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Chapter 4

The First Battle and the Aftereffect

:-:

Under the pouring rain, Haruka lifted his ice sword higher in the air. Every breath he'd taken came out in a visible puff. Sousuke had lowered the temperature to freezing. Haruka considered about covering himself again, or the cold would slow down his movements.

In the distance, he could see Rei and Nagisa holding each other for the sake of warmth. Makoto leaned closer to a person sitting beside him—a bright maroon-haired guy Haruka didn't recognize as someone he knew. He produced flames on his hand. He had similar black jacket as Seijuurou's, using it to cover his head as well as protecting the flame in his hand from the rain. Makoto rubbed his palms together near the flame. Faintly, Haruka could sense heat energy from that person, although not even nearly as powerful as Seijuurou's. He probably possessed the fire spirit. Makoto and that guy were engaged in small conversation, before Makoto turned his attention to him again, lips curved up to form his usual smile.

Fire and ice. That maroon-haired guy and Sousuke would be great companions for him to face Makoto later. For what he'd known, fire and ice were two elements that could put the element of earth to disadvantage, even more so if Makoto played a lot with plant manipulation.

Fortunately for Haruka, Seijuurou's heat wave made all the cold survivable, so he decided to let his clothes there on the ground. Wearing them would take his precious time, and his favorite jammers was comfortable enough. Yet, the ice sword in his palm was unbearable for him. His hand was ice-cold.

Seijuurou bent his body and bared his teeth. He charged on him with greater speed and higher jump than before. Haruka immediately held his ice sword upward, trying to stab the airborne wolf from the ground he was standing on. That very moment when his ice sword connected to Seijuurou's mouth, its tip instantly dissolved into warm water.

Haruka took a step back in alarm, watching Seijuurou crush the remaining of the ice sword in his mouth and let it drip on the ground in steaming liquid. Haruka gathered more water in his hands, shaping large needles out of it. "Yamazaki, freeze."

"I got it—no need to tell me." Sousuke swung his arm on Haruka's creations, freezing all of them to ice peaks. Haruka shot the ice peaks to Seijuurou, all of them immediately dissolved and steamed up in the air before they could do the slightest damage to the wolf.

I knew it. It's useless.

"Seijuurou is acting passive." Sousuke warned him, "He's watching you. He probably thinks you're just doing useless craps. Do something different, Nanase."

"I'm just testing him as well." Haruka replied in annoyance, "I need to know his body heat."

"Seriously? This battle is timed. You may only have a remaining ten minutes at best to impress him." Sousuke spitted out, "I can lower the temperature even more if you want that. If the temperature is low around me, I can create colder ice, and therefore, harder to melt."

Haruka couldn't answer that. With all the falling rain, it would be even more freezing. Sousuke could gain many benefits, but Makoto, Nagisa, Rei and all the other students would suffer the cold. He couldn't risk anyone receiving hypothermia because of him. Weakening Makoto before his battle sounded a lot like cheating. Then again, he would hate seeing Makoto fall ill.

Could someone ethereal fall ill?

Haruka shook his head, trying to concentrate again. His mind kept going off toward unimportant matters. Of course he could. He still had earth spirit inside him.

Seijuurou let out another howl, this time with different tone. Haruka's body tensed with the sudden howl. "Kiddo," Seijuurou's voice came out, "I will make this easier for you. If you can inflict an injury on me, I will immediately accept you in Samezuka faction."

"Fine." Haruka considered to try using the water teleportation once again to reappear behind Seijuurou and ambush him. He sighed. It would probably take a lot of time, as he couldn't control it yet. His first attempt of the so-called water teleportation happened accidentally. While he was still trying to merge with the water, Seijuurou could shred him to pieces, and Haruka wouldn't risk that. Worse, what if the water he was using to transport him turned instantly to vapor? Would Haruka be able to form his body again?

"You're thinking a bit too intently." Seijuurou's voice was heard behind him. Haruka jumped in surprise. He regretted his carelessness, and soon felt a shocking, horrifying burning pain across his back. Haruka cried, gritting his teeth and falling to the ground. Smoke puffed out to the air from the nasty huge scratch on his back.

