"Arima!" I yelled as she climbed the stairs leading to our seats. Her eyes were watery.

Aban grabbed her and brought her in for a hug.

"W-what are you doing?" Arima snapped, trying to push him away.

Aban snickered and he clung to her. "Consoling you, dummy."

Arima's hands trembled. "I don't need consoling, especially in front of everyone. This was my fault for underestimating my opponent. I should've trained more during winter vacation."

"It's not like you're weak," I said, getting closer. "Vermeil simply had a way to neutralize everything you threw at her."

She glanced at me. "I should've been able to counter those counters."

I gave her a thin smile. "You did your best despite what you were against. That said, it's not the end of the world. Nor would I say that you became the weakest of our class."

She wiped away her tears. "You're right. I shouldn't cry after one loss." She slapped herself. "How can I become a nurse if I can't withstand loss."

Aban laughed nervously. "In that field, you would want to do your best to avoid losing."

Arima narrowed her eyes at him. "Not funny."

He grumbled. "No one said it was."

"Wonder if Vermeil has ways to counter the rest of us," I said, watching as she walked toward us. She had a giant smile on her face.

"I hope so," Hal said as he popped beside us. "Would be lame if she spent all of her time only thinking of counters for one enemy. Arima might be last year's champ, and Iah might be gone, but Nyima is still around. She nearly took down Iah."

"Why do people keep popping out of nowhere?" Aban snapped, pointing at Hal.

"Oh, Hal! You've made it!" Vermeil said, waving.

Hal waved back. "Yeah, arrived to see the conclusion of your match."

"T-that was great strategy you used, Vermeil," a blonde boy said as he poked his out. He appeared to be holding on to Hal's shoulders.

"Jude!" Vermeil said. She rushed over and snuggled him. "It means a lot to hear that from you, little guy!"

"L-let go of me," Jude mumbled as he drowned in Vermeil's bosom.

"Lucky kid," Aban mumbled.  A couple of onlookers nodded. Maybe Arima was right and we shouldn't have been having this talk in such an open place.

Arima grumbled and karate chopped our childhood friend's head.

"Hey! What was that for?" Aban asked, turning to look at the angry Arima.

Arima scoffed. "You know, pervert."

I chuckled. "You really can be an idiot at times, Aban."

Vermeil laughed as she let go of Jude. Her eyes shifted over to Hal. "Is An here too?"

"Yeah, he's over there!" Hal said, pointing at An. He sat by Sarah, Xue, and Ning with a large smile on his face.

Vermeil's once glowing eyes became downcast. "I see."

"Don't be sad. Considering what happened at the games, there's bound to be a strong bond between An and them."

Vermeil rubbed her left arm. "Wonder if I'll ever be able to have one like it with him."

"Vermeil!" An yelled, running over.

"A-An!" Vermeil said, face flushed.

"Congrats on beating Arima! You managed to do what I couldn't!"

Vermeil smiled. "Yeah."

"I defeated Vermeil last year, so you better be careful," Hal said, grinning at An.

"I defeated you last year, but I lost against Ver this year, so it means nothing," Arima said, scoffing.

Hal sighed. "It was a joke."

"Sometimes jokes go over her head," Aban whispered.

"I heard that," Arima said with a glare.

"Arima's your Sarah, Yen, and Nyima, huh?" An said, grinning.

"You got Xue too," Vermeil pointed out.

An laughed. "Yeah, my team does have two moms."

"Who are you calling a mom?" Nyima snapped as she appeared behind him. Sarah and Xue accompanied her.

Xue smiled. "I don't think he means it in a bad way."

An turned around and waved. "What Xue said! Each of you is amazing in your own way, keeping the rest of us in line."

Nyima crossed her arms and turned away. "T-thanks."

"You might be naive about some things, but the troublesome child in our group is Hal," Xue said, smiling at the poison mage.

"Right," An said, sighing. "Still remember when he had to be dragged away."

"D-dragged?" Jude said, giving him a worried look.

Hal laughed. "Don't look at me like that, little bro. I did nothing wrong."

"Other than act like a kid," Arima said.

Hal grumbled. "Can't you folks forget that? It was months ago."

Vermeil giggled. "How can we when you acted so childish?"

Jude sighed. "Sometimes, I think you're the kid instead of me."

An gasped. "You didn't stutter!"

Hal laughed. "Jude sometimes does that with those he feels comfy with."

Jude walked over to his big brother and jumped on his shoulders again.

"Why does he like riding on your shoulders?" Aban asked.

Hal's brother hid his face.

"He's shy. He doesn't like looking at people for too long. He's been like this since he was little. The only way he can do so is if he's in battle or wearing a mask. Both are preferable."

"He's so cute," Arima said, smiling. She held a hand out to pat his head.

Jude flinched and turned his head away from her.

"You scared him," Aban said.

Arima frowned. "Sorry, I should've asked first."

"Why is he like that?" Nyima asked, crossing her arms. "Did he get bullied?"

Hal looked over his shoulder at his brother. "Something like that. Jude is a genius. He managed to skip multiple grades and probably could go over to college if he wanted to."

