Chapter 22: The Day Before the Tournament

“Aria! Guess who’s here~?” My mother bursts into my room, yelling out loud. I stay in bed, not wanting to get out. Right after my mother’s voice, though, came a voice I was very familiar with.

“Hey Aria! Let’s go out and play~!” Thoth’s voice resounds through the room.

I slowly get up from my bed, and look at the two bundle of energies in my room. As soon as they look at my appearance, though, they just stood there silently. I wasn’t wearing anything besides a pair of panties, because I felt that it would be more comfortable doing so. Honestly, I hate sleeping with clothes on because it’s too stuffy and hot. It seems like the sight of me in my underwear was too shocking for them though? I mean, if it could shut up these two, then there must be something wrong with my appearance.

“…good morning?” I ask them, trying to break the silence.

“Dear, what are you doing!?” My mother immediately yells after I ask that.

“Show some modesty! Since when did you start sleeping like this!?” She tries to start lecturing me, but Thoth immediately pushes her out the room and locks the door. Then, she turns to face me and says,

“Aria. Never, ever, sleep like this outside of your house.” Her voice sounded extremely serious, and I tilt my head to ask why.

“Because if you do, you’ll kill the men and maybe some woman by the sight.”

...I seriously looked that bad, huh? Whatever, I ignore her comment and get out of bed to dress myself. Immediately I hear a squeal from Thoth who turns away from me.

“Put some clothes on already!” She yells at me.

What did she think I was doing? In order to do that, I need to get to my wardrobe. And in order to get over there, I need to get out of bed, you know? Sometimes, Thoth can be a bit of an airhead, not thinking about these kinds of things. Well, I guess it made her cute somewhat. After putting on clothes, we both head downstairs, where my father made breakfast for four people.

“Hey, Thoth. Would you like bacon and eggs for breakfast?” He asks, despite already making it.

“Yeah, I’m fine with it!” She replies with a cheerful expression. She strikes up conversations with my mother and father, talking about her school experiences, when she suddenly brings up;

“Hey, hey, did you know, the [Fall Tournament] is starting tomorrow!”

“Ah, yes, it’s that time of the year, isn’t it, Hana?” It seems like my parents have forgotten about the event until she brought it up.

“Oh yeah~ there was something like that wasn’t there?” My mother replies.

“Did you know, I’m participating in it! I even have a team I can work with for the group events!” Thoth announces. She’s going to drop that bomb real soon, wouldn’t she?

“Is that so? Maybe we should go watch it, should we?” My father asks.

“Oh, that sounds amazing! I’d love to see if you inherited any of your father’s traits, Thoth!” She was getting excited for the tournament tomorrow, sparkles gleaming in her eyes.

“Also, not only am I participating, but Aria’s joining in as well!” There’s the bomb. My mother and father immediately freezes whatever they’re doing upon hearing this. Then, they turn their heads in stiff movements to face me, with frozen smiles on their faces.

“Aria, what she had just said, is it true?” My mother asks me.

“…yes.” I admit.

She squeals out in complete excitement, before grabbing my dad by the shoulders.

“Kieran, tomorrow, we’re going to watch no matter what! Forget about that unnecessary research project you’re working on for now! Our daughter’s going to be in such an amazing event!” While she was distracted, I immediately leave the table with Thoth and head to the front door. We put on our shoes and open the door, where we see a girl with short, white hair standing right at my doorway. She makes eye contact with me, then with Thoth.

“…good morning…” she mutters out. “I wanted to come hang out with you today, Aria…”

A moment of silence goes between the three of us.

“…hey there! You’re Raina, right?” Thoth says cheerfully to her. Her words surprised Raina for some reason, but she regains her normal expression not long.

“Yeah… you’re Aria’s interpreter… Thoth Farlite?” She replies.

“Yep, yep, that’s right! I’m happy that you remember me! We’re just about to go downtown, do you want to come too?” She invites Raina cheerfully, which puts a smile on her face as she accepts.

I’m glad that Thoth had an outgoing, cheerful personality at times like these. She probably has way more friends than I do at school, probably being surrounded by people while I’m being avoided. It kind of saddens me, thinking about it this way, but I forget about it immediately, replacing it with what I will do with my friends for the going out.

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“Here are your three sundaes, please enjoy.” The waiter says as he placed down a sundae for Raina, Thoth and I. We all decided to go to the same parfait shop I went to with Raina the other day, and all ordered different flavors.

“Aria! Give me your cherry~” Thoth demands, and I comply reluctantly. Upon seeing this, Raina gave me her cherry, which puts a smile on my face.

“You don’t like whip cream?” Raina asks Thoth, noticing that she scooped it all out and put it on my sundae.

“Whip cream tastes a bit weird, you know? It’s like they have flavor, but they don’t?” Raina and I tilt our heads, confused by that answer. Even Thoth tilts her head after recalling her words. All three of our heads were tilted slightly, all of us confused. Then the two girls began laughing, while I just sat there not understanding why.

