N: Hello everyone! Alpha here, with an apology for getting this chapter out so late. Holidays and other business have caused us to take a little more time editing this chapter, so hopefully, you all understand.

This one is, just to put it out there, pretty important for a lot of reasons. Some of the things mentioned here will be used to build on in the story later. That being said, it is a slight change of pace as I set up for the next chapter and beyond, so forgive me if it's slowed down. The next chapter is a doozy, and it'll make this one make a LOT more sense.

Also, I'd like to formally announce that soon, very very soon, I'll be starting to read these chapters out one by one over on my YouTube channel! I've been working hard with three artists to commission artwork for many of the characters, machines, and even scenarios featured in the fan fiction. I'm pouring in a lot of time and effort into it, and a fair amount of money, so if you've always been curious about what the Gunpla or character designs look like past the descriptions you see here, you're in luck!

As each chapter gets put up on YouTube, I will link it to the next available Author's Note. It's not going to be a frequent or regular series, simply because of budget constraints and the slots available for each artist, but it'll hopefully be a new way to experience the chapters from start to finish. I look forward to announcing when the first chapter will be up on YouTube! Hopefully, you guys will check it out!


This entire situation was making Yuuma incredibly anxious.

Normally the collected and calm member of Team Try Fighters, Yuuma did his best to maintain an air of professionalism. Obviously, this wasn't always possible, as he himself was still a teenager, but he tried to keep his head level and focused when Sekai's hair-brained attitude got the better of him or Fumina's confidence wavered.

There were really only a couple of people who could fluster Yuuma. Sekai, his willful and bold teammate, Sekai's older sister Mirai, who Yuuma admired and adored, and Minato Sakai, Yuuma's rival.

Today, it was Minato. And he was doing it in the most annoying way possible.

While watching the third round of the tournament over in the cafeteria of the stadium, Fumina, Sekai, and Yuuma were surprised by Minato and his partner, Sansoro. Both master builders had taken interest in all four machines in the battle, but the one they were truly paying attention to was Pyrrha's, Tallgeese Leonidas.

The Lady of Sparta, as some of the others had been calling her from her tours leading to her European Championship win two years ago, had come to assert her dominance, and her beautifully customized and excellently built Gunpla had done just that. That was, of course, to say nothing of her amazing prowess in combat, fending off two skilled opponents simultaneously and coming away with just a few scrapes and minor damage.

Minato sat back and smiled, thinking out loud to himself as he watched her. "If I could convince her to let me take a look at her Tallgeese, or even build her a brand new one, she would be a shoo-in for the World Championship."

Fumina glared at him, annoyed. "Isn't she one of your opponents in this tournament?"

Minato shrugged with a cheesy, carefree smirk. "Hey, I came here for two reasons and two reasons only. To kick Yuuma's butt and prove I'm the stronger of the two of us in Gunpla Battle, and to see all the impressive designs the World Tournament has to offer."

"That's technically three reasons," Sansoro added cheekily, taking a sip of his coffee.

Minato raised his fist, acting like he was going to punch his partner. "Hey! Nobody asked for your opinion, chrome dome!"

Sansoro simply grinned, looking away from Minato and paying him no mind. "Not my fault if you can't count," he replied. "Makes you wonder how you can keep track of all the pieces for your kits."

Minato sprang up from his seat. "Just because you are studying under Mao doesn't mean you can look down upon your senior!"

Fumina raised her hands nervously, trying to calm the raging fire between the two partners. Yuuma watched them both, curious.

Mao Yasaka was one of the top competitors during the Seventh Gunpla Championship. He was famous for a specialized Gundam X he called the Gundam X Maoh, but after his initial defeat to Sei Iori and Reiji, he had created a specialized Crossbone Gundam that fine-tuned the lessons he learned from the Gundam X Maoh.

More importantly than that, though, was the fact that Mao had withdrawn from active competition after his loss in the opening round of the Eighth Gunpla Championship-again to Sei-and decided to travel the world to study all manner of building techniques.

