Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 2

Vol.14 Ch.3: Howard's Intel

"Greetings." A boy was standing outside Stratus' waiting room as if waiting for them to come. He wore a sophisticated smile as if he knew all the secrets of this world. It was none other than Howard.

"Yo, what's up dude!" Lars waved.

"Loud as ever, I see," Howard replied with a wry smile.

".............." Yuel didn't say a word. What is he doing here? That's the only response he could muster. Seriously, it's one unexpected encounter after another today...

As if to kill the silence, Vincent exclaimed loudly. "Oh! This is none other than the great Aegis, in the flesh!"

"You mean, the captain of StormBlitz?" Kai asked.

"Indeed, the one and only! The unbreakable wall, the ultimate last line of defense - Aegis!"

"Huh." Kai tensed up a little, and so did Luke and Ben. "So, to what do we owe the honor?"

"Honor? Please, I'm just a middle schooler like the rest of you, right?" Howard chuckled. "I came to watch today's scrim, so I figured I'll drop by to wish you good luck. I'm sure you'll need it.

"Why thank you." Kai made a face at the obvious underlying message. "Rest assured, we're going to win today, with or without luck."

"Oh, confident, aren't we?" Howard nodded. "The Stratus of this year is really made different, it seems."

"Of course. Don't even think of comparing us to that sorry excuse of a team this club had before. This is a brand new Stratus."

"Totally, yo!" Lars reinforced.

"Indeed!" Vincent added. "We shall conquer the regionals together! With our powers combined, even the nationals are no threat to us!"

"Y-Yes, we can do it," Ben added meekly.

"Damn straight," Luke agreed. "We're real serious about taking it home. This is no longer a clown club."

So says the memer. Yuel retorted mentally, but he stayed quiet throughout the entire exchange.

"Can we pass now?" Kai demanded.

"Oh, I'm blocking the entrance, right? You can go ahead." Howard moved away from the door. "Before you go, I'd like to borrow my ex vice-captain for a moment, if you don't mind. I have a private matter to discuss."

"... sure." Yuel finally responded to the scene for the first time.

"Well, we're going ahead then," Kai said as she passed through the door. And, despite their curiosity, the others followed suit.

And so, only Yuel and Howard remained in the hallway.

"How is the club doing?" Yuel asked.

"Heh. You got some nerve asking that after you abandoned your post."

"I don't remember signing a contract to be StormBlitz's vice-captain forever."

"I totally should've made you, though." Howard sighed.

"Is Gregory that bad at his job? I heard he's the new vice-captain."

"Let's just say he requires a lot more maintenance than I'd like to spare. The whole point of having a vice-captain is to make the captain's life easier, but with Greg that's not really the case, haha..."

"My condolences."

"Heh, why are you talking about it as if it's somebody's else business? It's all your fault, you know? You were supposed to become the perfect vice-captain, the type who'd handle everything by himself without ever bothering me." Howard sighed again.