Akira and Eiji were running away with large rocks beside them.

Following them, were Keima riding on his robot and the tall white haired sexy girl with the robot arm.

Keima then suddenly stopped and put his right hand on the air.

His yellow wire like lines came from his forearms and like snakes, slithered up.

"Missiles shoot!", the white haired girl exclaimed with her right robot arm pointed sideways towards Akira and Eiji's position.

Suddenly, her robotic fingers opened like a capsule, and shot out one missile from each finger.

Keima's wire like lines suddenly slithered down onto it and attached to the missiles.

They both started running as Keima had his palm up. (Keima was still on top of his robot)

The missiles seem to be moving according to Keima's right hand's movement.

'A missile ability user and a machine manipulator teaming up, huh? Guess Keima found a smart partner.'

Suddenly, Keima moved his hand and targeted the missiles towards Akira and Eiji.

'Shit!'

*BOOOOOOOM*

A small explosion was inflicted.

As the smoke lifted, Keima and the tall white haired girl, noticed...

That only a cracked shield was left there.

"They ran away, huh. I knew it wouldn't be that easy to beat that moron."

"Kei-chan!"

Suddenly, the white haired tall sexy girl cuddled Keima with loving eyes.

"It's okay, don't be sad. We can beat them up later. I'm here for you."

"Get off of me!"

______________________________________

"DRILL HAIR, BABY!"

"Take this, Akira!"

Suddenly, Gorou's drill like hair and Takumi's arrows suddenly struck towards Akira and Eiji.

'SHIT! They surprised us! They hid somewhere when Keima and that chick attacked.'

*TZZZZZZZZZ*

Eiji suddenly electrocuted the hair and the arrows destroying them.

The hair and arrows burnt and stopped.

"Ah, that's such a shame."

Gorou seemed unfazed although part of his hair was burnt.

*SWWOOOSSSHH*

His hair suddenly shrunk back to an old delinquent pompadour.

"...but we're still not done yet."

His hair grew long again and liked a drill targeted Akira and Eiji.

"We'll just keep being cornered at this rate."

Akira looked to the left and right side, checking if Keima's still after them, he then slightly widened his eyes when he looked at his right side from the corner of his eyes.

"EIJI STRIKE HIM!"

"WHAT?"

Akira suddenly ordered Eiji to attack Gorou, which shocked the both of them, since it's against the rules to fight non-targets.

The two of them were confused, unlike Eiji who seemed to understand what Akira was planning.

"You-"

Eiji suddenly aimed his palm towards Gorou.

*TZZZZZZZZZ*

Lightning suddenly came out from his palm.

Akira crouched down.

Takumi was planning to push Gorou, who was shaken away.

Suddenly, a shield emerged from the ground before Gorou, and the lightning shot at it and deflected it to the side.

"Huh?"

From the side, another shield emerged from the ground and deflected the lightning to the distance.

"What are they...?"

Akira and Eiji seemed to have ran away after the lightning passed.

"Those punks! They made a flashy show just to distract us! Come on, partner, let's follow them!"

Takumi seemed to be a bit surprised although he still had that deadpan expression.

"Takubro?"

"Uh...it's nothing, let's go."

______________________________________

"Akirachi! Why are we running back here? This is the direction towards where we encountered the robot duo! Don't tell me you fell in love for that white haired senpai!"

Eiji said while with his hands on his mouth and showing a deviant expression while running.

"You retard, she's not what we're aiming for. I don't even know her."

"Then- don't tell me!"

Eiji showed sparkling eyes and had wide eyes as he told Akira:

"You're aimng for the little boy with her?"

"NO, you idiot!"

*BOOOOOM*

A bunch of missiles suddenly exploded behind Akira.

"COME BACK HERE AND LET ME BEAT YOU, AKIRA!"

Suddenly, from behind a few rocks, at a distance Akira's right side came Keima and the white haired girl running towards Akira and Eiji.

"They're here! I told you they're here! Why did we come back here in the first place!?"

*TSSSSSSSSSK*

Large drill like hair suddenly struck the ground in front of Akira.

"Alley-oop!"

Akira just vault jumped on the hair, as well as Eiji.

"COME BACK HERE, EIJI!"

The two pairs were following behind Akira and Eiji's back.

Due to them running away further, Akira and Eiji had quite a distance from them, but they were catching up.

