Game 2 - Chapter 2

Rikiki watched the election unfold, only semi-interested. Sure, there were some unexpected quirks, like Ximenez's prank on Kanue, but otherwise, the whole thing went exactly as she had expected it to.

Then, the new girl was introduced. Orihime was certainly interesting enough, and Rikiki found that, with her cheerful disposition similar to her own, she quite liked Orihime. Admittedly, the close-call with her shikai and Igarashi irked her a bit, but otherwise her opinion of Orihime was good. With the end of class, she looked about for Igarashi, she had never reallyanswered his question properly.

Finally, she saw him, running after the new girl. Something about him leaving without a word to her nagged at Rikiki, and she felt oddly annoyed. The nagging feeling compelled her to follow him, and so she rose and rushed out the door. When she began to catch up, Orihime was gone, and Igarashi was in some sort of argument with Ximenez.

As Ximenez walked off, Rikiki ran up to Igarashi and addressed him cheerfully, "Hi Iggy!" She decided not to mention the dance, after all, he seemed to be saying something...

Not much time passed since Igarashi was left alone thinking on what he had gotten himself into when he heard a High pitched and cheerful voice address him from behind. Getting surprised yet again, Igarashi turned back to see it was Rikiki, seemingly back to her cheerful self. Which was good, specially in that moment, just seeing her made him loosen his fist and teeth, though it also made him turn instinctively a tad red in the face.

For a brief moment, Igarashi wondered if she had listened his exchange with Ximenez, if she did, he wasn't sure how to feel about that, it was a pretty frustrating moment, and Igarashi didn't like to be seen losing his cool. Trying to pretend he had not been angered a few moments ago, Igarashi smiled back and Rikiki, and tried to respond casually.

"Hi Rikiki!..." It was the only thing he had thought about his response, somehow, he felt it difficult to bring up anything else, what else was he supposed to say anyway? he wasn't used to small talk, and she made it even harder. Still, he was also aware that keeping silent would only be worse, so he brought up the first thing he had on his mind. "This homecoming thing seems to be pretty interesting... specially the tournament, don't you think?" He immediately felt stupid saying that, but then again, he didn't knew what else he could have said, and just stood there smiling rather awkwardly.

Kasahara nodded slowly at Inoue's response to her question. It was probably better that way; she didn't want to bother her into returning to Earth on a whim. She had heard that a few generals and their lieutenants were able to visit the world of the living but that was because of some conspiracy between Shinigami and Hollows. The brunette was too busy studying at the academy to have paid more attention on these past events.

As soon as class was dismissed Kasahara stood up and folded her arms over her chest quietly. She managed to observe a certain redhead leave with the new addition to their class and her roommate rushing out to follow them. Kasahara faintly heard the conversation they were having as they two redheads left the room but not in great detail. It certainly seemed like Sakimoto took an interest in the Inoue.

In the corner of her eye, the tomboy found Hikari talking to Ximenez, which seemed really out of character for her. Kasahara would have thought that the blonde would cling closely to Mizukin and only talk to him and her sibling. It surprised her, but made no move to disrupt them. She walked up to Adachi, whom had walked in to introduce herself as the Class representative for the class next door. "Congratulations on the election Adachi." Kasahara glanced towards Kanue for a moment. "Congratulations to you too, Kanue." It was a close election for their class; she wondered if it was the same for Adachi too.

Shortly after congratulating the two representatives, she decided to step out of the hall and waited for Takeshi. There was something she felt she needed to say to him as his friend and something she needed to ask. She was nervous for some reason, possibly anxious to speak to him after Duggo asked her to the dance, but there was no apparent reason for her to be. To distract herself from feeling this way, she fiddled around with the sash of her Shinigami uniform. "..."

In a dark, shadowy corner of Seireitei, in a dimly lighted office, headmaster Chojiro Sasakibe began grinning widely.

"It's... perfect," he said, the flickering candlelight casting shadows over his thin grizzled face.

"Er... I'm glad you like it, sir," said Yumichika, putting his brush away. "I do pride myself on my calligraphy ability, you know."

Cardinal Ximenez wrote:

Hikari Kijou wrote:

Cardinal Ximenez wrote:

Ximenez pursed his lips a little, then shrugged.

"Ok."

He resumed his course, back toward his dormitory.

Hikari hadn't expected that to be so easy. The long whine and begging she'd had planned she didn't need to do, and she just smiled at the guy. "Um thanks."

Ximenez stopped.

"Think nothing of it," he said, turning back to her, holding out his hand, and grinning from ear to ear.

"After all, my dear... I am going to need a date for the homecoming dance."

Hikari's mouth flew open. "You, you can't be serious!" But of course Ximenez was serious. Hikari knew it wouldn't be easy to get Ximenez's help. She stopped for a moment. She knew Anshou would be sort of hurt if she didn't go to the dance with him, but she thought he'd understand that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

She looked away and took a deep breath. "Al, alright," she said hesitantly.

