When I wake up, I'm laying in one of the beds in the nurse's office, quickly sitting up with a heavily flustered expression. "Ah! I can't believe I fainted!"
Someone laughs at my side and I don't even have to look over to see who it is. "Well good morning sleeping beauty!" Gentarō snickers in the chair beside my bed, wrapped in bandages.
"Good morning yourself..." I mumble and look up at the tv hanging on the ceiling in the corner of the room to see Itsumi in the middle of her fight with Sana. "Ah! How much did I miss?!" Right as I ask that, Itsumi bursts through the cube of cubes Sana has created around himself and slams her palm against his chest, a heavy grunt of pain escaping Sana's lips as he goes flying through the back end of his cube barrier and crashes into the barrier that covers the arena. With that, Sana falls unconscious, and the announcer declares Itsumi Nagako the winner, and our new student council president. "I...I missed everything..?!" I collapse back on the bed in dismay, a couple tears filling up the corners of my eyes.
Despite my obvious sadness, Gentarō breaks out in laughter. "Come on, don't be so sad!" He pats my shoulder roughly. "Remember, we still have one more fight of our own. Let's show Itsumi just how cool you are!"
I look up at him with a still half defeated look on my face. "How am I gonna look cool just sitting on the sidelines being your booster exactly..?"
"You do realize that we might not have made it this far if not for the fact that you boosted me, right? Stop being so hard on yourself!" He ruffles my hair, making me groan in annoyance.
"That's not true... You definitely could've made it this far on your own. You're amazing Gentarō." I mumble, thinking back to all the amazing fights he's had so far.
There's a light pause before Gentarō lightly presses his fists against my chest, making me look up to see the grin on his face. "Don't forget who bravely walked up in the middle of the gym to face the 16 candidates with me." My eyes widen a little and I smile a bit myself, nodding.
"Gentarō and Genta, please come to the arena for your final match of the day." A male voice says over the nurse's office's intercom.
"Looks like we're up!" Gentarō says with a grin. "I'm curious as to whether or not I'll be able to keep up with the speed of a Laser Acolyte at eight times the boost! Let's go let's go!" Gentarō hurries me out of the nurse's office excitedly.
Thankfully with the technological advancement in this city, his wounds should already be healed up mostly under those bandages with the medicine they put on it. I'm proven right when we reach the arena and he tears those bandages off, not a scratch remaining on him, and Natsuri seems to be good as new as well, stretching her arms and legs on the opposite side of the arena. The nerves in me build up once more, but I prepare myself to boost Gentarō as the barrier forms around the three of us, Gentarō's hair and eyes already glowing white as it does.
"Ready?! This is the battle to determine who will be the secretary and who will be the treasurer! After this, you will all be dismissed and allowed to relax at home for an extended break period! But for now, enjoy the fight! Begin!" The male announcer states.
"I ain't got any kinda grand speech, so let's just fight!" Natsuri says excitedly and immediately starts bouncing all around us the second her hair and eyes turn teal.
"Ready Genta?! Let's do this!" Gentarō grins.
"Yeah!" I shout as I boost Gentarō, and he too begins moving at an intense speed. Gentarō and Natsuri clash multiple times throughout the arena, so fast they look like mere flashes of white and teal to any untrained eye. Just like when I was watching on the sidelines before however, I'm able to follow their movements pretty decently. Natsuri delivers dozens of punches and kicks, but Gentarō parries and avoids all of them with ease, getting a light chop or palm attack in every now and then.
Natsuri growls in annoyance. "How can you keep up with me?! This is so unfair!"
"Eight times as fast as any normal acolyte! You may be faster than me, but anyone who's trained to fight can see through your predictable movements!" Gentarō laughs as he continues to parry and evade.
"Are you making fun of me?!" Her hair and eyes glow even brighter as her cheetah lyte's teal features all begin glowing, to which she then becomes even faster. Seeing the change, Gentarō quickly puts up his arms in defense, but still gets sent flying as Natsuri's fist connects with his crossed arms.
Gentarō flips in the air a couple times and skids his feet against the ground to stop himself. "Not bad..!" He grunts with a grin.
"More speed equals more power! I'm not gonna let you make fun of me!" Natsuri's voice seems to be coming from every direction with how quickly she's bouncing all around the ring. She continuously begins bouncing around Gentarō specifically however, striking at him whenever she passes by, putting Gentarō purely on the defensive. He can just barely evade her strikes, and when he isn't able to, he tries to defend, but gets sent skidding back every time.
