Yumehara Vs. Kurohane

The last two weeks of training were grueling, now that Hiroto was fully on board to fight, George decided to up their regimen up by quite a notch and with the help of Umiko’s surprisingly good eye for dueling, they were able to work on most of the group's troubles.

Still, there was something more they needed to prepare in order to be fully ready for what’s to come.

That was to come up with strategies for the many possible match-ups that could come up, after all, an extra rule had been added to the duel.

The combatants would be decided randomly on the day of the duel.

So that made creating a single match-up strategy impossible, so George and Umiko had to get creative.

On the opposite team, they were all powerhouses, but one of them presented a bigger problem than the rest.

Still, the blond advisor was quite confident about their odds. He saw some footage from Kurohane's previous friendlies, and while they were obviously strong, they for sure weren’t invincible.

And there was another thing that Yumehara had over the other school-

-the element of surprise.

Not counting Ken, who had fame that preceded him, the other members were completely unknown to the other academy.

Of course, if they were the least bit informed they would know what Hiroto’s eyes could do, but even so, his actual strength wasn’t in his ability but on his natural instincts and battle awareness.

Kayoko was the most mysterious one, she was known across town for her fashion club’s works but not for dueling. In that way, she was their joker, their wild card.

Of course in a battle anything can happen, but having as many advantages as you can could help out a lot.

They discussed strategy for hours after training during the last week, until they found something that each match-up was comfortable with and soon enough-

-the time had come.

***

Hiroto watched the cloudy sky through the window of the school bus. The weather forecast was predicting heavy rain later in the day, hopefully after they were done with the duel, but knowing the boy’s luck it was bound to start pouring just as his match started.

“Something on your mind, Hiroto-kun?” Umiko’s voice takes the boy out of his thoughts.

“Just nervous, I guess.” He replies with a soft smile. “You?” Instead of answering with words, the short girl lifts her arm and shows it to him.

She was shaking.

It was understandable, this is the day they have been preparing for, and unlike the other members, Umiko’s dream was on the line.

The brunet whispers. “Don’t worry.” He gives her a thumbs up. “We’re gonna win and save the dueling club!”

Smiling back to him, the bluenette does the same gesture. “I believe in you.”

At the same time in the backrow of seats, Kayoko and Ken were having their own conversation.

“Are you really going to need all that?” The tall boy asks as he watched the silver-haired girl pack a couple of items into a suitcase.

Nodding, the silver-haired teen sighs. “Hopefully I won’t have to use them, but it's better to be safe than sorry.” Thankfully, they allowed for outside items to be used in battle as long as they had been pre-approved by both schools, which hers was. “They will come in handy in battle, I’m sure.” She looks at the black-haired delinquent. “You certainly look calm, darling.”

Ken shrugs. “No need to feel that nervous, a real battle starts even before you enter the ring.” He leans back against his seat. “There’s also the fact that a duel is less likely to go wrong with all the rules they have.” Chuckling, the boy adds. “In a street fight, you don’t even know if you’re gonna come back or not.”

“Fair enough.” Kayoko looks at the boy. “I know you don’t like dueling rules and all that, but be honest, it was really fun to train alongside everyone, wasn’t it?”

He puts on a thoughtful expression. “Yeah, it was.” Smiling softly, the delinquent continues. “Working together for the same goal was pretty fun.”

“And I imagine that it will be even more fun when we win together.”

“… you are right.”

The two share a knowing smile, before the boy extends his closed hand towards her. “Let’s do our best, Izumi-san.”

She chuckles and pushes her own fist against his. “You got it, darling!”

With their spirits up, the Yumehara Dueling Club moves on to face their greatest challenge yet.

***

Kurohane Academy is quite a peculiar institution. For starters, it towers over most other buildings close to it, not necessarily for its actual size as much as it was because of its presentation. The entire school feels larger than it actually is, mostly because of its temple-like architecture.

The inside of it was just as eerie, the hallways were long and full of old lamps instead of modern lights. In each door, the symbol of the Kurohane family was carved in the middle.

Along the walls in the main hallway leading to the school proper, large framed portraits of the important figures from the academy’s history lined the left side. From its founder all the way to the current headmistress.

