Monday arrived. It was the day of the match review.

  The night before, Yuel rehearsed the presentation he prepared until te into the night. He memorized all the major details from the Taurus scrimmage and in which order he wao go over them.

  There were many things to discuss. Hopefully, everybody will stay attehroughout the ehing.

  The piled video should help with that cause. It’ll shove everybody’s mistakes right into their faces, to make sure the problems were impossible to miss nore.

  On top of that, it’ll be great material for them to review on their own in their free time. Truly, this one video will py an enormous role iire process. That is, provided Vi fi on time...

  “I’m terribly sorry!” Vi opened with this intense apology. “I couldn’t finish it in time!”

  “Wha-!?” Yuel jumped. “But, you said you’ll have it done.”

  “I’m well aware of the pact I made. Therefore, I must repent by swallowing a thousand needles! I’m guilty as charged! End me now!”

  “Ugh.” Yuel gulped.

  This was bad. Terrible, in fact. Without the video, the match review was doomed!

  How was Yuel going to hold the presentation without the finished video!? Everything he prepared for today was uhe assumption he’ll have the finished video at his disposal!

  No, wait. Calm down. Yuel took a deep breath.

  Yesterday, when he left Vi’s house, more than half of the video was already done. So, it’s not like everything was lost. In the worst-case sario, they’ll just have to split the review into two sessions.

  Or, if too much is missing, ostpohe review by one day. Though, I rather strike while the iron is hot. After so many days, everybody might fet what they experienced on stage ba Friday. As such, it was crucial to deliver the matalysis as soon as possible.

  “So, how much of the tent is missily?”

  “Most of it.” Vi hung his head.

  “... excuse me?”

  “Almost the entire video! It’s pure sile has nothing!”

  “What?”

  “The narration! It’s not there!” Vi facepalmed with both hands in a dramatic fashion. “My grand pn was to narrate ead every segment of the video, but time is a cruel mistress. It didn’t slow down to allow me to do so, not even for a moment. As a result, we’re left with a silent, raw video. I’m terribly sorry!”

  “Wait, fet the narration. What about the actual tent? Which parts you didn’t put in?”

  “Hm? What are you talking about?” Vi cocked his head. “Obviously, I’ve finished piling all the parts you requested. However, the narration and music! They’re not there! I’m terribly ashamed!”

  “...........” Yuel felt like smag this . The guy almost gave him a heart attack with that dramatization. “So, only the narration is missing?”

  “Yes, and some of the music. If you wish to call me a traitor, I’ll uand. After all, I’ve failed you!”

  “No, not really.” Yuel shrugged. “I never expected any narration or music to begin with. I just needed you te the recs in the right order. I trust you did that?”

  “But of course. I followed your instrus to a T. I also piled a separate video for each pyer, to make it easier for them to find their own pys.”

  “That’s great thinking,” Yuel said. “This way, even zy bums like Luke won’t have an excuse.”

  “Indeed, indeed.”

  Yuel opehe videos on the club’s old-gen PCs. The PCs were old, but they were more than enough to run this presentation.

  In addition, they ected a projector to the Pe of the few bes of their basement club was the easy access to all the random things lying around, such as that projector. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a white s to projeto, but the white walls of the basement sufficed.

  One by ohe club members came in. Kai, Lars, Luke, and Nia. Everybody else was here, except for the usual suspect.

  “Looks like Ben won’t be ing,” Vi informed after cheg his text messages.

  “Again!?” Yuel ranted. “Is he a member of this club or what?”

  “Well, Ben’s situation is a little...”

  “He didn’t e to the scrimmage and now he’s skipping the match review. Why are we allowing all of this!?”

  Yuel was so busy with the match review over the weekend that he pletely fot about Ben. But, this was a big topic.

  Ben skipped on the club’s first scrimmage. Skipping practice was ohing, but skipping the scrimmage as well? And, evech review? That was too much.

  As far as Yuel was ed, Ben couldn’t be sidered a real part of the club at this point. That guy arasite occupying a spot that could be given to someone more worthy. This couldn’t be tolerated!

  “Rex, dude.” Lars massaged Yuel’s shoulders. “Ya stressing yourself out before we even started. Ya got a meeting to run first, remember? Let’s talk about Ben after that.”

  “Guh.” Yuel realized everybody’s eyes were on him. They were all waiting for him to start the match review. “You’re right. My bad. Let’s get started then.”

  The pressure must be getting to him. He rehearsed the tents of this presentation many times over the weekend, but delivering them in front of a real audience was a different story altogether. The nerves kicked in before he even noticed.

  It’s okay. I’ve dohis before. Yuel took a deep breath.

  By Aron’s demand, Yuel delivered a couple of presentations like this ba StormBlitz. Looking ba it, that was an unusual responsibility to p a freshman.

  Most likely, Aron was setting Yuel up as a vice-captain already back then. As, it was a responsibility Yuel abandoned in order to stand right here, in this godforsaken basement.

  But, there were s. Stratus was definitely a team ridden with problems, but it was a small ueam where everybody hanged out together. Yes, everybody, save for the one frequent troublemaker...

  Okay, fet Ben. Yuel shook his head. This isn’t the time for that. I’ll make sure to interrogate Vi after the presentation. For now, I have to trate och review.

  “Thanks for ing,” Yuel started out.

  “Haha, what is this, a seminar?” Luke ughed.

  “Shush.” Kai shot the guy a look.

  “Thanks,” Yuel said quietly and tinued. “Vi and I put together this presentation and video. You’ll each get a copy of it, as well as a personalized video featuring your own pys. So, I expect you to review them on your own afterward.”

  “Geh, sounds like homework.” Luke made a face.

  “Now then,” Yuel tinued as if he didn’t hear that. “The purpose of this match review is to analyze the major pys we made, fog mainly on the mispys that could’ve been avoided. Keep in mind that I’m not doing this to shame anybody, but t these pys to everybody’s attention and to make sure we learn from them.”

  “In short,” Luke said. “Ya gonna make us look like Bronze pyers, ain’t ya?”

  “It might end up looking that way, so I feel I should apologize ahead of time. I know I be a little brash at times, but really, all I want is t these pys to your attention and help you improve.”

  “Indeed, indeed.” Vi nodded. “Fear not, brave warriors. No matter how mas you see yourself suffer in today’s show, you must always remember it’s not the end of the world! What’s done is done. Learn from your history in order to create a better tomorrow!”

  “Heh, I bet he spent all night ing up with that one.” Luke snickered.

  “Haha, probably.” Lars ughed. “But real talk, my dudes. Don’t worry too much. After you listen to what Yuel has to say, you’ll probably feel like the worst pyers in the world and you’ll regret all yo life decisions.”

  How is that supposed to sole them!? Yuel made a face.

  “But,” Lars tinued. “Just give it a few days to sink in, then you’ll realize everything he said was true and you should learn a lot from it.”

  Not the most encing of introdus but it’s something, I guess. Any iion of extra “energy” was wele here, as Yuel was too stoic for his own good. So, it was good to have loud goofs like Vi and Lars to hype things up.

  “So, let’s begin.”

  For the few hours, he’ll be tearing everybody’s pys to shreds and pointing out their gravest mistakes. Hopefully, everybody will take the criticism the right way and will use it to improve, instead of losing all their fidence...

  DarkestCymore