“What I told Lars applies to everybody here,” Yuel said. “We’ve pretty much pyed all our cards in this scrimmage, so you expect all our future oppos to know everything we’re going t to the table. So, it’s a good idea to innovate some of yamepy before the match.”

  “But,” Kai interjected. “The same way they gonna know our tech, we also gonna know their tricks. They get our repys and we get theirs.”

  “Correct,” Yuel agreed. “Especially, a lot of data should be avaible on the Leopards because their tradition is to scrimmage against every team in the region.”

  “Every team!? For real!?” Luke jumped. “Man, these guys don’t skip leg day.”

  “Yes. they’re quite busy. They’ll have their first scrimmage in two days, and then another one a week and a half after that. So, we’ll have two of their matches to study before fag them, whereas they’ll only get to see och of ours”

  “Information advantage!” Vi pumped his fist. “I love the sound of that! The underdog shall triumph over the regional champion thanks to the power of information!”

  “That’s only provided they’ll actually show all their cards iwo games,” Yuel said. “They have a big club, so they rotate many different pyers for these scrimmages. I’ve studied them st year, so I know a few things about how their coach operates.”

  The Leopards had the biggest middle school club in the region because their school treated it as a prestigious sports club. Their club was far superior to the rest of the Cssmancers clubs in the region, so much that it was the only club with a professional coach.

  Sihe school passionately supported the club and urged students to join, naturally the club housed many pyers every year As such, the Leopards had the luxury to rotate through many different pyers across their many scrimmages.

  And, that’s exactly what their coach did. Instead of making the Leopards’ first-string py through all the games, the coach ofteher pyers fill in every now and then.

  “Based on what I observed st year,” Yuel expined. “They start out most games with their first-string. Then, after the first couple of games, their coach makes a call.”

  If the Leopards’ first-string overwhelmed the enemy, then it was time to rotate pyers around. Essentially, such pos lost their rights to pete against the Leopards’ best. Such was the iable fate of many teams in the region. Most of them only sted for 2~3 games before being deemed unworthy.

  In fact, in Stratus’ case, the call was usually made after a single game. That’s all it took to vihe Leopards that Stratus was no petition for them.

  StormBlitz was one of the few to sistently earn the right to fight until the very end. Last year, they held their ground against the Leopards’ first-string during the entire scrimmage and even won. Though, they ultimately lost at the regionals.

  “So,” Kai said. “If they start subbing different pyers against us, it means they don’t sider us a threat?”

  “At the very least, it means their coach doesn’t sider it necessary to go all out against us to win the scrimmage. So, he’d most likely choose to sub out the first-string in order to minimize the amount of data they show their rivals.”

  “Tch, cocky bastards.” Kai clicked her tongue.

  “Personally,” Vi said. “I believe this is an aerr. Ruez’s part.”

  “Mercy?” Kai raised an eyebrow. “They’re literally making fun of their oppos.”

  “Not at all,” Vi argued. “Mr. Ruez would only ever sub out the first-string when it overwhelms the opposition too much, to the point it’s not even a petition. In other words, only wheher team is pletely, utterly, and thhly crushed.”

  “Okay, so? It doesn’t ge the fact he looks down on that team.”

  “No, no, no, you misuand. He doesn’t look down o all. He masterfully gauges their skill level with the eyes of an experienced veteran and only then makes the appropriate call. That’s because, if the Leopards’ first-string is found too powerful for the eeam, then the scrimmage will lose its value for both sides. The strong won’t get enough challenge, whereas the weak will struggle to learn any valuable lessons from their crushis.”

  “And?” Kai asked. “Are you saying that justifies switg out their best pyers for some sed-string guys? I don’t like that. I rather keep fighting against their main team even if it means losing. What’s the point of fighting their weaker pyers when we have to beat their first-string at the regionals anyway? That’s dumb.”

  “Hmm. Ihat is also true.” Vi nodded. “heless, I cim that’s a mentality you only maintain as a strong pyer from a strohat actually holds a ce of winning. For example, suppose we py against the Leopards a pletely destroyed in the first three games. Would it not be better to lower the difficulty a little at that point?”

  “Hmph. L difficulty is for losers. You gotta keep challenging that Expert difficulty until you nail the perfect score.”

  “As expected from the ironcd amazon.” Vi nodded with a meaningful smile. “heless, I believe my take oopic is far closer to how the average joe would see it. If the team stands no ce, they rather fight the Leopards’ sed-best pyers. This way, both sides will get to experience a fair challehat’ll help them improve their mettle. It’s a win-win for everybody! Indeed, sugenious pnning from Mr. Ruez!”

  “You really like sug up to that guy, huh.” Kai made a face.

  “I admit, I hold admiration toward Mr. Ruez,” Vi said. “He is the only one in the region who agreed to bee a coach for a middle-school Cssmaeam. From what I gathered, most coaches prefer to work with high-schiven the unruly nature of youudents.”

  “I see that. I wouldn’t want to deal with brats either.”

  “However! Mr. Ruez is different. He deemed it necessary to lead the younger geion from an earlier stage of their lives, so he dedicated himself to the task. The man is doing God’s work at the expense of his own life!”

