Ambiguous relations

"So, what do you think?" Aulonia asked Riku as he faced her on the stage.

"Huh?" Riku blinked.

"You were watching me the whole time. What do you think?" Aulonia asked, directly.

Riku hesitated. "I'm impressed. Up 'til now, I haven't seen you use the same technique twice."

It was true. Looking at her fights with every spare chance he had, he received Observation Notices about new technique after technique. Aulonia alone had added 21 to his Need More Observation List. Most of the others here would only use two or three techniques, often something he had already some progress in observation, but Aulonia? She threw out new stuff non-stop. Riku had pretty much given up trying to progress in observing anything she did.

"Speaking of techniques, yours is pretty impressive. Where did you learn that?" She made a vague gesture toward him.

Probably meant his Earth Armor. "It was an epiphany while I was learning to do gardening."

"Gardening?" Aulonia looked him over. "That might explain the soil. You had to have had a really good gardening teacher to figure out something like THAT from it. Who taught you gardening?"

"Madam Huang, actually."

Aulonia blinked. "Madam Huang does gardening…? Since when?"

"Since she wanted to plant Black Starlight flowers." Riku shrugged.

"Madam Huang is raising Black Starlight flowers?"

"Not exactly. She planted them, then told me to take care of them."

"YOU'RE raising Black Starlight Flowers?" Aulonia shook his head. "Goodness, what would Cymaria give to see those up close…?"

"Cymaria?" Riku frowned. "Why would she…?"

"Oh, she's crazy about growing herbs. Don't worry, she won't do anything to harm them." Aulonia assured him. "Is that why you turned Iris down? You had your eye on a different Ji girl?"

"Huh?" That last bit had come out of nowhere. Riku was completely baffled.

"Poor Iris, I've never seen her so shell-shocked. She really isn't accustomed to such rejection." Aulonia said with heartfelt sympathy.

"You were there?!" Riku gaped.

"No, no. She came over to my place later that day." Aulonia said…

"Hey, are you guys gonna fight or what?!" Ji Basil shouted from the side.

"Quiet! Stop third-wheeling in on their date!" Jin barked.

"It's not a date!" Both Riku and Aulonia said in exactly the same tone at exactly the same time. Then they both stepped back and looked at each other suspiciously.

Ji Iris gasped. "So THAT's why I got rejected!"

"That's not it! You didn't get rejected!" Riku tried to find the words to explain himself while at the same time keeping his defenses up.

"That's right! The more the merrier!" Shui shouted loudly enough for everyone to hear him. "A man wants them all!"

Aulonia gasped. "How dare you!"

She charged. The power in her every step made the stage tremble. A heavy force struck Riku in the center of his chest before he even had time to raise his overweight hand to block. All he had time for was to splutter, "That's…!"

She disappeared. Riku felt the jarring impact on his right ankle before he realized she was attacking at a different angle. "…not…"

She reappeared again almost above his head. Her foot slammed into his face. "…it…!"

Aulonia hammered down with blinding speed. Earth Armor or no Earth Armor, Riku lost his stance all at once, stumbling under a rain of stunning strikes. Her power left him breathless. So much for there being no Stage 1 or 2 Adept who could hurt him…

[Relax. Aulonia is a Stage 3 Adept.] System consoled him.

[Not helping!] Riku retorted, wishing he could respond to Aulonia's fury just as quickly. Between trying to keep his balance and not tip over backward, a mighty crash on his back happened just as he was trying to compensate by tipping forward; the momentum of both had him falling flat on his face.

After that, most of their duel consisted of Aulonia kicking him when he was down.

"Riku! Do you concede?" Master Huang asked.

"Uh…" Riku thought about it as Aulonia walked all over him and jumped on his back. He couldn't Observe anything from this angle anyway. "Yeah, okay. I concede."

Finally, he had some peace. With a groan, Riku flopped over as Aulonia went on to the next stage.

"Are you okay?" a voice sounded nearby. Riku glanced up to see Wu Ardent squatting at his side.

"I've been better." Riku confessed.

"Can you still fight? Or is this stage vacant?" Wu Ardent asked.

He wanted the stage, Riku realized. "Um… I can still fight, I think. Just give me a minute."

"Right." Ardent waited.

On the next stage, Aulonia was going at it with Watanabe Kagura. Riku Observed their fight as best he could; the pair of them were definitely beyond Stage 2 Adepts, the speed and power of their movements were hard enough to keep track of with his eyes. Would he even be able to Observe a fight between Stage 4 Adepts at his level? Master Huang's fight with the assassin had gone by so fast, he would have missed the entire thing if he hadn't already been looking directly at them.

Kagura vanished, seeming to split into three shadows attacking Aulonia on all sides. Aulonia withdrew, then sped up to outflank them, silvery lines spraying out from her.

[Steel Silk Web Technique Observed: 0.1%] System notified helpfully.

Kagura stumbled, caught in Aulonia's web for a moment. A single moment; it was all Aulonia needed.

With a crash, Kagura was bumped off the stage.

"Zhizhu Aulonia wins!" Master Huang announced.

"Are you ready yet? I think it's our turn." Wu Ardent nudged Riku.

"Yeah. Let's do this." Riku got up, facing Ardent. Afterward, he would finally get a chance to talk to Kagura…

Ardent's palms caught fire. Before Riku could move a finger in response, he charged. Both burning palms struck Riku like a firetruck.

Riku literally had both feet off the ground as he flew backwards, off the stage.

[Fire Bull Charge Tackle Observed: 0.1%] System informed him merrily. [By the way, Wu Ardent is also a Stage 3 Adept.]

Riku fell onto the ground painfully, and there he stayed for a long, wordless moment. Then, he groaned, and finally let the Earth Armor and Stone Skin slip.

His fights in the Tournament were over.

***

In the end, Riku was ranked 8th. Huo, Mu and Shui took top 3, Orchid 4th, Aulonia 5th, followed by Kagura on 6th, Ardent on 7th, and Riku on 8th. Thyme kept 9th and Zhong Bounty ended up keeping 10th.

As for the rest who didn't manage to take a stage, they did have some duels later to sort themselves out. Altan managed to take the 11th rank, Jin the 12th, which was remarkable since everyone else around his ranking was a Stage 2 Adept. Herman actually took the 15th. Ji Basil landed up with 20th, and Iris ended up 23rd.

"One more thing." Master Huang raised a gold coin for everyone to see. "Our Super Rookie prize today goes to Huang Riku! A Novice managed to beat all the Stage 1 and Stage 2 Adepts to rank in the top 10, even taking 8th place! As expected of one of my Closer Disciples! Well done!"

Half-hearted, resigned clapping sounded from the gathered disciples, along with Shui's outright laughter. Even Aulonia had to reluctantly applaud to give Master Huang some face. Strangely enough, her face was red when she looked at him. Why was it red?

"The Tournament is over!" Master Huang announced.

Darkness flickered. Someone grabbed Riku and swept him away at once.

***

"Who are you?" Kagura was suddenly right in front of him, eyes narrowed, pinning him against a wall somewhere far away from the Tournament grounds.

"I'm… Xi Riku." Riku got straight to the point. "Are you a relative of Watanabe Hanabi?"

"She was a distant aunt on my father's side." Kagura's voice and gaze softened.

"Then it seems we're cousins. Distant cousins. Kind of." Riku concluded. "She was my grandmother."

"I see." Kagura said, and then she disappeared, like a dream, leaving him there scratching his head and wondering if their first meeting went well or badly after all.