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-----
Mai walked back with a slightly frustrated look on her face.
The moment she came out, she was attacked by a forehead flick.
"Ow! Onii-chan!"
"Why did you go for that attack on a harmless student?"
"...Pandas are bears. Bears aren't harmless," replied Mai while looking away.
Naoya stared at her for a second before flicking her forehead again.
"Ow!"
"Bad Mai," stated Naoya
"Good Mai!" retorted Mai as she clung to him stubbornly.
"Get down."
"Not until you call me good."
"I am not calling you that."
"I am not getting down then!"
"Suite yourself."
"Don't worry. I can do this all day!"
As the Zenin siblings bickered, Panda was tragically 'crying' on the other side while hugging Yuta and Toge dramatically.
"I told you not to take her lightly."
Panda stopped crying for a moment, looked at Maki, then immediately pulled Yuta and Toge closer protectively.
"Heartless people will never understand the feelings of pandas."
"There there, Panda-kun."
"Salmon, salmon."
"Uwaaah, Inumaki, Yuta, you two are my only true friends here!"
"...I didn't know pandas were such crybabies," muttered Mai mockingly.
Instantly, Panda stopped fake sobbing.
"I may have suffered terrible animal cruelty at the hands of our heartless Maki's even more heartless sister, but I refuse to disgrace my entire species because of that!" declared Panda proudly.
The Tokyo students looked at him silently.
All of them shared the exact same thought.
'...You're not actually a panda.'
Panda guessed what those looks meant, but the self-proclaimed Panda decided to ignore the gazes.
"Alright, enough goofing around. We are on the back foot now, so up your game, everyone. Maki, you are up next...Just know that if you lose, the best outcome we can have is a draw."
Maki looked at Satoru and smirked.
"Don't worry...I will win."
With that, she entered the barrier.
-----
Maki arrived at the centre of the field and found her opponent, Noritoshi Kamo, already standing there.
The two eyed each other.
'Kamo' 'Zenin'
Both immediately recognised each other as opponents from competing clans.
Maki might not be too much of a clan supremacist, but even she knew that a fight against a Kamo meant more than just her own reputation was at stake.
Kamo had similar thoughts to Maki. He had already lost to Mai Zenin; There was no way he could afford to lose to the other twin too.
"Both sides ready?"
Maki's hands moved behind as she unsheathed Kanshou and Byakuya.
Noritoshi drew an arrow and nocked it onto his bowstring.
Both of them gave a nod.
"3..2..1..START!!!"
The moment Yaga gave the signal, both students jumped into action.
Maki rushed towards Kamo while the archer jumped back and used his CT to strengthen himself further.
[Flowing Red Scale]
Blood came out and hardened around Noritoshi's eye and face, forming a mark.
Immediately, Noritoshi's physicals were boosted as he fired the blood-controlled arrows towards Maki.
Maki saw the incoming arrows and increased her speed even more instead of trying to dodge the arrows.
Without hesitation, and with perfection, she sliced the first arrow in half and was about to do the same with the others.
But suddenly, the arrows changed direction unnaturally and curved towards her blind spots.
Sensing the danger, Maki jumped up, dodging the arrows.
Noritoshi, however, directed the arrows to head towards Mai, who was now airborne and had no way to escape. He even fired more arrows to make her escape or to make the attack impossible.
Seeing the arrows coming towards her from all directions, Maki took a deep breath.
[Kanshou - Shoot]
The black sabre in Maki's hand glowed as Maki chanted. An instant later, instead of the sabre, Maki held a jet black gun with glowing red marks and a short blade below the muzzle.
With a swift movement of her hand, Maki fired rapidly as bullets made of CE burst out of the gun and struck the arrows, destroying them.
With Byakuya still in the sabre mode, she sliced the arrows that were coming towards her from the other side, destroying them as well.
Kamo, seeing the sudden change of weapon, was momentarily stunned.
Maki, seeing the opportunity, immediately took it and threw Byakuya towards the Kamo heir.
Noritoshi jumped away, seeing the blade heading towards him, and also fired more arrows mid jump before throwing a blood pack in the air.
Maki was occupied with the arrows, and in that time, he would use his technique to corner her.
[Slicing Exorcism]
A buzzsaw made of blood spun rapidly and headed straight towards Maki.
