Reuz suggested there was a culprit among them. Somebody who itted a grave mistake that pyed a big role ieam’s defeat.

  Yet, the criminal chose to keep their silence for now.

  My, don’t tell me you want us to spill it for you? otioned his head, urging the culprit to speak up. , admit it a’s move on.

  I know, but… Sonya chewed her lips.

  There was no escape, she khat much. If she doesn’t speak up, then somebody else will. Or, if nobody does, theire team will be criticized. There was no way out of this predit.

  heless, admitting that she itted that unintelligent mistake was just too painful. She was not supposed to be the kind of pyer who was swayed by a sense of pride, yet the mistake she itted was ily a result of it.

  Data was supposed to be everything. Data and data alone revealed all the objective facts about everything. It’s what allowed Sonya to make the most reliable and optimal analysis.

  All of Sonya’s decisions had to be backed up by hard, cold data. There was no pce for her to i her emotions or opinions into the matter. At least, there shouldn’t have been...

  I khat Stratus is strong, the data said as much. But even so, in this game, I...

  She uimated Stratus, no two ways about it. Despite having all the data at hand and analyzing it tless times, Sonya heless went ahead and uimated these petent pyers. She allowed her emotions to triumph over her reason.

  Because seriously, these memes are just... Sonya grimaced. She had trouble admitting her mistake even now because of how dumb the whole ordeal was.

  No matter how much the data suggested that Stratus could py well with unventional tactics, Sonya could n herself to believe that these deplorable “memes” could do any real harm to the Leopards.

  Of course, it’s not like she willingly chose to lower her guard against these memes. Sonya had no iion of going easy on her foes no matter how much she pitied their terrible picks.

  But, this was the petitive se. Evei sign of mental weakness could lead to a disaster, and that’s exactly what happeo Sonya.

  I don’t think I was desding, at least not on purpose. I just...

  She just... what, exactly? Why didn’t she py safer back then? Especially, after Cato had already warned everybody that a gank was ing.

  Sonya had all the data in hand, yet she deemed it alright to remain in the middle of the ne back then. It’s as if she couldn’t even fathom the idea of any serious harm ing her way.

  But, why? Why did she assume such a nonsensical thing? Did she have any data to support a terrible hypothesis like that? No, she definitely didn’t.

  Back then, same as Cato, Sonya had no idea whie the enemy will target with their gank. There were some gouments against Stratus targeting Top, but those were just that - arguments. They couldn’t be used for formal proof. Sonya couldn't write “QED” at the end there.

  A, in the heat of the moment, she found herself trusting that baseless proof. In the back of her head, she allowed herself to uimate her foes. “They probably won’t target Top. And even if they do, they won’t aplish much. Their lineup is a joke.”

  That small pse in logic led Sonya to her death and subsequently resulted in the downfall of the eeam. Her death graratus unstoppable momentum which they rode all the way to victory.

  Yes, I’ve already figured all that out by myself... Sonya had more than enough time tret her mistakes while she waited for her revival. The situation forced her to sit there and watch her small mistake snowball into swallowing the entire game.

  So, she was definitely aware of the crimes she itted, but…

  Do I have to say it out loud? Right now? Sonya ched her fists. Coach is being as merciless as always...

  She really wao postpohis discussion for another day but Ruez had no iion of allowing that. So, Sonya couldn’t run away from fag her embarrassing mistake even though she had already learned her lesson.

  “It was my mistake...” Sonya finally spoke up. “You must be referring to the time when the enemy gaop and killed me, right? I wasn’t careful enough back there.”

  “Correct.” Ruez nodded in satisfa. “Judging by your face, I tell you’ve already analyzed that blunder and reached some clusions.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Very well, then we’ll leave it at that.” Ruez let her off the hook this time. But, it’s not because he was trying to be “nice” or “fiving”.

  She’s a smart girl with her own sense of pride. Ruez thought. I’m sure she’s already beating herself up over this mistake, so o criticize her any further for now. We’ll address this properly during the match review, anyway.

  The goal of this lecture wasn’t to bash the pyers. There was no poiing them down after they have already suffered a crushi. Pressing them any further might make them lose their fighting spirits.

  They still had 3 mames to py, so they had to stay strong. There’ll be more than enough time to tear them apart during the official match review.

  For now, Ruez thought. All I want to see is that they realize their mistakes, admit them, and uand how to move forward from here.

  “There were a few more pys that weren’t up to your usual standard,” Ruez said. “For example, the way Matt focused the Berserker in Mid instead of targeting higher priority targets.”

  “That’s...” Matthew shifted his eyes away. “It was a hectic situation and the Berserker was close by, so I just attacked the first target within arm’s reach.”

  “Is that really so?” Ruez asked. “That doesn’t sound like you. One of your stro points is how you stay calm no matter what happens around you.”

  “Eh, I’m only human, right? I also panietimes.”

  “Is that so.” Ruez didn’t seem vinced but he didn’t have a good line of questioning to pursue here. After all, that assault on Mid was indeed a py that came out of the blue and shocked everybody, especially the pyers in Mid.

  “Regardless,” Ruez tinued. “The fact you panicked shows that you weren’t your usual self back there.”

  “Well, it was one hell of a surprise attack…”

  “True, but still,” Ruez insisted. “Normally, you wouldn’t be bothered by something like that. This means you weren’t expeg much from your oppos, were you? That’s why the attack surprised you so much.”

  “I guess so,” Matthew answered ambiguously. That’s not really it, but whatever. It’s easier to just roll with this expnation.

  Then again, what did Matthew actually try to aplish back there wheacked Vi? Holy, he couldn't even ahat for sure.

  I guess was trying to assess my feelings toward him? Yeah, that makes no sethew shrugged. I wouldn’t know how to expin any of this shit even if I wao.

  Somebody ieam sensed Matthew’s iurmoil and decided to step in.

  "To be fair," Cato said. "It was hard to think straight in that situation for me as well. I don't know about Matt, but when the Aqua showed up out of nowhere - my brain just short-circuited for a moment there. I had no idea what’s the right thing to do.”

  "Same." Matthew successfully caught the boo threw his way. “I was also at a loss for a moment there because of how absurd the whole thing was. You really ’t pare it tur sario.”

  "Hmm. Is that so." Ruez crossed his arms and eyed the two suspects. "Alright, let's leave it at that for now. We'll analyze this py in more depth during the match review."

  Phew, safe. Cato breathed in relief. Sorry Coach, but this seems personal for Matt. So, it’s best to not pressure him on this topic for now, especially not after we've lost a game.

  Perhaps Ruez picked up on some of that during the interrogation and that's why he didn't press any further. Or, maybe he really fell for Cato's excuse. Either way, the coach left the topic alone and moved on.

  Up until now, they’ve only discussed the past. They touched upon the various mistakes they made during the game and that’s it.

  , it was time to discuss the future. How the Leopards should mentally prepare themselves for the game…?

  DarkestCymore