The next day at school, almost everyone had heard about Erina's engagement. Any questions that were directed at Kenji were ignored. Kazuki wasn't in school because of certain affairs. Though he was the crown prince, it wasn't certain that he will be the king. He still had other siblings that were also aiming for the throne.

Although he should have been excused from political affairs for the month, the fight for the throne really had no rest. The king decides the crown prince or the crown princess by the general public's favor or their deeds. If any of Kazuki's siblings were to make a move during the month, he had to secure his position. And that was exactly that had happened today.

"I heard Yoko is returning the day after tomorrow?"

"Nn. I've received her letter last night. I sent her one back and informed her that Erina was going to get engaged next week, I hope they make up soon..."

Haru worriedly looked at Kenji.

"Kenji, are you okay?"

With the third seat empty and the next table a bit further away, nobody could hear Haru's words.

"What do you mean?"

"The army will be ready to launch by Friday, on the day of the engagement. That's when we'll do the operation, that's the plan right?"

"Yeah."

"You aren't going to do anything before that, are you? At first, we didn't think the engagement would happen and just chose the quickest day we could mobilize but... we'll depart on Friday at earliest we can."

"Nn."

Haru had a worried face as he looked at Kenji who barely reacted. Class passed by with Haru looking at Kenji's state from time to time. He would answer when the professor asked him but other than what was necessary, he stayed silent. Everyone including the professor was taken aback because when Kenji is asked a question, he always answers with answers that dwell deeper into the topic. The class at first couldn't keep up with them but slowly, they were getting used to it.

But now that he suddenly stopped with that, they were confused. When class was over, Arata, the big brother figure of the class walked up to Kenji.

"Kenji, why so down?"

"Hm? I'm not down."

"No, you have your usual expression but how do I say it... you feel off?"

Haru nodded several times while listening to the conversation.

"Is it because of Miss Erina?"

"Why are you talking about her?"

"Isn't she going to get engaged soon?"

"Well, yes. But I don't have a say in that."

Umi suddenly ran up to them.

"Kenji, what are you going to do with Erina?"

"Nothing in particular, why are you all asking me?"

"But you two are dating!"

When Umi yelled that, the people in the classroom who heard quickly ran up to him.

"Kenji, is that true?!"

"I feel so sorry for you..."

"Stay strong, Kenji!"

The men were noisier than the women today.

"Noisy! I already clarified that I'm not dating her!"

Kenji had to close one of his eyes and cover his ear because of the shouts. Haru poked Kenji from the side.

"Kenji, what are you really going to do with Erina though?"

"Nothing."

Kenji stood up and left the room. There was a class starting soon but he decided to skip.

"Is he really alright, I wonder?"

Haru placed a hand on her cheek worriedly.

In the end, Kai and Erina hadn't made contact until it was Monday, the preliminaries of the GCC. Although Kai had thought that Erina would drop out from the competition, she still decided to attend. When Kai saw her, her eyes were even more blank than before. Yoko noticed this too and tried to ask her but she merely avoided it.

Although Kai had spent time with Erina as a child, Yoko had spent a lot more time with her. When Yoko came back from the clan, her eyes were different and she was more mature. Although she still hesitates to talk to Erina, it was evident that she was trying to accept her again. In the week that she had disappeared, she had matured so much that everyone was surprised.

"What happened to you?"

Haru asked with a smile. The change in her friend was good.

"I've just settled some affairs in my heart and accepted some other matters."

"A blinding adult charm!"

Umi who overheard the conversation was closing her eyes as a joke.

"Shut up. I haven't trained at all in the past week so I need to use our battle today as practice."

Yoko said while stretching, she was wearing light armor and black cloth that covered each part that the armor didn't cover. She also wore a hood and a mask was attached to it. Yoko put on the hood and raise the mask that was attached to the sides of the hood to cover her face.

"Let's go."

Yoko had daggers on both hands and several tools attached to various parts of her armor. In Kenji's eyes, she looked like a modern day cosplaying ninja but she looked cool.

Kenji wore easy-to-move clothes with no armor other than plates on the back of his gloves. A sword with a brown scabbard was on his waist.

