Exception

By: Aviantei

51. Rivals and Reunions

Considering that the Black Order High School's Science Club was well known for its chaotic energy, it was rather impressive that their Robot Fight Club event managed to draw in a rather impressive crowd. You would think, given how the last evet of such a kind had ended in disaster (the original Komlin I, god rest his soul, had a rather impressive capability for destruction), no one would ever want to come again. And that would be a fair assessment if it weren't for three very essential facts:

The first was that Lenalee had led the charge when it came to the fundraising efforts, and she had plenty of social pull. Her network of friends and acquaintances was vast, even outside of Black Order High, so that drew in plenty of numbers and ticket sales on its own.

The second was that the rivalry between BOHS and Millennium Private was so vast that the student bodies and alumni alike would jump at any possible opportunity to one up the other. Even if they weren't on the robot building teams, there was an innate draw to watch their school kick around the other one—and in a way that condoned robot-based violence at that. Which lead to the third and final point:

A rather high percentage of people there saw the possibility of everything blowing up as a draw, rather than a detriment. After all, morbid fascination was a thing.

So with all that in mind, the community center the Robot Fight Club was steadily filling up with people in the couple of hours before the battles began. Lenalee, heading up the main concession area for further fundraising optimization, watched over the scene with pride. Everyone had managed to outdo themselves for once, and there was even a chance that they'd manage to break even on the finances after Lenalee's predicted level of destruction. In other words: it was a damn near perfect victory.

No, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. You never know what Nii-san will come up with. Stay on the ball, Lee Lenalee!

"Hey, Lenalee, where did you want these to go again?"

Having been called for, Lena spun and turned to face Allen, offering him a grateful smile for continuing to help out, even in the most potentially dangerous of circumstances. Allen, who was a Good, trademark and everything, was hauling along several boxes of snacks towards the various refreshment tables set up. "Can we go ahead and stack those on the back wall? Thanks." Allen went to do just that, soon followed by Ari hauling in a cart with the necessary drinks they needed to restock at this station. "Ari, can you go ahead and unload the sports drinks into the coolers, please? We need those the most."

"Roger, roger. How are we doing on ice?"

"All good for now, though check back with me in an hour. Also—"

"Hey, Jasdero, look who it is!"

"Hmm? Do I spy some little Black Order kiddies, hee? Looks like they're a having a hard time keeping up over there."

Jasdero waltzed in on the scene in all their chaotic punk glory. In a split second, Lenalee and Ari both switched to battle mode, no holds barred at all. If Jasdero was there, that just increased the chances that Road would be there, and keeping Allen safe took way more priority over anything else, even fundraising sales. Since Road didn't seem to be anywhere in sight for the moment, though, petty school rivalry sure could overcome all the rest for the moment.

"Well, well, if it isn't Jasdevi!" Ari said with all of her cheer that indicated plenty of danger to the well-informed. Seeing that they were well-acquainted with Road, both members of Jasdevi saw right through her, but there wasn't any sense in calling her out, either. "I'm impressed that you're willing to show your face around Black Order students after we so thoroughly managed to destroy you in our dance competition!"

"Think again, girlie," Devitt said, drawling out the last word. "It's cute that you thought your non-stylish school won, but just because you imagined that in your grief at getting trounced doesn't make it any truer."

"Hm, is that what you think happened?" Lenalee asked with the same level of polite shock as Ari. "I'm afraid that you don't know when you've been beaten. How sad. I thought that you Noah lot were all supposed to be smarter than that, but maybe your reputation has been exaggerated thanks to all that money that gets thrown at you…"

"Huh? You wanna go, hee?" Jasdero asked, his temper breaking first. And, as anyone who knew the twins was well aware of, if one member of Jasdevi snapped, the other was sure to be close behind. "I'd like to see you talk that tough after we trounce you today!"