  “A little melodramatic, but I get what you’re saying.” Kai nodded. “So, you admire him for that?”

  “That and much more!” Vi procimed loudly. “His principles and teag teiques deserve endless praise! He evolved the Leopards from a no-eam into the reigning regional champions they’re now! Even if another middle-school coach were to show up in ion, I’m sure they’d struggle to pete against the many aplishments of the genius Mr. Ruez.”

  “Well,” Yuel interjected. “I don’t mind you being a fanboy, but you have to look at things objectively.”

  “Meaning?” Viilted his head.

  “There might be some goodwill in Ruez’s iions wheates pyers during scrimmages. Maybe he really wants to keep the petition fair and challenging for both sides. But, you ’t deny the fact these rotations are also very ve for the Leopards. The fewer opportuhe first-strio show its full power on stage, the harder it is to gather data on them.”

  “That is also correct,” Vi ceded. “However, I cim that’s a sedary sideration at best. If Mr. Ruez truly wished to hide the first-string, he wouldn’t issue so many scrimmages for the team. After all, his principle is to hold a scrimmage against every team in the region. That does not sound like the as of somebody who is trying to be secretive, does it?”

  “You’re right about that, I’ll give you that much. But, this is yet another example of a ‘goodwill’ routihat bes the Leopards too.”

  “How so?”

  “Pying against many different teams has its own bes. For o pretty much guarahat the Leopards will bee the first seed at the regionals. Even if they happen to lose a couple of scrimmages, it will barely hurt their overall standing. These few losses will be a negligible pert from the total number of matches they py.”

  “But, didn’t they only get 4th seed st year? They suffered mas. The big number of scrimmages they’ve gohrough definitely pyed against them that year”

  “I suspect that’s iional,” Yuel said. “They probably wao avoid fag StormBlitz at the finals.”

  Last year, StromBlitz’s first-string triumphed over the Leopards’ first-string in the scrimmage. However, it wasly smooth sailing for StormBlitz. They only won because the scrimmage ended up being a long, drawn-out fight.

  At first, StormBlitz was losing and struggled to adapt to the enemy. However, little by little, they started gaining momentum and turhings around.

  It came as no surprise that the StormBlitz of that year was a slow-starter, given it had adaptive te-game pyers like Aron and Ellen oeam. Both of them were at their stro after they’ve thhly destructed their foes, and doing so usually took a while against strong oppos.

  OormBlitz finished adapting, they went on a winning streak and ultimately defeated the Leopards. That must’ve left quite the impression on Ruez. He probably figured it was best to avoid meeting StormBlitz at the finals, which was a best-of-five match.

  The rest of the tour was best-of-three matches, so the Leopards had a very high ce of winning there. As such, it was very much possible the Leopards went on a losing streak in the following scrimmages in order to lower their seed all the way down to 4th. The 4th seed was guarao run into the 1st seed at the semi-finals, and that’s exactly where the Leopards elimiormBlitz from the tour.

  “So,” Yuel said. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but I find it hard to believe Ruez is the ‘holy man’ you think he is. He’s a shrewd coao doubt about it. Though, personally, I respect that part of him.”

  “I see, I see. A shrewd strategist respects his kin.” Vi smiled meaningfully. “Very well. I cede that your spiracy theory has some footing. I won’t deny that it’s definitely possible and not out of the question that Mr. Ruez occasionally pulls some strings to secure the Leopards’ victory.”

  “You bet he does,” Luke said. “The school gave that bruh a huge club and all them nice ditions. They gonna fire his ass if he ’t at least take regionals, haha.”

  “Sounds abht,” Yuel agreed. “I don’t know the man personally, so I ’t firm or deny how much he cares about ‘fair’ scrimmages. But what I do know, is that he absolutely wants to see the Leopards take the regionals every year and he’s willing to use any ons at his disposal to that end. So, with that in mind, it’s only natural to assume he rotates pyers during scrimmages to be the Leopards as well, not only to hold ‘fair’ matches.”

  “Very well,” Vi ceded. “I still believe in Mr. Ruez’s good iions but your hypothesis sounds pusible too. Either way, we clude that the Leopards won’t necessarily reveal all their cards iwo scrimmages we’ll get to witness.”

  “Correct. We’ll most likely uncover mahings once we face them ourselves. So, in that sehe enemy will most likely have the information advahat is, unless we develop neons for the scrimmage.”

  Yuel g every club member in order, making sure they were all attentive for this final part of the meeting.

  “First, I suggest you all work on the problems I’ve presented here today. After that, it’ll be a good idea to start thinking about how you improve your performance further. Maybe there’s a meical skill you polish ood css you get more experieh. There are many ways to go about this. If you feel like you’re stuck, it’s always a good idea to discuss this with the rest of the club.”

  “You mean, discuss it with you.” Luke snickered. “Ya know, I just realized something. You’ve beeuring our asses for hours now, but I haven’t seen the part where we roast you. You ain’t gonna pretend you pyed perfectly, are you?”

  “Not at all,” Yuel answered. “I sidered adding the critique I have toward myself to the meeting, but there’s too much of it and most of it is very high-level. Not to mention, it’d be difficult to present these mispys via footage.”