Anshou found Hikari in the hallway while trying to find her to wish her good night. To his surprise, he found her with Ximenez, and he appeared to be asking her to the dance.

More surprising was that she accepted.

Anshou sighed, not sure what to think. Of course, it was Hikari's decision. Anshou knew he wasn't a noble and that she was perfectly free to go to the dance with whoever she wanted to.

"Splendid," Ximenez grinned, taking Hikari's hand and gently kissing her fingers once. "Then it's a date, milady. And your first training session will be tomorrow evening, after dinner in the second-year gymnasium. Until then." He waved his fingers goodbye and then disappeared up the stairs.

"Ewwww," Hikari said out loud as soon as Ximenez had gone. She wiped her hand on her robes. It had felt like worms crawling on her skin when he'd kissed her hand.

She turned back and then stopped short. An-chan was there, looking at her. Oh god, what would he have thought of seeing that. "An-chan," Hikari said, but she couldn't think of anything to say.

Anshou forced himself to smile. "It's alright, Hikari," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "It's, I mean... whatever makes you happy, Hikari-chan."

"No, Anshou, it's not like that." Hikari became aware that, despite herself, she had started to cry a little. With a surge of emotion, she threw her arms around Anshou and hugged him.

"Shh, don't cry, Hikari-chan. It's alright, I mean it," Anshou kept smiling. "I'll still be here for you, I'll just go to the dance with Kage-chan instead. Alright? So smile for me."

(Note: Red Orange text was written by me, Dark Red by Iga)


The awkwardness of Igarashi's smile and voice went unnoticed by Rikiki, feeling better now, with enthusiasm for the homecoming bubbling off of her.

"Yeah! Watching you beat people up should be fun!" she likely chirped, obviously with more confidence in Igarashi fighting ability than he had.

"Huh? well...Thanks, though I hopefully will do a better job than the one I did earlier..." Igarashi blushed even more, in one hand, he felt rather flattered that Rikiki thought so highly of him about his fighting ability. But thought he also liked to fight, the whole simulation event had put a dent in his confidence, specially when he failed to protect her...

Annoyance snagged at Rikiki, he still insisted it was his fault? She ignored it for now however, and continued on, "You'll do fine! You should beat everybody!" Well, she thought, almost everybody...

Igarashi felt another confidence boost with her words, apparently, not only she didn't blame him for her "death", but also thought he was pretty strong, that made Igarashi feel proud somehow. "Heh, well, I will try not to dissapoint, I do like fighting a lot." He then put a hand over his head, slightly more embarrassed about what he was going to say next "I hope you will do good in it too."

Rikiki felt a warm feeling having been, basically, wished 'good luck' by Igarashi. Feeling that it was near time for bed, she decided she should heading for bed.
"Thanks Iggy! Bye!" she chirped, and scurried off to her dorm.

Igarashi scratched his head, she surely wasted no time, but then, just as he saw her leaving, a surge of doubt had overcome him, suddenly, he now felt the great need to confirm something. "Er... Wait! uh... about the Dance thing... what you said was a yes, then?" He scratched his head even harder, once again, his face was camouflaging with his hair.

Rikiki whipped around at this, and found it unexpectedly easy to answer. "Yup!" She responded brightly, and wished him, "Good night, Iggy!| and skipped off.

Takeshi yawned, this was utterly boring. Yadda' yadda' yadda', people were voting, Kanue was being toyed with by Ximenez, Kanue won the election. Kasahara was wrong, Kanue had won, he would have to tease her about that later. This was all dull beyond belief. The some guy with a big beard that takeshi didn't pay near enough attention to had entered and eveyrone else had stood at attention two full seconds before Takeshi realized that the bearded man was General Yamamoto, and got his ass into a respectful position too. Behind Yamamoto trailed in a girl with long hair, hair-clip things, she was that girl wasn't she, the one who they had been told would be joining them. Takeshi looked her over, examining every detail as best he could, starting from the feet. Nothing too interesting, not a particularily large physique, probably not too physically strong, and- Wow.

Satoko came back to reality once the girl and her Wowers were gone, and done distracting him. He had no recolection of what had happened in between, he had been... Wow'd. Suddenly his skull was met with a sharp stinging pain as the magical flying Hungarian dictionary fell from it's perch and smacked him a new one. Grabbing the dictionary chukcing out an open window in frustration, takeshi swore aloud and got up to leave class after hearing Isane dismiss them. On his way out he gave Kanue a congrats on winning that poor excuse for an election they had held, and decided to make hast towards the library so he could research more about these dance things and find a none-Hungarian dictionary.

He had noticed Chiken asking about the library too, and rushed out of class after him. Once in the hall he called after Chiken, who had taken a wrong turn, "Hey, Kazeonsei!" Takeshi yelled a bit to get his attention, "You're going the wrong way, Library isn't that way". Takeshi sighed, he knew that wasn't the way to go, however he had no idea which way he was supposed to go. Giving a brief glance around, he noticed Kasahara, who had sprinted by to get outside of the class. "Hey, Kasahara, you have any idea where the library is? I have no idea what a dance or couples are", Takeshi spoke the last sentence with a hint of embarassment in his voice mingled with a light bit of anger, he didn't enjoy being in the dark.

