*Tamara*

I smiled as I stared at the audience gathering around us. This year, the tournament was going to take place at the same arena where the finals usually did. Arima said that last year, the first-years had to fight in the plaza in front of the school, but that proved chaotic for several reasons.

Shuai smirked as he stared at the empty spot next to me. "Seems Nat got cold-feet." He laughed. "Not that I blame him. He did see his classmates lose in an eight versus one to yours truly."

I frowned. 'Nat would never run away! Would he?'

"Shu, don't taunt our opponents," Enkai said, sighing. He snickered. "Save that for the battlefield."

He leaned back. "Okay." 

He looked angsty to start. Was he nervous? Maybe he was projecting his fears onto Nat! 

"Hope nothing bad happened to him," Lei said, looking around.

"Yeah, maybe Obi is trying to do to him what he did with you," Adela said.

Burai snickered as he walked over. "Gramps is actually looking forward to seeing Nat fight."

The two second-years blinked.

"Why is that?" Yuzuki asked.

He shrugged. "Maybe it's because of his smell?"

"His smell?" Shuai asked, scratching his head.

Burai touched his nose and nodded. "Yup. We foxes have great noses."

"So, does Nat have an interest smell or something?" Yuzuki asked.

"He smells like us. My family, I mean."

"Wait, you're related?" Adela asked.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. My extended family is pretty big. Grandpa and Grandma had more than four kids."

Shuai sighed. "Hard to believe any woman would want to do it with that guy. Well, unless she has an ugly fetish or something."

"Hey! Grandpa is actually very handsome."

We all stared at him. Handsome? He looked even uglier than the members of Ethan's ogre clan.

Koharu sighed and lightly tapped him on the head.

"Hmm?"

"Sit," she said, taking a deep breath.

"Say, who are the top two honor students this year?" Lei asked, staring at the two of the four empty spots to the left of Ning.

"That would be me. Well, one of them, at least," a voice called out. A young man with green dreads walked toward us as if he had no care in the world. His attire was very casual, even by festival standards.

"Koiichi!" Burai said, smiling as he waved at his friend.

He sat down next on the far left edge of the bench and sighed. "Wished I was fighting you, but you chose to participate in our class tournament instead."

I tilted my head. Why did he?

Burai hummed as he turned to look at me. "Well, I wanted to fight Lei."

Lei snickered. "You flatter me, but I don't think I'm quite ready to take you on just yet."

"Oh, that's unusual," Yuzu said.

He blinked. "What is?"

"Well, you would usually say stuff like 'I will give you the battle or your life', or 'I'll for sure beat you'."

Lei snickered weakly and looked down. "Guess I would've."

Yuzu and Adela frowned.

Lei wasn't acting like his usual self, was he? Even if I didn't know him well, I knew something was off.

Adela patted his on the shoulder. "It's good to be humble, Lei, but don't kick yourself to the dirt either. That would just be going from one extreme to the other."

He puffed his chest. "Hey! I didn't say that I was going to lose!" He laughed. "I still plan on winning. Uh, but I'm not sure how."

"You can just improvise, like you usually do whenever you lack a plan."

He smiled. "True."

Koichi snickered as he looked at Burai and Lei. "Well, I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Even when at a disadvantage against me, you still managed to last longer than I'd expected."

Lei huffed. "You really underestimated me, didn't you?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I did. But, I'm glad that turned out to be the case. I got at least a bit of a challenge out of it."

Wow, he was starting to sound like Shuai...

Enkai stared at the empty spot. "So, who is the last second honor student battling?"

"That would be me," a voice called out. We turned to see a girl in a white kimono. Her hair was silver like a fox's.

Yuzu and Ning both gasped as they stared at her. But the girl paid them no mind.

"That's the strongest third-year, Himiko," Burai said.

Himiko sighed as she crossed her hands together and placed them on her lap. "I'd hoped you would've participated, Burai. Then we could done the fox ritual for this year's spring festival."

I tilted my head.

Adela smiled at me. "It's a Kyuu Seishinian religious event."

"It's very pretty," Lei said, grinning. "I'm sure you'll love it."

My eyes glistened. Woah! Now I really wanted to see it!

"Sounds fun," Nate said as he ran over to us. "Sorry I'm late! I went to check out the kites."

Shuai smirked. "We thought you had gotten cold-feet."

Enkai shrugged. "We? You were the only one who thought that."

Nat snickered. "Like I would run away from the chance of showing you up."

Shuai smirked back. "We'll see who comes out on top."

"The battle of the pretty boys," Ning mumbled.

Yuzuki laughed. "Indeed."

Lei gasped as he stared at gap between Ning and Himiko. "Wait, where are the other two third-year finalists?"

"Who are they anyway?" Adela asked.

"That would be us," a voice called out.

The two gasped as a tanuki boy and a cat boy made their way toward us.

Tanuki boy smiled at them. "It's been awhile."

"Yuuta," Yuzuki said. She sighed. "Well, at least it wasn't Yuuto."