While Minato had been learning directly from the Shingyo School of Gunpla's master, just as Mao did...Sansoro had been learning from someone who was just as good as he or Minato years ago and had only improved since.

Sansoro's blue eyes shifted over to and met Yuuma's. His persistent grin only widened, and his gaze studied Yuuma just as Yuuma was doing to him.

"Hey," he said, snapping Yuuma out of his thoughts, "Minato says you're one of the top builders here. That true?"

Fumina and Sekai glanced at Yuuma, who simply nodded. "I'm not one to brag, but he and I have been in competitions off and on for a while, now. I've even won a few of them, myself."

Minato snorted, annoyingly dismissing the comment. "One or two lucky wins doesn't make him the better builder!"

"Oh?" Sansoro had a sudden spark in his eyes. "Didn't he beat you at the Meijin Cup last year?"

Minato growler. "A fluke! My Gunpla was far superior in both quality and performance!"

Sansoro noted a sudden shift in tone from Team Try Fighters, starting with Sekai. "Hey, didn't you enter that with a Gunpla that looked like Fumina?"

Fumina balled her fists up in embarrassment and rage. Her face turned bright red, and she punched Sekai in the back of the head. "You don't need to yell that, idiot!"

"Hey! What you do that for?" He shouted back, holding the back of his head in pain.

Yuuma closed his eyes and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Technically, Minato was disqualified."

Sansoro looked over at Minato, who seemed taken aback by the reminder. "Hey hey, you never told me that."

Minato growled. "My Super Fumina was of the upmost build quality! She would have easily won-"

He was cut short by the sudden, rapidly rising tension he felt to his right. He looked over as Fumina, fire, and death flashing in her eyes, growled, preparing to take his life if he said one more word. He laughed nervously, choosing life over pride, and quickly silenced himself out of pure fear and a desire to survive.

Sansoro ignored his partner and focused on Yuuma, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "So. You gonna use your Lightning Gundam, or will you show me something new and interesting?"

The mood around the bald boy shifted abruptly. While his words maintained the same aloof, calm, and uninterested air, the gravity behind them was painted in a challenge.

His eyes, too, took on a new appearance. He was reading Yuuma like a predator sizing up its prey. A hungry spark replaced the boredom that had been there a moment ago.

Yuuma was taken aback at first by this sudden change, but his brow furrowed as he addressed the boy. "I haven't decided," he replied simply. "I have three Gunpla to choose from, including the Lightning Gundam."

"Hmmm…" Sansoro cocked his head to the side, thinking. "Considering you're preference of transforming Gunpla, that leads me to think that a Zeta Gundam variant, Delta Gundam variant, Airmaster variant, or Murasame variant make up the other two options." He closed his eyes and shrugged. "I suppose you could throw me off with a Wing Gundam or something, but somehow that doesn't seem too likely. You could throw me for a loop by using that Lightning Black Warrior you built to fight with Minato, too...decisions, decisions..."

Yuuma was taken aback. 'How does he know so much about me?' He thought to himself.

"You sure know a lot about Yuuma," Sekai said.

Sansoro shrugged. "He's made it easy. Top-rated builder competing in multiple contests, including the Meijin Cup. Member of the Under 19 Tri Battle Champions. He and Minato were on live television participating-and failing-the very first G-Quest battle that featured the Weiss Sinanju. It's not hard to track such progress."

Minato growled again. "Man, why are you so irritated and rubbing that stuff in all the time?"

Sansoro looked up at his standing partner and shrugged. "Failure is an important lesson. One you don't always seem to learn when it comes to Yuuma, apparently."

"Well, it's not happening this time." He turned and pointed at Yuuma. "I'll take you down myself, Yuuma, so don't even think about losing before we fight!"

Yuuma scowled at the challenge. "The only way we will know for sure that we'll fight is in the finals. The entire tournament is randomized, remember?"

