"Matt, you haven't talked mu this meeting,” Ruez said. “Do you mind answering Ron’s question? Tell us what was the big differeween how Ron and Will pyed."

  Do I have to? Matthew made a face. What a drag...

  But, orders were orders. Matthew more or less uood where the coach was going with this, so yes, he could answer. It was just a pain to do so.

  "William cooperated with the team’s defense pn for the most part, and he also got some kills along the way,” Matthew said. “Meanwhile, Ronald just... did whatever he wanted, basically. Sometimes he went along with the pn, other times he did the plete opposite and disregarded his safety."

  "Correct, that about sums it up." Ruez nodded. "Ron, you said that following the team’s pn was the ‘mature’ thing to do, but it seems like your inner brat took over midway. You couldn’t stay ‘mature’ for the entire game"

  "I dunno, I think I retty mature about how I did things," Ronald insisted.

  "Does having more deaths than kills t as 'mature' in your eyes?"

  "Geh.” Ronald groaned but didn’t cede just yet. “T-That's just how things turned out in this one game, yeah. But, game will be different for sure...!"

  "I believe nothing exemplifies your bratty behavior better than the desperate attack you unched on Vanishing while she was deep inside eerritory. That was the epitome of your recklessness."

  "But hey, I got the kill!"

  "And, you also died, if I recall."

  "Ugh..." Ronald lowered his head for a moment but soon bounced back. "But, that kill was totally necessary, right? I mean, I took down that darn Vanishing, of all people! She was the biggest thorn at our side the entire game."

  "That was just your way of getting revenge for all the times you were forced to retreat in the ne because of her, wasn't it?"

  "Maaaaaybe~" Ronald rolled his eyes up. “I mean, she has been giving trouble to the eeam, right? Like, she's the main reason we had to stay on guard all the time."

  "Yes, it seems she did py a major role in that decision,” Ruez said. “Isn’t that right?”

  “Yes, it is,” Cato affirmed.

  "Right?” Ronald nodded. “So, I had to take her down and give us some freedom. I did it for the team!"

  "Or, so you say," Cato interjected. "I'm pretty sure you just wao sate your own bloodthirst."

  "Nah, bruh. I totally did it for the team! I had to free us all from that suffering!"

  "But, as I told you before, Vanishing's threat level was going down as the game went on,” Cato expined. “The closer we all stuck together, the harder it was for her to get any kills."

  "Hmm. Yeah, that makes seo me."

  "But, remind me, what did you do instead of stig with the team?” Cato asked. “Oh, that’s right, you dove headfirst into eerritory in order to fight Vanishing."

  "For freedom and justice!"

  "For brainless self-satisfaore like. You pletely disregarded our entire game pn with that one py."

  "Yeah, well, I guess it was a little extreme, haha." Ronald ughed dryly. "But hey, I got the kill! It’s the only kill we ever got on her!"

  "I did kill her on a team fight," Wilim corrected.

  "ht, you did, bro.” Ronald nodded. “But, anyway! Mine was the first kill we got on that dang ghost! It was a game-ger!"

  "No, it wasn't," Cato said matter-of-factly. "We just traded one-for-one."

  "A herhost!"

  "An idiot for an assassin," Cato corrected. "Though, I admit, it would have been a nice py if you had gotten away alive."

  "Which I almost did!"

  "But didn't."

  "Ugh.” Ronald’s shoulders slumped. “Seriously, do you have to be such a wet b about it?"

  "Why yes, I have to. Otherwise, none of this will get through your thick skull."

  "Rude."

  "In short," marized. "That kamikaze py you did was totally uncalled for. Stratus had the adva the time, so exging kills greatly favored them."

  "How so?"

  "I expihat to you earlier…” Cato sighed. “ht, I fot I was dealing with a literal baboon here..."

  "Whoa, whoa! Insults, much?"

  "Yes, that was uncalled for," Ruez agreed. "Not everybody is well-versed in such high-level siderations. As the captain, you should strive to fix your teammates’ issues, not ridicule them."

  "Right, my bad~" Cato gave a half-hearted apology. "Alright, I'll teach you the ins and outs of this topic ter. Expect a five-hour lecture oopic."

