CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! Thunderous appuse roared from the audience.

  “Whoa, this is harsh, haha...” Ronald cracked a dry ugh as he g the audience. “I mean, I know that most of these guys are probably not here to watch us win, but damn. I thought we were more popur than that, haha...”

  “Hmph.” William scoffed. “They're just celebrating the fact the underdog won, nothing more. It’s not like they’re happy about our defeat per se.”

  “Yet, they do s us ily,” Sonya said. “Essentially, they’re saying it was a miraculous win by Stratus and that we, as the supposed regional champions, messed up big time.”

  “Hmph. You’re free to interpret it in any way you want,” William said. “I wouldn’t take it so seriously, personally.”

  He said that yet his fists were ched underh the table. Even though he uood that the appuse rimarily aimed at Stratus and that it didn’t io attack the Leopards, it didn’t make him feel any less irritated by the situation.

  So, this is house sounds to the top dog when they lose, huh.

  Until today, William had never experienced such a situation. In most tennis tours he found himself as an underdog, so there wasn’t much reason to cp for the winner when Wilim lost.

  However, every on a while, he successfully toppled the crowd favorite trary to everybody’s expectations. Sometimes this earned him loud appuse, celebrating that his hard work bore fruit. Frankly, moments like that felt great for him as the underdog.

  But, what about the crowd favorite who lost the match? How did he feel about that appuse? William never bothered asking such questions because it wasn't his .

  But this time, he found himself on the opposite side of this sario. His team was the crowd favorite ahey lost terribly to a barely funal meme team. And so, the crowd’s loud appuse no longer invoked any positive feelings.

  On the trary, it felt as if everybody was sneering at the “champions” who couldn’t eve the “weakest team in the region”. It was a truly aggravating experience, so much so that it felt reasoo ht ban this kind of behavior during petitions.

  Well, I personally hahis, but I’m not so sure about the others. William g his teammates in order. They’re not looking good. This might affeorale for the uping games.

  The appuse washed over everybody like a destructive tsunami. Nobody could possibly stay indifferent to it.

  Ronald was f himself to maintain a smile but that smile was fragile. As much as he cimed that he ehe thrill of this challenge, he definitely didn’t imagihe team could possibly lose any games here today. That surely must have ged his entire perception from “fun” to “aggravating”.

  Unlike him, Sonya didn’t even try to hide her displeasure. She knotted her brows and wore a stern expression. “I ’t believe we’ve actually lost to this game” was written all over her face

  Much of what transpired in this game must have gone against Sonya’s uanding of prame theory. This game denied many of the things that Sonya believed were absolute about Cssmancers.

  As for Matthew, it was difficult to tell what he was thinking about this turn of events. He rarely expressed aions beyond calling things a “drag”, so if he had any strong feelings about this defeat, then he was bottling them very vingly.

  And then, finally, there was Cato. As the captain of the team, he must’ve felt the blow strohan anybody. Especially, sidering he promised the team an overwhelming victory in this sed game.

  And, he probably meant every word of it. Cato really po go against his usual twisted nature and this game properly without dragging things out.

  It was a serious promise that lifted everybody’s spirits after the previous game. It reassured them that Stratus only came close to winning the first game due to Cato’s unnecessary stalling.

  And, this sed game was supposed to prove that. By winning vingly without any stalling, the Leopards should have proven to everyohat Stratus was no match for them.

  It was reassuring at first, but now it’s ing back to bite us. William frowned. I’d be lying if I said I’m pletely ued by any of this. We came into this game with high morale and a lot of vi, so that’s why this result hurts as much as it does.

  To add insult to injury, their oppos were using aremely off-meta lineup, almost a ughable meme. Yet, Stratus utilized these unventional tools almost perfectly, kig the Leopards off the high horse.

  And boy, what a high horse it was. Falling to the ground from that height almost crushed their souls. Yes, it was that painful, even for William.

