Sky woke up in Ben's dimension's infirmary bed, he looked around wondering did anyone found out anything he was trying to hide, but instead, he is only greeted by a simple "You are awake, that's great." from Ben, neither Ben nor Chris even asking him about whatever happened to him in that bar.
After Ben had a brief check on Sky and confirmed his condition had stabilized, they exited Ben's dimension and back to their hostel room. Maria is waiting for them, rather worried. Chris simply told him that Sky was drunk and had a hangover. Then, they had a briefing about the strategy and formation for the quarter-final. Sky questioned why he is in the last position but was silenced by an icy cold glare from Chris. Maria is very happy that he will be the first one to go on field since he hasn't really done anything yet since the tournament began, while Junior is a bit excited that he will be the second. And after some consideration, they had decided to let Itsuki to fill in the fourth position as he seems quite concerned that he hadn't won any match.
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The next morning.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the quarter-final of our Battle Arena Tournament and congratulations to all the eight teams that had made it this far!" The emcee cat is making its usual announcements.
"For the quarter-final, we will be using two fields, and same as the second elimination we will separate to two shifts. Each match will last for a maximum of thirty minutes, which means each shift will last for a maximum of two and a half hours, thus, the first round will last for a maximum of five hours. After the first round, we will have an hour's break. Aside from the mentioned, the rules will be the same as the second elimination." said the cat.
"The staff had been arranging the matching of contestants based on several aspects to give a fair and even match for all the contestants, they had also done a deep inspection on all the contestants to prevent any undesirable things as what happened during the second elimination yesterday. Now, I will announce all the competing pairs and the shift they are in." said the cat again as a big screen raised up from the ground.
The screen showed the competing teams for the first shift, which is field A, Team We Are Not Butler And Maid Cafe versus Team Random, field B Team Kneel Before Me versus Team 'Yeehaw!'.
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"Yes! First shift!" said Chris, a little bit excited.
"Uhm... Why do you seem so happy about being in the first shift?" Sky asked.
"Well, since it will be a long five hours match, been in first shift means that that we can leave the field earlier and do whatever we want after that." said Chris.
"Ah... True... But seriously why do I have to be the last one? I am totally alright now." said Sky, not very happy about the arrangement.
"Well, I don't know, maybe I should go and visit that bar to find the answer you are looking for." said Chris in a slightly coercing tone.
"Ah... Just pretend I didn't say anything about it." said Sky, as he is aware of what Chris trying to say...
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The big screen continues showing the competing teams for the second shift, field A, Team 'From Alliance' versus Team Whatever. Field B, team Royal Guards versus team Not Important. All the contestants headed to their respective waiting area and standby area after the matching had been announced and getting ready for the match.
On field B, Maria is facing a gentleman from team 'Yeehaw', his clean and neat looks seem a bit off from the other members of the team, while his slightly exaggerated curved mustache makes it more obvious that he is different from the other members in his team.
While waiting for the starting bell to ring, Maria observed his opponent carefully, he seems to be quite amused by his special look, and the gentleman noticed it as well, he politely greeted Maria.
"Hello, my friend, I noticed that you are a unique one in your group, just like me, it must be really hard for being a different and separated individual in a group, don't you think so?" the gentleman asked.
"Hmm? Unique? I don't really understand what are talking about? I mean, everyone in my team is unique in their own way and I never really felt separated from them anyway." said Maria in a casual manner.
"You are certainly an optimistic person, my friend, no one could possibly feel comfortable in a group that has a totally different lifestyle and personality than you, you will certainly feel somewhat unable to merge into their small social group and sometimes even felt isolated. Especially for a delicate person like you, I can imagine how hard it would be to mixed in with those brutal people." said the gentleman.
"I don't really understand why and how would you separate and differentiate each 'group' of people and why would you think there would be any individuals that are especially different from a whole group, like I said, everyone has their uniqueness... As for how a delicate person like me can be merged into a whole group of brutal people? I guess you have a huge misunderstanding about me." said Maria with a sweet smile while tying up his long red hair as the bell for the match started ringing...
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*Something out of the story
Sky: "Dear readers."
Chris: "Hmm?"
Sky: "This chapter is meant to be released for webnovel.com."
Chris: "Oh! This matter. Yes, if you're reading this chapter on another platform than webnovel.com, know that it's an illegal copy diffused without the Writer's authorization."
Sky: "As what Chris said. Right now, this story is free on the authorized platform, so please read it from authorized platforms as mental support for the writer."
Chris: "Mhm... There are two authorized platforms. One is webnovel.com. And another one is that messy and half-dead Weebly site that she uses for draft and backup... But not recommended."
Sky: "Ah... Haha. Yes, as Chris said."
Chris: "But look out, those scums might change this note to their own website link. So, be cautious.
Sky : "By the way, if the cover page is the old cover page that shows two stickmen, stop reading it, it's cursed and might caused the writer to stop writing."
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