"Good night..." Igarashi responded almost to himself, since Rikiki was now far away from him. Which was a good thing, since Igarashi's grinning expression after her response would have been far too embarrassing for her to watch. Or for anyone else, but at that moment, Iga didn't care. The hit with the table and floor didn't mess with his memory as he had feared, and she had indeed accepted, and that had been enough to make Igarashi feel pretty happy at that moment. It also had something to do with the way Rikiki acted the whole time... so peppy and energetic, it was refreshing, considering Igarashi was neither of those things anymore.

Soon, he also decided to call it a night, and walked towards his dormitory, not really paying attention to anything else. That day had been mostly bad and stressing for Igarashi, but that last exchange had somehow changed his mood altogether. If only for the brief moment he entered to his room and laid on his bed to sleep, Igarashi had forgotten about the simulation... The odd Kanue... The troubling exchange with his Zanpakutou and his conflicting memory... And even the threat of having to fight Ximenez had vanished from Iga's mind as he laid in bed and slowly gained sleep, his mind having only one thing in mind, and not even questioning why was feeling that way anymore: Rikiki. He felt calm thinking about her, and for now, that was good enough.

Kasahara almost jumped out of her skin upon hearing Takeshi call after Chiken. She patiently watched him try to catch the other boy's attention but failed to do so and sighed. Takeshi noticed her and she felt the need to turn around and pretend to be going elsewhere but didn't. She stayed where she stood as Takeshi spoke to her. "Hey, Kasahara, you have any idea where the library is? I have no idea what a dance or couples are." It took a bit of will power to refrain from calling him an idiot like she use to.

The tomboy bit her bottom lip and thought carefully for a moment before answering him. "The library is a hall or two down from the Cafeteria, I think.." She hesistated before she continued. "But, uh.. I can't tell you what a couple and a dance is. The dance is an event where couples get together and spend time with one another. They dance, which is uhm.. a movement they do together that is graceful and elegant. It's when the couple move with or against their partner's movement with grace and eloquence. A couple is two people who fancy each other, I guess. It could also be two people being partners with one another, but it usually has a strong bond between them.." She tried not to blush or seem nervous as she explains the definitions to Takeshi though she did continue to fiddle around with her sash as she spoke.

"A-nyways. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry you didn't win the elections. It was a really close outcome wasn't it? I was confident that you would've won, Takeshi.." She tried her best to smile infront of the blonde boy. The question she wanted to ask him will have to wait till another day. It wasn't any of her business to ask anyways.

"The library is a hall or two down from the Cafeteria, I think.." Takeshi noted that she hesistated before she continued.
"But, uh.. I can't tell you what a couple and a dance is. The dance is an event where couples get together and spend time with one another. They dance, which is uhm.. a movement they do together that is graceful and elegant. It's when the couple move with or against their partner's movement with grace and eloquence. A couple is two people who fancy each other, I guess. It could also be two people being partners with one another, but it usually has a strong bond between them.."

Takeshi nodded, and was about to turn and leave when she spoke again.

"A-nyways. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry you didn't win the elections. It was a really close outcome wasn't it? I was confident that you would've won, Takeshi.." Takeshi laughed, a logn, hearty, good natured, and remotely condescending laugh.

"You were wrong on that front, weren't you? Close doesn't matter, Kasahara, all that mattered was the results of the election, and the result was Kanue winning." Takeshi gave a shrug, it hadn't really mattered to him if he had won or lost, so he didn't whine over it too much. "Hey, so if a couple is two partners, wouldn't that be like you and Duggo?" Takeshi used this as an exmaple, he had seen Duggo ask Kasahara to the dance, and was trying to clarify her definiton for himself.


{SHORT POST IS FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIL}

There it was, Fuiro said to himself. That same song, every night. He'd given up trying to figure out where it was coming from. It had almost become something expected, like a signal that nighttime had arrived.

He reached for his pocket and pulled out a cigarette.

The next morning, as the students of Class 3-A trickled into Lt. Hisagi's Advanced Combat class, they were surprised to find a small crowd gather around a poster on the gymnasium wall.

Kasahara moved closer to the crowd of students sluggishly; her thoughts were far from what the commotion could be. Her mind wandered to what she and Takeshi discussed after class yesterday about the dance and the coupling between her and Duggo...

After hearing Takeshi inquire about Duggo and herself, she straighened up and responded. "Hey, so if a couple is two partners, wouldn't that be like you and Duggo?" It confirmed her assumption that he did notice that little event between the other boy and the tomboy. "He asked me to be his partner. I didn't have a reason not to agree."

Kasahara stopped fidgeting around with her sash and folder her arms over chest to prevent herself from looking like a nervous wreck. "Who are you going to ask to the dance?" She didn't really want to know the answer deep down but she wanted to continue talking to the boy. It occurred to her that maybe Takeshi didn't value her as anything more than a friend. He didn't react badly when he noticed and asked if she and Duggo were partners.