Maki shot the final arrow and looked towards the incoming blood blade.
[Kansho - Reset]
The black gun changed back to the short sabre, and Mai struck the buzzsaw with her sword.
The blood saw rotated violently as Maki's sword continued to push it back.
Noritoshi, who was now free, ran around Maki and rushed ahead from Maki's blind spot to land a decisive strike.
*SWISH*
However, as he ran towards Maki, he heard the sound of something cutting through the wind.
He glanced towards the source of the sound and saw the white sabre that Maki had thrown earlier flying back towards her.
Before Noritoshi could reach Maki, the sword landed cleanly in Maki's hand.
[Byakuya - Shoot]
The white blade glowed and changed into a gun similar to its counterpart.
The bullet shattered the blood saw before she immediately turned and fired again at the incoming Kamo heir.
The bullet hit Kamo's leg, making the blood sorcerer wince in pain and fall.
Kamo clutched his leg tightly and gritted his teeth to endure the pain. He looked towards his leg to check for injury.....only to see there were no wounds there.
"Don't worry, you are not injured....well, physically at least."
Kamo looked at Maki, not understanding what she meant.
Maki raised her weapons, showing them to Kamo.
"These are my weapons gifted by Onii-chan, Kanshou and Byakuya. Kanshou, the black blade, works better on physical objects and cuts them better. Byakuya, the white blade, works better on curses and CE and cuts techniques and curses better. They can change to guns, too, and the bullets fired by them work similarly as well. Kanshou's bullets cause severe physical attacks, Byakuya's bullets cause severe curse energy ruptures that make them hurt without physically injuring enemies," explained Maki, revealing her hand and boosting the output of her weapons.
[Kanshou - Shoot]
With both guns in hand, Maki pointed them towards Kamo with a smirk on her face.
"Want to check which one hurts more?"
Kamo looked at Maki and calculated his chances of countering the Zenin girl.
In the end, he came to the only viable option.
"I surrender."
"Good answer."
"Winner Tokyo Branch!"
[Kanshou & Byakuya - Reset]
The guns turned back to sabres as Maki sheathed them on her back and walked away.
Noritoshi looked at his leg with a downcast look on his face. Yet again, he lost to a Zenin.
As he was moping, he heard someone approaching him.
"Sensei."
Naoya arrived to get the Kamo heir, who had not moved from his spot since they declared Maki as the victor.
Without saying anything, Naoya picked up Noritoshi and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Naoya didn't say anything and simply started walking back.
"...You are not going to say anything?" asked Kamo.
"Is there anything I should say?"
"...I lost quite pathetically."
"I don't think that I am that hard to read to understand that I don't care about my students winning or losing a friendly spar. I will only care if you didn't do your best or regret making a mistake."
"..."
"Are any of those things applicable to you?"
"...I was neutralised before I could use my strongest attack."
"I don't think that fault lies with the enemy. It's you who has to make an opportunity to use your moves."
"Yes."
"Think about what could have been done differently during the fight. Where did you cause a blunder? Where were you taken advantage of? Once you have answered those questions, you will then have to work to overcome those issues...don't get conceited though, your opponents will improve in that time as well. You need to work twice as hard since you already are lagging."
"...Yes."
"Not every battle can be won. What matters is whether you can grow from defeat enough to someday win a battle your current self would've lost without hope."
Noritoshi didn't say anything.
For now, he will allow himself to follow Zenin's advice.
Naoya and Kamo came out of the barrier as Naoya dropped the Kamo heir.
Landing on his legs, Noritoshi looked at his friends and bowed.
"I apologise for losing."
The rest of them didn't say anything.
Momo was still asleep thanks to Inumaki, while the rest of them looked at each other.
"There, there, don't feel bad."
Mechamaru patted Noritoshi's head.
"Maki and I are personally trained by Onii-chan; of course, it will be difficult to win."
"D-Don't mind Kamo-san!"
"Work harder on yourself and come back stronger. I am sure Big Brother must have already told you that, though. Just follow his advice."
*CLAP*
"Alright, enough consoling, Noritoshi. Kokichi, you are next. We are back at a draw, try your best."
Naoya looked at the robot boy.
"Leave it to me," replied Mechamaru.
