“Anyway,” Cato said. “As fun as it is to tease you on this topic, we have to move on."

  "I'm gd at least one of us is having fun here..." Sonya rolled her eyes. "So, it sounds like you want to suggest something?"

  "Yes, we have to decide how we deal with Vanishing moving forward."

  "Is there a o ge anything?” Sonya asked. “I made one mistake but I've been doing a good job otherwise, right?"

  "Yes, you have,” Cato agreed. “But, let's not fet it was the early-game and a fairly tame o that. There weren't that many distras for you until now."

  "True. Aside from Beat’s one ued outburst, there really wasn’t much."

  "A, Vanishing still slipped past you."

  "Geh…” Sonya walked right into that one. “You just won't give it a rest, will you? As I said, I was just-"

  "Preoccupied, right? Even though you’ve just admitted that the early-game was tame."

  "Ah." Sonya stumbled again. It was a masterfully prepared trap, id right under her nose.

  "The mid-game is where I expect things to get chaotic for real," Cato expined. "Of course, our pn is to draw out the game until the te-game a Matt carry us to victory, but I’m sure Stratus won’t py along peacefully."

  "Yes, that's my predi as well."

  "That’s why, when it es to a human puter like you who enjoys analyzing anything and everything, I'm afraid yoing to hit one of these 'stack overflow' thingies."

  "Are you implying Stratus is going to divide the game by zero?"

  "Haha, who knows.” Cated. “I wouldn't put it past them."

  “Is that so.” Sonya pushed her gsses. “Alright, I uand what yetting at. You’re saying that, since I’ve already blundered iame’ early-game, it implies I’m almost guarao make another mistake in the mid-game.”

  “Bing bong! We have a winner! As expected from my smart secretary~”

  “Who’s a secretary?” Sonya gave him the evil eye but then just sighed in resignation. “Hmm. I still think I’m going to stiy guns and cim that I keep track of Vanishing even in the mid-game.”

  “My, stubborn much?”

  “Maybe I am,” Sonya admitted. “It just irks me. This whole thing with Vanishing supposedly ‘erasing herself’ from everybody’s minds - it’s illogical, inprehensible. That kind of thing ’t possibly exist.”

  “Yet, you experie first-hand in this game.”

  “I’m not vinced,” Sonya insisted. “That was just a mistake on my end. If I didn’t get distracted by Beat, then none of that would have happened.”

  “Don’t you think that the very fact it ossible to distraebody of your analytical level is a testament to Vanishing’s impressive skill?” Cato asked. “You were wholly dedicated to that cause of supervising her, yet she slipped right under your nose.”

  "She didn't really..." Sonya waue further on that point but she realized it was a dead end. No matter what she says, the fact remains that Sonya lowered her guard against Vanishing. But, whether that was just an i mistake or a testament to Vanishing's stealth skills, that part en for interpretation.

  "Alright." Sonya sighed i. "I see yoing to push this narrative no matter what, so I'll bite. Let's suppose Vanishing is a little good at making her oppos pay less attention to her, a’s assume it even works oo aent."

  "Oh my, I 't believe this historient has finally e!” Cato excimed. “At long st, the stubborary admitted that Vanishing has peculiar skill!"

  "I didn't admit anything and I'm not a secretary," Sonya argued. "I'm just saying that, hypothetically if we go along with your narrative - what's ? Do you have a pn of some sort?”

  "There's one idea, yes,” Cato said. “Since a human puter like you isn’t capable of sacrifig map awareness in exge for fog wholly on Vanishing, it means somebody else has to fill up for you."

  "That's not necessary."

  "Aren't we supposed to py along with 'my narrative' for now?” iled impishly. “In this pletely fial tale, Vanishing sneak past anybody's radar, even yours if you're preoccupied with other matters. So, the most reasonable solution is for somebody to lend you a hand with this."

  "And, that somebody will be...?"

  "Me, of course. I mean, who else would be willing to take this job?"

  "Fair enough."

  Oeical level, William and Matthew were more than capable of joining the cause as well. However, William was too self-tered for it, whereas Matthew had to pay close attention to the oppos in the ne in order to ter them effitly. As suone of the two were really up to the task.

  "With all things sidered," Sonya said. "I'm not sure I agree with this."

  "Oh?" Cato titled her head. "Why not? This arra worked splendidly in the first game. In fact, I hahe role myself the entire game, didn't I?"

  "Vanishing didn't py as smoothly in the first game. The differeween then and now is like night and day."

  "Yes, I agree with you there. It's like she finally woke up for this game, or maybe she overcame some sort of personal problem."