Suddenly, Akira stopped running.

"Why are you-"

A few meters in front of them was a plain looking guy running away, seemingly alone.

"MISSILE SHOT!"

Five missiles suddenly came from the tall white haired girl's robot fingers.

"DRILLLLLLLLLL!!!"

Gorou's drill like hair stretched again and aimed for them as well.

Takumi launched five arrows from his bow at the same time.

"We need to run-"

"EIJI, STRIKE ME FROM BEHIND!"

"WHA-"

"DO IT!"

Suddenly, Eiji, with a serious expression, shot his lightning towards Akira's back.

*TZZZZZZZZZ*

A shield suddenly formed on it, and the lightning pushed Akira with a strong force.

The lightning deflected to a rock nearby, as Akira jumped and was pushed forward by the force.

Eiji immediately ducked as the missiles, arrows and the hair approached him.

The arrows hit his head though, even if he crouched down.

Akira, put his hands up and spawned a shield between his hands.

He was lunging towards the plain faced guy.

Eiji saw this and noticed what he was planning.

"That guy has... a green ring!"

The guy was surprised seeing Akira suddenly jump at him.

"TAAAAAKKKEEEE TTTHIIIISS!!!"

*BAAAAAAMMMM*

Just as the arrows, missile and the drill hair was about to hit Akira...

Akira suddenly smashed the shield on the plain faced guy's face.

"GAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The plain faced guy fainted.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM*

The missiles, arrows and the drill hair seems to have hit...

....the ground.

Akira and Eiji disappeared without a trace.

""......

...

...WHAAAATTTTTT...?""

Keima and Gorou couldn't help but be surprised by the situation.

______________________________________

Eiji was being healed by Akira on the head as he lied a little dizzy on the ground.

"That was too reckless, Akirachi!"

"At least we won, right?"

Eiji and Akira were in what seems to look like a white colored area with no windows but had so many stage lights on the wall.

"How did we win? I don't get it. Did the guy you hit had his teammate beat up and since he was still part of a team earlier, us defeating him counted as defeating a pair?"

"No, that's not it. You're just too stupid to not have noticed it."

"...uh... How exactly DID we win then? There was no one-"

"Remember when I told you to attack that guy that you know who was with Takumi?"

"You mean Gorou? Yeah."

"Didn't you see what it hit when it bounced to the distance?"

"...Do you mean...?"

"It hit his ally. I noticed someone from the distance earlier. I made your lightning strike him."

"... That makes...some sense...but how did you figure out they had green rings when they were far enough for us to not notice them?"

"They were running away from our direction."

"That doesn't mean they-"

"If we bumped against green ringed students, we wouldn't run away, we would follow them. If we bumped against blue ringed students, there would be no reason for us to run away. If we bumped against yellow ringed students, there would be no reason for us to run away as well. That's unless we bumped against red ringed students. That's when we run away, right?"

"Yeah, I get all that...but what was the point?"

"I noticed two students running towards our direction earlier, I couldn't see their ring from afar, but if they were to notice something... It isn't our rings, but our abilities."

"Abilities?"

"To make it short, they were running towards us earlier because they thought it was safe to go to our direction. That would only mean, they either saw a violet light or a green light."

"...Wait...so they thought..."

"They saw my forearm glowing green from afar and thought 'hey, there are green ringed people there, I think it's safe to pass there.'"

"If that's true, then why did they run back. They weren't close enough for us to notice them, so they didn't probably see our rings. Unless one of them has a sight ability."

"There was another flashy thing besides my forearm glowing there that made it look like the color of the rings, right?"

"...What? I don't remember anything like that."

"Come on, dude. Isn't there anything shiny and sparkly there that could make it look like as if we were flashing a certain color?"

"...Wait... Do you mean...?"

"That's right...

That friend of yours's golden chain necklace."

Eiji made a face as if he was thinking something else and suddenly agreed with Akira.

'You didn't actually know, didn't you?'

"It shined golden yellow, and made them ran away thinking: 'People with yellow stuff is over there, let's run away.'

I wasn't that sure about it, but at that time. I bet my whole life into thinking 'they would probably be thinking that at that time.'"

Eiji just showed an incredulous expression as if amazed by Akira's antics.

"They could have just ran because they didn't notice there was someone there until they closed in and they were just being wary."

"Well, they were what I thought they were, right? So there shouldn't be any problems."