Minato grunted. "I know that. But I fully intend on making it to the finals, and I expect you to be there!"

"I don't think it'll take that long," Sansoro commented, closing his eyes.

Fumina looked over at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

Sansoro flicked his bored-looking glance over to the girl. "While, yes, everything IS randomized, I subscribe to a certain kind of Fate."

Sekai gave him a puzzled look. "I don't get it."

"Think of it this way," Sansoro explained. "We have many talented fighters, but four of us, right here, are expert level builders. Seeing as Sekai chose to partner with Shia Kijima, that leaves Yuuma, Fumina, Minato, and myself."

He noted the instant hostile glance Fumina shot Sekai on the mention of Shia's name, but he ignored it and continued. "The four of us comprise two separate teams. I don't think it would be too far out of the realm of possibility to think that Fate would have us battle it out."

He glanced at his future opponents. "Minato and Yuuma's build quality is assuredly some of the best in the tournament, or even in the World Championship. Few outside Shia, the Meijin, Lady Kawaguchi, Io Alexander, and Sei Iori could match their design details and aesthetics. Even I hazard to put my skills against them while under a microscope."

He glanced at Fumina. "Your build quality, from what I've seen, isn't as good as ours. But your design ideas are superior to ours, hands down."

"Hey!" Minato crosses his arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sansoro sighed. "If there is one thing you, of all people, should understand, it's the idea of building something not just to fill a role or prove you're better, but to design something with your heart. Fumina's Star Winning Gundam's SD to Real Mode transformation isn't something she created to help her team, like that giant fist mode her original had. It was the manifestation of her dreams and desires to not just help them, but prove she could hold her own, as well. A lot like Sei's Star Build Strike and it's RG System."

He gave Minato a sly look. "To be honest, I doubt you could ever pull anything like that off."

Minato growled angrily, though once again Sansoro ignored him. Fumina chuckled nervously. She'd never been praised so highly, especially by someone who could be one of the best builders in the building. "Well thank you. Your praise is appreciated, but I don't think it's all that special."

"I beg to differ."

A male voice came from their side, and all of the teens turned to see who it was.

Two people approached the group. Yuuma stood up immediately upon seeing both the man and woman coming towards them. "Big sis! Sei!"

The young man waved at Yuuma, and the woman smiled and gave a small giggle. "You look well, Yuuma," she said happily.

Minato's jaw almost dropped. Sansoro glanced lazily at the newcomers. "Well, this is interesting…"

"Hey, who are they?" Sekai asked Fumina, genuinely confused. Everyone else had such strong reactions to them, but he had no idea why.

Yuuma faced the group with a happy smile on his face. "Everyone, this is my older sister China Kousaka, and her fiancé, two times World Gunpla Champion Sei Iori." He then focused on Sekai specifically. "Sekai, you might know him more as the builder who created the Build Burning Gundam."

Sei waved at Sekai. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've been watching your matches since you premiered last year. I'm so happy that the Gunpla I built for my friend actually got a chance to fly and battle like I always intended it to. You've done a great job."

Sekai's eyes lit up. "YOU built the Build Burning? That's awesome! It's been a lot of fun fighting with it!"

Sei laughed. "I'm happy to hear that. You and your team's modifications have helped evolve it into a new and more powerful machine. And from what I've heard, you took what I made and used that to make your own Gunpla."

Sekai immediately reached into his pouch on his belt and withdrew the Kamiki Burning Gundam, holding it up proudly. "I couldn't have built this if I hadn't found the Build Burning Gundam. It's thanks to your Gunpla that I got into Gunpla Battle in the first place, and made a lot of friends, and built my own Gunpla!"

Sansoro and Sei both studied the machine closely. "I can't even see what the base model is," Sei admitted.

"I immediately thought Dreadnought Gundam, but it's not quite right," Sansoro added.