Takeshi blinked, he hadn't asked her about her reasoning in taking Duggo, but she had brought it up, although Takeshi didn't bother to wonder why. He was preoccupied with how worried she looked, and he couldn't figure out why. She was going to the dance with an annoying guy, it wasn't his problem. Although that strange and foreboding feeling of doom he had felt when Duggo had asked her in the first place was back.

"Me?" Takeshi responded unsurely.

Takeshi was about to speak when she beat him to it, asking who he was taking. "Me?" Takeshi blinked, he hadn't really thought about it. His mind immediately went to Kasahara, but she was with Duggo. That last bit sounded strange to Takeshi, oddly so, so he said it a few more times in his head.

Kasahara's with Duggo...
Kasahara is with Duggo...
Maka Kasahara is taking Duggo to the Homecoming Dance....

Oh shit.

"Uh..." Takeshi hesitated, and then looked around and spotted Chiken. He enjoyed Chiken's company, he was one of the few people Takeshi could stand. Completely unaware of the gender boundaries he was subconciously crossing, he called out. "Hey! Chiken, we need partners for this dance, do you want to go?"

...Kasahara mumbled to herself incoherently and shook her head to escape from her reminiscing thoughts. She pushed through the crowd then looked up to what the other students were gathered around for. It was a roster for the tournament. After noticing what it was she quickly closed her eyes tightly and murmured to herself quietly. "Please let it not be Naomi. Please let it not be Takeshi either." The tomboy peeked at the roster again through one eye and found her name bracketed with Hikari. With a sigh of relief she moved out of the crowd; she wouldn't be fighting her friends in the first fight and for that she was grateful. What lifted her spirits further was the fact that she was up against Hikari Kijou. The tomboy couldn't help but grin mischievously at the thought of hurting the blonde girl within the school's rules.

"Kee hee hee." She giggles quietly to herself.

Naomi got out of bed and walked to class. She was in a rush. “I’m late” she hissed. She then broke through the class room door and realized she was the second one there next to her friend Kasahara. She then realized that the list had been put up for the tournament. She looked excited.


She then read it. "Iga vs Rikiki that does not sound bad. Naomi oxen that sounds great so far vs Ex sumo wrestler." Naomi let out a silent shriek. She walked over to Kasahara. “Umm what am I going to do, all he has to do is sit on me. No offense to him he’s a nice guy but he’s freaky strong.” Naomi sat down on the floor and began wacking her head off the wall. Wack! “Ow” she muttered. “That hurt. I should stop.”

*After Orihime left the room answering all their questions, Zestumie's curiousity was satified.*

She's a straight forward girl. Most people would have deflected probing questions like that.

*When he left the class room, he saw Satoko Takeshi talking with Maka in a blushful and clearly romanic air around them.*

Great, not only did Ashibue Kijou completely ignore my request to attend the dance with me, the person I like is not only going with someone else, but is also interested in someone else entirely. I guess with someone as spacey as me it isn't too surprising. I just haven't really been able to pull myself together lately.

*Zestumie crumpled up the note he had writen to her and threw it in the nearest trash can. He then walked to his room and lay there thinking about everything that happened.*

I just need more direction.. something needs to happen.

*While he was asleep, Zestumie dreamed about his zampakto. Only this time, it could speak*

"Well now, aren't you in a fine mess. You could't even hear me when you contacted mein class. I want you to understand me. I don't do what I do out of malice or out of evil or good. I am simply an invetablity. I like what I create and I have no sense of loss to anything. The root of your kindness is that tree, but slowly but surely my influence will increase. I am a part of you and you cannot stop that. I realise for you there is no struggle, you only continue to be who you think you are. You know nothing about the what really happens. I know you will not remember any of this when you wake up but try to remember this much.

Use eventuality to further your own goals."

*With that, Zestumie woke up. He was surprised to see it was morning. he could only remember the last words of his dream, but he couldn't make sense of it. When he arrived in the gym Zestumie was surprised to see the tournament listing poster in the hall. He was then distraight with his pairing against the Cardinal. He remembered the class events and the relsease of power in the simulation.*

This is a real problem. I won't last against him if he gets serious.

"Use eventuality to further your own goals."

*Zestumie wondered how he could use that to fix this situation.*

Chiken had only gotten a little ways down the hallway he choose when he heard Satoko calling after him.
"Hey, Kazeonsei! You're going the wrong way, Library isn't that way."
Quickly stopping, Chiken wasn't surprised that he was going in the wrong direction. Two weeks, and yet he still knew nothing about where things were. Then, an odd thought occurred to Chiken, he had to have been in this school for two years already, right? Unsurprisingly, he remembered nothing about those times. 'Just something else to ask Myouna tonight, I suppose.'

