The Two-Timing Coach

In Bot, Karen fought the enemy Impaler and brought down the guy to 10% HP. It was an ezpz victory!

But, the pesky bastard refused to let Karen score a kill. He slipped away just in the nick of time to dodge death.

However, instead of retreating straight to his tower, the Impaler chose to flee to the jungle through the nearby entrance. What an idiot.

[What is he even doing? I'm gonna catch up to him if he goes that way.] Karen thought. [Oh well, guess it's a free kill for me then. Let's go!]

Karen turned her back to the jungle entrance and fired off her Backfire Cannon, sending herself flying toward the jungle. Since the Impaler didn't have any movement skills, Karen should be able to catch up to him in a jiffy. But...

"Karen, give it up," Nakajima ordered.

"Huh? Why? I'm literally about to kill this scrub." 

"Or, you're about to suffer a horrible death." 

"Huh? I still have over half health, tho."

"No, you meant to say you have ONLY about half health," Nakajima corrected. "That HP is within gankable range, especially when targeting a marksman."

"Gank? What gank? I don't see anybody coming over here."

"Just because you don't see them doesn't mean they're not there," Nakajima said. "They destroyed one of your important wards a while ago, so now there's a lot you can't see."

"Hmm. Yeaaaah, I guess our vision is a little impaired," Karen admitted.

"S-Sorry about that," Lua apologized. "I should've warded better…"

"Nah, it's not your fault," Karen reassured. "These guys are just too gung-ho about warding. Like, who even buys Sentry Wards this early into the game? Mad lads."

"True," Nakajima agreed with the analysis. "They seem uncannily concentrated on warding, which isn't typical for Ranked. Either way, the point remains that they robbed your vision. For example, you haven't seen their Jungler for a while now, have you?"

"I guess not, now that I think about it." Karen scratched her head. "Like, I have no idea if he's around Top or Bot."

"Exactly. So, he might be lurking nearby, waiting for you to overextend."

"Damn, seriously?" Karen's self-preservation instincts kicked in immediately. She rolled out of the jungle before anybody had the chance to attack her. "So, you're saying I almost got my ass ganked, huh."

"Karen, language," Fiona scolded.

"Oops. Sorry, sis, haha." Karen laughed awkwardly. "Anyway, yeah, that was kinda close, assuming the Jungler is really there."

"Even if he isn't," Nakajima said. "It's safer to assume he's there and retreat. Just think about how unnatural this entire situation was in the first place."

"Huh? Unnatural? It seemed pretty normal to me, tho." Karen shrugged. "Like, I kicked the guy's ass all the way down to 10%, so he started running away like a bitch."

"Karen."

"Oh, sorry, sis, haha!" Karen laughed it off as usual. "Anyway, the guy dropped low so he had to food it, and that's what he did, right? So, nothing 'unusual' here."

"Except," Nakajima started. "For whatever reason, he chose to run into the jungle instead of retreating to the tower."

"Oh, right. He did."

"And you didn't find that suspicious?"

"Well, in retrospect, now I realize he was probably baiting me," Karen answered. "But, back then? It looked like he was just misplaying or something."

"So, you did notice that his retreat plan was questionable."

"Yeah, but I assumed he was just some scrubby Ranked player."

"I see." Nakajima nodded. "So, you assumed your opponent is inadequate instead of trying to figure out his game plan. Is that right?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Karen awkwardly glanced away. At this point, she had already realized how rash she was.

Nakajima could only sigh. "Listen, I know that people like memeing about the skill level of players in Ranked. But, that doesn't mean all the opponents you're going to meet will be amateurs, especially not at these ranks."

"Yeah, I know, I know. But real talk, there are so many scrubs in Platinum it's crazy."

"And, it sounds like you're one of them if you can't even see through a basic bait like that."

"Gah!" Karen took emotional damage. "B-But it's not even confirmed there's going to be a gank, right? Like, it's just a possibility. Maybe chasing him was the right thing to do, after all."

"Are you planning to use hindsight to justify your decisions?" Nakajima asked. " It's not a matter of whether you guess correctly or not. Even if nobody was waiting to gank you, chasing would still be a risky play that's not worth pursuing."

"Why? It might've been worth it, you know?" Karen argued. "Like, I could've gotten a kill out of it!"

"Or, you could've died. And, as I've already explained, the latter seemed far more likely. The odds were stacked against you."

"Well, true, but…" Karen desperately searched for something to shoot back the coach. She ain't going down without a fight, no way!

"We've been through this already." Nakajima fired first before Karen got the chance to retaliate. "What's the rule of thumb I taught you about taking risks?"

"Eeeeh, what was it again?" Karen scratched her head. "Probably something about how I shouldn't take any, haha."

"... really now." Nakajima narrowed her already-narrow eyes even further. "When there's a fog of war, there's almost always an element of uncertainty. You can't just avoid taking any risks at all."

"Yeah, that's fair." Karen nodded. "So, like, I should only take the good opportunities or something, right?"

