Jinxy was bored. She wanted to be right next to her mother but couldn’t.

Right now, she was on ‘mandatory leave’, something that had been imposed by their new instructor, Major Riley.

One day, her mother and general Rika suddenly met Riley and the decision to hire her as an instructor was made on the spur of the moment. Jinxy obeyed the orders she received to listen to the woman’s instructions from here on. All of them accepted it, though some Null CGs grumbled…

The training this new instructor provided was actually good, so neither Jinxy nor her sisters complained about it, but there were some other points that disgruntled them, like some strange orders to ‘wear skirts’ and other such things. Jinxy had a hard time understanding the utility of those orders…

The ‘mandatory leave’ was one of them, which disgruntled her quite a bit. It was an order that asked the ECGs to have some free time for themselves instead of working 24/7. The ECGs were a bit confused about it, since for them there was no better way to enjoy their lives than to follow the orders of their mother and be of use to her. This order however, focused only on them.

Mother asked us to follow this order too…

While Riley had been the one who made the suggestion, Ticia was the one who endorsed this order. She went even as far as asking Rika for some allowance for the girls, though this point had been withdrawn for now after some insistence from Bronz that the ECGs did not need anything.

So Jinxy obeyed. There she was now, walking around campus without any specific objective and a slightly disgruntled expression…

I’m not walking aimlessly, I’m patrolling, yes, patrolling to ensure the safety of Mother. She convinced herself as she followed around her other sisters, when the one at the head of the group, ECG-100, stopped.

“...Sisters, what are the humans doing?” ECG-100 asked her sisters, observing a group of boys playing football. they were now at a place they rarely visited, right next to the training grounds: the sport grounds…

Her sisters also looked at the scene in wonders, sports and entertainment had been omitted from their implanted knowledge, so their curiosity was genuine in front of this sport.

“It would appear they are running behind a ball, 100.” 013 remarqued.

“Why?” 100 asked, tilting her head.

This confusion was shared by her sisters.

“Perhaps we should investigate this.” Breesse suggested, and the others nodded.

They got closer to where the football match was taking place. Other people were also observing the match, commenting here and there and cheering when a big action took place. The ECGs looked at this public, when they saw someone within the public.

“It’s instructor Riley.” One of them said, her words getting the attention of said person in question.

“Oh?” Riley exclaimed as she turned, before smiling. “Well, what do we have here? Never expected you girls to come here on your own.”

““Greetings, instructor.”” The ECGs saluted, gathering attention from the nearby spectators who now glanced at them curiously.

“Instructor, what are these people doing?” ECG-100 asked curiously. Riley looked at her with a look of surprise before nodding, remembering that the ECGs were special cases.

“They’re playing football. It’s a game where two teams battle each other to mark points.” She explained.

“Battle?”

“Yes, but with specific rules. See, they can’t fight the other side with their hands or cause injury. The goal of this game is to mark points by shooting the ball within the delimited area over there.”

The ECGs listened to the explanation. This game seemed complicated to them. There were also some questions Jinxy had in mind as she listened.

What is the point of battling each other with rules? I don’t see the utility of that?

She was not the only one who had this in mind, as Breesse asked the exact same thing just after she thought of it.

“Mmmh… Perhaps the word ‘battle’ was the wrong one…” Riley said, smiling wryly. “It’s more of a competition, one where you and your team have to win against the others.”

“So there’s no merit in it.” Another ECG commented flatly. This remark got her some glares from surrounding spectators, although none of them spoke out against the ECG. Jinxy was in agreement with her sister though.

What is the point of running around behind a ball? I don’t get it…

“There is, actually.” Riley said with a complicated look on her face, before an idea popped in her mind. “Ah! That’s it! If you girls want to understand, then you have to play the game yourselves!” She declared.

““...Ourselves?””

“Yes! and you’re just the right number for that!” Riley said with a smirk, though the ECGs seemed opposed to the idea.

“It’ll be fun, I promise!” Riley tried to persuade them. “You might get some praise for doing it too.” She said vaguely, though her words had unexpected consequences on the ECGs, Jinxy in particular.

