Saturday came around. It was one day after the Taurus scrimmage.

Yuel spent the entire day watching and rewatching replays of the scrimmage, examining every nook and cranny. He listed down all the important plays with the appropriate timestamp for each play.

Hmm. I should’ve asked somebody to go on the offensive here. Yuel criticized his own decisions as he watched the many embarrassing defeats the team suffered that day. But, I’m surprised. This game was actually a lot closer than how I remember it.

Frankly, the first two games against the enemy’s infamous Triangle felt terribly hopeless at the time. However, after watching the replay, things no longer seemed as one-sided as he remembered them to be. There were multiple ways to counter the enemy’s offense, but Yuel failed to pick them.

Some of these counters are even pretty obvious. Why didn’t I go for any of them?

Yuel knew the answer to that himself. He was stuck in the mentality of playing safe and steady, which wasn’t the right response for the enemy’s Triangle formation in many of the critical situations.

The team was pushed back and its defense couldn’t withstand the enemy’s pressure, so they had to find a way to go on the offensive. But, Yuel ignored that fact and insisted to stick to defense, as pointless as it was.

If I just told Lars to split-push back then, we might’ve won the 4th game. Instead, it took Yuel all the way until the 5th game to finally wake up and go through with this obvious solution. They had a chance to end this scrimmage with a score of 4-1, but Yuel let that opportunity slip right through his fingers.

But, I have to say, I thought Taurus pressured us much harder than this in the 4th game. But, turns out we were actually doing alright. It was another case of his memory not aligning with the footage.

Memory was a curious thing. The subjective impressions and feelings Yuel experienced amidst the intense situation trampled over his objective reasoning.

That’s why analyzing the scrimmage post-facto was so important. The replay footage was unbiased, showing only the objective truth of the game.

By watching the game again through an objective lens, Yuel corrected the biased memories he formed during the game itself. Thanks to that, he could arrive at many new realizations.

This was one reason why compiling a video of important plays was absolutely necessary. Everybody will learn a lot by watching objective footage of themselves playing these critical games.

Unfortunately, not everybody had the patience to sit through the entire replay and search for such important moments. Therefore, Yuel had to find all the juicy scenes for them.

And, in order to compile everything into a video, Yuel went to visit Vincent’s place on Sunday. That clown apparently had some video editing skills, but it was best to take it with a grain of salt.

I won’t believe it until I see it for myself. Yuel thought on his way to Vincent’s place. But, he seems to have SOME credibility, at least.

Back on Friday, Yuel demanded some proof from Vincent. It’d be a waste of time to travel all the way to Vincent’s place only to achieve nothing, so some proof was in order.

Surprisingly, the clown complied with the request. In fact, he sent no less than 10 videos.

Yuel checked them out one by one, and...

“And then, he goes for the triple kill! What a marvelous display of skill! Truly, he is the Insane Beast of the Apocalypse!” Vincent’s voice boomed.

The microphone is a little loud. Yuel criticized immediately. But, that wasn’t a real issue, so he continued watching.

The video itself showed Lars fighting his way through multiple enemies in a row, scoring a triple kill in the process. It was simple footage cut from a replay, with a few fake “camera effects” to make certain moments look more intense. It was nothing spectacular but it got the job done.

The rest of Vincent’s videos were the same. They showcased the plays of various teammates in Ranked matches, accompanied by Vincent’s loud commentary.

All in all, it was passable content. With a little bit of polish, Vincent could even start a career as YouTuber by posting these. It’d be titled something like “TOP 10 PLAYS WITH LOUD COMMENTARY!” That’ll attract an audience. Probably.

Either way, these videos were proof enough that Vincent possed at least minimal editing abilities. In fact, it must’ve been one of his hobbies, seeing as he sent over 10 videos right away.

Just how many videos did he actually make in his free time? That had to be a lot of work.

If he enjoys making videos of hype moments, maybe I should ask him to make videos for us on a regular basis. I can compile important moments from our Ranked matches and he’ll turn them into a video. OR, maybe I should stop being lazy and learn some video editing myself.