Lenalee didn't take the bait, her polite demeanor staying in perfect shape. You had to be part of her inner circle to earn the right to see Lenalee lose her cool, thank you very much. "Sorry to inform you, but Nii-san's Science Club outclasses yours in every possible way. After all, our victory was obvious the last Robot Fight Club, remember?" Now, was that victory assured in no small part because the building had almost collapsed in the process? Sure, but a win was still a win, and there was no denying that.

Though Lenalee had an excellent point, Devitt had the gall to smirk. "Oh? Did you think that was the only competition going on today?" Lenalee and Ari exchanged a glance, but they were both clueless as to what their fated school rival was talking about—and if there was one way to guarantee souring a Bookman's mood, that would be implying they were clueless. "If you're that unprepared, the battle's as good as won for us, huh, Jasdero?"

"Yup-yup, we've got this in the bag, hee!"

"And what," Ari said, the one reason she hadn't snapped being Lenalee's had having caught onto the back of her blouse, "might you be implying, Devitt-san?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just that our fundraiser is gonna kick yours right into the ground." Jasdero wore their patented twin grins, of which they would always insist had come to them naturally and not after hours upon hours of practice. "After all, you Black Order miscreants always make a mess of everything. I doubt you'll have enough to clean up after yourselves. So we'll take pity on you and do it for you."

"Pardon moi?" Ari asked—soon followed by a tirade in color French that wasn't worth trying to transcribe on a low fanfiction writer time schedule. While one might not have guessed from their outward appearance, being Millennium Private High School students, foreign language was part of the curriculum, so they understood plenty.

Lenalee, not having the same lingual status, understood Ari as a person well enough (and the few choice English words she slipped in) to make an educated guess, and she pulled her friend back. "Well, if you want to waste your time trash talking, that's on you. We could win without any underhanded tactics, but you can't come crying to us if you lose out for being poor managers, you know."

Flashing a smug smirk, Lenalee flipped a pigtail back over her shoulder. Jasdevi glared back, the flames of determination fueling the competition that no one had asked for ever further. In a case of pure irony, their combined aura was enough to scare off any potential customers, who would be frequenting the other available concession stands in the area, which was a net neutral, all things considered.

"Okay, Lena, those boxes are taken care of, so what's ne—ah."

So of course poor Allen walked right into the mess of an encounter. Sure, he wasn't surprised about the level of animosity that was going on between the two groups, but he hadn't been expecting it, so it took a moment to adjust.

Oh dear. Today's going to be even messier than usual, now isn't it?

But considering their usual group, was that all that different? Survey says: not really.

While Ari had arrived on the scene early to be part of the fundraising crew and Lavi had every intention of also attending the guaranteed chaos that was Robot Fight Club, but he had arrived much later to the scene. Now, as much as Ari was a certified menace at times, Lavi was not neglecting his supportive big brother duties, so sir. It was just that that day was not any ordinary Robot Fight Club.

It was Robot Fight Club plus an encounter with one sexy Tyki Mikk, and while it was a totally normal encounter meant to apologize to a waitress he'd accidentally caused a lot of trouble of, it was pretty obvious as to why he didn't want Ari catching wind of things. Add in the drama that Tyki was from the rival school Black Order High was trying to best in said Robot Fight Club, and it was a recipe for potential disaster.

Hence why rabbit and Noah alike had agreed to meet close to the venue and not inside it. The idea was that they'd be able to blend into the crowd easily enough once people started coming, so they could use that opportunity to watch the incoming garbage fire that everything was bound to turn out to be. Considering how much of a mess that Lavi had already made of Sachiko's life, though, he figured it was best to spare her of all that nonsense for as long as possible.

Sure is heckin' cold out here, though. Maybe I shoulda asked to meet up in a coffee shop or something. That's a cute date idea, right? Lavi caught himself, shaking his head. This isn't actually a date, though! Get it together so you don't make a fool of yourself in front of both Tyki and Sachiko-san! Still getting used to the fact that he was a bi disaster (he'd long known he was a disaster of the regular variety, though he preferred the term chaotic good), he hadn't quite gotten used to flaunting that identity in public. Yeah, he'd have to play it cool, apologize to Sachiko, and hope he could score some points afterwards so that Tyki Mikk still thought he was an adorable sort of mess instead of—

"You look like you're thinking hard over there, Red?"