After that, Raina and I split the bill because Thoth didn’t bring any money with her. We leave the shop and Thoth suggests that we head to the mall, which we accept. As we walk around, she sees something and suddenly pulls my arm.

“Aria, look, they opened an arcade! There’s an arcade now! Let’s go, let’s go!” She says in excitement, and the three of us went to the arcade.

We did several things in the arcade. We competed in racing games, both motorcycle and cars, where Raina wiped the floor with us completely. Then, we played some sort of dance game where we stepped on four directional pads embedded into some sort of platform connected to the machine. Thoth was the victor in this, because she cheated with her weird skill that allows her to instantly stop her steps and change them in a different direction. After that came shooting games, the events I dominated because I was the only one here with any actual practice with a gun. While they just fired all over the screen with trigger happy fingers, I actually killed my targets with the minimum amount of shots required.

When we’re completely satisfied with our time in the arcade, we leave after spending about 60 silver in total for it. I brought 2 gold coins with me this time, so we were alright for money. Upon leaving the arcade, Thoth immediately becomes excited about something.

“Hey, hey, check this out! It’s a photo booth! Come on, let’s all take a picture together! Let’s go!” Sometimes, I wonder if this person really was the former [Demon Lord]. She’s definitely acting like a normal active 8 years old girl, after all. I try imagining Thoth acting like this in her previous appearance, which kind of made me feel a bit sick.

Raina and I are forced into the booth by Thoth, and we see a control panel that allows us to select the picture frame, add decorations to it, and we played around with it for a bit before taking our pictures. We put a heart frame, and added random sparkles in the photo. The three of us pose for the camera, which flashes several times, and finally prints some pictures out. Six in total came out.

“Okay then! Two for each of us, be sure to keep it in a safe place! These are precious memories, you know?” Thoth says to the both of us, and I stash mine in my pocket for now.

After that, we went to several clothing stores and tried out different things for the each of us, buying some of the ones we really liked. By the end of the day, I spent nearly the entire 2 gold coins that I brought with me. That’s 200 silver, which is quite a lot of money. We walk at the edge of the town when we hear screams of joy. I look to the direction it’s coming from, and see an amusement park nearby.

“Next time, we should go there.” Raina proposes.

“Definitely! I want to ride all the roller coasters there, they look fun!” Thoth replies. I nod in agreement, and the plan is settled. Next time, we’ll be heading to the amusement park.

When evening came, we walked Raina home first, who thanked us for the day out. After dropping her off, we head towards Thoth’s house.

“She’s a nice girl.” Thoth says to me.

“…yeah.” I respond.

“Sadly, she’ll be a rival in the future… but I won’t lose!” Thoth says something I don’t understand, so I ignore it.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Anyway, you’re ready for tomorrow, aren’t you? Which events will you join?” She asked me.

The tournament spanned for 3 days, the first days for group events, the second day had mostly individual events, while the last one had events that allowed teams and individuals to participate. The final event for each day will be an [Unique Event]. I’ll probably be attending any free for all events, and the [1 v 1]’s, but I can’t really think of anything else to join. I wasn’t part of any teams with my classmates, after all.

“…[1 v 1].” I tell her.

“Is that it? No way, come on, there are other things you’ll be doing, right?” She asks me.

“…[Free for All]’s.” The only other event I’m doing.

“I knew it! So I have two chances to fight you head on! Be careful Aria, because I’m not going to hold back one bit! I got a secret weapon for you when the time comes, so be careful…” she says eerily, sending chills down my back. I drop her off at her house, and she waves at me energetically as I walk away.

As I walk back alone, I think about the possibilities of the future. Right now, I had a [Soul Contract] with a powerful figure in Sykerion, so that allows me to expose my abilities without having to worry about anything. I can graduate from school safely, without any threats that can be used against me. Now that I think about it, because of this, I don’t have any obligations to the Student Council now, right?

I think about whether or not I should cut ties with them, and decide not to. They weren’t bad people, and they were respecting my wish of remaining alone, so they weren’t disturbing me either. I also befriended a member of their group, which would make it even harder if I did such a thing. So I’ll keep remaining as a ‘hidden member’ of the Student Council for now. This may change in the future, though.

I eventually arrive home, where my parents stood at the front door waiting for me. Oh, I forgot that I left right after Thoth told them about my participation. I guess now I have a lot of questions to answer, huh?

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The next morning, I wake up earlier than usual. I immediately get out of bed, and put on a t-shirt, jacket and short jeans. I tie up my hair into a pony tail, and then looked in my bag. Inside, was a sheathed dagger given to me by Yuuna, and the [BLC-90] from Jiriko. Weapons and armor were allowed in the tournament, but I decided not to bring any armor. I didn’t have any, and even if I did, I most likely didn’t need it.