Seijuurou added another unbearable pain as he slammed his sharp-clawed paw on Haruka's already injured back, burying his burning claws deeper. They penetrated through his skin. Haruka's back skin was melting from all the heat, and probably Seijuurou was grilling his flesh. His whole body drenched in sweat. This close, Seijuurou's heat wave was sizzling, and it was slowly killing him. Haruka fought the strong urge to scream for mercy and just give up.

"Nanase!"

Pieces of ice Sousuke had created from the rain to cool him instantly turned to hot water. They fell over Haruka's face, inflicting more pain over his skin.

"Back off, Yamazaki." Seijuurou growled, "I need to see what this guy is capable of."

Sousuke watched him helplessly. The heat was so great that Sousuke couldn't approach him, or it would kill him as well.

Haruka's hand raised up toward the large volume of water at the right side of the arena. Smoke and smell of burnt flesh entered his lungs, causing nausea in his gut. Haruka couldn't stop coughing. His vision blurred. In seconds, memories of his childhood burst in his mind.

:-:

He saw fire.

Black smoke framed his vision, and he saw a door. A door to the world outside—a door to safety, yet no matter how hard Haruka tried to reach it, he couldn't. His tiny arm hung uselessly in the air. Haruka cried. He cried so much—cried a river, but those tears did nothing to wash away all the pain and heat over his body. He thought water would heal him—water would help him.

It wasn't capable to help. He was combusting in flames. He cried even more until he was dry. It was scorching hot. He lost the water—the water vapored away—and it couldn't help him. He called for Grandma, but Grandma wasn't there for him.

Haruka died—he must be dead. There's no way he's still alive in this kind of heat. It was probably hell.

"Na—...a—se—"

He heard a voice—it was somewhat familiar.

"Na—se—"

:-:

"Nanase-kun!"

Makoto's voice pulled him back to reality.

"Use the water—you can do it! You can do it!" Makoto's shout made him look up.

"Nanase-san!" Rei's voice followed after.

"Nanase-kun!" Nagisa's scream filled the air, "Go!"

Their voices snapped him back to his senses. They gave him some kind of a new energy. He was no longer engulfed in his own memories. This was different than what happened years ago. This time, Haruka wasn't alone, and he was capable. The water was around him, falling in the form of rain, and gathered together in large volume in front of him.

He could use them to save himself.

Raise up. Raise up and wash me. Haruka desperately commanded the water, help.

A huge body of water formed up to the top, covering a part of the audience's vision. Finally, it powerfully fell forward to the battle arena, submerging the surface of the arena like sea waves. The water crashed onto Haruka and Seijuurou. As the water engulfed them, Haruka could feel Seijuurou's paw left his back. His burning presence faded away.

As fast as the water came, it spread all over the arena and the soil at the left of it. Some of the water flowed back to its previous area at the right side.

"Tidal wave!" The MC finally talked, "It looked like a tidal wave! Whatever it is, I think it's awesome. Way to go, Nanase Haruka!"

Haruka abruptly stood up, facing Seijuurou, who was shaking off the water dampening him. His body started to burn up after that, but it wasn't as hot as before. The wet surface in which he was standing on gradually dried up as well. "That didn't inflict me a damage, Nanase."

At the moment, he didn't care about inflicting damage. His body still felt too hot and the pain stung him so bad. Burning smell from his own flesh and skin entered his nostrils. He must've looked so pathetic, because Sousuke's eyes on him seemed to reflect pity. "Yama...zaki..." Haruka said, finding difficulty to speak properly. His breath was heavy, "keep... freezing... what I've shaped..."

Sousuke gave him a nod.

Without sparing him a time to recover, Seijuurou ran up toward him again. Haruka converged as much water as he could and created a thick wall of water in front of him. Sousuke was quick to move, ready to freeze the water, but Haruka's hand stopped him. The moment Seijuurou crashed onto the wall of water, Haruka shouted. "Now!"