Jude clenched Hal's back. "S-stop," he mumbled.

Hal furrowed his brow. "Sorry, little bro. I didn't mean to dig up old memories."

"Poor kid," Xue said.

While not the same situation, I couldn't help but think of my red-haired friend. Ulissis was picked on at school for wanting to be a mage despite not having any powers. If those kids were to see Uli now, their jaws would drop.

"Don't pay too much attention to what others think," I said. "If you have a gift, use it, don't let others tarnish it."

Jude glanced up at me. His lips quivered.

What exactly happened to him?

I turned to look at An and saw he had his head down.

Ning hugged An. "Hey, don't think about those jerks, okay? Xing, Guang, and the others are a bunch of idiots anyway."

An smiled slightly. "Yeah, you're right."

Vermeil glared at Ning. "Now that you cheered him up, can you let go of him?"

Ning stuck her tongue out at her, causing Vermeil to scoff.

"H-he's popular with the g-girls," Jude mumbled.

"You can be too, one day," Hal said, laughing.

Jude lowered his head. "I prefer books."

Hal laughed. "You can't marry a book!"

"Reminds me of Amun," a voice called out. A blond girl in a white dress with multiple frills walked toward us. It was Dossie, Hideo's sister.

Jude poked his head out. "S-she looks like a fairytale princess," he mumbled.

The girl smiled. "Thanks!"

He hid behind Hal.

"You didn't see her earlier? You really were hiding," Hal said, laughing.

"Aren't you Dorothy?" Arima asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I am. We met briefly at my brother's curry party.  Though, everyone calls me Dossie."

"Curry party? Dan would love that," Jude mumbled.

Dossie laughed. "Yeah, he would." She gasped. "Wait, what did you say?"

Jude lowered his head. "My brother, Danmall."

She sighed. "Oh." The girl turned around and walked over to a woman in a purple dress seated a few seats below.

"How is Dan anyway?" I asked, glancing back at Hal and Jude.

Hal averted his gaze. "My brother is still recovering his true memories."

"Hope it doesn't hurt," Jude mumbled, gripping Hal's shoulders tightly.

The older brother laughed. "You're hurting me, Jude."

"Oh, s-sorry," he said, jumping off.

"Huh?" He watched as his little brother ran off.

"Jude! Where are you going? You'll get lost!" Hal gave chase to Jude, who moved rather fast for a little guy.

"Alright, we're about to start the third match! Orion versus Ayawamat!" Marina announced.

Ayawamat stood up.

"Wait, your friend still hasn't shown up," Sokw said.

He grumbled as he continued walking. "He's not my friend. Plus, if he misses the match, then he misses it."

"Wonder why he's running so late," Nyima said, looking around.

"Maybe he missed his boat," a voice called out.

Ayawamat smiled as Lei ran up the stairs with Adela, Yen, Yuzuki, Hikaru, and several first years behind him. The blond boy with them blushed and hid behind a dark-skinned boy with bright green eyes.

"At least you made it," Ayawamat said.

Lei chuckled. "Yeah, though we lost some of our first years. Jude seemed upset."

"Yeah, think we brought him back some bad memories," An said, frowning.

"Maybe I should've gone to get him too," the blond boy said, looking over his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Mira and Ling will handle it," a silver-curly-haired girl said, patting him on the shoulder.

The boy jumped and turned around, blushing like a stereotypical infatuated schoolgirl.

Sarah's eyes widened as soon as she saw the red-haired boy and blue-haired girl accompanying him and Adela.

"Sarah! I missed you so much!" the blue-haired girl said, running over to give her a hug.

"Lidia! Remember who she is!" the boy yelled.

Sarah held out her hand as if to indicate it was fine.

I gasped. "Wait, with Lei and the others here, we should be able to proceed with the usual schedule, no? That means that he and I can be the third match as originally scheduled."

Lei smiled. "If you're ready, then we can go. It'll buy Orion some time!"

"Good idea! I'll go tell the referee that!" Yen said, flying off to look for Mr. Mizu no Kin.

Yuzuki sighed. "I'll go and look for him in the meantime. Knowing him, he's probably already here but had no idea where to go."

"Thanks, Yuzu," Lei said, smiling.

"Why are you thanking her?" Ayamawat asked. "He's my opponent."

Lei scratched his face. "I look forward to seeing how he does against you. I'm sure he won't go down easy."

Ayawamat laughed. "He better not."

"He's a big city kid, though, would he really get lost?" Hikaru said, following his sister.

"Yeah, but some of these buildings are hidden by the dense forest around them," Yuzuki said, looking over her shoulder.

Hikaru laughed nervously. "Good point."

"Wait, what about our match?" Kun asked. "After Lei and Alto are Yen and Nahimana, then us."

Hikaru gasped. "W-we're up against each other?" he asked, shaking.

Kun's expression turned unusually solemn. "Yeah."

"I see. I'll try to make it back before then." Hikaru ran ahead of his sister.

"Hika!"

"Deja vu," Nyima said.

"Deja vu?" Adela asked.

She smiled at her. "It's nothing. I'm glad to see the two of you."