"Of course, but how do you recognize what's a 'good opportunity'?"

"Eh, low-risk high-reward?"

"That's an obvious scenario," Nakajima said. "But, for example, how about the situation you just had? How would you quantify the risk-reward ratio there?"

"Hmm. Medium-risk and high-reward?"

"Was the reward really that high?"

"Duh, it'd be a kill."

"But, would a kill really put you that much ahead?" Nakajima asked. "You already had lane advantage, and you effectively booted the Impaler out of the lane considering how little HP he had."

"True, true." Karen smirked as she nodded. "I'm just that awesome, you know?"

"So," Nakajima continued. "Given all that, would scoring a kill on him really improve your situation by much?"

"Hmm. Not really, I guess." Karen shrugged. "Like, the exp and gold would be cool, but yeah, it wouldn't give me that much extra edge."

"So, is it really a 'high reward' kind of scenario?"

"More like medium-reward it seems," Karen said. "So, medium-risk medium-reward, huh. Not the hottest deal out there."

"But, there's more," Nakajima said. "As I said, the odds were stacked against you. There was a decent chance of you being ganked."

"Eeeeh, now you're just pushing it I feel." Karen grumped. "Like, you want to say it's actually high-risk, right?"

"Yes, because it was," Nakajima asserted. "If the odds themselves aren't enough to prove the point, then think about what you stood to lose. Hint: it's more than just your life."

"I guess it'd also make me lose that great momentum I built up. And, also the lane advantage, too… Yeah, it's high-risk alright, haha."

"So, convinced?"

"Yeaaah, convinced." Karen sighed in defeat. She had to hand it to the coach. That woman was sure a big-brain player alright.

"Okay, lesson learned," Karen said. "I'll try to think more about things like that from now on." 

"Please do," Nakajima pleaded. "This isn't the first time I've caught you making a mistake like this. You often get swept up in the flow without stopping to consider the risk-reward ratio."

Even though Karen and Cornelia bickered a lot, they were actually similar to each other. In fact, maybe that similarity was the very thing that sparked their fights in the first place.

Cornelia had unfounded confidence in her skill whereas Karen treated her opponents as all of them were noobs. Though their attitudes seemed different, the end result was pretty much the same. Both had a problem with gauging the enemy's skill level, which often led to unfortunate incidents.

[These girls are a handful.] Nakajima Kei sighed to herself but then smiled wryly. [I really have to pay careful attention to how they play. They have so much to work on.]

As the master of a high school team, Kei was used to dealing with problematic pupils. However, teaching the Valkyries had been proving to be a greater challenge than expected.

For starters, the club was small. It only had five members which meant everybody would have to participate in official matches. Nobody could be excluded, so Kei didn't have the usual luxury to take her time dealing with problem kids. They all had to be ready ASAP.

Furthermore, the Valkyries were middle schoolers, not high schoolers. Kei underestimated the difference that made.

For starters, due to their younger age, the girls had minimal experience playing Classmancers. This was very different from the high schoolers Kei typically coached, who joined the Aces with 3 years of experience from their middle school club.

[Fernando has been dealing with this for years now, huh.] Kei couldn't help but feel a mixture of pity and respect toward the man. Compared to him, it was almost as if she was playing in "easy mode".

This region only had three masters who trained Classmancers school teams. Two of them were in charge of the high school teams Venom and Aces, so only Fernando had to deal with middle schoolers.

Unsurprisingly, the younger the children were, the more troublesome it was to deal with them. That's surely why that sleazebag Viktor chose to train high schoolers.

The guy only ever cared about making his team win, so of course he chose the easy road. He even specifically picked Ivy High, the richest high school in the region. Building up a powerhouse team was the only thing in his head.

On the other hand, Fernando was on the opposite side of that spectrum. Case in point, he trained Venom for two years before switching to training middle schoolers.

According to him, high school was "too late" for teaching teens solid fundamentals. He claimed that many of the high schoolers who joined the club had bad habits which they struggled to fix. So, Fernando decided to resolve this problem at this core by becoming a middle school coach.

The man surely understood what kind of challenge he was undertaking, yet he still went through with it regardless. Nothing but respect for him. 

As for Kei, she was somewhere in the middle. She happened to land a position as a high school coach, so she just rolled with it. She never had to face that middle school vs. high school dilemma until the Valkyries came into the picture. And even now, she was still a high school coach first.

But, truth be told, if she had to decide between coaching middle school and high school… she would've likely picked high school. Maybe the Valkyries were an extreme example due to how fresh the club was, but the lack of fundamentals of these middle schoolers was appalling.

On the other hand, it seemed Fernando considered this kind of thing a blessing. He treated middle schoolers as a "blank slate" that he could shape into something amazing.

Kei understood the appeal but she wasn't idealist enough for it. As far as she was concerned, high schoolers were young enough to be molded into high-level players. So, there was no point in taking the harsher road and starting all the way back in middle school for some extra diminishing returns.