Sousuke swiftly froze the wall of water to solid ice, trapping Seijuurou inside. As what he'd predicted, Seijuurou's burning body started to melt the ice he was trapped in. Haruka formed up a water spear and let Sousuke froze it. Before the ice wall completely dissolved, Haruka took a step back and charged toward Seijuurou's trapped body. Be ready to receive your damage—

The ice wall burst to a mass droplets of water. Haruka's ice spear melted when it touched Seijuurou's burning body, failing to inflict any injury. In frustration, Haruka almost cursed under his breath.

"Try harder, Nanase." Seijuurou said, bracing himself again. Haruka took another step back, trying to read his aura. It wasn't as strong as before. Seijuurou was indeed holding back.

An idea came to his mind.

Haruka knew what he should try to do. Sousuke had told him that Seijuurou wouldn't dare do any life-threatening harm. He'd harmed him bad, but it wasn't like Haruka would actually die because of it. He also remembered when Seijuurou pinned him down on the ground. His body didn't even burn. The second time Seijuurou teared the skin on his back and digging his claws on it, he was still holding back. If he wanted, Seijuurou could slam him down with his burning body and let Haruka combust to death with his extreme body heat, yet he only rested his paw on him.

That meant in cases where Seijuurou leaped toward him and baring his scorching hot teeth, he wouldn't do the harm like Haruka thought he would. His teeth and a slam of his body would surely kill Haruka. It was just to intimidate him, or possibly push him to defensive state. The moment Seijuurou was near enough to him, Haruka was almost sure he would at the very least suppress his body heat.

Seijuurou was holding back on him, and Haruka decided to use that for his advantage. Carefully gathering a smaller amount of water, Haruka created a water ball, just a bit bigger than his palm. When Sousuke took a step toward him, he shook his head. "Follow me." He mouthed.

Just after Sousuke caught his word, Seijuurou charged on him again. Haruka quickly dashed off, running as fast as he could across the arena, and Seijuurou was following him behind. Keeping one particular water ball safe in his hand, he constantly throwing another water balls to Seijuurou with his other hand.

"What are you doing, Nanase? Trying to play snowball?" Finally, a little tone of amusement was heard in his reverberated voice. "The time is almost up. I'm a bit disappointed in you. I will finish this sooner."

Having his back facing Seijuurou, Haruka shaped his water ball to a sharp-tipped dagger, hiding it in front of his chest. Sousuke had been following him, spotting the dagger-shaped water in Haruka's hand.

Seijuurou leaped to him, with dangerous, scorching canine teeth bared to its fullest. This time, Haruka didn't even bother to avoid the attack. He bent his knees, bracing himself.

When the enormous wolf's body was airborne on top of him, Haruka felt his sun spirit aura abruptly weakened—if not completely disbanded. "Now!" He shouted, swinging his water dagger to stab Seijuurou. Sousuke froze the dagger as fast as he could, and the ice dagger penetrated through Seijuurou's fur and skin, which had turned harmless in his effort of holding back. The knife dug onto his flesh. Blood spurted out from his body, and Seijuurou whimpered in surprise and pain as he landed awkwardly over the surface of the arena.

The MC turned frantic. "N-Nanase Haruka just inflicted a damage on Mikoshiba! He stabbed him—oh my good spirit he just stabbed him! T-that means—" His head turned hard and fast toward the watch on his wrist, "Time's just up and Nanase Haruka made it! He made it, everyone!"

The students cheered all over the arena, presenting enthusiastic whistles and applauses. Haruka could hear Nagisa's scream among the many noises. Haruka's legs immediately collapsed, feeling fatigue washed all over his body. Sharp, disturbing pain stung his back. It felt worse now that he'd finished the battle.

Haruka took a deep breath of relief. Seijuurou stared at him with glowing golden eyes before his flaming red fur started to fall out from his body.

"Is Mikoshiba okay?" The MC asked, approaching them with Seijuurou's trousers and jacket.

