It was smooth sailing through and through. Everyone was enjoying their time and no problems occurred. Or at least, none that most people would notice. Niara stood behind the diorama she was assigned to, listening to some people she recognized are from her school.

"You saw her, right?"

"Yeah. She was all alone."

"It was hillarrious."

"You should've seen how-"

The group continued to chatter and at this point, the Russian wasn't sure whether they were purposely in her earshot or not.

"She's probably in a ditch somewhere."

"She's bound to be crying home."

"The look on her face though."

"Oh, right! That little-"

I've had enough of this. Niara turned to the sources, but was stopped before she could even take a step.

"This isn't the time, nor the place." Kirito said, keeping a grip on her arm.

"They're right. There." She hissed. "And, last time I check, Eva's not backstage."

"Look, I know how you feel, but we're in public right now." He growled.

"So? They know where she is! Finding Eva is more important!"

"We can't do anything when the whole town has their eyes on us!"

"Oh! What's this?!" The emcee yelled out. The spotlight switched from Ban to the two of them. "Looks like these two got into an arguement! Well, since this is a local demonstration, why don't we have the ex-Omega Dain duo battle it out!" The crowd cheered loudly as the others on stage wondered what happened.

"If a battle is what it takes, then bring it!" Niara took out her CCM. "Zeema Drezion!"

Kirito smirked. At least this way, she wouldn't ruin the event. "Fenrir Flare!"

~~~~~

While those two are at it, the Otarangers walked up to the other side of the stage.

"Jin, today is the day I finally get your mail address!"

"Ami-tan! The day has finally come for us to be together!"

"Oh? And now we've got two confessions on the battlefield!" The emcee had the spotlights on them now too. "Let's see what they've got!"

While Ami was trying not to burst, Jin kept a straight face and turned to the emcee. "Can I make a request?"

"Eh? Well... Sure! What is it?"

"Make it a tag match. Me and Ami against the two of them."

Ami stared at him. "Jin, what are you-"

Before she could finish, he asked quietly. "Remember what Kazu and I did in Akihabara Kingdom last year?"

In five minutes time, the battle was set to begin. Triton, Pandora, Bibinbird X III and Bibinbird X IV entered the diorama.

The two bird-related LBXs began doing their poses. "Otacross Style!"

Jin did the same thing he did the previous year. "Attack Function. Ocean Blast."

"Not this time!" Both OtaYellow and OtaPink flew and dodged the attack. OtaYellow let out a laugh. "We've learned from our previous encounter!"

But Ami smiled. "It's just like you predicted, Jin. Pandora!"

"Attack Function. Souken Rangeki."

Bibinbird X IV broke over. The pink cosplayer blinked. "Eh...?"

"P-P-P-Pink!" Bibinbird X III landed beside a hill and started to run back to its teammate.

"Too slow!" Triton brought its Seahorse Anchor down on the yellow bird LBX and the latter broke over.

"That was..." Even the emcee was almost at a loss for words. "W-Well... Winner! Kaidou Jin and Kawamura Ami!"

"Jin," Jessica called out with a sweatdrop. "You have absolutely no mercy for those guys..."

"Jessica, if you were in our position, you'll understand why." Ami replied, sighing exhaustedly.

"How did Jin know to do that?" Hiro asked.

"Last year, Jin and Kazu faced off OtaPink and OtaBlack in an event called Akihabara Kingdom." Ban explained. "The Otarangers have a habbit of posing and making speeches before they battle, so Jin used his special technique in the first three seconds and they broke over."

"More like OtaBlack broke over." Kazu said, snickering at the memory. "OtaPink got away, but she fangirled so much over him that she threw away her weapon, leaving her front wide open for my Fenrir to attack."

"I-Is that so...?"

"So that means that Jin must've predicted that they would've just known to dodge his attack." Yuuya stated. "That's why they were able to finish them so quickly."

"Again, absolutely no mercy..." Jessica muttered.

Jin gave her a look. "Being honest, I just didn't want to give them what they wanted."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ran blinked. Jin gestured his head to his opponents, who were currently arguing.

"I wanted Jin to break through my heart! Why can't you boys understand that?!"

"You were the one who stole Ami-tan from me first!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Ran facepalmed. "... On second thought, I think I shouldn't have asked."

"Everyone! Revert your attention to Niara Levanov and Kazama Kirito! They're still at it!" The emcee suddenly screamed out.

It was true that they were both still battling, but both Zeema Drezion and Fenrir Flare are at critical power.

The Russian grunted. "Seriously?! Just lose already!"

"Hell no. I am not losing. Especially not to you!" The blonde smirked.

"Ugh... Drezion!"

"Fenrir Flare!"

"Attack Function. Blizzard Slash."

"Attack Function. X-Blade."

Both LBXs broke over at the same time. Seeing this, the crowd cheered for an encore, but that's exactly when a siren went on.

"Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for this event!" The emcee said loudly. "But don't worry! Those who didn't get a chance to meet them can try again after New Year! That's right folks! Tiny Orbit will have another public event in January! The specific date will be announced at a later notice! Thank you all for participating!"

The battlers waved and thanked the crowd. When they got backstage, they turned to the two who had just finished their fight.

"So what was that about?" Ran was first to ask.

Niara turned to Kirito, before answering her. "Classmates are assholes."

Jin's eyes widened slightly. "So you heard them too."

"No shit. It's like they were purposely letting me listen, taunting me to sucker punch their faces." The Russian growled. "And then this other asshole stopped me."

"We can't have you causing a scene in a place like that." Kirito replied. "You'll ruin the event."

"So what if I do?! Eva's missing and a bunch of our classmates had probably picked on her or worse! Finding her is more impor-"

Before she could finish, the older blonde grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up. "For once in your shitty life, use. Your. Brain. If you ruin the event for that, who do you think would get the blame?! You won't make her situation any better than it already is! So stop acting like a goddamn hero! You're not, Niara. You're. Fucking. NOT!"

"Did I come in at a bad time?" Without giving Niara even a chance to react, Kousuke walked in. He turned to the her and hummed. "Congratulations, Van Levanov. I've never seen Kirito so pissed off before. He must be getting attached to you people."

"One more word out of you and you're-" Kirito was cut off when Niara pushed herself out of his grip.

She walked over to Kousuke and slapped him. "I know I once said that I have respect for you as the very first Lucifer owner, but use that that stupid middle name again, and I'll shove your LBX down your throat." She turned to the rest. "Everything in the past five minutes NEVER. HAPPENED. Got it?" Without letting them reply, she gestured at the door. "Come on. We need to find Eva."