  “Heh, sounds like excuses to me. You just don’t wanna be roasted, admit it.”

  “Hmph. Very well.” Yuel pulled out a stack of papers from his bag. “If you insist, we go over my mispys as well. It should take about 4 hours.”

  “What the heck?” Luke flipped through the stack of papers. There were loads of timestamps and notes about many different pys. It was kinda like the tents of today’s meeting, but...

  “Bruh, is this the Bible?” Luke made a face. “Look at all this text! There’s o it! Stahp it! Stahp!”

  There were walls upon walls of text under every single py, analyzing the pys with unbelievable depth.

  “Dang, I bet ya really like Geometry, doncha?” Luke cracked a ugh as he found some pages with plicated diagrams. Of course, he uood these weren’t just some abstract ass geometric shapes like the b ohey teach at school. Nah, these were all legit drawings of map positions and team formations.

  “Man, maybe I should’ve listened a little harder duriry lessons because I ’t make head or tails of this, haha.”

  “It has nothing to do with Geometry,” Yuel said. “I doubt anybody here will be able to uand these diagrams unless I expin ecififormation I was trying to present there. But, if you insist that we should discuss my mispys too, the me teach you.”

  “Haha, fun...” Luke realized he stepped on a ndmihis bruh is a mad stist! I shouldn’t have said anything! RIP.

  “Haha, just give it a rest, dude.” Lars patted Luke on the shoulder. “Yuel is always harsh as he everybody, but that’s actually just his ‘nice’ mode’”

  “Fo real? You telling me he’s holding back when he roasts us at like 1000 degrees?”

  “Yep, he do way worse. Like, way, way, WAY worse. But, he holds back to not make us feel like total scrubs.”

  “Welp, I already feel like a total scrub after today’s review so thanks for nothing I guess, haha. So, like, when does he get all serious?”

  “Usually when dude criticizes himself,” Lars expined. “If ya think he was harsh on anybody here today, then just imagine he’s like ten times harsher on himself. He’s that kind of dude.”

  “You kidding me...” Luke g the stack of paper again. All these text walls and diagrams must’ve taken a long ass time to make. And, they all seem to be critiques of Yuel’s own shot-calls. There was an ih analysis of every single py, c everybody’s positions, mentioning the various important factors to sider, and going over the different options Yuel could’ve gone for, including pros and s.

  Bruh legit sat down for HOURS to write this HUGE self-hate Bible. Luke smiled awkwardly. There are papers, papers, and more papers of mistakes he made. This is insanity!

  “So?” Yuel asked. “Do you wao discuss my own mistakes as well? I haven’t finished analyzing all of them thhly but there’s enough material for a couple of hours.”

  “No, no! It’s alright!” Luke replied in a hurry. “Fet I asked, man. Please spare me the lectures. I hate Geometry!”

  Everybody ughed at Luke’s nonsense. With that, the match review came to an end. They discussed many things here today and everybody found at least one area they had to improve on during the uping weeks.

  For most people here, it was their first time sitting through such a long and intense Cssmancers meeting, so the club agreed to disband for today without any training. It was best for everybody to go home, take a rest, and refle what they’ve learned here today.

  Of course, Yuel and Lars had every iion to do their after-school training routine as usual. Yuel was already used to straining his brain for long periods of time, whereas Lars... Well, that goof probably didn’t even use much of his brain in the first pce, so he was fine.

  “I present thee the blue key that’ll lead you to the sealed records of your achievements!” Vi passed around a link to the folder in which he stored all of today’s videos. His mom had a premium at for a lot of cloud ste, so he borrowed some of that space for his recs. And, turned out there were additional, yet unseen, videos in that same folder.

  “Behold my videocraft!” Vi made noise. “I ripped apart the main video, cutting it down into smaller bits for your venience. Ead every one of you find a video dedicated personally to them.”

  “That’s really ve,” Yuel said. He didn’t even request such a thing, yet Vi went the extra length to ensure everybody could make the most out of this match review. This guy is usually such a but he pulls through when it ts the most. And, that’s why I need him to help me one more time so we this match review iruest sense.

  There was one club member who wasn’t preseoday and was absent back during the scrimmage as well. One elusive club member who dodged all the harsh criticism he undoubtedly deserved.

  Why was Being a free pass for all of this? Vi surely khe answer.

  Enough is enough. Yuel decided. It’s time to get to the bottom of this problem.

  Either Ben art of this club or he wasn’t. This team was aiming to win the regionals, so they needed any mahey could get their hands on. As such, the situation with Ben had to be resolved ASAP.

  “Well then!” Vi said loudly after notig Yuel’s lingering gaze. “Excuse me, but I have to run today! Indeed, I have a lot of work in my packed schedule! Farewell, my friends! Let us meet again someday in this Den of Undiscovered Potential!”

  Vi paced toward the exit with quick strides, almost as if running. No, in fact, he was running away! But, Yuel repared for the possibility.

  “Wait,” Yuel grabbed Vi’s shirt from behind. “We still have one unfinished business.”

  Yuel wasn’t going to let this topic slip away. Not this time.

  DarkestCymore