“I hope you now understand where I’m coming from,” Vincent said. “There’s no telling what will happen if we rely on teachers for Ben’s problem. It might make things better, but it might also escalate the situation for the worse. It’s a deadly gamble.”

“I understand,” Yuel said. “I admit, I didn’t consider that direction. I also naively thought that speaking to the teachers would magically resolve the entire issue. But, now that I think more about it, the teachers’ options are really limited.”

“Indeed. They can’t send the bullies to prison, so temporarily expelling them from school is about the best punishment they can enact.”

“I understand. And, just like in your story, the bullies will eventually return to seek revenge.”

“Yes, they’ll no doubt return, twice as evil. It’s a vicious cycle.”

“This sure makes things difficult.” Yuel frowned. I feel like a piece of shit for being angry with Ben all this time. I had no idea he had such complicated circumstances.

None of this was Ben’s fault. The poor guy found himself in a toxic situation and had no way out. Even if he were to report the bullies directly, there was no telling how that’d pan out. Like in Vincent’s story, things might only take a turn for the worse.

So, it was impossible to blame Ben for any of this. Nonetheless, his situation was a problem for the club. For one, his frequent absences turned him into an unreliable teammate. But, at this point, that was the lesser issue.

The real problem was that a fellow club member was bullied outside the club. It was the first time Yuel faced such a difficult situation. He wasn’t particularly close to Ben, mainly because the guy was forced to skip club practice half the time, but a sense of comradery existed between them nonetheless.

They were part of the same team, aiming to win the regionals together. Maybe calling them “friends” would be a stretch, but Ben was an agreeable guy and a decent player, so Yuel was on good terms with him. Therefore, it was painful to know that such a good guy was harassed on a daily basis. Something had to be done about it.

“So, when are we going?” Lars asked out of the blue.

“Going where?” Yuel asked.

“To solve the problem, duh,” Lars answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Solve it how? You heard Vincent’s story. We have to be careful about how we handle this. We can’t just expect the teachers to solve this for us.”

“Wut? Who was talking about teachers?” Lars cocked his head. “We don’t need no teachers. We can solve this ourselves ez.”

“Easy, you say...” Yuel couldn’t believe this carefree goof. “You do understand it’s bullying we’re talking about, right? There’s nothing ‘easy’ about this topic.”

“Sounds easy enough to me.” Lars shrugged. “Vince had a real rough experience, but his situation was WAY harder. It’s nothing like this one.”

“Different?” Vincent interjected. “How so?”

“Well, you said the boy they bullied was a loner, right? He didn’t have anybody to stick up to him, so it was hard to help him out.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“That’s why it’s totally different,” Lars proclaimed confidently. “I mean, Ben got all of us, right? He got the whole club worrying about him. I understand it’s hard as heck to do something about bullying by yourself, but you got us this time, ya know? We can handle it together!”

“Oh, I see!” Vincent blinked in surprise. He didn’t even realize such a simple fact.

Back when he tried to help the bullied boy in grade school, he was fighting that war all by himself. That’s why his only option was to rely on the system. After all, by himself, he was powerless to change anything.

But, that wasn’t the case this time! Yuel and Lars were both here, treating this topic with utmost seriousness. And, Kai also tried to resolve this problem before in her own ways. In other words, the entire club was coming together as one to purge evil! It was a beautiful display of the power of friendship!

“It all sounds nice,” Yuel interrupted the early celebration. “But, do you have an actual plan in mind?”

“Plan? What plan?” Lars asked innocently. “Let’s just go talk with them bully dudes. That should do it.”

“You want to negotiate with terrorists?” Yuel frowned. “What are you going to say to them, exactly?”

“I just gonna give it to them straight, that they should stop messing our with our dude.”

“That’s dangerous,” Vincent warned. “That trio are quite the savages.”

“Are they violent?” Yuel asked.

“Not usually, but they can snap if angered. To tell you the truth, Kai tried to confront them after Ms. Stone failed to resolve the issue.”

“How did it go?”

“Kai will probably never forget it for the rest of her life. They hit her.”

“Wha-!?” Yuel gasped. “They’d even raise a hand against a girl? Darn, they sound really nasty.”

“Admittedly, Kai was almost asking for it,” Vincent explained. “She approached them first and started arguing, with as much intimidation as she could muster. I doubt she was planning to pick a fight, but that’s how the other party probably saw it. So, they shoved her away in an attempt to get rid of her. In turn, the amazon blew a fuse and Ragnarok broke out.”

“I can sort of imagine it.” Yuel frowned. “I guess it didn’t go well?”

“Of course not. The boys easily overpowered her. She ended up walking away in shame. Ever since, she has been avoiding the subject. Her pride as the club’s captain was in shambles.”

“I see. That’s why she didn’t want to talk about this. So, Lars, you heard all that?”

