"You think it worked?"

Going back in time to earlier in the day, after Ver dragged Augen away and leaving Wu and Lera alone, she had hoped that the two will finally be honest with one another.

"Well...the last time they were alone and had free time together..." Augen muttered, thinking back to the flashes of vision he saw of Wu standing in the rain and calling out towards Lera back at the end of season 1, "They for sure got together."

"Ok, that's good then." Ver smiled, sitting back.

"I suppose we are all friends with them, but you seemed rather invested in this?" Augen said, his face looking away as Ver's body stiffened slightly before she let him go, "You three had been the closest...are you going to be okay with this?"

"What are you saying?" Ver turned around and started walking away, "Of course I am fine with this."

Augen faced her direction, and he felt the slight turmoil of the Wave within her before Ver reached her hand up and smacked herself on the head, "Shut up! You stupid squid!"

However Ver chooses to confront her own feelings...it's for sure going to be interesting. Augen thought. Suddenly, he felt a strong disturbance in the local Wave and leapt forward. Fatera's giant body slamming down onto the ground and nearly stomping Augen into a pancake if not for his quick reactions.

"Oops..." Fatera chuckled dryly before she waddled forward and placed both hands on Augen's shoulders, "Hey! What are you doing standing alone here?"

"What about you?" Augen asked, "Aren't you supposed to be with...hold on..."

The mathematics didn't work out there. There are a total of five people in his squad, and if the mandatory fun times are designated based on pairings…

"I am supposed to go with someone from Lily's squad!" Fatera said, "But they bailed on me!"

"Right..." Augen smelled the scent of Fatera's bedroom from her body and sighed, "It's for sure not because you slept straight through it."

"Hey, to always win, I need to recover too." Fatera squeezed Augen's shoulders before picking him up and taking him around, "Since ya are not doing anything at all, why don't we go do something else? Do some more winning?"

"I thought you had changed since the island." Augen allowed himself to be picked up, as he had learnt not to resist whenever Fatera wanted to do something with in. In fact...he actually enjoyed when she's a little forceful...

"Winning no longer defines my value." Fatera said seriously, putting Augen down on the ground before grabbing his hand like a big sister taking her little brother out, "But that doesn't mean I don't like to win!"

It didn't take long for them to find yet another competition to do. The Night of Love is right around the corner, and there are plenty of competitions for the various current couples and to-be couples to do. Augen extended his senses outward to the pairs of Wave presences all around him before he suddenly came to a strange realization.

Is Fatera wanting to be a couple with him? Augen wondered, turning towards the fierce ball of Wave that burned brightly in front of him. A smile formed on his face before he chuckled lightly and shook his head. There is no way..she is just...bored.

Not that he has anything against it, but if she just wanted to go around and do fun things, then Augen will happily oblige.

At the punching bag stall...

"HYAH! Punchy Punch!" Fatera shouted, punching into the punching bag Cast as it nearly deflated before cracks formed all over it. The crowd gasped with the demonstration of her strength before the students at the stall put his hand up and pointed to Fatera.

"We have a winner! And an all-time record!" He said, "Congratulations! You have earned an express meal ticket for tonight!"

At the target practice stall...

"Summer Lotus...sweeping heat..." Augen casted, a small glowing flower forming over his hand before he locked onto the piece of target flying along with countless others in the air. Tracking the movements of everything with exact accuracy through the Wave, Augen fired off a Wave blast that cut through the air and the evermorphing gaps that are just formed when the non-targets moved out of the way.

The blast shot straight through the target, piercing through its dead center before Fatera screamed right beside Augen's ears in excitement.

"Congratulations! You have earned the premium seat for tonight's fireworks!"

At the quiz show stall...

"In which year is the capital of the Yarka Kingdom established?" The host asked as the crowd became stunned by the final question which will determine the winner of the unlimited food and drinks ticket for the night.

"Forbidden Winter...visions of the Past..." Augen said silently, his fingers placed against a silvery cold card before his mind was sent back in time. Seeing the past takes considerably less effort and toll than seeing into the future, and he traveled to the exact year required, "3269!"

"CORRECT!" The host pointed a finger at him, and the winners just seemed to keep on winning.

"Ok..." Fatera admitted, picking up Augen, "There was literally nothing I could have done to help there! But yay! Your win is my win!"

"I suppose...that's how teamwork works...?" Augen shrugged.

Now with the different pieces of paper detailing their rewards in their pockets, Augen and Fatera grabbed some food from the nearby stall before they ate it while watching everything else going on from the roof of their floating buildings.

"That was really fun! Wasn't it?" Fatera asked, "Now I am ready to train!"

"You wanted to train...on this day?" Augen said, though he really shouldn't be surprised, "...Fine...I will help you train, if you promise to actually use the things we won this morning. To watch the fireworks, that is."

"Oooh~ Are you in love with me or something~" Fatera teased, though as always, Augen's expressions are impossible to read, and the white bandage around his eyes isn’t exactly helping.

"What...what if I am!” Augen said stubbornly, and that caught Fatera off guard. They faced each other awkwardly for a brief moment before both shaking their head.