"If someone is not okay, he's the last person that comes to mind." Sousuke answered, also taking a breath of relief.

"Of course I'm okay! That's just one tiny stab." When Haruka looked up, Seijuurou had shifted back to his human form, covering himself with his jacket and trousers. He grinned widely to Haruka. "Good work, Nanase! I didn't expect you to succeed in inflicting an injury on me. Don't cry because I burned you up a little. You're a man!"

Haruka's eyes closed, brows turned down in annoyance. "I don't cry."

But it surely hurt. A lot.

"Now!" Seijuurou stole the microphone away from the MC's grasp, "Get up, Nanase Haruka!"

Haruka tried to get up, but it was getting hard for him. Sousuke grabbed his arm, helping him to stand up. His body urged him to just faint, but Haruka managed to stand up anyway.

"Everyone! Listen!" Seijuurou shouted to the microphone, "Just like what I've promised Nanase. He'd successfully inflicted a damage on me, so please welcome our new student, Nanase Haruka!"

More cheers blasted out from the audience's seats. In his blurry vision, Haruka could see Nagisa and Rei jumping and hugging each other vigorously. Yet, Makoto wasn't there on his seat.

Where is he...?

"Nanase Haruka." Seijuurou turned to him, "I, Mikoshiba Seijuurou, as the leader of Samezuka faction of Iwatobi Academy, officially accept you in our faction. It is up to you to join us or not. Do you want to give your answer now? We will give you the time to decide if you prefer that way, and we will happily give you a little tour to learn more about our faction!"

"If you're sure in your decision to join the Samezuka faction right away, you will get the privilege to skip the battle against the leader of Iwatobi faction." The MC informed him with a smile, "So what's your answer, Nanase Haruka?"

"I..." Haruka couldn't answer. His eyes were unfocused. His blurry vision went darker. He wanted to vomit, to lie down, to just forget about the world and the stinging pain on his back.

"Nanase-kun!" He heard Makoto calling out to him. Haruka did his best to pay attention, turning his head slightly to the side. He saw Makoto running toward him on the arena, with concern and worry pasted all over his face.

"He's badly injured!" Makoto said as he finally made it toward Seijuurou, "Just postpone or cancel the next battle and take him to the clinic."

Makoto's words sounded strange in his ears. Haruka couldn't make out the rest of his sentences. Haruka's body collapsed. He didn't know what was happening, but Makoto's worried expression was the only thing he could see at the moment. Makoto said something to him, yet Haruka failed to interpret his words.

Suddenly, he felt comforting hands over his injured back. Strangely, it felt nice. His back should have wrecked him, but Makoto's hand made it feel better. Much, much better. Makoto's warm, soothing aura emanated so strongly, and Haruka's weak body indulged it.

The warmth felt so comfortable. It healed him.

Healing.

Makoto's earth spirit was healing him. Haruka felt so good that he didn't want to wake up again. After that brief second of recognition, he fell to a deep slumber.

:-:

Haruka saw a tree. Very, very huge tree. It was so tall, like a skyscraper. It was colossal. Its roots were fat and hard. It seemed so ancient, yet it was blessed with so many healthy leaves, and they were all so green—a beautiful shade of green—like Makoto's eyes. He never imagined that he would be able to witness something so majestic and alive.

It was like a dream. Wait, wasn't this a dream?

Haruka's eyes blinked several times. It was. It must be. A tree so majestic and alive should exist only in dreams and fairy tales.

His hand moved up to his chest, feeling its rapid beats. He was so stunned by the incredible sight that his face felt hot, his eyes stung, and his chest ached.

Makoto was there, leaning against the gigantic trunk. Haruka didn't understand why he was there. He decided to approach him, but he immediately stopped. His mouth parted open in confusion, because Makoto was crying.

He was weeping. His back slowly slid down against the trunk until he was sitting. He wept. Even when Haruka called his name, he was still crying. Makoto clutched the olive-brown strands of his hair and wailed. Haruka called his name again, and again.

Makoto. Makoto.

