Geh, I couldn't get the kill... Nia puffed her cheeks. I would have , if it wasn't for that meddling dragon form.

  With the target out of reaia had no choice but to leave the y-handed. And, on the way out, she was shot by criticism.

  "Do you mind expining what exactly were you doing?" Yuel demanded.

  "G-Gufu..."

  "That's not an answer."

  Geh, so I'm not gonna wiggle my way out of this one, am I? Nia grumped. Well, of course not. It's Yuel we're talking about...

  She was half-prepared for this oute all along. It was obvious as day that Yuel will chew her out in case she fails to deliver results.

  I thought I'll dodge all of this if I score a kill, but no dice. Gufu...

  "So?" Yuel asked again. "What was this py supposed to be?"

  "A gank, duh." Nia pyed dumb.

  "Yes, it was a gank. Or at least, it was something that vaguely resembled a gank."

  "Why 'vaguely'?" Nia made a face. "Didn't you see how I snuck up to him? He didn't see it ing at all."

  "Yes, aher did Ben. You didn't bother to inform him or anybody about that little pn of yours."

  "That's..." Nia had against this. The sense of guilt has been needlihe eime. She knew all along that it wasn't ideal to keep hush about this py, but she believed that the end justified the means in this case.

  "Since you kept quiet about the gank," Yuel tinued. "Ben couldn't get there in time to help you secure the kill."

  "I-I'm very sorry," Ben apologized. "If only I realized what was happening sooner..."

  "It wasn't your fault," Yuel said. "Nia was supposed to give you a heads up about her pns."

  "But, I'm oeam, so I see her position at any time,” Ben argued. “I was supposed to notice her approag and respond accly...”

  "That's just how Nia is." Yuel sighed.

  At this point, Yuel had no choice but to e to terms with the fact that Nia was almost supernaturally good at erasing her presence. So good, that eveeammates sometimes fot about her.

  Even I’m a little guilty of it this time. Yuel thought. I was so preoccupied in the hat I couldn't spare a thought to Nia’s position. That's how I only noticed her rotatio was already too te.

  It was a truly peculiar situation. With any other Juhe teammates were expected to be aware of the Jungler’s position almost 100% of the time. However, when it came to Nia, failing to notice her pns ar for the course. She erased her presence from the minds of both allies and enemies alike.

  Yuel was usually able to keep tabs on Nia at all times, but the rest of the team wasn't as profit at that. Therefore, Yuel made it clear that Nia always had to inform the team whenever she nning to gank. But...

  "Why didn't you tell anybody about this gank?" Yuel demanded.

  "I..." Nia opened her mouth and then closed it.

  "You found a great opportunity there,” Yuel tinued. “You two could've verted it into a kill if we phis gank properly. You just had to say the word."

  "I thought the gank might fail if I say something..."

  "That makes no sense. Why would you think such a thing?"

  "Because..." Nia threw an awkward g Ben. And, to make things even more awkward, Ben happeo look at Nia at the time.

  "Ack!" Nia averted her eyes. This has just bee a huimes more awkward...

  "Was it my fault?" Ben asked. "It's because I'm not very good at setting up ganks, isn't it?"

  "Well, kinda..." Nia squirmed. She felt unfortable critig Ben. It's not like he did any of it on purpose, yet there Nia was, bashing the guy like a bully. Gufu...

  "So, let me get this straight," Yuel summarized. "You decided to keep quiet because you were afraid that Ben will ruin the opportunity?"

  "Yeah..." Nia couldn't hide it anymore. "It was a rare opportunity. I’ve been waiting the entire game for this moment, so I had to make it t."

  "And, what exactly made you think that Ben will be unreliable?” Yuel asked. “You didn't seem to have a problem ganking his ne during club practice."

  "Yeah, I usually try to cooperate,” Nia said. “And, that's how I know that things often g."

  “I see.” Yuel frowned. “I’m aware that Beo work on his ag skills when there’s an ining gank, but I didn’t know it bothered you this much.”

