After everybody shot down Vi’s absurd design ideas for the club’s registration form, Yuel carefully examihe flier from start to end to reveal all its fws.

  “Rather than the design,” Yuel said. “The fields are a little g. For example, there’s no field asking for the pyer’s main role.”

  “True,” Vi admitted. “The captain from st year said he wao keep the form as simple as possible because there are zy bums who give up on the spot if they see a long questionnaire.”

  “Oh, I know the feel!” Lars nodded repeatedly. “Totally gives ya that exam PTSD, doesn’t it? Ya see all these questions and you’re like ‘Daim, I didn’t know there’s a quiz exam today!’”

  “But, that wouldn’t make you give up istering to a Mancers club, would it?” Yuel asked.

  “Nah, no ce. I’d even write an essay if I had to! Ain’t gonna give up on Mancers like that, yo.”

  “Right, that’s what I wao hear,” Yuel nodded. “So, the people who give up on the club just because the form is a little long aren’t worth our time. May as well give up on them.”

  “Harsh,” Vi nodded with a sense of respect. “Though, I ’t help but wonder. Why do you want to know their main roles? We’re going to pick the best pyer by rank anyway.”

  “The more data, the better,” Yuel expined. “Knowing the main roles of the didates will help us make more educated decisions. For example, if there are two pyers with close ranks, rioritize one of them based on the main roles they py. Say, Mid and Jungler are the more desirable roles for the club at the moment. We got enough people who py other roles.”

  “Oh! I see, I see,” Vi nodded. “Knowing what they’re maining will help you pick the optimal tools for the team. As expected from the Chessmaster! Always thinking practically.”

  “Sure,” Yuel shrugged. “Ahing that’s missing is an expnation for how to retrieve the pyer ID from the game.”

  “Isn’t that something anybody with half a brain would know?” Kai raised an eyebrow and threw a g the others.

  “I’d think so,” Vi agreed.

  “Yeah,” Lars nodded. “Even I know how to do that stuff.”

  “Oh, you sure do,” Yuel nodded. “But, when did you learn it, again?”

  “Hm?” Lars cocked his head. “Dunno, I probably knew all along. Yeah, I was born with that knowledge! The first word I said as a baby was my pyer ID, yo!”

  “Yeah, right. You actually didn’t know how to get it until you had to fill it for our entrance exam”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, seriously. You even asked me for some help because you somehow went into the wrong menu at first.”

  “Did I? Don’t remember for the life of me.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Yuel sighed. “Anyway, it’s better to add a brief expnation on the form. Something small that expins how to navigate to the profile s and where you find the ID on it. It’ll save us a lot of trouble. You don’t want every other didate to ask you how to retrieve it.”

  “Sounds good,” Kai said. “Now that you mention it, I think there was a freshman st year who came to me and asked what’s their pyer ID was.”

  “Oh, I remember that! It ure gold!” Vi burst into ughter. “She gave that poor kid a look that’s like ‘Are you dumb or something?’ and he ran away. The poor kid got scared for his life. Kai is such a bully.”

  “I-I didn’t mean it like that,” Kai turned away. Her white cheeks turned reddish. “It’s supposed to be on knowledge, okay? Not my fault he was asking dumb questions.”

  “Maybe that boy was destio bee one of the best pyers in the world but you scared him away. Maybe you even ruined his entire Mancers career! He was going to be Maker!”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry. Sue me, okay?” Kai grumped. “Maybe retrieving the pyer ID isn’t that obvious to everybody.”

  “The more you know...”

  “Anyway,” Kai killed this stupid topic. “I agree with Yuel’s suggestio’s add something about how to get the pyer ID. It should lower the number of people who e asking stupid questions.”

  “Which is great,” Vi snickered. “This way, you won’t scare anybody away.”

  “Would you drop it already!?” Kai hissed. “Besides, it’s not like there are going to be that many real didates this time.”

  “Why is that?” Yuel asked. “Something is different this year?”

  “Everything is different,” Kai answered. “The school cut down the number of students we recruit to three and we already got ourselves two traudents who are Challenger rank. That leaves only one spot open.”

  “So, what of it? That doesn’t mean we have to do any less work.”

  “It does, actually,” Kai cimed.

  “How so? We still have to go over all the applications, right?”

  “No, only the applications by girls.”

  “Huh?” Yuel blinked. “What gives?”