"Yeah..."

Akira then finished healing Eiji and put his hands on his pockets.

"Seems like we made it pass round one."

"Just a few more rounds to go."

Akira Ishikawa and Kagayaku Eiji passed.

______________________________________

"GRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

"AAAAHHNNN!"

A tall, muscular, tan skinned, violet haired amazon-like woman wearing a blue ring shouted as a lanky plain faced, blushing student, wearing a red ring, was squeezed by her in her arms.

Near them was also another plain looking student wearing a red ring, seemingly unconscious.

"Breeeaasssttsss!", were his final words before he faded.

"I think that's too much, Chou-san."

Megumi, who was also wearing a blue ring, stood right next to Chou, who seemed to look like a large masculine woman but with a large chest and buttocks.

Megumi Sasaki and Tsuyoi Chou passed.

______________________________________

*DRRRRRRR*

"RRRRUUUNNN!!"

Two plain faced guys wearing yellow rings ran as what seems to be a quick spinning spiky ball rolled quickly towards them.

Suddenly...

*BAAAAAAMMMM*

The spiky ball crashed on them and knocked them out.

It kept rolling even after it hit them and made them disappear.

It almost hit a tree when...

*BONG*

A large, soft, brown hair blob that looked like a piece of large dreadlocks stopped it.

The ball then turned into what seems to be a sharp eyed, long messy dark green haired male wearing a red ring with spikes on his back.

"You didn't have to take it too far, Hari-san."

"They were too goddamn weak, you mean."

Kami Nagai and Budonoki Hari passed.

______________________________________

*BAAAMM*

A really short, grader schooler like cute girl who had dark brown twin tailed hair swiftly kicked down a plain faced female.

*BAM*

From behind the girl with the plain girl, Koka hit the back of her neck, rendering her unconscious.

"We did it, Koka-nee!"

"Y-yeah. We did it, Kou-chan."

Koka Kawai and Kou Hayai passed.

______________________________________

Ken was seen standing on top of just beaten up students, together with a guy that has the same hairstyle, although it's brown colored, the same face, although he's darker skinned as him.

The guy also has six arms and a small bandage on his nose that made the biggest difference.

""Join our gym.""

Takahashi Ude and Takahashi Ken passed.

______________________________________

*GLOB BLOB*

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Two plain looking females were trapped unconscious by large goo balls.

A short haired, flat chested female, with black separated hair, large circular eyes, dropped down a large goo ball to them while riding on top of the winged Sora.

"Hehe, you really got some balls."

"SHUT THE HELL UP, SORA!"

Sora Yoshida and Tama Maeda passed.

______________________________________

Izanagi was lying on the ground as two unconscious people who seemed burnt as a black haired medium length haired female, wore black gloves and a facemask and sunglasses pulled on her gloves.

"You could have helped me standing up, you know."

"Too much effort."

Izanagi Watanabe and Kirai Honda passed.

______________________________________

Maiki was kneeling down, trembling, looking tired, as she saw the scene near her.

A large venus flytrap like plant looked as if it ingested a student, before it disappeared.

A light green haired, beautiful mature looking woman, with long eyelashes, her hair tied up at the top, had her arms turned into a Venus flytrap like plant.

She looked like a foreigner, with her longer legs and arms, her tall figure and her large curves.

"Plants really are beautiful, aren't they?"

"W-w-w-WHHHHHHAAAAATTTT!?"

Maiki Kimura and Venus Dubois passed.

______________________________________

Chiyo was patting a large cute bear that was on top of a small cute, circular head girl wearing a bear hoodie.

Chiyo Mayou and Kuma Mayuri passed.

Tomo was trembling beside a corpse-like skinned pale girl wearing an eye patch and a black cape, and has the same hair as him.

Tomo Yurei and Raven Darkwood passed.

Mitsuko was bowing in front of a handsome, noble-like male with gray kempt hair.

He was bowing back to her.

Mitsuko Shimizu and Mitsuo Shimizu passed.

Eiko was standing next to a female who was posing like a ninja wearing a full female ninja suit, a long katana on her back and ninja stars on her belt.

Eiko Kurokku and Shinobu Ito passed.

Daichi had black ink splatted on his head and was showing an incredulous expression as a tall muscular bald guy with a serial killer like mask stood beside him.

