KASUMI KISHI:
"I won. Although it was expected it made me happy he was here he watched me win..."
" I can't wait to see Ren-Chan's match!" I continued on through the hall extremely happy just knowing I was being watched through that match it made me all warm inside.
I finally made it to the spectator room. There I saw him, He watched from what it looks like though he didn't seem too impressed almost bored even.
All of a sudden i felt really saddened and disappointed in myself I tried real hard to make my match entertaining. My emotions got the better of me and i almost started to cry right there on the spot. I couldn't let myself one of the the four major families be seen like this, Quickly I wiped my eyes dry and waited a few moments and braced myself to sit next to him.
"Hi Renji, Did you enjoy the match?" I asked already knowing he was seemingly uninterested "Yea it wasn't bad" he continued "Nice job ignoring her taunting, didn't think crybaby Kasumi could handle taunts like that." "You used to cling to me every time someone "Scary" showed up." he said while making air quotes and laughing. "I can't really joke about you though we would both cry when we were little." He finished
I blushed, That was something I didn't want anyone here to know about. "well at least the match was enjoyable at the very least" I said "Indeed" he shot back "so who has a match up next? I'm curious as to what the kids in this semester is able to handle." "As am i, Supposedly my sister says she was told this year is very stacked with potential" he said while looking down at the roster of students in our year.
"I'm sure lady Raiko wanted you to go to school regardless but her being told this year was full of hidden talents was probably among the main reasons she pushed for your return seeing as she was extremely competitive and all." "Yea that sounds like her, hates losing and is extremely dangerous when upset." I looked up at the screen for the next pair of students to be facing one another.
The board displayed the following "Tokita Sawa" vs "Kathlyn Reins" it seemed the battleground generated by the A.I this time was a simple grass type mountain area. "Care to take a bet?" I proposed "Hmm, I might be slightly interested in that whats the bet?" "The best is simple we choose who we think will win this match" "And the stakes?" he asked staring into my eyes with a brow raised "Lets say the loser must fight the next round without their weapon sound good?" I asked "I see, If that's the stakes i'd like to leave the final decision up to Saika that alright? "That's fine by me you better hopes she guesses right" i said with a grin
"I'm not very worried I've yet to see these hidden talents supposedly in our grade" "hmm that ego could be your downfall" I said. He just smiled and less than a second later there was Saika. "I see so the decision is mine is it." she said looking just as uninterested as Renji had looked early on "Do you want the first pick or is that also mine" "you could have first pick only since its you Saika" I tried to be as positive as possible "Mmh whatever then i guess ill take the black haired one. At first i was confused as I'm sure my face showed so i tried to clarify.
"Saika uhm, Both girls have black hair could you be more specific?" " she groaned as she popped back out in her human form" my god you are so annoying, Ill take Kathlyn Reins. There you happy?"
I laughed at how much she resembled a younger Renji "Yes that is fine Saika, Thank you very much than I shall choose the remaining Tokita Sawa." she turned back into a sword that was connected to Renji, shortly after we heard the whistle to start and the match had begun.
RENJI AIHARA
To be frank I was honestly bored watching these matches. But, No matter how bored I may be I keep a close eye on every movement everyone participating has made. Their tendencies and bad habits all of it. The current match up wasn't some spectacular fight but that may be because everyone is treating their match like its their last. One thing though that i have noticed is there is very little wasteful movement from the people in this school. They fight correctly like they have been practicing for a long while. But even though that is the case this Tokita woman is stronger or smarter than most kids our age. She moves as if shes been in a real battle for her life before and that'll be the decisive factor in this match.
This grass type area was in Kathlyn's favor she was an earth type mage so she pretty much didn't run out of orignial material to use saving her mana if she played this correctly she could easily win. Tokita seemed to be a water mage but she didn't seem to be too worried that she was disadvantaged. She charged in making it a medium type fight which was a good call she kept a water path laid out before her making everything she stepped on mud instead of solid earth. "I'm guessing shes making mud because the Kathlyn girl needs solid earth to properly control her property" I said aloud involuntarily
"Strange, Why would she know that?" Kasumi responded. being already dragged into a conversation I myself technically started I continued "Two reasons, one being the school isn't just severely putting one student in a disadvantaged position so another has a better shot. Its putting you into a situation where anyone could win, Their testing your combat knowledge they wanna know if you can make a situation that seems bad into a good one.
