"That rumbling was the worst one yet. I'll admit, sometimes it feels like this place is going down," Toga said.
"Hard to argue with you there," Ryuma agreed.
"Meh. Whatever it took to shut Diaga up, I welcome the help," Toga said.
"If that's the case, I'll ask the gods for another rumble every time he shows up,"
The two were walking towards the academy arena. Normally, they'd be heading to class, but today, they were to start testing in the morning. Upon entering the arena entrance, most of the girls of notable looks, gave Ryuma a shy hand wave.
He could only smile and wave back, prompting the boys in the vicinity to get jealous. They either swooned, or squealed, thinking his response was aimed at each of them specifically.
"I so fucking hate you," Toga said.
"What did I do now!?" Ryuma asked.
"Since when do you smile Ryuma?"
"If someone smiles at me, I'm going to smile Toga. It's common curtesy,"
"Pshh… sure you are,"
Ryuma rolled his eyes and ignored his grumbling. Surveying the area, he noticed there were more people wearing the Red Dog outfits then previous years. It still paled in comparison to the amount of White Dragons, but the change was still noticeable.
This wasn't going to become a future problem, was it? Ryuma didn't know. Although he didn't mind the Red Dogs being here, not unlike his mother, He still wanted to keep the pride and culture of the White Dragons and not be washed away through time.
It wasn't much he could do about it, so he stopped and looked at the participants. All of them young adults, all of them trying to get some last-minute practice in before the teacher called for assembly. Some of which, the same kind of practice he did with Toga
After looking at the people, there were a bunch of talent to go around all over the place. Ryuma chose his own little relaxing spot to view them. Even keeping that stoic expression of his, it warmed his heart see the future of The Order with hard working individuals.
He gave a melancholic smile.
"Hey Ryuma!" He heard a female voice call out.
A young woman with long, blonde hair, earrings, painted eyelids, and a bubbly personality ran towards him, giving him a short hug in the process. She wore white and black just like he did, signifying that she was the White Dragon known as Nuna Fisher.
"Morning Nuna. You seem chipper today. Glad to know that the exam hasn't wracked your nerves any," Ryuma said.
Nuna blushed as she brushed her hand through her hair. "Oh, is that what it looks like? I'm surprised you can't hear my heartbeat from where you're standing,"
Ryuma smirked. "Don't worry, you'll do fine. Just seeing you, I can already tell you have what it takes,"
"Really? You don't mean that," She scratched her head and shut her eyes closed. Ryuma had faith in her abilities.
"There goes that Ryuma charm again," Toga rolled his eyes.
Nuna avoided eye contact with him after that statement. It was more accurate to say that she faced the other direction entirely. Again, Ryuma didn't know what he meant. He noticed all the girls in the vicinity looked at Nuna with jealousy and downright anger in their eyes.
"Why does she only get that smile?" Some would ask within earshot. Ryuma couldn't understand. Was there a specific smile he was giving to Nuna?
Giving a second glance, he was also getting that same level of ire from the guys, most notably in levels far higher than the ones Nuna was getting.
"Ryuma Irgo! You better not be putting any weird ideas in my sister's head!"
Ryuma's face dropped when he heard who it was. A truly patronizing voice had shown up. His wasn't the only one. Nuna's eye twitched at the mere sound of his voice, although for Ryuma's sake, she looked like she tried to suppress it. It was her twin brother Talo Fisher.
He was such a protective younger brother; it was rare to catch Nuna free from his sight. Normally, Ryuma wouldn't really mind it, but his way of talking and that voice of self-superiority, always felt like nails on a chalkboard to him.
"Talo! I'm not some brainless doll anybody can write in," Nuna said.
"I didn't say that,"
"You implied it,"
"Whoa guys. It's alright. No need to cause a scene," Ryuma put his hands up defensively.
"I don't want to hear that from you. How about focusing less on flirting, and more about the exam, then maybe I wouldn't have to worry," Talo said.
"Talo, shut up!" Nuna said.
"Ryuma and Toga. I see your scores are going to be this year scores to beat,"
There were more people showing up now, a group of five. Three White Dragons, and two Red Dogs. The one who spoke was Binzo Distel, dressed in red. He gave off a halve baked, cocky smile.
"This isn't a competition Binzo. Just do your best," Ryuma said.
"Mmhh, spoken like someone truly ahead of the pack," The lone female of the group, also dressed in red, Clara Kaysa spoke with such a lackadaisical speech, Ryuma figured the girl was constantly bored with her surroundings.
"Did you just say he's looking down on us?" Krill asked.
"That really isn't the case. I just don't care about the ranking system. Truth be told, it's only self-gratification on exam day. I'd imagine that down there, if you don't learn the rules, those demons won't give a damn about what you ranked in school," Ryuma said.
"And now you think you can teach us?" Somebody needs to teach your kind a lesson.
"Oh let it go Krill. We don't want you embarrassing us as is," Binzo said.
"I was just joshing with old buddy here. I'm sure none of us here want Ryuma to disappoint. That'd be especially true if he's a White Dragon,"
Ryuma wanted to respond, but there was a commotion that started appearing on the other side of the arena. One that pulled his immediate attention.
"What you say you freaking lizard!" Diaga shouted getting in the face of someone he really sounded like he despised.
"You heard me, Dog!"
The person Diaga managed to pick a fight with happened to be Wen Shiang. Someone far less calm than Ryuma, and even less forgiving.
"Perhaps your feeble head wasn't up to absorb what I said, so allow me to re-iterate," Wen cleared his throat. "We don't need you dogs. It doesn't' matter what the high edict says. Ever since you got here you've been a constant thorn in our relations with the surface dwellers. We've had it bad enough as is, but you guys worsen the problem tenfold. I'd like you to do us all a favor and buzz it back to the land of mutts. At least there, somebody wants you,"
"OK! That's it fuckwit. You asked for it," Diaga summoned a Halberd out of nowhere and pointed it at him. "You want everybody to see the lizards for what they really are? A failed faction daring to think they deserve to exist with their own territory,"
Wen summoned a massive chakram. "Finally. I take one of you Dogs out, and that's one less I must look at,"
The situation looked like it was turning critical. A fight was about to break out and there wasn't a teacher in sight. Ryuma contemplated stepping in himself, but in earnest, this was not his battle. Should he just let the two blow off steam while the teacher wasn't here?
At a moment's notice, Diaga and Wen already charged each other. Before they clashed, an instructor appeared in a flash, the mere blink of an eye, in between the two and easily stopped both their attacks from colliding.
"Have the two of you gone mad!?" Instructor Palmer asked. He wore the White Dragon outfit, but his was in reverse. It wasn't white with black linings in the manner that his attire was, but instead, black with white linings. That was always odd to him, but whenever he asked, he never got a straight answer.
"Apologies, instructor Palmer. I was tasked with keeping the premises clean and thought it wise to remove the filth first," Wen said.
"I see. And you saw fit to do something like that in front of Gen Ichizo, a member of the Heaven's family?" Instructor Palmer asked.
Wen's eyes went wide. He looked around to see where the instructor was referring to. He looked up high into the stands and saw a young man, fresh into his late twenties, dressed in royal blue with gold linings. Everything about his embroidery was detailed and regal. With a glance alone, you could tell that this man was in several classes above their own.
Wen immediately got on his knees, placed his fist to palm and bowed his head. "My apologies. I was unaware of your presence. Forgive me for my transgression,"
The rest of the class followed suit in getting on their knees and placing their fist into their palms.