Tsubame walked down the street towards the police department, eager to get away from her student council duties, in no small part thanks to the President and his personality. She never much cared for him to begin with besides the occasional cooperation you would expect, but now it seemed he was becoming even more shady than before.

And Erina just brushed me off when I mentioned the conflict of interest to have a student who's IN the tournament make the tournament placing themselves. Although…

She pulled the bracket he organized and let out a short laugh.

He definitely delivered on the whole "cool" aspect he was talking about. He pretty much railroaded a Mako and Ranika fight, plus there's Suiiki and Hinote near the beginning for a classic water and fire fight…hate to admit but this almost advertises itself.

"Hey, looks like we met halfway!" Tsubame hadn't even been paying attention to her surroundings and was startled at the sound of Ranika's voice. "You must've finished early, I thought you'd be there for another hour or something."

"They keep switching the items they're selling every week, it's useless to try and make a menu until they settle on something concrete."

"I don't know how you do it. All that work, plus putting up with the walking asshole. Have you noticed he's been hanging around Mako a lot more lately? Pretty odd duo, huh?"

Taking a left on the corner, they started aimlessly walking around the city, something they did often since Ranika was quite a restless person, and she didn't like sitting around much. "Really? Guess I've been too busy to notice. Now that you mention it, though, Mako does come around way more often."

"Two egomaniacs in the same place. God, it sounds abhorrent."

"Abhorrent, huh? Genso teaching you more words?"

"Nuh-uh! I knew that one before, he just…reminded me it existed is all." Tsubame lightly chuckled as Ranika gave her a cute pout.

"So…" Ranika changed her tone to a much more serious one. "…have you talked to Suiiki lately?"

Tsubame turned her face away from Ranika, facing forwards as she thought about the question. "Not since the stadium."

"You said you would try to patch things up!"

"I don't think I'm ready to speak with him yet."

"How long are you going to hold a grudge for? And over what anyway? I can barely remember what you two fought over! And I bet he doesn't either!"

"That's the whole problem. Until he starts developing some self-awareness-"

"Then teach him some self-awareness!"

"If you need to be taught, you're kind of a lost cause already."

Ranika groaned in frustration. "Jesus fuck, it's damned if you do, damned if you don't! Sometimes you and Kisho are mirror images!"

"Hey now, don't say that type-"

"I'll say whatever the hell I want!"

"Ranika, wait and listen to me!"

"So you can spout more nonsense crap?"

Tsubame's back hit the wall with enough force to make her collapse briefly. Ranika stepped back in shock, confused at what had happened until she put two and two together and realized she'd pushed her into it herself. She rushed over to help her back up.

"Tsubame! Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Stop!" Tsubame flinched back from her momentarily.

"I just want-"

She stopped herself before going any further. Tsubame tried to say something back but she also seemed very anxious about talking back to her.

"I can…pick myself up."

There was a highly uncomfortable silence as Ranika watched her brushed the dirt off herself.

"…okay, that was way out of line even for me. I'm just going to go home. If you don't want to talk anymore, I get it."

"Wait." She pulled Ranika's arm firmly. "It was a little uncalled for but you showed remorse and it didn't seem like you did it on purpose, just a temperamental flare-up. It was bound to happen with that topic. Just don't do it again please."

Thankful for the second chance she'd been given, she wanted to give her a hug for being understanding but managed to refrain.

"Thank you. Lost myself a little, I guess. Maybe Kisho's right about me being a beast."

"In terms of strength, for sure. Shit, that seriously hurt."

Ranika blinked twice at the sound of the guttural swear from Tsubame's mouth. "Wow, it really was that hard? I'm very sorry."

"Doesn't hurt bad anymore, just makes me really irritated it was over Suiiki."

Ranika gasped and turned around towards another street, alarming the other girl as well.

"What is it?"

"Today's his competition! I forgot his dumb game contest was today! Listen, I told Suiiki I'd watch him at his little game tournament. Would you please come with me? You don't have to do anything but be nice. Can you at least do that?"

Tsubame didn't want to entertain the thought of entering that place again. It always smelled of cheese and ketchup to her, and the lingo they used there always sounded alien and nonsensical.

"Isn't there anything else you'd rather do? Like skating?"

"I'm going regardless of what you say, so you might as well join me. What else do you have to do today?"

