!”

  “Please don't.” They both ughed at the image. Yuel's mom was a serious woman who didly appreciate goofs like Lars, so that would be the disaster of the tury. Yuel would have to talk with her himself, no two ways about it. That'd be one hell of a challenge.

  But, even Yuel vinces his mom, there was another issue: he was StormBlitz's vice-captain. He had responsibilities on his shoulder and he was expected to lead the team after Hraduates. Abandoning the team like that was really irresponsible. Holy, it was kind of a dick move.

  “I get what you’re saying,” Lars nodded. “But, you know, ya don't own anything to anybody. You don't even have any freshmen under you yet. You literally became the vice-cap before summer break, and school year hasn't started yet, so it's like you haven't even gotten around to be being a vice-cap at all.”

  “Well, that's ly true, but...” It wasirely wroher. Yuel has been preparing for the upiogether with Howard and even improved the formu of StormBlitz’s entrance exam. He has been w for a while now uhe assumption he'll be the team's vice-captai year and Howard had expectations for him.

  However, it’s also true that Yuel didn't have that many responsibilities as a vice-captaihere weren't any younger members for him to lead, so it's not like leaving the team would hurt anybody. Well, except for Howard who'll have to find a new vice-captain to dump the work on.

  Holy? Yuel didn’t feel as bad as he should’ve about that part. Howard was mature enough to hahat kind of problem. Perhaps that didn’t make the act of abandoning the vice-captain responsibilities look aer, but at least it won’t be a disaster for the team.

  Yuel started feeling a little better about the idea of transferring schools but it was still a huge risk. In StormBlitz, Yuel and Lars were pretty much guarao bee first-string members during their st year. However, in a new school, they'll have to gh the process of applying to the Cssmancers club all ain and there was a ce they won't make it for some random reason. So, instead of losing just one year of petitive py, they might lose TWO years!

  “Yeah, that'd suck,” Lars nodded. “But, didn’t ya say we're like da best duo in the region and stuff?”

  “Among the best, yes.”

  “Then, we gon in for sure! Ain't nobody gonna stop us, yo!”

  “I wish I knew where you draw your baseless clusions from,” Yuel sighed. “Do you even uand the risk? We may be stuck as benchwarmers for the ey of middle school.”

  “Yeah, that'll suck alright. Welp, maybe we just transfer back if things don’t work out? The ultimate switcheroo!”

  “That'll be hel awkward. I'm sure Howard would make us retake the entrance exam just to spite.”

  “Haha, no kidding,” Lars chuckled. “But hey, we'll bst through it again without a problem!”

  “That's true,” Yuel here was no telling what everybody's rea would be if Yuel and Lars transfer away and then transfer back, but at least it was a safety hat existed for them. Though, Yuel's mom would eat him alive if he pulls that kind of stun...

  “Okay,” Yuel cluded. “That's definitely an idea we try. Howard said he’ll hold a meeting tomorrow to annouhe starters, so let's wait and see what he has to say first. I'm sure we're not going to make it in, but let’s be sure about it before we make any rash decisions.”

  “Meh, to be ho, I don't think I even wanna go.” Lars twisted his lips. “It gonna be sad to stand there and wait till our names are called. Because it never gonna happen.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. But, I'm still the vice-captain for now, so I have to be present.”

  “You do what ya gotta do. I'm gonna talk to my folks about the transfer in the meantime.”

  “I see you're really pumped up for it.”

  “You bet I am!” Lars pumped a fist. “It's our st ce to py like pros a revenge on Ellen in a serious match! Heck, maybe I even gon a ce to pay Taison back if he pys.”

  “That’s unlikely, but you’re right about the rest. If we join a team and keep winning, we'll eventually face Howard and Ellen again.“ Yuel ched his fists. Despite his uainty, his heart raced. This transfer idea was soundier aer by the moment! Yuel and Lars will trao another school, get into the first string and have their revech against Howard! And, this time, they'll win!

  “Oh,” Lars paused. “What about July, though? We better tell her about this. Maybe she'll want to join us.”

  “Did you hear anything from her after the match?”

  “otal radio silence. Guess she's depressed because we lost.”

  “Yeah, she took it pretty hard,” Yuel nodded.

  Julia vanished right after the matd hasn't tacted them since. Lars tried calling her but there was no respo’s like the girl went into hiding.

  “Maybe she’ll be at the meeting tomorrow,” Yuel said. “Unlike us, she still got a ce to get into the first string.”

  “Yeah,” Lars agreed. “July pyed like a beast i parts of the game.”

  “If I run into her, I’ll talk to her about the school transfer idea.”

  “Then, maybe I should e too after all.” Lars pondered.

  “Actually, it might make things more awkward for her.”

  “How e?”

  “Well...” How should Yuel expin it to this ignorant goof without spilling the beans? The person Julia wao see the least right now was definitely Lars. More than anything, Julia must have beeated by the fact she failed to get Lars into the first-string. She might be thinking her defeat i part of the game was the reasoeam lost, so it’s like she was responsible for ruining Lars’s ces of pying petitively.

  “Let’s just say,” Yuel chose his words carefully. “If she sees both of us there, she may feel unfortable being there. She seems to bme herself for our defeat.”

  “But, it’s not her fault at all. She pyed solid.”

  “I know,” Yuel nodded. In fact, the team put on such a strong fight during the third game rgely thanks to Julia’s offense. Roi and Dan weren’t perf well that game, so Julia’s Attack Mode gave the team the edge they o pressure the enemy. If not for Julia’s bold offehere was no telling whether Yuel could figure a way to gain the upper hand and maintain an advantage for so long.

  “Welp, guess I’ll skip the meeting after all,” Lars shrugged. “If July es, make sure to tell her it wasn’t her fault.”

  “Of course.”

  Tomorrow, Howard will announce first-string’s lineup. Who’ll make it iher Yuel nor Lars, that’s for sure...