"When's Ra-chan's turn, Io-chan? I'm so nervous! What if his opponent hurt him! Ra-chan's gonna be in dang-"

"Mom... Calm down. Have some faith for bro, he's got this. He's not the old Akira, he's better now."

"Yeah! Don't worry...m-mom! Big bro can handle it!"

Akiko, Akio and Ana were sat on the audience seats near the opposite side facing class 1-2, chatting with each other.

It was decided that only the first years were having a match for the first, second and third day, and the following days is when the other years' matches start.

It was made a part of the student's attendance record to attend the tournaments, whether they are battlers, or just bystanders, so Akio and the other year students, were all gathered around the colliseum's audience seats, observing the first years' battles.

Parents and loved ones were allowed to watch, as long as they have a connection with the school, the council, or the hidden side of the government.

This means that a lot of alumni, professional saviors and supports, agents from the government and council officials were all gathered here to watch this big event.

People of all shapes and sizes swarm around this place to watch who would emerge as a victor, what kind of abilities the apprentices hold and who would have the most potential to become a villain.

As pretty and flashy as this event might come as, this is also used as a judging scale by the council to determine whether a student could go berserk and lean in the dark side.

Thus, varieties of people are gathered, together with the non-participating students to watch the first years' tournaments.

______________________________________

"Heya!", Eiji greeted with a smile, as Akira walked in the room.

"Yo!", he replied.

They were in what seems to be the room before the entrance of the arena.

In there were two seats, a table, a blackboard, chalk and stuff that makes it look like a briefing room for pairs before they head to battle.

Akira and Eiji were supposed to be the next pair to fight against another pair, but due to the last pair slightly demolishing the arena, they had to wait here until the arena was fully repaired.

"I saw the last match. That Chou and Kou girl were really something, huh? Your girlfriends were really pushing it to the very edge too."

"They're not my girlfriends, dumbass. Cut the jokes, can we talk about our match for now?", Akira replied with a somewhat pissed off tone.

Eiji slightly widened his eyes seeing him like this.

"Hmmm...? Something wrong? You don't seem as confident as I thought you'd be.", Eiji asked while tilting his head.

"Let's just say I bumped into some shit before coming here. Anyways...who are we dealing with today?", he replied while calming himself down.

"Hmmm... Well, I already knew you'd have no idea. So I've already prep'd up a plan for us to follow...but I'm still not completely sure it'll work though, especially since I lack the info I need.", Eiji explained while showing bright smile.

Akira raised his right eyebrow hearing this and asked him: "By. 'you lack the info, do you mean...'"

Eiji nodded while crossing his arms.

"This is where our teamwork will shine.", Eiji told Akira with a smug grin.

______________________________________

"Next up are our two beeming contestants, Kagayaku Eiji from the first year Savior class 1-4, and Ishikawa Akira, from the first year Support class 1-2!", announced States.

From the arena entrance, came out Akira and Eiji.

Eiji walked out while smiling and showing peace signs to the audience, while Akira had his hands in his pockets while he entered the stage, trying to keep his face pointed to the ground.

"I love me a great audience, am I right, Akirachi?", Eiji told him while blowing a kiss to the audience.

"Y-you bastard.", Akira nervously replied.

Most of Akira's classmates, his family members, and Eiji, have already realized Akira's hatred for crowd and attention.

Especially with the sheer amount of people watching, there was no leeway for Akira to run to.

He has always been fighting and is confident with his skills on battle, but he never likes to show off especially since he doesn't really have confidence with his stature and appearance.

Having a brother like Akio, who's figure is constantly glued to surrounding female's eyes, there is no doubt he'd grow to consider himself unattractive.

His glare makes people fear him, his aura makes him seem like he's picking a fight, his style is always rowdy and wild.

Akira believes that he has an impression of strength to people; he has portrayed himself as that, and wished to do so.

...but when it comes to his habits, his appearance, his overall persona, he believes he's just an ant compared to that of Akio's.

Akio has this atmosphere of gentleness and warmth around him.

If he so wish, he could probably pass off as a famous celebrity, not only with his appearance but with his powerful charisma and kindness.

He believes that he could only bring disappointment to the people's eyes if they realize that they're acquainted and the pressure to not ruin his brother's reputation, plus his fear to be judged by others has caused him to crawl into a hole of stage fright.

"Man, I still remember that day when I realized about your stage fright."

"...Shut the fuck up, Eiji."

["Why didn't she tell her?", Akira asked with a curious expression.

It was during the time when Eiji invited Akira to that cafe.

After Akira accepted Eiji's proposal to team up with him, Eiji decided to inform Akira something.

"Well, Tamiko's a bit shy, especially since she thinks a cute girl like your friend would definitely already have tons of people asking for her partnership.", Eiji replied while petting a cat on his lap.