To say the Yumehara students felt out of place was an understatement.

“Hello and welcome to our humble little academy.” A young but elegant voice echoes around the students as the blond headmistress makes her appearance in front of the entrance. “We are honored to have your presence here today!” She giggles with a bow.

“We’re glad for the hospitality.” The leader of Yumehara repeats the same action.

Clapping her hands together, the other woman says. “Our stadium is this way, please follow me!”

She proceeds to guide them through many long hallways, until reaching the back of the academy where a set of two large doors leads deeper into a more oval-shaped building.

“For the non-combatants, please come this way.” Says the blond headmistress. “As for our fighters, you may enter through these!” Pointing at another, smaller, set of doors, she adds. “That way is the changing room, and it leads directly to the arena.”

Nodding, George takes the leading step and guides the group inside.

The walk to the changing room is a quiet one, and the dead colors in the walls, echoing sounds, and the challenge that lay ahead just increased the tension tenfold.

They quickly change out of their usual school uniforms and into the custom ones that Kayoko made for them. Once that’s done, the group walks out of the changing room and back into the corridor leading to the stadium.

This time however, they come face to face with their opponents. They were leaving the other changing room on the opposite end to Yumehara’s.

No one said anything, they just stared at each other. In truth, there was nothing to be said between the teams, words were unnecessary, as their eyes had already told the whole story.

The other two boys by Takahashi’s side had this confident look on their faces, usual for duels like these. The blond boy, however, had a fire in his eyes that felt almost angry.

Even weirder, it was purely focused on Umiko.

After a couple of minutes in that awkward stare-down, the headmistress voice finally comes in, filling the corridor with her cheerful voice.

“-and please, welcome our fighters for the day!”

That was their cue to finally step into the arena. With a deep breath and one last good luck, said with their gaze, both clubs walk out of the changing room area.

***

The stadium is large and quite imposing, with a long patch of green synthetic grass and for the special occasion, a stone arena with a checkered pattern in the middle of it.

Outside the bleachers used for the public, there are two special areas.

One is designed for the headmistress to sit down, atop it rests a large TV screen with the Kurohane Academy’s logo spinning inside it.

The other is the benches for each team to sit down and watch the match from up close.

Walking out, both groups are met with screams of excitement, mostly from Kurohane’s side as the ones from Yumehara sounded more unsure.

Positioning themselves in the middle of the arena, both groups stands facing each other. “Now that our stars are here, let’s go over the rules one more time.” The blond headmistress announces while standing up from her seat. She goes on to explain everything to the public. Once she was done, the younger authority figure adds. “And now that these boring rules are out of the way-“ Turning to face Yumehara’s headmistress, she asks. “-would you do the honors?”

A small basket with six folded pieces of paper inside is placed besides the two. “Sure.” The older woman carefully picks two of those papers and unfolds them slowly. “Higashi Kaoru and-“ She pauses. “-Izumi Kayoko.”

“You heard it folks!” Turning to face the crowd, the blond woman excitedly shouts as the images of both combatants appear on the screen above her. “The first duel of the day is: Higashi Kaoru vs Izumi Kayoko!”

Once again, the Kurohane students start shouting in excitement as the Yumehara ones just awkwardly try to match them.

The silver-haired girl watches as her companions walk out of the arena, each giving her a reassuring look. She smiles back to them before gripping her suitcase and taking a deep breath.

It was her time to shine!

“You look nervous.” The voice of her opponent says in a mocking tone as the barriers were erected around them.

Higashi Kaoru is an average-size boy with very long bright-green hair, hexagonal irises in the color red, and ghostly pale skin. His most striking features being his very feminine face and mannerisms, from the way he stands to the way he walks, if he wasn’t wearing the jet-black male uniform, one could easily confuse him for a girl.

“Sorry mon chéri, it's my first time doing something like this.” Kayoko replies in a playful tone. “I might be a bit clumsy, but hopefully you won’t mind.”

He lets out a chuckle. “Of course not.”

“Are you ready?”

Their banter is cut short by the Kurohane Headmistress’s voice.

Grasping onto her suitcase, the fashionista prepares for the battle to come, and with her heart pounding loudly in her chest, she hears-

“FIGHT!”