You find yourself unable to let Kahlua's last comment pass unremarked. "You? A social outcast? Is there something in the water around here that makes people shun strong, pretty, cheerful girls?" You make a show of glancing at the food and drinks.
"I wouldn't know," Kahlua replies brightly. "I never drink the local water."
Right, rich girl; probably only drinks bottled water, the more expensive, the better. "Well, just to be safe..." Since you won't need mana to instruct Ichigo, you spend a bit of what you have left to weave a simple divination over the food, checking for poisons and other contaminants. It's one part theatrics, and one part honest concern - after all, you know that there's at least one ninja running around this tournament, and even if Invisible Girl and her friends didn't strike you as the sort to resort to poisoning rival competitors' food, their very presence argues that other, more unscrupulous ninjas could be here as well. As it happens, your precaution is unneccessary; the only thing on the table that reacts to the probe is the wasabi sauce, and you weren't planning on trying any of that anyway. Reassured, you let the spell lapse and begin picking out an assortment of foodstuffs, focusing on things that should promote healing and the recovery of energy.
As you assemble your lunch, you notice that unlike almost everyone else who spent the morning fighting, Kahlua has not so much as picked up a tray. "Not going to eat anything?" you ask her, curious.
She shakes her head, looking a bit sad. "Food allergies. Nothing too serious, but it's best not to take chances."
"I'm sorry to hear that," you say honestly.
"It's fine." She smiles again. "After all, I have my own chef!"
"A silver lining," you agree, while shifting your previous analysis of "rich girl" to "really rich girl." Even Cordelia doesn't have a private cook, and until today, the Chases were your personal benchmark for financial affluence.
Once you've filled your tray with what you feel is a good first serving, you seek out a table. Under different circumstances, you'd probably be offended by the way everybody makes room - and then keeps going - when you and Kahlua approach, but in this instance, it's convenient, since it'll reduce the potential number of eavesdroppers for the conversation you intend to have.
"So," you begin, after a few mouthfuls, "I got a pretty interesting mix of opponents in my matches. The first was a really skilled kid who I figure was new to the big leagues, not quite used to dealing with people his own age who could give him a real fight. The next was even bigger than me, if you can believe that - seriously strong, but nothing in the way of technique. Then there was Ichigo." You pause, wincing. "Sorry about that, by the way. I really didn't expect him to be such an..."
"Eight year old boy?" Kahlua supplies helpfully.
"...as an eight year old boy, I really want to protest that remark, but it works too well." You shake your head, and scarf down a meat strip and some rice. "Anyway, Ichigo. Decent martial artist, though you need to prod him a bit to get him to take it seriously, with a ridiculously well-developed aura that somebody saw fit to put under lock and key instead of training."
"His father seemed to have a similar problem," Kahlua notes.
You nod, unsurprised that she noticed. Anybody who can control their own aura as well as Kahlua does almost has to have the ability to sense auras as well. It's not an absolute requirement - there are some people and creatures that can do things like that on pure instinct - but anyone who's been trained to control their own aura usually learns how to detect other ones as well. It's simply too useful a skill to go without, if you've got any choice in the matter.
"So what about you, Miss Shuzen?" you ask. "What were your matches like, compared to mine? And if it's not being too nosy on my part, what did you do to your opponents that has them and all the rest of these people so jumpy?"
She sighs. "My first three bouts were really boring, to be honest. The first boy complained about having to fight a girl. He was very rude about it, so I punched him."
You recall that one of the boys Kahlua pointed out earlier had a spectacular black eye. "Like you punched Ichigo?"
"Yes, exactly!" Kahlua shakes her head. "You'd think they never saw a one-hit knockout before."
You'd be willing to be that they hadn't - at least, not from a girl who looks like Kahlua.
"My second opponent was a friend of the first," she continues glumly. "He saw that fight and called me a freak, so I kicked him out of the ring."
You have reason to appreciate just how much force Kahlua can muster with a kick. Without an aura to reinforce one's own body to withstand such an attack... well, if she'd really hurt the guy, she wouldn't have advanced to fight you, so you figure that the boy Kahlua "didn't see" probably took a trip to the infirmary, made the happy acquaintance of child-strength painkillers, and is either taking a nap there or was taken home after he dozed off.
"My third opponent was polite, at least," Kahlua goes on. "And he did know how to fight. He just wasn't strong enough or fast enough to keep up." She sighs again. "After how dull the first three matches were, I didn't really feel like waiting around for the last one, so I had the officials hurry things along so that I could get it out of the way and go home." Her depressed air is replaced by a delighted smile. "I really wasn't expecting someone like you to show up. It completely made up for the earlier disappointment!"
"You're welcome," you say slowly.
That's why you ended up fighting again so quickly? A little girl got bored and told the people running the show to let her fight her next opponent right away? Just who the hell are the Shuzen family, to have that kind of influence?
"While we're on the subject of our fight," you ask carefully, setting your questions about Kahlua's family aside for the moment. "Did you happen to notice anything... unusual... the first time our auras clashed?"
"...you mean, aside from the part where I saw you surrounded by a huge army of youkai, with someone who looked like a Dark Lord at your back?" She does that wrinkly-nose thing again. "Who was that, anyway? He felt like he was very important, but my history tutor's never mentioned a Dark Lord who turned into a gigantic ugly boar demon."