Akira slightly smiled hearing about this.

'I knew it.'

Ai's ability is a bit different than other supports.

Her ability was basically worthless when teamed up with most saviors.

Although her ability could be grouped in the 'mind-controlling abilities', most of the time, users of those abilities, have a hard time pairing up with Saviors.

Impact attacks, attacks that deal direct hits, ranged attacks, those pair the worst with mind controllers.

Since dealing a hit would strike the targets back to their normal 'uncontrolled' state, pairing up with those people will basically be useless.

If Eiji pairs up with Ai, they might be able to deal a hit, but after striking his lightning, the target would be back to normal and wouldn't be under her love spell anymore.

That's why, most people wouldn't want to pair with her.

Most Saviors' abilities turn their bodyparts into weaponry, artillery and likes.

Pairing up with her would give them a disadvantage.

Akira felt a little down realizing this, and saw a glimmer of hope when he heard Eiji's statement.

He didn't want to judge Ai's decisions and wanted to give Ichiro a chance whether he might actually be a good partner for her, but seeing that their abilities don't really match each other, got him quite skeptical of Ichiro's intentions.

Ai was in a vulnerable state.

Since she had an ability that wouldn't work well with most Savior students, no one requested her to be her partner.

Ichiro's ability didn't complement hers and most Savior students probably wouldn't either.

'Superstrength, flames, ice, lightning, lasers, blades, gun creation, none of those would work with love girl's ability.', Akira thought.

'...but with Takumi's lil sister's ability...

They'd work like a charm.', he smiled while deliberating.

"So, this means we're in it to win it now, right? Akira-pon?"

"Don't call me that.", Akira replied with an annoyed expression.

"Then let's be sure to kick ass and make them watch a masterpiece of a show!", Eiji told Akira, with a bright smile and his arms stretched up.

"..."

Akira, hearing this somehow changed his expression into a shocked one.

"What's up? Did I say something wrong?", Eiji asked with a confused expression as he put his stretched hands behind his head.

"What do you mean 'make THEM watch'?", Akira asked with a concerned expression.

"... Don't tell me, don't you know that-"]

"Of course this would be observed by thousands of people, Savior University is one of the most prestigious supernatural training schools, you know? It even has the word 'Savior' in it!"

"...Shut the hell up."

Akira was a little nervous, but decided to just keep his eyes in front of him and avoid looking at the audience.

'I need to keep my feet on the ground. I came here for a reason after all.', Akira thought.

'Inoue... I'll make sure we'll stand face to face at this stage.'

"And at the other side, are two hot hot topics of our university. From their childhood, they worked their way up the showbiz business and became some of the most popular celebrities ever.

Let's give it up for Orochi Suriza from the first year Savior class 1-8 and Shinichi Kemuri from the first year Support class 1-9!", States announced.

"""AAAAHHH!!! SHINICHI-SAMA! OROCHI-SAMA!"""

A bunch of girls from the audience started screaming and cheering seeing them come out of the entrance.

From there, came out two stylish handsome men.

One had thick darkish white kempt hair, an attractive mature face with sharp yellow eyes and a necklace with a what seems to be a 'cross' pendant worn above his tracksuit.

He walked with his hands in his pockets as he stretched his neck and tilted his head.

The other guy was wearing what seems to be a red beanie, had brown hair, circular eyes and a bright smile that made him seem like a cheery person.

"Seems like they outshadow us, huh? Although they're basically just the popular version of us.", Eiji told Akira with a bright smile.

Truthfully, if you compare Akira and Eiji with Orochi and Shinichi, they both seemed like they match each other.

Akira's intimidating, but attractive face matches Orochi's handsome bad boy aura, while Eiji's cheery outlook could match up to Shinichi's cheery smile.

From the looks of things, it may seem like they might even get along with each other, with the similarities they show.

"The hell are you talking about? They don't match us at all.", Akira replied to him with a sort of relieved expression, except he still kept his glare.

Since most of the attention was brought to the other side, Akira felt a bit calmer.

"Are you trying to imply that you're too good for us?", Orochi, replied from a distance.

Akira was slightly surprised by his sudden reply and turned to their direction.

"What are you-"

Akira's eyes widen as he saw their expressions.

Both of them, even the cheery looking Shinichi were glaring with anger at Akira.

"Ishikawa Akira, am I right? Aren't you the same person who admitted 'using' one of your classmates?", Orochi told him with an expression of detest.

"That's-"

"He's right! His voice! It was that guy from the Savior watch website!"

"Seriously? That pervert? Why didn't they expell that guy?"

"Didn't he save that girl though?"

"He admitted to 'using' that girl! He's a disgusting lecherous!"

