Chapter 5.10 - White - The Best Version

After talking with Blax about his current situation. I decided to find the other members of Team Stardust and see if they have anything in mind about their current situation. The first person I ended up with was Hosuke. He was hanging out with Kaym and Serena from the looks of it. I went toward him and greeted the others as well. After a couple of light talks to with the three of them. I asked Kaym and Serena to leave us for a moment.

"So how have you been, Hosuke?"

"I'm definitely fine, White. I'm just glad that Escher incident was over."

"Sounds great. So, are you ready for the match later?" I sat down next to him as I said that.

Hosuke sighed and said, "I'm not quite sure if our strategy will work against Team Brilliance at all. Those guys are way stronger than us in terms of mastery in magic."

"But we still have Rulend on our side. He will adapt to the situation and call up new options for us to choose during the match."

"That's good, White. But for some reason, I feel like I'm starting to feel like I'm the only member who doesn't seem to have any helpful skill that could help us win The Magic Duel. Rulend is smart. Blax is super strong. Rider and Lore are unstoppable. Airi is...better than me."

"Is that what you think of Airi?" I laughed a bit at what he said. "But still, what seems to be the problem with that?"

"What are you talking about, White? I'm not as useful as the other."

I patted his back and assured him, "Listen, Hosuke. I'm not sure how to say this the best way but...even I'm wearing the same kind of shoe as you are right now. We both just got our ability recently and we're slowly growing. But that doesn't mean we have to stop now. I'm confident that we still have some potential if we really put in to good work."

"Fine speech, White. I don't know how an anti-social like you was able to say something like that. But that kind of made me a little bit better than before." Hosuke smiled at me and said, "And as you said, I did in fact improved a lot since the last time you saw me use my ability."

"See? Everything works out in the end." I got up and turned toward him and said, "Well then, I'll see you in the match later, Hosuke."

"Yeah. See you there as well." Hosuke waved at me as I waved back at him.

After that short talk with Hosuke, I found myself meeting up with Airi as well as a few other interesting students. Apparently, Airi was talking with Meme and Zayn. I wonder what those three were talking about.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" I went and talked to them.

"Oh, hi there, White." Zayn responded to me. "We were just talking about what we're going to do after this."

"After this? What do you mean?"

Meme then answered, "After this, as in, after we finish school. I've considered to further train my skill by joining a dancing crew. It's going to be great because I'm already being recruited by a rather famous crew."

Zayn then said, "And as for me, I'll be advancing myself in life by opening up a business of my own."

"What kind of business would that be, Zayn?" asked Airi.

"I'm opening up a Hunter's Guild."

"What's that?"

I explained to Airi about Hunter's Guild, "A Hunter's Guild is basically a place where you can receive or request a hunting quest. It's different than a normal Guild because the Hunter's Guild's quest is exclusively only for taking down rare monsters. It isn't a solo quest, so you might have to prepare a team or two before accepting one. It's a high risk, high reward kind of quest so you know you're getting you're magic's worth."

"That's interesting...I might try that out one day..." Airi was intrigue.

"Then I look forward to seeing you in my Hunter's Guild, Airi." Zayn was glad that there was support for his future plan. He then turned to me and asked, "What about you White, have anything in mind in the future?"

I took a slight moment to think and told them, "I'm not sure where I should really go but the closest thing I could think of right now is to further my studies in magic."

Meme sounded interested, "So you're going to enter an academy of some sorts? Have you considered which one?"

I shake my head, "No I haven't. There's not enough evidence or proof for me to show to some of those top tier academy that I could join."

"A top tier academy, huh?" Zayn wondered, "I think your result in The Magic Duel would suffice for an entry."

"Really?" I asked him back hoping for some good news.

Zayn shot me down by saying, "Only if you guys find a way to win the whole tournament that is..."

I sighed and said, "True..."

Airi then tried to cheer up, "It's alright, White. You don't need to think about that right now. You have to focus on what's coming in a few minutes."

Meme then looked at his watch and said, "And look at the time, guys. Our match is about to start. We better get going to the arena now."

"Good luck to you guys, Team Stardust." Zayn bids his farewell to us.

Airi replied back, "To you as well, Team Brilliance."

As both of them headed their way toward the arena. Airi and I also made our way there. As we were making our way there, Airi strikes up another conversation.

"I'm glad you finally have some form of strength to cling to, White" Airi expressed his feelings toward me.

"What does that mean?"

"You remember when Escher revealed my real name which was not Airi Mortar?"

"Your real name is...Yukimura Airi...is there a reason to the name change?"

Airi scratches his head and said, "It's not really a name change but it's just something that I'm hiding away from."

"What are you hiding away from?"

"I'm hiding away from the fear of the future."

"What?" I didn't get what he was saying at all.

Airi then told me, "If you don't mind, I'll tell you something..."

"Okay then, but make it quick. We're running out of time."

He then told me his story, "You see...my family, The Yukimura Family is a renowned family name. Our ancestors were once legends in the books of history. Our ancestors were a bunch of legendary soldiers of war. They were renowned warriors of the land. In the modern era, our family was known more for their success in the things they pursue in life. This tradition kept on going even to this day. Which brings to me, Yukimura Airi..."

I understood him very well and said to him, "Now I see what you are trying to say, Airi. You're afraid that whatever you are doing might not be the same level as those before you. That's why you use a different name so that no one can see who you really are."

He slowly nodded, "Yes. That's exactly it."

I stopped my footsteps and told him, "Listen up, Airi. I'm probably not the best person to be saying this but whatever you are doing right now will not tarnish the slightest of your tradition. In fact, it might as well make a boundary break to your tradition. Whether if we win The Magic Duel or not, you will still be a Yukimura. Now is not the time to hide away from the fears of the future."

"Easy for you to say that, White..."

"It is easy, Yukimura Airi. You just have to believe that you can."

"Is believing even worth it?

"It is, Airi. It definitely is. Because no matter what happens after this, there will be a reason to it. Either way we will still be better than before we started The Magic Duel. Mistakes and failures can make us a better person in the future. And that's something I'm looking forward to."

Airi laughed and said, "That's a wonderful advice, White. You should become an adviser of some sort. You're really good at this pep talk."

"I can't really say that for sure...I just happen to be reading a lot of books."

"Oh come on, White. You're a chill person. You'll be fine even if you are an introvert. Because to me, you're not really 100% introvert. You're an extroverted introvert. You have the best of both world."

"Wow, that's pretty neat of you to say that, Airi."

"Well, we have a big day today. I don't want you to be down. I want to see the best version of White and today happens to be the day."

We both smiled at each other and laughed it off. We finally made our way to the arena to prepare ourselves for The Quarter Final Match against Team Brilliance. In just a few moments, the match begins and so our next step to achieving the trophy of The Magic Duel begins...

TO BE CONTINUED