"Hiri and Nakawara"

As soon as the match was over, Mobo was taken to the infirmary while Gentarō and I got to take our seats. The other candidates sit as far away from us as they can, which doesn't really surprise me, but it still makes me a bit sad. Noticing this I'm sure, Gentarō lightly punches my shoulder. "Don't let those losers get you down. They're just upset that now, even if we were to lose the next round, they've still gotta deal with us in their council." He snickers.

I smile and nod. "Yeah...thanks Gentarō."

"Alright then, next is Nakawara Musake and Usami Sakura." The man in the suit who led us all here says.

Usami hops up and smiles giddily. "Yay! I get to show off my skills~"

"My turn huh..." Nakawara stands up as well and they both walk toward the arena.

"For now, let's just focus on all of our opponents while enjoying the rest of the first round without having to worry, alright?" Gentarō smiles eagerly as he keeps his attention fixed to the two walking into the arena. "An emanator Cube Acolyte versus an emanator Spike Acolyte... I'm so excited..!"

I giggle nervously and look up at the screen showing what's happening in the stadium above ground, seeing Sana walking off the field as Raharu gets taken to the infirmary. "He really is strong... I didn't get to see him fight, but he doesn't have a scratch on him..." I think to myself before Hiri and Tasha suddenly walk onto the field. They're the only two candidates who get to fight against the same kind of acolyte they are, which surprised and upset most of the other candidates, but after the principal explained he was entirely neutral and made the bracket 100 percent random, everyone believed him and calmed down.

"Oooooo, I'm interested to see how those two will fight too..!" Gentarō whisper-yells excitedly.

"Have you never seen a Hover Acolyte fight before..?" I whisper normally.

"I'd never seen any other kind of acolyte fight before I came here. I still haven't gotten the chance to fight a Cube or Hover Acolyte, so I'm excited to see them in action." He grins as he rocks back and forth.

"What a dummy..." I smile nervously, but I can't help but feel excited too. The rush I always get from watching other acolytes fight is an incredible thing. However, watching two at once is going to be tricky, so I decide the best thing to do is to simply shut off my mind completely. The voices around me become silent except for the ones who are fighting. I focus on the screen right across from me on the wall so I can watch both this fight in front of me and the fight above ground. I don't even hear anyone speak as the four of them all begin to fight.

The beanie on top of Nakawara's head begins shuffling around a bit, and the head of a blue and white panda sticks out of it, clearly his lyte. The panda roars in an adorable manner, its blue features glowing as it boosts Nakawara's ability, and a pink bunny pokes its head out of Usami's hair, its pink features also glowing as it boosts Usami's ability. On the screen, Hiri's lyte; a yellowish green dove, and Tasho's lyte; a yellowish green and black butterfly, that's actually larger than a normal butterfly, both glow as well, boosting their acolytes' abilities as well.

Nakawara crosses his arm over his chest, his eyes and hair starting to glow blue. "I'll end this as quickly as I can."

"Nope! I'll be the one ending this before you can even use your ability!" Usami shouts and dashes at Nakawara so fast you'd think there was a booster helping her. Her arm turns into a hot pink spike the moment part of Nakawara's arm turns into a cube.

"E-Eh..? So fast..!" He puts up his arm to defend, Usami jumping up and spinning as she swings her spike at him. Without any trouble at all, Usami's spike cuts right through the cube part of Nakawara's arm, and his arm flies right off, spinning in the air and landing on the ground behind Usami. Usami's eyes widen in horror and Nakawara looks at his arm for a moment before he grows pale, his eyes widening slowly and he begins to scream in pain, falling to his knees and grasping his arm tightly.

"I-I'm so sorry! W-We have to get you to the infirmary! N-No, the hospital! I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! I-I-" Usami yelps suddenly, the arm that was cut off of Nakawara's body floating on its own seemingly, having just chopped the side of Usami's neck.

Usami's eyes roll back and she falls, passing out, Nakawara quickly catching her before she hits the ground. "Gotcha..! Phew... If I were to hurt her in any way, I'm sure it'd cause a butt load of trouble..." The only one surprised but what just happened would be Gentarō, and obviously Usami.

