Chapter 36

"Mea-nee!" The Little Neme called out to her familiar red-haired guardian, also 'big sister' who had just got home from the Tourist Central. For some apparent reason, Neme and Celine decided to stay instead of coming with them to the City, but they still had a lot of fun playing at the playground that also used to be The Princesses'.

"I'm back, Neme!" She responded with as much enthusiast as her 'little sister'. However, that's not really the same for the others.

"Woah, what happened to all of you?" The King asked as soon as he saw the awkward situation/silence they're in. "Um… Nothing? Right?" Momo replied nervously and tried to convince her father to cover the awkwardness. "Y-Yeah! Nothing happened!" Rito said as soon as Momo finished her question.

"Hmm… I see…" Gid said with a smirk on his face, "I think I get what's going on."

Well… Basically…

A Few Hours earlier

"I like you ever since you saved me from that sword!" As soon as Rito heard the confession, he looked around to see if anyone saw this kind-of embarassing moment, but he never expected the others to saw him.

After looking around, he came to a conclusion that he is in fact, in a pinch.

And it just got awkward for the rest on the way back.

"WH-What do you mean you get it?" Rito asked nervously. "Nah, Don't mind me. Mind your own love life and also…" Gid said as he walked away but stopped immediately only to look at Rito. "…Good Luck surviving."

"Huh?"

"So, did you survive?" Gid asked Rito a few hours after he said good luck, and truth be told, it's no good luck.

"Barely. Some of them are throwing dagger gazes at me, and some of them even refused to talk to me." Rito responed with a long sigh. "… I wonder if they hate me now…"

"What? That's no hate, that's jealousy! Don't you understand?" He asked the boy. "Huh? Jealousy?"

Gid sighed, "Do you really have to be that dense of a person?"

"No, I understand that it's jealousy, but… why would they even avoid me? Oh, wait… this kind of situation has ever happened in an anime that I've watched."

"I don't understand what you exactly mean but I think you're getting it."

"But I haven't done anything!" Rito exclaimed. "Boy, jealousy comes in more ways than one, some may avoid you, and some may even got more… 'aggresive' to you…" Gid sighed, "… You don't know my struggle when my wife got jealous. It's hell for me."

"Um… sorry."

"What're you apologizing for?" Gid said before handing him a File. "Here. This is the profile of your next opponent, make sure you take a good look into it." Gid continued.

"Ah, thanks." Rito said before Gid started walking towards the door. "Why are you doing all of this? You know, you take your time to chat with me, helping me, and even telling me that you expect big from me."

"Heh, don't make it sound that I root for you, kid. But that's because…" He replied before stopping. "… Well, you'll know sooner or later. Night."

And with that, The King took his way outside of Rito's room, where he saw a girl with a long dark brown hair waiting right besides the door. She bowed as soon as Gid saw her, Gid just smiled and notioned her to go inside.

"E-Excuse me." A familiar voice caught Rito's attention as he was just going to read the files that Gid gave him. "Come in." He said, telling the voice that she may come in.

Opening the door, the girl revealed herself as none other that the one that had just confessed to him a few hours ago, Rin. "Kujou-senpai?"

"Yuuki Rito, I wanted to talk to you about what happened—" Before she finished, she suddenly blushed and stopped her sentence. "—I just wanted to talk to you."

"Y-Yes…"

A few minutes have passed since Rin took a seat next to him on the bed, and there's nothing else but silence. "Um… about what happened…" Rito was the first to break the ice, before he saw Rin's face suddenly heat up with embarrasment.

"Uh… you said you want to talk about it, right?"

"Y-Yes… I um… I'm sorry."

Hearing this, Rito perked up. "Why're you apologizing, senpai? You're not at fault, aren't you?"

"Yes. But somehow I just felt the need to apologize to you. It's because of me, right?" She said, bowing her head down as if feeling guilty. "What's because of you?"

"That the others act like… you know, distant?"

"Ah, I see… you noticed as well, huh? Don't worry though, it's not because of you."

"But still! I feel guilty…" She stopped as she bowed her head down once again, "…Yet despite that, I feel relieved." She continued.

"… I don't care if you thought of me as just 'someone' or just as your senpai. But one thing's for sure, my feelings for you, won't change."

Hearing it suddenly put a light blush on Rito's face and he could've sworn that he felt his heart skip slightly. "I… I never thought of you as just someone, senpai…"

"Hm? So what do you think of the others then?"

"Well… I always thought of them as… special to me…" Rito said as he relaxed his body. "… That includes you, senpai." Now, it's Rin's turn to once again, blush.

"Gee, Did you say that to the other girls too?"

"Haha, maybe." Rito chuckled.

Rito and Rin keep chatting through the night, unknown to them the others are eavesdropping on them, blushing as well.

The Next Morning

"As The previous contestant that made the entire Arena surprised of his ability comes in, the entire Arena goes insane as he walked in, Please give applause to… Yuuki Rito!" The Announcer said as Rito made his way into the Arena, where his opponent is waiting.

"Today's 1st battle, and the 2nd battle overall! BEGIN!"