The Class Tournament (2)
A sharp crack split the air, and black lightning surged upward with a sound like the atmosphere itself being fried.
Zzzzt!
The current growled and thrashed like a thing gone mad, sliding precariously down her arm.
"Th-that's it...!"
Cheonghwa furrowed her brow, eyes locked on the writhing electricity. The black current bucked and heaved, then began to condense, riding her wrist down into her palm.
Up to this point, she had it down. The problem was everything that came after.
A low hum built in her hand. The black electricity gathered into a sphere — then slowly collapsed, spilling out into the open air.
"Uh... uhhh!"
Her brow unknit as panic flashed across her face.
"Focus!"
I barked it at her. If she lost control here, we were in real trouble. If that unidentifiable black electricity detonated all at once, even I wouldn't be able to stop it — we'd both get hit.
"Nngh?!"
At my words, Cheonghwa somehow swept the overflowing current back in, clamping her left hand hard around her right wrist.
And then—
ZZZZZT!
With a tremendous crackle, the black current erupted from Cheonghwa's wrist. The sphere shot forward, still leaking stray currents she hadn't quite contained, and—
BOOM!
It just barely found its mark, slamming into the training dummy inside the simulation room.
"Yes!"
"Hell yeah!"
Our shouts rang out together. We'd finally done it. With five days left until the Class Tournament, Cheonghwa and I had actually pulled it off. After letting that black electricity roast my body more times than I could count, she could finally launch it at a target.
"Hell yeah! I finally hit it, fuck yeah!"
Cheonghwa whooped and bounced around the room, too thrilled to stand still. I couldn't help smiling along with her. If that last one had failed, we really would have been in deep shit. Just imagining that grotesque destructive power — still crackling as it ate through the dummy — turning on us made my legs go weak.
"Hey, Jeong Jojun! You!"
Cheonghwa threw an arm around my shoulder and pressed herself against me like it was the most natural thing in the world. After all that hard training, her sweet scent hit me full in the face.
"Why aren't you celebrating, huh?! This big sis just nailed it!"
She grinned and tightened her hold around my neck. Thanks to that, I got a very clear feel of her soft chest.
I flashed a grin of one-hundred-percent pure joy, then said, "Of course I'm happy. Means I finally don't have to get hurt anymore."
"The way you talk, I swear!"
She grumbled, let go of my neck, and stepped back like I'd ruined the moment. Shame. I'd wanted to enjoy that a little longer.
"Well... anyway, thanks for everything up till now!"
Cheonghwa smiled and offered her gratitude.
"Don't talk like it's over. That was your first success."
"Hey! Right now you're supposed to be happy for me!"
She put on a deliberately sulky face, and it was so cute I couldn't help chuckling.
"Alright, alright. You did good."
"You mean it?"
"Yeah. However you slice it, you actually controlled that freakish electricity."
"I finally got a compliment!"
Cheonghwa clenched her fist, eyes shining like she'd just cleared a raid boss. Had I really been that stingy with her? Well... I had given her a particularly hard time. From our very first meeting I'd torn into her about how terrible her mana control was.
"Hey, Jeong Jojun!"
"Yeah?"
Cheonghwa turned my attention back to her, fidgeting.
"Hey!"
Embarrassed, she scraped the floor with the tip of her shoe, trying to get my attention again.
"Just say it."
I looked at her fondly and answered gently.
"Do you... actually not like me?"
For someone with such a fierce face, her cheeks had gone pink, and the words came out in a stammer.
"Pfft!"
She was too cute, too pretty — but that gap between her looks and her attitude made a laugh slip out before I could stop it.
"Hey! You little—!"
She started to snap at me.
"I don't like girls who swear, you know."
I cut her off with a sly grin, perfectly timed. Cheonghwa stammered, then finished:
"I wasn't gonna say bastard, I was gonna say you jerk!"
I cackled, freely enjoying that adorable expression.
