The Useless Sempai and The Talented Kohai is a yuri one-shot by Mochi Au Lait.
Shiori Ochiai is an eager but rather untalented third-year in a lackluster girls' basketball team, and seems to have accepted that she'll never amount to anything. Everything changes when she meets Hiromi Tsukioka, an exceptional first-year, and the two form an unlikely bond.
This manga contains examples of:
- The Ace: Tsukioka is a great basketball player despite only being in her first year of high school.
- Adults Are Useless: Not a single adult coach or teacher is seen during the entirety of the one shot, although Tsukioka once mentions talking with the teacher. Considering the team's dismal status, this does not speak well of the faculty.
- Affectionate Nickname. One of Tsukioka's admirers calls her "Tsukki."
- Armor-Piercing Question: After seeing Ochiai contemplating skipping practice, Tsukioka says that her consistent attendance is the only good thing about her, then asks, "Now you're going to throw away your only strong point?"
- Bad Liar: Tsukioka isn't very good at lying. She claims that her stomach's acting up when she's contemplating skipping practice, and after Tsukioka calls her on that ("Please don't lie when you're so bad at it"), makes a similarly unconvincing denial that the three underclassmen are bullying her.
- Brutal Honesty: Tsukioka is willing to criticize Ochiai to her face, unlike the others, who badmouth her behind her back. Because of this, Ochiai actually doesn't mind Tsukioka's criticism.
- Chromosome Casting: Since the story stars members of a girls' basketball team and is a Yuri Genre work, the cast is entirely female.
- Damned by Faint Praise: According to Tsukioka, the only good thing the teacher had to say about Ochiai was that she always shows up to practice. That said, Tsukioka doesn't want Ochiai to give up on that.
- High Hopes, Zero Talent: Ochiai in a nutshell. After some of her kohais insult her lack of talent when she takes them to t ask for slacking off, she mentally retorts, "I'm bad, but at least I like it...!"
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tsukioka may be brutally honest but she's probably the only person on the team who genuinely cares about Ochiai.
- The Klutz: Ochiai is rather clumsy on the court, from missing free throws to bouncing the ball off her head to running into her teammates.
- No Ending: The one-shot seems to end with the two girls getting closer, but no real resolution.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Played With. Tsukioka is genuinely talented, but according to Ochiai, she stands out all the more because their school has a weak team.
- Super Gullible: Ochiai agrees to get the mops out of the storeroom while the first-years put away the balls. While she's in the storeroom, the first-years abscond from the gym, leaving Ochiai and Tsukioka to clean up. Despite suspecting that the first years were up to something, Ochiai still falls for it.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Tsukioka, a skilled basketball player, wears her hair in a ponytail.
- Tsundere: Tsukioka is outwardly harsh toward Ochiai, but has a soft spot for her.
- Yuri Genre: Toward the end, Tsukioka and Ochiai appear to be developing feelings for each other.
