Room B-022.
Sihan frowned upon the sudden change of choice while Ellen raised her eyebrows, opening her lazy eyes slightly wider.
"This…" Ellen gently stroked her cheek while making a weird expression. She simply didn't know what to say since Alea was the right choice for their fourth member. Yet, Phyrill actually chose Theo over Alea, she wondered whether Phyrill wanted them to lose or something.
But she couldn't brush Theo's potential off that easily either. Hence, she asked, "Phyrill… Did you choose the wrong person?"
Sihan also glanced over, trying to find the answer.
"You said something good about him, but you seemed to have no intention of getting him. I wonder what is wrong with your head… Well, in fact, it seems you are only proud of your own experience instead of your head, eh?" Phyrill snorted.
Ellen squinted her eyes and asked with a serious expression. "What do you mean?"
"You haven't seen all his tricks yet." Phyrill shook his head helplessly, feeling slightly disappointed. "Why did you finish the battle with him as quickly as possible? If you wanted to say something about his experience, you might as well show it to him first."
"…" Ellen narrowed her eyes and replied, "The only way to prevent any surprising trick from killing me, I needed to defeat him as soon as possible."
"Exactly. I'm afraid this guy's tricks are much higher level. After all, he could reveal his power to turn around the situation in the match before us, yet, he chose to hide it until the previous fight. Why? Because he planned to win the next match. Everything was just a build-up for him." Phyrill shook his head.
Ellen closed her eyes for a few seconds before staring at the door.
Knock.
Knock.
"Come in," Phyrill shouted, ignoring them.
Theo then pushed open the door and showed himself. He didn't go to them immediately as he still couldn't understand why they would pick him.
"Since you have come here, I will just ask you this question to explain why I chose you." Phyrill smirked. "You are going to use this match to scare your opponents to be more conscious about you, right? Before our match, it was like two versus three. But if you managed to beat us, you would make your presence known, meaning the hidden member suddenly showed his appearance and became an even bigger presence due to the flashy entrance."
Theo widened his eyes, never expecting someone to figure his plan out.
This reaction alone was enough for Ellen and Sihan to understand Phyrill's choice.
"Why did I choose you? It's simple. I want you to be the brain of this group, creating the plan. What you lack right now is experience. We can provide it for you." Phyrill then turned to Sihan and Ellen. "How about you guys?"
"Ehm…" Before they answered, Theo raised his hand and asked, "Are you sure that's the only reason?"
"Look, this guy understands me well." Phyrill grinned and pointed at Theo. "Just like you, we're planning to win. Do you remember what I asked when the instructor explained about our training?"
"…" Theo looked down for a minute before drawing a gasp.
"It seems you have noticed my plan. That's right. We have a bigger chance to meet Alea's group for the revenge match. Knowing her ability, I'm sure she will climb her way up again, meaning she will win the next two matches, or she is not worth our time.
"Hence, I plan to train you to remove your weakness, which is your lack of experience, within two weeks while waiting for Alea to catch up before having another match. This way, we will be able to meet her again and make her our fifth member.
"I can see that your head is above the rest. Even a third-year like Ellen can't understand you. That's why I believe you are a rare catch among first-year students. Rather than letting you rot, I better choose you since Alea has a bigger chance to get you." Phyrill made an evil smirk as everything was going according to his plan.
Ellen and Sihan remained silent as they were impressed by Phyrill's judgment. They never thought this guy saw that far ahead.
"I'm… honored that you think of me highly, but I'm afraid I will let you down."
"No need to say it for the time being. I just want to ask whether you're prepared to take down everyone else in the next match or not." Phyrill asked.
"Actually, I have just gotten my freedom again. I have two skills that are not shown yet. I can only use it after losing once."
"!!!" The three of them, including Phyrill, looked at him in shock. Phyrill smirked and said, "Well, well… What do we have here? I thought I chose gold, but it seemed I found a diamond."
"Since that is the case, I'm willing." Ellen let out a sigh and rose from the couch, walking to Theo and extending her hand. "Nice to meet you, Theodore Griffith. What should I call you?"
"Theo is fine. Alea calls me that too." Theo shook her hand politely.
"Good. No need to be polite and call me Ellen too. Ah, you should also call this silent guy, Sihan. He is a good guy." Ellen tried to introduce Sihan due to their misunderstanding. Up to this day, Theo must think of Sihan as one of his bullies, so she wanted to cheer up the mood first.
Sihan, on the contrary, looked at Theo with an indifferent face. He opened his mouth and said two words. "Not enough."
Ellen made a weird smile and blocked Theo's vision of Sihan, explaining. "He is really a good guy, you know."
Unbeknownst to them, there was a small smile on Sihan's face as if he was happy with Theo becoming his teammate. Unfortunately, no one saw it.
Phyrill then raised his hand and said cheerfully. "Me too! Just call me Phyrill. Anyway, our plan is to teach you one-on-one from Monday to Saturday after school and we will mentor you together on Sunday. I think this is the best plan to have you understand how to fight an experienced fighter or a veteran you may say. What do you think?"
Theo remained silent for a minute before lowering his head, bowing to them since they would be teaching him. "Please teach me how to fight."
Ellen and Phyrill smiled while Sihan nodded.