"...You look like you just started preparing five minutes before this."

Kenji was fixing his gloves as he looked at Arata who was fully equipped to say the least. His face was covered by a helmet which had vertical gaps on its visor. He had a large shield on his back and a spear wrapped in the inside of the shield.

Then, Kazuki appeared wearing a breastplate and arm guards. There was a great sword on his back and his waist had a shortsword.

"Kenji, you look unprepared."

"It's more than enough, isn't it?"

When Kenji said that, Kazuki visibly twitched and walked away.

Erina wore a dress that was easy to move in and held a staff with a blue gem on the tip in her hands. A staff wasn't necessary but it improved power and control in some cases. And for defense, she had a rapier on her waist.

Umi wore robes as well but there was a necklace hanging around her neck with the magic stone inside. Haru had a bow on her back and wore some light leather armor.

The remaining people, Date and Kei had worn regular metal breastplates and swords. They were so ordinary and unnoticeable that only the two of them had talked to each other.

"Erina, why did you bring a staff?"

"Ice has limited moves for long range so I'd probably be focusing on using [Icicles]. This staff will help me make a lot more of those at a higher efficiency."

Haru nodded up and down several times after looking at it.

Right now, they were all in the school's facility. The preliminaries were only watched by a few hundred people because people looked forward to the true fight the next day. There were an even number of teams participating and each team has to win twice to count as competitors in the actual competition.

"Ah, right we have yet to make a team name."

Arata stopped in front of everyone and faced them.

"...Memento Mori."

"Hm? What does that mean?"

"It means 'remember you have to die'."

"That sounds ominous but I like it, what do you all think?"

Arata pondered for only a moment before consulting everyone else.

"""No problems."""

Although more like nobody wanted to bother with the name; Erina didn't answer.

"It'll serve as a message for others instead of us."

Kenji told them the reason.

"I don't think anybody will understand it anyway."

Arata quickly shot him down.

"Anyway, let's go for the fifth stage, we're the second battle."

Their team was quite early because Arata, the hyperactive big brother figure had told them to meet up fifteen minutes ahead of time. Umi readily agreed and the one who wanted to appear only during the time of the competiton was Kenji but he decided to follow the agreement and arrived nearly the same time as the others.

"Miss Yoko, I'll leave Kei and Date to you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that they're quite reckless. Kei is quite aggressive and Date is quite the pacifist but when they're serious, their battle skills are amazing."

"Huh..."

Arata turned around and faced Kazuki and Kenji while leaving behind a confused Yoko.

"Your Highness, I know you must be tired from protecting the throne but I'm counting on you and Kai!"

"Yeah..."

If you know he's tired then don't shower him with overenthusiasm.

Kenji kept to himself as he looked at Arata repeatedly trying to motivate Kazuki.

"Oi. That's them, right?"

"Yeah... The favorite to win in this competition."

"I don't see anyone that could stand against them other than the Silver Fang and Wildcats."

"There are five candidates to fight them but I'd say those two are the highest. They have the crown prince and both queens after all!"

"But I heard that red haired guy over there is also pretty good. I heard he had defeated the Dark Queen in close combat and destroyed the floor during magic training!"

When they were noticed by everyone in the arena, they became the focus of attention and everyone was discussing them.

Arata held out his hand in front of the others.

"Are we going to do a cheer or something?"

Kei who had only been talking to date asked.

"Yeah, come on, come on!"

Kenji sighed and placed his hand first. Everyone followed suit and looked to Arata.

"What are you all looking at me for, isn't Kenji the one who made the name?"

'You're the one who asked us to do this!' was in everyone's mind but they let it slide.

"Alright, fine. To victory... or something, I guess."

"You can do better than that!"

Arata did multiple pats on Kai's shoulder with his other hand. Kenji sighed and resigned to speaking.

"Losing today is out of the question. Our aim is not to participate in the tournament but to win. We'll crush everyone in our way and dance in their blood."

"...Excluding the last part, let's go everyone!"

With a roar, Arata started and they all raised their hands together.

With that, Memento Mori officially started.