As the bell that marked the time for lunch rung, the students prepared to leave.
Akio along with Ria, while Jin on the other hand had already got out of class as he got dragged by a girl in their class.
The two were currently walking side by side towards the cafeteria.
Ria noticed a girl following them and was staring at Akio, so she got curious and got near Akio to ask in a whisper.
"Akio, why is she following you?" she asked.
"No idea" he shortly replied.
Ria was not convinced by his answer, however, she had no choice but to accept it.
As they went towards the cafeteria, Ria kept glancing behind them to see that the girl was still following them.
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Arriving at the cafeteria, the two had gotten their meals, they then found Ayane and Shiela to sit with.
Taking their seats Akio asked Ayane and Shiela.
"How was your class?" Akio asked.
"It was so-so" Ayane replied as she started eating.
"It was fun! Ayane-san was so strong!" Shiela replied excitedly.
During the practical training, Ayane and Shiela were paired together, both of them had used the training model.
Satisfied with their replies, Akio started eating.
As they ate, Ayane noticed someone staring at her brother, she looked around for the source and found a cyan haired girl staring at Akio while also eating.
Ayane looked at her brother and inquired.
"Brother, who's she?" Ayane asked.
"Don't mind it" Akio replied and resumed his meal.
Although, Ayane didn't pry any further, she kept glancing at the girl as she ate.
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After having lunch, the 4 headed back to their respective classes as the normal classes were about to start.
Having taken their seats as they arrived back at their classroom, a teacher entered.
Hunter classes and normal classes were two different things, naturally they had different teachers.
The teacher who had entered was a man who seemed to be in his early-30s, he had shriveled hair and had stubble on his chin, both his hair and eyes were black, he wears a white lab coat on top of his clothes, he looked lousy.
"*Yawn*, I'm Aragami Kira, I'll be the teacher for your normal classes" Kira introduced lazily.
Seeing his lazy attitude, the students were immediately demotivated.
Suddenly, one of the students stood up.
The student who stood up was a female student that seemed like the type to be uptight, she had a black hair tied to a bun, she was wearing eye glasses and had black eyes.
Kira's attitude had gotten on her nerved and she decided to tell him off.
"Sensei, you shouldn't show such attitude towards your students" the girl said.
Her action gathered the attention of the other students, near her, another female student that seemed to be her friend was quietly telling her to let it go.
She took a seat and didn't continue any further.
Kira didn't mind it and proceeded with the lesson.
The classes were mainly the usual subjects like mathematics, science, japanese literature, and so on, it took until 6 pm before class was over.
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After the bell signalling the class dismiss rung, the students started heading back to their dorms.
Akio went back together with Ria as they were roommates, Jin was once again dragged by the same girl that dragged him when it was lunch.
Arriving at the dorm, Akio and Ria went upstairs and headed for their room but before they reached it, Akio had stopped in his track and told Ria to go ahead of him.
Their room was already in sight, Akio confirmed that Ria had entered the room, he then checked around and confirmed that there was no one else around, he then applied mana to his legs.
Around a corner, Jill could be seen peeking at Akio, although, Jill also resided in dorm 5, her room was up in the 3rd floor, she had kept on following Akio wanting to ask a question but couldn't do so.
She saw that Akio stopped in his track and was confused, however, in the next moment Akio had disappeared from her sight.
Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder from behind.
She was startled and moved away from her spot as she turned to look at her previous location.
On her previous spot, she found Akio who had disappeared from her sight earlier, she was greatly surprised and turned her head back to where Akio was previously then turned her head to look at him.
Akio opened his mouth to speak.
"So? How long do you plan on following me?" Akio inquired with a smile.
"That....." Jill hesitated to answer.
Jill remained quiet for some time before finally answering.
"I wanted to ask something" Jill stated.
"Hm? Sure" Akio said.
Feeling relieved, Jill asked her question.
"Earlier, why were you holding back?" Jill interrogated.
Akio was amused to find that someone had guess so but he wanted to hide the truth so he made an excuse.
"Hm? why do you think so?" Akio asked.
"You were using a training gear but last that long against me, you also dodged quite a few of my attacks" Jill explained.
Hearing this, Akio was surprised and praised her observation, however, he continued with his facade.
"Surely you jest, I was merely lucky" Akio said.
"I don't believe it" Jill stated.
"Believe it or not, it's up to you" Akio added, and was about to leave.
However before he could do so, Jill spoke.
"Duel" Jill mumbled.
"Duel?" Akio caught her words.
Jill took out her gear token then spoke as she held it forth.
"I, Jill Sweizen, challenge you to a duel" Jill declared.