"Be careful, Kin-chan is quite formidable. You might want to be a bit careful around him," warned Naoya.
"He is just a Grade 2. I will be fine."
"He is a Grade 2, but that is because of the politics that are at play in the HQ. His real abilities are quite high. Depending on how much he is in the mood, he can be around or above Aoi's level."
Mai snorted at the comment. She fought with the delinquent gambler yesterday, and she agreed that he was as annoying as Todo.
Mechamaru stopped moving for a second and then looked towards Todo.
Todo too was a bit surprised.
Someone around his level....now that would be an opponent worth fighting against.
He started thinking and looked towards Naoya.
"Big Brother, what would happen if, after the six fights, we end up with a draw?"
The rest of them looked at Todo and thought.
There were six players on both sides, and right now, both sides had two wins and two losses. If they win one and lose one, then they will draw.
"In that case, the 3 winners from both sides will fight once again. A best of 3 in the second round."
Hearing the info, Todo and Mai's eyes widened a bit.
A 2nd set of fights.
Both of them turned towards Mechamru and Miwa, the remaining two fighters.
The entire thing now depends on these two.
Both the remaining first years understood what the other two were trying to convey.
"S-Sensei! Why did you have to drop a bomb like that out of nowhere?!?!?!?!"
Miwa panicked and looked towards Naoya, who hadn't told such crucial information before.
"What's wrong?"
"If Mechamru loses, then the entire pressure on me is even greater now!!! I cannot handle such pressure!"
"Now now, don't sell yourself short. You can do it."
Naoya gave a thumbs up to Miwa.
That didn't reassure her in the slightest.
She immediately turned towards Mechamaru and held his hands.
"Mechamaru, it's up to you now! Go and win it!"
Mechamaru looked down at their hands being connected.
"...Leave it to me."
Mechamaru replied coolly and walked inside the barrier.
For some reason, he was more motivated than ever to win this fight.
-----
"Hm, a fight against a robot? Ain't that romantic. I always thought what it would feel like."
Kinji Hakari said with a calm smile on his face.
Unlike always, his hands were not in his pockets. He had seen the rest of the fights till now, and seeing them go on and on like that, he himself was feeling quite excited.
"Don't disappoint me, Robo-Kun. My 'fever' is quite high right now. I hope you surprise me like that, Mai girl from yesterday."
"I am not Robo-kun. And don't worry, I will show you plenty of surprises," replied Mechamaru.
"Both sides ready?"
Hakari and Mechamaru nodded.
"3..2..1..Start!"
The moment the signal was given, Hakari took his stance.
[Domain Expansion - Idle Death Gamble]
The domain's curtain fell, and Mechamaru and Hakari were engulfed inside the domain.
The moment the domain finished forming, a large amount of information about the domain flew towards Mechamaru.
Knowing that the opponent will lag for a bit because of the info dump, Hakari started his spi-
"Using your domain from the start? Aren't you a little too excited?"
[Ultimate Mechamaru - Sword Option - Ultra Spin]
The robo boy rushed towards Hakari without even seeming to be suffering from the info dump with a rotating drill for a hand.
Hakari, who was a bit lax because of his assumption, was a bit late and had his uniform knicked by the sharp drill.
As Mechamaru's body appeared beside Hakari, he leaned to his side and kicked the robot up in the sky.
[Boost On]
Mecharmu, who was sent up, used his booster jets to stabilise his body in the air before he pointed his hand towards Hakari.
[Ultra Cannon]
The parts around Mechamaru's palms shifted a bit, and a fiery glow came out of the exposed area.
Feeling the CE gathering inside the glowing area, Hakari immediately manifested a train door around his arm, deflecting it and changing the direction of the blast.
*BOOM*
The blast happened a bit away from Hakari, but the air pushed away by the explosion brushed against him, too.
Hakari narrowed his eyes. For whatever reason, Mechamaru wasn't affected by the domain's sure hit effect and had his brain not tired by the info dump. Meaning his opponent is at top performance from the start.
Usually, his opponents are not able to make accurate decisions because of the mental strain of the info dump at the start of the battle, but that doesn't seem to be the case with the robot.
Hakari's domain worked by sending a large amount of info to the target's brain, as it's a sure hit effect.
