Returning home, I immediately ran up to my room and collapsed onto the bed. Today has been exhausting. However, the continuous ting ting of incoming messages was not letting me rest.
"These two people, what are they messaging about so much? Don't they intend to let me relax?"
After adding Sato's Line address when we parted at the café, Nakamura quickly created a small Line group among the three of us for easier information exchange. I wonder what they are discussing so animatedly? Curious, I opened my phone and clicked on the group.
"So how do you two plan to practice, Hasegawa, Sato? Today is already Thursday, and we only have two short days to practice together to prepare for the showdown."
"How about tomorrow and saturday afternoon after school? Let's meet at the net café near school and practice there."
"Those two time slots are fixed, but I'm still worried that it won't be enough. I wish we had more time. Do you have any suggestions, Hasegawa?"
Don't ask me, the one who is completely exhausted, just being able to hold my phone and see you guys chatting is already a lot. And wanting more time to practice is not impossible.
"How about sleeping over at each other's houses? After the practice on saturday afternoon, we can go to each other's houses and practice all night until morning. After all, our match is on sunday afternoon, so we will have the whole morning to rest."
"Hey, Hasegawa! Are you crazy to suggest that a girl sleep over with two boys all night? What would my parents think if they knew?"
"Oh, I forgot you were a girl. Sometimes I still have to doubt your gender. What kind of girl is not gentle and graceful at all, but extremely mean."
"Hasegawa! You'll see what I can do to you tomorrow at school."
"There you go again, starting to get worked up. But I'm serious about this suggestion, it's the only way for us to have more time to practice together and increase our chances of winning against the opponent."
"Honestly, this is the only option we have left... Well then, let's meet at each other's houses and practice until the match. But it can't be at my house, okay? My parents won't allow it."
"My house is the same. My parents would probably be relax with it, but my little sister would be really annoying. What about your house, Sato? But it seems unlikely, looking at you, I can tell you come from a well-mannered family."
"Your parents are relax with letting their daughter sleep over at a boy's house? I think you should reconsider the definition of 'relax' in the dictionary."
"As if I would do anything to you! Even if you offered, I wouldn't want to do anything with a girl like you, Nakamura."
"Oh, I see... so with other girls, you would do that, huh?"
This old lady, do you think I'm that perverted in your eyes? I'm trying my best to solve the team's issues even though I'm about to collapse. I haven't received any gratitude, just insults. While I was still bickering with Nakamura, Sato, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up.
"Then let's go to my house. My parents are currently on a business trip, so there's no one at home. And my house has enough rooms for guests, so it will be fine."
"Really? Then I apologize for bothering you, but can you let me and Hasegawa stay over for a night?"
"That's fine. It's all for the benefit of our team."
"Then I'll bring some snacks so we can munch while practicing together."
"Hey! Why is your attitude towards Sato so different from how you talk to me? At least don't make it so obvious."
"Figure it out, you idiot. I thought you were smart."
As a wise person once said, why bother caring about girls like this? Anyway, the problem has been solved, and now no one can stop me from going to sleep anymore. That's what I thought.
"Big brother! Are you coming down for dinner or what? How long do you plan to make me and parent wait?"
Reina, please! Why does everyone keep bothering me like this? It's as if I'm the main character in some novel.
"I'm a bit tired today. If you and parent want to eat, go ahead. Just tell mom to save me some rice and leftovers. I'll eat later when I'm hungry."
My parents are the kind of people who are happy as long as their children are happy, and since I'm quite obedient and my academic performance is always decent, they have never complained about any of my requests.
"Then I'll tell mom that. Oh, by the way, she bought some sweet cakes today. If you don't come down for dinner, can I have your share?"
What? That little brat just said sweet cake? Then I absolutely cannot let that happen. Just that one sentence made my initially exhausted body feel recharged. I immediately jumped up and pushed the door open, passing by Reina and running down the stairs. Before that, I didn't forget to leave a sentence.
"What are you standing there for? If you don't hurry, dinner will get cold."
As a sweet enthusiast like me, especially after being seriously hurt mentally by Nakamura, I absolutely cannot miss this precious reward. Oh! Truly, only my mother spoils me like this. From now on, my standards for choosing a girlfriend will definitely be based on my mother's model. With a big grin, I quickly dashed down to the dining room.
Reina saw this and, with a not-so-surprised expression, just giggled and quickly chased after me. By the way, she is my younger sister – Hasegawa Reina, a first-year student at Naga High School, the same school as me. The girl has quite a pretty appearance with her fluffy brown hair, beautiful blue eyes, and fair rosy skin. She often clings to me when we are at home, even though she is already 15 years old. She often says that only her older brother understands her, unlike those silly boys at school. Well, she is my sister, how can I not spoil her? Besides, I'm no different from those silly boys.
Reina also often plays Chronicles of Heroes with me during our free time. There was a time when I was so desperate to recruit members that I thought about inviting Reina to join the team. Even though I know that if I just asked, she would be ready to join at any time, even taking on the responsibility of finding members for me, I thought it wouldn't be right to burden her too much just because of my simple hobby. After all, the situation now is much better than before. If we win the match this weekend, my Chronicles of Heroes team will officially be complete. Thinking about that prospect, I couldn't help but grin widely.
"What girl are you thinking about that makes you smile so creepily?"
"I'm not interested in dating yet! I'd rather spend my time playing games, it's much more enjoyable."
"Remember to tell me when you have a girlfriend, okay? So I can evaluate her for you, in case some girl tricks you and you end up suffering."