"Well...to be fair, Shia helped…" Sekai admitted."She taught me how to build and maintain it, but…"

"Don't sell yourself short," China said pleasantly. "My little brother has told me a lot about all of his friends on the Try Fighters. According to him, you've come a long way."

"Sis…" Yuuma blushed and looked away. Fumina watched him and giggled; it seemed he hadn't wanted that detail revealed, but China thought it was pertinent enough to tell them.

Sekai put the Kamiki Burning away and looked at Sei excitedly. "I'd love a chance to fight you some time! If you built the Build Burning Gundam and won two world championships then you must be really strong!"

Yuuma let out an exasperated sigh. "Can you not challenge everyone to a fight less than five seconds after meeting them."

"Actually, nothing would make me happier," Sei replied, catching everyone off guard. "Truth be told, I've been looking forward to seeing how good you are since watching your team's fight against Wilfrid Kijima and Celestial Sphere Last year."

Sansoro glanced over at Sekai, who was brimming with excitement. "Well well, catching the eye of the big leagues. Impressive."

China glanced at her watch, then tugged at Sei's sleeve. "I hate to cut this short, but we should head out. Yuuki is probably waiting, and we're late as it is."

Sei nodded. "Right. Finding a rental car was a nightmare, and we shouldn't keep Yuuki waiting."

Fumina looked at the two questioningly. "Is everything okay? Who's Yuuki?"

"You know him as the Meijin, but since he went to school with us, we never really got used to calling him that," China explained. "He said he wanted to talk with Sei personally."

Minato pauses for a moment. "Wait, does that mean…"

Sei nodded. "I stepped away from the Gunpla Battle to join China study in Paris. But, since she took this semester off, we came home to participate in this year's Battle Royale in order to enter the World Championship."

"You're returning to Gunpla Battle?" Fumina asked.

Sei rubbed the back of his head. "Well...I don't think I could honestly give it up." He thought back to the battles he'd had before. So many wonderful memories...but a couple, in particular, stood out to him. "Besides, I'm hopeful that one person, in particular, will show up."

China waved to all of them. "Luckily, we caught all the battles so far in the Doubles tournament, and we are glad to be here to see all of you compete, too. Good luck, everyone." She then turned to Yuuma. "And Yuu, please, do your very best."

Yuuma lit up with his sister's encouragement. "Of course!"

The two took their leave of the group, who turned back to their conversation. The praise that Sei had given Fumina and Sekai had had an obvious effect on them, with both feeling rejuvenated and excited for the coming battles.

Sei had escorted China to their seats in the stadium, sitting next to Sei's mother Rinko in the stands. His father, however, was absent, apparently waiting with the Meijin and Mister Ral in the in-stadium cafeteria.

Confused, Sei excused himself and headed for the cafeteria. The Meijin-Yuuki-had asked for him to come to meet him, but hadn't said anything about his father being there. Or Mister Ral.

When he arrived, he found several others. His father Takeshi was indeed there with Mister Ral, but so was Yuuki's girlfriend and partner, who Sei only knew as Lady Kawaguchi, Nils Yajima, Takeshi's partner, Summer Rose, and a bored-looking man who Sei hadn't ever met before. Summer had always been very pleasant, and Sei was excited to meet her daughter and stepdaughter, but the unknown man seemed rather closed off. Or distracted.

"Sei," Yuuki greeted him. His smile was broad and genuine, and the two old friends and rivals shook hands. It had been several years since they had seen each other, though they had kept in contact from time to time since their last battle at the Twelfth Gunpla Championship semi-finals. "It's great to see you again."

It took a lot to break Yuuki out of his persona, and Sei was happy to be one of the few people who did that. "Yeah. You look very well, Yuuki-I mean, Meijin." He nodded to the table. "But...what's going on?"

Yuuki's face dropped into a far more serious expression. "Your father asked me to contact some of these people, Nils and yourself included. He said he wanted us to meet someone before the final battle of today happened."