Caught off guard by the question, she found she had no answer for her. After a couple moments of stammering, she conceded to Ranika. "…oh, I'll do it but I won't like it."

"Yay! I promise you it'll be fun! You know what?" She picked up her girlfriend by the legs and hoisted her to her shoulders. "I'll carry you there myself!"

"Uhh, no Ranika! I can walk there fine on my own!" Deeply flustered, she tried not to pay attention to the people who were watching them endearingly.

"Nope, I'm now your personal taxi cab! As a little payback for what I did to you! No round trips though, missy. And who knows, you might even enjoy yourself, I mean the fights can get pretty sick!"

"I'm probably going to be the one getting sick…"

"…I'm going to be sick."

The smell of the room was stronger than usual with all the people inside the arcade. It was hot, stuffy, and smelt like a child's birthday party.

"There's Suiiki! He's still in this! Awesome!" Ranika pointed to the boy in question, playing against someone else opposite him. Tsubame nearly went back outside, only stopped by literal force as Ranika pulled her further into the establishment.

Observing the match, Suiiki was having a bit of trouble with the other fighter. Ranika recognized him as someone Genso actually tried to learn the first time he touched the game.

"That's Master, and I think he's one of the strongest people in the game, but he's hard as hell to learn. The Right Stick controls his doll and the Left Stick controls Master." Ranika explained as the fight continued. "Ooh, he's setting up his attack combo. Watch this."

Rolling her eyes, Tsubame set her eyes on the man with the mask on who Ranika called "Master". His large, woman-like servant grabbed the other player and threw him into the masked man, who smacked him back to her, and the two played ping pong with Suiiki for a bit until the doll slammed him onto the ground.

"K.O! Master, Wins!"

"Oh no, he lost! Alright, let's go." Tsubame went to take her leave, being denied as Ranika held her shirt to keep her from moving.

"No, they're not done yet. If Master wins two more times, then it's over, but if anyone can make a comeback, it'll be Suiiki. He's at his best when the odds are against him."

Tsubame sighed and took a seat by some of the other spectators. She couldn't see too much of the game, and she didn't care too much either. If anything, the less she saw of it, the better. Not that she hated games, just that Suiiki being involved made her much more vitriolic than she would normally be.

Ranika stayed standing to watch it from the best angle possible. "Whoa, it's almost like a different person's playing now! I've never seen him play Mizucho like this before!"

But Suiiki's strategy was failing against Master. Even if he got him inside a bubble, the doll would pop it before Suiiki could do anything. Dealing with two people at once was hard. Both had good damage output and were quite mobile. The only downside was that they both had relatively small health.

Ranika looked at Suiiki's face and smiled. His mouth was in a grin and he patted both hands on his face. "Oh yeah, there it is. That's the face he makes when he's about to open a can of whoop-ass on someone."

"What do you mean?"

"Suiiki learns as he fights, really quickly. He struggles a lot at first, just taking blows and losses left and right. But if he understands how you work, he can beat you, provided there's a way to. And he just found Master's way."

"Round Start! Action!"

Suiiki immediately attacked the doll, unleashing an onslaught of attacks on the target, even as Master hit him a few times. Every hit took down a little of its health, and even though he'd lost about half of his own health, the doll finally died, inoperable.

"I see then." The man next to Suiiki straightened himself up to try and stay alive now that he was a single player again.

"Your best defense is your offense. So just destroy the offense." Suiiki said as he rushed after Master. Laying down puddle after puddle, he slid every which way Master could try and flee. It didn't seem Master was good at one-on-ones, and soon enough he had fell to the floor as well, his health bar melting in front of Suiiki's assault.

"K.O! Mizucho, Wins!"

"Damn straight! Go Suiiki, give him his ass!" A couple of people turned to look at Ranika, who just ignored them and continued hyping her friend up. Suiiki heard her voice and smiled as a wave of relief flooded through him. He wasn't sure if he could eke it out, but hearing her voice made him reassured.

Tsubame meanwhile cringed at the attention Ranika was getting and kept her distance from her and the crowd. She began to rest her head on the table, planning to sleep until it was over, when she felt a vibration in her pocket. Taking her phone out, she saw it was a text from Kisho, an unusual circumstance as he rarely contacted her outside of school activities. Somewhat concerned that he would ever need to talk to her outside of those times, she quickly opened up the message: "Thought you didn't like the arcade?"

Turning her attention to the window, she saw a grinning Kisho standing there alone.

