"Let's get this going then!"
Yoshino Aruven agreed to the challenge. It was not like they had given his team any other choice after all.
Then might as well take these people head-on!
"My, I admire your guts."
The female student named Stella nodded in approval. She even seemed delighted that her targets did not cower away.
"However, there's only four you. You said this is going to be a five versus five. Are you making fun of us?"
Unfortunately, the young male student just had to voice out his protest. He was still not that mature enough to let this chance pass.
This made the female student raise an eyebrow in return. She said,
"Are YOU making fun of us?"
She looked quite offended with what she heard. The young male student shook his head in response. That was not the point of his protest.
Stella sighed in resignation. She was apparently a patient person. She then explained,
"The president is on the way. Still, we can defeat all of you before the president arrives."
"Oh, then we can't have that."
Yoshino rejected the challenge. He would not accept the duel. Unless the other side admitted that they lacked the required number of participants.
Which would mean that the YSC would lose by default.
"So what?"
Stella raised an eyebrow once more. This time though, it was because of annoyance. She continued,
"Are you saying we all have to wait for the president to arrive? That's just wasting the time of everyone."
She then narrowed her eyes. Her lips turned into that of a mocking grin. She added,
"And besides, you'll just be delaying the inevitable."
"Of course not. I have better idea."
Yoshino clarified. He was actually waiting for this kind of response. He continued when he noticed that his words had piqued the interest of the female Yards.
He suggested,
"Why not make this a best of five match then?"
"Hey why are you deciding for all of us?"
Soura tugged the young male student's uniform in protest. She had spoken in a lowered voice. But that was not really necessary.
Stella could definitely hear them. As a proof, she was letting the two discuss their concerns.
Anyway, Yoshino glanced at the lady. He looked at her coral yellow pupils. He answered,
"I'm doing this to raise our chances of winning."
"Huh? Wouldn't a five versus four team battle be better?"
"No it won't."
Yoshino shook his head in response to the confused look that he saw. He wanted to ease the uncertainty on of the lady who was still tugging his uniform.
The young male student might not know the current members of YSC. But he was somewhat familiar with the Yards from two years ago.
They had outstanding individual skills. But more importantly, they excelled more in team battles.
And there was a high probability that the ideology was passed down to the next batch of members.
The YSC would then have a huge advantage in this regard. Compared to the make-shift coordination of their team.
Sure, Soura and Ariana could combine their skills to produce a powerful attack. And perhaps Yoshino could even enhance this further with his [Enchant Element] ability.
But this would leave O with double designations. He had to take care of the defense while providing the team with healing.
And even if Roxas took over the defensive role, this would just resemble the most basic formation in a team battle.
There was only one reason why their team was victorious up to this point. That was because they had only faced other participants who were at most in equal strength with their team.
That was probably the reason why the facilitators mobilized the YSC. They most likely wanted to test this basic formation against a much stronger adversary.
But doing so would be similar to showing off a basic skill in front of a master.
The student with jet black hair would rather challenge the YSC on a one-on-one fight. That was why he suggested this idea.
"Yoshino has a point here. I dare say."
O stepped in. He expressed his agreement on the idea. Perhaps he understood the other motives that the male student was not yet telling.
"Well, we only have to fight with a single enemy each."
Ariana said after giving the idea a thought. She seemed to have realized that as long as they achieved three victories, they would all automatically win.
But Soura insisted on protesting. Her eyebrows were furrowed in frustration. She pouted,
"That's what I'm concerned about. If it's a team battle then I could take on three of them while you guys deal with the remaining member."
Oh, so you just wanted to fight more than one of them!
Yoshino lampooned as he rolled his eyes. He wanted to remind the lady that her Tier 3 skills were currently being restricted.
This was actually half of her entire skill set. Meaning she could only use three skills during this event.
One of them was a passive. Which further meant that she only has two activatable skills at the moment.
So why did she not remove the Tier 3 skills temporarily? That way she would have more space to equip other usable abilities.
