Still shaken up, Daizen Shizaki made his way to a large building on the east of the Duel Arena. There was quite a bit of commotion going on inside as he noticed a lot of people entering the site. Cautiously moving forward, he also entered.
A large screen awaited him on his left.
Shizaki looked in awe at what was before him. The arena was being captured in real time from the screen that seemed to be materialised by a foggy material.
Being able to quietly eavesdrop on a conversation close to him by two girls, he got a sense of why it was so crowded in this one building.
"What is this thing?"
"People have been saying that this is special technology from the chairman called Ethereal Lights. It allows someone to view different locations at once or something like that. It's probably used for security."
A power to view places in real time….Ethereal Lights…that's insane."
Stepping closer to where he was just a few inches away from the screen, he leaned forward on the guardrail that was in front of him.
Finally, a bit of quiet time alone.
It was a bit amusing to him knowing that something he had always had was what he desired to attain once again after experiencing just three days of madness.
But of course, with silence came thoughts.
Although he was still a bit frightened by the attack many minutes earlier, what he was most worried about right now was the Selection. Just about twenty five minutes separated himself from the test.
Being taken in by deep thought, Shizaki did not notice the person who had just entered the building, and the conversations that stirred around him as she advanced towards him.
"Look! It's her! So pretty!"
"Shhh! She might hear us!"
"She's heading towards that guy…did he do something to warrant her attention?"
"If so, it might not be a good thing. She doesn't look happy."
The whispers continued from many inside the room.
She had walked into the room with grace and elegance, but eyed those around her with a slightly bullish attitude.
Her body stopped at the sight of the screen before her, and then….she walked forward ever so silently.
As she leaned on the guardrail just a few feet away from Daizen Shizaki, with her left hand propping up her chin, and displaying a calm but confident expression while her eyes stared intently at the image in front of her.
Finally picking up someone's presence next to him, he turned to his left to ascertain who had gone close to him.
That's when he saw her.
The girl with glimmering, long blue hair, the figure that he had seen before while entering the Royal Guild.
And with that, his eyes once again became entrapped on her appearance.
***
"Well, after an eventful scene, here we are, at the final stop."
Neo, King, Aya, Yukino, Kamazaki and Ren had arrived at the Duel Arena.
It was actually more simpler than expected: a simple paved dirt ground surrounded by stands of seating arrangements all around, but it was certainly huge. In fact, it could be said that it was bigger than the rest of the complex.
Many people had already made their way to be seated, and with good reason, as the Selection was soon to be underway.
"In the Royal Guild, the Duel Arena is used for primarily three things: the Selection, individual or party training and Provisional Fights."
Thus, Ren, the tour guide, had declared, and Yukino repeated the last part of his sentence as a question.
"Provisional….Fights?"
"Basically, if one adventurer from the Royal Guild has an issue with another, and they both agree to have a duel over it, it is held here and will be supervised by the chairman of the Royal Guild."
Hearing this, King and Kamazaki looked surprised, and the former blurted out:
"W-Woah….people…actually fight here?"
"The only rule of fighting is if a Provisional Fight is here. No violence otherwise is allowed on the compound. Say, the incident just now was with two Royal Guild members. Both would have to appear before the chairman and a harsh punishment will be decided based on how big the fight was."
"....Huh."
"Don't get any ideaaaass, Yukikama."
"I'm not."
As Kamazaki teased King, Aya fell silent. Her mind was obviously somewhere else.
Knowing him, he'll probably get lost if he goes too far…
"Well, that's all for the guide. Hopefully, the assistants should be by the gate by now, so I'll be going ."
"Th-Thanks so much for helping us, Ren-kun."
"No problem. If you do pass the Selection, you will be seeing me more often. Until then, take care."
Ren said his goodbyes before quickly leaving, and King faced the group with a nervous grin
"Well, then….big stage, big performances. Let's do this."
"Time to save myself a good seat!, let's get out there!!"
Kamazaki and Yukino hurriedly made their way to the arena in front of them.
King smiled and turned to Aya, who was still deep in thought. He could immediately tell what she was thinking about.
"Shizaki will be alright, it was just a bit of a scare. He'll get over it."
"...Noticed, huh?"
"It was all over your face. Although your facial expressions are usually blank, I think I have a good idea of how you think now."
