"Is everything alright?" Vincent asked once Kai returned to the team.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Kai tried to maintain a calm tone, but her eyes burned with hellish intensity. She was like a ticking bomb. "We're going to erase these fuckers from the face of the earth."

"Whoa, language, miss."

"Fuck language. I gonna rip them apart, one by one."

"Scary," Nia hid under a table. Oh noes, a demon has possessed Kai.

"Motivation is good and all," Yuel said. "But, you really need to calm down. Otherwise, it'll impact your performance."

"Oh, I'm calm. Real calm. I'm calmness incarnate," Kai's teeth rattled.

"Everything’s okay, dude," Lars smacked Kai on the back. "We all know you’re da best! Ya eat scrubs like 'em for breakfast, yo!"

"Y-Yeah," Kai's aggression disappeared somewhere as she stumbled forward. It was hard to tell whether Lars's encouraging words did this, or it was the pain in her back. The guy held nothing back with that smack. It was like he dropped a boulder on her back. Ouch.

But, this was exactly what Kai needed right now. She was drowning in a spiral of negative thoughts and couldn’t get out, so somebody had to give her a push.

Yeah, what’s wrong with me? It’s not the first time this happens. Kai nodded to herself. Boys made fun of her before, and will surely do so again in the future. She should've been used to this treatment by now.

There was only one way to prove them wrong: to fight and destroy them! They'll be running back to mama by the time Kai is done with them! They'll think twice about ridiculing a female player ever again. Maybe they'll even quit Classmancers altogether, that'll be awesome. The world didn't need filth like them playing the game.

Still, what was the deal with that one guy? Kai thought back on the one boy who seemed... “different”, for the lack of a better word. Apparently, his name was Jaiden.

Unlike the main scumbag from Taurus, who started the entire fiasco to stroke his own ego or some shit, Jaiden's hostility toward Kai was way more direct. That guy wasn't trash-talking for fun. No, every word he spoke was pregnant with pure contempt,

Do I know him from somewhere? Kai wondered. Nope, doesn't ring any bells.

Then, what did that guy hold against Kai? And, why did she even care so much? After all, it didn't seem like Jaiden will even be playing today. He wasn’t an opponent she had to pay any attention to.

"Heeeeeey, earth to Kai," Vincent waved in front of Kai's eyes. "The ref is here."

"Ah, right," Kai shook her head and proceeded to speak with the referee. They confirmed their starting lineup. Everybody who wasn't participating in the upcoming game had to leave the stage. In Stratus’s case, that was only one player.

"I'll be rooting for ya all," Luke waved on his way out. "Show these scrubs who’s the boss around these parts!"

Only the competitors remained on stage. Everybody logged into their computers and began preparations.

"You have five minutes to warm up," the referee explained. "If this is your first time here, make sure you get used to the equipment. I don't want to hear any excuses later, like how you weren't used to the keyboard or mouse."

Everybody followed the advice and logged into your practice mode to flex their fingers. Everybody, save for one.

"Nia, what are you doing over there?" Yuel asked as he checked under the table.

"Camping," Nia answered nonchalantly. She was curled into a ball at the very corner of the table.

"You understand that you'll have to come out eventually, right?"

"No. Ask them to connect a tablet. I'll play from here."

"What are you on about?" Yuel reached under the table. "C'mon, get out of there."

"No."

"Why?"

"It's scary."

If only I got a euro for every time she uses that word. Yuel sighed. "What's wrong? The stage-fright is making a comeback?"

"Gufu..." Nia clammed up even more, which meant Yuel hit the bullseye. Even after coming this far, Nia still wasn't quite ready to face her fears. Sigh.

The others seem alright. Yuel checked every teammate in order

Lars looked gung-ho as usual, nothing to worry about there. Kai was tapping her feet and glaring at the monitor, but this was probably just her discharging her fury. Vincent looked calm and concentrated during his warm-up, which was a tad odd for the usually loud clown, but at least it meant he was taking this seriously.

So, Nia was the only troublemaker.

Okay, so how do I approach this? Yuel knotted his brows. He had no idea what to say to somebody with stage fright.

The best advice he could give was to go through with the game despite the fear. Only by confronting the fear she’ll be able to conquer it. But, convincing her to go through with it was the entire problem in the first place...

"This girl will be the end of me..." Yuel sighed.

"What's wrong, dude?" Lars asked. "Nia giving ya trouble again? Actually, where is she even at?" He looked around the stage and found nothing.

"Over there," Yuel pointed under the table.

"Oh! Haha, the heck are ya doing there?" Lars would have never found Nia over there if not for Yuel. The girl was tucked away at the very corner and her long black hair blended perfectly with the darkness. She became one with the dark realm, yo!

"Her stage fright kicked in again," Yuel explained with a sigh.

"Ah, that thing again?" Lars scratched the back of his head. "Welp, guess we gotta make her deal with it face to face." He leaped from his chair and reached his long arms underneath the table.

"W-W-Whaaaaa!?" Nia shook in protest as the big arms reached toward her.

"C'mon, let's greet the audience!" Lars pulled Nia from under the table and picked her up. "Off we goooooo!"

"W-Wait!" Nia kicked like a baby throwing a fit, but soon stopped because it might cause her to slip off. Lars ignored the protest and carried Nia all the way to the front of the stage. Then, he put her down and placed his hands on her shoulders, to make sure she won’t try to slip away.