Sei gave him a puzzled look, and Yuuki nodded to the group. "Come, sit. I don't think this is going to be a fun conversation."

Sei pulled up a seat at the large table, and both Takeshi and Summer happily greeted him, along with Nils. The bored-looking man gave him a once over but said nothing.

"I'm glad to see you'll be coming back into Gunpla Battle," Mister Ral said. "The sport would be lesser if you fully retired."

Sei laughed. "I don't plan on retiring from Gunpla Battle anytime soon." He looked down at his hands, thinking for a second. "Not until I get a proper match with Reiji."

"Funny you should mention that."

An unfamiliar voice caught much of the attention of the people at the table, and they turned to see a tall blonde woman and a gray-haired, middle-aged looking man approaching them.

Lady Kawaguchi tensed upon seeing the blonde woman. The woman nodded to her but said nothing.

The man gave them a kind smile. "Mister Sei, Meijin, Lady Kawaguchi, and Mister Yajima. And, Mister Fellini, I take it?"

A loud thump was heard in the booth on the other side of the wall that was to their right. They turned, to see Ricardo sitting up slowly, rubbing his head in pain as he did. After a moment, he grinned awkwardly at everyone. "Oh, hello everyone! Fancy meeting you here."

Sei and Nils looked at Ricardo with less than impressed expressions on their faces. "Ricardo? What are you doing here?"

Ricardo shrugged sheepishly. "Well, I noticed you had arrived in the stadium not long ago and I wanted to say hi, but by the time I caught up to you, you already were here. And I overheard that this was something important, so...I thought maybe it might be something I should know. You know...as champion or something."

The blonde woman looked to the older man. "So? What should we do, Ozpin?"

Ozpin thought for a moment, eyes closed, before nodding. "This might actually be better," he stated. "Mister Fellini was present for both the end of the Seventh Gunpla Championship and the battle against the Gunpla Mafia led by Mikio Mashita a year later. And, he is friends with Prince Reiji. This might concern him, as well."

Sei looked at Ozpin, his eyes dancing with questions. "'Prince' Reiji?"

Ozpin pulled up a seat and nodded. "This is Glynda Baker, my assistant. She will give you the details later, in an elongated document, but they aren't relevant to why I asked Takeshi Iori to reach out to the Meijin and the rest of you. Allow me to explain."

What followed was an abbreviated-but still wild and unbelievable-recounting of the events regarding the Arista Crystal, the reason for the Mock Battle of A Boua Qu that happened at the end of the Seventh Tournament, and the link to the colony ship Arian, the home of Ozpin and Reiji.

Sei shook his head. The information regarding all of this was….mind-boggling, to say the least, but the thing he had the hardest time wrapping his head around was the concept of Arian itself.

"I had learned about the Arian in school," he said, "but to think that it's real...and that Reiji was telling the truth…"

"Reiji is no liar," Ozpin said. "As his adviser, I know him to be an open and honest man, as I'm sure you can attest to. He is wild and impulsive, but fair and direct. While his title of 'prince' is mostly formality these days, simply inherited from his connection to British royalty, he certainly conducts himself as a true prince would...though I admit he is still very boisterous. I doubt that quality will ever leave him."

Ricardo smirked. "Heh. That sounds about right."

Yuuki glanced at Lady Kawaguchi, who sat with her arms crossed. Despite her glasses, he could see her gaze locked on Glynda, her mood seemed to create a visible aura of annoyance and negativity.

Nils sighed as Ozpin then mentioned the problematic relationship between the Arista crystal and the new synthetic Plavsky Particle crystals. Which then led to him mentioning Salem's potential plan.

Those who hadn't heard this information before was taken aback. Sei noticed his father and Summer had no reaction. Had they already been told this?

"Well, you seem to know how bad this could be," the bored man said, looking over at Nils. "Might this happen to be because of that incident almost a year ago at your research center?"