  And, these were just the members’ feelings. How did Cato, the captain, feel about all this? How was he going to deal with this depressing oute?

  I have to say, I don’t envy him eve right now. William thought. It’s during situations like this that I’m reminded of why I passed on the opportunity to bee the captain. I wouldn’t have wao be in his shht now.

  Was Cat enough of a man to withstand this pressure? Or, will he crumble along with the rest of the team?

  The fate of today’s scrimmage might as well be resting on his shoulders right now. If he succumbs to despair like the rest of the team, then he’ll drag down the morale along with him. The team will start underperf left and right, leading to terrible results.

  Well, I suppose that subbing Jin in would save our arses if push es to shove. William thought. But, I’m sure nobody wants things to reach that point.

  Adding Young-Jin to the roster was as good as admitti. It was a st resort that should only be employed against the stro of teams, in situations where victory wasn’t assured. It’s not something that’s supposed to happen against a team like Stratus.

  As, at this rate, the ces of Young-Jin subbing in were only increasing. In fact, the guy will surely voice his displeasure with the team’s performance they e off the stage. He had an almious obsession with “saving face”, so he probably saw this defeat as an absolute disgrace.

  But in the end, whether any of that es to pass to Cato. If he crumbles apart like the rest of the team, then nobody will have the willpower to stop Young-Jin from f his way in.

  Perhaps, some team members would even find relief in that. With Jin oeam, victory will be all but assured.

  But, was that really something anybody here wanted? No, of course not. Relying on Young-Jin was as good as using hacks in a game.

  The Leopards came here today to fight and win on their ows. They didn’t want to coast to victory on the back of some monstrous Korean pyer.

  Everybody here was a good pyer, therefore they should have no problem seizing victainst a team like Stratus.

  But, somebody has to reassure the team that this is still the case. William thought. you do that, captain?

  William has been staring at Cato for a while now, practically drilling a hole through the guy. So far, there was no hint of the captain taking any a.

  CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

  Amidst the thunderous appuse and the team’s dejected looks, ained silent in his seat. He stared vatly at the s in front of him.

  DEFEAT

  The red words were still smeared on his s, refusing to fade away. They insist to remind Cato that his team, the supposed “regional champions”, had just suffered an embarrassi.

  This is... Cato chewed his lips, unsure how tanize his messy thoughts.

  CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! The noise didn’t help him either. In fact, it felt like it was knog on his head, trying to crush his skull.

  Heh, you lot must be thinking that this is some juitertai, aren’t you? Cato tried to form his usual ical smile but he struggled to do even that. My, I ’t even put on one of my fake smiles? What is the world ing to? It looks like I’m more shaken by this than I thought...

  No matter the obstacle, no matter the magnitude of the defeat - Cato was always supposed to maintain a smile. As long as he smiled, he could fool himself into thinking he wasn’t bothered by any of it.

  What’s more, smiling in the face of defeat often irritated the winner. It usually ahem or creeped them out. It was usually such a delightful sight~

  Yet, Catled to put on such a smile at the momee how important it was.

  This isn’t just about fooling myself this time. Cato g the rest of the team. This time, I o fool a bunch of people all at once.

  As expected, a heavy atmosphere was weighing down oire team. Frustration was eating away at everybody’s souls amidst the loud appuse.

  CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! The people from the audience just refused to shut up. It felt like this appuse has been going on for ay and more. There was o it.

  CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! The loud noises hammered on everybody’s heads. Everybody lowered their heads to some degree or another, as if uo bear the heavy hits of the audience. Morale was at ro.

  But, I’m not allowed fall down like this. I’m the captain, the overlord of this little army. Cato asserted. Normally, it’s a cool position of authority that gives me many privileges, but sometimes it es with caveats like this, too. In dire situations like this, I’m the one who’s obligated to stay on his feet and exhibit fidence, or else I won’t be worthy of wearing the mantle of a captain.

