"Dearie, you there?" Latelia asked while using a lint roller on her dress.

"Huh?" Erina snapped out of her stupor, back to the loud chants from the crowd cheering for Tsubame. "Oh, uh…what'd you say?"

"I was asking if that girl," She pointed to the girl with jet black hair on the reformed stage, who still seemed confused herself. "Wins the match based off that absurd maneuver. To allow such acts would cause all her subsequent matches to end in less than seconds, and it's frankly rude in general to remove the ground underneath someone to start. But…"

"Nothing can ever be simple these days." Growing tense, the teacher covertly pinched her arm and sighed when she felt her skin send the proper sensation of pain. "But what?"

"But on the contrary, that was – what I believe the official term is – straight dope, yo?"

"Please don't ever say that again." Erina bit her nails with a disturbing amount of speed. "I guess I never took into account one of our students having such a ridiculous ability but, hah! Here we are!" The speed of her words increased dramatically as she went on. "And if she's allowed to continue, she'll surely just use that to win every match going forward, destroying any sense of challenge or competition! Oh but if she's disqualified then the whole stadium will turn against the judges – or worse, me – and call the whole thing rigged! What a great turn of events this is turning out to be- excuse me for one moment."

She rushed inside the press-box to quickly give the announcement that the principal had yet to do. "And that concludes the final match of the first…good god…the first round! We're going to go into intermission and then proceed with the rest of the matches, so take this time to grab refreshments, use the restrooms or relax! Damn it, I need some aspirin."

She blushed at her own last comment while she switched the intercom off. Not saying a word to the principal, still mentally out of commission, she headed back outside to a flurry of reporters and fans clamoring for answers.

"There was a distinct lack of victor in that final duel, and you left it quite vague who was the winner. Can you perhaps clear this up right now?"

"Or could it be that you're also at a loss to decide?"

"If she is claimed to be the winner, what does that say for her doing the same for every other match?"

"Daaaaarlings!" Multiple vines cleared the path for Ikasaki to walk up and take on the reporters. "Seeing as I am the judge for these types of decisions, I am the one you vultures should be giving your camera time to!" Upon entering the media frenzy, he whipped his head back with dramatic flair. "Ooh, not this way! My right side is the good one! What am I saying, ALL my sides are the good one!" He puckered his lips and furrowed his brow in a rather odd way.

"Uhm, about the match-"

"You're right! These clothes don't match my complexion today at all! But wait til you see how it goes when I'm next to honey bunny Rinasa, I made sure to tailor our-"

"Honey Bunny?" Latelia asked from the crowd.

"Why, yes darling! She's a total card when it comes-Huh?! W-what…Latelia!"

She grinned as she flipped her hair quite forcefully into a reporter's face behind her. "The only…or maybe not?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Wait, you think I'm copying y- oh no no no! I'm just…mocking your- noooo! Listen, Rinasa insisted I change and I couldn't let my lessons go to waste so…" At the mention of his boss, he smirked while gazing arrogantly at his fingers. "Plus, I became a damn good stylist if I do say so myself. D'you see the pixie cut I gave the cupcake? Not to mention, after I grew my hair out, I've-"

Noticing the mass of reporters still hounding them, he quickly wrapped his vines in a tighter circle around himself, Erina and Latelia.

"Toodle-oo now! The judge needs to concentrate on such a delicate decision!" He pushed them further away until they couldn't hear them anymore. "Good lord, they're merciless. And thanks for the HEADS-UP, BY THE WAY! Maybe you could've called, told us you were coming?"

"Only Rinasa should ever know when I'm coming. Take this to the trash for me." She tossed her lint roller at Ikasaki's hair, prompting a quick flurry of hand swipes to keep it away.

"Not the hair! I spent an hour moisturizing-"

"Use a style that goes with your hair's natural direction. You're pushing your hair opposite the way it wants to flow, Dawhling." She oozed the word out slowly with a sly grin on her face.

His eyes darkened and his whole body shuddered. "Agh! Don't even say it! Just makes me remember how long we practiced! So…many…HOURS!"

"Ikasaki. Erina." Rinasa emerged from the concessions area with a large cotton candy cone and a half-drunk bottle of water. Latelia snatched the cone from her and ogled at its size. "Make a decision and carry on the tournament. Now."