Yuel really had to step up his game in that area. Compiling replay footage was an important tool for self-improvement. As such, he was hoping to learn the basics today by watching Vincent do the job.

Oh, that’s the station. Yuel cut his thoughts short and got off the bus.

“So, you have finally, o brave traveler!” Vincent started with a dramatic greeting, as usual.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Yuel threw nervous glances around them, to make sure nobody was giving them funny looks. If anybody asks, I don’t know this guy.

Fortunately, there weren’t many people around. Maybe that’s why Vincent allowed himself to act like his usual eccentric self in public like this.

“Let us proceed to the den of my hidden craft!” Vincent stretched his arms theatrically and led the way.

“Right...” Yuel followed with fast paces. Let’s get out of here ASAP. Really, how can he act like that in public? He must have nerves of steel.

It didn’t take them long to reach their destination.

“Here it is!” Vincent presented a building by stretching both arms like a hyped tour guide. “This is the Den of Video Crafting! Here, you’ll find mages who religiously practice videocrafting on a daily basis.”

“Great story. So, can we go in already?”

“Yes, but of course! Normally, only the chosen ones may pass through these magical gates. But, worry not! As a pupil of the videocraft school, I can grant thee free entry this once!” With that said, Vincent pressed on the intercom. A buzzing sound came out, informing them that the entrance was now open.

 “It appears we were granted permission.”

“Yeah, impressive…” Yuel rolled his eyes.

The two of them rode the elevator to the seventh floor. The entire time, Vincent was hyping up this mundane situation.

“This electric beast shall deliver us to our destination,” Vincent was making zero sense as usual. In fact, it felt like he was spouting more nonsense than on an average day.

I hope my brain cells will stay intact after today. Yuel thought. Being exposed to Vincent’s nonsense the entire day was probably as unhealthy as radiation.

At long last, they arrived on the seventh floor. Thanks to Vincent’s constant narration, that short elevator ride felt like a grand fantasy adventure. They didn’t even start working on the video yet, but Yuel was already feeling tired.

“Here it is, the Den of Videocraft!” Vincent led Yuel into the apartment.

“Welcome, welcome,” a man greeted Yuel with a friendly smile and stretched his hand. This was probably Vincent’s dad. “The name’s Fabio.”

“Yuel. Nice to meet you.” Yuel shook the offered hand.

“Mhm, I’ve heard many things about you.” Fabio nodded repeatedly and formed a camera with his hands. “‘A Genius Middle-Schooler. I like the sound of that! I can already see the view count exploding!”

“Hah.” Yuel instinctively backed away. There was a grown-up man in front of him who was acting as goofy as his son. Gulp.

Like father like son, I guess? Yuel smiled wryly. Mom also sometimes says I resemble dad, so maybe it’s a common thing? Ugh. Two doses of Vincent would be the end of me.

“So, let me ask you this.” Fabio brought a hand toward Yuel’s face, it was probably supposed to be an imaginary microphone. “How do you feel about the team’s recent victory?”

“Agh...” Yuel wanted to get out of here. Now.

Even though they were inside a house, the man’s presence was incredibly convincing. It felt like a real reporter was interrogating Yuel.

Wait, he IS a reporter, isn’t he? No wonder it feels so real. Yuel gulped. He somehow walked into an interview without his knowledge. Drat...

“So? How was it?” Fabio continued. “It was the team’s first official scrimmage, wasn’t it? How did it feel to stand on the competitive stage for the first time?”

“I feel the team still has a long way to go.” Yuel found himself answering seriously. “So, I came here today to compile a video for our match review.”

“Blunt and to the point, I see.” Fabio nodded with a smile. “Most kids your age would be throwing a party to celebrate the team’s first victory, but I see you’re already thinking about the next fight.”

“It was just the first scrimmage. We’ll be facing stronger opponents in the future,” Yuel found it oddly easy to keep talking. It’s as if the words just wanted to roll out of his mouth on their own. “Our next opponents are the Leopards. We have to improve as much as possible before we challenge them.”