With that said, training the Valkyries for half a year changed her perception a bit. Middle schoolers were a handful but they also developed at an immense speed. After every training session, Kei could feel how every club member became a better player than before. Their progress was very visible.

[I can see why Fernando finds this rewarding. There's something very satisfying about bringing these girls from zero to hero.]

It was almost like watching her own children grow up… not that she had any first-hand experience with that. [Tch, it's not my fault that all the good men are always taken. But, that's not the topic here…]

In short, training middle schoolers was very rewarding when it worked out. But, it was also very challenging, even agonizing at times.

Kei only signed up for this double-edged arrangement because it was an unusual attempt to create a team in a conservative all-girls school. And well, the payment was also very generous, she wasn't going to pretend like it wasn't a factor. 

Two-timing between coaching the Aces and the Valkyries has proven to be an exercise in time management, but Kei got used to it over time. At least, for the most part.

Fiona requested to provide coaching to the team on a daily basis, but that was clearly impossible. Kei was already coaching the Aces every day, on top of also being a teacher at Hamilton High. As such, coaching another team so frequently was bound to wear her out.

So, Kei settled on coaching the Valkyries three times a week. Frankly, it wasn't nearly enough for a stumbling newbie team like this, but it was the best Kei could compromise on at the moment.

[If worse comes to worst, I might have to start coaching them on Saturdays as well…] Kei sighed at the thought. [I'm sure some of them will complain about it, and it's not like I'm too eager to do it, either. But...]

『DEFEAT』 The red words were smeared on their monitors like blood. They painted a grim image that made Kei worry.

Despite her meticulous instructions, the girls still failed to gain the upper hand in this game. This happened way too frequently to her taste.

Things were going well until Cornelia overextended in Top and got killed. It was like a comical routine at this point, one that Kei failed to prevent this time.

At first, the situation still looked salvageable. However, shortly after that, Karen also found herself in trouble. As usual, the girl got carried away in the heat of combat.

As the Support, Lua tried to save her lane partner… only to enter the scene in the worst way possible. It was mostly a case of bad luck, but that was unfortunately all too common when it came to Lua.

She aimed her Nature's Grasp at the enemy Carry, intending to pull the guy away from Karen. But, just as she fired her carefully calculated skillshot… the enemy Jungler waltzed into the scene!

Nothing about that turn of events implied the Jungler stepped in intentionally. In fact, if he had to choose between doing that or not, he most likely would've avoided the pull. After all, his plan was clearly to kill Karen.

But, due to this silly turn of events, Lua ended up dragging the Jungler toward herself. And, that's how she ended up dead instead of Karen.

Seriously, Lua was one of these rare cases when Kei would straight up believe if somebody told her the girl was cursed. That lass always found a way to cause accidents in the worst of times…

With that said, the girl somehow achieved her goal. Karen got away alive from the scene, but Lua ended up trading her own life for it. From there, the enemy gained overwhelming momentum in Bot that proved too difficult to break.

Fiona did her best to fight back, she even scored a few kills despite the odds being stacked against the team. But, she alone wasn't enough to turn the situation around.

Perhaps if Andria was more proactive in Mid then the game could have turned out differently. But, as usual, the girl stuck to her guns and played at her own pace. And, her motivation gradually declined as the odds shifted in the enemy's favor, a common occurrence, unfortunately.

So, in the end, the Valkyries lost just like that. To add insult to injury, in the post-match review, it was revealed that most of their opponents were high Platinum. In other words, these were opponents that a competitive team should be able to handle much better than this.

[I'm not saying they have to win every game, but that performance was a little...] Kei frowned. [Games like this really expose all the big issues this team has.]

On average, the team performed decently enough, especially considering the players' humble amount of experience. So, under Fiona's banner, the Valkyries almost looked ready for the competitive scene.

But, that was just a mirage. In truth, this team was built on a very shaky foundation. It easily crumbled apart when any of their Achilles' heels got hit.

BAM! "The teams at the regionals will eat you alive for bad habits like these!" Kei struck her shinai against the floor to emphasize the point. "In this game, the enemy was just lucky to strike you where it hurt. But, at the regionals? It'll be intentional. Everybody will know your weak spots."

With how accessible scrim replays were today, it was a no-brainer for teams to collect intel on each other. ProCenter made a quick buck from selling them to anybody who wanted.

Therefore, everybody at the regionals will be thoroughly prepared. These sharks will gobble up every obvious weakness the Valkyries show them.

For now, the Valkyries were still an underground team. They haven't had many opportunities to show their skill in public. But, as time goes on, they'll partake in more and more scrims, drawing lots of attention to themselves.

In fact, they had already participated in one official scrimmage that might've drawn some eyes to them. After all, it was a match against none other than the Leopards.

Pitting a newbie team against the regional champions might've sounded extreme, but there wasn't much choice on the matter. It was the only team that agreed to hold a scrim on such short notice, courtesy of Fernando.

Ugh. Just remembering that crushing defeat gave Kei the shivers...