"You have 136 seconds. Whoever is struck by the ball is 'it'. And the person who is 'it' when the time runs out is disqualified." Taifu seemed to think for a moment, like he was coming up with all of this on the spot. "Also, don't use your hands.”

Taifu's face was swiftly replaced with a crude drawing of the bald boy who had been yapping to Eris, and a hole opened up in the concrete ceiling at the same moment. A singular ball dropped from the hole, bouncing once as it landed.

"Cloud, ranking 300..." Suddenly feeling the muscles in his body grow tense, Binck looked around for the boy. He was walking over to the ball, fists clenched with a determined look on his face.

"Is it because I'm ranked the lowest?" Cloud placed a foot on the ball, glaring at everyone around the room. Most people were spread out, and Binck & Tomato being on one side of the room together put them far from the striker. "Fine, then. Let's do this!"

"W-Wait!" A brown haired girl interjected. "You actually believe what he said?!"

"So what if it's fake?!" Beginning to move towards some of the players, Cloud scowled. "I can't afford to lose here. If I do, I have to take over my parents temple, forcing me to be a monk for the rest of my life!”

He sprinted (quite slowly in Binck's opinion) towards a small gathering of players, determination filling his face. "Nothing personal, guys!”

Binck and Tomato just watched from the other side of the room as he fired off a shot, the ball going wide and not hitting anybody. After retrieving the ball, Cloud set off again, aiming for a cluster of players and managing to miss every single one of them.

"It's chill if we stay here, right?" Binck questioned. "He'll probably just chase the other players around the room for the entire 2 minutes." Even though there was a snowball's chance in hell he'd get tagged by this Cloud person, he still trained his breathing in case he needed to run.

A few more shots echoed off the concrete as Cloud fired and missed, every single time. This was getting embarrassing from an outsider's perspective. The others seemed rather adept at keeping their distance, too.

When the noise of his incessant shouts momentarily ceased, Binck focused on him. The monk was slowly walking towards him and Tomato, but he clearly wasn't aiming for either of them. His eyes were focused on the sleeping Echo in front of them.

"He's still asleep?" Cloud giggled. "Piece of cake. Namusan!"

He tapped the ball, rolling it across the floor towards Echo. The bumblebee slept soundly on, oblivious to the fact that his nap may cost him his career.

Patting Tomato on the shoulder, Binck gestured to Echo. He spoke in a lighthearted, bright tone. "I’mma go wake him up. Be right back."

The ball bounced softly off Echo's hair, and with that, Cloud was jogging to the other side of the room. The screen flickered, changing to a drawing of Echo. Rank 290, hm?

(A/N: If this were actually lore accurate, Cloud would've gotten a face full of hurt)

The boy shifted on the ground, mumbling as he rubbed his eyes. "Mmmh?"

Binck knelt by him, giving him a single gentle pat on the head. "Go back to bed. I'll handle this."