I exit my room and walk down the hallway towards our communal kitchen/living room where Sara is already sitting at our dinner table, eating a big plate of sushi.

“H-Hey Sara, glad you’re finally talking to me like a normal roommate would.”

“Don’t get any funny ideas, I still haven’t forgiven you for the peeping incident.”

“Then why call me out to eat together?”

“Like I already said, I simply bought too much… I also wanted to talk about your duel with Kaori, I feel like I’m at least partly responsible for the situation…”

Surprisingly, she has a rather mature side to her too…

“Finally! You finally admit that it’s all your fault!

“Y-You-“

“Nah, I’m just kidding. I was the one who decided to have a duel with that douche, it has very little to do with you. I’m grateful for your concern though.”

Her cheeks turn a bit red out of embarrassment.

“I-It’s not like I’m worried about you or anything!”

Tsun… Tsundere?!

“Relax, you don’t have to worry, It’s not like I’m fighting Kaori directly. I just have to defeat someone from the wood class.”

*SIGH* “You don’t know Kaori… believe me, he won’t let you go until he gets what he wants and he got the connections to actually back it up… I’m sure he will make it an unfair fight! Besides, I did some digging and heard you only have a small mana-pool of 100… Just give up on the match, I’ll personally give you an orange cartridge as an apology for this entire thing.”

“So you think it’s impossible for me to win right? You think I’m weak since I only have 100 mana? I don’t need your charity! I’ll beat up whatever he throws at me and win... I thought you were different from that Kaori guy, but in the end you also look down on me…”

I storm off to my room after saying those words, I barely even touched the sushi we were supposed to eat together… I could faintly hear her utter some words as I walked away:

“N-No… I didn’t mean it like that…”

*SIGH* I shouldn’t have walked out on her like that… I know she probably wasn’t looking down on me or anything… It’s just really annoying to constantly hear that you’re not strong enough… to hear that you’re dreams are futile, no matter how hard you try…

She’s not wrong though… I have a laughable mana-pool, and even if I win, Kaori probably won’t just let it go like that. But even so… I have to win this duel! To prove my ideals aren’t just some empty words. To prove I’m getting closer to my goal…

Let’s come up with some more tactics for tomorrow before going to bed.

…

I woke up early this morning, but Sara apparently woke up even earlier since she was already gone. She did leave a note for me on the kitchen table:

“Sorry about yesterday, but I still advise you to not fight in the arena today.”

Short and straight to the point, just like her… I guess I did kind off overreact yesterday, but I’m afraid I still can’t follow her advice.

I shove a chicken sandwich down my throat and pack my bag for class.

Mr. Ito didn’t really have anything useful to say, he just rambled on about dungeons and equipment.

Speaking of equipment, I really am curious about the E-rank equipment Kaori is going to hand over after I win the duel.

He wouldn’t be that cowardly as to not pay out after I win right? Nah, his ego’s too big for that.

“Psst, Reo, You got anything to do after class today? Want to hang out afterwards? I got a sick idea to make a lot of U-Coins at once!”

“Thanks for the offer Lance, maybe another time, I have some stuff to do today.”

“Ooh right, you have to teach that guy a lesson today right? Fine, then I’m just going to tell my million-dollar idea to Fudo instead. You’re interested right Fudo?”

He looks a bit nervous and panicked:

“Euurrmm…. Today won’t work Lance…”

“Probably something to do with your sister again, amiright? It’s fine, I’ll just come watch Reo then.”

“Next time Lance. I promise.”

Fudo really cares about his sister, that’s great and all, but I feel like he should also enjoy his own life sometimes…

After class I head towards the arena together with Lance.

“You nervous at all?”

“Yeah a bit… I probably have the smallest mana-pool in our entire college after all…”

“Yeah, unfortunately mana-count is the only thing that really matters in a Machia duel, that’s why I kind of didn’t want to watch it… Well, I’ll still be your friend when you get your ass handed to you Ha-Ha!”

“You’re really focused on Mana-count Lance.”

“It… It decides a Machias entire future after all…”

He looked a bit sad saying that.

“I’ll prove it to you! I’ll prove mana-count doesn’t matter as much as you think, I’ll become the strongest Machia while having the lowest initial mana-pool!”

“Ha! You make me actually want to cheer for you.”

“Get your pom-poms ready Lance, I’m going to beat whichever bastard Kaori will send.”

I head towards the center of the arena and part ways with Lance.

“No way…”

I can’t believe my own eyes as I look at the face of my opponent.

“FUDO?!”