"That lucky- I mean scummy criminal! Guys like him should be in jail!"

'This fucker!'

Since the time Akira saved Ai, the video he streamed has been shared thousands of times and had been seen by most of the students in the school.

It went so viral that even outsiders, some of the Savior council members, and professionals have seen the supposedly 'heroic' video Akira put up.

Akira intimidated Ichiro to bring out his real character; he needed to let out some words back then that would anger him or else he wouldn't get the response he wanted.

Not only does Ichiro have a large sum of fans that would probably defend his misdeeds and without proper evidence, no one would believe him when he tells them how much of a bad person he was.

["He's a sketchy guy."], Eiji told him back then.

Eiji revealed to Akira how it was rumored how he usually hangs out with shy, clumsy girls then after a week or so, he wouldn't linger around the girl any more.

Some say that he was only flirting a little, and it wasn't something quite dangerous, since there was no proof he was going after vulnerable girls to prey upon, then leaving them once he took what he wanted.

Akira realized his schemes with not only the unnatural pairing he had with Ai, but also with the guy he usually sticks around with.

He realized what he was up to and devised a plan to reveal his character.

Unfortunately, he realized his choice of words may have been a tad too much for a live broadcast.

He realized this after hearing the rumors that came around, and after facing those perverted girls, but he had no intentions of clearing his name up, except to those people he cares about.

"TEACH THAT PERVERT A LESSON, OROCHI! YOU CAN DO THIS! WE BELIEVE IN YOU!", suddenly, a guy who was holding a giant doodle of the words 'Megumiac' earlier cheered.

"BEAT SOME SENSE INTO HIM SHINICHI SENPAI! WE'RE ROOTING FOR YOU!", a guy who was holding a giant doodle of the words 'Koka Love' earlier cheered.

Cheers from not only the girls but also some boys resounded throughout the area.

"Boy, they really do hate him, huh.", Kami commented with a wry smile from his seat.

"G-go! Akira-sama! I-I believe in you!", Ai cheered with a low voice.

"Don't let what the others are saying get to you.", Izanagi cheered with a really quiet voice as if he was to lazy to try to speak the words.

"Hehehe. You can do this, Ishikawa!", Sora cheered without energy.

Most of Akira's close friends and people who have 'strong feelings for him' weren't there.

So even if the few friends of Akira left in the audience seats tried to cheer, they didn't really leave that much impact.

Keima, Takumi, Ken, Megumi and Koka were all brought to the hospital.

Due to this, none of Keima's snarky remarks, Takumi's serious monologues, Ken's powerful hyping, Megumi's enthusiastic cheers and Koka's cute encouragement could be heard.

There was one though, one person who cheered for Akira, that made a great impact to the whole arena.

"GO, RA-CHAN! YOU CAN DO IT! I BELIEVE IN YOU! BEAT THESE PRETTY BOY PUNKS!", Akiko cheered while holding her two hands in front of her mouth like a tube.

Beside her was Akio who was scratching his cheek with a wry smile.

Next to him was Ana, who had a bright smile.

"DON'T LET THESE PEOPLE BRING YOU DOWN! MOM BELIEVES IN YOU!", she continued.

Akira laid his head down lower with embarassment hearing this.

"Man, do you ever have such an eccentric mom, Akira love!", Eiji told him with a bright smile.

"Guuuuhhhhh..."

'Mom, you're fanning the goddamn flames here!', Akira thought.

'As much as I appreciate her encouragement, she could really just tone down her voice.', he continued.

"Seems like you're a momma's boy, huh?", Orochi continued to intimidate Akira.

"I kind of feel like you fuckers aren't really the kind who should be showing up in TV.", Akira replied.

"Heh, could you believe this guy, Orochi? He's got such an ego for a prick.", Shinichi insulted him as well.

"Hey now, can you guys tone down the insults? Let's all just stop arguing, can we-", Eiji butted in, trying to stop them from arguing, but suddenly-

"Ishikawa Akira.", Orochi interrupted.

He glared at Akira and pulled his right hand from his pocket.

He then pointed his index finger at Akira.

"This is where you die.", he told him with a serious detesting expression.

'What is up with these dudes? I thought they just wanted to provoke me because we're enemies in the tournament, but they seem like they had some sort of grudge against me.', Akira thought with confusion.

"Uhhh... S-should we start now?", States ask them feeling a bit nervous.

The two have been arguing for a while and States has been trying to announce the start of their battle, but wasn't able to, especially since the audience's cheers and boos were too loud.

"Do it.", Orochi commanded, without breaking eye contact with Akira.

"W-well then...", States nervously replied.

"Match..."

Akira's right arm started to glow, as Eiji's palm did so too.

Orochi's body was started glowing and triball tattoo like lines showed up.

His eyes started turning yellow like some sort of reptile.