Turning back around, Chiken walked over in time to hear Kasarara talking about the words he didn't know anyways. "But, uh.. I can't tell you what a couple and a dance is. The dance is an event where couples get together and spend time with one another. They dance, which is uhm.. a movement they do together that is graceful and elegant. It's when the couple move with or against their partner's movement with grace and eloquence. A couple is two people who fancy each other, I guess. It could also be two people being partners with one another, but it usually has a strong bond between them.."

Digesting these words, Chiken missed out on most of the conversation between Kasaraha and Satoko until the latter broke into his thoughts. "Hey! Chiken, we need partners for this dance, do you want to go?" Chiken blinked for a second before smiling and giving a nod. "Sure!"

Then, it all faded to black.
Chiken opened his eyes to find himself laying on the rocks of his lake of memories. Standing up, he stretched and looked around. Perched on a nearby rock was Myounahanashi, lazily beating her wings to stay balanced. As Chiken drew closer, he once again noted how a few of her wings seemed to have writing on them.
"Alright Myouna, I sorted out the day, so now can I ask those questions?"
"Alright then, follow me. Letting out an almost inaudible sigh, Myounahanashi lifted up off of the rock she was on and led Chiken to a small clearing amid the rocks surrounding the lake. "Go ahead."
Taking a deep breath, Chiken let all of his questions tumble out of his mouth. "Why can't I remember the end of the experiment? Why was there that thing in my watch? Why did I seem to know about it? Why did I get that huge headache? What were you talking about? Who was the other voice?"
At this point, Chiken had to pause to take in another breath. As he opened his mouth to continue, Myounahanashi cut him off. "Slow down, slow down. Let's do this one thing at a time, starting with the easiest. You knew about the watch having the transmitter because they always put one in there. The twelfth division do that to... Here, Myounahanashi paused to think up the best wording, "...investigate the watch. It's something they've never seen before and they put those there to look at it. They've been doing it every time and you just subconsciously knew about it because they've been doing it for the past two years."

Chiken took a few seconds to take all that she just told him in. The way she stated it, though, made him think of another question, just like Myounahanashi hoped it would. "And why can't I remember before this school year, when our lessons started?"
"Well, they're just simply deeper in your lake of memories. I think it's time you fished one of them up then." By quickly pouncing on this question, Myounahanashi managed to avoid all of Chiken's other questions that were not ready to be answered. She landed on a mostly submerged rock that only stuck it's tip out of the water.

"Well then... jump in."
This caught Chiken completely off guard. "Huh? W-what? That's it?"
If Myounahanashi could've smiled, she would've. "Yes, that's it. Nothing more than just jumping in."
Casting a confused glance to Myounahanashi, Chiken took a deep breath and looked at the lake. Then, he backed up a few steps before running towards the surface and jumping, instinctively curling into a ball.

"Brr... it's cold, Myouna." Chiken blurted out after reemerging from under the lake's surface.
She let out a quiet giggle. "Well, I never said it was going to be warm, did I?" After a few seconds though, she lost her friendly tone and spoke and a more serious one. "Alright then, you'll want to take a deep breath and dive down below the water if you want to see more memories."
Excited about the mention of other memories, Chiken flashed her a brief smile before diving down below the lake's surface.

Down under the water, Chiken opened his eyes. He looked around and was amazed, the lake was full of fish, scrap, kelp, and other normal stuff you'd find in a lake, but everything in the lake was... different. The fish were shifting colors and showing snippets of scenes. The growing plants of kelp were chains of memories and thoughts that grew and built. The scrap were unneeded memories that held no significance to others. Bubbles of thoughts were floating lazily to the surface to be free from the waters. Chiken was so entranced that he didn't even notice that he was breathing in the water. Oddly, he didn't panic or swim up for a breath, some part of him knew that he didn't need to worry about that in here. Relaxing, he took another look around. There were schools of fish swimming around, some fish all alone, kelp further down on the side of the lake, bubbles floating around, and some scrap lazily sinking.

Not knowing where to start, Chiken decided to look at some fish. He glided over to where a small school was swimming. However, they fled away from his approach, too fast for him to catch. He would've frowned if he wasn't enjoying himself so much; he tried reaching for the school again, but still he had no luck. Looking at the school of memory fish that escaped him, he saw that the scenes making them up were shifting too much for him to be able to understand anyway. Twisting over, he saw a quick blue pulse come from another fish close by that was by itself. Chiken could see the scene on it clearly and reached for it and, rather than swim away, the fish stayed where it was, allowing him to approach it. He floated over to it and looked at it closely, then slowly reached out and grabbed the fish.

Upon touching the fish, everything blurred and shifted to the scene that was on the fish. It was one of a nearly endless field that had a perfect, clear blue sky floating above it. Looking around, Chiken realized that this field was awfully familiar.
"That's right little one, this is the field that your mind has modeled itself after. Beautiful, isn't it?"
Chiken could hear his zanpatukou's soft voice but couldn't see her no matter where he looked. "Huh? Where are you, Myouna?"
"I'm not a part of that memory so I'm not there. However, I wanted you to see this one so you knew more about yourself. This is a field where you spent a lot of your time when you were in the wilderness. It was natural for your mind to mold itself to be like this place."

