Challenge

Kurohane Academy.

Known today as the pinnacle of youth dueling, they have held the title of national champions for the past three years, not faltering even once.

They were the top of the top, the delicious strawberry at the top of a shortcake, the strongest school and right now-

-Umiko's opponents.

***

“What?” The blue-haired teenager asks in midst a wave of surprised gasps coming from her peers. “W-What do you mean by that?“

“Allow me to explain.” A tall, elegant woman dressed in a beautiful black dress steps forth. She has long blond hair cascading down to past her waist and sharp square-shaped irises that had a powerful crimson color to them. “We of the Kurohane Academy have come to challenge Yumehara School to a friendly duel between our freshman clubs.”

“As you can see, our dueling club has only one member.” The headmistress of Yumehara explains. “But, if you so wish, we can still hold the duel.” Gazing towards Umiko, the elder expected to see her strongly refusing, yet she was met with a surprising sight.

A confident smile.

“Bring it on, losers!” The small girl unexpectedly shouts, taking everyone by surprise.

“Oh, my! The pipsqueak has some spunk!” One of the three members of the Kurohane dueling club comments with a mocking chuckle. He has spiky black hair and blue, triangular pointing down irises.

“Please Mademoiselle, let me put the girl in her place!” The other member, a boy with an effeminate appearance and hexagonal irises, follows. His long bright-green hair swaying like it was alive.

“Actually, if that youngster is so willing-“ Smiling, the Kurohane Headmistress calls for someone. “-Takahashi-kun, I think you’ll be perfect for this challenge~”

From behind the classy lady, the last member of the trio walks past her and stands in front of Umiko. “Sure.” He replies with his deep, masculine voice.

The girl’s green eyes stare up at the boy’s face, and she almost loses her footing on the ground.

Standing in front of her was a mountain of a man, easily towering over her and pretty much everyone she’s ever met face to face. His skin has a darker, tanned color and it gets complemented well by his long, curly, silver hair that goes past his shoulders, his muscles were practically bursting out of his tight-fitting jet-black Gakuran.

And yet, the most striking thing about this boy is his eyes, a perfect golden square in the middle of a dark black sea that is his sclera.

Taking a deep breath, Umiko points up to the giant’s face and announces. “Bring it on big guy!”

“Tsk! Feisty ain’t she?” Takahashi chuckles to himself. “At least try to entertain me, alright?” With a smirk on his face, the tall boy turns around and walks back to his headmistress’ side.

“The duel will be happening at the school gymnasium in 10 minutes. You both will have that time to prepare.” Explains the Deputy Headmaster. “I’ll show you the way.”

Umiko watches as the rival group walks past her and disappears into the main building. She then hears the students of her own school whispering to themselves.

‘Can she really do it?’

‘There is a difference between bravery and stupidity.’

‘Is she suicidal?’

Overhearing their comments, the blue-haired girl clenches her fists tightly before running off into the main building too, but taking a different turn from her opponents.

In no time, the school entrance was left abandoned with virtually all students going into the gym and leaving only one person behind.

“Why would she accept a challenge like that?” The boy with the star-shaped hair mutters. He stares at the entrance for a couple more seconds, then shakes his head and enters the building himself.

***

Umiko ran across the hallway and into a small room in the back, past a block of unused classrooms. She quickly slid the door open and stepped inside.

The room was tiny and very messy, with only a small table in the center, a couple of metal lockers by the left, and an unused blackboard on the right.

Without wasting any time, the girl punched in the code for the locker and opened it up, inside there were a lot of miscellaneous items such as her P.E. uniform, dueling magazines, and a picture frame.

Umiko crouches down and pulls out a gray metal box, opening it up the girl smiles. “Heck yeah! They still are here!” She goes to grab the items inside but stops just before touching them.

Her eyes focus on that hand of hers. Shaking in fear of what was to come.

She had put on quite the bravado, but in truth-

-Umiko was afraid.

And honestly, how could she not be? That boy was so obviously out of her league it wasn’t even funny, not just by his physique but also his eyes.

They were the eyes of someone born to duel, no, born to fight.

“But even so!” The blue-haired girl shouts, her voice echoing back in this empty room, “I have to do this!” She smacks both of her cheeks and takes a deep breath. “Then maybe-“

Maybe, just maybe, if she did well in this duel, people would be convinced to join her club.

With a newfound determination, Umiko grabbed the items from the metal container and ran off towards the gymnasium.

***

“Maybe try not to go overboard with the girl Takahashi-kun.” The headmistress of Kurohane suggests as she watches the muscular teen doing some routine stretches. “It would be quite a lot of trouble if you end up actually breaking the poor lass.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” He replies before hurried footsteps echo across the gym. “Can’t promise anything though.” A sadistic smirk forms as his opponent makes her entrance.

She speaks with the Deputy Headmaster and the man makes a motion with his hand for Takahashi to join them. The silver-haired boy cracks his knuckles and neck, silently walking up to his opponent.

“Ahem. Allow me to explain the rules of this duel.” Clearing his throat, the older authority explains. “We’re going with the usual knock-out rule-set. You two will fight until one gives up or falls unconscious. You will be disqualified if you attack a downed opponent or if the judges, the headmistresses in this case, decide that we have seen enough they can end the match.” He throws a glance towards Yumehara’s headmistress, and after she nods, he looks back at the two teens. “Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Ya.”

“Good.” In an instant, the green-haired adult jumps onto the bleachers and sits in between the two leaders of the schools. “Barriers!” He yells and four nurses run to a side of the court, they each close their eyes and whisper a silent chant before dramatically opening their eyes.