"Hmm ok kid seems your not all that bad after all" "Miss Heart, Miss Kurutta" Kasumi said as she jumped slightly at the sight of them, Miss Kuutta with her red hair tied up back into a ponytail with a pointy dagger type hair ornament and her chest not fully covered a cigarette hanging from her mouth. Miss RockHeart with her curly brown hair sitting slightly behind her shoulders walking with a clipboard in hand.
"You are correct Mr. Aihara we the school, believe in fairness to all. Once you walk through that door to this facility that A.I reads your mana signature and creates an area where it believes both participants can win." "I figured it was something like that" there was a similar system set up when I was younger so I knew it was something along those lines
"soooo kid how about that second reason why she created mud as a counter to earth when she could just solidify it again" Ms.Kurutta looked at me with anticipation I almost wanted to say I didn't know but I felt she would pester me about this so I answered
"The second reason has to do with battle experience, any experienced fighter that's had to fight for their life can tell the movements Kathlyn is making are sporadic shes doing unnecessary things like trying to create space even though she has the terrain advantage. If i were in her shoes as a earth type i would simply solidify the mud again making it sedimentary rock the fact that she isn't doing this means shes shaken or simply can't. While she is in that state of shock Tokita will simply use the now liquefied mud against Kathyln thus beating her.
The ending whistle went off almost as if I had timed it with my response. The winner was Tokita Sawa as I had expected "Damn I guess you really do take after them kid" Miss Kurutta said while lighting another cigarette. "Indeed Mr.Aihara it seems my perspective on you has slightly changed. I apologize, I'm expecting many things from you in the future of class 1." After that both teachers walked away "I guess Miss RockHeart didn't have too great of an opinion of me Saika" i said inward to my companion "Who cares about her if she can't see how great you are it's her loss" she said almost as if she was trying to cheer me up.
"Hmm Tokita won, I guess its your win Kasumi. "... Is it really though. You literally just explained why you thought Tokita was gonna win which means you didn't give this bet any thought." She sounded sad but it wasn't really my job to cheer her up "I wasn't even the one that made the decision Saika was, meaning my knowing who would win was irrelevant no?" I tried to reason with her best I could "I mean yeah that's true I guess" it seemed she no longer cared so I moved on.
"Anyways the next match up should be pretty amusing to watch. I believe one of the Sakkaku twins are next." I looked at Kasumi who was already staring at me with disgust written plainly on her face. "Do.. You not hate them for what they did to you?" Kasumi seemed worried about my mental state.
Back when we were kids the Sakkaku twins or "The Twins Of Illusion" would often bully me by showing me illusions of things like my sister drowning me to death, or my father telling me he never loved me. In short, a bunch of things that would bother any kids mental functionality. One was a boy his name Fumiko and the other was a girl her name Fumika.
I told my mother but she told me it was good mental training but if they ever got out of hand she would handle them herself. I'm not to keen on putting more blood on my mothers name so I had let it go and though nothing of their illusions as training. "Kasumi don't worry it didn't bother me then and it definitely won't bother me now."
"If you say so I won't bug you about it." The starting whistle sounded after the names Fumiko Sakkaku and Asahiko Koi were called. This times location was a Shrine oddly enough it was a shrine that worshiped the goddess of beauty Aphrodite.
"I'm pretty sure Fumiko has a smug look on his face thinking something lame like even the gods are on my side" Kasumi said laughing hysterically causing me to crack a small smile. "well either way this time around unless this Asahiko kid has had mental training which I doubt, he probably won't win this match" As unfair as it seemed there is a simple counter for illusion magic and it comes down simply to mental fortitude. "That's unfair Renji, to count out a fellow classmate right from the start." Kasumi said pouting
"Do you doubt Masters judgement stupid knight?" Saika had been sitting on my shoulders for quite some time now her hands resting on my hair. "Of course I agree with Renji Saika but we never know if someone has a counter for anything so I won't count him out just yet." "This is why you are stupid, Stupid knight think for a second look at the screen this boy named Asahiko Koi has already lost he is clearly panicked and he hasn't even had a confrontation yet with this illusion magic. He is already imaging the worse which is terrible for him making him even easier to deceive." Saika was right Asahiko Koi was in a terrible mental state and had been since he heard his name called alongside Fumiko.