Eventually, his back is literally against the wall, and Gentarō growls in annoyance this time. "Enough already!" His fist lights up as brightly as his hair and eyes and he quickly punches the ground as Natsuri draws near, making her yelp as the strike causes quite the shockwave and breaks up the ground quite a bit as well. While Natsuri is stunned, Gentarō quickly palms at her, and the force smacks her right in the forehead, sending her barreling backwards with another yelp until she crashes and rolls on the ground a few times.
"O-Owie..." Natsuri slowly stands up, holding her forehead. "It's gonna take more than that..!" Natsuri starts moving at the same intense speed once more, but this time, Gentarō looks unfazed. He holds his natural martial arts stance and simply seems to be waiting, just looking forward as Natsuri continues to bounce off the barrier around him. Without warning, he suddenly palms to his left, the force hitting Natsuri's side and getting another yelp out of her as she spirals in the air, but catches herself with the help of her lyte shooting a laser out of its mouth. Natsuri quickly begins moving at the same light speed again, but Gentarō manages to strike her again with the force of his palm when she tries to move in for a hit, and again, and again, and again.
Natsuri finally grinds to a halt a few feet in front of Gentarō, panting and looking frustrated and upset. "How are you hitting me?! I should be moving too fast for normal people to comprehend!"
"Well, not only am I being boosted physically times eight, but as I said before, it doesn't matter how fast you are. Anyone who hasn't been trained in proper combat of some form is easily predictable. It isn't hard for me to tell when you're going to pop up." He chuckles.
"So what you're saying is..." She turns to me with a playful smirk suddenly. "All I have to do is take out your booster and I'm home free!" She quickly moves directly at me.
"W-What! No! Genta, get out of the way!" Gentarō shouts.
I yell out in fear and quickly roll out of the way, Natsuri's fist connecting with the barrier behind me. "What? Hold still!" She raises her leg and quickly tries to bring it down on me, but I let out another yelp as I roll out of the way, barely avoiding once again. "Stop moving dang it!" A blast of air strikes the barrier space in between us, making Natsuri yelp and jump back.
"No you don't!" Gentarō yells and dashes over quickly, though Natsuri is easily able to move behind him and kick him aside, Gentarō clearly too flustered to have predicted her movements this time.
"No! Stay out of this!" Natsuri shouts as she connects and Gentarō grunts as he slams against the barrier.
"Gentarō!" I shout, too caught up in what's happening to him to avoid the rapidly approaching Natsuri.
"I win!" She shouts as she raises her fist to strike me. Having nowhere to turn, I fall back, hold up my arms, and tremble in fear, a few memories flashing through my mind and I can't help but let out a slightly terrified wail. I continue to just lay there and tremble, expecting to be knocked out by now, but I'm still very conscious and unhurt. Somewhat confused, I lower my arms a bit so I can see what Natsuri is doing, and she's just standing there, her fist held out, but not making contact with me.
I narrow my eyes in confusion and look up more to see her face, my eyes quickly going wide with shock as I see her trembling and tearing up. "D-Don't be scared..! I'm not gonna hurt you! I'm sorry!" Her voice is trembling as well and she's lightly holding up her hands toward me, as if to comfort me in some manner.
"I-I-I'm n-not scared..! I-I'm fine see..?! D-Don't cry..!" I quickly sit up and hold up my hands lightly to try and calm her down, but she instantly starts bawling and falls to her knees to hug me tightly. My eyes quickly go wide and I fall back a bit once more, gently rubbing her back in utter confusion. "U-Um...T-There there..? P-Please don't cry..!" I laugh nervously.
"Well aren't you a lady killer?~" Gentarō snickers, standing at our side.
"I-I don't even know how this happened!" I look at her lyte that hops up on her shoulder, only to be even more astounded by the teary look in its eyes. "Y-You too?!"
Natsuri and her cheetah lyte both nuzzle their heads against my cheeks as Natsuri continues to squeeze me to death and bawl. "I-I give up! I don't wanna fight anymore!"
"W-What?!" My eyes go wide, utterly shocked.
Gentarō however breaks out in laughter. "Yeah, that's what I assumed! Haha!"
"A-And there you have it folks! Natsuri has given up, making Genta and Gentarō the Student Body Secretary, and Natsuri the Student Body Treasurer!" The female announcer states.
"Congratulations, you three." The male announcer says with a light hearted chuckle.
I'm completely dumbfounded in this moment, Gentarō still breaking out in laughter, and Natsuri is still bawling her eyes out, so I do my best to try and comfort her. "I can't believe this is how the student council tournament is ending..!" I think to myself as I gently rub Natsuri's back.