"You like me! That's why you've been helping me, isn't it!"
Now she was doubling down, backing me into a corner.
"I already told you it's not. I said I helped you because you reminded me of my old self."
When I'd first started helping her, I hadn't felt a thing. Two weeks of training together had definitely grown some fondness... but that was a secret I was keeping from this young lady. Teasing Cheonghwa was just too much fun.
"Is that so? Well, I guess I'm not exactly pretty..."
She drooped. I tossed the words out casually.
"You're pretty."
"There you go again!"
Cheonghwa jabbed a finger at me.
"You keep leaving me openings like that!"
"Heh heh."
I pressed the back of my blade gently against her wrist and smiled.
"And I'm not into girls who can't handle their abilities properly. If you'd dropped your wrist just a little more earlier and launched that electricity with some real stability, I might've fallen for you. Disappointing, honestly."
"You for real?!"
She bristled — but she still focused on the wrist I was correcting.
"I'm gonna make you regret raising me this hard!"
Cheonghwa's brow twitched as she committed the flow through her wrist to memory.
The class transfer I'd suggested before — she'd turned it down. The male teacher who'd pissed her off the most was already gone, and she'd said that moving to Class 1-5 would feel like losing, so she didn't want to go. A genuinely bold, competitive girl. That only made her more attractive.
I watched her with satisfaction and used my scabbard to slowly lift her drooping wrist back into place. Cheonghwa bristled, but she obediently followed my movement and turned her wrist.
If she could just handle that lightning the way she was doing now, Cheonghwa drawing attention at the Class Tournament was a foregone conclusion. At this rate, the guilds would one hundred percent take notice of her. The girl everyone had written off, stealing the spotlight at the Class Tournament... I was already feeling proud.
I grinned and moved her wrist even faster.
"Ah, cut it out!"
Her irritated muttering while she stayed focused was just a bonus.
Warm sunlight tickled my cheek.
I sat bolt upright, consciousness snapping awake like I'd been waiting for this.
"Did you sleep well, Player?"
"No. I was too excited to sleep."
Today was finally here. The day the third scenario — the Class Tournament — began. The closer this school-sports-festival of a day had crept, the more I couldn't help getting worked up.
"Nngh."
I stretched, chasing off the last of the sleep, and Angel scooped up my phone with a little grunt and held it out to me.
"Player! You just got two texts!"
"Oh, thanks!"
I took the phone and checked. Messages from Alice and Cheonghwa.
A laugh slipped out on its own.
During yesterday's final training session, Cheonghwa had managed to fire off that black electricity three times in a row. At that level, she was anything but dead weight for this tournament. Anyone who could launch that monstrous black electricity three times would melt through most classes' front lines.
"Hoo... Angel. We're gonna have to cause a pretty big scene at this Class Tournament."
"Of course! You've gotta go all out in spectacular fashion, Player! Time for that class change!"
"Right."
I needed to draw eyes at a Class Tournament packed with guild leaders and celebrities. That was how Causality got copied.
"Alright. Let's give it our all today too."
"Yes sir!"
I carefully buttoned up the front of my uniform and stepped out the front door with my heart already racing.
"Whoa. They really transformed the place."
I let out a breath of wonder, staring at the entrance to the Great Demon Subjugation Academy.
The sturdy stone walls and the massive letters carved into the gate — Great Demon Subjugation Academy — had been completely made over.
CELEBRATING THE CLASS TOURNAMENT!
Welcome to the Great Demon Subjugation Academy!
Pamphlets in every glittering color covered up the old, bleak inscription, sparkling in the light. Balloons in every shade dangled from the once-austere stone walls, wiping the grim atmosphere clean away.
"It feels like a festival! I love it!"
Alice beamed and poked one of the balloons hanging from the wall. She giggled as it bounced back, and just watching that happy face of hers was already a festival as far as I was concerned.
