Chapter 16: The Top Ten

After Meguri won the race, resulting in absolutely nothing, Taichi had already received another notification.

His new opponent conceded.

Then another.

Then another.

And another after that.

As Asumi had predicted, it didn’t take long before the pattern was unmistakable. Once Taichi had eliminated the tournament’s two favorites, the rest followed suit. One by one, his remaining opponents bowed out. They’d rather concede than face the public humiliation of attempting to fight Hayato Taichi in front of a crowd.

He won the tournament having fought only two battles.

Taichi didn’t feel victorious.

Asumi, walking beside him as they returned to the arena, noticed the way his shoulders sagged.

“That’s just how things go sometimes,” she said. “People don’t always fight what they believe they can’t beat.”

“Doesn’t mean I like it,” Taichi muttered.

He stood at the center of the arena, the same place he’d fought Natsuki Hayama, as ten figures lined up before him.

The Top Ten.

Kodaka approached, hands tucked casually into his pockets, a familiar half-smile tugging at his mouth.

“Alright, Hayato,” Kodaka said. “As the winner of the tournament, you can choose whichever one of the Top Ten you want to fight. If you win, you steal their rank, and everybody gets bumped down by 1 rank. If you beat Isshiki, for example, you’d become Rank #5, and she’d become Rank #6. The current Rank #6 would become Rank #7, and so on, with Rank #10 being kicked out of the ranks.”

Kodaka gestured to the line.

“Who will it be?”

Taichi’s gaze swept across the group – and stopped.

Natsu stood at the front, arms crossed, wearing that infuriatingly calm smirk, waiting to be chosen.

“My choice…” Taichi started. “I choose Yuki Asumi. Rank #2.”

Asumi stared at Taichi blankly.

Kodaka blinked. “Just to confirm. You’re choosing…?”

“Yuki Asumi. I want to fight my roommate, rank #2, Yuki Asumi.”

The Top Ten dispersed, one by one. Meguri lingered last, eyes searching Taichi’s face before she turned and left.

Soon, only two remained.

Asumi and Taichi stood opposite each other – just like their first duel.

Kodaka stepped between them, now clearly the referee.

“Why aren’t you fighting Natsu, Taichi?” Asumi asked quietly.

Taichi smirked. “If I’m going to knock you down a rank anyway, I figured I’d at least give you the chance to fight for it. Call it roommate courtesy. I’ll fight Natsu later. Besides…”

The crowd of students roared with excitement at the sight of Asumi and Taichi in the arena together. The story of the tie on Taichi’s first day had spread to every corner of the school. Every student and teacher knew.

“We’re long overdue for a rematch.”

Asumi picked up a shinai, flames flickering faintly along her fingers.

“I’m not holding back,” she said. “I’m going to be Rank One. Even if I have to stand in your way to do it.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way… but I won’t go easy either. I have my reasons for taking the top rank too, and for that… I need to get through you.”

Taichi gripped his shinai tightly, staring Asumi down right back, smiling.

Kodaka chuckled a little.

“Okay, I guess it’s time for us to witness a lovers’ quarrel like no other!” he yelled to the crowd, hyping them up.

“Lover’s quarrel?” Taichi asked.

“Lovers?!” Asumi snapped. “We aren’t—“

“Yeah, yeah, sure you aren’t,” Kodaka waved off. “Anyway, shake hands and off to your sides. If you smack each other after the match, make sure you do it in private. All that stuff.”

Asumi’s blush grew into an even deeper red, while Taichi held back his laughter.

“You really don’t take this stuff seriously, huh, Kodaka Sensei?” Taichi asked. “This is official, right?”

“Yeah, it is… do you need me to repeat what all of you have heard a million times?” Kodaka asked. “Even if you do, I don’t care. Just shake hands and go to your sides.”

Asumi and Taichi obeyed, shaking hands and going off to their opposite sides — 10 paces as always.

“3, 2, 1, fight!”

Taichi exploded forward.

His speed was immediate – his shinai cutting toward Asumi’s flank.

She saw it coming.

A blazing wreath of fire burst between them, forcing Taichi to parry as Asumi launched herself backward on a plume of flame – her golden hair shimmering in the rising air.

“Did you really think I’d let you close in that easily, Taichi?” Asumi smirked.

“Oh, I knew you wouldn’t…”

Taichi charged again.

Same angle. Same speed.

Same response.

Asumi dodged, countering with the same wreath of fire.

“Predictable–”

Her eyes widened.

Taichi ripped his pendant free mid-stride.

White light flared around him as he leapt through the flames, nullifying them entirely.

He held his shinai high, ready to swing it down on her, but Asumi just barely managed to use her aspect to blow herself away, avoiding the strike.

Taichi didn’t stop.

As his blade completed its arc, he planted his hands on the ground, flipped forward, and kicked her mid-air – nullifying the enhancement she’d used to escape.

“I was counting on that,” he said.

He rushed at her as quickly as he could while her mana faltered, swinging his shinai at the fallen target. Asumi’s guard was still down.

In the last moment before the shinai hit her, fire erupted from Asumi’s chest, parrying the shinai with an explosive force. She landed hard, already counterattacking.

With her aspect reinvigorated, Asumi slammed his shinai back toward Taichi, wrapping it with her flames, more powerful than ever. Taichi quickly attempted to block, raising his shinai as the wood sent an echo through the arena.