  “Because, the st spot is reserved to a female pyer,” Kai expined. “You took the two spots for males, so the st one will be a female.”

  “Wait, I thought you were selected based on rank?” Yuel raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, based on rank within each gender group.”

  “Huh,” Yuel crossed his arms. “Is that how you’ve always been doing things here?”

  “No, that’s how I chose to do,” Kai stated. “I believe that’s the fairest way.”

  “I’ll to disagree with you on that,” Yuel said. “Why does gender matter? We should take the best pyers we get our hands on. I’d even say that pig pyers solely by rank is zy as well. We should test ead every one of them personally.”

  “That’s asking for a lot from such a small club,” Kai said.

  “Yes, I agree,” Yuel nodded. “That’s why I didn’t push that idea. But, if we’re not going to hold a proper entrance exam, we should at least be effective at pig the ‘best pyers’. Their rank matters but their gender doesn’t.”

  “Sure, that’s probably the safest way to raise the club’s level,” Kai nodded. “But, it’s not fair. The avaible spots should be divided by gender. Otherwise, girls will never make it in.”

  “Well, you made it in, right? Because you’re a good pyer, not because you’re a girl.”

  “Oh, yeah. I made it in,” Kai sneered. “But, you want a funny story? The seniors of that year only allowed boys to apply. They were trying to keep it as a boys-only club.”

  “That’s dumb,” Yuel said. “Then, how did you make it in?”

  “I couldn’t let it stand and applied anyway. They couldn't guess I was a girl from my name, so they let me pass because I was Gold II back then. By the time they learhe truth, it was too te and the school didn’t let them ge anything.”

  “Wow, dude,” Lars nodded repeatedly. “Ya showed ‘em derps who’s da real boss! You’re even the captain now and everything!”

  “Thanks,” Kai gnced away with a wry smile. Apparently, she wasn’t telling this story to boast or anything. This must have been the objective truth of how things went down.

  “Yeah, it’s all true,” Vi answered Yuel’s questioning eyes. “Kai snuto the club like it was Mission Impossible.”

  “That’s really impressive,” Yuel had to agree. The girl wao py Cssmancers so much she preteo be a boy to break through the discriminating rules. It was a respectable dedication.

  Is that the “harsh experience” Vi was alluding tarding Kai and boys? Yuel wondered. It’s sure nasty. Wouldn’t be surprised if I developed gender bias too after something like this. But, sorry to say this, but it still doesn’t give aimation to her new policy.

  “I uand that previous captains made asinine rules for the sele process,” Yuel said. “But, it should be enough to just get rid of that filter. We’ll open n-ups for both boys and girls. That should do it.”

  “No, it’s not enough,” Kai insisted. "Even if girls are given a ce, most of them won't be able to pete with the boys in terms of rank. There aren't many girls e pying Mancers and the boys often don't want to py with them, so girls don't get tress as mu Ranked even if they're dedicated pyers."

  "That's..." Yuel didn't know what to say to this. From his experience, boys didn't have any problem pying with girls. He and Lars treated Julia seriously like a fellow pyer and she progressed far in Raogether with them.

  However, then there was Lars's story about how many boys in grade school didn't want to py with Julia because she was a girl. On top of that, Taison and Gregory often made fun of her simply for the fact she was a girl. These two were scumbags in general and acted hostile toward everybody, but it felt like they ridiculed Julia more than anybody else.

  So, perhaps Kai had a point. Even if girls were given a fair ce to apply to the club, they had a huge disadvantage pared to boys. They had a lower rank, less experiend probably overall less exposure to Cssmancers. Therefore, no matter what criteria the examiners were to use, most girls would fall short by default.

  Iingly, StormBlitz's entrance exam didn't take any of this into at. Was it an ht or a deliberate choice? sidering how seriously StormBlitz valued petition, there's a good ce the people who came up with the entrance exam deliberately chose to prioritize the most promising didates instead of pushing for mender equality.

  Holy, Yuel shared the same se. For clubs with such a restricted number of allowed members, it was absolutely necessary to recruit the best didates possible for winning tours. As harsh as it souhese clubs didn't have the luxury to pull inferior pyers to the petitive level. They had to prioritize the didates who either knew how to py or exhibited great potential.