Crossing through the gate, the festival atmosphere hit even harder. Food trucks parked across the open grounds. A little stall selling cute accessories. Face painting that put adorable designs on your cheeks. As expected of an academy this size — every fun thing you'd ever find at a festival was gathered in one place.
Isn't the best part of an amusement park that moment you walk through the gates, bursting with anticipation? My heart lifted like a kid's.
I wanted to hit every one of those stalls right then and there — but Alice and I shook off the siren song and headed into Class 1-5.
The door rattled open.
"Everyone! Let's crush the Class Tournament today!"
True to my role as the charismatic class president, I greeted our class at full volume.
"Yeah."
"Sure."
Unlike before, a few of my classmates actually answered. Haha! They'd already figured out I was the one who'd be carrying us today. No matter what anyone said, today's star was me — the one-man guerrilla midfielder.
"Ahh."
I sat down and talked with Alice for a bit, and then our homeroom teacher burst back into the classroom.
"Alright. You all know today's the Class Tournament."
The teacher scratched their head with a ballpoint pen, then pulled out the staff notebook. They went down the row, locking eyes with each student to take attendance, then casually dropped the next line.
"Well, everyone's here, so let's wrap morning assembly quick. Go have fun until lunch is over."
Thud.
The notebook snapped shut. The teacher said, "That's all," and our class erupted in the cheers they'd been holding in, pouring out of the room like ants from a kicked nest.
Our class's match was after lunch. Until then we were free — buy food from the trucks, go watch other classes compete, whatever we wanted. For a place with such a brutal reputation, the Great Demon Subjugation Academy actually looked after its students.
Oh, and Cheonghwa's class tournament was right after ours, so the whole morning was wide open.
Which meant—
I took Alice's soft hand in mine.
This morning was date time.
"Shall we, princess?"
Alice snorted a little laugh and played along.
"We shall, my prince."
Even a simple joke already smelled like fresh, young love. Happiness, maxed out.
"So, Alice — what do you want to do first?"
I'd seen her eyes sparkling as she looked around earlier. She definitely had somewhere in mind.
"Ah! Me?!"
Alice smiled brightly.
"I want chicken skewers! And while we're at it, let's buy some for the girls and take them over!"
"Oh, right. The President and Vice President are working even on a day like this."
I'd been so happy I'd completely forgotten. Even on festival day, Bianca and Rebecca were holed up in the student council room, quietly doing their jobs.
"Yeah. Let's get chicken skewers and bring them over."
And if there was anything I could do to help, I wanted to. I wanted all of us to enjoy the festival together. Today of all days, I wanted them to share in this happiness too.
We bought four golden-brown chicken skewers and arrived at the student council room.
Click.
I'd planned to sneak in and surprise them, but the door was locked tight.
"Ah. I have a key."
Alice pulled the key the President had given her last lunch period from her pocket and slid it into the lock.
Clack.
The lock gave way, and Alice and I stepped inside, hearts already lifting—
"Huh?"
Nobody was in the student council room.
"What the...?"
Alice and I looked around, bewildered. That was when a sound drifted from the side door next to the desk labeled Bianca.
Slurp. Slurp.
A tiny sucking sound.
"?"
Without either of us needing to say a word, we walked toward that side door. As we drew closer to the modest little door, the small sounds grew just a bit louder.
"Do you understand, President? You do it like this. Sluuurp."
"L-like thish?"
The soundproofing was so good we could only catch a few words. But those were definitely the President and Vice President's voices. What were they doing in there?
"Yep, that's them."
Alice whispered to me, then padded toward the door, clearly intending to surprise them. She yanked it open and called out.
"Sis! We brought chicken skew—!"
The rest of Alice's sentence never made it out.
Because what we saw was a sculpture shaped like a jet-black cock — a shape that looked exactly like my own — being fondled and taken into the President's mouth.
And in front of her, the Vice President, mouth stretched wide in a showy ahh, wriggling her tongue for all to see.
Our eyes met.
For a long moment, none of us could speak.