“Hm?” Lars tilted his head. “Heard all what?”

“These guys aren’t afraid of fighting back. It’s dangerous to confront them.”

“Don’t worry, I ain’t gonna fight them,” Lars promised. “We just gonna talk a little, that’s all.”

“And, what do you plan to say, exactly?”

“That they better release our dude from all that crap. He doesn’t deserve it.”

“And, you think they’re going to agree? Just like that?”

“No harm in trying,” Lars insisted. “I mean, what do we have to lose here? It’s not like anybody gonna arrest us for talking. These dudes ain’t nobody special. They’re just students like us. No reason to be scared of them.”

This goof knows no fear. Yuel gulped. In his imagination, these bullies were a bunch of savage criminals who shouldn’t be messed with. Yet, in Lars’s eyes, these guys were run-of-the-mill students. They were just some kids of the same age, so it was natural to try communicating with them. It was such a simple and naive, yet oddly convincing, line of reasoning.

“Fine,” Yuel surrendered. “We can try meeting them, at least.”

“Okay, let’s go then!” Lars pumped a fist and marched toward the exit.

“Wait,” Yuel said. “Do you even know where to find them?”

“Oh.” Lars stopped in place for the second time, with his fist still stretched high into the air. He backpedaled and turned to Vincent. “Any idea where we gonna find these dudes?”

“I’m afraid not,” Vincent said.

“Really? I thought that ’Information Blackhole’ thingy of yours knows everything.”

“Guh!” Vincent grimaced. He received an invisible blow to his pride. To think that he, the great Information Blackhole, the one who held access to the Akashic Records, would not know the location of these people of interest! It was unacceptable! Nay, it won’t stand! He had to deliver some sort of answer, even if it was imperfect!

“They... might be in the basketball club,” Vincent suggested. “The club was practicing today and they’re members, so it stands to reason they attended. I suspect practice is over by now, but they might still be in the area.”

“So, the basket club? Okay, I know where that is. Let’s go!” Lars paced out of the room with confident strides.

“Are we really doing this?” Vincent exchanged glances with Yuel.

“Looks like we are.” Yuel smiled wryly. “It’s almost impossible to stop Lars when he gets like this. And, honestly? I don’t see a reason why we should.”

“Does that mean you approve of Lars’s reckless plan?”

“Not entirely, but what else can we do? You don’t have any better plans, do you?”

“It’s usually the Chessmaster’s job to come up with craft ploys.”

“This isn’t chess or even Classmancers for that matter,” Yuel said. “I’ve never dealt with this sort of situation before, so there’s no way I’d have a tactic prepared for this. If anything, these types of interpersonal problems are my weakness. I’ve never been great with resolving arguments.”

“What a humble Chessmaster we have.” Vincent smiled meaningfully. “You say you’re not good at it, but you perfectly stopped Kai and Lars when they were arguing over the Carry role during the Taurus scrimmage. That was an awe-striking performance!”

“I guess I’m getting a little better through experience,” Yuel said. Though, I’d rather not experience such situations in the first place.

“So,” Vincent started. “Tell me honestly. Do you believe Lars’s idea will work?”

“Who knows,” Yuel gave it straight. “This guy is as unpredictable as they can get. He’s the master of pulling random nonsense that ends up working in the end. If it’s him, anything is possible.”

“Indeed, I feel so too,” Vincent agreed. “When he insisted this was ‘easy’, I almost started believing it’s indeed that easy. Even though I should be perfectly aware of how difficult this topic is, something about Lars’s unyielding conviction almost swayed me.”

“Yeah, he has that kind of effect on people. That’s why I almost believe he can actually pull this off.”

“I’m tempted to believe in him as well, yet my spidey senses are tingling.” Vincent gulped. “I have a feeling things will no be so pretty.”

“Oh, I’m sure they won’t be,” Yuel agreed. “That’s why we need to be there too. If the situation gets out of hand, we might have to intervene.”

“I must say, I’m not confident about enlisting as a soldier.”

“I doubt either of us will be much help in a fistfight, so we should avoid escalating things to that point. Our best weapons are here.” Yuel pointed at his temple. “If Lars is going to play the part of the ‘brawn’, then we’ll be the ‘brain’. That’s our role in this match.”

“Very well.” Vincent nodded. “I shall overclock my brain all the way to infinity and draw out all the existing information that can possibly help us emerge victoriously! Meanwhile, the Chessmaster shall use his Mystic Eyes of Weakness Perception to find the villains’ weak spots and weave a ploy to strike them down!”

“I’ll do what I can.”

With these convictions, the trio headed toward the basketball club, to face the bullies that have been terrorizing Ben for the past two years. Will they be able to resolve this complicated situation peacefully? Probably not. Nevertheless, they braced themselves for the worst and pressed onward, believing in Lars’s ability to create an opportunity that’ll flip this situation on its head!