"Hey, what's up, my dudes!" Lars addressed the audience with a booming voice. "Just wanted to introduce myself, since ya’ll probably have no idea who the heck I am. I'm Gunz, the Carr- I mean, the Mid Laner of the team! Watch me wreck all of Taurus by myself, yo!"

This bold introduction made the audience crack some laughs. Though, one person didn’t feel like laughing.

Mid? What? Julia frowned. What was Lars smoking? He was the Carry, he had to be. There’s no way he switched to Mid all of a sudden, right? ... Right?

"You see?" Lars turned to Nia. "These dudes are alright. They're just here to watch a good show. Hey, ya hear me? Heeeeey! Earth to Niaaaaaaa." He gently shook her shoulders. This ain’t good. The girl turned into a statue.

It didn’t seem like Nia was going to budge. Everything was up to Lars again.

"Also listen. everybody! This girl here is the Vanishing Flower!" His voice boomed. "She's our Jungler and she gonna sneak up to ya before ya notice!"

That brainless oaf...! Yuel facepalmed so hard it hurt his brain. He just went ahead and blurted Nia's specialty! Just great. Yeah, c’mon, let’s feed our enemies with free information. Sigh.

Lars didn't care about any of that and went on. "She's kinda new to all this stuff, so give her your full support, my dudes!"

The audience produced some laughs and playful thumbs-ups. They probably thought it was a comedy skit of some sort.

Who is this girl? Julia's eyes turned sharp like a blade. Just a moment ago, Lars was carrying this girl in his arms like a princess. Where did this girl come from? What was her deal? Surely, she wasn't Lars's girlfriend or anything like that, right? Nah, no way. He wouldn't be interested in such an ugly girl, right? Right!?

"You see now?" Lars addressed Nia again. "These dudes ain't scary. They're just here to watch a hype match. They ain't gonna do anything to ya."

"......." Nia turned into stone. Her face was paler than usual, which made her look like a vampire. It felt like her soul was ready to flee from her body at any moment.

"Khaha, your team got another chick?" A voice came from the other side of the stage. "Lemme tell you what, your team is wack." It was the leader of the hooligans who harrassed Kai earlier, his name was Bruce. He walked toward Lars and stopped in the center of the stage.

"I heard ya gonna wreck us?" Bruce grinned. "I can't just sit and let this trash talk fly, you dig? So, prepare yo ass. We gonna mop the floor with- Agh! What the-!?"

"I apologize," the giant captain of the Taurus stepped forth and wrapped his thick arm around Bruce's neck.

"Hey, lemma go, you fat-"

"You want to get the team disqualified?" the captain hardened his lock, making Bruce choke a little. "The ref warned us what'll happen if we repeat the offense. Give it a rest already." He finally released the hooligan.

"Geh," Bruce coughed as he caught up his breath. "Whatever. These fuckers ain't worth my time any." He stomped away.

"Yo, it gotta be rough being the cap with dudes like him around," Lars said.

"Yeah, you have no idea," the captain nodded solemnly. He looked like a nice dude, but it felt like he shouldered a lot of crap to keep the club unified. Poor dude. Lars felt it, he really did. He was the captain of the basketball team at one point in time and it had no shortage of troublemakers. Being the cap was rough.

"Anyway, back to... Hm?" Lars realized that the statue he was holding vanished without a trace. Nia snuck away at some point. Dat girl was a natural-born Ninja, no kidding.

Before Lars noticed, Nia was already back in her seat. All life force was drained from her face. But hey, at least she wasn't hiding under a table anymore. That’s some progress right there!

"What were you thinking!?" Kai yelled. "You traumatized her!"

"Nah, she'll be fine," Lars claimed. "Sometimes, ‘ya gotta throw da fish onto da land’. That's what my basket coach used to say. When somebody had cold feet, Coach just tossed them into the fray and introduced them to the audience. It usually did the trick."

"Such spartan discipline!" Vincent was deeply impressed. "Indeed, only those who come face to face with their fears shall be able to overcome them! Once they do, they shall receive Ares' blessing of might!"

"Yeah, exactly!" Lars had no idea WTF Vincent was on about, but it sounded hype so it gotta be right!

"I can see this working on boys, but..." Kai didn't continue that line of thought. She almost said that girls were more fragile, but that'd be wrong. Girls were also plenty strong. Anything a boy could overcome, a girl could overcome as well. So, if this Spartan method worked for boys, it had to work for girls as well.

"You okay?" Kai asked.

"Ah... Sure..." Nia slowly delivered the reply like a zombie.

"Think you can play this game?"

"Ah..." Nia opened her mouth, then closed it.

Everybody’s eyes were on Nia back there. She stood in front of that big crowd and became the center of attention. The spotlight shined brightly on her, almost blinding her. It was the scariest experience of her life.

But, she was still alive. She survived through that hell! So, compared to that scary experience, playing Classmancers on the stage didn’t feel like a big deal anymore.

"I can play," Nia's mumbled with a nod. She was already here, so she might as well go all the way. She has been practicing Classmancers, day and night, for the past couple of months. She improved a lot, so she should be ready to go. Should be.

"Told ya it works," Lars gave a thumbs up.

"It did make her more agreeable, that's for sure," Yuel wasn't entirely convinced yet, but at least Nia was no longer hiding under the table, that was a step forward. However, whether she successfully draws out her usual skill in the upcoming match remained to be seen.