"Ranika, I'm going outside for some air. I'm feeling a bit nauseous from this place."

Unsuspecting, Ranika didn't even look at her as she replied innocently. "Alright, but don't leave, okay? He's only got two more matches to-"

"K.O! Mizucho, Wins!"

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Whoo, show him how it's done!" The rest of the crowd had picked up her enthusiasm and was starting to cheer on their respective champions as well, giving a swell to the excitement in the room.

Taking her chance to leave, Tsubame met up with Kisho, who still made her quite uncomfortable to be around. "What are you here for?"

"I could ask you much of the same. It's not every day we see someone as rightly studious as you in one of these places. Let me guess, your cavewoman brought you here against your will."

"I enjoy it well enough myself, thank you. And what's your excuse for being here? To revel in the loser's despair?"

"Guilty as charged. Though to be honest, it's only one person in particular, and I'm pretty sure that makes two of us."

"W-Whatever that's supposed to mean. Did you have anything you wanted to say or are you wasting my time?"

"So curt. Do you really have to be so hostile?" Seeing her unamused face, he gave up on his polite charade. "I'm sure this isn't news, but I have quite the disdain for that fool in there." He gestured towards the building, where cheers could be heard from inside. Evidently, Suiiki had managed to win yet again.

"To see his smile fall would make all my suffering completely worthwhile, but I'll need your help. You see, I've already set up the rosters for the festival so that at the very least, Suiiki has a better chance to lose. Thing is…the board is still a little bit wary of a student having control over it. That's where sweet little you comes in. You just have to tell them it has your endorsement. Convince them that it was all in an honest attempt to create some grand spectacle!"

"I had a feeling you were up to something like that! And why do you think I'd help you? I'm going to tell them right now what you did!"

Kisho didn't react at all to Tsubame's answer. It instead felt like he'd anticipated as much. "Oh my, down the drain my plan goes! Now how will I ever teach that brainless, inconsiderate Suiiki a lesson? I doubt I'll ever get a chance like this again."

"…get away from me, you sick freak. I'd never do something so deplorable." Tsubame pulled away from him and went back inside the arcade, giving a final glare at him, with which he gave a sly smile back.

"Tsubame! You missed it! He completely decimated the doll!" Ranika was eager to tell Tsubame all she had missed. "He had like, 1 health point left, like a single pixel was on the screen! And then…"

Tsubame nodded along as she told the rest of the surely exciting bout. Unfortunately, her mind was elsewhere. And where it was wasn't a place Tsubame was particularly proud of.

Just outside, Kisho leaned against the front of the building with a smile on his face.

"Did you get her?" Mako walked into view from around the corner. "On your side, that is?"

Kisho lazily hung his head in Mako's direction, still smiling.

"Come on, let's enjoy the show for a bit."

"Thank you all for coming to today's tournament, sponsored by Unami Games! Remember, the grand prize is this exclusive Silver Fighters edition of Smoldering Red 5! The semi-finals are underway, and it looks like the competitors are just raring to go! Our first semi-final match-up will be between the lightning-fast bruiser, the crowd-pleaser, Runoso Ishido with the Sand God, Soul!"

The crowd roared for him as he took one of his controllers and used its electricity to create an arcing trail of lightning in the air. They cheered for his miniature showcase, while the announcer looked in disdain when he sheepishly held out his hands for new batteries; he'd drained the controller completely.

"…this is your third pack man, you've gotta stop. And for his opponent, it's the unforeseen upset! The watery fighter that's slipped past some of the strongest players here, Suiiki Saru and water spirit, Mizucho!"

The two approached the game cabinet, sharing a look of eagerness to get started.

"I'll hand it to you Suiiki, I'm amazed you survived this long." Runoso inserted his new battery pack inside his large controller and synced it with the cabinet. Runoso brought his own controller made specifically for fast and precise inputs, at the expense of having quite a hefty size.

"Well, it's a little something called skill, try it out sometime!" Suiiki himself was surprised at how well he'd done, and he was sure he never would've done this well had he not had proper instruction from Kyouko and a chance for application from Koji and his Vicar.

"Hope you can back up that talk!" They prepared themselves as the loading screen showed the two characters side-by-side about to brawl.

