Chapter 1 - Volume 3

Life as the champion is exhausting. Crescent has to manage herself and look like the face of the school, but also keep her anger checked when unreasonable requests are made. She sighs when she reaches the room she's provided by the school to train, and Kenma grins at her. She sighs, and the open air of the arena is all hers for the night.

"How was the day?"

"Do me a favor and build me a time machine would you? I've been champion for three months and I already want to die." Crescent mumbles. She live luxuriously yet there's nothing that satisfies the growing hunger in her stomach. She wants the change she was supposed to bring yet she had been stuck being like the previous champions.

"Sorry love. No can do," Kenma rubs her hair soothingly and places a gentle kiss in her hair.

Crescent groans into his chest. They had started dating when Crescent had been crowned champion in front of the city. He asked her out with a couple fire lilies. He's endearing, and though the school had tried desperately to cover up that he wasn't Kenma, a quick check of his grave had confirmed that it was him. Life as the champion was exhausting.

She had pushed for reform, but the principal would turn her down every time. Every single time. She was beyond frustrated at this point. The student council had everything approved but the principal would turn it down. It was an abuse of power, but the students couldn't do anything about it. Kenma wasn't allowed to call a rematch for the position of principal, and no one else in the school was talented enough to take him down. Not even Aaron.

"I want to airbend the living oxygen out of the principal I hate him so muCH!" Crescent cries out and Kenma tosses her an apple. She bites into it with fury and her chewing is rushed. Ice and the other student council members walk in, and Adam follows behind. Adam's name Aaron had been a placeholder for his title, and Crescent had refused any identity change. The businessmen tried to bribe her into it but she was stiff as a mountain.

"CRESSIEEE!" Estelle rushes up to hug her. She had grown closer with the student council over the course of the months that she had been the champion. The student council pushed for change with Crescent but the principal always vetoed it.

"How's reform coming along?" Mint hands her a soda and puts the bag of snacks on the floor. Ice rummages though the bag and opens a bag of chips and Hatsumi opens a melon soda. The two nod along with Mint's words. Estelle lets go of Crescent and grabs a bread from the bag. The sound of the package opening echoes through the arena and Estelle shrugs.

"Nothing. The principal is such a pain in the ass like please let me do some reforming," Crescent grumbles. Kenma and Aaron laugh under their breaths and Mint snickers.

"It's a shame we aren't as strong as him," Hatsumi mumbles, had they been anywhere near his level, they could've had the chance to battle him for the position.

"Let's get practicing shall we?" Aaron tucks his shirt in and starts wrapping his hand with the bandage. Hatsumi grabs it from his hand when he's done.

The team gets ready and equips their gear while Crescent warms up. She tests her firebending out, and she tries flying. It works smoothly and when the group finishes prepping, Crescent grins. They've all improved and Crescent had given all of them tips on how they could improve. She cracks her knuckles, and she watches them all battle eachother. Mint's earthbending had become graceful and Estelle's bending was improving as well. Ice and Hatsuki both math progress, but Aaron had made the most experience from battling Kenma. Kenma's agile, quick, and analytical. His mind works faster than others, and Crescent was almost on par with him.

Training lasts for an hour and Crescent lays exhausted on the floor by the end of it. Estelle pours water onto Crescent's face. Crescent shoots up awake and hisses. Kenma pulls her up and carries her over his shoulder. He nods to everyone and takes her home for the night. Her parents take her in and Kenma leaves for the night.

-(♔)-

Kenma's footsteps are light in the night. The sky is dark, and it looks eerie. Kenma's eyes glow in the dark against the dark and he slips into a chamber.

"How's the girl?"

The figure is clad in a dark cloak. HIs voice is edited, and he looks stern. He's a leader of a large corporation, and he's the one that Kenma had signed under when he was the champion. He's known to be ruthless and harsh, and his voice is eerily calm. He wasn't one to be messed with.

"She's unsuspicious. We'll have her down by the next competition. I promise"

"Remember the rules"

"I know"

His steps are lighter when he heads back to his place for the night. He spends the time preparing a bath and when he sinks in, he thinks over their plan. They were to kidnap the girl and have her die at the hands of the curse. If she died without marrying a phoenix or dragon mark person she would die. She's disappear from the face of the earth with no trace. He just needed to convince her to have her move into the new apartment the school offered.

He loved her, he really did. But he needed to get rid of the organization on his tail before he could offer Crescent a good life. He clutches the contract on his table and glares at it. His hair is dripping wet and the towel sits snugly around his waist. He stares at himself in the mirror and sighs. If he didn't make a deal with the company then he wouldn't have had to be at this point. He had gone against the contract that seemed to offer him boundless freedom. Crescent had been smart to not take a contract.