As Luke ehe waiting room, a mountain of sandwiches greeted him! It was like a party over there!

  "Whoa!" Luke excimed. "Where did all this stuff e from?"

  "It’s Ben's treat," Yuel informed, already with a sandwi hand.

  "Wow, you're da man, Ben!" Luke fshed a smile and rifled through the big sele of sandwiches. "Dang, there are sure lots of options here!"

  "Um, I wasn't sure what everybody likes,” Ben expined. “So, I brought different fvors just in case."

  "Man, this is sure a lot!" The more sandwiches Luke checked out, the more he came to realize the sheer absurdity of these numbers. There were at least 15 sandwiches here, and that's after everybody else have already grabbed a sandwich or two for themselves.

  "How did you even bring all of them here?"

  "Um, in the backpack."

  "ht. Such a b ahat makes perfect sense." Luke wasn’t even sure what he was expeg there. For some reason, he imagined a helicopter that came outta nowhere and raihis huge mountain of sandwiches on them, but reality was often disappointing

  "Well then, I'mma grab this one, and this, and this!"

  "Don't stuff yourself with too much food," Yuel warned. "Eating too much at once will tire you out."

  "Okay, mom." Luke chuckled as he hoarded the three sandwiches that caught his eye.

  For now, he was tent with just g ownership over these treats. Whether or not he’ll gobble all of them at once was a different story.

  I do be hungry, tho. Luke realized that only now, with the food in front of him. So, I think I gonna have at least two of these bad boys!

  He uned the first sandwid stuffed it into his mouth. Hell, it retty dang good!

  "Mwan, thfese arwe hwel fwine!" Luke produced something that vaguely resembled human speech as he munched on the sandwiches.

  These sandwiches were legit good! They looked like your run-of-the-mill sandwiches, but something about them was real gud!

  Am I so hungry that simple sandwiches suddenly taste like some serious gourmet shit? Luke wondered. Nah, no way. These are legit goooood. Like, the tuna itself feels like the regur stuff I think, but this bread is like thid soft. So munchy!

  "This is indeed a splendid work of food craft!" Vi joined in on the hype. "Ben, are you the master chef who crafted these fine pieces of art?"

  "Not all of them," Ben said. "My mom helped out. Holy, I thi a little carried away..." He scratched his pink cheek.

  His mom always insisted that "boys have to eat a lot in order to grow up", and Ben also felt like he had to repay the club for everything they had done for him. So, together, this duo of mother and son ended up produg way more food than necessary.

  "How did you even stuff so many sandwiches in one bag?" Kai asked. "Wasn't it heavy?"

  "Um, a little heavy, yes. But, it wasn't a big deal."

  "You should've told us, dude,” Lars said. “We would've helped ya carry all the goodies."

  "Um, it's okay. I didn't want to bother anybody. Besides, I'm the one who decided t them in the first pce."

  "That doesn't matter," Kai said sternly. "Yht the sandwiches for the club so you should’ve asked us for help."

  Frankly, she robably the st person who had the right to lecture others about asking for help, she uood that as well. But, precisely because she was bad at asking others for help and have been w hard on this front, she felt obligated to lecture Ben about this.

  The two of them were pletely different, yet they were like two sides of the same . Kai didn't like asking others for help because she was too proud and believed she could everything by herself, whereas Ben didn't ask others for help out of shyness and the fear of invenieng others.

  Their reasons were por opposites but the result was the same: they both failed to unicate with their teammates and ended up taking too much burden upon themselves.

  Of course, carrying all these sandwiches alone was a retively harmless example pared to the many troubles Kai caused with her attitude. heless, seeing this was irksome.

  Ben carried this same mentality onto the petitive stage as well, so it was necessary to start w on this problem ASAP.

  As, Rome wasn't built in a day. So, for now, it was only natural for Ben to respond to Kai with his usual shy smile.

  "I just wao help in any way I ," Ben said. "I caused so many problems to the club. I skipped practid even missed the first scrimmage. Any other club would’ve kicked me out a long time ago. I’m really sorry about all that."

  "It wasn't your fault," Kai, asserted. "You had circumstances."

  "Yeah, dude," Lars tuned in. "o beat yourself over that stuff. Nobody thinks any of that was your fault, right, my dudes?"