Lei sighed. "It's different without him."

Yeah, it sure was.

Nyima crossed her arms and nodded. "Indeed. There's no annoying flirt for me to brush off."

"That's really how you see Iah? Uh, not that you are wrong. He is a shameless flirt," Adela said, chuckling.

I laughed too. Poor Iah. Wherever he was, the guy likely sneezed just now.

"Seems like there's a change of plans!" Marina announced. "Orion has yet to arrive, but since his match was originally the sixth, we'll proceed with the preordained third! Come forth, Alto Opus and Lan Lei."

"You better get going," Nyima said, nudging Lei forward.

"No need to tell me that," Lei said, waving. Azure electricity sparked as he rushed over to the battlefield.

I smiled. How was I expected to defeat someone with that much energy?

Pressing my fists together, I walked down to meet Lei.

"Ready or not, let the match begin!" Marina yelled.

Lei smiled and clapped his hands, unleashing a whirlwind.

I dug my heels as not to be blown away.

My lightning was at a disadvantage against his wind. Him having lightning only made things worse. Like Wanikiya and Arima after their magic was shut down, my physical attacks were my best weapon here. Hopefully, I wouldn't lose like they had.

I summoned my wand and transformed it into its bronze knuckles form.

My eyes widened as the air around me lifted me from the ground. If Lei wanted, he could've won the battle by now by throwing me out of bounds. Lucky for me, he wasn't one to aim for an easy win.

I focused electricity into my knuckles and launched a single bolt, tearing through the air and striking Lei.

He gripped his chest as he recoiled.

Taking the opening, I lurched forward and threw a punch toward his gut. A wind barrier appeared, but it was no match against my lightning.

Lei rolled but he stopped himself before he could be thrown out of bounds. He smiled and leaped forward like a jungle cat as he dodged my follow-up punch

"Not bad," Lei said. His foot met my stomach, sending me crashing to the ground. "Raising the temperature of the lightning so that it overheats the air weakened the air resistance."

I smiled as I got up. "Very observant of you, Mr. Lan." I kicked the ground, crushing the tiles underneath. "Fulgur Pugno!" I rushed at him with a lightning packed punch, but Lei dodged.

No matter if they were kicks or fists, he kept avoiding them. It was almost as if he could predict my moves.

He sure was limber.

I punched the ground with electrified fists. Arcs of electricity flew at him.

Lei held his left hand forward, catching the lightning in his index and middle fingers, and raised his other hand toward the barrier. My eyes widen as a bolt of lightning flew into the air from his right hand.

I gritted my teeth. My electric control didn't compare to his. I could see why Iah became jealous of him. It wasn't only because of Nyima and Adela. Iah must've been jealous of how much Lei had grown in such a short time while he hadn't made any significant strides.

It seemed I needed to use my trump card, though I would've preferred saving it for the later rounds.

A bolt of lightning flew down from the sky and bypassed the barrier. My entire body crackled with electricity as it absorbed the thunderbolt.

Lei stepped back as rogue streams of electricity shattered the floor as if they were lasers.

"Electric Overflow Mode!" I yelled, smirking.

Lei smiled back. "Interesting. It's similar to my Spark." Azure electricity covered him from head to toe.

The two of us charged at each other. As soon as one of his butterfly knives and one of my bronze knuckles met, our surroundings were obscured thanks to all of the dust in the air.

Lei and I zipped across the cloud of debris to try to get a decent hit on the other.

No matter what I did, Lei would block with an attack of his own. However, the same could be said about me. Yet, it felt as if I was tiring out quicker as I soon started panting, while he didn't appear winded at all. One almost would forget that he had asthma. He likely was using one of his wind spells to avoid having an attack given all of the dust around us. But, like his battle with Iah, that would backfire if he were to run out of prana.

I clicked my tongue. Getting him exhausted was the hard part. Just how strong was this guy now? Could this be the doing of the abysmal?

Lei smiled. "Tired?"

I let out an angry grunt and released more electricity. The dust and Lei went flying from the resulting shockwave.

"Don't underestimate me just because you defeated Iah!" I screamed.

Lei's eyes widened as he ducked. "Why would I do that?" He struck me in the abdomen with the hilt of his knife, sending me reeling to the floor.

I grabbed my stomach and puked out a mix of blood and some of the snacks I had eaten during the first two matches.

Lei pointed a knife at me and smiled. "You're strong, Alto, but you've yet to master that new spell of yours."

I lowered my head and closed my eyes. "You win this one, Lei."

"Yes! I did it! I beat Alto!"

I opened my eyes and saw he was grinning as he held a hand out to me.

"Thanks for the great match, buddy," Lei said.

My lips curled up. "Thanks," I said, taking his hand. Lei was a good guy. I shouldn't have taken my frustrations at myself out on him. The same went for my brother. But, facing him would be more difficult.

Maybe if I challenged him to a fight, it could ease things. Father did use to say that when words weren't enough, people turned to fighting to communicate. I always saw that as a negative, but perhaps there was some positive aspect to it.

**Solar Note: Hope you enjoyed the match. Thoughts? Predictions?^^**