Daichi Iro and Kira Minami passed.

Hana had a wry smile, as she stood next to a white haired, blue eyed male with a yukata that made him look sort of like a younger male version of Akira's teacher, the Noh mask wearer, Sakura.

Hana Mizumi and Shinobi Ito passed.

A female wearing a full body feminine knight armor, was bowing down to Avaron as if she was her lord, while Avaron just showed an embarassed annoyed look with her palms pointed at the girl as if trying to stop her.

Avaron Fujimoto and Yoko Kishi passed.

A tall white haired girl looked like she was in bliss as she was knelt down hugging Keima who had an annoyed look and tried to push her off him.

A plain looking girl and guy were beaten down and seemed like they were burnt near them.

Keima Nakamura and Eighth Aris passed.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Hehehehehe.", the blond guy snickered.

Kazuki, was standing next to a sharp eyed guy with a blond undercut.

Beside them, were two unconscious people.

One of which was an old school delinquent like guy, with gold chains on his neck.

And the one next to him... was a light blue upside down heart haired guy.

Kazuki Inoue and Jun Taiho passed.

....

..

.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Yo!"

"You blockhead, I was gonna beat you!"

Akira was sat down in the simulators with Eiji.

They seemed to have been waiting for people, when Keima suddenly came up to Akira.

Behind Keima was a tall, sexy, white haired female who showed a dead uncaring look to Akira.

"Tough luck for you. You're never getting anywhere close to beating me."

"Your ego will be your demise."

"Hey, I'm just stating facts."

"Kei-chan, are these your friends?"

As Akira and Keima bickered, the white haired girl behind Keima suddenly butted in and asked him.

"Friends? This lowly idiot? He's nothing but my admirer."

"In your dreams, you little shit. How'd you get partnered up with-"

The girl suddenly crouched down and hugged Keima from behind while showing Akira an expression as if she's a mother bird protecting her son.

"Kei-chan's mine! You're not taking him from me!"

Akira stared at them as he saw her chest squeeze on the back of Keima's head.

"Get the hell of me, Aris!"

"Come on, Kei-chan! I told you to call me Eight!"

Akira and Eiji showed a blushing jealous look as they saw the hot girl in front of them smothering herself on Keima who was trying to push her away.

"...How'd you fall for this pipsqueak, miss?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU MORON!?"

"Kei-chan's not a pipsqueak, he's my cute little fiancee!"

""FIANCEE!?""

Akira and Eiji both widened their eyes as they heard this.

'Damn, how'd this little fucker get such a hot chick so hung up on him?'

"SHE'S NOT! DON'T BELIEVE THIS WOMAN!"

"Oh come on, Kei-chan! Don't just push me away after we've already made our first child."

""WHAT?""

"SHE'S TALKING ABOUT A ROBOT! A ROBOT! DON'T LISTEN TO HER!"

"Kei-chyaaaaannnn!"

'I wish I also had someone that amazing cling to me...

...

...Wait, what about-'

"Akira-sama!"

Suddenly, from the side, Akira noticed two girls running towards their direction.

One of them had large things on her front that seemed to bounce with their every move.

The one on the left side was an orange haired girl with a side tail, who was short, but cute and had a buxom body, and next to her, was a girl with medium light blue hair, glasses and a deadpan expression on her face.

'Holy shit...'

Akira couldn't help but gaze upon those things that were jiggling with her every step.

"...Akira-sama..?"

"...Uh...yeah? I- I'm sorry I was out of it for a second there."

She was pouting at him with a blushing expression.

"Y-you were looking at my chest earlier, y-you pervert."

"W-What are you talking about? I wasn't looking at anything. I-I was looking at...

...marshmallows...huge bouncing marsh- OW OW OW OW!"

Ai suddenly tugged on Akira's left ear and pulled him to stand up.

"S-sorry... I didn't mean-"

She showed him a bashful, blushing look and whispered on his ear while tiptoeing:

"I-if you really want to... I- I can l-let you-"

Akira blushed from hearing her say this when suddenly...

"Ishikawa-san."

The light blue haired girl with a deadpan expression closed in her face between Ai and Akira and showed an intimidating aura.

"KKYAA!"

"W-What are you doing, Takumi's little sis?"

The two pull away from each other as she came between them.

"I wanted to thank you for saving Ai-sama from being hurt by that horrible person.", she bowed as she thanked him.

