"M-Me..?! But I can't fight Gentarō!" I shout, quickly growing flustered as I notice everyone's eyes on me.
"Please Genta." Gentarō's gaze is serious as he looks up at me. "You're the only one who I can rely on to do this."
My eyes widen a little bit as I hear those words and see the expression on Gentarō's face. "He's really serious about this...isn't he..? The real question is...why aren't I..? Why am I hesitating..?" I recall my freshman year, the year I was bullied just for being a booster. It only got worse when everybody gained their powers. After that, I became a slave to the acolytes who used my ability to make themselves stronger. Now is different though; an emanator class booster named Gentarō is calling out to me for help, so he can use my power to help the other boosters.
"If I'm not gonna stand up and fight right now...then when will I..?!" I clench my fists and rise up, shouting to Gentarō. "I...I'll fight with you..! G-Gentarō!" My nerves are still here and my heart is beating crazy fast, but I'm not going to stop here. I walk around the students in my row to get to the stairs that lead down to the center of the gym. I walk down the stairs slowly, trembling slightly as anxiety and nerves start getting to me. However, I don't take my eyes off of the 16 candidates or Gentarō who all look right back at me, the spotlight following my every shaky step. I'm surprised nobody tries to trip me down the steps, but I'm guessing that's just because they're all in a state of shock. At last, I make it to the end of the stairs and take my place beside Gentarō.
"So this is your great booster ally? Some random guy shaking in his boots?" Mibaru mocks me.
"It's his first time being in front of such a big crowd. I'm sure you'd understand if you weren't the principal's son." Gentarō mocks him right back.
"Wha- Why you..!" Mibaru growls, a couple of the other candidates holding in their laughter.
"Everything's gonna be just fine, promise. We got this." Gentarō gives me a confident grin and I smile back at him nervously and nod. Oddly enough, I'm not shaking anymore.
"Alright then, everyone who is not Mibaru, Gentarō, and Genta, I'll have to ask you to exit the gym floor and retake your seats." The 15 candidates did as Mr. Nagako told them, and I couldn't help but look up at the principal as he spoke. He's looking down at the three of us left on the gymnasium floor, and I don't know why, but it feels like he's looking at me specifically.
"Genta." Gentarō said, lightly shaking me, and I jumped a bit, looking at him once more. "Stay as far away as you can alright? Just focus on boosting me. I'll protect you."
"R-Right..." My nerves start building again as I see the fabricator class Cube Acolytes of the junior and senior student council walk down from their seats and create a cube of transparent, blue cubes around us. "This is happening... This is actually about to happen..." I think to myself as I step back until I can feel the cubes pressed against my back. Gentarō stands a few feet in front of me and Mibaru stands a few feet in front of the opposite side of the cube barrier with his lyte on his shoulder.
"Alright, the barrier is up and everyone has taken their positions. When I give the signal, you may fight." No one makes a sound, Gentarō and Mibaru staring one another down as their hair and eyes light up in their respective colors, and mine slowly do the same. "...Begin!" Mr. Nagako shouts.
I instantly throw my boosting power onto Gentarō, enveloping him in a white aura of power, but the second I do, Mibaru's eagle comes flying right at me, encased in flames as Mibaru creates a swirl of flames around Gentarō. "Looks like I've won already." Mibaru chuckles.
I want to jump out of the way, but Gentarō's words play through my mind. "Just focus on boosting me. I'll protect you." So I do just that, not even looking at the flaming eagle barreling toward me. I block out every noise I hear and focus only on my peer standing in the center of the swirl of flames a few feet in front of me.
Before the eagle can even get close to me, the swirling flames disperse momentarily and the eagle goes flying back into its master with a pained caw, Mibaru yelping slightly as he's suddenly struck by his own lyte. "W-What in the..?!"
Gentarō is standing in front of me, his left fist at his side and his right palm stretched forward. "I'd tell your birdy to focus on boosting your flames rather than attacking Genta. If you don't, this'll be over pretty quick." Gentarō chuckles.
Mibaru narrows his eyes and his lyte flaps its wings, cawing and glowing red while enveloping Mibaru in a red aura. "Fine then... You asked for it!" Two small, but bright fireballs formed in Mibaru's hands and he throws them at Gentarō. Gentarō dashes toward the fireballs much faster than they move, palming them both and making the flames disperse.
Gentarō waves his hands afterward, wincing in light pain. "Damn! That still stings a bit!" Gentarō blew on his hands.
"That's...That's impossible..! That's enhanced fire! Even if you are being boosted physically twice as much as you normally can boost yourself, your hands should at least be slightly burned from my enhanced flames!" Mibaru yells.
"Hm? Did you say twice as much as usual? You've got it all wrong you moron!" Gentarō grumbles.
"W-What..?!" Mibaru growls back.