“No! Of course not..." Augen said quickly, nearly choking on the food in the hurry, "It's...just I want to feel the firework's energy..."

Fatera nodded and bit into her food, though for some reason, she is feeling a slight sense of disappointment...but why?

"An...anyway." Fatera spoke again quickly, "I wanted to work on movements today, changing my directions quickly, and I want you to make it harder with your Winter Bark Cast."

"Deal."

And so they trained, and Augen expanded so much effort in just trying to contain Fatera's Hard Mode that the whole idea of using the Cultural Festival as a time of rest and recovery became obsolete. However, Fatera seemed satisfied with her efforts, and if she was happy, so was he.

Well, it's more like if Fatera's wasn't happy, then there was no way Augen was going to have a good time, and at this rate, he is realistically the only one in the squad that will take her on...

"Okay...what it is you wanted me to wear again?" Fatera asked.

"Just something formal!" Augen said, sitting right behind her as she tossed aside her tank top and bottoms, "You can't be wearing what you normally wear to this!"

"So picky...it's not like you can see any of it..." Fatera murmured, sticking a tongue towards Augen.

"I felt that." Augen said, "When you are being naughty or too free, your Wave give off a distinct energy, like the flares of a sun."

"Fine..." Fatera scanned around the wardrobe filled with the exact same outfit before finally taking out a black leather top and a pair of short skirts. She described it to Augen, and he realized it was a custom-made outfit from another of Fatera's wins. Well, if it's better than the white tank top, it will have to do.

Then, Fatera followed Augen to his room as an act of revenge for him pestering her about the outfits. However, when Augen put on his full dinner suit with white shirt, dark slim fitted trousers and a bright red bowtie, Fatera suddenly started to feel just a little bit underdressed, and for the first time in a long time, she was a little embarrassed.

"I felt that too." Augen said, his voice calming, "Don't worry about it...You look great."

"You can't see it anyway...How can you say that..."

"I can feel that." Augen smiled, gesturing towards Fatera as the night slowly sets on the academy and all the students started getting ready for the fireworks, "Let's go."

And so they went, enjoying all of the perks of winning they did earlier that day, and it took a whole three minutes before Fatera accidentally spilled some tomato sauce onto her leather top. Thankfully, it was licked away quickly.

Then, as the fireworks exploded overhead, creating countless patterns that stimulated Augen far more in terms of Wave sensing than Fatera visually, she actually shut her mouth despite the raising boredom after seeing how much fun Augen is having.

She glanced towards him, her crimson glare jumping from his shiny fixed green hair to his pale skin and the flashes of light reflecting off his face.

It's strange. It really is. Fatera couldn't care less about the fireworks, yet somehow...she was content being here, so long as Augen was here too.

In the meanwhile, everyone stopped what they are doing all around the academy as they watched the fireworks show.

Standing atop the Union building, Mus and Mila held each other, with Mus singing a slow love song that followed the rhythm of the fireworks and Mila dancing with her body pressed against his.

Sitting on top of the tallest tower in her college, Ver sipped an alcoholic drink before she looked up and watched the fireworks alone.

"You sure about this, little one?" The Kraken asked, its voice warmer than usual, "You are really just living your wishes through her, right?"

"I guess that's just the way things are for us mercs..." Ver sighed, putting the eyepatch down. It was the same eyepatch as before.

"And the way you rejected the Ornate dragon earlier...that was way too funny..." The Kraken chuckled, remembering the encounter after Ver left Augen alone. The Curse Cast user, the Ornate dragon, became a massive fan of Ver's after the Winter Wars, though she rejected him flat out when he asked her out.

"Maybe that's the way things are as well~" Ver smiled, downing the drink.

Staying in his residence along the edge of the floating island, John King and Shaila kissed under the fireworks, their fingers locked and hearts beating with the same rhythm.

"Don't bother with cleaning now!" Ita said, smacking Charlie on the head before pointing up back at the Ville College stall, "Go watch the fireworks with everybody else!"

"Ita..." Charlie looked towards her, though he shook his head, "I have to clean these up..."

"You stubborn little..." Ita shook her head and stomped away.

"BRAAAAKA!" Yuna shouted, her voice dwarfing all others in the bar within her college, "Where are you at!"

"He...burp...is here..." Matty laughed besides Yuna, pointing towards the Braka who's fast asleep after he passed out from drinking.

"The fireworks is here..." Yuna whispered in his ears, though there was no response. Yuna smirked before kissing him on the cheek, and suddenly, the dead came back to life.

"Fireworks?! Firework?!!!" Braka eyes shot up with a lively glow, "LET'S GOOOO! FIREWORKS!"

"Well...lady Lily Watts..." Shin bowed slightly before turning to look at the fireworks far out in the distance, "I hope you enjoyed this fine dining experience..."

"Aww..." Lily smiled before reaching her hands towards Shin and kissing him on the cheek slightly, "I am truly impressed, Shin. Now get over here!"

Atop the Illiol college tower, and in many other places all around the Academy, as the fireworks paint the night sky with brilliant colors, love blossoms like flowers.