"Uh...it's nothing."

"I want to thank you for helping me team up with Ai-sama as well, if it weren't for you, I might never have gathered up courage to invite her to be my partner."

"Y-You don't need to."

'Damn, this is so awkward.'

"I didn't really do much. I wouldn't know about his plans and your desire to partner up with love girl if it weren't for this idiot right here. You should thank him instead."

Akira said as he pointed to Eiji.

The light blue haired girl turned to Eiji and seemed to turn red as she saw him.

Eiji then walked up to her and patted her head.

"Way to go, Tamiko-chan."

She seemed to turn redder as he patted her.

'This dude...'

"So love girl, the pipsqueak-"

"WHAT!?"

"-and I am here. We left earlier to check on the others, they were in other simulators. Guess the only one left is Takumi."

"Big bro sure is taking his time."

Keima and the white haired girl, seemed to look a little dejected after hearing this, although she was still clinging to Keima.

"...Hey...

...about Takumi..."

Akira saw their expression and looked a little concerned.

"What is it?"

"..."

________________________________________________________________________________

Akira's and Eiji's eyes were wide as they saw the scene in front of them.

Takumi had bruises all over his body, was covered in bandages and had casts on both his right arm and left leg.

Gorou also looked the same and had his hair seemingly forcibly torn, but with both of his legs casted instead.

"What the hell happened here!?"

Keima, Eight, Ai, and Tamiko were looking at the two with a look of both fear, concern and slight anger.

"...They were too strong. We had to run away since we didn't want to lose...but they were too slow."

"WHO'S THE HELL IS THE DOLT THAT DID THIS!?"

Keima's fist was trembling as he answered:

"It was that moron....

...Inoue."

Akira stormed out of the clinic with a look of intense rage on his face.

""AKIRA!"""AKIRA-SAMA!""ISHIKAWA-SAN!"

All of them called out his name as he seemed to be rushing somewhere.

"DON'T DO IT, YOU MORON!"

He ran out to the simulator he was once in and looked for someone...

His eyes suddenly met a person who was about to head out of the door with his hands in his pockets.

"COME BACK HERE, INOUE!"

Kazuki, hearing his name being called, looked back at Akira's direction, and was showing a serious but irritated expression.

The others followed after him and hurried towards the direction Akira was heading.

"YOU FUCKING SHITHEAD!"

Akira immediately grabbed his collar as soon as he closed in on him, Kazuki just gripped tightly on his hand looking unfazed.

"HOW SHITTY CAN YOUR ATTITUDE JUST GET, HUH?"

"Let me down, Ishikawa."

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU JUST DID TO TAKUMI AND HIS PARTNER!?"

"We broke his limbs, what about it?"

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GO THAT FAR!"

"If they're that weak, they might as well quit trying to become heroes."

Akira's eyes widened, as Kazuki kept the same expression.

He suddenly trembled as he lost to his anger.

"INOUE!"

Akira's arms started showing glowing green lines, as Inoue's arms started glowing dark blue lines too.

"STOP IT!"

Suddenly, both Akira's and Kazuki's arms suddenly freezed and was enveloped by a black air.

Between them, was a cute timid looking girl with brown hair, a buxom body and glasses.

'She's that pervert second year girl, what's she doing here?'

Keima and the others finally ran up to Akira and pulled his hand away from Kazuki.

The black air immediately dispersed as they did so.

"YOU MORON! WERE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF DISQUALIFIED...?"

"AKIRA-SAMA! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE RAN TO PICK A FIGHT IMMEDIATELY! WHAT IF YOU GET HURT?"

"To be honest, I wanted to do the same."

"EIJI!"

Keima and Ai started scolding Akira as Eiji seemed to sympathize with him, Tamiko immediately called at him though.

"S-sorry...I got a little too-"

"Tch-", Kazuki clicked his tongue as he walked out the door.

Akira's fists were trembling with anger as Kazuki left.

Black air suddenly formed on his arm again.

Akira immediately noticed it and let loose.

"If you don't want me to do it again, you better stop.", the brown haired girl told Akira.

"What are you...?"

"Ummm...Y-you're a second year, aren't you...senpai? What are you doing here in simulator 01?"

She then slightly grinned and said:

"I just came looking for my master."

"Master?", Ai wondered while tilting her head.