Seeing Soul again, Suiiki was slightly intimidated. He had rarely beaten Runoso with any character, and never with Mizucho. Soul was a well-rounded character with most of his moves having priority over the enemy's. If they both threw out even the exact same move, Soul would win the exchange, and he was quite good at getting the opponent locked down in a corner as many of his combos were long and took you great distances.

His only weakness is being a bit of a glass cannon. If I get a good opening, I should be able to kill him in two combos, maybe even one. Just gotta make 'em count then.

"Good luck! And may the best fighter win!"

"I plan to." They said in unison.

"Game Start! Action!"

Mizucho immediately opened with his Water Parry, a smart move that paid off when Soul threw a Sand Spike through him, triggering the counter and covering his half of the arena in water. Pressing the advantage, he made a Big Water Ball that forced Soul to block as he got up, allowing Mizucho even more time to set down puddles.

Soul dashed towards Mizucho and tried to jump in with a heavy attack, something he regretted shortly after, because Mizucho had already made another Water Ball, popping him into the air to let Mizucho get several good hits on him. True to his glass cannon archetype, his life drained faster than the rest, and he was already below half health from just one fairly short combo.

With Soul not having much health left, Mizucho backed away from him, knowing he'd be playing a much more careful game than before. Thankfully, the arena was covered in many puddles at this point, so him going to Soul was much safer than Soul coming to him. He threw a Water Ball to see if Soul would take the bait.

He fell for it completely, throwing out another Sand Spike to try and punish the random projectile. Mizucho slid right through it as he turned into water in his Water Slide, launching Soul into the air and doing his Big Water Ball to trap him inside, then using his Burning Assault super to squeeze the last bit of life out of him.

"Burning K.O! Mizucho, Wins!"

Suiiki breathed out for the first time since the round started. Runoso was not to be taken lightly, and he expected him to start getting more ruthless with the following rounds.

Although a braggart, Runoso wasn't much for talking in the heat of the moment. Suiiki was at first put off by this when they started playing a while back, but it had become customary for the two to fight for hours without a word between them. Thus, the next round started in a quiet tension, only the crowd's noise and the game's announcer breaking it.

"Game Start! Action!"

Soul wasted no time closing the gap in this round, starting his infamous never-ending block loops. A low, then a high, then another low, a jumping kick that you had to block standing up, another low. It was inevitable Mizucho got hit, and when he did, Soul decimated his life bar, throwing him into the air, knocking him off the wall and back to him, trapping him in a Sand Trap that let him get a few free hits, before punching him away with a large fist of sand. Now it was Mizucho who bore the already red health bar.

Trying to keep his distance didn't work either. Soul was right back in his face starting the mix-ups of lows, highs, throws, and jumps that he started with. Once again, Mizucho was eventually broken by the onslaught, a grab tossing him into the air, falling into a Sand Trap, and finished off by the large sand fist.

"Perfect K.O! Soul, Wins!"

Wow, he just utterly annihilated me that time! Like, how do you get away from that stuff? …calm down, getting psyched out will get you nowhere. What worked the first time? I got the first hit, so I was able to control the space after that. Momentum, just keep the momentum going.

"Game Start! Action!"

Taking a blind guess, Mizucho blew a Water Ball that nearly got him hit by Soul with how slow it came out. Luckily for him, it did come out and with a pop, Soul flew into the air. Mizucho didn't take this time to attack, using his strategy against Vicar earlier to place down puddles and set up his stronger attacks. Throwing out another Water Ball, Soul shot his Sand Spike through it again, and was met with a Water Parry that pushed him back even more.

Once again, Mizucho found himself with ample water to go around. Now comfortable with the odds, Mizucho did his Water Slide straight into Soul. Though it was blocked, he could begin his own attack string and give him a taste of his own medicine. Knowing his combos well, he attacked again and again, and to his credit, Soul put up a good defense for quite some time. In fact, Mizucho's grab was the only thing that broke past it. Another Big Water Ball grabbed him, and soon enough, Mizucho's Burning Assault had taken him down yet again.

"Burning K.O! Mizu- Game Start! Action!"

Runoso furiously mashed the button to skip past the introductions. It was so fast, he caught Suiiki off-guard, and Soul landed a sand fist from the beginning before he knew it. Following with a Sand Trap, Soul pulled out his greatest combo yet, throwing Mizucho this way and that way, knocking him into the air, using another Sand Trap, a Sand Fist, a final Sand Trap that he then used to activate his own Burning Assault, a Divine Sandstorm that didn't do much damage on its own, but stayed on screen for a good, long while and chipped away at health.

