Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

Vol.7 Ch.1: Ben the "Delinquent"

On the fourth day of school, Yuel and Lars went to the clubroom again after school. So far, the club has been gathering like this every day, which was something Yuel really appreciated. The more the team gets to practice the stronger it'll become.

Unfortunately, this routine will probably only last until Kai makes a proper schedule. But, for now, the team had a frequent and fairly fruitful training regime.

The one thing that constantly annoyed about the club was the clubroom. Unlike proper clubs, their clubroom was tucked away in the basement. So, every time, Yuel and Lars had to venture into the school's basement to reach their clubroom. That is, if one could even call that place a "clubroom". It was just a storage room, really.

"Heya," Lars greeted everybody as he entered.

"Oh," Vincent turned around and saluted. "Welcome to the Den of Undiscovered Potential!"

Again with that nonsense. Yuel shook his head.

Kai and Vincent were already here, which wasn't surprising since the seniors studied on the first floor of the school. Meanwhile, Luke wasn't here yet even though he had to travel the same distance as Yuel and Lars. Judging by his laid-back attitude, he was probably in no hurry. No surprises there.

However, there was one surprise in the room: an unfamiliar face. There was a chubby boy Yuel hasn't seen before. This must be Ben, the elusive last member of Stratus who skipped every meeting so far.

"Oh, hi," Ben raised his hand timidly. "I heard we got two transfer students. That's you?"

"Yep, that's us," Lars pointed at himself. "The name's Lars."

"Yuel," Yuel stated briefly. It sure took a long time to finally meet Ben even though he was supposed to be a part of the same club. What was Ben's deal?

"Um, I'm Ben," Ben shifted his eyes away to avoid Yuel's gaze. "Nice to meet you..."

He's not quite how I imagined. Yuel frowned.

Considered Ben skipped the last two days of practice and hasn't provided a good reason for that, Yuel expected a delinquent who didn't take the club seriously. Yet, this timid guy couldn't be farther away from that image. Yuel even felt bad a little for judging the guy like that.

"May I ask why you missed every club activity so far?" Yuel had to make this straight.

"Ah, well..." Ben flinched and his eyes moved from side to side. "I, um, had some stuff I had to do take of..."

"Like what?"

"Er, well..." Ben stumbled over his words. "Some friends asked me to help them out at the basketball club, so I..."

"You've been helping them out for three days?"

"A-Ah, yeah, um, you see..." Ben was at a loss. This was awkward. It almost felt like bullying.

Should I keep pressing? Yuel wondered. He still hasn't gotten any answers. What did Ben mean by "helping the basketball club"? What did Ben have to do with it? He was supposed to be a member of the Classmancers club. Or, maybe this school allowed students to register to multiple clubs?

"I don't get it," Yuel said. "How are you connected to the basketball club?"

"Well, I got a few friends there and..."

"... and?"

"And, um..." Ben was visibly fidgeting. What was he hiding?

"He just had important stuff to do," Vincent butted into the conversation. "Let's leave it at that, shall we?"