When Akio said that he had lasted that long in their battle due to luck, it touched her pride as she felt that she was being underestimated, thus, Jill decided to vent her anger and teach Akio a lesson.
As she declared her challenge, her token lit up, and Akio's token responded.
Akio took out his token and a holographic screen appeared.
[Jill Sweizen has challenged you to a duel, would you like to accept?] [Yes][No]
"...what are the terms?" Akio asked, wanting to confirm.
"If I win, you will drop out from this academy" she replied.
"And if I win?" he asked once again.
Jill didn't think of it beforehand as she was confident in winning, she spoke.
"I'll...drop out" she stated.
Akio thought about it and decided on something.
"There's no merit for me..." he implied.
"Fine, I'll do anything you want" she said.
As he heard her answer, Akio looked at the screen and tapped [Yes].
[You have accepted the challenge]
[Date: 07/03/2076]
[Time: 12:00 pm]
[Location: Arena 04]
As Akio had accepted the challenge, it showed the time and location that Jill had picked.
Today was the 2nd day of July, which means the duel is tomorrow at lunch.
Seeing that Akio accepted, Jill spoke once again.
"Tomorrow, Arena 4" Jill stated then left.
Akio headed to his room, on his face, a grin could be seen.
Even before he was summoned and sent to reincarnate, Akio had a certain habit.
When he finds something to be interesting and amusing, Akio would follow try to control it, whether if it was a situation or a person, if he deemed that it would lead to something that could entertain him, he would follow along even if he knew that he is being manipulated.
Even back when the mysterious voice requested something from him, his habit kicked in so he ended up accepting it.
This time, Akio had taken an interest towards Jill, when she had declared her challenge, he sensed that there was someone who saw it, so he accepted it, he also led her to change the terms to be in his favor.
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Later that evening a rumor about a duel taking place tomorrow had spread like a wildfire throughout the whole dorm 5.
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As it was time for dinner, Akio and Ria went to the cafeteria.
Ria had a grim expression, she had heard about the rumor and was pessimistic about the situation.
Although, she knew that Akio was skilled when it comes to fighting, however, the battle this time is with gears, not to mention she heard that Akio's opponent is skilled in using a gear and the only reason that she was in class 1-C was because like her, Jill had someone pull some strings, on the other hand, Akio and Ayane's father said that he would not aid the two when it comes to the academy.
On the spar, Ria had seen Akio fight however, she only thought that he was only a bit above average when it came to gears, after all, Akio had hidden his abilities really well and it had just been a hunch made by Jill when she asked why he had held back and wanted to confirm it.
Arriving at the cafeteria, they saw Ayane along with Shiela.
They fetched their meals and went to sit with them.
Ayane saw Ria's expression and asked.
"Did something happen?" Ayane asked.
"This guy was challenged to a duel, he accepted" Ria explained.
Towards this, Ayane's expression brightened, she then turned towards her brother and asked.
"When is it?" Ayane asked excitedly.
"Tomorrow, arena 4" Akio casually replied.
They then continued eating.
As they ate, Ayane inquired to Akio through their connection.
{Brother, are you going to use [Clown]?} Ayane asked.
{No} Akio replied.
Suddenly, Ayane clicked her tongue which Akio noticed but just let it pass.
A few minutes later, Jin arrived with a girl, both of them brought their meals to sit with the other 4.
Akio noticed Jin then glanced at the girl, the girl had a brown hair tied to a pigtail and hung behind her.
"Your girlfriend?" Akio asked.
"Yeah, this is Akabane Ritsu" Jin introduced.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Jin-kun's girlfriend" She greeted.
Sitting along with the 4, they started their meal.
After their meal, Shiela had asked Ritsu how she became Jin's girlfriend but she along with Ria were shocked when they heard that it was through the spar.
On the other hand, Jin asked Akio.
"Akio, are you really going to have a duel?" Jin asked.
"Yeah" Akio confirmed.
Jin had known that the opponent was Akio's sparring partner earlier in the day and that Akio lost in that spar.
"What was the terms of the spar?" Shiela asked what she had wanted to ask earlier.
"If Akio loses, he'll drop out, if he wins, the opponent will do what Akio says" Jin said the terms according to the rumors.
Shiela looked towards Akio for confirmation which Akio nodded to.
Shiela was shocked by this, it was also the reason why Ria had a grim expression when they arrived.
Jin, Shiela, and Ria were all worried, however, Ayane spoke.
"There's no way my brother would lose" she confidently claimed.
After chatting, they all went back to their dorms, however, the 3 went with a heavy heart as they didn't feel at ease even with Ayane's words.