Four large walls of energy burst out of the ground and crave themselves onto the ceiling, boxing the two teenagers from all sides.

“BEGIN!”

At the starting word, Umiko jumps back and away from her opponent. ‘Alright, I can do this!' She thinks while backing away to a safe distance. With careful steps, she slowly circles around, watching his every move.

He just stands there in the same place while following her with his eyes. Once she’s out of his field of view, the boy doesn’t even bother to track her anymore.

A small vein popped on the bluenette’s forehead. He was doing that to mock her and it was very obviously working. “Gah!” In a quick motion, Umiko dashed across the arena and threw a jab with her right hand.

In what seemed like a flash, the silver-haired boy twisted his body and easily blocked her offensive. “C’mon, you should be able to do more than just that!” He incites with a smirk resting on his lips.

“Take this then!” The blue-haired teen throws a flurry of different punches and kicks that while clumsy, were competent enough to damage a normal person.

Too bad her opponent was nothing of the sort.

The boy blocked each and every strike with complete ease, but never retaliated. In fact, she was sure that he noticed the openings on her graceless offense, but decided not to counter just to annoy her.

And it was working very well. Umiko was too invested in trying to land a hit on him that she didn’t notice when, for a split second, his smirk vanished, and he put on a serious expression

“HA!”

The counter hook that he threw was so quick that his opponent barely had time to process what hit her gut. “Gaaaah!” She fell to her knees while holding onto her stomach and gasping for air.

Seeing her pathetic state, the tall boy sighed and stepped back. “I could end it here, but I want to see how much more you can take.” His mocking tone echoes through the gymnasium, making the students cringe at the sight in front of them. “So I repeat, c’mon you should be able to do more than that!”

Even without looking, Umiko could hear the boy’s friends laughing from the bleachers. At that, she clutched her stomach and got up.

***

“Headmistress?” The Deputy Headmaster whispers, making his superior let out a soft ‘huh?’. “Why are you putting her through this? She is obviously going to lose.”

“…” With a heavy sigh, the elder looks back towards the arena where she watched the small girl get up on her feet and continue to engage in combat. “Sometimes, the only way to teach a stubborn mule a lesson, is to have its hopes crushed right in front of its eyes.” Her reply comes in a low, tired tone that had something more in it. Another feeling she was clearly trying to hide.

Not knowing how to respond, the second-in-command of Yumehara School just follows his boss’ gaze back into the court.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a particular student with a peculiar hairdo was setting right behind the duo and ended up hearing what they said. ‘That’s… cruel.’ He thinks while adjusting his glasses. ‘Way too cruel…’

***

Umiko was back up on her feet and staring at the boy. A direct approach clearly didn’t work, so she switched to plan B.

Yet again the blue-haired girl dashes across the gymnasium. The boy gets ready to defend once again, but instead is met with the squeaking of her shoes as she halts right in front of him.

In a baffling move that leaves both Takahashi and the audience extremely confused, she grabs the hems of her skirt and pulls it up a little, revealing her thighs. With a smirk on her lips, the blue-haired teen shakes her garment and from underneath it, a bunch of small gray spheres fall into the ground.

“Huh!?”

Just as the balls hit the floor, they explode in a curtain of smoke that completely covers the silver-haired boy.

“A smoke bomb!?”

‘Now’s my chance!’ Umiko closes her eyes before dramatically opening them again. “Denpagan!” She mutters as a faint glow emanates from her triangular irises.

“Urgh! That little!“ The tall boy had finally lost his composure, the confidence he irradiated now was replaced with anger. “I wasn’t expecting such a cheap trick- Huh?” His ears perk up at the squeaking of the floor coming from his right side. “Guess her plan wasn’t that great after all! You’ll need way more than that to defeat m- gaaaah?!” Takahashi had defended his right side thanks to the clear footsteps he heard, but at the exact moment when the impact should come, he felt a slap from the opposite side of his head.

And alongside the slap, he also felt numerous small spheres being pressed against him.

Boom!

An explosion echoes through the gym and all the smoke vanishes in a second. Umiko is sent flying back by the impact. “Urgh!” The girl moans as her back hits the barrier. She slides down until her butt touches the floor, and she has some time to catch her breath and fight through the pain in both her rear and in the damaged hand she used to pull that stunt.

Glancing up, the short teen saw her larger opponent face down on the floor, smoke blowing out the back of his head where she hit him.

Focusing solely on him, Umiko felt her heart beat faster. “He’s not getting up…?” A smile spreads across her face. “D-Does that mean that I-“ With difficult, she gets up on her feet and throws her hands up into the air. “-I won!”

Multiple gasps of surprise fill the gymnasium, it seemed like she had conquered the impossible. The nurses surrounding the arena began to weaken their barriers, a process done for security before they could fully take them down.

Umiko couldn’t contain her happiness, she jumped in place with euphoria.

Finally, finally people would see what her club was capable o-

“It’s not over yet.”

The words coming out of the Kurohane Academy’s headmistress mouth cut through the air like a knife through butter

At that moment, the downed boy jumped back to his feet. Smocking still coming out of his head. “Honestly, that was pretty smart. Really, I mean it-“ Takahashi says calmly as the smoke finally dies down, revealing his unharmed face. “-but you are gonna need way more than that to bring me down.”

Umiko doesn’t even have time to process what was happening. In the blink of an eye, the taller boy was standing right before her.

“Playtime is over.”