Shinichi slightly squatted down and put his two palms forward, a grey glowing circle showed up on his palms as he prepared.

"Start!"

As soon as she announced that, Orochi started dashing forward.

Akira quickly jumped in in front of Eiji as he started charging violet lightning in his palm.

Suddenly though...

*PWWWWWHHHOOOOSSSHHH*

Smoke suddenly flooded the whole arena.

The smoke was so thick and dark, that the audience couldn't see anything that went on.

"What? What's going on?"

"Smoke?"

"It's so thick, I can't see!"

"What happened?"

"This is-"

"No, this is the work of-"

The audience started chattering to each other as they saw the smoke that flooded the area.

"Yep, this is Shinichi Kemuri's ability.", Eiji commented.

"Smoke screen.", he continued.

The whole arena went dark and hardly visible, not only to the audience but also to Akira and Eiji.

Though they could hardly see each other, Akira closed in on Eiji's front, so they won't be separated.

"Seems like we're in for a ride.", Akira replied.

["Shinichi Kemuri. I watched his group battles and I gotta say, he does have quite an ability, but he doesn't seem that dangerous."

Back at the room before the entrance of the arena. Akira and Eiji were discussing about their plan against their opposing pair.

"Still, his ability seems like it'll be a pain in the ass. Especially since we both don't have an ability that could aid our visibility.", Akira told Eiji.

"Hmmm.", Eiji replied with a smile.]

"If our enemies play the smart game, they would strike you first.", Akira told Eiji.

"Since I'm a defense-oriented ability user, I should be the least of their priorities, but..."

"They seem to have a strong grudge at you.", Eiji replied.

Akira nodded.

'I better be careful-'

Suddenly, an unusual sound was heard.

"Hissss..."

Akira's eyes slightly widen as he heard that.

"That's-"

Before he could finish his sentence though...

"WHAT'S UP?"

A figure came running next to Akira and Eiji.

He was barely seen by them, because of the thick smoke, but by just his voice, they realized who it was.

"Shit!"

Akira quickly ran next to Eiji.

It was Shinichi.

He covered his hand in some sort of a bubble of smoke and lashed out a punch aiming at Eiji.

*BAAM*

*TAAANG*

Before he could hit him though, Akira blocked his punch with his shield.

"Heh.", Shinichi responded with a smirk.

Akira quickly turn his sights towards the side seeing this.

'Shit! The smoke's too thick! I can't see-'

*BAAAM*

"GAAHHHH"

A strong punch from the side suddenly struck at him.

Akira was punched away to a distance.

"Uh! God fucking dammit!"

From the distance, through the thick shrouds of smoke, Akira heard quick footsteps.

'SHIT! THEY GOT US!'

Using Eiji as bait, they tricked them into thinking he was their target, just to get Akira to lower his guard.

'I gotta be careful.'

He picked himself up and brushed off his cheek.

'I knew he would be strong, but... I didn't expect he'd be-'

"DIE!"

Suddenly, from the clouds of smoke, came out a bizzare figure.

"FUCKER!"

Akira quickly blocked with his shield as it tried to bite him with it's large and threatening like mouth.

"DIE! ISHIKAWA AKIRA!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! SNAKE DICK!"

A large snake head was biting onto Akira's shield.

["Orochi Suriza. He's a weird fucker, that guy.", Akira commented.

Back at the entrance room before the arena, Akira and Eiji's discussion flashed back again.

"A shape shifter, huh? He does have a weird ability for a pretty boy.", Eiji replied.

"...but I'd give this to him. He thought of the perfect partner for his case."

"Yeah. Shinichi's ability does complement his well, especially since-"]

'Snakes' eyes have night vision.', Akira thought.

Orochi now has a cobra's head, a scaled green body and claws for his hands.

His tracksuit's shirt seem to have been thrown away as he was shirtless.

He was, though, still wearing the necklace he wore earlier.

*TANG*

Orochi held Akira's shield with his hands and squeezed on it tightly.

'What is he-'

Suddenly, cracks started forming on the shield Akira was blocking with.

'SHIT!'

Akira quickly detached the shield from his forearm, turned back, and tried to run away but-

*THUMP THUMP*

Akira suddenly felt weak and fell to the ground.

He immediately caught himself before he could completely fall to the ground though, and posed there on all fours.

'THIS IS-'

"Venom.", Orochi told him, while showing off his snake tongue.

"You would think if a snake shape shifter has a venom ability, they'd use it as quickly as possible, right?"

Akira's eyes widen, as he realized.

He slowly put his hand on the cheek Orochi punched.

"How did you-"

"All I needed to do was to get my venom in your blood. I didn't have to bite you like what a regular venomous snake would do.", he continued.