  Last year, Jennifer (boBreaker) in particur excelled at jumping ba her feet from any misfortuhe girl could vierally anybody, even a random passerby, that her team was absolutely going to grasp victory.

  At first, she did it as the captain of the sed-string, and ter she tinued doing that even after she joihe first-string. Jennifer’s vi in victory bordered on madness, but it did a great job of boosting the team’s morale through the roof

  Likewise, Tim (Fenrir) was just as good at keeping his teammates on their feet. Though, in his case, it’s more like he was a fearless beast who couldn’t even prehend the cept of being overwhelmed by the enemy.

  Yes, Tim was the type to instill terror in his foes, not the other way around. So, uhe leadership of su unshakable monster, it was no surprise that the rest of the team was filled with fidence.

  Then, what about Cato? Could he also put on such a strong front in order to reassure his teammates that everything was alright? Was he also the same kind of strong leader that everybody could rely on?

  Sadly, I’m not as good as these lunatics. itted. But, in the same way Jenny had her fanatic belief in victory and Tim was a fearless mohere are some things that only I do.

  And, one of those things was the ability to smile no matter the circumstances and to spout pyful nonseo alleviate the atmosphere. This was an armor Cato created for himself many years ago, back when he was suffering mas against stronger chess pyers.

  Out of the many g methods he tried out, smiling and ag pyful were the most effective. Even after a crushi, being all smiles allowed Cato to psychologically retaliate against the winner and undermiheir victory.

  And, that’s what I have to do here as well. Cato pressed his hands against the table and pushed himself upwards.

  His body felt like lead. Either he weighed a ton all of a sudden, or his arms had nth in them.

  Regardless, after a short struggle, Cato successfully rose up. But, as he tried to gain stable footing, the noise from the crowd almost knocked him ain.

  CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! The loudness was threatening to beat him down, but Cato ehe humiliation and straightened his back.

  My, this is sure harder than I expected... Cato twisted his lips over and over, trying to form the smile he wanted.

  It was supposed to be the ever-familiar smug smile. He had do tless times before. A, at the moment, Cato found it difficult to replicate.

  heless, after enough attempts, he succeeded in recreating the smile. He felt that his lips finally curved just the way he wahem to. Slowly but surely, he utting his usual armainst the suffog atmosphere.

  But, that alone wasn’t enough. This time, the goal wasn’t just to irritate the winner.

  The entire audience was on Stratus’s side, celebrating the unlikely victory. In other words, Cato’s “enemies” were the crowd itself.

  Therefore, just smiling a little wasn’t going to ter this powerful force. Likewise, it wasn't going to be enough to lift the team's spirits.

  I have to make it clear to everybody that this game’s result is not a big deal. Cato looked at his own palms. I really do it, though?

  Iy, he robably more frustrated than anybody else about this oute. He was the captain who promised the team victory, reassuring them that Stratus was easy prey as long as Cato didn't drag the game out for his persoertai.

  But now, that very speech came back to bite him.

  As promised, Cato restrained himself and didn’t stall at all. In fact, he didn’t get an opportunity to do so, not with how aggressively the enemy had been pying.

  So, the Leopards couldn't bme the oute of this game on Cato. They felt as if they had lost this match fair and square.

  Furthermore, this oute cast a shadow of doubt on the result of the previous game. It surely made some of the members wonder whether they truly stomped Stratus in the first game.

  And now, Cato had to do something about all this mess. He had to act the part of the captain and reassure the team once again that everything was fine.

  If he fails to do so, theeam will end up carrying these scars into the games as well. Surely, the orale and the ive thoughts will make them underperform.

  At this rate, losing to Stratus might end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more the team members will keep doubting their own skills, the less likely they’ll be to utilize them fully.

  To ter all of that, Cato joined his palms together. This was the only solution that came to mind.

  Cp.

  Cp.

  Cp.

  He joined in on the audience's appuse...

  DarkestCymore