Erina was still muttering under her breath while frantically shifting through a bundle of papers. Latelia blew some wind in her face, making her recoil out of her slight mania. "Yes, yes. Let's see…a student did in fact best the other, I mean Tsubame clearly outmatched her opponent in the end, but the technique used is questionable. When it comes down to this type of situation, rather than the judges of our point system, it would come down to the ground judge's decision."

Raising his eyebrows with renewed interest, Ikasaki tapped his finger on his chin while moving around the perimeter of the circle his vines created. "So. It all comes down to me, then?" The reporters struggled to move shove their microphones past each other, and he gleefully goaded them by opening his mouth only to slowly close it again. Occasionally he would stand still and stare longingly at the sky, puckered mouth and nodding to himself. All these movements were not of importance to his friends, bemoaning his infatuation with his newfound attention.

Finally, a cameraman lost his patience and angrily lowered his equipment. "For fucks sake, who won?"

"Ah-ah-ah! Language, good sir! And patience."

"Patience my ass." He turned to his crew. "Forget him, I saw that Water kid pass by a bit ago."

"Wait!" Desperately grabbing his rig and focusing it back on him, he fumbled for words. "Right! I…Uhm…the decision is…s-Uh! A-hem! After much d-deb…debilit-no, ahh…deliberation! After much deliberation, I believe that…"

The stadium went dead silent as a livestream of his face appeared on the big screens near the top of the venue's walls. The students and spectators alike now holding their breath waiting for his final words. His forehead sweating and his voice a quiver, he stammered out:

"…I ttthhhhhink it's…straight…dope, yo!"

"I don't think it's as big a deal as you're all making it out to be."

"That's true. All you did was REFORM THE FUCKING STAGE!" Ranika shouted at the top of her lungs. "It's awesome, don't get me wrong, but it's busted as shit!"

"SHHH!" Tsubame covered her mouth and winced as the cry echoed throughout the mostly empty hallways of the field entrance. "Stop swearing so much, it's unnecessary!"

Ranika pushed her hand away. "When did you learn how to do something like that? I thought you were doing Student Council things all the time!"

"I practiced a little."

Ranika pulled her lips back with a deadpan stare. "I made some progress off camera."

"I'm serious! You might find this crazy but there are other people besides you who want to win."

"Guess I didn't figure you were one of them. But I mean, good for you!"

"Well, duh I want to win! Why else would I enter?"

"To represent the student council with dignity!" Kisho's voice abruptly struck Ranika out of her good mood, whereas Tsubame stayed in high spirits, if not even more now that he was here.

"Ah, hello! I must say, Kisho! I really was quite wary of your intentions but…you've done it! You've put together one heck of an event with such a great roster! I'm sure Erina is most grateful to you!"

"Ohh, thank you, thank you! You shouldn't!" He did a bow and pretended to wave off accolades being thrown at him from an invisible audience. Tsubame saw Ranika shuffling her feet and poked her face lightly.

"He did! Try to be a little more amicable to him today!" She whispered.

Looking off to the side, Ranika huffed. "…yeah, thanks Kisho. My match with Watsuji was pretty fun." She narrowed her eyes at him. "So was yours, making that girl run away from the fight was just peak performance."

Kisho shrugged. "Whatever wins you the match. I mean, you really weren't supposed to use your quirk in the tournament whatsoever but they gave you that one."

She pursed her lips.

"Glad we understand each other. Now then, you'll be fighting Mako in the next round, so instead of talking away this intermission, how about you warm-up those muscles of yours out there? I've asked one of the judges to set up some practice dummies out on the field so the students can stay loose. I even got some specifically for you and Mako near the back since you two are first up!"

"Oh, awesome!" Ranika rushed off to the brightly lit field, then turned with a bit of hesitation. "So uhm, thanks. Really. You're kind of being…not an ass today." Then she quickly ran onto the arenas where several students cheered for her arrival.

"She's coming around on you." Tsubame said. "You're doing a great job as president, Kisho. Keep up this type of stuff and you'll have this school at full capacity by next year!"

"Yes, yes, I know! I'm godlike!"

"Oh my god, shut up dummy!" She punched his arm and made him fall to the floor, mostly in shock. "Oop, my bad! Sorry about that!"

"Oof…I'm fine, but goodness. She's been rubbing on you, yeah?"