Nils glared at the man. "How do you-"

"Qrow Branwen, Private Investigator," he interrupted. "Been looking into things regarding Team Nemesis's purchase. Initially, I thought it weird that Ozpin also asked me to look into PPSE's new Plavsky Particle project, but after what we all have just heard, things make more sense, right?" He nodded at Nils. "And you know why."

Nils closed his eyes, deep in thought. Sei, Ricardo, and Yuuki all looked at him expectantly. "Nils?" Sei asked, concerned.

"What they're saying isn't impossible," Nils confirmed finally, after a long pause. "Last year, not long after the Under Nineteen Tri Battle Tournament, I invited several participants, including a few noteworthy combatants and the winners, the Try Fighters, to my research facility. While there, something happened, and the entire facility was nearly destroyed by the Plavsky Particle 2.0 system going haywire. At the time, we didn't know what happened, and thankfully nobody was injured, but…"

He opened his eyes and looked at Ozpin. "After studying the data that came in, we found similar resonance between the Plavsky Particle 2.0 system that I had found after the Seventh Gunpla Battle Championship. And if what you're saying about this 'Arista crystal' is true, then the only logical conclusion is that an Arista crystal-or some fragment of it-resonated with the synthetic crystal we developed and caused a cascade reaction."

He shook his head. "What's worse, is that that much damage was caused by the Plavsky Particles from the second generation synthetic crystal we were testing, which was small-it could fit in your hand, and yet it damaged an entire facility. The Arista crystal Chairman Mashita had access to was the size of a small building and was able to do similar levels of damage, making the potency of the new 2.0 system an estimated four thousand times more powerful-it's how we can now control the levels of damage on participating Gunpla now."

Everyone gasped at the revelation. Qrow's bored expression suddenly shifted and grew far more serious. "And you stuck one of those new crystals in every battle system in the world."

"Not everyone. Some still use the older synthetic crystals we've used from the last several years. But the potential is still there to resonate with a real Arista crystal. Sadly, without more information, all I have are hypotheses."

Ricardo gritted his teeth in disbelief. "So all Salem would need to do is step foot inside the PPSE building and she could probably end the world."

Ozpin nodded. "I'll get you data from Arian, then. You'll have it by tomorrow." He looked to the others. "As you might assume, this is incredibly sensitive information. It took a lot of consideration to even approach Nils Yajima, but if anyone could help me stop this calamity, it'll be all of us. Not just the Gunpla Commission, but the fighters, as well, who are our first line of defense."

Yuuki pursed his lips in agitation. "You're asking us to stack the deck in this competition." He turned to Summer and Takeshi. "While I understand why what I don't understand is why the Gunpla Commission isn't capable of doing anything."

"Because, as of right now, Team Godslayer has done nothing wrong," Takeshi replied.

"We looked into everything regarding the purchase of the rights of Team Nemesis," Summer added. "From the initial negotiations all the way down to the financial transactions. Everything is above the board; unless they do something at the tournament itself, nothing about what's happened so far is against the tournament commission or PPSE's rules."

"I'm guessing that's why you want us keeping an eye on things in the front," Ricardo chimed in. "Tsk, this doesn't sit right with me, as a fighter. But, this is the world we're talking about."

Lady Kawaguchi let out a grunt, before addressing her next comment to Glynda. "And does Theresa Baker factor into all of this? Or Hiruto Mashita?"

Yuuki shot her a surprised look. Glynda shook her head. "Theresa and the former chairman are, apparently, living life on Arian, now. They were transported there at the end of the Seventh Tournament and, from what Ozpin's told me, worked closely with Prince Reiji in order to bring the Gunpla Battle system to Arian-which, considering their tech level regarding the Arista crystals, wasn't hard. In exchange for the Arian Council absolving them of the Mashita's crimes of stealing the large crystal, they work carefully with Prince Reiji to bring forward the best Gunpla Battle experience possible to the people there."