Praise?! Mother will praise us if we do it!? Jinxy thought to herself, a glint passing through her eyes. She looked at her sisters, they seemed to have the same thought. They all nodded together.

““We’re doing it.””

 

***

 

A while later and the ECGs came out from the nearby cloakrooms wearing tracksuits. Nobody knew where these came from, though if asked, Riley was probably the one responsible for it. She now also wore a tracksuit and had a whistle and a ball in her hands.

People looked at this group in wonder as they walked to one of the free football fields nearby.

“Alright.” Riley exclaimed. “You girls go do some exercises while I ask around if some people would like to play against you.”

““Understood, instructor.”” The ECGs went to work, doing exercises to warm up their bodies.

Riley did not have to go far to meet people though, since a certain amount had already gathered around.

“Mh? What are the clones doing?” One young man asked as he stepped out of the group.

“Isaac.” ECG-100 said flatly, recognising the person as one of her sister’s classmates.

“Oh, hey, uhm, sorry, I dunno who  you are…” Isaac answered while scratching his cheek, embarrassed.

“That’s fine, even I have a hard time knowing who they are. I dunno how Rika’s doing it.” Riley admitted while laughing.

“...Who?”

“Ah, I’m major Riley, personal drilling instructor for those girls.” Riley smiled, before inspecting Isaac. “Hmmm… Yup, quite handsome. You got my approval. Too bad you’re a bit too young for my own taste.” She mumbled to herself.

“...Sorry?” Isaac could not help but feel a bit perturbed.

“Ah, it’s nothing, don’t mind it.” Riley laughed it off. “Say, since you know them, do you happen to know some people who play football and would like to share some time with the clones?”

“You’re making them play football?” Isaac seemed surprised at first, before looking thoughtful. “Interesting…”

“So? You know anyone who’d like to play against-”

“No need to search, we’ll do it.” Someone said before Riley could even finish her words.

“You guys…” Isaac looked at the new arrivals with a twisted expression, they wore official jerseys of the football club of the academy. His expression was twisted for a reason though… He had heard many bad things about this team…

“Oh? The official team of the academy? I mean, why not, but aren’t you guys professionals?” Riley said, oblivious to her counterpart’s current notoriety…

“Us being professionals doesn’t mean we can’t do a match against newcomers. We’ll hold back, don’t worry.” The man smiled back confidently, though Isaac had doubts on his words. Riley on her part nodded.

“If you say so. Ok then, the clones will have a match against you.” She said, and after shaking hands with the man, his team departed to take place on the field.

Isaac closed the distance with Riley and whispered in her ear.

“Major… Are you sure about this? The football club’s reputation is…”

Riley frowned for a bit, before her expression became serious.

“Would have loved to get this info before. Oh well, it’s too late now. I don’t think the clones will get in trouble though, more like, they are the ones who might end up with broken bones…” She answered.

“...” Isaac could not help but agree in silence. He had seen enough of the ECGs to know not to mess with them. So much so that he and his classmates swore to never anger them…

“By the way, how about becoming the team’s cheerleader?”

“H-huh?”

 

***

 

And so the match began and just as suspected, the professionals played the game seriously with no consideration for the bewildered clones…

“Goal!” The referee AI announced as the ball went into the cage on the clone’s side. The goalie, ECG-032, had fallen for the faint of the attacker.

The public looked at the scene with mixed feelings. Some cheered, others felt sorry for the clones. This was the fifth goal marked against the clones after all, while the clones had no points yet…

“Time out!” Riley exclaimed, gathering the clones around her.

“Alright, how are you feeling, girls?” She asked.

“...Can we beat them up?” Breesse asked straightforwardly, expressing the wishes of all the clones. They had been irritated by their enemies' actions, who seemed to take advantage of them being debutants to try and molest them from time to time…

“No, you’d be disqualified if you did that. Think of the reputation of your superiors, please.” Riley said, though she agreed with the clones on the inside, having herself been the subject of such abuse.