Then, an odd calm fell over Chiken. He felt himself relaxing and closing his eyes as the memory faded away. When he next opened his eyes, he saw the ceiling of his bedroom. Getting out of bed, Chiken stretched and got ready for class, his mind full of thoughts about the lake and the memory he had seen. He arrived to class by following other students and gathered around the posting. Finally finding his name, he looked to see that he would have to fight Tenkawa. Not really worried about any of this, Chiken started warming up for the class.

(((tl;dr? What's that? )))

[WTF, my last post vanished? BAH. Retyping....]

(Yesterday:)
Midori returned her friend's greeting then smiled at his proposition. "I would be honored to accompany you... and don't worry about being rusty, rusty's better than having no experience at all, or at least not remembering it if I did. You're likely to still show me better regardless." She grinned lightheartedly and moved in step with her friend as they departed the classroom.

Tomorrow is going to be insanely busy, she thought as they walked. Best not to bother Onorinowai with more questions that're going to keep me up all night... I need the rest if I'm going to keep from making a total and complete fool of myself.

-----------

(Today:)
The roster for the tournament was up, and she felt as ready as she was going to get... she'd gone straight to sleep after getting back to her dormitory, she'd not even noticed if Naomi was already there or if she came in later, and gotten as much rest as she possibly could. For now, the probing questions of her past were set aside, she didn't need any distractions with the events planned for today ahead of her.

In the first round she was up against Duggo. That would be interesting enough on its own, Midori hadn't seen enough of his capabilities to truly gauge her chances. Duggo was unpredictable, and that was likely his greatest strength, she had no idea what he'd really do or what he was really able to pull off. She'd have to play that one by ear. It was the second round she was worried about... she would be up against either Zetsumei or Ximenez, and after the things she'd seen in the past few weeks she gauged the chances of the other green-haired student to be next to nil, and hers not much better... no, Midori, don't flatter yourself, NO better. She cringed internally at the thought of going toe-to-toe with the vampiric giant, but managed by sheer force of will to keep a straight face. Hopefully the instructors - and healers - would keep the casualties to a minimum.

She tore herself away from the roster and started looking around for Daisuke or Duggo. Even if the latter was to be her first opponent, she still enjoyed his company, and wanted to wish him luck before the tournament began.

Igarashi slept better that night than what he usually did, he even woke up earlier than usual. This served him to take a bath, and go get something decent to eat at the Cafeteria. During the course of these activities, Igarashi had been thinking about all that had happened yesterday, but his thoughts were much more manageable than before. He stopped worrying too much about what happened in the simulation and with Kanue, and instead focused his thoughts more about his encounter with Ximenez. Igarashi wondered if he really would have to confront him, and if so, he wondered if he would need more power then the one he currently had... Which made him remember what Sougenkotsu had told him yesterday...

Quote :

"...I'm afraid you won't be able to wield me in this state. But suit yourself, when you feel finally ready to face yourself, and move on, you know where to find me..."

Wield him... was he talking about unlocking my Shikai...? Igarashi frowned as he ate his breakfast in the cafeteria when he pondered this. If that was the case, he could use that for whatever that could happen with Ximenez, or in the upcoming tournament... But it also meant Igarashi had to make himself remember all that had happened before he joined the academy, he didn't want that, he locked away all that for a reason... still, even his mind kept betraying him, making fragments of his past appear suddenly and without warning... that wasn't pleasant either. Igarashi knew that one way or the other, he would have to.. "Face himself" as the old man put it... But he would try and hold it as much as he could. After all, if he could fare good enough on his own, he wouldn't need his Shikai.

Finishing his breakfast, Igarashi headed to the Gym. Upon entering, he noticed a bunch of people gathered around some board, including some of his classmates, like Kasahara, who was giggling in a creepy matter. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was the tournament roster for homecoming, slightly curious, Igarashi pushed away some of the crowd to take a closer look. Hmm, I wonder who will be the first "victim" that I will "beat up"... Igarashi thought to himself, feeling a tad confident thanks to Rikiki's words yesterday, browsing the names from right to left, Igarashi began to read the names of the participants Not me... Not me... Hmm, Satoko and Kanue... could be fun, Satoko better win so I can beat him later...Not me... Anshou is there, same with him... Hmm, not me... Don't care about that one... Ah! there it i-

Igarashi's mind and body paused completely upon seeing his named paired up with another person, the one person he would have never Imagined he would have to fight. In fact, it had never even crossed his mind a single time before. His face visibly in shock.

N-no... no... no......... not... her...

Somehow, against all odds, Duggo wasn't late for class this morning. He looked at the tournament roster, found his name and his first opponent, and shrugged. He wondered why this whole "Homecoming" thing was such a big deal. He just wanted it to be over. Duggo had never been one for ceremony or formality. Still, this was just a thing to be endured. He wondered, idly, what else the administration had planned for this hoo-hah. He wasn't particularly worried about it, but neither was he particularly looking forward to it. At least during the dance there'd be an opportunity to socialize outside of the usual classroom environment.

