The last drill they did was the hardest. Kevin grabbed cones from the locker room and set them each up with a line of six. The name of the game was to rebound the ball off the court wall in a way that it'd knock the cones over. It wasn't enough to have an accurate throw; Neil had to be both accurate and powerful. Neil didn't expect it to be so difficult, but he'd never needed such hairpin precision before. Rebounds were used when passing the ball to teammates across the court. Teammates were intelligent, moving targets who could react to a ball's trajectory, whereas these cones were static targets.

Neil's first time through he managed to hit a grand total of one cone. Kevin got three of his six, but he was doing it with his weaker hand, so his misses didn't make Neil feel any better.

"You have too much free time if you're coming up with drills like this," Neil said after he flunked a second round.

"This is a Raven drill," Kevin said. "No one is allowed game time until he or she can knock every cone over in whichever order the master calls. Freshmen spend weeks to months trying to earn a spot on our line."

"The master?"

"Coach Moriyama," Kevin said after a pause. Neil could hear the grimace in Kevin's response, but he didn't know if it was because Neil was making Kevin say his name or because he'd slipped up so obviously. Kevin recovered by switching his racquet to his left hand and giving it an experimental swirl. "Call them for me. Don't stop."

Neil didn't think it was a good idea for Kevin to play left-handed, even if it'd been six months since his assault, but he didn't argue. He counted the cones off in random order with only a second between the numbers. Kevin didn't wait for him to finish but moved with him, scooping balls from the ground in front of him and hurling them at the wall. All six shots landed, sending Kevin's cones toppling in the exact order Neil called. Kevin hit the last cone with enough force to send it rolling several feet.

Between the Foxes' in-fighting this past week and Kevin's bullying all through May, Neil had almost forgotten why he liked Exy so much. He did his best at practices but these days he worked mostly to keep his teammates off his back. As Neil surveyed Kevin's damage, he finally felt inspired again. On its heels was a hungry, desperate rush.

"I want that," Neil said.

"Then start really trying." Kevin lined his cones up again and switched his racquet back to his right hand. He gave his left a small shake as he returned to his starting spot. "This is the first of eight Raven precision drills. When you master this one, we will move on. We'll meet every weeknight save Friday until you can do all of them in your sleep."