Psycho X Psychic

Meeting Vengeance playing on the basketball court, Teren and Nick joined the play. The group was excited to meet again.

"You, bastards, let's play! We'll destroy you two!"

Sean gave Teren the ball with full confidence. An hour or so later, Vengeance was utterly defeated.

"... damn…! And there are only two of them this time!"

Nick laughed with them on the ground. It was always two on him and three on Teren. As usual, Teren doesn't seem as tired as any of them. On the contrary, he can still go on which is to be expected.

"It was a good game." 

Teren said to which Sean clicked his tongue.

"Good game? It was fucking shit!" he stood up and declared, "You better be here tomorrow again and make up for this game!"

"Sure, asshole!" Nick replied with a middle finger up.

Gomaro just laughed at their interaction. When their game was done, Catherine and her friends were nowhere to be found.

"Did they say anything to you?"

Nick asked Teren to which he shook his head.

"I see. But don't you two always meet up at this time of the day?"

"I think she doesn't want to meet with me today."

"Something happened?"

Teren didn't know if he should answer or not. Although he was pretty open to Nick lately, there are still some things that he shouldn't say.

The two then walked home together since Teren didn't have any other plans.

"Speaking of something that happened. Do you know why Lina was acting strange today?"

"She's scared of me." Teren just shrugged his shoulders as if it had nothing to do with him.

"What will you do to her?"

Nick thought that he should ask. What if Lina was scared of him for a reason that she had yet to say?

"Well…" Teren pondered, "It all depends on her."

"That's very vague."

Nick muttered. Teren then told him what he meant and this made Nick understand what Teren was planning for Lina.

At that point, Nick could only step back from the situation.

Just like what Teren said, it all depends on Lina's actions.

The two got home and Saturday came. It was time to meet up with the basketball team. Catherine, Eline, and Mira were already with the location, Mershen High's field, surrounded by six men. They were not overwhelmed, instead, they were actually controlling the conversation.

"So, where are these two star players of ours, Catherine?"

The leader of the basketball club asked. Catherine had been going on and on about how good, possibly, even better than the members of the basketball club the two are, especially Teren.

"Teren… I feel like I have heard of his name." one member said to Eline.

"Oh, he's the boyfriend of that famous Iesa, right?"

Another member replied with a smile but his tone was bitter.

"No, they broke up already."

Catherine replied to him.

"Yeah, I heard that too. Does that mean that Iesa is free? Should I go for her, dude?" 

The members began excitedly talking to themselves.

"Ever since she went out with that nobody, Iesa's image had been going down. But personally, I think Catherine is prettier than Iesa, am I wrong?"

The captain laughed while others were aware of how he got a crush on Catherine. Catherine just laughed at this, treating it as a joke instead of indirect flirting.

'Nobody?'

Inwardly, she was pretty annoyed.

"But can we really fill get substitutes at the last minute?"

One member asked the captain. The competition is already within next week, from Wednesday to Friday. As basketball players, they know how much teamwork is important. There were five of them already and that's enough to enter the competition.

"Well, it's better than none. We have to be prepared for any scenario. Also, if they are as good as what Catherine says, they will bear fine."

The captain replied but he didn't really believe anything Catherine said, thinking she was either teasing them, joking around, exaggerating, or she just doesn't know what she's talking about. How can players who only play street ball go against them?

Although they are not professionals, they have been competing a lot and even Mike who was a decent player was only average in that team.

The captain became pretty hostile towards Teren before he had even met the guy. This is because every time this name comes out of Catherine's mouth, her eyes would shine. He didn't think it was possible but he could feel that she was holding her excitement down. Not to mention, the number of times Teren's name came out of Catherine's mouth was uncountable.

"Oh, look, there's Nick!"

Eline pointed out, making others look at the entrance. Expecting Teren to be next to Nick, Catherine came out of the crowd to greet them. But upon remembering the awkward mood between them, she stepped back.

"Hello," Nick waved his hand upon getting close to them. He forcedly smile himself, not knowing how to act towards new people as he glanced at the girls, wanting help from them.

Although he's not that close to them, they were the only people he knew there.

"Wait… isn't that the delinquent?"

One member whispered to the captain. They didn't expect Catherine to rope in a scary guy like him.

They were intimidated.

"Haha… those are just rumors." the captain tried to laugh the situation out. In front of the girl he likes, there's no way he would act like a coward.

Furthermore, all of them were seniors while Nick was just a junior. It would be embarrassing for them to act lower than a junior.

However, Nick's height and reputation still kept on pressuring them. Well… they are still a group of athletes and he is just one guy so they weren't that affected.

It would be a different story if Nick had some companions. Speaking of companions-

"Where's the second substitute?"

"Ah, yes, Teren said he wouldn't be able to come today."

"What!?"

Catherine shouted after what Nick said.

"But he said he will come." she quickly added without raising her voice after realizing she was loud.

"I don't know the details but…" Nick leaned forward to whisper to Catherine, making the captain's face twitch, "he said there were some miscalculations. But he promised that he will definitely be there before the official match even starts."

"Tsk!" Catherine clicked her tongue and took out her phone.

"What is it?"

The captain curiously asked after giving Nick an unfriendly glance. Nick didn't notice it, or rather, he ignored it.

"Teren said he wouldn't be able to come." Catherine angrily said as she was about to dial a number.

"Well, maybe he got cold feet."

The captain suddenly felt pleasant that the man whom Catherine was so proud of disappointed them. He couldn't help but fan the flames.

"Sorry, but I need to talk to him."

Catherine ignored the captain's remark and walked away.

"She seemed to be in a bad mood."

The captain muttered with a slight smile, knowing that she's angry towards the Teren guy.

Nick doesn't know why but he already hates this captain's guts.

'I'm suddenly motivated to play well today…' he thought when Eline took the middle position to introduce one another.

"Nick, this is Greg, captain of the club." Eline easily introduced, "Greg, Nick, one of the star substitutes we were talking about."

"Star substitutes?" Nick heard this and lightly laughed.

"Thank you for helping this team." Greg, the captain puts his hand forward, "Don't worry about anything, as you as get the basics down, we'll do the rest."

A nerve popped out of Nick's forehead.

"Ahahaha… sure."

Meanwhile, Catherine called Teren and after a few rings, the call was answered.

[... hello?]

"T-teren!" Catherine shouted after some hesitation. She got flustered, realizing that she's talking to him right now.

[Catherine?... Is it about the club? Sorry about that.]

"Yeah, you should be! What are you doing there anyway? And, where are you?"

Catherine was angry at herself for getting less mad after hearing his voice.

[The place… umm… I'm not even sure anymore, hahaha…]

'His laugh is so cute…'

"How could you not even know where you are!?" Catherine shouted. The anger towards herself was being redirected towards Teren.

[Well… it's a long story, actually. It was just a miscalculation but I promise, I'll be back when the tournament begins.]

"Alright…- I mean! You'd better come"

[Did something happen, you sound extra grumpy today?]

'It's because you're not here!'

Catherine stomped but, obviously, she didn't say it out loud.

"Nothing!"

[Alright, well, I have more important things to do so I'll hang up now.]

"W-wait!"

[Yes?]

"Can't I at least know what's happening?"

Catherine asked.

[Hmm, I guess I should tell you…]

"Yeah, you definitely should."

[... okay, but it's nothing special so don't mind it too much. I'm midway through exterminating the Serpen House right now. But… I got careless and they got alerted, now, I'm having a harder time. Should've finished this overnight and go there but… yeah, I messed up. So, that's the story, I'll get back on you. If this goes well, I'll be back home later this night to rest.]

Teren then hung up, leaving Catherine frozen.