Her face went flush and she turned to him with alarm. "Huh!? Why are you-?! Do I smell or-"

"No! As in her mannerisms! You gutter rat!" He tightly closed his eyes and shook his head with a groan. "Why- Ugh! Why would I even…"

"Ah. Back on topic!" She spoke louder than usual. "Yes, she may have influenced me a little bit, for better and worse. I actually got a little motivated to practice myself when I saw her so into this idea. She used to always be angry and lashing out at someone, but lately…" Remembering her own lashing out yesterday, she trailed off and wiped her eyes.

"Personally I think she's still an oaf; it's highly likely she saw this as an excuse to get some pent-up anger out but I digress. I am pleased with the way things are going."

"You're next up after her, aren't you? Why aren't you preparing?"

Kisho yawned as he checked his watch. "No worries, I talked to the judges; something happened and we need to pause the tournament for a while. Knowing their incompete- I mean thoroughness, we probably have another 20 minutes until we resume, and I also don't think I can practice much. Suiiki is a special case where I'd need him here to properly warm myself up to fight. I think it would be better if I just planned something out instead."

"Huh?" The girl pulled out her tournament bracket where she'd scratched some names out, and stared at him. "You have seen the bracket lately?"

"Of course! ...Now that you mention it, I haven't taken the time nor cared to. But I already figured out some of the winners for certain matches regardless."

"…you do know who won the fight between Suiiki and Hinote then?"

"Is there any doubt it would be anyone but Suiiki? He's got the concept of luck itself on his side."

"…about that. He maybe, sort of, got destroyed completely."

His expression didn't change much. In fact, he continued to smile as if nothing was wrong at all. "He lost."

"Yes. Which only goes to prove I was right about him not being prepared in the slightest although I'm going to try not to gloat about that. To his own credit, Hinote was probably going to be unbeatable no matter what, so he did a really good job holding his own-"

"Suiiki lost?"

"Uh, yes?"

He grabbed her by the shoulders with a slightly off-putting smile. "The universe just has it out for me."

"What?" She meekly asked.

"Of all time times for him to lose, suddenly it happens now?! How did HE lose!? Water puts out fire! It's basic physics!"

"Chemistry."

"Whatever! How did he manage to lose when he had the advantage!" He let her go and paced around the hall pulling his bangs down and rubbing them between his fingers. "Damn it, damn it. Weeks of scheduling, hours toiling over the perfect roster, wasted! Maybe I can still plan some exhibition matches after or…what's the point if no one will stick around to see them? If I can't completely humiliate him and expose him for the cretin he is, then there's no point! Augh!"

"Wow."

Remembering she was there, the blood drained from his face. "No matter though, my personal grudges-"

"Glad I'm not the only one."

"Eh?"

"You told me already, remember? At the arcade, you were going to try and teach him a lesson here once it was your turn? And going over it in my head, that would've been strongly in your favor since you just, well...absorb water. Which ethically speaking, maaayyybe you could argue there's some issues but he seriously has it coming to him."

Slightly surprised, he was put at ease again. "You really understand me well."

"A little more than I'd like to sometimes. But yes. I still harbor some feelings I wish I didn't."

"I'm happy you still do though. I'm glad I have someone like you who believes in someone getting their just desserts. Who takes wrongs against others seriously."

"You could say that. I just can't let them go. I feel so incomplete. Like a good book that's stopped in the middle of the climax. He's just allowed to remain as he is without any repercussions. It's almost maddening, to be honest." Her voice shook a little on the last few words.

He awkwardly fiddled with his hands and glanced down the hall, making sure no one else was there. "I suppose so, it's more just frustrating to me. Wouldn't say I feel-"

"Do his actions not warrant proper punishment? He acts like the world can't possibly do him harm no matter what he does. And he's mostly been proven right!"

With slight unease, he laughed at her words. "Ha! Yes, that is the uh…unfortunate truth, isn't it? I didn't think about it like that, I admit, you certainly have a unique view of the situation."

"It keeps me awake sometimes. Just thinking about how perfect his life still is. Almost mocking me. Mocking me for even daring to mention it! All his issues are swept under the rug, while any of mine are unacceptable!" She held her hand up to her head, as if in agony. "I'm getting a headache just thinking about it again. Merely the thought causes so much distress. I feel as if I'm about to snap. So many times I've been told how wrong it is to feel like this, but I'm not wrong! I know I'm not! I'm the only sane one!"