'SHIT-'

*BAAAM*

"GUUAAAHH!"

He stomped down on Akira's back, making him lie face first down on the ground.

"This is what scum like you deserve."

*BAAAM*

"AUUGGHH!"

He stomped again another time, this time, forming cracks on the ground with Akira's body.

*BAAAM BAAM BAAM*

"AAUUUGHHH! GAAAHH!!"

He kept stomping on Akira's back as if he was crushing an ant on his path.

Blood started dripping from Akira's mouth as he continued to feel Orochi's stomps.

'GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!'

Suddenly, Akira forced himself to create a shield on his back.

*BAM*

Orochi stomped on his back, but was stopped by the shield.

Seeing this, he stopped stomping on Akir, walked towards his head and squatted down.

"GUUH!"

He then pulled Akira's head by his hair.

"Huh. You still have some strength on you? Why don't you just accept your punishment, you criminal.", Orochi told him with detest in his eyes.

"...I'LL BEAT... Y-YOUR GODDAMN ASS... FOR THIS.... FU-"

*BAAAM*

"GAAAH!"

Orochi quickly smashed Akira's face on the floor.

Akira started bleeding from his nose.

Orochi then pulled Akira by the hair again and stared at him.

"You really think you're in a by position to talk back at me at this point, you scum?"

"...GODDAMN YOU... W-WHAT THE HELL DID I EVER... DO TO YOU SHITTY FUCKS...!?", Akira growled with an exhausted glare in his eyes.

"Huh. After you did that to her? You're just gonna pretend like nothing happened? People like you don't deserve to live.", Orochi told Akira.

"What...the fuck...are you...?"

"... If you're dying to know, how about I tell you?"

*PUGG*

"GUUH!"

Orochi then let go of Akira's head making him smash his head on the floor.

'SH...it...'

Orochi then stood up and turned towards the audience, even with the smoke blocking everyone.

He then turned his sight towards the sky, blocked out by all the thick smoke.

"Sasaki Megumi.", Orochi stated.

'Pink girl?'

"What the... hell are you on...about!?", Akira asked him with anger.

"It was a few months ago...when it happened."

["As a former celebrity, I'm used to only drive around places, trying to avoid causing unnecessary attention from people."

In an expensive looking car, Orochi sat on the passenger seat staring at the window.

"...One day though, I saw something unusual."

'Hmmm?

Who's that?'

"From the passenger's window, as my driver drove me to the academy, I saw a figure.

It was some girl, sneakily hiding in an alley near our school.

... I could only see her from afar back then, but as soon as I saw her... I realized...

She was beautiful."]

Akira tried wiggling himself as Orochi continued his monologue.

'Augh! My body's still slightly numb, but his venom's slowly wearing off. If only if I could...', Akira thought.

[Supermodels, celebrities, I've met and have been approached by lots of attractive women my whole life.

...but she was different...

She had a certain charm with her, that's incomparable to any of the women I've ever met.]

'I gotta-'

[Every single day, I watched her from the passenger window, sneaking in that alley.]

'...'

[Finally, one day... I saw it.

There were four people, who were walking their way towards the school entrance.

There were two seniors I haven't met before...

Sasaki-san...

...and...

You..]

"It was you, Ishikawa Akira...

The person she has been waiting for...

The man who she waited for aimlessly everyday."

[And from that time...

I saw her figure from the passenger's window, and saw...

That she was showing the most beautiful smile I've ever seen my whole life...

....but the person she directed that smile to...

...Wasn't even looking at her.]

"In the end, no matter how much you don't notice her charm. I decided to just let it go. As long as she's happy, I'm fine with it."

...

"...but just when I thought everything was okay..."

["Oh by the way. Ai's mine. I've used her so many times before you.", Akira said as he approached Ai and patted her head.]

"YOU JUST WENT AND FOOLED AROUND WITH A GIRL BESIDES HER!"

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"That's why, I'll never forgive the likes of-"

Orochi finally turned down to see Akira not lying on the ground anymore.

*BAAAAAAMMMM*

"TCH-"

Suddenly, Akira banged a shield onto the back of Orochi's head.

It didn't seem to have dealt that much damage though.

He slightly twitched, but he stood still.

"I figured.", Akira commented as he jumped back and ran away.

"YOU SCUM!"

"I'm done with your shit, you fucking prick!"

'Shit. It's so dark. I can't see anything.'

*PWWWHHOOSSSH*

From Akira's back, he heard a sudden swish.

'He's coming!'

Quickly, Akira stopped in his tracks and jumped to the side.

"SHAAA!", Orochi voiced as he jumped out.

He was planning to bite Akira, but before he could, he quickly dodged him.

"TAKE THIS!", Shinichi, suddenly screamed as he jumped in and targeted a punch towards Akira.