It was like Makoto couldn't hear him. Haruka carefully made his way toward Makoto. He crouched down near him and touched his shoulder, shaking him gently.

Makoto?

Makoto's body suddenly burst into light. Haruka's hand was holding the air—holding what he believed as the remaining of Makoto's presence.

:-:

When Haruka woke up, it was Rei who was sitting beside his bed. He was in his room. Rei had been noisy, but he gave Haruka what he needed: a glass of water. Haruka thankfully took the glass and let the refreshing liquid run down his throat and entered his empty stomach.

"You collapsed after the battle and freaked out everyone." Rei told him, pushing his red-framed glasses, "Good thing Makoto-senpai gave you first aid. His healing spirit is one of the best thing about him. How's your back, Nanase-san?"

Haruka expected an extreme pain on his back, but what he felt right now was some strange comfort on his back, even though it still stung a little. "Fine." Haruka answered.

"Good. That's good." Rei sighed in relief. Finally, he smiled. "Congratulations, Nanase-san! You're accepted by the Samezuka faction! So... are you going to join them? You don't need to continue the battle anymore if you join them. It must be relieving to you!" Rei's expression was betraying his own words. He didn't seem very happy—sad, even.

Haruka was silent, closing his eyes. Currently, he only knew two people from Samezuka faction. Mikoshiba Seijuurou and Yamazaki Sousuke. Of course he would know more people once he joined in. The battle was exhausting, and Haruka didn't want to do it anymore. Joining the Samezuka faction seemed like a nice choice. No more burden. It was an elite group, too, like Akihiko said.

Elite and popular? That was the typical group Haruka would avoid.

Then there was the Iwatobi faction. He only knew three people from it. Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei. The three people who cheered the loudest for him. The people who initially helped him without Haruka asking them to. The people who seemed to cherish him despite their current status as acquaintances.

Haruka found out that if he was seeking comfort, he would probably get it from Makoto. He liked being near him. It wasn't Makoto, perhaps. It was just his aura that attracted Haruka.

Another battle seemed like too much effort, though.

"I can't decide yet." Haruka finally answered. "Later."

"I... I see. Well, if you can't decide yet, your battle against Makoto-senpai will be held as soon as you're healthy again." Rei said, smiling. He looked somewhat relieved. "Oh—that's right. Nanase-san, you haven't seen the incredible, beautiful sight we can luckily get from our window, right?"

Haruka's sleepy eyes opened a little bit wider this time. An incredible sight...?

"Usually I will stare at it almost every day!"

He did remember that yesterday. Rei was too focused and attached to whatever he was seeing from the opened window, and Haruka gladly left him alone.

"What is it...?" Normally, Haruka wouldn't bother to ask, but this time he was curious.

"Just look. I will open up the curtain for you." Rei quickly left his bedside and walked toward the green curtain draped over the window. When Rei pulled the curtain to the side, it revealed something in the distance. It was already dark outside, but Haruka's keen eyes couldn't ignore what he was seeing.

His eyes were probably playing tricks on him, yet what he saw felt so real.

Haruka pulled his body up and sat on the bed. Even under the faint moonlight and dark clouds, it was the same.

The tree from his dream.

"Beautiful and majestic, isn't it?" Rei's eyes were glimmering in admiration. "It's an ancient tree—if I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't believe such tree exist. It's so tall that it reaches the sky. That tree has protected this place from evil spirits for generations. It's probably much older than this Academy. And guess what I've just found? That tree has a name."

Haruka was silent, waiting for more information. He couldn't take his eyes off the sight in front of him.

Rei took a deep breath before continuing, "Some third-year students—including Mikoshiba Seijuurou-senpai—call it 'Makoto no Sora'—Makoto's Sky."

"What's behind the name...?" Haruka asked in genuine fascination. He couldn't believe it.

No way.

Rei just shook his head. "I don't know."

Notes:

I'm not really sure about this. If the pace is too slow or fast, please tell me. Reviews are very much appreciated. I hope I will see you again on the next chapter!