Akira suddenly felt a chill on his back and stood up.

"I...gotta go..."

He then ran out of the simulator.

"Master, wait for me!"

The brown haired girl followed.

Ai pouted and seemed to be a bit irritated seeing this.

The others just showed wry smiles, except for Eight.

"..."

Eight just showed a serious expression after watching this scene.

________________________________________________________________________________

"CONGRATULATIONS, RAAAA-CCCHHHHHAAAANNNN!!!"

Akiko suddenly jumped to Akira, who had an incredulous expression.

For some reason, he didn't stop her and let her hug him.

"You passed the first stage, right? Right? Hmmmm...? Aren't you gonna push me away, Ra-chan?"

Akira suddenly hugged her back.

"Is something wrong?"

"....It's nothing..."

She patted his back as they hugged each other.

________________________________________________________________________________

["Inoue-san was outside the training area, and was planning on using his ability from the outside."]

["GET THE HELL BACK HERE ISHIKAWA!"]

[ "YOU TWO WERE THE ONE WHO KILLED HIM!"]

["It was that moron....

...Inoue."]

[Takumi had large and deep looking bruises on his body and he was covered in bandages and had casts on right arm and leg.

Gorou also looked the same and had his hair seemingly forcibly torn, but with both of his legs casted instead.]

Akira was on his bed, wearing a simple shirt and jogging pants and reminisced Eiko's, Keima's and Kazuki's words and the sight of Takumi in the clinic.

["I can't kill you right now, since all these saviors are keeping an eye on us... but one day, I know you'll turn into a villain just like your father... and when that time comes...

...I'll be the one who'll strike you down."]

'Weren't you supposed to be the savior who beats me down when I become the villain?'

Akira then punched the air with obvious anger on his eyes.

'Why are you trying to act like the villain now?'

________________________________________________________________________________

Tournament Day 2

"Mornsies, Akira.", Eiji walked up to Akira as he entered the simulator 1.

"Morning."

Akira suddenly noticed the number of people around them.

"Are we in the wrong simulator, or...?"

"No. What you're seeing right now is the results of the tournament."

"That can't be, right?"

Akira was shocked to see how few people are situated in the area they were in.

About 40-50 people were left in this area, it's as if a large part of the 122 people they met yesterday all disappeared suddenly.

"The match yesterday wasn't just fighting you know. Some probably broke the no alliance rule, some probably fought against people who aren't their targets and some probably ran out of targets, that would immediately count as a loss."

"...Oh yeah, I forgot about that...but still-"

"Morning, Akira."

"Good morning, Akira!"

"Akira...Good m-morning..."

"Akira-sama, good morning!"

"Good morning."

"Morning."

Kami, Megumi, Koka, Ai, and Keima came to greet Akira.

"Y-yeah, morning everyone."

Akira was a bit shaken seeing them here, but greeted them back anyways.

"Why are you guys here? I get love girl and this little shit, but what about you guys?"

"..."

Akira suddenly grabbed Keima and noogied him.

"Get off me, Akira."

Akira felt a little awkward and let go of Keima.

"Haven't you heard? They've decided to split the first years in two simulators instead of one since yesterday's tournament lessened our numbers greatly.", Kami told Akira.

"Now, Ken and the others are in simulator 2 instead of 3. Most of us are in there.", Keima explained.

"What about your partners, where-"

Akira suddenly noticed Eiji wasn't where he stood anymore.

He was chatting to what seems to be a group of savior students from further away.

'That guy has some insane stealth abilities.'

"Big bro is still happily speaking with his comrades.", Mitsuko replied.

"My partner's still with her friends.", Megumi replied as well.

"She's right here."

Suddenly, a messy haired figure suddenly appeared about a centimeter before Akira's face.

"Izanagi!"

Akira suddenly fell down shocked from seeing Izanagi's face up close.

Keima snickered from this, Megumi giggled, Koka showed an incredulous expression, Kami smiled and put his hands behind his head while Ai showed a shaken expression.

Beside him came a black haired female who also had messy black hair, wore black gloves and a facemask and sunglasses.

"The hell, man?"

"Heh, you looked like you were nervous so I just had to."

"You-"

"Keima."

Suddenly, Izanagi turned to Keima who was standing there with a nonchalant expression.

Akira and the others seemed a bit shocked to see Izanagi showing a serious expression as he looked at him.