However, Mechamaru is not an actual human. He is just a puppet controlled remotely by Kokichi Muta, who is not present inside the domain and thus is not affected by the info dump. After all, Mechamaru himself doesn't possess a brain to understand what is going on.
However, there were not all bad sides to this.
Since Mechamru was not struck by an info dump, his pilot, Kokichi Muta, didn't know how the domain worked.
In the background, the slots were spinning.
[2.2.Spinning]
Hakari's fever was quite high at the moment, and his current luck was proof of that.
The scenery inside the domain changed as the final slot spin started.
Mechamaru looked around in confusion. Not understanding what was going on.
"Come down, you damn clanker!"
A train door manifested over Mechamaru's head as it slammed against him, knocking his balance as Hakari himself jumped off several train doors to reach the robot.
Hakari grabbed Mechamaru by the collar before throwing him towards the ground.
[Boost On]
However, while he was mid-throw, the robot activated its booster jets, spinning Hakari around before getting above him and freeing himself.
The mechanism within Mechamaru started moving as its mouth opened to reveal a cannon.
[Mode - Albatross]
With his arms and mouth cannon pointed towards the falling Hakari, he began to charge.
Hakari saw the charging cannons and knew that the attack might sting him a bit.
A train door manifested below him as he jumped to the side and continued making doors to traverse around and dodge the incoming attack.
Mechamaru, though, continued charging and, in addition to that, followed Hakari as well.
Hakari kept on running while he was being followed by Mechamaru.
Mechamaru, who was focused on destroying his foe, failed to notice that there was a song that was starting to play out and its volume was increasing.
Hakari turned around and smirked at Mechamaru before raising a volley of train door walls in front of Mechamaru, blinding his vision and causing obstructions in his path as well.
Not wanting to lose sight of the delinquent senior, Mechamaru immediately fired his charge blast at the distracted Hakari, who was behind the train door walls.
[2.2.2]
[Jackpot!]
The domain instant vanished, and a loud musing started to play out in the surroundings.
With the domain gone, the train doors vanished as well, and Hakari took the blast head-on.
'Got him!' thought Kokichi as he saw Hakari getting engulfed in the blast.
However, an instant later, a fist came flying in his screen.
"Don't celebrate just yet, clanker! The music of my victory just started!"
Mechamaru's body was sent flying through the destroyed field as Hakari landed on the ground without any scratches on his body and CE overflowing out of him.
Hakari dashed towards Mechamaru and grabbed the robot's head before smashing it into the ground.
A crater formed below them as the robot's body was embedded in the ground.
Hakari stood back up on his feet, his leg resting dangerously on the robot's torso, threatening to smash it apart with a stomp.
"You feel any pain?" asked Hakari curiously.
Mechamaru's head moved as it looked at Hakari.
Most of the functions within the robot's body were destroyed by Hakari's attack.
"Make a stupid move, and I break this torso. I don't think there will be much moving if there is nobody to hold you together."
Hakari looked at the robot, which didn't reply.
A second later, the robot's arm twitched, and Hakari immediately raised his leg before smashing it through the robot's body without any effort.
He jumped around rapidly, crushing every robo limb below him, destroying them in the process, rendering the Mechamaru puppet useless.
Only the head remained.
"...I suppose I should give up..." muttered Mechamaru as he saw the crumbs of his body.
[Winner Tokyo Branch!]
The announcement came as Hakari grabbed the leftover robo head.
"I will take it as a commemorative item. You don't mind, right?" asked Hakari.
"Suit yourself, this puppet is effectively useless now."
"Lucky me~"
Hakari walked out of the barrier and looked at his friends.
"Want some head?" asked Hakari as he lifted the now offline Mechamaru head.
-----
"Alright, so that ended like that....Miwa, you are up next."
"...Sensei, I am having a headache in my stomach. Can I skip?" asked Miwa with a totally serious face.
Naoya simply smiled at her.
Miwa's shoulders slumped. She was doomed.
"Don't worry, just go ahead and do your best. I will be there in the back to save you if things go south. Just give your best out there."
"But, Sensei, you saw what those two did yesterday. How will I handle that?"
"Miwa, on Jujutsu Missions, there are times when there is a mistake while calculating the curse levels or a possibility that they might have gotten stronger since they were initially reported. You cannot always go into battles that are of your level. Sometimes you need to be prepared for the unexpected. I know that you don't think that you will perform well there-"
"No. No. No. I totally think I will die."
