Rushing to the scene was a crimson flash.

“Y-Yu-nii!” The girl, now Mirai, was shocked to the Aoba’s current Student Council President arriving so soon, so much so that before she knew it, she had already thrown away the poor boy in her hand like a piece of rag.

Lewis, meanwhile, desperately gasped for air after the tortuous ordeal. Holding onto his neck as if it could break any moment, the boy struggled to answer the savior in front of him:

“T-Thank…”

“Don’t push yourself,” spoke Yusei. “On behalf of the Student Council, I’m terribly sorry for this incident.”

“Now, Mirai, Hanabi…” the young man then threw a glare at his fellow council members. “Care to explain what’s going on here?”

In front of his intimidating eyes, the bratty, spunky Mirai just a moment ago disappeared completely. Instead, it was a meek and docile girl on the verge of tears facing Yusei and Lewis. “I…”

Thankfully, the redhead, now Hanabi, had already answered for her. “This student is violating the school rules, particularly article 14, section B, about club activities – once a club is in a disbanded state, its facilities shall remain inaccessible for anyone without the appropriate privileges. The boy here somehow got his hands on the key to the now-disbanded NLS clubroom, and so, we were just asking him to repent his actions.”

All of it was a lie, of course. Even Yusei knew this. Lewis too, but he was too weak to retort at the moment. However, he didn’t need to.

Pausing for a moment, Yusei gave a stern look to the girls:

“Even so, there’s no need for you two to get violent! Have you forgotten Aoba’s rules about violent conduct within the school grounds?”

“…”

Replying to Yusei was only silence. The young man saw it as permission for him to continue, and continue he did:

“Even if our friend Lewis here violates the rules, we have a better way to handle this dispute.”

At this point, the boy in question had finally recovered enough, and he needed to make a case for himself. “But…”

Before Lewis could retort, however, he had already felt Yusei’s hand on his shoulder as the young man kneeled to get closer to his face.

“I wouldn’t mention that if I were you,” whispered Yusei. “You got it from a faculty member, right? All club-related activities have to either go through the acting advisor or the principal. If the others in the Student Council found out and made an appeal to the principal, you wouldn’t be the only one in trouble.”

Lewis then immediately retracted whatever words he was about to say. Meanwhile, Yusei stood up once more and continued:

“Aoba Academy is a heaven for individuals to develop themselves. No violent conduct will be tolerated, and every dispute will be solved through healthy competition. Have I made myself clear?”

“… Yes, President!” The two girls paused for a moment before sounding at the same time.

“Good,” Yusei let out a satisfied nod before turning to Lewis. “However, I also cannot let your actions slide, Lewis. The girls were right to call for your punishment, but as I said, all disputes will be solved through competition… Are you ready?”

“… Ready?” Lewis tilted his head in confusion. “Ready for what?”

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“Competition, of course,” a grin formed on Yusei’s face. Taking out his smartphone, the Student Council President shouted onto its mic. “ABC, initiate!”

Immediately, steel doors shut down from inside the clubroom walls. A series of lights turned on, illuminating the now dark, enclosed space. Meanwhile, the vacuum domes that covered the VR machines rose at last, revealing a set of shiny, brand-new devices ready for action at any given moment.

From the ceiling, a hatch opened and out came a spherical robot with a single red eye and the number 1 on its lower half – Yusei’s AISLE.

“Using the President’s Privilege to initiate the ABC, confirmed…” the robot sounded its mechanical tone. “Welcome to Aoba’s Betting Circle.”

“What… is this?” Lewis was completely bewildered by the scene before him. Thankfully, Yusei was more than happy to explain:

“This is a rather hidden tradition, but it is one of Aoba’s pride and joy nonetheless. With every dispute being solved via competition, we’ve designed a system that encapsulates exactly that – a free-range virtual stadium for any sort of contest to be held on. Oh, and naturally, we took the idea from NLS, so that’s right up in your alley, isn’t it?”

Before Lewis got to react, the black-haired girl before him had already continued:

“As the President is the one initiating the ABC, that makes us the challenged side. That means, according to the ABC’s official ruleset, you’re the one who will pick the theme, and we will be the ones to pick the specific competition. Is that all right?”

“Per ABC ruleset, I concur,” Yusei answered. “Since our friend here is an NLS club member, how about we take that as the ‘theme’ right away?”

“No objections,” answered Mirai. “And as for the game, our pick is…”

Her hand waved in the air, conjuring a holographic screen in the middle of the room. As her fingers flicked through the options, Mirai finally let out a smirk at the perfect punishment she could think of.

“Dash Dash Ramp.”

“No objections,” answered Yusei. “And of course, since I was the one to initiate, I’m naturally joining Lewis’s side this time. No hard feelings, Mirai, Hanabi.”

“None taken,” replied Hanabi. “It’s a two-versus-two match of Dash Dash Ramp, with the total scores of the members being calculated to decide the winners. If you win, we shall once again lock up the clubroom, and Lewis would have to face the proper punishment.”

“Agreed. And if we win, this whole situation doesn’t happen, and I demand a formal apology to Lewis.”

“Agreed. Now…”

“Let the ABC commence!”

As the words left Yusei’s mouth, as if having a life of their own, the VR machines in the room sprung open, putting themselves on each of the participants’ heads with little resistance. Lewis wasn’t given the chance to struggle, as his consciousness was soon thrown into the abyss and transported to the virtual world.

When he came to, around him was nothing. Only a single, endless black covered his body. His ally and challengers also appeared in the same manner, floating in the endless void.

“Where… are we?” Asked the boy, who was met with a rather surprised look on Yusei’s face.

“You’ve never played Dash Dash Ramp?”

“Um… no, sorry,” Lewis scratched his head. Though it wasn’t his fault, the boy couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

“That’s rather odd; Dash Dash Ramp is one of the oldest games in NLS… Don’t tell me…”

Yusei hesitated to continue, purely for the fact that it didn’t make any sense for an NLS fan to never have experienced the game. However, no matter how hard to believe it was, Lewis was quick to affirm the truth:

“I’ve… never played NLS…”

“But… then why would you want to join the club?”

“I… my family is not like everyone else’s. We’re poor, so I had to go to Aoba for the special scholarship course.”

“Don’t you still have to turn in an admission exam fee?” Yusei was getting more and more confused with each explanation.

“That was… everything we had saved up… for years, even…”

“… Sorry, this isn’t the best time to talk about it…” Yusei let out a sigh. “Let’s just help you get out of the situation first.”

“I can’t thank you enough, President,” Lewis shook his head to signal that it was fine. “So, you don’t need to apologize.”

“Looks like we have a newbie at the game, then,” from afar, the boys’ opponents sounded. Hanabi pushed her glasses up and continued. “In Dash Dash Ramp, for each game, a song will be played. During this time, platforms will appear in the space around us in the same beat as the song, but only for a limited time. Your goal is to step on as many platforms as you can by the end of the song. Simple enough, right?”

“Okay,” Lewis nodded. “I understand now.”

“And since it’s a team game, the total score between the two teams will be the final result,” Mirai added.

“Sounds good to me,” nodded Yusei. “Now, are you ready for the coin toss to decide who goes first?”

“You can go first, Yu-nii,” Mirai shook her head.

“While we’re at school, call me President,” Yusei lightly tightened his fist, but his voice remained a calm demeanor. “But if that’s the case, then I won’t hold back. Don’t come back crying when you lose, you two.

Now… let the game begin!”