Ryouichi Kanue was having a bad day.

It hadn't been that way when he had first woken up. No, in fact, everything had been going wonderfully. In his slumber, he had worked tirelessly with Mugenji to sort out all of the new information and possibilities that had sprung up from the previous day's excitement. The only mildly puzzling problems that remained were his new red-headed, apparently incredibly powerful classmate, and the radiant new representative from Class 3-B. Both were mysteries, unpredictable elements, and Ryouichi resolved to uncover their powers and motives as soon as possible. Despite that, Ryouichi had slept well, and, roused by the orange light of dawn softly streaming in through the window, he woke up feeling completely refreshed and calm. Birds were singing outside of the window of the room he shared with Chiken. He rose and yawned widely, admiring how beautiful the day seemed. Quickly, he showered, dressed, and quietly departed for the cafeteria. Chiken slept on.

Owing to the early hour and general laziness of the majority of academy students, Ryouichi found himself in a very short and efficient breakfast queue. It seemed that like him, the other early risers were all people who understood the value of a peaceful and soothing start to their day. Some dined alone, and others were in small groups, chatting quietly as they ate. Ryouichi took a seat at a table of particularly competent and mature-looking second-years. Upon hearing of his election as the Advanced Class Representative, they had congratulated him warmly, no trace of sarcasm or jealously in their faces. In return for that heartfelt sincerity, Ryouichi had given them a few sword and strategy pointers, and then he had departed for Lt. Hisagi's Advanced Tactics class, serenely munching through his last muffin on the way.

On his arrival, Ryouichi had waved to the Leiutentant with a hearty hello, and after greetings had been exchanged, he had asked his teacher about the time and place of the next Shogi club meeting. Shuhei had explained that he might have to wait a bit longer for an answer, as there were a couple of new players who had asked to join, and that he might have a rough schedule worked out by the end of the day's class. After that they had found a couple of comfortable places to sit and had discussed tactics, both for battle and for playing Shogi, until a few minutes before the beginning of class.

Shuhei had excused himself for a moment, saying that he had forgotten to pin up the list of brackets for the homecoming tournament. Intrigued, Ryouichi had offered to help him paste it to the gym's wall with a common adhesive. They had only to labor a short while before stepping back and admiring their work. The poster was thankfully not lopsided or out of order, so Ryouichi had begun to inspect it in the hopes of finding some way to adjust the likelihood of certain parties winning their matches so that he would have an easy path to victory in the tournament while still appearing impressive to the various powerful spectators who would be attending the event.

The match-ups on the left side were a bit of a toss-up, but Ryouichi was confident that he would be able to best any of them when the time came for the decisive final match. It was when his eyes moved to the brackets on the right that Ryouichi began to feel the dark stirrings of displeasure deep in his serene, previously-happy being. Instantly he could see an enormous problem. He read over the sheet one, two, and three more times to make sure that his eyes were not deceiving him. Finally, sighing, he resigned himself to the fact that his once-great day was brilliant no longer. Then he began to swear silently.

Curse you, list! He thought viciously, Damn you for ruining my perfect day!

Ryouichi had no doubt that, unfortunately for Zetsumei, Ximenez would wholeheartedly plow through each of his opponents until the semifinal round. There was no way he would be able to break or fracture Kurotsuchi's seal, so at least his power would be restrained, but the red-cloaked student still wielded an enormous amount of power. It was perhaps too soon to be worrying about the fight against Ximenez, however, considering that Ryouichi would be fighting against Satoko followed by either Tenkawa or Chiken. All of them were strong enough that Ryouichi would probably need to release Mugenji in order to be sure that he would continue to the next round. Maybe I can train Chiken enough so that he'll be able to take down Tenkawa for me, and then convince him to forfeit the next match to me? That might be possible, and I'll need to train long and hard with a trustworthy sparring partner in order to reach the level I want to be at for the tournament. Chiken certainly fits the bill. Hmm... Ryouichi wrapped himself into his thoughts and wandered over to lean against the wall to the side of the poster, working out the smaller details of his idea.

Soon enough, other students began to trickle into the classroom. Most of them gathered around the Tournament bracket listing, each of them taking in the names of their opponents and reacting in various ways. Ryouichi took this in silently and began to warm up as Chiken was, all the while continuing to plan his strategy, his long moments of calculation being punctuated by Mugenji's thoughtful suggestions.

Daisuke trotted into the gym, glad, as usual, for another day of exercise and training. Though Midori's acceptance last night no doubt augmented his good mood, Daisuke thought smiling. The brackets for the tournament seemed to be up as well, so he took a look at them.

It looked like Sakimoto-san was up against Brown-san. That certainly was not going to go over well. And Oxen-san was up against... oh, now that just was not fair. Daisuke sighed, looking over at the blue-haired girl who, at the moment, seemed to be inexplicably hitting her head against a wall over and over again. I shall have to finish it quickly, Daisuke said to himself, frowning and crossing his arms. So I do not injure the poor girl. Or humiliate her too badly.

