Russel was a seasoned connoisseur of anime, including magical girl shows. Tropes were not a beast unknown to him, and he could easily guess that she meant ~*the heart of the group*~ who held everyone together. A leader, in other words!

"Maybe we do," he said, starting off to make his own way home, glancing over at Annie, expecting her to walk with him. "Or maybe we just need to get used to working together. Becoming a real team is harder than you'd think! I'm in football and we go through the same thing every year with the new freshman. It just takes time."