53 Time Slithers By

After Edward's match with Ruth Ricard, she was immediately brought to wherever the medics took care of injured fighters. Perhaps it was the hospital, or perhaps there was somewhere in the stadium that could hold the injured, or maybe they just straight-up brought them to any nurse's offices in the magic academy buildings. Either way, she was treated and she likely turned out okay. With the power of healing magic, her wounds, busted nose, and even her chipped tooth could all be repaired within an exceptionally brief amount of time. Perhaps a day or even just a few hours.

A little over an hour passed by and, in some areas, the time dragged on.

With a heavy blow to the stomach, the level 206 Umeko Murai knocked Harold McLaughlin, the level 199, off the stage and onto the grass below after fighting at a gut-wrenching stalemate for about 30 minutes. There were small puddles of blood scattered across the ring, the two fighters' clothes were ripped heavily and their bodies were covered in bruises, but the match finally came to a close that allowed the spectators to draw breath again.

"And there you have it, folks!" the announcer shouted in the mic once more, a pair of medics rushing out to the injured Harold McLaughlin with a stretcher. Another began to run up on stage to get to the victor in order to treat her injuries as well. "Umeko Murai has officially won the match! She will advance to the next round!"

As the crowd started to cheer, the medic finally got to Umeko Murai as she held her fist up in the air weakly, silently celebrating her victory.

Tuesday, 11:01 A.M.

"Geez…" Nakayama said, his face clearly cringing. "Are these events always this bloody? I get the whole fighting thing, but I think I've seen more blood within the last hour than I have my entire life." He petted something in his lap.

"I suppose," answered Yasuko in his usual monotone fashion. "Since the battles here are, essentially, "anything goes except for murder, mutilation, and the use of weapons", you could expect them to get a bit messy as most things are repairable via magic."

"Yeah, that makes sense. It's just kind of weird seeing it as someone from Moku City, y'know? Since magic and battles revolving around it aren't quite as standardized. Hell, I can't even remember the name of the magic academy back there, and we sure as hell didn't have any tournaments like this." He gently caressed something in his lap once again.

"Hmmmngh…" Kiyomi grumbled with his cheek puffed out as he eyed down Nakayama.

The level 1 turned his head slowly towards Kiyomi with a face of confusion.

"What?"

"...Howcome you told me to get off your lap, but then you let Koko just lay there all relaxed and stuff like that...?"

For the last 20 minutes or so, Koko had been laying his head in Nakayama's lap, his beautifully long white hair sprawled out all over like a lazy cat. He'd said he was a bit sleepy and asked to lay in Nakayama's lap with that typical stuttery and weak tone of voice he had. He was almost like a baby of some sort. As his head was in Nakayama's lap and the rest of his body was laid out on the linear platform of the set of bleachers in which the rest of the group sat, Nakayama instinctually caressed his forehead and messed with his hair a little, putting the small femboy in a slight state of slumber.

"That's because his entire bodyweight isn't right on top of my crotch," Nakayama said back sharply. "Besides, the kid probably only weighs a total of 6 fucking pounds anyway."

"Hmmmmgh!!"Kiyomi shuffled around and flailed his fists around in protest. "It's not fair, it's not fair!"

"You already had your turn!!"

Meanwhile, Nakayama caught something, technically, just to the left of the complaint-filled Kiyomi Nagashika. There, he saw Chiaki hunched over a bit, his elbows resting on his knees, and his hands clasped together with the nail of his thumb in between his upper and lower teeth. He was tapping his leg on the platform beneath their feet and biting his fingernail as if he was extraordinarily nervous about something, almost hyperventilating without the rapid breaths.

Nakayama's eyes narrowed as he observed the way Chiaki looked. He didn't take him for the type of person to get nervous right before becoming the center of attention on the ring tens of dozens of meters beneath them. So, that couldn't have been it. But, if that wasn't it, then---

No, it was probably the fact that Koko was in such close contact with Nakayama.