That was the catch here actually. That person who allowed Soura to enter the USB had added another condition for her admittance. In which the lady must not unequip her already Tier 3 skills.
The reasoning here was that doing otherwise would have made the Border Run too easy for her. In addition, the faculty wanted to test her adaptability and ingenuity. Not her raw power.
These might sound logical and all. But Yoshino honestly wished that they were given some slack. Why did that person had to deliberately make things more difficult for him?
"Time's up. What's your decision as a group?"
Stella prompted. She had given them plenty of chances to discuss. Thus she had called them out now.
Yoshino glanced at his team mates. O and Ariana expressed their agreement. Soura had taken a few seconds to decide. But she reluctantly agreed in the end.
Then the young male student looked at Roxas. The merchant-porter simply nodded upwards. This was probably a sign of his approval.
The student with jet black hair then returned his gaze towards the Yards member. He stated,
"We challenge the YSC in a best of five match."
"Pfft, this is quite funny!"
"Huh?"
Yoshino was confused when he heard the Yards member chuckle. Was she mocking them for their foolish decision?
But Stella quickly corrected herself. She explained,
"The president had actually predicted that you of all people would bring this idea up. Not him, or him, or her, or even her."
She began pointing towards the team members one by one. She then pointed at Yoshino. She looked amused with what she was doing. She continued,
"But you, a Tier 1 at that!"
Yoshino wanted to reply that he was touched. Sarcastically that is. The YSC president seemed to be quite a troublesome character.
Nonetheless he could no longer voice this out. Because Stella immediately declared,
"Fine! Challenge accepted! Call out your first participant."
The young male student focused on the current situation. His team mates seemed to be waiting for his decision. Which was weird since they were just making fun of him a while ago.
Be that as it may, Yoshino made his first choice.
"Soura."
"Rargh, all right."
The lady with deep blue sea hair nodded. She eagerly stepped forward.
The young male student was actually worried when he noticed her energetic response. He asked,
"Soura, you know what to do right?"
"Absolutely earn a win!"
No! Try to probe their general capabilities. And force them to reveal most of their cards.
Yoshino lampooned. But perhaps talking about technical strategies to the Trogan lieutenant was a tough task. Sometimes, simple and direct was the way to go.
He sighed in exasperation. He instead said,
"Yeah, go get them."
Meanwhile,
"I'll handle the feisty one."
A new voice was heard by everyone. It came from the person who was blocking the right corridor. He walked forward and finally revealed his face.
"?!"
Yoshino was surprised when he saw the approaching male student. He was a good-looking person. And he looked familiar for some reason.
But the male student with pitch black pupils refuted this idea. There was no way he knew someone who looked that good with his dimples.
That was until the newly arrived male student made a single wave with his right hand. A cool way of giving salute or something.
"Thou knew the person?"
O asked the male student with jet black hair. He seemed to have noticed the distress on his teammate.
"Apparently. He was a classmate at one of my general subjects before."
Yoshino answered. He then finally remembered the name of the male Yards member.
Alden Bryant.
He was still not a member of the YSC two years ago. Nonetheless he was really smart and had good grades back then. Turned out, he further improved during that time.
"Both participants head towards the fountain. You will then be transported to your battle area."
Stella instructed. The two complied and were then teleported into a different location.
Two virtual screens then popped out on the opposite sides of the fountain. This was probably a video feed of what was happening on the battle area.
Yoshino and the others walked towards the virtual screen that was closer to them. Meanwhile Stella walked towards the other one.
The two remaining members of YSC then approached her. They had finally revealed themselves. Thankfully none of them looked familiar to Yoshino.
The young man returned his attention towards the virtual feed. An audio feed was also available on the screen.
"What's the matter?"
Alden asked calmly. He looked unscathed and was in perfect condition. His dimples were even visible as his smile was unperturbed.
Soura on the other hand was panting heavily. She seemed to have unleashed a barrage of attacks. And yet she was the one who was worn-out between the two.