The question had been so sudden that Lavi jumped out of his thoughts; one would've thought that Tyki had snuck up on him and asked the question right in his ear. But, no, his voice had come from a couple of feet away; if his voice had that much of an effect already, what would have happened if he'd gotten closer—

Focus, Lavi, holy shit, you've got work to do!

He laughed, spinning around and trying not to sound as outright awkward as he felt. "Well, you know me, always thinking about something!" Knowing he was likely to ramble on, Lavi changed tacks in an attempt to save himself. "I was thinkin' we could go ahead and move inside for a bit, since it's cold and all, I've been freezing by butt off this whole ti—wait, what happened to you?!"

If Lavi didn't already know his memory would've never let him confuse one voice for another, he would've doubted that Tyki had been the one to speak to him in the first place. After all, he'd mentally prepared himself for another fresh encounter with the smooth and suave Tyki Mikk, with his slicked-back hair, form-fitting clothes, and a devilish smirk.

Instead, what he got was messy hair, baggy clothes, and a relaxed smile paired up with some round glasses that weren't all that different from Johnny's from a distance. It didn't look bad—Tyki Mikk was damn near incapable of looking bad, and he knew it, too—but it was a rather stark contrast to expectation.

No one should look that sexy while looking like a hobo, though, Lavi couldn't help but think, and then he couldn't tell if it was something he could feel bad for thinking or not. At the very least, Tyki seemed to be amused, which was great news, considering that Lavi's shock must've been apparent on his face. The following chuckle was enough to prove that theory—after all, half the reason that Tyki had donned such a look for the day was for the chance to see the look on Lavi's face in the first place.

"Easy there," Tyki said, letting a bit of his smirk slip through. "Some days the hair gel's way too much to even bother with in the first place. Though I don't know if you can relate, seeing as that mop of yours looks like it wouldn't behave no matter what you did to it." It did, if nothing else, look soft, though. Tyki was looking forward to finding out once he got the chance to do so. "But aside from that, I figured it'd be better to keep a low profile today, considering that we'll be around so many people from my side of things an' all. So, in short, when I don't feel like looking or acting like a prissy rich kid, I dress up like this." He tilted his head, a move that he totally hadn't stolen from Road whatsoever; no, she'd stolen it from him. Sheril hadn't stopped crying about it for several months. "What? Not your style there?"

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant, I was just got off guard!" Ah, that good old Lavi panic; Tyki happened to enjoy causing it very much. Lavi pouted, puffing his cheeks out. "Sheesh. You could've warned me, you know."

"And miss seeing your reaction? Absolutely not." In a show of affection, Tyki patted Lavi's shoulder. The redhead tensed up a bit at the contact, blushing darker, but he didn't pull away, which was a nice end result. "Now, you mentioned not freezing, and I think I can get behind that. Why don't we head inside the venue. You alright with that, Sachiko?"

Right, Lavi thought, attempting to put his head back on straight (not an easy task with a Tyki Mikk in close vicinity), Sachiko-san's here, too. The shock of seeing Tyki's hobo chic had distracted him, but there was, in fact, a woman following along behind him. While she'd (obviously) been in work attire while at Millennial, it seemed her casual dress consisted more of traditional Japanese attire, her multi-layered kimono paired with a light scarf to keep the weather from getting to her. It would've been best if the winter chill would give way for spring already, but there was no way to make the setting change its mind like that.

"That's fine with me," Sachiko said, her smile bright as she flicked her long, brown ponytail over her shoulder. "I was hoping to check out the event anyways, so this works out fine. I know we came here 'cause your friend had something to say to me, but I've kinda been looking forward to this!"