  Ben was a little too obvious with his as on the ne when an ally was rotating in fank.

  Sometimes, he advaoward the enemy in order to be ready to CC them the moment the gank begins. That often had the opposite effed made the enemy retreat early, effectively killing the gank in its infancy.

  Other times, Bereated from the middle of the ne in an obvious attempt to lure the enemy in. Against more seasoned oppos, this was a red fg that made them sider the possibility of an ining gank. And so, instead of getting baited, they retreated and dodged the gank.

  Yuel noticed this problem after Luke and Nia voiced their pints. And so, Ben was tasked with improving on this aspect during practice.

  But, there were also many other aspects on which Ben had to work, so Yuel couldn’t pay close attention to all of them equally. Therefore, as far as Yuel was ed, Ben’s subpar coordination with ining ganks was only at “medium priority” for now.

  But, it looks like Nia disagrees. Yuel realized. It makes sense sihis problem affects her much more than others. I should’ve realized that sooner.

  Nia was a natural assassin. Her entire pystyle revolved around lying low and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Therefore, anything that could give her away was a fatal problem.

  She should’ve said something if it bothered her that much, but it looks like she felt unfortable discussing it. Yuel reasoned. Besides, even if I turhis problem into a “top priority”, it’s not like we had that much time to work on it before this scrim.

  Until just retly, Ben had been missing a lot of practice due to the circumstances with his “friends”. So, it was only about a month ago that he started regurly showing up to practice. As a result, his presen the club grew tenfold.

  Naturally, this also meant that Ben started participating in more practice games than before. Therefore, Nia had substantially more opportuo py as a Jungler in the games where Ben was Top. That’s probably how this discord started.

  Perhaps Nia was aware of Ben’s issue from day 1, but she ig because they didn’t get to py together that often. However, ohat paradigm ged, the sequences of Ben’s problem grew expoially for Nia.

  Out of sideration, Nia forced herself to py along during club practice. But, it seemed like she was hating on it internally the eime.

  "I uand," Yuel said. "Yes, Ben really isn't the best when it es to keeping ganks under ers."

  "Right?" Nia nodded.

  "But, is he so unreliable that you rather go for a solo py the way you did? Surely, you must’ve known that you won't be able to get a kill there by yourself."

  "Well, I..." Nia twisted her lips. "I hoped maybe I'll get it. But yeah, it was a long shot."

  "A VERY long shot,” Yuel corrected. “I didn’t know you were su optimist."

  “An optimist? No way,” Nia said. “I thought both approaches were sus.”

  “And, you still decided to act alone instead of asking for Ben’s help?” Yuel asked. “Do you really sider him so unreliable that you’d rather go for a solo py that had practically zero ce of success?”

  "Well, normally I wouldn’t do that, I guess. But, in this game..."

  "What about it?"

  "Well..." Nia threw a g Ben before tinuing. "He looks a little on edge. Like, he's all shaking and stuff. Scary."

  "I-I'm sorry!" Ben interjected with an apology. "I-I'll try my best to calm down!" Yet, despite what he just said, his voice sounded even shakier than before.

  "It's your first game here, right?” Nia asked. “I know the feel. I also had a bit of trouble during the debut game.”

  A “bit” is an uatement. Yuel retorted. You were shaking like a leaf and wao run away at the first opportunity.

  "Anyway," Nia tinued. "I know firsthand that the first game make you mess up, and Ben seemed super nervous, so..."

  "I see." Yuel nodded.

  In short, Nia projected the bitter experiences of her debut game on Ben. And, it erfectly justified in this case, seeing as Ben was a mess ever since he set foot oage. He already cked self-fidend being oage here only further escated the issue.

  However, as logical as all of this souhere was still one problem in Nia’s arguments that she failed to notice. It seemed like Ben wasn't the only one here who was crag under pressure...

  DarkestCymore