"Remember the group battles we had a few months back."

Keima suddenly reminisced the events during that day...

'I remember... I couldn't even hold my ground against Izanagi and Mizumi's strategy back then, I was able to force him to be reckless though.'

"What about it?"

"You see..."

Izanagi put his hands in his pockets and suddenly...

*CHJIW*

...teleported centimeters away from Keima's face while slouching.

His eyes widened as he pulled back.

"...what?"

"I might not look like it, but I really hate to lose."

"You..."

"I heard you got yourself a pretty strong partner, so how about we make a bet?"

Keima's wide eyes suddenly turned into a confident grin as he looked back at Izanagi.

"What do you want?"

"How about if I win, I get to have a date with your woman?"

"My woman...?"

Keima suddenly noticed that Izanagi was staring at someone behind him.

"Aris."

"Are you underestimating my Kei-chan?"

Izanagi suddenly showed a devious smile.

"I'm not underestimating him, I just want to look for a good woman to have a date with."

"You-"

"Sure, let's do it."

Keima suddenly agreed to the bet which shocked the others.

"You- Keima, what the hell?"

"It doesn't matter as long as I win, right?"

Akira who was showing a shocked expression, shook his head and deviantly grinned.

"Guess there's just no stopping you, huh?"

The others looked a bit curious and looked at the two.

"Kei-chan..."

"If I win, you get to be my slave for a whole month."

Izanagi looked a bit hesitant, but brushed it off.

"I'm not looking forward to that."

Keima then closed in on Izanagi.

"Guess we'll finally see who can support better, huh?"

"I won't be losing to a stupid mutt anytime soon."

The two stood in front of each other with sharp stares and held out their fists.

"May the best man win."

"Huh."

They both showed confident grins as they stared back at each other's faces.

"By the way, how are you guys planning to fight with each other in the first place? We can't just pick what color rings we get, right?"

Everyone suddenly fell hearing Akira's words.

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY NOTHING BUT AN ILLITERATE MORON?"

"Akira-sama, did you not listen to the announcement yesterday?"

"Akira, my man. You gotta stop being clueless at least once."

"That's what you get for going home early."

""""""...."""""

"I...

...have my reasons."

________________________________________________________________________________

The second stage of the SS tournament.

Base destruction.

Two pairs will be battling against each other to destroy each other's so called 'bases'.

Each pair will be given one large round capsule, that will be considered their 'base'.

The base is made of a special material, that will deduce the amount of damage done to it and show it's 'hp' or amount of damage needed before it gets destroyed.

Both pairs are required to destroy the opposing pair's base, while preventing their base from getting destroyed.

Fighting against the other team is allowed, but nonetheless, unnecessary.

The team who manages to destroy the other pair's base, wins the fight!

"So if the first stage was a free for all, elimination battle, this is like a 'destroy the castle' one."

"Yup, that's it."

Akira and Eiji were seated at the walls near the simulator's exit, watching something from Eiji's phone screen.

Ai sat at the other side of Akira, with the Takumi's little sister, Tamiko also watching something from their individual phone screens.

Kami, Megumi, Koka and Izanagi left to fight as well.

"Isn't this basically just a one pair v one pair?"

"That might be true, except those who have mobile, and vision abilities might have the advantage when it comes to this. Since the destruction of the base is the only condition for winning, even if you do beat the opposing pair, if you ran out of time before finding their capsule, you still lose."

Akira slightly widened his eyes from this.

"That's weird, they never told us about a time limit."

"They don't tell us. It's a necessity for a student of S.U. to understand the importance of time according to the teachers. These tournaments are usually held and scheduled in three to four days only, if someone delays or forces the schedule to be held back, they'd immediately be disqualified."

"Defeating other students will be a hassle, so searching and detecting the capsule would be an easier option then, huh? To not cross that time limit."

"That's why mobility and sight specialists are the best at this. Defense and offense is a great aspect, but since they will have to protect a large ball, it'll be hard to destroy the other side's base. Offense too, would be hindered since they have to protect something. The best way to go about it is to hide the ball."

The phone screen showed a live video that was split to two as Akira watched the two pairs with their partners.

Yesterday, when Akira went home, they announced the pairings for the second stage, and the two pairs who were supposed to go against each in one of the simulstor areas today was Izanagi and Keima.

"You sure you wanna watch them? What about your buds or something?"