  "Haha...” Ronald ughed dryly. “ I refuse?"

  "Absolutely nht, Coach?"

  "Indeed." Ruez nodded. "This is an important game theory topic.."

  “Ugh, fihese two aren’t humans, they’re lecture demons! Yes, demons, I tell you!

  “Anyway, that’s how it is,” marized. “That kill wasn’t nearly as beneficial as you think. Oher hand, your death was detrimental to the team.”

  “Oh , it wasn’t that bad, was it?” Luke insisted. “Sure, I uand that game theory or whatever suggests that trading one-for-one is not great for the team at a disadvantage, but that’s all there is to it, right? I doubt it’s THAT big of a deal.”

  "The point is that it IS a big deal," Catued. "It’s a much bigger deal than you seem to realize. Every unfavorable trade like that made it so much harder for us to catch up."

  "In fact, it's more than just that," Ruez added. "It also threw the team's game pn into disarray."

  "Meh, that sounds like an exaggeration..." Ronald said so, but he wasn't so fident after seeing that the coach was dead serious.

  "Remind me," Ruez said. "What was the team's game pn, again?"

  "Well, it’s more Cato's pn thaeam’s, really."

  "It doesn’t matter who suggested the pn, the fact remains that the eeam was stig to said pn. At that point, it became the team's pn."

  "Eh, fair enough," Ronald ceded. "Welp then, the team's pn was to wait it out and py defensively until te-game."

  "Correct. And, what exactly does ‘pying defensively' intel?"

  "Eh, like, turtling? Retreating a lot? Minimizing risks, stuff like that."

  "Yes, that's correct, broadly speaking.” Ruez nodded. “So, tell me, should a game pn like this prioritize minimizihs?"

  "Yeah, I guess it should…"

  "A, despite being a part of a team that decided to follow such a game pn, you acted recklessly across the board. Do you not see a problem with that?"

  "Weeeell..." Ronald was starting to see the bigger picture, as much as he didn't want to.

  "You were like a cog that didn’t properly align with the rest of the mae, making all of it creak,” Ruez said. “It threw off the eeam’s bance."

  "Hmm." Ronald knotted his brows. This was a heavy topic he couldn’t fully digest in just a couple of minutes. He needed more time to properly think about this accusation in order to determine whether it was justified.

  "I'm sure everybody agrees that you caused us a lot of problems." Cato roped everybody into the discussion. "Ronald's recklessness made it difficult for all of us to make good defeeam pys, right?"

  "Definitely," Sonya responded. "Defending with four pyers is that much harder than doing so with five. This forced us to spread ourselves thin, which led to further deaths and disadvantages."

  "Dang..." Ronald smiled wryly and looked away. Sonya isn't pulling any punches, huh. And, uo, I know Sonya isn't the type to say things like that just out of spite. I bet everything she’s saying is "facts and logic" as far as she's ed.

  Maybe, just maybe, Ronald was really uimating the impact of his as. He knew all along that his occasional recklessness didn't quite mesh with Cato's b game pn, but he didn't realize it affected everybody this much.

  Sounds like I might've really pyed a big part in why the team lost so badly. If so, that's really awkward...

  All he wanted back then was to get rid of the biggest ehreat. Cato and Sonya were too preoccupied with that one phantom girl, so Ronald felt like he had to smack her down.

  Buuuuuuut, I guess I also wao score some kills to pete with bro. Ronald finally admitted, at least to himself.

  "Okay, I get it,” Ronald ceded. “Looks like I did cause a lot of trouble without realizing it. Sorry about that."

  "Instead of apologizing," Cato said. "I'd much rather prefer if you promise to work on this issue so you won’t repeat the same mistakes."

  "Yeah, you're right." Ronald nodded. "It's a promise then! I'm going to get WAY better at this!"

  "Do you mind eborating on what you mean by 'this', exactly?" Ruez requested.

  "Eh, like, I haven't really figured out how to call this yet, but 'team synergy', I guess?” Ronald scratched his head. “Basically, making sure I don’t get in the way of the team’s 'game pn'. At the very least, I should avoid straying from the pn as much as possible."