He snickered. "I barely managed to beat my older brother to make it here."

The cat boy sat down next to Himiko, not even turning to look at us. Was he a reserved guy?

"Looks like my sister's old comrades have decided to join us," Koharu said, smiling slightly.

Yuuta tilted his head at her. It looked like he wanted to ask her something, but realized now wasn't the place or time.

"Looks like you're all here," Koukyuu said as she and Ms. Key appeared next to us. She stared back at the crowd. "Think this is a sizable audience. Shall we begin?"

I nodded.

Shuai snickered. "Of course! I've been dying to start!"

Koukyuu smirked summoned a black tablet. She began to fiddle around with it, causing a screen to appear. "We shall determine the matches for the first years."

"So, we're beginning with the first-years this time?" Lei asked, snickering. "Guess they're not as anticipated as Iah and Arima were."

She laughed. "That was for the finals. You second years will be up next."

His smile faded. "Oh..."

Shuai rolled his eyes. "Seems someone thinks he's special."

"Uh, should you be talking?" Nat asked, chuckling.

Enkai laughed. "Nat's right, you got one of the largest egos here."

Shuai turned away. "Hey, whose side are you on?"

"Today, I'm only on my side."

The green-haired first-year smiled. "True. May the best one win." The two boy fist bumped.

Ms. Key smiled as the screen showed the bracket for the first years. "The first match of the true semi-finals of the 1st year tournament will be Enkai versus Tamara!"

Shuai sighed. "Seems I have to wait." He smiled at Nat. "But, at least I get to fight you."

Nat nodded and chuckled. "Yeah."

Enkai and rose to our feet.

I clapped my hands giddily. Although, I would have to be careful of how much power I used. Au already pushed me to show more than I'd wanted. Shuai beat him and the others, so I was probably going to have to go all out against him or Nat. Never did I expect to have met such strong people here. But that just made being here all the more fun! 

Enkai and I walked over to the ring. I'd chosen the side furthest from the others. I wanted to see their reactions, although, I probably wouldn't remain in this spot if the battle proved tense.

"The scion of the waves, the surfing prince, Enkai! His opponent, the cute princess who can sing with her magic, Tamara!"

I smiled. Although, I didn't think I'd sung with my magic while I'd been here. How did she know that? Or maybe, she just assumed? Ms. Key did appear to be a sound mage like Yen and me.

I clapped my hands. 'Sonus Panthera!'

Enkai smiled as he avoided my sonic panther. He clapped his hands, causing several spheres to form behind him. "Tsunami!"

I stopped and flew into the air with my sound magic as the spheres combined to unleash a torrential wave. He made sure to avoid touching the roaring waters, so I couldn't send my sound waves through the water as I had originally wanted.

My panther traveled through the water rapidly as it raced toward Enkai who stood in the middle as dry as desert sand, but began to get pushback as the waters began to curve around the barrier. Water splashed my back as the wave spiraled.

I clicked my tongue and flew toward him rapidly, but much to my surprise, Enkai blocked the attack with a shield of ice.

Ice magic? I hadn't expected that.

Enkai smiled as the water froze.

I jumped back and snapped my fingers, unleashing a sound wave that sent all the ice crashing. Like ice would stop me!

My opponent's smirk widened as the shattered ice began rushed at me.

My panther rushed it, shattering it into even small waves. He was planning something, but what? Wait, was I playing into his trap? Fine ice... snow!

Enkai laughed as he raised a hand.

My eyes widened as my panther was overwhelmed. The rudimentary snow had sapped its strength.

I gritted my teeth. 'Sonus Draconis!'

Enkai side-stepped it as he transformed the ice into snow directly. Why hadn't he done so before? In an attempt to catch me off guard? That was rather risky if so.

I smiled. Although, I did appreciate his attempt. 

Holding out my hand, I summoned my wand. The gray wand transformed into a wooden staff. The gray stone entangled on the wood glowed as I channeled prana into it. Blasts of soundwaves resembling razor wind shot out of the staff, only to get diverted into the snow. A special ability? What spell did he use exactly? From the look of things, it was probably Nix Agrum, but I couldn't be too sure.

My eyes widened as Enkai rushed at me. I swatted his arm away with my staff and threw a kick at him. He dodged it, but sound waves followed after him. Unfortunately, his snow redirected them away.

I took a deep breath. Having my spells cancelled out was annoying, but it wasn't like he could keep doing so forever. After all, solids just had reduced vibrations compared to the other states of matter. Intensify that and the solid should in theory become a liquid or a gas. I smirked. Yeah, I'll turn his ice into slush!

'Maximum output!' I raised my staff, unleashing more sound waves. All the snow around us began to shake as they pulled in the soundwaves.

Enkai took a deep breath. His blue eyes shifted, becoming more shark-like. Dark-blue fins appeared on his back and arms, while a trio of shark-tails emerged from his lower back.

I smiled. So, he was getting serious. Good!

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this chapter ^^. Think Tammy will come out on top or will she lose to Enkai?**