"Tch-"

*TANG*

Akira quickly blocked his attack with his shield.

"You fucker! Fooling around with another girl and hurting my Koka!"

"What the fuck is wrong with you guys?"

"Just like Orochi, I saw her everyday, waiting for you to come, and her unique charm-"

Akira quickly turned back and headed back to the direction where he came from.

"I'M NOT FINISHED, YOU-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU HORNY FUCKING CREEPOS!"

Akira quickly ran away, he didn't have a direction he could safely say is secure to go to.

Since the smoke blocks the view, he just might accidentally stepped out of the arena.

'THIS IS IT. WE HAVE TO DO IT. I DIDN'T WANT TO DO THIS, BUT-'

Akira kept running as Orochi and Shinichi followed him.

He immediately squatted down once he realized they were close enough to him.

They were about to jump at him when suddenly-

"DO IT!", Akira screamed out.

"LIGHTNING LASH!"

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

A large beam of lightning struck towards the area above Akira.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!"

"GGGAAAAAHHH!!""

Orochi and Shinichi were caught in this and shook as the lightning hit their bodies.

"WHAT? WHAT JUST HAPPENED?"

"What's that flash of light?"

"Lightning?"

"That's...", Tamiko, who was sat with a bunch of other students, slightly widen her deadpan eyes as she saw the light.

After a moment, they fell to the ground unconscious.

The smoke started to clear up quickly as soon as Shinichi fainted.

"O-orochi-senpai..."

"Did they just..."

"What is-"

The smoke finally cleared up and the audience saw the full picture of what happened.

"Shi...Shinichi-senpai?"

"O-orochi-senpai... They..."

"""WHAAAATTTTTT??"""

A lot of the audience started booing and some cheered as they saw these events that unfolded.

Down on the arena, was Eiji, who was completely unhurt.

He was panting and was exhausted striking out a large scale attack, but unlike Akira and their opponents, he was completely void of any injuries.

'... So they weren't the perfect pair after all.', Eiji thought.

['Dammit! I can't fight while moving! I need to group up with-', Eiji thought as Akira was punched away by Orochi.

"Where the hell are you!?", voiced Shinichi.

*Whoosh pwwhooossshhh whoosh*

"..."

"Come at me and fight like a man! I'll have at it at that scum after you!", Shinichi again, voiced out in the darkness.

"..."

'...Does he not...

See me?']

'In that cloud of smoke, the only one who could see us was Suriza Orochi-san.

Kemuri Shinichi-san, although he was the one who deployed all that smoke, he wasn't able to see through it.

So their plan was basically... Just have Suriza-san take down all of us by himself.'

["So what do you think we should do?", Akira asked Eiji.

"They'd probably aim for a sight advantage and whip out as much smoke that would block our sights. Your aim isn't that perfect from the start, and now they even have us more of a disadvantage.", he continued.

"... I know...and that's because...", Eiji replied.

"Your attacks might hit me too.", Akira responded.

"Judging from the info we have right now, you might be the one who has the least chance to take them down.", Eiji explained.

"Yeah... So that's why..."

"I have to do 'that' then?"

"... We'll do that only if we really need to."

"You scared?"

"... I might be."]

"Well...", Eiji said with a wry smile as he stared at the scene in front of him.

"I kind of understand why you didn't want me to use it in the first place."

Orochi and Shinichi were laying on the ground unconscious, as Akira, who was squatting down stayed there.

There were bits and pieces of a broken shield on the ground, as a breeze passed by Akira's back.

Due to the large lightning that struck them.

The clothing on Akira's back was burned to a crisp.

Burnt marks were seen on it as he sat there.

"Uhhh...ummm... Ishikawa-san?", States called on Akira.

The audience became quiet and started whispering when they noticed Akira just squatting there.

'... Crap. If Akira faints here, we'll be disqualified from the match.', Eiji thought.

"A-are you?", she nervously approached him.

"..."

Suddenly, Akira's raised his right arm with his fist clenched.

Akio slightly grinned when he saw this.

"Ummm... The team Ishikawa Akira and Kagayaku Eiji won!"

Immediately, a large round of cheers and boos was heard.

"RA-CHAN! YOU DID IT!", cheered Akiko.

"Well, wasn't that a show?", joked Kami.

"At least I didn't have to waste making snarky remarks when we basically saw nothing.", commented Izanagi.

"Hehehe. That was such a flashy victory.", Sora butted in.

"Yaaayy! Akira-sama!", Ai cheered with a fluffy atmosphere.

"NOO!!! OROCHI-SENPAI!"

"SHINICHI-SENPAI!"

"DAMMIT!"

"NNNOOO!!!"

Eiji just scratched his cheek as he heard the audience.