Well, damn. That'll teach me not to play attention, holy crap! What do I even do?

He tried to place a puddle, but the sand seemed to absorb all the water he placed, rendering any water attacks useless. Even worse, he had stopped blocking too in his attempt, and the sandstorm damaged him even more, draining his life out in mere seconds.

"Perfect K.O! Soul- Final Round! Game Start! Action!"

Both Mizucho and Soul mirrored each other, jumping backwards so as not to get hit by an opening attack. The following seconds were surprisingly devoid of action, Soul waiting for an opportunity to strike, and Mizucho taking care not to leave himself open.

Go on, buddy. Make a move. There's a limited-edition video game with my name on it, and I'm not throwing away my shot. Think I can't play the waiting game too?

Even though he had no intention of going on the offense, Suiiki jumped in close to try and bait the dangerous Sand Spikes he could capitalize on. But to no avail, for Runoso had also been learning during this fight, and the two were almost at a stalemate. No spikes were thrown, and not a puddle was laid down.

"Scared?"

"Nope. You?"

"Yeah, right."

It was hard to discern which one said what with how hard they were concentrating on the game. Every fake attack seemed to inch a tiny bit closer, to the point someone could actually hit if they were daring enough. Soul did a jump kick, Mizucho did a roundhouse. Soul threw an uppercut, and Mizucho came with an axe kick.

Then it happened. Soul summoned a Sand Trap below his opponents feet, surely setting up for a heavy damage took up his Water Parry almost a millisecond later, and pushed Soul back to the opposite side. As always, his puddles were all across the floor.

Whew…wasn't sure if that would actually work. Nearly missed my chance too. Now I'm controlling this space, and there's not a thing he can do about it.

With Mizucho clearly having an edge on his opponent, he went to work with his usual stunts, kicking and punching until a hit got past his block. It wasn't a great combo but it did enough to drop Soul's health just above half.

But Suiiki had forgotten the "cannon" part of glass cannon He didn't back away before Soul quickly got up and knocked him into the air, threw him into the wall, trapped him, and blasted him away with his Sand Fist. Suiiki barely had time to slide backwards to avoid a repeat of the situation. Both competitors were again at equal health.

Still with puddles down, he suspected this much water would kill the fragile Soul's health bar completely in a Burning Assault. Setting out to do just that, he threw out a small and big Water Ball, hoping at least one would catch him.

Soul activated his own Burning Assault, covering the screen in his sandstorm. Mizucho was already blocking, so he wasn't taking much damage. What was happening was the sand was covering his water puddles, eroding any plans he had made for a Burning Assault using Water.

The momentum shifted with Soul's sandstorm, and he took his turn in full by punishing with his staple hard-hitting combos. After a couple throws and punches, combined with the sandstorm doing damage over time, he'd nearly depleted all the health from Mizucho's side.

No way, not like this! Come on, what to do, what to do?! There has to be something. I can't just die from getting sand in my eyes, think! Wait, what's that on the ground?

As he inspected closer, he noticed a weird pattern occurring on the floor of the arena. It appeared to be some other texture was clashing with the sand on the ground.

But we didn't choose a stage with uneven terrain. What could be under there…unless! The storm's going away. If what I think is true then maybe I'm still in this.

Though the situation was dire, he did all he could to avoid Soul getting any more hits in. Suiiki even managed to break free of some of the grabs he tried, to Runoso's confusion.

"You know you're dead already. Just give up and let me end it. No way you can beat the divine sandstorm with the little health you've got." Runoso bragged as he visibly loosened up, seeing his victory draw near. The crowd in turn began making their way to the main stage, the winner already clear, only Ranika sticking around to the very end, biting her nails nervously.

Not being discouraged, Suiiki stayed on the defense, surviving for as long as he could, waiting, just waiting, and hoping it would happen. Begging for it, almost pleading with the game itself as his health went past the final bits and almost vanished completely. Throwing out his Big Water Ball, he managed to catch Runoso not on defense and trapped Soul inside, but he was still left blocking to protect his literally empty health bar.

And then the sandstorm dissipated, revealing the puddles Mizucho had placed earlier in the match still intact and functional.

"What?!" Runoso yelled, to the attention of the crowd, who rushed to see what the upstart was about.