The match was pretty much as Saika had said Fumiko sat in one place and rang a bell. While everyone had been confused on why he was ringing the bell instead of fighting I was quite familiar with this melody. "It seems he still likes playing with his opponents" while seeing this Kasumi was clearly upset at what Fumiko was doing "I Hate Them So Much, So Repulsive!" Kasumi had started speaking more aggressively her Gold-Blue eyes were flickering with anger.
It had been a while since I seen her that upset but nevertheless it was understandable what Fumiko was doing was called "Subservient" In short it plays a melody that makes anyone within a certain radius extremely scared of everything from the clothes their wearing to the ground their standing on.
"Where am i? WHAT IS THIS? HELP ME! I'M SCARED ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME!" Asahiko Koi, in a complete trance he no longer could fight. Both the screens displaying both contestants instantly switched to only Fumiko as medics rushed immediately to their location. Before the screen switched it displayed Asahiko crying trying to dig into his own skin yelling for help. I felt immense bloodlust at the moment and didn't even have to wonder who it was.
"...Renji we should kill him." It was Saika "Saika calm down it was supposed to be a real fight and it was." Sometime ago when I first met Saika or when she was first born from my mana, after training for a while we would sneak out and take small hit man jobs. Whenever Saika would get really angry or go into concentration her attitude would completely change. One notable thing that changes would be she doesn't call me Master anymore she calls me by my name. Saika was clearly upset at me, she went back to sword form and attached herself back to my waist.
The ending whistle blew since the A.I had temporarily been focused on the healing process of Asahiko. Miss RockHeart came and announced the result herself. "Fear not class Asahiko Koi is being treated as we speak and will be fine after advanced treatment by the Kiyomeru daughter herself. The match results were pretty evident but match Fumiko Sakkaku vs Asahiko Koi winner is Fumiko Sakkaku. Please wait here while we prepare for the next match." With those words she was once again gone and shortly after there he was Fumiko Sakkaku. He went to sit saw Kasumi and I and instantly headed our way with a smile on his face.
Kasumi was clearly agitated and so was Saika but it was too late to calm them "Well well well, What have we here I had heard you were back but didn't think the rumors true." "Well yea its true, hows Miss Sakkaku and Fumika." I said paying his existence little mind. "They're just fine, Fumika should be around town somewhere she has business with father." "Well that's good news." "Indeed it is." he said with a smile. After looking me up and down he turned to Kasumi "I see you're still riding Renji's coat tail Kasumi, even after all this time you never change. You never get tired of that do you?" He was laughing slapping his stomach.
She didn't respond she looked at me instead and I raised an eyebrow curious as to if there was something she wished for me to say. I ignored her this was a pretty entertaining conversation to me.
"ladies and Gentlemen could you turn your attention to the screens in front please." it was Miss RockHeart "The next match is about to be announced if your name is called please head to the starting area." Fumiko wasn't really paying attention as he knew it clearly wasn't his name that was gonna be called as he had just participated. Instead i caught his eyes staring at the sword on my hip which was Saika. I had felt her eagerness to kill him this entire time he had been this close in proximity. "What a lovely sword this is, you wouldn't mind if i take it off you would you?" he said while reaching down towards Saika.
"Don't touch that sword." "Or what?" He seemed to still take me as a kid non responsive to his threats.
"Or I WILL, kill you" I make it known I really meant it "You kill ME?"he said with a broken laugh I could see he was clearly shook in comparison to my past demeanor "You the boy who couldn't kill a fly you don't have the balls to kill me."
"Things change and so do people." He ignored me and continued his reach further for Saika. At that moment I didn't care for school I told myself if he touched this blade he dies. I was ready to kill him then and there. I let Saika's eagerness for his blood leak as i stood and slowly drew the sword from its sheath. Having sensed the immense blood lust coming from me and Saika Miss Kurutta appeared almost instantly "Whats going on Renji?" From those words I realized everyone was watching me draw my sword and I looked like the aggressor of the situation. I had already failed to keep slow profile. "Humph it was nothing I was on my way is all." Fumiko had left and after a while the screen had shown the next group of participants up to fight.
Match 4 Renji Aihara vs Tokita Sawa