"Well, this is fine. I guess.", He said with a wry smile.

From there, he turned to the audience and smiled at someone from afar.

Tamiko, who was silently watching from her seat saw this, and nervously smiled.

"I wanna die...", Akira mumbled.

______________________________________

"I will strike you down!", a female voice said as she dashed towards a plain faced female student.

She was wearing a female knight armor as she came and striked at the enemy.

The sword she was holding was glowing of a white-ish light blue light as she struck down.

*TANG*

"GUAAAAH!!"

The two plain faced females then fell to the ground unconscious.

"Savior class, Class 1-6's Yoko Kishi and Avaron Fujimoto from support class 1-2 wins the match!", States announced.

______________________________________

"UHHHHH!!!", the plain faced girl moaned as she fell on the ground with white foam coming out for her mouth.

Ai was shaking with fear and held her chest as Tamiko stood there with her non-changing deadpan face.

"Shikaku Tamiko from Savior Class 1-4 and Abe Ai from support class 1-2 wins the match!", States announced.

______________________________________

A few more pairings fought in the grounds and things just went swimmingly, unlike the first few battles.

Savior and suport students with varying abilities fought against each other and lashed out their strengths in the arena.

It was a refreshing sight and time passed by.

______________________________________

["Ra-chan, I'm sorry... I'm really really sorry...", Akiko's voice was heard.

"M....mom? What's going on...?"

"...It was all my fault...

I'm really...

...really...

...sorry."]

"MOM!", suddenly Akira quickly pulled his torso up and sat himself.

'Huh? Where am I?'

After a few moments of scanning his surroundings, he realized.

He was back in the school's clinic.

Truthfully, the rules of the school clearly stated that 'if the savior student renders his partner unconscious, they'll both be disqualified, but Akira...fainted only after a few minutes when they left the arena.

Eiji decided to carry him out of there with him trying to keep his consciousness, but after a few minutes, he, not surprisingly, fainted.

Not only was he stomped hard by a strong savior, his back also burnt from Eiji's powerful surge of lightning.

There was no doubt he'd be beaten to unconsciousness anytime soon, and they were lucky he did it right after leaving the arena.

*sshhhh*, The sounds of the curtain at the next bed opened.

"Try not to be too loud, Akichi.", Eiji told him with a smile.

Eiji was seated in what seems to be the next bed from Akira.

Just like Akira, he seemed to have lied here earlier.

"Why are you-", Akira saw this, and wanted to ask Eiji why he was in the clinic as well, when he wasn't even hit by any of the enemies' attacks.

...but before he could...

*step step step*, a serious of many footsteps were heard.

"YOU!"

"IT'S THE SCUM!"

"TEACH HIM A LESSON OROCHI-SENPAI!"

What seems to be, Orochi and Shinichi wearing bandages on their body, and a few other men holding boards with the words 'Megumiacs' and 'Koka Love' walked to the front of Akira's bed.

"You fuckers... Don't tell me, you're here to pick a fight with an injured person?", Akira asked them with an angry tone.

"Don't talk to him like that! Don't you know who they are? Not only are they celebrities, they're also the founders of the Megumiacs and Koka love fanclubs!", a plain faced guy holding a board that says 'Koka Love' told him.

The two proudly posed as he said that.

'These goddamn idiots.', Akira thought while staring at them with an incredulous expression.

"Just because your partner there was a little strong, that doesn't give you the right to talk to us so casually like that.", Shinichi told him with a disagreeing tone.

Eiji smiled and scratched the back of his head as if he was flattered.

"DON'T GET FLATTERED BY THAT!", Akira scolded Eiji with an incredulous expression, which in turn Eiji just responded with a curt smile and showing his tongue.

"We're not done with you, Ishikawa Akira. You're still-", Orochi was about to tell him off when suddenly...

*SLAM*

"WHO'S THAT!? CAN YOU SEE THST WE'RE-"

The men in front of Akira were all shocked as they saw the two figures that came in.

""AKIRA!""

It was Megumi and Koka.

They were sweating and seemed like they were in a rush, so they accidentally slammed the door open.

Megumi seemed to be holding a platic bag with melon breads inside it as well.

"Pink girl...? Weaken girl...? What are you guys-"

"Are you alright? Are you still hurt?"

"You're not gravely injured, right? Please tell me you're fine!"

The two walkes to the sides of the bed and looked at him with big worrying eyes.

"...Uhh... Well, I'm fine now.", Akira told them while scratching his head.

""Thank God..."", the two sighed with relief.

"Uhhh...yeah.."

"Umm... About the fight earlier, you promised something...r-right?", Koka asked Akira with eyes full of anticipation.

