"Hey, got room for one more?" Kimura politely asked.
"Pfft, not with you Haven shits." One replied as he was immediately elbowed in the gut.
"Sorry, He's usually never that harsh towards newcomers. I haven't seen your face here before." A smaller yet more polite girl replied.
"Ah, yeah this is my first time here." Kimura replied.
"Well, we do have extra space, this part (the left section of the ring) is for sparring use, right now we have a couple of people from other archipelagoes going at it too."
"Is that so? I wouldn't mind if I have a go with one of you three."
"A-Ah…I see…" She skeptically said.
"Y-Yusein, go give our newcomer a show!"
"H-Huh?!? O-Oh sure Monarch…"
So that was the monarch of this group…
Kimura squinted a bit as he followed the guy over towards an empty part of the left side, the other two standing by watching.
"By the way, what's your guy's academy?" Kimura asked.
"We're from the Northern Archipelago. Tartarus Academy to be exact."
North?
Kimura took in a few seconds to examine his sparring partner, a gigantic motherfucker standing nearly 6ft tall and muscular for a guy his height. A whistle was blown as Kimura was caught off guard for a second, leaving him wide open as Kimura took a wide hook into a straight kick to the abdomen, leaving him no time to breathe as he took a shoulder bash, sending Kimura stumbling back as he fell on his back, being dragged slightly by the momentum.
The other two laughed a bit as they slowly showed their true colors.
"Did you see how he fell! Can't believe a Haven student thought we'd go easy on him."
"I know right! And here I was worried that Mr. Temper Tantrum (Harsh slang towards Southern Espers) over here was going to give more of a challenge!"
"C'mon! You can't be down that quickly!"
Kimura laid on the ground taking a deep breath before he quickly got up as fast as he got down. Letting out a deep sigh Kimura stood straight popping his neck a little as he began warming up for real this time.
He jumped a bit, moving around his hands and his legs as he sighed firmly as he finished up, He looked over at the 6ft behemoth as he glared in his direction.
"Alright, I'm now warmed up."
The guy took it as a challenge as he blitzed towards Kimura again, trying the same thing twice as Kimura easily dodged it this time, weaving and slipping his punches and kicks as Kimura taunted him.
"Not so easy now huh, don't hold back." Kimura said with a firm tone.
Kimura kept dodging and weaving through the punches effortlessly as Kimura saw his eyes beginning to glow, a sparring match was slowly becoming a real one. I need to end this quick… Kimura then slipped under a straight punch and slammed his fist into the man's abdomen.
Without wasting a second Kimura repeatedly punched his abdomen before launching a swift uppercut, sending him flying about 7ft up into the air as he crashed onto the ground, The spar was pretty much over as Kimura sighed.
"Thanks for the sparring session."
Kimura told them as he turned around beginning to leave, just as he did Kimura suddenly turned around anticipating a punch or a body blow. Instead of any of those happening he saw Ayameko in front of him, her hand clenched on a fist as she had an ominous glare over the individual.
"Nice Try motherfucker…"
She glared at them as she gripped tighter until her fingers sunk into the back of his hand, blood spewing out as she lets go, leaving three holes into the person's hand. Ayameko turned away and walked past Kimura as Kimura swiftly followed behind her.
"Thanks."
"..."
She stayed silent as we made it back towards our table, Ayameko sat down as she sat down beside Naoki. Naoki looks at the girl patting her head lightly. The rest look over at them as the girl lifts her head a bit to look at Naoki.
"What…?"
"Just checking if you had passed out."
"…Thanks…" The girl rests her head on the table.
"What's her problem?" Ayameko raises an eyebrow at her.
"My sister is just a little tired today, that's surprising even for me." Naoki yawns.
"Your sister?" Kimura adds on looking at Naoki.
"Yeah." Naoki nods, "Her name is Tomoyo. Usually, she's more active than me but today seems exceptional…"
"I can see that you're both cut from the same cloth…" Kimura and Ayameko synced vocally.
"Jinx! Double Jinx!" both point at each other.
"God damn it!" Both say at the same time.
While those four were joking around on the other side of the table, facing towards the wide barren field was the other three, strategizing on what to do.
"I wonder what they'll hold today."
"Suharu, did you get a list to see what they're doing for this tournament?" Korvos questions her.
"Mmm…nah not really." Suharu replies after a thorough thought.
"Well, there goes our information." Erudis scoffs.
"Going blind like last year…" Korvos sighs.
***
Tap tap tap
The sound of a microphone testing was heard from the loudspeakers set up around the area, Spotlights then lit up pointing towards the barren field in the middle of the luscious greenery.
"Hello? Hello is this on??" A male voice came out of the loudspeakers.
"It is? Great! Ahem, Welcome everyone! As you know today is a special day, Welcome to the Annual Middle Grounds Tournament!"
"Unlike last year, we have every possible academy that's able to participate, the largest cast of people yet!"
While the announcer was talking, Kimura walks and stands beside Korvos, asking him, "Who's that?". Korvos shrugs his shoulders, even he doesn't know as Kimura just walks back, his answer given to him.
"NOW INTRODUCING THE ACADEMIES PARTICIPATING!!!" The announcer shouts in an energetic tone.
"The first introduction will be last cycle's Strongest Academy, IIIIINNAAAZUMA AAAAACADEMMY!!!"
The light then shines onto their porch, about five students were sitting or standing along the wooden railing. One wore headphones as another was chewing gum, most of them being Girls as there were two guys. Their outfits sported a purple and white color scheme as they wore sports jackets rather than their standard academy outfits.