The last day before the battle had gone by slowly for Melodi since she still needed to go to while Kenji and Ardere trained.
Melodi had met up with the two for lunch and by the time classes had ended they both looked exhausted.
Ardere had told Melodi to head to the training hall before them and practice while they kept reading through the rest of the books that had information on the Black Wolf.
Melodi wanted to go with Ardere to help, but Ardere protested saying they were almost done anyways.
By dinner time Ardere was looking a little less drained and Kenji was so full of energy he was constantly writing on a piece of paper and when dinner had ended and the group went to the training hall. The two girls had turned the doll on and began training at level 2 again while Kenji wrote on a piece of paper. The two took turns at the doll, slowly improving at level 2.
It was currently Ardere's turn to fight the doll while Melodi rested. Melodi took this chance to sit next to Kenji and see what he was up to.
Melodi leaned over and saw that Kenji was drawing several circles with 2 triangles and 2 X's, and at the top of the page was writing, but it was not in a language she knew.
"What is this?" Melodi said pointing to the odd writing.
"These are notes im making. They're supposed to be possible outcomes to my plan, but you can only predict so much and nothing is guaranteed."
"That's impressive! you can read these words?"
Kenji looked to Melod for a moment before realizing something. Kenji didn't know the girl in front of him; she had been with Ardere all day yesterday and even sat with them during meals today, and yet he still didn't know her.
"I know this might seem rude to ask now, but who were you again?"
Melodi tried the best she could to hide her embarrassment as she realized she never introduced herself to Kenji. The entire time she had been with him she was quiet and timid, he really didn't know her.
"It isn't rude in the slightest. I should apologize, I actually forgot to introduce myself. My name is Melodi Rose... I am sixteen, and I currently have no significant other."
Melodi had decided to add that little bit in there just in case Kenji was wondering.
"Okay?...Cool. My name is Kenji and i don't have a family name."
Melodi was embarrassed to say what she did, but felt it was worth it in order to advance their friendship and hopefully go beyond that.
"As far as these words go I had wondered if anyone would be able to read this. Do you know what language this is?" Kenji turned the page towards her.
Melodi looked at the foreign words and tried to make heads or tails of what they said. Some of the words seemed similar to what she already knew, but not all of it was anything she had ever heard before.
"I don't know what language this is."
Kenji turned the page over again, smiling, satisfied with Melodi's answer.
Melodi saw the smile on Kenji's face and her ears burned while her stomach fluttered. She had been worried Kenji would be dissatisfied with her if she couldn't read the language.
Kenji looked at his battle plan like an artist who just painted a masterpiece. Almost everything was ready; all that was left was to prepare Ardere for what was to come.
"Melodi, here in a little while im going to need you to do me a favor and leave the two of us alone." Kenji gestured to Ardere.
Melodi wondered what they were going to do for tomorrow, but from the looks of Kenji she guessed he had something amazing up his sleeve.
As the day turned to night the students began leaving the training hall and the two girls began to feel the exhaustion from their training.
Ardere wasn't at the same point as the other day, but it was now late into the evening and all of the students were gone from the training hall.
Kenji had finished making his plans and had been watching the two girls fight the doll. They had won a couple if times, but at level 2 that was more luck than anything.
Currently Melodi was fighting the doll and was slowly losing. She had remembered how Kenji had said the doll moved in a specific pattern when fighting and was trying to figure it out, but she couldn't concentrate long enough to see any kind of pattern.
The doll attacked with a simple flame spell and Melodi tried to move out of the way, but her exhaustion finally caught up with her and she couldn't move on time and the flame spell just barely grazed her leg; singeing her shorts.
[Level 2 Failed]
[Would You Like To Try Again?]
Melodi collapsed to the floor, gasping as she tried to catch her breath after the long fight.
Kenji stood up and went to help Melodi off the floor. Melodi saw his hand stretched out and she accepted the help; remembering just yesterday when they met.
'I hope he doesn't notice how sweaty my palms are.' Melodi thought as he lifted her off the floor with ease.
Kenji handed Melodi a towel and whispered in her ear.
"You can leave now, sorry to have kept you here for so long."