This seemed to be enough for the clones, as none wanted to do something that would downgrade their mother’s image. They nodded reluctantly.

“So, for the following set, try to not get any more goals marked against you, alright? 032, you believe you can manage?”

“No.” ECG-032 answered straightforwardly.

“Ok, change it is.” Riley declared. “007, you take her place.”

“Understood.” ECG-007 nodded.

This was one of the problems the clone team had right now. Since they went straight into a match without training, they did not know what post went well for the eleven of them present. Other posts were managing it in a better way, and now the clones had found the posts in which they were doing a good job. All that remained was the goalie.

At first they had put Jinxy as the goalie, and it went horribly wrong with two goals scored. then they changed to Breesse, then with another ECG and so on. While some had managed to stop the enemy from scoring, it was not one without any difficulty.

“Breesse, Jinxy, if you ever get the ball, rush towards the enemy's goal and try to score. 083, 025, help 007 as much as you can. 100, do as you see fit. 040-” Riley continued her briefing, the ECGs nodding as she gave orders.

Once they were done, Riley looked towards ECG-100. “Captain, do you have some encouraging words to say to your teammates?”

“For Mother.” ECG-100 said seriously.

““For Mother.”” The other ECGs replied. Riley could only stare at them with a blank look.

“...That will do, I guess. Let’s get back into it!” She fired up, the clones nodding and going back on the field. The game resumed soon after.

Riley observed the match. The clones were improving bit by bit, and while not exactly the best, they managed to keep the score the same as before.

““G-go! Go! Clones for the win!”” She heard from behind her.

When she turned, she saw Isaac and a group of boys she had gathered cheering for the clones in rather embarrassing cheerleading costumes…

“Louder cheerleaders, they won’t hear you like that.” She said with a smirk.

“M-miss, have we offended you in some way?” Isaac said, on the verge of crying. Riley smiled.

“Quite the contrary. I’d say I’m doing this because I know exactly what is going on within you guy’s minds.” She said, winking at them. “If you want to impress them, you might as well do your best, right? Though I doubt it’ll ever come to fruition.”

““...”” The boys were ashamed, but they continued cheering for the clones, who did not show a care in the world for them…

“Ah~, youth…” Riley said with a nostalgic smile, though if Rika was there, she would comment that Riley was still young herself…

Meanwhile on the field, the clones had finally managed to get their feets on the ball and tried to score…

Under the cheers of the public, the ball was passed to Breesse, who dashed towards the enemy’s goal until she met the defense.

The man smirked as he tried to get the ball from Breesse, who defended herself. He then dashed into her, trying to get the ball away from her… Or so it seemed, his goal was totally different.

He tried to get a grab on Breesse’s breast and ass within the moment, but unfortunately, he had chosen the wrong clone to mess with…

“Buh-!?”

Finally breaking her patience, Breesse punched the man in his face.

*Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeep!*

The whistle of the AI arbitrating the match resounded, stopping the action.

“Hey! What was that for!?” The captain of the football team exclaimed, glaring at Breesse as he approached her. Breesse glared back, which made him flinch.

“Manager, can you explain this? We require excuses!” He redirected his anger towards Riley.

“...I don’t see what’s wrong?” Riley said nonchalantly, feigning ignorance.

“You- how can you say nothing happened when one of my teammates just got wounded!” The man fumed.

“Ahem. I am the AI in charge here, so allow me to deliver judgment. Please remain calm while I do so.” The AI said from the side.

“It is clear that the clone known as Breesse wounded her opponent voluntarily. However, replays show clear evidence of the said person making sexual assault rather than a move to take the ball.”

“Wha-? That’s absurd, he would never do that.” The captain defended.

“It is your opinion, but as the arbitrator, I have final judgment, and this is clearly a case of sexual assault, so your team will receive the fault.”

“Hey! That’s not fai-”

““Booooooh!””

As he continued to protest, booings from the spectators became stronger.

“Sexual assaulter, go die somewhere alone!”

“Trash like you shouldn’t exist!”