He glanced up at the brackets again. He would probably have to face Sakimoto-san in the second round. That should not be too difficult, as I can overpower his speed. Mizukin-san against the younger Kijou... she is a wild card, but Mizukin-san should win that one, and he should be able to beat Kasahara-san too. The elder Kijou will not even be able to lift a finger against Kasahara-san. That means I shall be facing Mizukin-san in the semifinals. That will be a very, very difficult fight.

Daisuke's eyes moved over to the right side of the brackets. Midori's name was there, so if Daisuke was going to have to fight Midori, it wouldn't be until the finals. He sucked in a slight breath when he saw how close Midori's name was to that monster Ximenez's. Daisuke glanced over at her, and then at Duggo. Silently, Daisuke offered a brief prayer that, for her own safety, Midori would lose in the first round. He did not want her to have to face that terrible creature in battle. Heaven only knew what he would do to her.

There was a shrill blast of a whistle. Standing there at the entrance to the gym was Lt. Hisagi, clad in a workout uniform. "Come on!" he yelled. "The tournament's not going anywhere! Let's start warmups." He began clapping his hands. "Let's go! Fifteen laps around the gym! Go! Go! Go!"

"Ahahah, I'm sure you'll do fine in the competition." She said consolingly to the blue haired girl when she mentioned about her fight with Daisuke. The brunette imagined that her friend's fight with the large boy would be extremely challenging but, as far she she knew, very evenly matched. "It ought to be fun for you." No sooner had she said that, Naomi started thwacking herself in the head using the wall before declaring that she hurt herself by doing so.

A nervous chuckle escapes her. "You alright Nao-" Just as Kasahara was going to ask if her friend was okay, the high shrill of a whistle caught her attention. She careful helped the accident prone girl up with her eyes tentatively focused on Shuhei-sensei as he commanded the class to start warming up. "Come on, Naomi." She beckoned as the tomboy started to walk along the walls of the gym.

Seeing that she was the first to start, she took a moment to take a few walking steps before easing into a jog. Kasahara just wanted to take it easy this morning even though sprinting or running around the gym wouldn't bother her.

Hikari opened her mouth and started to whine when the teacher ordered her to do laps around the gym, that was like that every day, how come we have to do laps all the time? But then she shut up and looked over at Maka. If I'm going to beat Baka Kasahara, I'm going to have to get stronger. So she shut up and ran just like she was told.

Shuhei Hisagi wrote:

There was a shrill blast of a whistle. Standing there at the entrance to the gym was Lt. Hisagi, clad in a workout uniform. "Come on!" he yelled. "The tournament's not going anywhere! Let's start warmups." He began clapping his hands. "Let's go! Fifteen laps around the gym! Go! Go! Go!"

*Zetsumei nodded at Sensie's words.*

He has a point. The best thing I can do is concentrate on the now and enjoy life while I can.

*Zestumie had an uncomfortable feeling that wouldn't be for very long. *

I should say something. I should tell her. I know who she likes. It's weird, I'm conflicted but I want her to know.

*Zetsumei ran to catch up to Maka Kasahara. He made sure no one else was around her.*

"Kasahara, there's a personal matter I need to tell you about before the tournament. I don't really need a response, but is it ok to talk with you about this now?"

What am I thinking, of coarse it's a bad time. I don't know what's gotten into me.

Kasahara kept herself in an jogging pace, keeping her mind clear of thoughts as she roamed around the gym. One foot after another. Without noticing, Zetsumei caught up to her; his voice caught her attention rather than his presence next to her. "Kasahara, there's a personal matter I need to tell you abouth before the tournament. I don't really need a response, but is it ok to talk with you about this now?"

The brunette neither slowed down nor stopped as he tried to start a conversation with her. She did, how ever, glance infront and behind them to ensure that no one would eavesdrop on their conversation. The green haired boy said it was a personal matter after all. "Aa. Sure." The tomboy agreed curtly. "What's been bothering you?"

Still thinking about the scenes he saw last night, Chiken stopped stretching and started on the laps when the whistle blew. He was jogging at a normal pace, not really paying attention to the course. Normally, this would entail Chiken running into something right away, but his mental autopilot seemed to be working better since the tree incident from the simulation.

It wasn't until his seventh lap that Chiken noticed something from last night: Myounahanashi never answered his questions. Shrugging, Chiken made a mental note to ask her again tonight. It was then that Chiken stepped into the same depression that had tripped him on the first day, causing him to start falling forward. However, thanks to the weeks of classes already with Hisagi-Sensei, Chiken managed to quickly get his arms out in front of himself and shift his weight so that he rolled instead of falling flat onto his face.

Of course, he rolled right into a wall.

He got up a little dazed but quickly shook that away and smiled, returning to jogging. As usual, any minor injury he sustained from not paying attention never put him in a bad mood.