Yuuki frowned. "I have…conflicting feelings regarding that," he admitted. "While I'm happy the people of Arian can experience Gunpla Battle, the chairman DID assault me and force me to wear Team Nemesis's Embody system-the very system that sent the Second Meijin into a coma. Personally, not just as the Third Meijin, but as Tatsuya Yuuki, I feel Mashita should be in prison."

Sei looked at his friend, concerned. "Yuuki…"

Ozpin gave him a sympathetic smile. "An understandable statement."

"Like it or not, Glynda, Theresa was an accomplice in that assault," Lady Kawaguchi added. "Both the Meijin and I aren't exactly impartial to any of this. And, as the champion noted, this IS the world at stake."

Nils glanced between the two blonde women. "Pardon me for asking, but you two both speak rather openly with each other."

Lady Kawaguchi nodded at him. "Of course. Glynda Baker, and the aforementioned Theresa, are both my older sisters." Her expression hardened. "Which is one of many reasons I do not hold my oldest sister in the highest regard in this matter."

Glynda's expression grew solemn as she weathered another cold look from the Lady Kawaguchi. Yuuki turned back to Ozpin, hoping to take the pressure off of the conversation. "This is a complicated and delicate situation, as I'm sure you're aware, but we'll do what we can. Normally, both of us would be against this sort of predisposed wariness of a competing team, but this is far from a normal situation."

"Keep me posted, too," Ricardo said. "And I'll keep my nose to the ground in case something comes up among friends."

"I've begun doing the same," Ral added. "Ever since I was made aware, I've been reaching out to both former and current contacts. It's only been a couple of days, though, so it might take a while to hear anything."

Sei grew increasingly bothered by the entire situation and remained silent for a while. His father gave him a small smile of encouragement. As an official referee, an enforcer of the Gunpla Battle Commission's rules and regulations, his position was the toughest here, but he still was trying to encourage his son.

He looked over to the side, and spotted a young woman sitting away from the group, but glancing over at them. She wore a knowing smile, a brown cap, and her medium length hair was split down the middle, half pink and half brown. She locked eyes with Sei, before taking a sip of her tea and standing up and walking away. She was shorter than most teenagers, but she certainly appeared at least as old as he was.

A chill ran down his spine when she glanced at him one last time. It was like she had heard everything, despite sitting nearly on the other side of the cafeteria, over a dozen meters away. A lot of this information probably shouldn't be leaving this table, and they had made sure to pick a spot away from others to avoid being overheard

"Then that is all I can ask." Ozpin's voice snapped Sei back to reality. "And, as I'm sure you're all aware, what we have discussed should remain between us. The overall gravity of the situation both could tip off Salem and cause mass panic. We should try to avoid that, and simply watch from afar for anything amiss."

The man seemed both wary and knowledgeable and had more than enough evidence to convince them. And the idea that Reiji really was who he said he was eight years ago was both exciting and confusing, and yet...thanks to Ozpin, completely believable.

They stood not long afterward and began to disperse, but Sei was stopped by Yuuki. He wore a complex expression on his face, clearly troubled by the thoughts of what had happened during the Seventh Tournament.

"Sei, after the next battle, perhaps even tonight, I'd like to get together," he said. "I'd like to catch up…but also, I'd like to get your impression on things."

Sei nodded and smiled. "Of course! They'll be announcing the next fight soon. I'll come find you."

"Thank you," Yuuki replied. "I hope you enjoy the next battle. I'll talk with you soon."

Sei sighed. He could sense the tension coming from the Meijin. Not just from Yuuki, but from the persona he was so fond of. He could only imagine what his friend was going through. And now the stakes were even higher.

He decided to head back to China and his mother. As he sat down, the look on his face caused both of them to give him concerned looks, but he waved them off. Ozpin was right-talking about this could cause problems.

For now, all he could do was watch out, and hope Ozpin was just being paranoid.