Melodi looked to Ardere and back to Kenji. She had wondered what they were going to do for tomorrow and wanted to ask, but from the serious look on Kenji's face Melodi knew it was something that was between Summon and Master so she took her leave.
Kenji waited for Melodi to leave before heading to the large double doors that lead into the training room and closed them. He then pulled off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves as he walked towards Ardere.
"Lets get started." He said with a stern look.
...
Ardere awoke to knocking on her door. As she sat up her body ached all over from the day before. Ardere looked out the window and the sun was shinning bright through and lighting up her room.
"Just a moment!" Ardere yelled as she got up from her bed still in her pajamas.
Ardere pulled her hair from her face and combed through it with her fingers, trying to get it as straight as possible and then opened the door to reveal Melodi.
Melodi smiled, bright and cheery as usual with her hands behind her back and in uniform.
"Good morning sleepy head."
Ardere motioned for Melodi to come into her room and shut the door behind her.
"What time is it?" Ardere asked realizing the sun was high in the sky.
"It's almost midday, lunch is already over and Ms.Black sent me to see if you were still capable of continuing with your duel."
Ardere turned to her drawer and pulled out her uniform and used her wand to swap the pajamas with the cornflower blue uniform.
Melodi had her back to the door of the room and fidgeted with something in her hands.
"What's that you have?" Ardere said hearing something crinkle in her hands behind her back.
"Well, Ms.Black figured you were too headstrong to back out of the duel so she sent me with this."
Melodi revealed a paper wrapped object from her back and handed it to Ardere.
Ardere dug into the paper tearing it off the object and found a single piece of black clothing with lines of cornflower blue running along the piece like vines, stretching across the torso, down the arms, up the neck and down the legs.
The fabric was soft and thick, but Ardere could feel cool air passing through the cloth. It was a battle suit; Ardere had never seen one with her own eyes before and was amazed with the quality of the clothes.
"I guess this means it really is time for the duel." Ardere had managed to say, sounding more gloomy then she meant to.
Ardere had decided to put the clothes in her bag and left with Melodi to go and find Kenji.
Melodi and Kenji were up late the night before and it was good that Ardere was excused from classes for the last couple of days since she had slept longer than she meant to.
Knocking on Kenji's bedroom door, the two girls heard a voice only a moment later.
"Come in!"
Ardere reached for the door knob and hesitated for a second before speaking.
"Are you decent!"
There was no response for a second and then Kenji spoke.
"I'm not naked if that's what you're asking."
Ardere had wondered if Kenji understood what she meant by "decent". Finally getting the nerve to enter, she opened the door and saw kenji in the Battle Uniform she had gotten from Melodi; except Kenji's was different.
Instead of being a single piece it was two and instead of having blue lines stitched into the fabric and running across it had red. The long sleeves only went halfway up his forearm and there was a cut for his neck; unlike Arderes which went all the way up her neck.The fabric was skin tight and yet he was able to move just fine.
Melodi couldn't help but stare as the fabric revealed the toned muscles that normally hid underneath Kenji's clothes.
"Not sure if i would call this decent, but the stuck up bitch said i would need this for the fight.
Kenji walked to his bed and began shrugging his uniform on over the black battle uniform. As he did so Ardere took a look around his room and saw he had a pile of clothes stacked in a corner and when she looked towards his bath, the water was still there with a murky smell to it.
"You haven't drained your bath water?" Ardere asked
Kenji looked to Ardere as she stood in the doorway of the restroom.
"I don't know how." He said with a shrug as he began to button up his coat.
"I've been using a cloth to clean myself the last couple of days since I can't empty it or refill it."
Ardere looked to Kenji and remembered he had no mana, any mana he had left from the potion he must have used to fill the tub. She walked to the tub and touched the magic circle on the side of the tub and the grey tiles all began to glow with a dim blue light as the tub drained.
Kenji walked into the room just as the last bit of water drained.
"Cool, you mind filling it up again tonight. It would be nice to just sit there and soak instead of cleaning myself off with a rag." Kenji said as he finished rolling up his sleeves.
Ardere had forgotten Kenji would need mana to take a bath and as for his clothes; a servant should have collected them by now and washed them.
"I'll speak to the Head master about this and see what's going on with your services, for now i can fill it at night and drain it when i come for you in the morning."
