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“I have a question,” she says very seriously.

Everyone turns toward her.

“Why is everyone screaming his name if the game is already over?”

Leaf blinks. “…Because I’m the captain?”

“But the conflict has concluded,” Esther says thoughtfully. “Logically, the screaming should have happened during the conflict.”

Ramona bites her lip.

Castor coughs into his hand.

Leaf squints at her. “Are you… analyzing cheering?”

“Yes.”

“…Why?”

She gestures vaguely around the room. “To understand the ritual.”

I choke on my wine.

Leaf leans closer to me and whispers, “Is she always like this?”

“Yes.”

Esther suddenly lifts her mug. “I would like to attempt cheering.”

Ramona’s shoulders start shaking.

Esther stands, raising her mug high. “LEAF,” she says in a perfectly flat voice.

The entire table loses it.

Leaf slaps the table. “No no no—you have to shout it!”

She nods seriously, then takes a breath. “LEEEEEAF.”

Ramona collapses against my shoulder laughing.

Leaf wipes tears from his eyes. “Perfect. Incredible. I feel extremely supported.”

Castor smiles quietly across from me.

I clutch my stomach that’s cramping from all the laughter.

Eventually, Leaf circles back to the game, leaning closer to Ramona. “What about the moment I stole the Solarball from their Wildcard? Did you see that?”

“You tripped him,” Ramona says.

“Strategically.”

“You fell on him.”

“Momentum is a weapon.”

Castor rubs his temples. “You nearly started a fight with the entire team.