Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

A new round of offense began. The score was 15-14 for Lars's team. After the previous clean two-pointer, it was now the enemy's turn to attack.     

James collected the ball under the basket and opened with a calculated pass. Since Lars was tightly marking Mike, the only option was to pass to Larry.     

"Got it- Agh!" Larry exclaimed as the ball jumped out of his hands.     

It's not like he failed to receive the pass, he wasn't an amateur like that. And, James's pass was definitely not shabby either.     

No, somebody straight up smacked that ball out of Larry's hands. It was Ben!     

"You piece of shit!" Larry roared..     

"S-Sorry." Ben averted his eyes as he apologized. [But, I did nothing wrong. I'm your opponent, so I'm only doing what I must.]     

The ball hopped all the way back beyond the three-pointer line. It was heading back to James.     

"Heh, nice!" James jogged toward the incoming ball. Since Larry had already touched the ball beyond the line, it meant this offense became legal. So, all James had to do was to casually collect the ball and score.     

"Run to the ball, dumbass!" Mike barked. "She gonna take it!"     

"Wut?" James turned his head in confusion. Just then, a black sports cap flew right past his eyes. It was that new chick that subbed in!     

[Got it!] Kai snatched the ball before James. While that lazy bum was leisurely jogging toward the ball, Kai gave the sprint of her life to get the ball ASAP.     

"Crap!" James hurried to confront the opponent. "You guys got no chill, huh. Welp, that's no biggie."     

Perhaps James was late to grab the ball but that wasn't the end of the world. All he had to do was steal the ball back from the girl, then everything will be alright.     

If anything, he was thankful to that tryhard girl. She went out of her way to collect the ball for him.     

[Thanks for the service. You're doing a great job as my lackey, huehue.] James snickered as he blocked the girl's path.     

[What's with that stupid smile?] Kai narrowed her eyes. That idiot was smiling to himself for some reason. He clearly didn't register Kai as an opponent.     

[You're going to regret this.] Kai started dribbling. First to the left, then to the right. The ball went from side to side in random patterns.     

Naturally, the opponent paid attention to every motion with great interest. He carefully followed the ball with his eyes. From left, to right, to left, to right. He didn't want to give Kai any openings.     

But, it wasn't just his eyes that followed the ball's movements. Ever so slightly, his feet also moved along with the ball's direction, to be ready to give chase the moment Kai starts driving.     

The movements were so minute they were practically invisible to the naked eye. But then, how did Kai notice them?     

[I can hear them.] Kai perked her ears to the max.     

Squeak. Squeak. The sound of the opponent's sneakers was loud and clear for her sensitive ears. From that, she could tell this opponent was jumpy. He was eagerly waiting for the right moment to launch an attack.     

[This is good.] Kai smiled confidently. This was the sort of movement she expected from an experienced player. In order to be able to follow and steal the ball at a moment's notice, it was necessary for the guy to stay on his feet like this.     

However, against Kai, these minute movements will be that bastard's undoing, for she could hear each and every twitch the guy made. So, by moving the ball from side to side as she pleased, she could manipulate these tiny movements. She affected their direction and their timing.     

With the ball in hand, Kai was in total control of her opponent right now. The guy was like a dancing puppet to the tune of her moving ball. And so, via repetition, she made the opponent lock into a certain rhythm that made him easy to read.     

[That's a nice pattern.] Kai nodded. [Next, you gonna move my right.]     

The guy was expecting Kai to move the ball to the right. Why? Because that's the pattern she had established thus far.     

Therefore, at this exact moment, she'll break through the left side!     

"Ah!" James jumped. "No, you don't- wha!?"     

Something was off. James tried to respond to the chick's sudden change of directions but there was an odd resistance. He commanded his body to move to the right, yet it wanted to move to the left regardless.     

"What the heck is- whoa!" James felt his body falling backward. Did he just slip!? Nah, no way. He wasn't an amateur like that.     

And yet, he was definitely falling backward. "Dang!" He landed on his butt. "Agh! It hurts, dang it!"     

"Heh." Kai sneered as she confirmed her opponent's downfall. Her trick worked even better than she expected. [Looks like this guy is pretty damn weak in 1v1s. I'll remember that.]     

With nobody to stand in her way, Kai immediately went for the shot.