Well, Lavi was never one to deny a cute girl what she wanted. Besides, with Tyki's current appearance, Lavi doubted anyone would even recognize him enough to question why the two of them were hanging out. Lavi gave Tyki a quick glance, hoping he'd understand it was a question if he approved that approach. Man, it was tough sometimes remembering that not everyone could read his mind like Ari did.

Thankfully, Tyki seemed to understand just fine, waving for the others to follow him. "That's all settled, then. Come along, now." Sachiko followed without a second thought, and it took Lavi a few extra seconds to do the same, considering that his head was still reeling from everything that had happened. Thanks to the growing crowd, it was easy to avoid the mounting chaos at the concession stands while the so-called food wars were erupting. Finding a clear enough space in the hallway near some cushy seats, Tyki flopped into one and gestured. "Well, this is your show, isn't it, Red? Go ahead, I'll wait."

Having an audience made it a little awkward, but it wasn't like Tyki hadn't been present for the incident, so it wasn't like there was anything to hide. Besides, the whole point of the conversation was to apologize, so there was no sense in making it about Lavi (for once). "Sachiko-san," he said, having already prepped up his apology speech in advance. "Last month, there was someone who made a mess while you were on shift at Millennial. That was all pretty much my fault, so I wanted to apologize. I know it's not much, but I wanted to give you this as a way to make up for it. Just think of it as an extra tip or something. That's all!"

He finished off said speech with a bow, offering out the envelope of cash he'd prepared for the occasion. Sachiko blinked; she'd had a rough idea of what the encounter would be about, but she hadn't expected such a bombastic response, considering that Tyki hadn't elaborated too much. "It's okay, you don't have to go that far," she said, though it was notable that she did accept the envelope without too much of an argument. Hey, whenever you worked in service, you took whatever tips you could get. "It was super sweet of you, though. Just try not to go and cause trouble for other people like that in the future, okay? That's what I can ask of you."

"Yes, ma'am!" Lavi straightened up with a salute, and Sachiko giggled. "But, seriously, thanks for even bothering to give me the time of day. I know this is a weird thing and all…"

"Like I said, don't worry about it. I'm just glad you wanted to apologize." Sachiko flashed another smile and gave a wave. "You have a good time today, okay, cutie? Now I'm gonna go enjoy myself. Have fun with your date, you two." And then she slipped into the crawl, leaving a flustered Lavi behind as Tyki walked up to the redhead's side and used his shoulder as an armrest.

"Well, Red, you heard the lady. We have a date to go and enjoy, now don't we?"

If he put it like that, Lavi supposed he didn't have a reason to argue. "Yup, I guess we do." He grinned at Tyki. "What all did you have in mind?"

"Nothing too special. But if we're together, I think that's special enough, yeah?" If nothing else, the upcoming competition was bound to provide more than enough entertainment to give at least a good story to look back on later, and that was good enough with them both.

And in the main gymnasium, the loudspeakers announced that the main event was about to begin.

[Author's Notes]

Welcome back to Exception posting hours! It's time for the Robot Fight Club arc to go head first into regular posting! I have...such a big pile of Exception chapters that I managed to knock out this past year, so I'm ready to share them now that I've finished my summer run of [Twelve Shots of Summer]! Please do go check out my project, the little paths we find ourselves upon as well as walk steady on this cruel world's path if you're a Kimetsu no Yaiba fan.

But, yes, I have enough chapters in the backlog to do bi-weekly Exception updates for *checks calendar* a while. Ideally, by the time I catch up with my current backlog of these things, I might just have the rest of this monster fic drafted, but I make no promises. It would be...super satisfying to have my very first fanfic finally finished, tho, now wouldn't it?

Anyways, both Robot Fight Club and the arc after it are completely written, so we'll be going full steam ahead. I hope you continue to enjoy this silly romcom gone out of control with me.

Next time: "52. Their Battlefield." Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[09.09.2023]