"It's fine. I already know my classmates' abilities, and besides..."

Eiji curled his eyebrows and showed a serious expression.

"None of these fights matter to me for now."

Akira stared at Eiji's expression, and noticed his mood.

'Guess I'm not the only one pissed about what happened yesterday, huh?'

He then turned his head around the simulator searching for a certain figure.

'Did they separate us or something for being too aggressive yesterday?...or is it just me being paranoid...?'

He then turned his expression to a serious one..

'Either way... I hope no one gets like that in our class again...'

[Takumi had large and deep looking bruises on his body and he was covered in bandages and had casts on right arm and leg.]

'Inoue...'

________________________________________________________________________________

"Kei-chan, are you sure you're okay?"

"What about you? Are you really fine with continuing this? Don't you think I just intentionally accepted this bet just to get rid of you?"

The tall white haired girl, Eight just smiled at him while blushing.

They were inside what seems to be an abandoned city environment, with debris of ruined buildings, rocks, burnt houses in it.

They were hiding in an alley in between two ruined houses.

"You're never gonna do that Kei-chan!"

She suddenly clung to him looking satisfied as she patted his head.

'She's really just okay with that?...'

"I know I might have acted rash, but still LET ME GO, WOMAN-"

"Battle begins in 3."

"Let's get ready."

The tall woman suddenly showed white lines on her right arm and turned it into a large robotic arm.

Keima pulled out 4 PSPs from his bag and lashed out yellow wire like lines from his forearms and made them attach to the 4 PSPs.

The 4 PSPs flashed and turned into a robot about slightly taller than Keima.

"2."

He then climbed up the robot and sat on it's shoulders.

"1."

"Run."

"Begin."

As soon as they heard 'Begin', Keima and the girl immediately ran away from the area.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM*

Suddenly, as they ran away, the two houses they were in between exploded, breaking the walls near the alley.

"I knew you would play like that."

Izanagi suddenly came out of the broken walls, with a girl wearing a face mask, sunglasses, black gloves had messy black hair walking beside him.

"You would always try to finish off things as quick as possible since you get bored too easily."

"Wut?"

Izanagi just showed a bored expression that pissed Keima off.

"You must be the enemies we are up against.", the girl next to Izanagi said as she walked in front of him.

"I am Kirai Honda, it's nice to meet both of you.", she said as she bowed to them.

"Missile shot."

Five missiles were immediately shot by Eight towards Kirai's direction.

"Let's go!"

Izanagi suddenly tapped on her back, as Keima and Eight started running.

"I don't know what they're planning, but that girl is a huge nuisance... Her bombs seem to have much more explosive ability than yours, if we get caught in it-"

*beep*

*BOOOOOOOMMM*

As Keima and Eight ran in betwen two buildings and curved down their targeted direction, a strong bomb quickly went off in front of them.

Smoke covered the area they were, as two people suddenly teleported there.

"You two don't seem like too much of a handful.", the girl said as she stared at the smoke with bored eyes.

"You're just too smart."

"They were the ones who were stupid enough to fall for my trap."

"People don't usually guess what their enemies next actions are that easily, unless they have some sort of prediction ability."

"Well, maybe I just am."

The two walked towards the smoke that was left from the bomb.

"They got away."

Pieces of burnt metal was the only things left on the burning ground.

Izanagi then walked towards her back with his hands on his pockets and tapped on her shoulder.

"Let's go."

They suddenly disappeared as they teleported away.

End of Chapter 17

____________________________________

Ok, first of all. You might think 'why is Akira, Eiji, Ai and Tamiko just resting and not fighting in the tournament's second part.

The simulators are sort of battleground creators that can create a large area.

For the second stage of the tournament though, they decided to separate students so a solo 2v2 base destruction battle would be done.

That is why students are forced to have separate simulations in one simulator area.

They have much more wider ground to fight in, but due to giving each 2v2 students a wider ground, there's none left for some.

Meaning they fights are in separate ground in the same simulator.

So they made 6 pairs fight first.

I also made the others fight first so they can all watch Akira's match afterwards.

Another thing is that people are probably not looking forward to a match between side characters.

The thing is, this is all build-up so don't worry.

I basically made this as well to explain one thing Keima did in an earlier chapter.

We're gonna get to the finals in about 2 or 3 chapters. Look forward to it!