"What are you-", before Akira could answer... Megumi suddenly butted in:

"A-Akira, I bought you some melon bread. How about you eat one now-"

"I-I'm not finished! R-remember what you promised earlier, A-Akira... T-the thing you said... Umm...", Koka butted in as well.

"What do you mean-"

*CHOW*

Suddenly, Megumi forced a melon bread in Akira's mouth before he could say another word.

"Y-you're hungry, right? Here, have a melon bread."

"Sh...sthtop... Rwat at yu ruys.-", Akira tried speaking but the Megumi kept pushing the melon bread in his mouth.

"Megu! Stop it! You're so unfair!", Koka complained with her arms stretched behind her.

"Akira, the melon bread's delicious, right? I have more if you want it!"

'What the hell is up with them...? What promise...?', Akira wondered with confusion.

'Shit... I gotta push them away before they get involved in-', as Akira struggled between the two girls, he turned his attention back to the guys who was provoking him earlier.

*Sniff*

"Huhuhuhu..."

For some reason, all of them were bawling their eyes out.

Orochi had his arm in front of his eyes, trying to hide his crying face.

Shinichi seemed to have taken off his beanie, to show his shaved head and cried onto it.

The girls, noticing Akira wasn't paying attention to them, turned to the guys in front of him.

"You win this time...*sniff*, Ishikawa Akira!", Orochi told him with teary eyes.

"Yeah! This isn't the last you've seen of us! *Sniff*", Shinichi told him with teary eyes as well.

They then started running off towards the exit.

'What the hell is up with them...?' Akira thought with a confused expression.

"Who were those guys, Akira?" Megumi asked while holding a melon bread into Akira's mouth.

"Yeah... What were they up to?", Koka asked him as well.

"Chyu gwuys at sho dwensh.", Akira told them with the melon bread still in his mouth.

'Guess they won't understand what I'm saying though.', Akira thought.

...but for some reason.

Both of them stared at him with an incredulous expression.

"What?", Akira asked them.

"You're not the kind of person who should be telling others they're dense, Akirachi.", Eiji told him while shaking his head and crossing his arms with a mocking expression.

'Grrrr.'

"Nyam.", Akira, feeling a little annoyed bit the whole Melon bread including Megumi's hand.

"KYAA!", Megumi moaned as she let go of the bread.

"Shyuts hyu rhayt.", Akira told her as he ate the melon bread.

'Hmmm...?'

For some reason though, Megumi just looked at the hand Akira bit onto with a shining expression as if she obtained some kind of treasure.

Koka also showed what seemed to be an annoyed expression.

"You're so unfair, Akira!", Koka complained with a teary eyed expression.

"Wut "

"Haaah.", Megumi voiced as she held her hand with high regard.

______________________________________

*Sniff* *sniff*, as Orochi ran off with his right arm blocking his eyes to hide his crying face...

They were in the school's hallway, planning to run off to the exit.

When suddenly...

*Boing*, he bumped into something soft.

'B-boing?', Orochi thought.

"Oh, I'm sorry for bumping into you. Are you looking for some treatment?", a violet haired, tall buxom woman with thin make-up and wore a skimpy nurse outfit told him with a bright smile.

Orochi and the other's face suddenly turned into mush seeing her.

"Y-yes, please.", they all said at the same time.

______________________________________

Eiji walked outside of the clinic.

Noticing that Akira would just keep flirting with the two girls, he decided to just leave them to their stuff.

"Akira-sama!", Ai called onto as she entered the clinic.

Eiji passed by her though, and continued walking to the exit.

'Hehehe. For such a delinquent, he sure is a player.', he thought with an amused tone.

'Guess I've got more stuff to tease him with.', he continued.

Immediately, after he walked out.

*Tup*, he heard the sound of a book closing.

He was slightly surprised with this and turned towards the direction where the sound came from.

'That's...'

It was Kazuki Inoue.

As soon as he heard Eiji walk out, he turned his back and walked away.

"Hey, are you looking for Akirapon? He's here. I know you guys don't get along much, but maybe you're just worried about-"

"..."

Kazuki continued walking away without saying anything.

Eiji just looked at his back with a concerned expression.

'Kazuki Inoue...he's pared up with Jun, right?', Eiji thought.

'Maybe...he isn't actually the bad guy here after all...'

End of Chapter 23

______________________________________

Orochi Suriza

-Shapeshifter

A former celebrity.

Turns into a stronger, bigger and more powerful snake person.

He still couldn't fully transform into a snake so he still partly look like a reptile.

He's actually the creator of the 'Megumiacs' the Megumi fanclub.

Orochi-' snake'

Suriza- 'slither'

Shinichi Kemuri

-Smoke screen

Ability to deliver a large shroud of smoke

Can cover his hands with warm dark smoke that could slightly burn the enemy

Creator of the 'Koka Love' Koka fanclub.