“Oh yes, the Leopards. The reigning champions of the region.”

“Right. This scrimmage will be the real test.”

“I see, I see.” Fabio nodded. “So, I presume your goal is to win the regionals this year and go to nationals?”

“That’s the first goal, yes.”

“The first? Hoho, ambitious. Then, you’re also planning to dominate the nation.”

“And the world cup too.”

“Such bold words!” Fabio clapped. “Indeed, these are words befitting a young genius! I wish you all the luck in the world!”

“Thank you.” Yuel nodded with a smile but something was bugging him.

Wait, how did we even end up talking about all of this? Before Yuel realized, he went on and on, sharing everything on his mind with Fabio. It was an odd experience.

“Kukuku, it appears you’ve finally reached the truth.” Vincent smiled meaningfully. “Once you’ve fallen into the web, it is nigh impossible to climb your way out of it.”

“What are you talking about?” Yuel asked.

“You’ve been captured by none other than the Information Absorber!” Vincent stretched his arms theatrically. “His ability is to extract all the information the victim has! It’s an EX rank Noble Phantasm, a one-of-a-kind absolute skill! All your data is as good as naked in front of it! That’s the Information Absorber!”

“You and you’re chuuni stuff again.” Fabio smiled wryly and ruffled Vincent’s hair. “I apologize on my son’s behalf. He has a bad habit of talking like this, using terms that probably nobody around him understands.”

“It’s okay, I’m already used to it,” Yuel admitted. “Basically, he’s saying you’re a talented reporter who’s good at making people talk.”

“Oh, impressive.” Fabio blinked. “You understood all that?”

“Yes, unfortunately.” Yuel cracked a dry laugh. “I feel like I’ve been forced to study an alien language to understand all this nonsense. And, the scariest thing is that I actually learned to understand most of it.”

“Haha, I understand, I understand.” Fabio nodded. “I know my son can be a little oddball like this, but I hope you stay his friend.”

“Um, sure.” Yuel was at a loss for words for a moment. Friend? Well, I guess we are friends, sorta. I’ve never really thought about that.

Back in StormBlitz, there was a clearer distinction between a “clubmate” and a “friend”. Lars and Julia were Yuel’s friends because they always hanged out together. On the other hand, everybody else was just a “clubmate”. Yuel was on good terms with most of them, but they weren’t particularly close. In this way, everybody had their own small circles of friends.

However, things were a little different in Stratus. The club only had seven members, six of whom regularly attended practice. Their lineups for Ranked matches were almost always the same, give or take one person. In other words, everybody spent time together in the club.

As a result, they grew closer to each other. At least, Yuel felt closer to most of them than he felt close to the members of StormBlitz.

He was on good terms with Vincent, he had a truce with Kai, and he worked as Nia’s personal trainer. Even though Lars remained his closest best friend, the others were also important to him.

Maybe this is the kind of club I was looking for all along. Yuel smiled softly. 

Back in elementary school, his desperate attempts to fit into various team sports were likely born from the desire to find friends to play with. And, in a way, that’s also what made him interested in Classamancers in the first place.

However, somewhere along the way, that motivation took a back seat. Yuel focused more and more on improving at that game, paying little heed to making friends.

Nonetheless, these thoughts never truly left the back of his mind. All this time, he was seeking more like-minded players with whom he could enjoy Classmancers to the fullest.

Who would’ve thought I’d find them in the club of the “weakest team in the region”?

Of course, this club presented many challenges of its own. Its members had tons of issues that had to be addressed before they were ready to take on the powerhouses of the region.

But, Yuel believed they’ll be fine. As long as they keep practicing as hard as they’ve been doing until now, they’ll be ready to take on anybody. From there, Yuel will just have to make sure to provide good shot-calls and help to lead the team to victory in any way he could.

For that reason, he had to work hard with Vincent today on compiling a match review video. He believed he was best suited to handle this operation, therefore it was his responsibility to do so.

With Vincent’s help, they’ll produce that important video and boost the club’s skill level tenfold! At least, provided that Vincent’s video editing skills were really up to par...