"W-What in the world..?!" Gentarō gasps exuberantly. "How?!"

I sigh and facepalm from embarrassment. "All emenator Cube Acolytes can do that... Usami cut the cube, not his actual arm, hence he was still able to move his arm without any problem, and control that cube like part of his dismembered arm to make it fly..." I explain since it's not hard to tell what Gentarō's so shocked about.

"Ohhhhh, that's so cool..!" Gentarō whisper-yells as Nakawara's arm flies back and reattaches itself perfectly before turning back into a normal arm.

"Good as new..." He chuckles and stands up, stretching his arm and walking out, Usami being taken to the infirmary.

"So, is it onto the next fight now or do we wait for the people up top to finish mister suit guy?" Natsuri asks.

"We wait for those above us to finish, that way we can finish around the same time." The man in the suit explains.

"At least I can focus on the other match fully now..." I watch the screen, watching as Hiri bounces off his many hover circles, Tasho continuously flying after him.

"Stop running from me dammit!" She grumbles.

"What? Not fast enough little Tasho?" Hiri asks in a calm, but teasing manner, snickering.

"Why you..! Fine then!" Tasho suddenly stops and flies high into the air, up until she reaches the top of the barrier.

"Hm?" Hiri tilts his head as he looks up at her.

"There! Now you have to give up!" Tasho shouts loudly so Hiri can hear her. "Even if you can use your hover circles to lift yourself, there's no way you'll be able to control them well enough to chase me with my expert flying skills!" Tasho then proceeds to fly around at a quick pace, showing off her skills, and the crowd gasps and cheers at the beautiful display.

"I have to give up because I can't catch you?" Hiri chuckles softly, creating a larger hover circle at his side. "You never learn, do you Tasho?" Hiri simply jump on the space in between the yellowish green circle and is launched high into the air, just barely reaching the space right beside Tasho and creating another hover circle below his feet so he doesn't fall. "You were saying, Tasho?"

Tasho looks at him with wide eyes. "W-Whatever! Like I said, you won't be able to catch me!" Tasho turns to fly away.

"So you're really just gonna run away instead of facing me head on? Do you think people would accept you in the council if you won that way?" Hiri asks before she can fly away.

Tasho clenches her fists and quickly flies at Hiri. "Shut it!" She goes to kick him, but Hiri tilts back and Tasho flies right into the hover circle Hiri created behind him.

"Aaaaand you fell for it. Bye Tasho." Hiri smiles.

"Y-You... I'm gonna get you for thissssss!!!" Tasho yells as she gets bounced backwards and flies all the way into the side of the barrier, instantly knocking herself out and falling to the ground. Hiri saves her from falling to her death with a hover circle, hovering to the ground himself as well.

"Such a troublesome girl... If I hadn't won then you would've gotten annoyed with all the work you would have to do. You should be thanking me." He chuckles as he lands, letting the staff take Tasho to the infirmary. I'm surprised the cameras in the stadium can pick up their voices so well, but I guess that's what kind of equipment you get when you're the richest man in town.

"Genta..?" Gentarō mumbles beside me.

Already knowing what he's gonna ask, I start explaining. "The hover circles fabricator class Hover Acolytes create have air in between them that they can control however they want, hence why Hiri was able to bounce around the stadium on the hover circles like they were trampolines and float perfectly still on others."

"Ohhhhh, I thought they were just circles made of energy that they used like frisbees." Gentarō laughs.

"Well, some people do use them as just weapons, and others have attempted to use them to control wind itself, though nobody's been able to accomplish that yet."

"Well well everyone, for the first time in Acolyte High School history, there are going to be two of the same kind of acolyte on the student council! Both of our Cube Acolytes have made it through the first round!" The crowd above cheers with excitement. No surprise, they've already forgotten about me and Gentarō.

Sensing my slight annoyance, Gentarō nudges me with his elbow. "Don't worry, we'll blow their minds with these next few rounds. Promise." He grins.

I smile and nod at him. "Right."

"Now then, onto the next round!" The announcer above says in sync with the man in the suit down here with us.