As she dropped to the floor against the wall, she cradled her head. Kisho was wary to approach her so he kept his distance. He had wanted to say something to stop the rapid degeneration of her mental state, but he had become morbidly curious of her inner thoughts and so said nothing.

"This isn't right. I've had to change so much, had to keep so much hidden away for years! Don't we all have to be decent human beings? Why doesn't he conform to it? Whenever I let my voices be heard, I'm told to be quiet! I have to seal it away! I'm called a horrible person if I let them say what they want. Not like him! He gets to let himself be free without anyone saying otherwise. But if I get someone hurt, I have to sit in timeout again? Why can't everyone just be held to the same standards? Why are some so special?! Why are others treated differently? It should all be the same!"

As she began to chant her last words over and over, tears began running down her face and her breathing became erratic and heavy. She clutched her chest and rocked her body while lightly hitting her head on the wall. As worried as he was about approaching her, he spared no second running in and wrapping his arms around the back of her neck to stop her from repeatedly tapping the concrete.

"Tsubame, slow breathing. Let's breathe slower, yes?" He spoke in a calming voice. "Breathe in time with my voice. We'll count to ten, slow. Alright, ready? One, and two, and three…"

He counted at a slow beat that she matched her breathing with. He slowed down from the rhythm he'd begun at to ensure she wouldn't start hyperventilating. At count five, she had stopped her rocking and by eight, her chanting had ceased completely as well.

"Whew…sheesh. Luckily, we weren't disturbed there."

She pulled her knees up to her head. "That was so disgusting. I haven't done that in a long time, it just started screaming at me. You must think I'm a FUCKING LUNATIC!"

Her sudden shout made him flinch but he stayed by her. "No, I just see someone who has very strong feelings for justice."

"No, shut up. This isn't a good thing at all. I'd gotten past this. This? This was gone…mostly. And now he's went and brought it back out."

He slowly got her back to her feet and absorbed the tears running down her face. "Can you stand on your own?"

"I'm fine. I said everything out loud so my head is clear for now."

"Certain?"

She nodded. "For the next couple hours anyway…thanks." Her voice was somewhat raspy and hoarse. "Again. Everyone else runs away when that happens."

"Others don't understand you like I do."

She gave him a quick hug. He was taken aback by it but gladly accepted the gesture. "I'm glad you were here."

"Oh, trust me, I feel the same way."

She released him with a puzzled face. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing you need worry about. More importantly, I feel much better now. I might attribute that to you actually."

"But what did I do?" She coughed a couple times to clear her throat. "All I did was…"

"It helped me put things in perspective. It's a shame it didn't work out the way I wanted, but they'll be plenty of other times to expose his incompetence, I'm sure." He checked his watch with a sudden urgency. "That aside, I need to focus on my next match. I figure I might go out there and spar for a while. Who knows, maybe I'll go fisticuffs out there, yeah? Give them the ol' one, two?"

Almost on cue, one of the students from the field bumped into him on the way in. Before he hit the ground, he was caught and stood back up on his feet.

"Whoa there! Sorry, my eyes gotta get adjusted to the dark!"

Having heard it many times, he instantly recognized the voice. "Hinote! You must have a heat-seeking ability, you just keep running into me!"

She laughed with a slight blush. "Uh, I will neither confirm nor deny! Heya, Tsubame!" Upon making eye contact with the vice president, the pyromancer's eyes widened and her smile vanished for a split second, but only that much, quickly returning to a normal, happy expression. "You doing okay? Want some water?"

"Uh, no thanks?" Tsubame cautiously replied, wiping her face with her sleeves. "I'm perfectly fine! Why do you ask? Is there something on my face?"

"…N-no, you look fine! If you want to hang out and talk though, I'll be down!" Hinote dismissed the subject and readdressed the other boy. "So! Heard you were looking for a training partner! What, did I put some fear in ya?" She lowered her voice so Tsubame couldn't hear them. "Don't think you'll be able to make me forfeit like Asai. I'll be going all out against you, so don't even try it."

"I'd expect no less." Slightly intimidated himself, he managed to give a reply without stammering.

"See you out there, Prez!"

While she went towards the concessions area, Kisho exhaled deeply.

"So…she's my…"

"Yep. Good luck with your fisticuffs."