Suiiki wasted no time, doing his Burning Assault on the trapped Sandmaster, and watching with anticipation as the water began to pool into the ball, becoming smaller and smaller, more and more damage racking up, until it popped in a dramatic visual that splattered the screen with water as Suiiki jumped out of his chair for joy, being picked up and spun by Ranika.

"Last Pixel Burning Assault K.O! Mizucho, Wins!"

"AAAHHHHHHH! NO GODDAMN WAY!"

"YEEESSSSS!" Suiiki screamed at the top of his lungs as the crowd shouted with him. Ranika shook Tsubame with pure excitement then ran to congratulate him by spinning him around in her arms.

But I have to talk to Runoso, that was one of the greatest fights ever! Is he still in his seat? If she would just…put me down– GAH! She's gonna choke me to death!

Prying himself free of Ranika's hold, he went back to the arcade machine to see Runoso's head cradled beneath his arms.

"I…lost. I lost. Right in the semi-finals, I was so close…I got cocky." His hand was taken by another person's, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Looking at his face, Runoso saw Suiiki actually had tears running down his face, out of joy or possibly emotional overload, and it looked like he didn't realize it himself. He tried to say something over the noise of the crowd, but couldn't find words to say to him.

Runoso wiped away his own eyes and pulled him in for a hug, patting him on the back playfully.

"Alright fine, maybe you're better than I thought."

"Tsk, why am I not surprised? Served on a silver platter to him." Kisho rolled his eyes at the way the match had ended. Sitting beside him, Tsubame was slightly grimacing as well, though whether from the outcome of the battle or Ranika's previous shaking was unknown.

"Don't be a spoilsport. He did a really good job, so he deserved it. Nothing really to be upset about."

"Don't have to trick yourself to be happy for him." Standing, he dusted his pants off from the dirty benches. "Shame, I was hoping I would've at least been able to see this all the way through but that was almost divine intervention. Did you see the way his health bar looked? There was no way the sandstorm should've ran out just as his health hit zero, Runoso should've easily been able to chip him out. Better yet, stop attacking and put a random grab in there that he wouldn't expect, or pretend to do a low feint and then grab so it's even harder to read."

"Looks like someone actually knows how the game works, hmm? Maybe you've been sneaking off in the morning too?" Upon hearing the slight provocation, he turned to Mako with slight contempt.

"It isn't hard to figure out, even a child could understand the concept of hitting someone until they die."

"That wasn't all you were saying though, some of that was natural instinct. You'd probably enjoy it if you tried your hand at it."

"I'd rather not have the knowledge I enjoy anything he does. Mako, I take it you're staying?"

"Yeah, I kinda enjoy it but I probably won't stick around longer either. Seeing Ranika makes me nervous about our match, so I might train some more myself later today."

"…you surprise me sometimes. I'll leave you two to it then. Good day!"

"Hey!" Tsubame caught him before he left.

"Yes?"

"What is it you have against Suiiki anyway? Did he kill your dog or something?"

Kisho laughed at the question for a moment, and undoubtedly had a snarky remark in mind. But as quickly as his mouth opened, his face fell, turning into something more genuine, almost somber, taking Tsubame off guard. He took a moment to ready himself to speak, and was about to start before Ranika ran over to Tsubame, giddy from Suiiki's match with Runoso. "They're about to start the final match! Come on, we have a few minutes to grab some snacks from the vending machine!"

"Uhm, o-okay Ranika! Just one second!"

Ranika grabbed her arm and dragged her to a hallway off to the side. "The last fight is going to be nuts! I can't wait! Oh, if you don't like being near all those people then you can watch it on the TV's too, but I gotta see it in person!"

Not wanting to stick around much longer herself, she inwardly cursed as she saw Kisho walking out the door. "Uhh…actually, I need to go back to the stadium soon, there's something I forgot to do. You understand, right?"

Ranika's face dropped a little, but she nodded. "Well, you are the Vice President. Shouldn't have expected less. I'll just cheer him on for you, which means I've gotta be twice as loud!" Ranika pulled her in for a hug. "See you tonight?"

Returning the hug, Tsubame gave her a quick peck on the lips and nuzzled her forehead against hers. "Sure thing. See ya, firecracker!"

Once they parted ways, Tsubame gazed at the stadium off in the distance. With the board in mind, she pulled out her phone's notepad.

"Might as well get an endorsement speech ready."