  "You should avoid that 24/7," Cato insisted. "Just stick to the pn like a good boy."

  "That's an exaggeration," Ruez objected. "No game pn is perfect. There are always exceptions to the rule, including situations in which risky aggression is perfectly justifiable even within the scope of a defensive game pn. For example, Will uands how to bahe two very well."

  "Fair enough," Cato ceded on that point. "In short, strive to beore like your older brother, kid. He’s someone who does his own thing almost all the time, but he still cooperates well with the team."

  "Yeah, of course he does, he’s a pro!" Ronald excimed. "All along, my goal has been to bee an awesome pyer just like him!"

  "You often say that, but your pystyles couldn't be more different."

  "Welp, yeah, we do kinda py differently,” Ronald admitted. “It’s always been that way, even ba Tennis."

  "So, I say it's time for you to put your money where your mouth is and actually emute some of your brother's finesse, don't you think?"

  "You betcha!" Ronald pumped a fist. "I'mma make sure bro teaches me all the details about how he pyed this game so well!"

  "Oh my," Cato directed that at William. "Looks like you’ve got yourself a pupil~"

  "Thanks a lot..." Wilim made a face. He wasn't thrilled about this idea at all, for many reasons. But, this was what the club and coach desired from him, so he better ply. "Fine. I'll tutor him on this game."

  "You're the best, bro!" Ronald gave a thumbs up. "But don't worry, you won't o teach me that much. I’ve already figured the gist of it, so game, I gonna be a huimes better!"

  "That is, if you're even going to py in the game," Cato pointed out.

  Throughout the entire versation, a pair of sharp eyes had been spearing everybody. It was the Emperor, applying pressure from across the room. And, he deemed this his cue to step forward.

  "I py game," Jin said. "That is what we promised."

  "True, we did," itted. "Which means, I must boot somebody out of the team. My, I wonder who it's going to be~"

  "Just boot yourself, bruh," Ronald suggested. "It gonna make it hel easier for us to py when you don’t shove your annoying 'game pns' down our throats, haha."

  "Very funny." iled but not really. "Anyway, you're out, Ronald. Bye-bye."

  "God dang it! Oh well." Ronald resigo his fate. He had always known that he ying here on borrowed time, so this wasn’t anything new.

  Still feels bad, though. Ronald sighed. Like, the only reason I'm not sidered a “proper” member of the team is that I'm a junior. But, the fuhing? They’re kig me out, but subbing in a freshman instead. Life is so unfair sometimes…

  In the end, skill triumphed over everything. The Emperor was youhan Luke, yet alser than him in practically every way. So, as much as this substitution irked Ronald, he couldn't bring himself to object.

  And so, Ronald stepped down from the team like the outcast he was, giving way to the Emperor.

  "Disappointing game," Jin said. "I thought you were fident about winning."

  "We sure were," Cato said. "But, they caught us off guard with that oricky py in Mid. Stratus really outdid themselves in this game."

  “You made more mistakes than that, as Coach expined.”

  “Yes, we didn’t py perfectly,” itted. “But, we’re only humans, you know? Everybody makes mistakes. But, don’t worry, we’ve learned many important lessons there. We’ll do way better in the round.”

  “I hope so.”

  It’s not like Jin particurly cared about the team or how these mediocre pyers performed. It’s just that, unfortunately, his ticket to the pro se was currently tied to this lowly team. So, wheeam looked bad, it made Jin look bad as well.

  Though, depending on how I look at this development, it might actually be favorable for me. Jin thought. “Stratus mao push the Leopards to a er”, that's probably the image most people have of this scrim right now. So, if I mao single-handedly destroy that weak image, it’ll give me a good k of credit points.

  If the Leopards thhly destroy Stratus in the final game, it will highlight Jin's tribution. Everybody will uand that subbing in Jin made a huge impact, proving just how far above the petition he was.

  So, I ’t just py to win. Jin asserted. I have to thhly crush Stratus.

  With that vi in mind, Jin joihe Leopards for the fifth and final game.

  The end was nigh for Stratus. What little fame they gaioday with their shallow trickery will evaporate without a trace after this game.

  DarkestCymore