"It was a ch, wasn't it?" Cato asked.

  "A little tiring to my taste,” Yuel answered.

  "My, is that so? Maybe you o work on your stamina then~"

  "Perhaps so." Yuel didn't have anything smart to say to that. There is some truth to that, I ’t deny it. I'm sure we'll have a simirly exhausting experience against StormBlitz, so we have to improve on that front.

  "By the way," Cato said. "Do you remember that cute assassinatioion yed on Apprente Top? You know, the one where you sent a half-dead assassin on him while he ushing."

  "Who said it was my idea?" Yuel shrugged. The way Cato’s question hrased sounded like fishing. I'm not giving him any information for free.

  "My, pying it hard to crack? I see." iled impishly. "Anyway, about that py which you clearly arranged. Remember that? It fell through quite pitifully, didn't it?"

  "Sure, I won’t cim it went smoothly."

  "Right, right. And, it was all thanks to our Jungler being stationed nearby, wasn't it?"

  "I suppose that pyed a crucial role, yes."

  "Take a guess who ordered the Juo go over there~" iled from ear to ear, so the answer was so obvious. But, Cato’s attitude was a bit annoying so Yuel didn't feel like cooperating.

  "Who knows." Yuel shrugged. "Your eeam is overly defensive, so I wouldn't be surprised if the pyers just randomly pce themselves in obscure positions and happen to intercept uable attacks.”

  "My, you're not going to py along, are you?" iled wryly. "Well, let me enlighten you then: it was me. Yes, yours truly. I'm the one who predicted that unlikely gank and tered it beautifully!"

  "Wow. And? Are you expeg appuse or something?"

  "My, pying it cool, aren’t we? Still, I'm sure that py aggravated you nicely~"

  "Not really.” Yuel shook his head. “Holy, I've almost fotten about it until now." Of course, that was a lie. There’s no way Yuel would fet one of the game’s decisive moments.

  We had a real ce to turn the game around with that gank. Yuel thought. I don't think the pn was bad, it even caught Apprentece off-guard. But, their Jungler being in the area was the thing that ruined everything...

  As pompous as Cato was ag about all of this, in truth, he had every right to be proud of that call. Against any other team, stationing the Jungler op in that position would've been a waste of time, but that's precisely why it made seo do it against Yuel.

  Seems like Cato figured out that I like exploiting suexpected ahanks fivihis valuable bit of information.

  Cato's boasts revealed iing information that reviously only in the realm of specution for Yuel. It was always valuable to know to what degree the enemy shot-caller had figured Yuel out, so he’d know to adapt accly.

  Or, maybe this is just another one of Cato’s psychological attacks? Yuel wondered. Maybe he's trying to stress how much he has "figured me out" while in truth it was just a fluke. There's elling what this guy is really thinking, so, I better take everything with a grain of salt.

  "Well, that sure was a nice guess you made there," Yuel said. "gratutions on winning the roulette for once."

  "Thank you, thank you~ I really hit the jackpot, didn't I~?"

  "Yes. But, I'm sure that for every time you guessed right, there were at least ten other times where you guessed wrong and wasted your teammates' time on defending against phantom attacks."

  "My, what a bold accusation.” Cato shook his head. “I'll have you know I only make effit calls."

  "Oh, then I suppose the first game dragged on for so long because of your inplete, then?"

  "Agh, weeeell..." Cato grimaced for a moment. His smirk temporarily vanished, which was a win in Yuel's book. That move successfully struck a nerve.

  But as usual, the slippery fellow was quick to bounce back. "It was a dispy of mercy. I just felt bad for your team in that game, you know? You performed so poorly there that I felt obligated to give you a few more ces. Am I not just the guy around~?"

  "How siderate of you.” Yuel made a face. “So, the two games you lost to us were also a dispy of mercy?"

  "Yes, of course," ed. "I mean, did you holy think the Leopards would fold to ys like yours? And lose to a meme, no less? No way."

  "You cim whatever you want to protect yo, but we won these games fair and square. And as for the st game, we did lose there but not to you."

  "Excuse me?"

  “We didn’t lose that game to your shot-calling, and not even to your team really. We lost almost exclusively to that Korean pyer you subbed in.”

  “Hm?” Cato tilted his head. “Pray tell, how did you know he’s Korean?”

  “Ugh!” Yuel bit his tohat was a blunder. “Um, I was curious about this ued sub so I asked the referee for more details.”

  “Oh? And what did you ask him, exactly?”

  “Why do I have to ahat? That’s my business.”

  “Hmmmmmm. I see.” Cato narrowed his eyes in suspi. “I had a feeling it was a little odd. Even though our dear Appretnece was clearly dominating the game, you fellows didn’t seem to lose spirit as you should’ve. It’s almost as if you were mentally prepared for something like this.”

  “We’re just made different.”.

  “Either that or somebody let the cat out of the bag.” iled meaningfully. “And, I have a pretty good idea of who it was. After all, you ARE a former StormBlitz pyer~”

  “What are you implying?”

  “That one of your former teammates is a snitch~” Cato decred boldly. “I have to say, I’m surprised you’re still on such good terms.”

  “Good terms? Please.” Yuel shook his head. “They’re the number one enemy I’ve sworn to defeat this year.”