"I don't mind coming by and doing so." Melodi said in a low voice with her hand raised.
"Whatever works for you." Kenji said with an indifferent tone.
Ardere smiled at Melodi; she really was too nice it was unbelievable to her.
"You don't have to do that. Kenji is my summon and my responsibility, however thank you for the offer."
Melodi just smiled, a bit of color flushed to her cheeks as she did so.
Ardere walked back out to the bedroom and winced as she felt the pain of hunger in her lower abdomen.
"For now how about we see if the kitchen has any food left." Ardere said
"That won't be necessary." Kenji gestured to his desk and there laid bundle of cloth wrapped around something.
Unwrapping the bundle revealed a half loaf of bread a bit of cheese and some salami.
"When you get into a fight, especially one where your going to move around so much it's always best to eat light, or else you could end up throwing up in the middle of one. trust me that was one of the more embarrassing fights I had."
Ardere sat at the desk and began eating while Melodi and Kenji sat on his bed.
Kenji laid back and yawned as he used his arms as pillows and began to speak again.
"I'm going to let you know now. I have a plan for today, one beyond what we discussed yesterday. I can't tell you this plan, but I will tell you this; I don't plan on letting this guy off easy today, I fully intend to disgrace him and only when I do is when this fight will be over." He said staring at the ceiling.
Ardere's gut twisted as he said those words, she had a bad feeling about today. Ian is prideful and self centered; if Kenji were to embarrass him in front of the students, he would most definitely come for him again.
"I'm not sure that is a wise decision." Ardere argued.
Kenji looked away from the ceiling and to Ardere.
"Whether it's a good idea or not is up to me. You already started this fight without my permission, so I get to decide the terms. This will show you not to drag me into something I would rather not be apart of."
Ardere felt guilt in her chest as she swallowed the last bit of cheese.
Standing up her hunger subsided, but she didn't feel completely full. Arderes mouth felt dry from the bread and cheese and conjured up a bit of water and drank it.
"Don't drink too much, only what is necessary to feel comfortable."
Ardere scowled as she did what she was told. She wondered if he was actually trying to be helpful or if he was just trying to get back at her.
Finally after a moment of silence there was a knock at the door and Kenji stood up and went to answer it.
Opening the door revealed a teacher Ardere didn't know. She was small and slender and her brown hair was cut short.
"Oh, good, you're here as well." She said with a bit of surprise in her tone as her eyes looked toward Ardere.
"I am Mrs.Aluma and I will be monitoring the duel today. If you will follow me I will lead you to the designated spot and explain the rules on the way."
Ardere stood and pulled her clothes from her bag and magicked them on and began following the teacher with Meldodi close behind.
The teacher led the three down and through the hallways while she explained the rules of the duel.
"Your magic clothes will measure the amount of damage they take with every attack and once they reach a certain level of damage they will shine brightly to announce that you have taken too much damage to continue on."
The group turned down another hallway.
"If the masters are taken to that point in the fight then the duel will be over and the winner will be announced, however a summons damage will not stop the fight so be careful to make sure your Summons don't die. Any questions?"
Kenji looked the teacher in the eyes as they exited the building through two doors and they began walking towards a crowd of people.
"Yeah, Is the damage measured by the amount of magical and physical damage or just magical."
"All physical attacks from summons have Mana in them so the attack is measured depending on the output of force from the attack however if you were to damage them with an attack that doesn't have any Mana like throw a rock at them, then the attack would not register and the clothes will flash red to indicate no damage taken."
Ardere was about to speak before Kenji interrupted her.
"Thanks, I really appreciate your explanation."
Kenji's expression softened and he smiled at Mrs.Aluma, but this smile was different from the one he had on when he fought the doll or when he confronted Ian. This smile seemed genuine and kind instead of threatening and cold.
Ardere was shocked by what Kenji had done and his soft expression revealed something she had never seen in him before, she saw charm. The sight of it actually made her heart skip a beat, if she didn't know better she probable would have went in for a kiss and Melodi actually moved closer to Kenji with pink flushed cheeks and a desperate look in her eyes before they all came to a stop at the designated location.
There was several dozen students surrounding Ian as he wore the same uniform as Ardere, and sitting right beside him, a massive black wolf.