"You're underestimating me! It's lucky that I haven't tricked any girl yet."
"Oh my, you're such a Trap boy! Only good at tricking innocent girls!"
Even though she teased me like that, Reina has been laughing non-stop since earlier. To be honest, if I had a girlfriend, I would cherish her like a golden egg. But that's something to think about later. For now, my heart is only directed towards one thing. Sweet cakes, I'm coming for you.
______________
"Saichi, after clearing the monsters in the forest, move to the python cave to check if the enemy team is eating, just make sure they don't get to eat. Hiyo, after clearing the minions in the mid lane, regroup with the team to prepare for the battle."
"I'll push the minions in the dragon lane, depending on the situation, I might push alone or circle behind the enemy team to set up a pincer attack."
"Okay, got it."
"Understood."
On Friday afternoon after school, I, Nakamura, and Sato quickly went to the internet café near the school. Right now, we are practicing our team coordination skills in ranked matches.
And as a way to get closer to each other, we decided to call each other by nicknames whenever we communicate during the game.
Saichi has been taken down by the red team.
"What's up, Saichi? How did you go down already?"
"Sorry. I was checking the enemy's vision on the mini-map when I was ambushed unexpectedly and couldn't react in time."
"It's okay, just be more careful next time. You're a key position in the team. Don't let yourself die for no reason."
"Um... I'll be careful."
The python has been defeated by the red team.
"The enemy just got the python. Now listen to me, don't move around too much. Just go back to defend the base for now, wait for the enemy to run out of the python buff, then we'll counterattack. Our team has long-range champions, so if we defend well, we're not out of the game yet. I'll cover you and Hiyo for the counterattack, I have enough items."
"Okay, leave it to me and Saichi."
The match is going unfavorably for us, the enemy team is controlling the minion waves very evenly, plus the buff from the python. Before long, our entire outer defensive structure has been destroyed. Fortunately, we still managed to hold our main base until the enemy team's python buff expired.
"We're in a precarious situation now. The next python absolutely must not be allowed for the enemy to eat. You guys push the minions in all lanes and try to stay alive, don't die unnecessarily, okay, Saichi, Hiyo?"
"Worry about yourself first, we know what to do right now. Right, Saichi?"
"Um… don't worry, we'll be careful."
Satichi has been taken down by the red team.
It hadn't even been a few minutes after I said that...
The main base has been destroyed. The blue team has been defeated.
"It seems we still haven't coordinated well together. We lost three out of four matches today. Let's analyze the games from today tonight and work on improving for tomorrow, everyone."
"Most of the mistakes came from you, Hasegawa. You called a lot but didn't play well at all."
"Hey, I called accurately! What more do you want, Nakamura? And it's not like you didn't make any mistakes? You always pick high-damage mage champions but didn't deal any damage at all! Right, Sato?"
Sato, who had been silent until now, turned to us with a gloomy expression. He struggled to speak.
"I'm s-sorry! All the losses today are my fault. I made all the wrong moves and got caught out, and I couldn't contest any major objectives. I'm sorry."
"Calm down, Sato, we don't blame you at all. This loss is a shared responsibility of the whole team, how can we put all the blame on you? Right, Nakamura?"
"That's right, you don't need to feel guilty, Sato. It was also because I and Hasegawa didn't play well today, which restricted your ability to move freely and contest objectives."
"That's not true, you and Hasegawa did everything you could. I should have done better, you all trusted me, yet I couldn't do anything at all. I'm really sorry!"
What is this tense atmosphere? It must be quickly put to an end.
"Alright, to sum it up, we all underperformed today. After all, this is our first time playing together, and mistakes are unavoidable. Let's discuss it tonight and try harder tomorrow everyone."
"Agreed! Tomorrow we have plenty of time to practice together. So cheer up Sato, I hope you can take care of us tomorrow."
"That's right, we have a training session scheduled from the afternoon until late at your place. Just relax, I'll bring a lot of snacks, and we can eat and practice together."
"Well, I'm afraid your snacks are all spoiled and expired. Let me bring some guaranteed ones, I don't want to have a stomachache before the competition."
"Shut up! Why do you always think badly of me, Nakamura?"
"That's just a plain fact, there's no bad thinking here, Hasegawa. Do you think the time we've known each other for over a year is just for nothing? Remember last year's pastry you gave me? After eating it, I had a stomachache for days, right?"
"That was completely an accident! That day you woke up late and didn't have time for breakfast, I was worried you would be hungry, so I kindly offered you the pastry. Who would have guessed it was expired?"
"How could you not know it was expired and still give it to me? You must have done it on purpose, right?"
"Because it wasn't labeled, I really didn't know! It was just an accident!"
"Stop making excuses, if you bring snacks, just eat them by yourself. Sato and I will have our own."
"You're so evil!"
Speaking of which, that cake was a gift from my little sister to make up after we had a huge fight, so she definitely intended to get me in trouble, and it ended up affecting Nakamura. I'm completely innocent.
Sato listened to our conversation and couldn't help but laugh out loud. It seems he has relaxed a bit, thank goodness.
"Well, let's part ways here. Tomorrow after school, Nakamura and I will come to your class to wait, and then the three of us will go to your house together."
"Agreed!"
"Okay, then tomorrow I'll prepare something to treat you and Nakamura."
Ending the first practice session on a not-so-promising note, we each went our separate ways home. With our own thoughts weighing on us, I hope that tomorrow things will be better.