  "Stage fright, perhaps?" Sonya suggested the first thing that came to mind. Of course, it was no ce that this was her first idea, given that stage fright was a vile monster she was very much familiar with.

  "It might be that," Cato said. "Either way, I agree that she’s pying much better this time around, that's why I'm suggesting splitting the burdeter cooperate here to make sure we shut her down."

  "Yes, this sounds like a good idea on paper," Sonya said. "But, I’m still against it. The first game was easy and Vanishing wasn’t that stealthy, so it was fine for you to supervise her back then. But, right now, the game is hard and Vanishing requires a lot more attention than before."

  "Ihat's why we're having this versation in the first pce."

  "The thing is, you're the shot-caller."

  "Or, am I~?" irked. "I thought the Leopards don't have an official shot-caller. That's the narrative, isn't it?"

  "Yes, a narrative that os to reassure the coach that we're not mindlessly following orders without thinking for ourselves."

  "Haha, that's true." iled impishly. But, the truth is, you're all my precious little puppets~

  "Anyway, that's why I'm against this," Sonya repeated. "You're the shot-caller and we're heading into the mid-game, which is the most delicate phase when it es to shot-calling. And, you already said yourself that you think Stratus will e at us hard, so it's going to be a hectic mid-game for sure."

  "Yes, it will most certainly be."

  "So, we 't have you distracted by Vanishing during this important phase,” Sonya said. “Stratus has proven itself a strong team, so you have to be at the top of yame to ter them."

  "My, are you worried about little old me?"

  "No, I'm worried about the team. If the shot-caller is distracted, then the calls are going to be subpar the team will make mistakes."

  "Hmm. I see your point." Cato nodded. "Depending on hh mid-game will be, this might bee quite the juggling ae. But, I'm sure I hahat much."

  "Now you sound like me.” Sonya shook her head. “Didn't you criticize me just a moment ago about handling too many things at the same time? Double standard much?"

  "Haha, touche. I have to say, it's such a joy to have a secretary with a sharp tongue~"

  "I should really start demanding a sary for this." Sonya sighed deeply. "Anyway, that's my stance. I don't believe it'll be healthy for you to get involved."

  "Hmm. I see your point, but I'll have to disagree respectfully."

  "To what end?"

  "Whether it’s a good idea or not, the bottom line is that we don’t have much choice,” Cato said. “We have to make sure we don't let Vanishing do as she pleases, and you’ll have a hard time achieving this alone."

  "You sure evaluate her highly, huh."

  " you bme me? She nearly scored the First Blood in this otherwise peaceful game,” Cato said. “We came moments away from falling into a grave disadvahere. So, the way I see it, Vanishing is going to be the most uable factor in this game."

  "Are you two do?" Matthew interjected. "The wave is here, so I'd like you to focus on it, if that's not too much to ask for."

  "Yes, I believe we're done, right?" Cato asked.

  "I suppose..." Sonya gave up. At the moment, it was impossible to make Cato budge.

  Maybe he's right and I'm w over nothing. Sonya wao believe. But, I’m definitely going to pay closer attention to his shot-calls for a while. I have to make sure he doesn’t slip due to dividing his attention.

  And so, Sonya added yet aopic to the list of subjects to keep track of. This was a bit ironic, sidering Cato went out of his way to supervise Vanishing in order to reduce Sonya’s workload.

  But, in a way, supervising Cato was nothing new for her. It ar for the course for Sonya to closely analyze Cato's shot-calls in the mid/te-game. If Cato was the tacti, then Sonya was his validator. Her job was to evaluate the orders as they were issued and question them as necessary.

  Yes, I’m his validator, not his secretary. She felt it was necessary to stress this point. As frustrating as it was to admit, that stupid "secretary" nonsense was livi-free in her head.

  Anyway, regardless of how her position was called, it was undeniable that the team only felt this fortable with nominating Cato as the shot-caller because they trusted Sonya to keep the guy in check. As long as she was there to question Cato’s decisions, it reassured the team that Cato won’t lead the team down the wrong path.

  Though, admittedly, he’s very good at maniputio going along with his ideas even when I disagree, just like now… Sonya sighed. He’s such a headache sometimes. And by sometimes, I mean 90% of the time.

  In the end, despite how relut she was, Sonya went along with Cato’s suggestion. From now on, the two of them will be responsible for supervising Vanishing.

  This will definitely distract both of them, but at least they’ll have peaind regarding Vanishing’s position at all times. That should allow them to cruise through the mid-game safely.

  However, that might’ve been nothing more than wishful thinking, sidering the enemy po go hard as soon as the mid-game hits…

  DarkestCymore