But, why? Normally, his anger would've shot through the roof and he would've started throwing punches at the boy, but...that wasn't happening. What could've been the reason? Did he somehow run out of anger and it just naturally translated itself to nervousness? Such nervousness seemed to be unnecessary though, as Nakayama had no intentions of doing any harm to the little tomgirl. And yet, there Chiaki was. Fidgeting like a hot mess.

"Chiaki," Yasuko said blandly, his voice breaking both Nakayama's thoughts and Chiaki's fidgeting as his shoulders jumped and he turned his head to just behind him. "It appears your match has finally come up." Yasuko pointed forward.

The entire group, except for Koko who had fallen asleep, looked ahead and saw that, just above the ring, the magic menu-displayed bracket had appeared once more.

"Oh yeah…!" Kiyomi said as he stopped flailing his fists around in frustration.

If you broke up the bracket into four pieces, you'd get four quadrants like one on a graph. Fighters 1 through 16 had all gone through their matches, meaning that the second quadrant (or simply the top left) of the bracket had been completed. Fighters 17 through 32 were in the third quadrant (or simply the bottom left) if one was going by how a graph was formed. And Chiaki just happened to be fighter 17, not to mention Yasuko being number 32.

"Alright, people!" the announcer said after tapping the microphone a couple of times. "The first 16 matches have been conducted! We're getting a little close to lunchtime, but we suspect that the next 16 matches will take around the same amount of the time the last batch did! After that, we'll take a lunch break of about half an hour and continue with the rest of the event! If fighters 17 and 18 would please come to the arena, please! Thank you!"

Chiaki stared ahead at the ring.

"That is you, is it not?" inquired Yasuko.

"Yeah, that's me," Chiaki confirmed as he stood up and took a deep inhale. Nakayama watched him and questioned every movement he made.

"Alriiight!!" Kiyomi cheered. "Go kick some ass out there, Chiaki! Come on, you got it!" He proceeded to repeatedly smack Chiaki's back way too hard.

"Thanks," Chiaki said without a hint of emotion. Something was clearly running through his mind, and it was a bit on the easier side to pinpoint just what the general topic was, though it was anyone's guess what he was thinking exactly. "See you all in a bit. Hopefully, I'll stay in one piece."

He started to walk down a few steps when Koko's eyes opened slightly.

"Hmmm…" he groaned sweetly as he awakened a bit. "Is...is it Chiaki's turn already…?"

"Oh, you're awake, huh?" Nakayama said, slightly surprised as the vibrations from Koko's voice shot through his leg. "Yeah, he's going now. You might wanna say something before he's completely gone, though."

Koko sat up slowly, his hair a bit messy from the ungraceful way in which it laid atop Nakayama's legs. He rubbed his eyes and then gasped as if he'd just realized that his chance to say something to Chiaki was fading away. He hopped to his feet and cupped his small little hands around his mouth, those hands acting like a megaphone. He took a deep inhale before shouting, which, to Nakayama's surprise, was fairly loud. In fact, that was the first time he'd ever even heard Koko speak that loudly.

"Chiakiii!" Koko shouted with his sweet, soft voice that somehow translated well into his language of screaming.

As an immediate response, Chiaki's shoulders twitched and his head shot towards the direction of Koko's voice. That one motion seemed to be faster than anything that Ruth Ricard could produce, as if the voice of that white-headed angel was something that could not be ignored nor would a delayed response be acceptable.

Koko inhaled once more.

"Good luuuuuck!!!" he shouted another time.

It took Chiaki a moment to register what Koko'd just said as his mouth hung open slightly and his eyes were widened a bit. It wasn't as if he was surprised that Koko had wished him good luck or anything like that. But, rather, his face represented absolute worry.

And, after but a few moments, all of that anxiety melted off his face.

He relaxed, his eyes gained glint in them and a gentle smile laid itself atop his previously opened mouth in the form of two rows of perfectly white teeth and two pink lips that looked to be as soft as dough.

He giggled a little and gave a thumbs up before turning back to walk down the bleachers. Koko returned that gesture with a cute little smile of his own before returning his hands to his sides. As Nakayama watched Chiaki walk off, he couldn't help but become a little disappointed while still having a few butterflies in his stomach.

That smile of Chiaki's. For some reason, he wanted to see more of it.