  Everybody nodded in agreement. If anybody was actually at fault for that i, then it was the rest of the club. They ignored Ben’s situation for way too long.

  Most of them khat something was afoot the eime, but none of them dared to push hard enough to resolve the issue. Things only started moving toward resolution after Yuel got thhly fed up with Ben’s frequent absences.

  So, if anything, the ones who should be repentihe other club members, not Ben. But, the guy was too nice for his own good, so he took all the bme upon himself as usual.

  Man, this is awkward. Luke thought. Like, I’m the only one here who did absolutely nothing to help Ben at all. Granted, it’s not like I knew what was going on, but I had my suspis.

  Ben was a goody-two-shoes and a ky boi to boot, so it was easy to see why bullies would target him. In fact, even in the Cssmancers club, some seniors took advantage of Ben’s good nature and forced him to grind Ranked on their ats and such. It retty disgusting.

  Of course, Luke ook a part in any of that because bullying was for mers, but her did he ever lift a fio help Ben. To keep his life simple, Luke plugged his ears and ignored all that plicated stuff.

  This was how most people respoo situations like this, so it wasn’t a crime. heless, ign acts of bullying always came with a twinge of guilt, especially when Luke personally khe victim.

  “I mean, I gonna enjoy this treat to the fullest regardless,” Luke said. “But, I agree with the cap on this o’s not like that situation was your fault, Ben. So, o feel obligated to ‘repay’ us or anything.”

  “Yeah, exactly,” Lars agreed. “We would’ve totally helped you carry all this stuff if you asked, no problem. We’re all best buddies here.”

  “T-Thank you.” Ben smiled sheepishly.

  With that, the topic died down.

  It was evident that it'll take Ben some more time to overe his past before he starts seeing himself as a "proper" member of the club. His wounds should heal with time, but it was always helpful to remind him that everybody in the club stood on equal footing, including him.

  "I must say," Vi started. "This bread is no oner's bread! It’s so very soft, so very fresh! It ot be a regur product sold on the market. May I know where you have acquired such a legendary item!?"

  "At my parents' shop," Ben expined. "They run a bakery."

  "Oh, of course! How could I fet!?" Vi excimed. "Now, all the dots have finally ected! The great mystery is solved!"

  "Bruh." Luke jabbed. "It should've taken you like 2 seds to figure that out if you knew where his parents work. I didn't, tho."

  In fact, most of the club members didn't. Of course, it's not like they knew everything about each other in general, but this served as proof that most of them didn’t bother iing with Ben enough before. Perhaps, if they got to know him better earlier, then Ben would have had an easier time opening up to them about his problems.

  "A bakery, huh." Luke examihe sandwich with great i, mainly the bread.

  Even though Vi exaggerated as usual with his “legendary item” nonsehere was no denying that this bread was the real deal. It was different from the generic bread sold in supermarkets and such. The bread there never had this level of freshness and kiness.

  "So, you eat gud stuff like this every day?" Luke asked.

  "Um, yes, pretty much," Ben said.

  "Dang, you one lucky son of a gun. Though, I guess that also expins why you're so- Well, ya know, a little round and stuff, haha..."

  It was clear that having free access to such top-tier bread on a daily basis strongly tributed to Ben's physique. Even though Luke was a hardemer, he’d turn into a meta sve in a heartbeat if the meta revolved arouing tasty bread like this for free every day.

  Maybe I’ll drop by this bakery to check out what else they got there. Like thought as he stuffed himself with sandwiches. Actually, wait. These freebies I’m eating right now.... they’re basically advertisements! Oh, snap! How did I fall for this marketing ploy!? Nuuuuuuu!

  In this fashion, everybody enjoyed a delicious and fulfilling treat. It felt like a fitting reward for their hard-earned victory.

  However, amidst the euphoria, one of them still had some s on his mind.

  This is only the first step. Yuel thought as he ched the tasty sandwi his hand. Things will get only harder from here on out.

  Stratus had indeed defeated the regional champions, but only ohe enemy will surely bounce back from this defeat and will return twice as powerful.

  Stratus had to win at least one mame in order to truly establish themselves as a threat. And, it to Yuel to figure out how to increase the team’s ces of getting that sed win...

  DarkestCymore