"Let me finish."
Naoya karate chopped Miwa.
"You might not perform well, but not giving your best will be a total waste of all your training up till now. As for you dying. Trust your sensei a bit more. I will beat the shit out of Yuta and Rika if they try to kill my cute student. So just go out there and show them the might of Kasumi Miwa. Okay."
"...I would still rather prefer if-"
"I will get you Satoru's autograph if you fight."
"Bring it on, Yuta Okkotsu! I will give in my all!"
Miwa immediately became willing to fight.
Naoya and the rest of the students simply shook their heads at Miwa's action. Well, better than being scared shitless.
-----
Kasumi Miwa stood in front of Yuta Okkotsu.
Both fighters gave a polite bow, and then both of them held their katana.
Yuta unsheathed it, while Miwa had hers in her sheath. Both of them took their stance and gave a nod.
[3..2..1..Start!]
The moment the signal was given, Yuta charged forward, deciding to get the first hit.
Miwa, though, stayed calm and stood at her spot. She took a stance and prepared for the counterattack.
[New Shadow Style - Simple Domain]
Her simple domain spread out as cursed energy flowed inside her katana, ready to push it out of the sheath in a rapid motion.
Yuta, unaware of the move that Miwa was planning, covered his katana with Rika's CE.
As Yuta stepped inside the domain.
Miwa's hand moved forward reflexively, and the sword drew out.
[Batto Sword Drawing]
The sword came closer to Yuta, who was surprised by the sudden sword draw. It wasn't at the level of Maki's speed, but it was still relatively faster.
His hand moved as the swords clashed, coming to a standstill.
Both of them struggled for a second before Miwa found herself being pushed back by Yuta's CE-reinforced strength.
Yuta felt that too. He was going to win this exchange.
Without thinking much, he put more force behind it.
However, something totally unexpected happened.
Kasumi Miwa stopped putting strength altogether and instead pulled back her katana and spun around.
Yuta lost balance from the sudden shift in force.
Miwa slipped behind him as her spinning motion caused her katana to head towards Yuta, who was defenceless at the moment.
'Shi-' thought Yuta as he saw the CE-infused katana heading towards him.
His balance was still off, and he could not just dodge it out of nowhere.
He gulped before he decided to make a decision.
'Rika-chan, catch the sword,' thought Yuta, trying to control Rika's actions.
A giant arm came out of the black space as it grabbed the katana, heading towards Yuta.
'Snatch it!'
The arm followed Yuta's thoughts as Rika yanked the sword out of Miwa's hands.
Yuta got his balance soon and turned around and pointed his sword at Miwa, who looked at her empty hands.
"Give up, Miwa-san-"
"...He stole my sword."
"Eh?"
"You stole my sword."
"Eh? No, I didn't steal it. I only took it bec-"
"Sword stealer!"
"Huh? No! I am not stealing anything! Listen to me!"
"You stole it, you sword thief."
"I am no sword thief or any thief at all."
"A thief says what?!"
"What?"
"See, I knew it! You are a thief!"
"How does that prove anything?!"
Miwa, who was flustered by Rika's ominous CE, was not able to think straight. That, coupled with Yuta stealing her sword, made her mind even more of a mess.
"nO fLiRtInG wItH yUtA!"
An enraged Rika's hand rose before it backhanded Miwa, sending her flying.
"No Rika-chan!"
Yuta looked towards Miwa's flying body worriedly, readying himself to run and catch her before she falls and injures herself even more.
However, a flash of gold went past him as Naoya appeared mid-air and caught Miwa.
"Control your yandere better, Yuta," called Naoya as he checked on Miwa.
There was not much damage, just a light bruising near her cheek.
"You alright?" asked Naoya as he partially summoned Senzu(Round Deer) to heal Miwa.
"Huh? Um...yeah! A-okay!" said Miwa, feeling calmer as the positive energy washed over her, reducing the effects of Rika's ominous CE.
[Winner Tokyo Branch!]
The announcement rang as Miwa was considered defeated since Naoya had to intervene.
Yuta blinked in confusion before he scratched his cheek sheepishly.
"Umm...I did it, I guess...."