I pull out the two weapons from my bag, and hold them in each hand, switching them back and forth. All Saturday, I practiced at the [Kazaric Ravines] alone to train my dual-wielding, and I’ve gotten to a decent point where I can use them as naturally as two normal melee weapons. The dagger I was given was called [White Edge], which was made for high speed thrusting instead of slashing. Its color was the opposite of the [BLC-90], which was a black magnum. 

“Aria, are you awake?” My father suddenly knocks at the door, surprising me for a second.

“…yeah.” I reply while returning both weapons into the bag. He opens the door and enters the room, seeing me prepared for today.

“Excited, aren’t we, my little angel?” He says as he sits down on my bed. He pats the area next to him, telling me to come sit with him. I comply, and when I sit down, he suddenly hugs me and begins rubbing my head. I like it whenever he does this, it feels nice.

“You know, no matter what happens out there, I’ll be proud of you. Even if the blessing from the [System] didn’t come, I would still love you as much as I do now. So, with that gift provided by the [System], you’re no longer the disabled, weak little girl in the past. Now, all you need to do, is give it your absolute best. Got it?” He gives me encouragement, which puts a smile on my face as I nod in reply.

“That’s my girl. Okay then, let’s eat breakfast real quickly. Your mom wants to head there early, so we could be the first ones into the [Arena].” He says, and stands up. I grab my bag and follow him down the stairs. My mother was already down there, wearing a tank top with a plaid shirt over it, with long, dark blue jeans. Her breasts were seriously being emphasized by that tank top, though. I really don’t want to inherit those.

My father cooks us all a quick breakfast, before the three of us leaves the house and walks to school. We haven’t done this since the very first day, which gave a bit of a nostalgic feeling. I walk ahead of my parents as they discuss what they expect to see in the tournament, and asks me which events I’ll be in. They expected the [1 v 1], but my mom was completely surprised when I mentioned the [Free for All]’s. My mother still thought of me as her delicate, little girl after all, so it would come as a surprise if someone like me is participating in such a mess of a battle event.

We reach our destination, and it looks like we aren’t the only ones who wanted to arrive early. Several people are already swarming through the gates, heading towards the [Arena] of the school. We enter through gates, and when we enter the [Arena], it seems that participants enter directly into the [Arena] while spectators are redirected towards the seats. I part ways with my parents, and enter the large colosseum, right into the large battle field that these bloody events will take place in.

Within the large, circular battlefield, students were all gathered into large areas based on which school they came from. My school was at the far end of the [Arena], and as I walked there, I caught the attention of many, many students who immediately cleared a path for me to get to my school. They all stared at me strangely as well, and remained distant from me. Was I so scary that I already made students from other school fear my presence at first sight?

I felt a bit depressed thinking about this, but I forget about it immediately and enter the area my group’s supposed to be in. I recognize several of my classmates there, who were all extremely surprised to see me attend this tournament, but none of them approached to ask me about the reason why I am attending. Even the sixth-years students maintained their distance from me.

During this time before the tournament started, participants are supposed to open the [Duel System] in their mind and join the tournament. I recite it in my mind, and a green screen appears in front of me, very different from the usual blue screen I see. On the green screen that came up, there were four options that lined up vertically. The options were;

Set Up Duel

Set Up Tournament

Join Tournament

View Tournament

I tapped the third option, which changed the screen completely. Now, it displays something like a [Lobby List] that contains the tournaments that are active in my area. When I select the only tournament on it, the [Inter-school Fall Tournament], the screen flashes a bit and several other screens open and close extremely fast. I could barely catch a glimpse of the text for each screen, but apparently it confirmed my identity and allowed me to join the lobby. Then, a list of [Events] appeared, and I could select which ones I could join by selecting it, and pressing [Join Event]. For the first day, these were the options;

[3 v 3 Battle]

[5 v 5 Battle]

[10 v 10 Battle]

[Team Death Match]

[Team Capture The Flag]

[King of the Hill]

The first three options randomly put participants from every school into teams, while the team events allows participants to create their own group beforehand and join in. I don’t join the first three events, because I hated the idea of being matched with random people. I don’t join the team events, because I don’t have a team. Instead, I decide to participate in the final event. The [King of the Hill]. After confirming my participation, all I can do now, is wait.

After about an hour passed, the tournament looks like it’s about to start, because in the center of the [Arena], a large stone platform was being erected. In the center of it, was the principal I just spoke to the other day. He actually shaved his face for this event. The students around me were all prepping themselves up, excited for the event. A huge majority of them were freshman, so it’s most likely their first time here.

I was very excited myself, even though I should already be used to things like this from my previous life. The crowd cheers wildly, and they all go silent when the principal raises his hand, motioning them to quiet down. Then, he pulls a mic out of his jacket, and raises it to his mouth. He speaks the words that officially starts these three days of battle, causing everyone in the arena to cheer wildly.

“Welcome, to the [Inter-School Fall Tournament]!”

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Sorry for the cliffhanger, but get excited for the next few chapters. Finally, Aria will expose her strength to the world!

Btw, I was thinking about revamping the first 9 chapters, opinions, anyone?