  But, it's not like Kai's idea was entirely unreasonable. She cimed that girls had an early disadvantage when it came to Cssmancers and that gatekept them from joining. However, if they did mao join, these girls could perhaps bee amazing pyers.

  By now, Yuel has met a number of strong female pyers: Julia, Ellen, Ignis, boBreaker and even Kai herself was a solid pyer. Was it possible some of them only made it this far because somebody pyed favorites for them? It was hard to imagi it might be the case.

  In fact, Yuel once heard a peculiar rumor. Apparently, Ellen strongly pushed for Julia to be accepted into StormBlitz. It seemed there was another promising didate who peted with Julia for the st spot and most of the club favored him, but Ellen used her usual maniputive shticks to get the club under her thumb. Supposedly, thanks to that, Julia ted into the club over that uy.

  There was no telling how much truth there was in this tale, but it sounded pusible when a fox like Ellen was involved. Back then, Julia had plenty of fws in her pystyle, so it won’t be surprised if another didate was better tha the time.

  heless, Julia was the one who ultimately got into the club and she flourished there She developed immehroughout the past year and even got all the way to the first-string. It was amazing progress that could've been denied for Julia if Ellen didn't py favorites.

  This all feels so skewed. Yuel shuddered. He uood the "fairness" argument behind giving at least one girl a ce to get in but, at the same time, it’ll have to be do somebody’s expehe club might get a didate who was a genius pyer but the guy won’t make it in because he had the wrong gender. It didn’t feel right.

  This topic is a dead end. Yuel sighed. No matter what arguments he came up with, there was no clear-cut ao this dilemma.

  "I uand what you're saying," Yuel finally spoke. "But, if you reserve the st spot firl, you deny the ces of all freshman boys. Isn't that unfair?"

  "You're free to step down if you think that's unfair," Kai shrugged. "It's you and Lars who are taking the male spht now. You always quit if you think that's unfair."

  "Wowie, harsh," Lars scratched his head. "It's really kinda our fault, isn't it? Some newer dudes not gonna make it because of us."

  "Well..." Yuel didn't a retort at hand. The club could only get three new members this year and two of the slots have been occupied by traudents. ly the epitome of fairness either.

  Because of Yuel and Lars, two promising freshmen were going to be denied entry this year. Even if some of these freshmen were more talehan Yuel and Lars, they won't make it in because Yuel and Lars were a year ahead in terms of experie was a cruel world.

  "Still," Yuel said. "At least, Lars and I are high-level pyers and got our spots thanks to skill. I admit we got an unfair advantage pared to freshmen but at least it’s guaranteed we’re going to be more valuable for the team in this year’s tour. pared, accepting a girl regardless of talent just doesn't sit right with me. It robs others of a ce even though they could've tributed more to the team."

  "Winning isn't everything" Kai stated. "A club is also supposed to be an enviro where pyers improve. That's important too."

  "I'd agree with you if we weren't talking about a club that only get up to seven members. We barely got any wiggle room to work with. Seven is so close to five that we might be forced to deploy the freshman iour."

  "Use a freshman iour?” Kai raised an eyebrow. “Surely you jest."

  “Think about it. If Lars and I hadn’t joined, you would have had three freshmen this year. You’d have to deploy at least one freshman, no way around it.”

  “Yeah, I suppose so.”

  "And, in general, having only seven club members is dangerously close to five. We 't ighe possibility we’ll have to deploy the freshman to matches," Yuel gnced around the room to firm Luke wasn't here. "Take Luke, for example. Do you really think we entrust our Jungler position to somebody who pys memes? He's a det pyer. But, for petitive py, he's practically a joke. Our oppos are going to hard ter him every time because he chooses to py suboptimal csses."

  "Well, that's..." Kai had nothing to say back to that.

  "So, wouldn't it be great if we get a more serious Jungler? In fact, I'd go as far as saying we should prioritize searg for a Jungler among the freshman. That's why I added a role field to the registration form. I know this is me putting the tour before everything else but this tiny club needs every help it get."

  "That's true, but..." This time, it was Kai's turn to be stumped.

  This is a little frustrating. Yuel frowned. It felt like he saw eye-to-eye with Kai about the state of the club and they agreed what was more important for winning the tour. heless, ultimately, each of them prioritized something different. Yuel wanted a strong freshman, preferably a Jungler. Meanwhile, Kai insisted oing a girl for more equality.

