Emery stared down at the form on her desk. She had tried to match the emperor's neat handwriting, but her handwriting just did not compare. She had written and rewritten her power's name multiple times, but each time she couldn't get over the massive disparity between her penmanship and Jun's.

Ivan watched Emery struggling from the corner of his eye. He didn't understand what was so upsetting about the form in front of her. Was it something for supplementary lessons? But they hadn't even taken their first term exams. Unless Emery's grades really were that bad. Ivan leaned a little closer to take a look at the form's title. He froze when he read it.

'Inter-School Tournament Entry Form'?

He looked a little closer and felt himself nearly cough blood. There at the top were both Emery's name and Jun's name. Had he fallen into an alternate reality? What kind of joke was this?

If he asked Emery about it, she might get mad that he had peeped. But what else was he supposed to do? Sit by while the flower of class 6 was mercilessly trampled upon?

There was no way he'd let that happen!

"Emery..." Ivan leaned towards her and whispered while pointing at the form on her desk. "What is that?"

Emery turned her big eyes on him, then glanced up at their lecturing teacher. It was math class right now, so she didn't feel the need to pay that much attention. She glanced down at the form that was clearly in plain sight. Ivan had probably already seen it. She let out a little sigh.

"It's exactly what it looks like."

Ivan's face became slightly pale. "That..."

Emery waved her hand at him dismissively. "I'll explain when we're allowed to work on the homework."

Alora and Ivan both stared blankly at Emery.

"And... now we're partners."

She had told them the entire story, from when she went to Jun's (very normal) house, to yesterday on the roof during lunch. She waved the form in front of them.

"Don't go spreading this around though, okay?"

"As if anyone would believe us," Ivan sighed.

"You are completely insane." Alora patted Emery on the shoulder. "I'll prepare your funeral."

"I'm not going to die." Emery pouted.

"Have you ever seen the inter-school tournament?"

Emery shrugged. "Isn't it just like the sports festival?"

Alors shook her head. "My poor, misguided friend. It is nothing like the sports festival. We, as class 6, can at least pretend to participate in the sports festival. But that," Alora pointed at Emery's form, "No one below B rating can participate."

Ivan nodded along with Alora's words. "The sports festival is just pseudo-competitions. We battle with our powers in a laid-back manner just so we can say we participated. That's not how the inter-school tournament works."

Alora and Ivan both had worried looks on their faces. "Besides, you've never even competed in the sports festival. You're always exempt for one reason or another."

Emery was beginning to fully comprehend just what she had agreed to. "But..." Emery pulled both of them closer. "You know about my real rating. I should be fine, right?"

They looked at each other before letting out simultaneous sighs.

"Emery, that rating is already three years old, right? Students who enter the inter-school tournament are constantly having their ratings updated, because they're constantly competing. You'll be facing S rated students who have been training for years." Alora shivered. "Jun might be the strongest S rated in our school, but he's never been number one in the whole inter-school tournament."

"Jun is probably going to train me!" Emery had a flash of hope. If Jun could help her build up her battle skills before the tournament, she would be fine.

Alora and Ivan shared a glance again. Emery was starting to get annoyed from their shared looks of pity. They both reached out to hold her shoulders.

"We'll prepare for your funeral."

Emery stood outside class 1 for the third time in a week. She was afraid the students of class 1 were starting to recognize her. Before she could ask one of them to get Jun, he was there, standing in the doorway.

"Form." He held out his hand. Emery was starting to understand his minimal sentences more and more. She pulled the form out from her bag and handed it to Jun. Eventually she had made Alora fill in the blanks so she didn't have to shame herself by comparing her handwriting to his any longer.

Jun accepted the form and glanced over it. He raised an eyebrow at something and looked her up and down.

"What?" Emery snapped.

"Only 149 centimeters?"

Emery blushed. She had seen his ridiculous 183 centimeters written on the form in his medical information. What was even more ridiculous was he probably had rounded down.

"I haven't grown since I was eleven," she muttered.

"Not surprised." Jun let out sound that vaguely sounded like a laugh. Emery jerked her head up in shock. There was a faint smile on his face as he continued checking over the form.

The emperor... laughed?

Emery guessed if the emperor could smile, he must also laugh. Maybe he just didn't have anyone that made him laugh. She thought about it and realized she had never seen anyone really hang around the emperor. There were his admirers, but she wondered. Did the emperor -- no, did Jun have any friends?

She studied his face. Before long his eyes looked from the form to her eyes and he caught her staring. She quickly jerked her gaze from his black eyes.

He studied her for a moment before Jun started walking down the hallway. Emery knew the moment Jun started walking, if she didn't follow, he would grab her to drag her along. She was tired of being dragged places, so she quickened her step to walk beside him. She saw his hand reach back toward her arm almost as if on reflex before he realized she was already next to him.

His eyes flashed with an expression she wasn't sure how to identify. Almost as if he were pleasantly surprised she was beside him without his prompting.

Emery followed Jun to the staff room. They walked to one of the teacher's desks, but two students were already there talking with the teacher.

"It's only the first day of submissions and you're already handing in your form?" The teacher looked at the two students and laughed. "You S rating students are always so excited for these things."

Emery froze. Those two were the absolutely-must-avoid other S rated students, Claire and Tomas. Jun waited patiently for the teacher to notice him, not realizing Emery had stopped about three steps behind him.

"Oh, Jun," the teacher finally noticed him and smiled. Emery wasn't sure of his name. He was a teacher for the second year upper classes, so she had never had one of his lessons. "Come to turn in your form as well?"

Jun nodded once and passed the teacher his form.

"You found a partner?" Claire looked at Jun as if he were a particularly nasty bug.

Jun ignored her, his face remaining expressionless. Emery didn't know what Claire's issue with Jun was, but she figured she was better off not knowing. The less involved in their grudge she was, the better. Now she understood what Jun meant when they didn't work together.

Claire grit her teeth. "C'mon Tomas. Let's let Jun turn in his disqualifying single-entry form."

"He has a partner."

Claire stopped and turned her eyes on Emery. She felt a shiver go down her spine. Why had she said that?

"What did you say?" Claire glared at Emery.

"I'm Jun's partner." Emery wanted to sink into the floor. Why of all times did she decide to speak up? But she couldn't stand the way Claire kept looking at Jun. Emery wasn't sure why, but seeing Jun look so alone made her want to shut this girl up.

Troublesome! This was too troublesome!

Claire and Tomas both looked at her. Before Claire could open her mouth, Jun interrupted her.

"S rated partner."