  “My, quite passionate, aren’t you?” Cato nodded. “Well, we leave it at that. The fact you weren’t fused when I bought up StormBlitz’s name already tells me everything~”

  “You’re free to believe whatever you want.” Yuel shrugged. Drat, I couldn't fool him on this one. Oh well.

  "Anyway," Yuel tinued. "We lost the final game to Apprenteot to you. So as far as I'm ed, in terms of our shot-calling matchup we’re still at a 2-2 at best."

  "My, such a sore loser, aren't you~?" iled impishly as always but there was a slight frown on his brow. It was clear this decration struck a nerve. Cato probably didn't feel satisfied with that st victory either.

  "I agree that the result of this final game was a bit muddled," itted. "But just so we're clear, I would've beat you i game even without subbing Apprente."

  "We'll never know that now," Yuel said. "We’re the ones who had momentum going into the final game, so our ces were good."

  "Momentum? Please. All you had was fleeting optimism at best. We would’ve s out in no time."

  "Then, why didn't you?" Yuel asked. "If it was that easy, you could've dohat yourselves of relying on Apprentece, right?"

  "As if I had a choice..." uttered as he gnced aside. This made it clear there was some infighting about the subject within the club.

  If not Cato, then who made the call? Yuel wondered. Did their coach tell them to sub Apprente? It's definitely possible, but that doesn’t sound in lih that coach's usual image.

  Ruez presented himself as a coach who highly valued "fairness" when it came to official matches. During scrimmages, he tried to make sure that both teams experienced a banced match whe ossible. Subbing in Apprentece clearly went against that notion sidering the guy’s skill level.

  But, perhaps it wasn’t that strange. Ruez might’ve valued victory and the team’s reputation over fairness in this particur case.

  Or, maybe it was even an act of “grace” on his end. Maybe he revealed Appretenow to give Stratus a proper for the regionals.

  After all, we'll have to be able to defeat the guy eventually if we want to win the regionals. Yuel thought. So, in that sehis “unfair game” was very educational.

  But in the end, this was all jecture. Perhaps Ruez wasn't the one who orchestrated any of this. If so, it robably Apprentece himself who forced his way onto the stage.

  Still, Ruez must’ve approved it, so he's an aplice. Yuel thought. So, no matter how you slice it, there was an agenda there.

  "If it wasn’t you," Yuel said. "Then, who decided to sub Apprente?"

  "Who do you think?" Cato sighed. "The Emperor invited himself in."

  "The 'Emperor'?"

  "Heh, that's the niame we got for the guy. Quite fitting, don't you find?"

  "I see."

  There was a lot of loaded information in that little tidbit. The Leopards didn't call Apprentece a "Pro", a "Champion", or anything of the sort. No, they went for "Emperor". That said a lot about how they viewed the guy.

  It sounds like he's something of a tyrant, so he’s probably the one who demahe team to sub him in. It robably a matter of “saving face” or something along those lines.

  The Leopards were on the verge of losing the scrim, so maybe the “Emperor” subbed in to avoid that. Even though he didn’t py in the previous games, he might’ve still cared about the team’s overall image.

  I actually saw hints of that in the game, too. Yuel recalled. The oime we scored a kill on him was thanks to a careless push he did, ohat felt like it was driven purely by the desire to save face.

  Back then, Apprentece didn't have much to gain from pushing sainst Lars. It felt like he only did it out of spite. Perhaps Lars triggered him somehow? Maybe he hurt his majesty's "pride", so to speak?

  I’ll have to examihat situation carefully in the repys. Maybe there I’ll find the weakness I’ve been looking for. Yuel made a mental note. With that said, I 't believe Cato allowed himself to spill such critical information. So careless.

  "My, it looks like the gears in your brain started overclog~" iled impishly. "You probably think I'm ‘oh so careless’, don't you? But don't worry, I kly what I let on."

  "Is that so." Yuel made a face. With this guy, it's hard to tell when he's genuine and when not. Maybe he did pn to reveal all of this from the start, or maybe it was a mistake he’s n to cover up. Who knows.

  "Think of it as a small handicap I'm willing to put on myself," Cato expined. "I mean, as it stands, your team has zero ce of ever beating us the moment Appreakes the stage. So, I'm fih giving you a few hints."

  "How generous of you."

  "I knht? I'm such a benevolent person~"

  "Yes, siingly so." Yuel rolled his eyes.

  "Heh, what an ungrateful fellow."

  "Don't get me wrong, I'll make sure to put this information to good use," Yuel reassured. "But, we're not the kind of team that needs your pity. We’ll beat you and Appre the regionals."

  "My, so ambitious~" irked. "I'll gdly crush this hope of yours on the real stage, provided you even make it that far."

  "Don't worry, we'll make it. Aime, we'll win."

  "Heh, I’m sure your team’s little story will make for a firagedy."

  "Oh, it sure will.” Yuel nodded. “A tragedy in which the ever-dominating Leopards will finally lose the regionals."

  "I'm sure that’d be quite the spectacle. Too bad you'll only ever see something like this in your dreams."

  On that hey finished exging intellectual blows. And, while they were busy doing that, there was yet another heated discussion taking p the other side of the stage…

  DarkestCymore