A group of female students had begun booing him, and other spectators joined them. Seeing as the public was against him, the captain decided to fall back.

“...Understood, we’ll take the blame.”

“Very well, I have decided to give a penalty shot to the concerned clone as compensation.”

The captain of the football team wanted to complain again, but held himself back.

Breesse took position, facing the keeper. The goalie stared at her in the eyes, ready to take her shot.

Tension mounted as the both of them stared at each other, silence surrounding them.

Then suddenly, a mysterious glint passed through the eyes of Breesse. She immediately put as much force as she could in her kick.

The ball went straight to… the goalie’s crotch…

Breesse never had the intention to mark in the first place…

Silence emerged as the goalie collapsed in pain on the ground. The ball slowly rolled back towards Breesse as everyone stared in utter surprise… Breesse huffed, seemingly satisfied, and put a light kick into the ball, this time sending it into the cage.

“Goal!” The AI declared.

“T-this is clearly outside the rules! She did it on purpose!” The captain exclaimed in protest, soon joined by other team members.

“I do not see any problems though? She marked, that’s all.” The AI said, rendering the captain and his teammate speechless. The AI clearly wasn’t on their side…

Now with one member in their team out, the match continued. The public continued to cheer on the clones, despite what just happened. No, perhaps it would be correct to say that it was because this happened that they continued to cheer the clones with even more enthusiasm…

Near the end of the match, the clones had improved to the level of their enemies, and had managed to catch up the score…

The last minutes were tough, the football  team did not want to lose to amateurs, while the clones got their morale heightened by the arrival of Willia and Ticinia, who cheered for them.

ECG-100 passed the ball to Jinxy.

“Come on Jinxy! You got this!” Ticinia cheered.

Jinxy managed to reach the goal, facing a now stressed out goalie substitute. The chances of her marking were high.

For the first time in her life, Jinxy felt like time slowed down. She felt stressed, she wanted to accomplish her mission no matter what. For her sisters with whom she shared this moment, for the Null CGs who had come to cheer on them, to bring more prestige to her family.

But most importantly…

“For Mother’s praise!” Jinxy exclaimed as she kicked the ball with all her strength.

*pung*

“Bufuh-!?”

…Only for the ball to hit the post and ricochet straight to her face…

““...”” 

Everyone was so flabbergasted by the event that they did not even notice the ball slowly entering the cages by itself until the AI whistled.

“Goal!”

““W-whoaaaaaaaaaah!”” The spectators erupted into cheers after hearing that.

Just after that, the AI also sounded the end of the match. The football team members fell to their knees, whispering words of denial, while the ECGs looked at each other.

“We won?” One of them asked, the others nodded.

“Congratulations girls, that was an amazing match!” Riley praised as she joined them with the cheerleaders squad. Not soon after, Ticinia and Willia also joined the group.

“Good job sisters!” Ticinia praised all happy.

“Next time let me join! I wanna play too!” Willia added, eyes full of stars. The ECGs felt happy under all their praise.

“I hope to see you girls more often on the sports ground, there are many other games you all can play.” Riley said as she patted the head of Willia, who laughed as a result.

“Instructor, where is our reward?” ECG-100 suddenly asked.

“Reward?” Riley tilted her head.

“You told us Mother would praise us.” Jinxy added, nose bleeding from the hit she just received. Her current expression told Riley that she did not care about that though…

“I didn’t say that, I just said she probably would, but she’s busy right now…” Riley vaguely said. Ticia and Rika were still going around, expanding their influence…

“It’s okay sisters! I’ll tell mom when she comes back!”

“Me too me too!”

Ticinia and Willia said. This reassured the ECGs for now, and Riley released a sigh of relief. She realized there was no messing around when mentioning praise to the clones, especially if it concerned their mother…

That evening, Ticinia and Willia told the story to Ticia, who immediately pampered the ECGs a lot and encouraged them to continue.

Since then, from time to time, the ECGs would come to the sports ground to pass their free time. Whenever they engaged in a sport, the public would follow, and so would the praises from their mother…