"A fabricator not only boosts physical attributes, but the powers of other acolytes as well. So if I, an emanator class booster, have the power to boost myself physically to make myself twice as much as a regular human, and a fabricator booster boosts me, then that two times becomes four times, not to mention the physical attributes they already double by themselves. All together, that's eight times! Even I know basic math." Gentarō snickers.
"E-Eight times..." Mibaru mutters in disbelief.
"Are you finally starting to see how dangerous boosters can be when they team up?" Gentarō grins and takes his stance, one fist behind his back and his palm stretched forward.
"Don't mess with me... Two, four, eight, boost yourself as much as you want, but I refuse to lose to a booster after coming this far!" Mibaru holds out his hands and fires a spiral of flames from them. Gentarō grows serious once more and he thrusts his palm forward, the white aura around him flying forward and dispersing the flames. Gentarō dashes forward after that, so fast that he just looks like a blur, stopping right in front of Mibaru and before Mibaru could even make a peep, Gentarō palms him in the gut.
"Guah..!" Mibaru grunts as the wind gets knocked out of him.
"You give up?" Gentarō asks in a serious manner, but to anyone who doesn't know him, it seems like he's not taking this seriously. Mibaru grits his teeth, bringing his hands together and shooting a powerful flame from both of his hands at Gentarō point blank, smirking as he does so. I grow somewhat worried as I watch this, but continue to focus on boosting Gentarō. Gentarō reaches out of the flame and grabs Mibaru's arm, flipping him over his shoulder through the flames. "Not bad, but still not good either." Gentarō chuckles.
Mibaru is seething with rage at this point, firing a barrage of flames at Gentarō. The students are silent as they watch, flashes of red lighting up the gym whenever Mibaru howls with rage and shoots his flames, and just as quickly going back out as Gentarō continues landing several blows on Mibaru. Mibaru pants heavily, not even bruised despite the many blows he received. "Are you...holding back..?!"
"Of course I am. If I were to hit you at full force with the entirety of my boost power, you'd get seriously injured, and maybe even end up in the hospital. That's not why I'm trying to join this tournament." Gentarō stretches. "I will start using a little more force in my attacks if you don't give up soon though..."
Mibaru grits his teeth once more, clenching his fists tightly, his eagle cawing and lighting up in flames. "I didn't want to have to show this off...but I don't have a choice! Here! Take my last resort attack!" Mibaru holds out his hands and his eagle flies toward Gentarō with a loud screech. Mibaru quickly fires a powerful flame from his hands, encasing his lyte with them and mixing the two flames together to form a somewhat large flaming bird silhouette around the eagle. Despite the dangerous sight, Gentarō doesn't budge an inch this time, just watching as the eagle crashes down into him and erupts into a spiral of flames.
Mibaru watches, slowly starting to laugh. "Finally! Eat that you damn boost-" He couldn't even finish his sentence before Gentarō flew out of the flames like the first time, stopped behind Mibaru, and knocked him out cold with a swipe of his leg just below Mibaru's jaw.
"And you left yourself wide open..." Gentarō steams, blowing on his skin, but the steam quickly fades due to my boost on his regeneration.
"It seems that the booster Gentarō has actually won..." Mr. Nagako says, though not a single student makes a peep, except for myself, sighing with relief and releasing my power. The cube barrier fades away and the council members walk over, taking Mibaru to what I can only assume is the nurse's office.
"You actually did it Gentarō... You actually won..!" I cheer.
"Couldn't have done it without you pal." Gentarō grins, pausing and looking up at the principal. "As a matter of fact, I have another proposal!"
"Oh? What are you thinking up this time?" Mr. Nagako. chuckles.
"You see, I'm not all that smart when it comes to stuff outside of fighting. Sure I'm a great fighter, but I'm no brainiac. That's why, if I get a position, I want Genta to be given that position, and I'll be his fighter whenever someone challenges him for it." Gentarō grins once more.
Mr. Nagako pauses this time before smiling coyly. "Very well, I don't see why not. As for the tournament bracket, I can't show it because some changes have to be made, obviously. This year, at long last, is finally going to at least be a little different. So everyone, stop looking so glum and start looking forward to Monday, when the first round of the student council tournament will be held!" Mrs Nagako announces with a laugh.
Every student very slowly starts to cheer, saying things like, "It was just one of the candidates, there's no way he'll win against any of the others!", "Yeah, I'm still rooting for Sana!", "Itsumi! Itsumi!" All the students cheer for their various student council president selections.
"Alright everyone, dismissed until Monday! Look forward to the tournament!" Mr. Nagako announced. All of the students cheer once more and begin leaving, but Gentarō and I didn't move.
"Gentarō..?" I pause, looking where he's looking, and notice that the two of us and the 15 other candidates are the only ones left in the gym once all the other students are gone.