Taichi’s arms rattled with the impact of the block. He couldn’t shift to offense.

Above them, fire gathered into a web.

The arena temperature spiked. Sweat poured from the stands.

Strings of fire came down from each web, converging in the air as a compressed ball floating in the sky, pooling together over Taichi.

If Taichi nullified this, the cost to his stamina would be severe.

If he retreated, she’d control the field with ranged attacks.

Taichi clenched his teeth and pushed back against Asumi’s flame-clad shinai, but this didn’t stop the web above them from developing.

The crowd was sweating profusely, watching the match with anticipation — clenching their fists anxiously.

After pushing against Asumi for as long as he could, he backed away. Asumi surged forward, thrown off by the sudden release.

Suddenly, she was under the target of her own attack. The pillar of fire came down upon her in a fury, scorching the battlefield below her… but she emerged unfazed.

In the middle of her own flames, she managed to create a shield of fire that protected her – glowing a bright orange.

Taichi already started moving, certain that this attack wouldn’t finish her. He strafed from side to side, making it difficult for Asumi to track him.

But not impossible.

Taichi swooped in, and their blades met again – Asumi took a step back, blocking with her flame-clad shinai, countering with a swift slice to his chest.

It connected.

Taichi skidded back, his lungs burning.

Despite that hit from Asumi, Taichi was still ahead in this battle health-wise; but Asumi finally gained some distance, giving her the advantage.

They were practically even.

WIth each attempt to rush back in, Asumi generated more fire with her aspect, pushing him back. Before they knew it, the healthbars were even – the next big attack would win the battle.

Taichi rushed back in like a man possessed – he funnelled all his energy into his feet for the fastest charge he’d ever displayed to Asumi. She raised her shinai, ready to block, but before she knew it… he was gone.

Behind her.

A small smile appeared on her face.

“I can’t lose like this.”

In the sky above them, a fractal of fire bloomed – the mana in it having been concentrated since the beginning of the match.

“Yuki.”

Embers drifted downward like snowflakes, slow and mesmerizing, illuminating the darkened arena in warm, golden light. Students leaned forward without realizing it, breath caught in their throats, awe overpowering the instinct to cheer.

“Fall.”

Fire surged from every direction at once — arcing, spiraling, colliding midair — turning the arena into a raging inferno.

Taichi tried to block, dodge, parry, but she was forcing him to use his nullification — and it was never-ending.

She was draining his stamina on purpose.

Every step he took drained him further.

“My parents disowned me because I couldn’t make it snow like them…” Asumi said, walking through the storm with a shield of flames protecting her. “I shunned them for shunning me… I hated the snow… but ever since meeting you, I felt like I could move beyond that — so to defeat you… I will.”

Taichi’s knees buckled slightly as his stamina dipped — his breathing turning ragged, his vision narrowing at the edges. Each nullification shaved away at his mana, leaving a dull ache deep in his muscles.

The fiery snow was covering the entire field. There was no place to escape.

Taichi surged forward, pouring what little strength he had left into a single burst. He hurled his shinai straight at Asumi, making it fly across the arena at her.

She blocked instinctively.

From behind the flying shinai, Taichi charged forward, tackling her to the ground — she couldn’t react in time after blocking. The moment their bodies touched, Taichi glowed a brighter white as the field of orange surrounding Asumi dissipated.

She clenched her teeth as the fiery snow around her finally began chipping away at her health, sending a tingling sensation of pain against her skin.

With a push, Asumi managed to get the weakened Taichi off her and grabbed her shinai back up.

She charged at the unarmed man through the snow, putting her fiery shield back up around her the moment she could control her mana again.

Taichi put up his fists, dodging the shinai to the best of his ability and dipping in to nullify her shield. He wasn’t able to do as much damage, but with every hit, Asumi’s snow was doing more damage to her — yet, Asumi had a weapon, giving her an advantage.

They exchanged blows, both of them slowing down considerably as the fight went on. After two extravagant attacks, Asumi’s mana was running low, slowing her down while attacking Taichi. Taichi was managing to dodge Asumi’s shinai by the skin of his teeth, but her snow was too effective against him.

Taichi’s lungs burned as he raised his fists, no room to breathe. Asumi’s flames flickered, her control slipping as mana reserves thinned.

Taichi grabbed her wrist just long enough to land a blow.

Asumi countered with the hilt of her shinai, the impact rattling his skull.

Both health bars dipped.

Again.

And again.

Each exchange grew sloppier as their health bars decreased more and more.

The snowstorm finally began to fade, embers winking out one by one as Asumi’s mana drained and Taichi’s body collapsed under its own weight.

In one final effort, Taichi grabbed his shinai from the ground where he left it. With power he didn’t know he had anymore, he lunged forward, swinging down.

Asumi couldn’t move her arms anymore — her arms tightened.

“Not yet… not yet!” Asumi yelled out, exploding her arms up with the little mana she had left, swinging her shinai with every ounce of strength she had.

The crack of shinais echoed across the arena.

Taichi stumbled back – then fell to one knee.

Asumi did the same.

Kodaka stepped onto the mat, rubbing his temples.

“…You two,” he said tiredly, “really need to stop doing this.”

The crowd held its breath.

Above the arena, the health bars flickered.

Both read:

0%.