Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 2

Vol.12 Ch.20: Basketball Challenge

With Lars by his side, Yuel found the courage to speak up against Mike.

"As you said," Yuel continued. "Ben has freedom. But, as a club member, he has responsibilities as well. For example, if you skip club practice without notice, somebody will complain, right?"

"Haha, true dat." James was the one to respond. "That dang coach likes chewing everybody out, word." It sounded like he had plenty of experience in the area.

"........" Mike didn't respond right away. Instead, he shot a glare at James.

"Haha, yeah..." James piped down with an awkward smile. He messed up. By agreeing with Yuel's argument, he strengthened the argument's footing. It gave Yuel extra power to continue pushing from that angle.

"Yeah, I guess club members got some responsibilities," Mike agreed against his will. "You gotta attend club practice and all that boring shit."

"Right." Yuel nodded. "But, Ben is skipping that very practice on a regular basis. I hope you agree that this is wrong and has to be addressed."

"Sure." Mike shrugged. "Go scold him, or even smack him for all I care. What does that have to do with us? We're just practicing in our own club, not getting in anybody's way. It's you guys who are intruding without an invitation."

He's going to keep abusing the "ignorance" card, huh. Yuel frowned. I have to admit it's very effective.

There was one delicate topic that hasn't been touched upon in this entire discussion even though it was the key to everything: the bullying. Lars didn't openly accuse the gang of bullying Ben. There was a very good reason for that, one which he shared with Yuel and Vincent on the way here.

"I got some experience with dudes like that," Lars said. "It's best to play nice with them. If you go all-in and accuse them of bullying right off the gate, you gonna overextend real hard and get ganked real bad."

Following his own advice, Lars avoided bringing up the topic in front of the enemy, and Yuel has been doing the same. It sounded like a reasonable long-term game plan. Instead of aggroing the enemies right off the bat, it was best to keep them calm.

Mike knew his gang had the numbers advantage in this situation, so he was more than ready for a direct confrontation. The provocative insults he slipped into his arguments were undoubtedly meant to trigger a fight.

Fortunately, Lars played it cool for once and has been thwarting Mike's plans so far. Alas, Mike was quick to adapt. He figured that Yuel and Lars were cautiously avoiding a direct confrontation, so he used that to his advantage. As long as they were hesitating to accuse him, he could keep feigning ignorance on the topic.

This is difficult. Yuel frowned. He entered this debate with confidence but now he wasn't so sure he could win.

It'd be easy to attack Mike by exposing him as a bully, but that'd break negotiations off. More than likely, the situation would be reduced to a fistfight at that point. Lars would be the only one with sufficient power to carry in that situation, so it'd turn into a 1v3.

"I understand," Yuel finally spoke up. "I admit, we're intruding into your club activities right now. I'm sorry about that."

"Hmph." Mike sneered. "If you understand, then how about you get the fuck outta here already? We don't have all day to entertain fake athletes like ya."

"It's okay, we'll be leaving soon," Yuel said calmly. "But first, I'd like to clarify something. When we step into your club activities to speak with you, then we're interfering, right?"