".....You seem to believe in Shizaki more than I do."
"Hm? Oh, well…in the short time that I've met him, I've surmised that he's a courageous guy, like saving Kamazaki and taking a risk to initiate a counterattack against the wolf attack. Was he not always like that?"
"....Well, yes...but usually."
"I see. In that case, he's making a bit of progress, don't you think? He'll be fine, but keep supporting him is what I would say. It's always better to have someone who has your back."
Aya slowly nodded.
"You're probably right."
"I know I'm right. It's a gift of mine."
Aya rolled her eyes and scoffed as King smiled before they both slowly followed the others.
***
Blue Hair.
No, light blue hair, resembling the sky on a bright, sunny day.
Long hair that goes all the way to just above her knees from behind.
Long, slender neck, long shoulders. Big cleavage too. He tried to avert his eyes away from that specific feature, but kept looking at her overall figure anyway.
Beautiful, thin and slender legs.
Pale skin.
"Beautiful....ah."
He accidentally said his thoughts out loud, and what was more, the young woman faced him immediately after.
"....Hah? Ya said somethin'?"
"Ah- um….yeah…..just…..ah-"
"Well, what is it, dammit? If you wanna say somethin' to me then jus' spit it out."
Not the speech he was expecting.
She spoke in a robust, harsh manner, and she wore a perplexed yet annoyed face at the moment. Seeing this made Shizaki even more nervous.
"S-Sorry….I just….thought you were….beautiful."
He just went ahead and said it, extremely embarrassed. Actually, in Shizaki's point of view, he was practically bullied by her to speak his mind.
Hearing this, the girl simply scoffed and returned to what was in front of her.
"Tell me somethin' I don't know."
Wow. What a personality.
First impressions were everything, but trying to talk to a girl with a personality such as this, and also with the downside of being shy? No chance.
I failed. Horribly.
Shizaki felt like he just wanted to hide under a rock. He also returned his gaze to the screen and simply hoped that she would lose interest in him.
"What a horrible day."
"Urk."
She was clearly aggravated about something, and Shizaki wanted to hide in a shell.
After a minute of waiting and still having her close to him with nothing changing, he thought about maybe if he should leave. Instead, he lingered on for a bit more and tried to get back into his own thoughts.
"Hey."
"Y-Yes?!"
And then she spoke to him, making him stutter as his heart skipped a beat.
"When the hell is this shit gonna start, huh?"
"I-In about…twenty minutes…"
"....How do ya know that?"
".....By the countdown clock at the wall over there…."
He pointed to her left where a clock showed a digital countdown. It just passed the twenty minute mark.
"Hmm….'kay."
Silence prevailed once again.
This is torture.
He tried to think of something to initiate a conversation, but then thought of how she would react and it wasn't pretty. But now and then, he would try to sneak a glance at her.
Pretty couldn't cover half of it.
Her way of speaking left much to be desired, though.
"I'm impressed."
"Huh?"
Once again speaking to him, she kept her gaze forward but spoke in a low tone.
"Ya ain't walking away from me. That's a first….although, I can tell that ya must be seriously considering it."
A small sly smile crept up her smooth lips, and she tilted her head towards him, with her crystal blue eyes sparkling as it met his light amethyst eyes.
She had seen right through him from the beginning.
"Sorry….I-"
"Spare me the apologetic bullshit, will ya? I have a hot mouth and it's just part of me, so don't think I have something against ya. I don't plan on fixing it anytime soon, though."
"I…..I see."
So that's it, he thought. A girl with the prettiest of appearances talking like this, who would've thought. It made him feel a bit easier in trying to talk to her, but he didn't lose all caution yet.
"Also, ya been peeking at me pretty consistently. Am I that stunning to ya?"
"Ack!"
She somehow noticed that too?!
This girl was not to be messed around with.
Fully flushed with red, Shizaki quickly avoided eye contact with her.
"I'm so sorry about that…."
She stared at him and then averted her eyes.
"Cute."
"Huh?"
"No, it's nothing, I'm Yuki Haidara."
With that, the young woman, Yuki Haidara, introduced herself to the stunned Daizen Shizaki.
And thus, the first interaction of many had begun.
-----------------------------------------
(Chapter 24: Blue Hair.)