  "Oh! The eversting battle of Barong and Rangda!" Vi stretched his arms theatrically. "No matter how many times they strike each other down, they revive and resume their eternal battle!"

  "Are you implying we’re getting nowhere??" Yuel made a face. It was rude but true. It didn't seem like Yuel and Kai will be able to rea agreement.

  "You both make valid arguments," Vi said. "But, the club doesn't belong to you two, you know. We're also here."

  "Right," Yuel nodded. He just realized he has beeing Vi and Lars like air all this time. These two, despite being a and a goof, were also important members of the club and must have had their own opinions.

  "So," Kai turo the other two. "What do you two think? Not that it means I'm going to ge my stance just because you disagree."

  Tyraed. Yuel rolled his eyes.

  "Hmm," Lars crossed his arms and thought hard about this problem. Or, at least, he preteo. "I dunno. No matter who we gonna pick, we still gonna take the nationals, yo!"

  He wasn't thinking at all after all! Yuel facepalmed.

  "So," Kai said. "You're fine if we give the st spot to a female, right?"

  "Eeeeh," Lars scratched his head. "I mean, probably? I think all dudes should get a fair ce. But, I know girls have it harder sometimes because some dudes in grade school are like ‘ew, girls’. Sad story, yo.”

  “In short, you got no real stance,” Yuel said.

  “Welp, I guess I don’t. I’mma let the smart people hahis one. No matter who joins, I know we gonna win in the end.”

  “That’s some fidence,” Kai noted.

  “Yes, foolish baseless fidehe usual.” Yuel shrugged. “What about you, Vi?”

  “Hmhmhm~” Vi giggled suspiciously. “So, mortals, you have e to seek the advice of the Old One?”

  “Okay, Vi got no valuable input either. Moving on-”

  “Alright, alright!” Vi begged. “Here’s what I think: you both got some good points so we probably won’t agree on anything at this rate. Then, how about we first get some data to work with? Let’s wait until we have the list of didates and then decide.”

  “Sounds like you’re suggesting to postpohe iable,” Yuel said.

  “Perpahs. But, want to hear an iing story? Last year, the club already allowed girls to apply. Do you see any female Juniors here?”

  “No.”

  “Right, because only two girls applied and they weren’t even Lv.50 so they didn’t even have a rank. So, nobody vouched for them. Even Kai didn’t shill for them.”

  “Of course,” Kai crossed her arms. “There’s a limit to how le we be. Lv.50 is a little out there but there’s no excuse for not being at least Lv.30. You get that far alone in like two/three weeks if you’re at least a semi-serious about the game.”

  “I see,” Yuel nodded. “So, at least you got a standard. It’s not like yoing to just accept any girl that shows up. We work with that.”

  “You want to set minimum requirements?” Kai asked. “I’m down. As far as I’m ed, if she’s at least Lv.30 then it’s good enough.”

  “I think we should set Lv.50 as the minimum,” Yuel argued. “It should be somebody who is at least qualified for Ranked.”

  “Lv.50 be pretty rough alone, I know that from experience. You have to carry all these toxic assholes who think they know what they’re doing just because they’re ‘higher level’. It’s a pain in the ass.”

  “Yeah, I know that feeling,” Yuel nodded. He had plenty of such experiences while grinding in Casual mode. He only started making real progress once Lars and Julia joihe effort. If he tinued grinding alo would have taken him a long time to hit Lv.50. In fact, he might have quit the game before reag that point.

  “Okay, Lv.30 is fine, I guess” Yuel ceded. “But, we shouldn’t give them a free pass. We o hold at least a minimal test to firm their motivation and see serious they are about the game.”

  “Something like an interview?”

  “I suppose. Maybe py a match or two together to get a feel for how they carry themselves.”

  “Sounds like a hassle if we have to do it for every single didate.”

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Vi said. “Remember, st year we only got two female didates. Who knows how many we’re getting this year? Might as well be zero.”

  “Hey, don’t jinx it,” Kai grumped.

  “I think Vi is onto something,” Yuel said. “It might be premature to discuss the sele process now. Let’s see how many students actually apply and then make our decision.”

  “Fair enough,” Kai nodded.

  With that, the judgment ostponed until week. The group finished polishing the registration form and pyed a few Ranked matches together, then called it a day.

  Will any girls apply to the Cssmancers club? Will any of them be skilled enough to get Yuel’s approval? Only time will tell.