Ne/on Ice

Some time had passed since Kiyoko’s fight against Miho. I sit in a chair beside a bed inside of the school’s infirmary. In the bed lies Kiyoko under clean, white blankets without a mark on her. The nurses were able to remove any of the external injuries, but they can’t do anything against her exhaustion. And after what Kiyoko did during her fight, it’s no wonder she’s out cold.

Kiyoko used her second Gear. But she just learned her First Gear not too long ago, either. When she tapped into it, it felt like she was an entirely different person. It’s as though the animal’s spirit controlled her, perhaps. I mean, I know that Miho and her don’t see eye to eye, but for Kiyoko to go that far. It just doesn’t seem like her.

Although I should be in bed, ready to wake up early for tomorrow’s match, the clock had already turned to 11 p.m. I sat here, alone, watching Kiyoko recover her energy in her sleep. Miho had stopped by a time or two to chat. Despite the scene at the arena, he’s completely recovered thanks to the nurses’ Gears.

He admitted that he wasn’t really trying all that hard for most of the match—and it showed. It was when Kiyoko used her Second Gear that caught him off guard. As usual, he boasted about his strength, saying that he could have taken her—even in her Second Gear. Of course, that most likely wouldn’t have been the case.

The speed that Kiyoko went was faster than I’ve ever seen from a first year. Of course, seeing matches here and there from upperclassmen, their strength could probably easily trump her. But the fact that she’s this strong already is definitely a sign for things to come.

“Hey,” a voice mumbles.

Startled, I looked down to find Kiyoko with hazy eyes, looking up at me.

“I didn’t cause anyone any trouble, did I,” Kiyoko asked, drowsy.

“No! No, no,” I stutter as I place my hands on the edge of the bed, “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Kiyoko uses her hands and pushes herself up into a sitting position, leaning on the bed frame.

“Yeah, I think so,” she said, nodding her head slowly, “Just exhausted.”

“That’s great,” I chuckle with a grin.

We both sit in silence for a moment before Kiyoko speaks up.

“What,” Kiyoko thinks, “What exactly happened back there?”

“Back there? During your fight?”

Kiyoko nodded her head with a hum.

I gave Kiyoko a brief recap of her fight, going more into detail of when she went into her Second Gear. It appeared that she had no recollection of events once she went into it. All she could feel was an indescribably rage boiling from within her. It was a similar feeling when she snapped at me the other week, she noted. It seems that she doesn't actually know how to tap into her Second Gear, but only did it in the heat of the moment.

“I… I went into my Second Gear,” Kiyoko murmured, “That means I’m just as strong as you!”

Kiyoko looked at me and gave me a child-like smile with her eyes closed. After getting approval from the nurses, Kiyoko was able to leave the infirmary and I followed. We started to head back to our dorms, but Kiyoko soon lost her balance. Using my support, we made our way to Kiyoko’s room. As we entered her dorm, I sat her on her bed.

I stood in front of her, unsure what to do. Leaving her alone in a state like this doesn’t seem like a good idea, but I don’t want to overstep my boundaries.

“Do you… mind,” Kiyoko trailed off, fidgeting with her hair.

“Oh,” I exclaim, “I can leave. I’m sorry!”

I made my way to the exit, embarrassed.

“No,” Kiyoko yelled from behind with her weakened voice, “Do you mind… staying for the night. Just in case.”

“Oh… I’m sorry. Yeah. Of course.”

I pulled a futon mattress and blankets from my APM and laid them on the floor next to Kiyoko’s bed as she handed me a pillow. Soon after, we both went straight to bed and turned off her lights. Kiyoko made sure both of us set alarms for early in the morning so we wouldn’t be late. Once we were done, Kiyoko spoke.

“Goodnight,” Kiyoko whispered.

“Yeah,” I reply, “Goodnight.”

With that, I fell into a deep sleep that resulted in no dreams. Soon morning came upon us as I was awoken by the two alarms. I slowly got up and noticed Kiyoko still sleeping. Turning off both alarms, I shrug Kiyoko’s shoulder to wake her up. I guess she needed this rest more than I thought. Soon, after getting dressed and having breakfast, we made our way back to the school to see the tournament brackets.

Much like yesterday, I look for four fights that interest me the most.

At 10:30 a.m., Isamu fights a student named Eriko Sanda.

Ena fights Fumiya Isa—another student I don’t recognize—at noon.

I fight a student named Nen’Ichi Matsubara at 3:00 p.m.

Finally, Kiyoko fights someone named Ayame Misaki at 4:30 p.m.

“It’s a shame Miho got eliminated so quickly,” I comment.

“Yeah,” Kiyoko says, rubbing her arm, “I feel bad for what I did.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” I comfort Kiyoko as I place my hand on her shoulder, “He’s alright. Miho’s a tough kid. Although, I haven’t heard from him today. I wonder if he’s skipping out on the rest of the tournament since he lost.”

“Hey! Fido,” A sharp voice suddenly called out.

I spin around to find Ena standing in front of Kiyoko and I, looking angry.

“Neither of you are going to watch any more of my fights,” Ena demanded as she pointed her fingers at us, “You got that?”

“I—I’m sorry, wha—”

“I didn’t ask for an apology, I demanded an answer,” Ena snapped.

“O—Okay, fine. We won’t watch them,” I say as I look over to Kiyoko.

“It’s not like I wanted to watch them anyway,” Kiyoko shrugs.

After giving glances at Kiyoko and I, Ena speaks.

“Good,” she puffs before storming off.

I look off as Ena marches into the school, dumbfounded. Kiyoko and I looked at each other in silence, confused at the event.

“What just happened,” Kiyoko asked.

“I… have no idea,” I answer as I scratch the back of my head, “I guess that leaves me with 3 fights to be interested in.”

“Actually,” Kiyoko says, looking down as she wiggles her foot, “Do you think that we can head over to Dr. Mundoch’s class right now?”

“What? Why?”

“My APM is acting up again and Dr. Mundoch is only available in the morning for this week. I know you’re excited for Isamu’s fight, but do you mind joining me? It’s okay if you don’t. I understand.”

“No, no,” I wave my hands, “I can go with. I’ve seen Isamu fight a couple times already now. I can wait for tomorrow to see him fight again.”

With that, Kiyoko and I made our way to Dr. Mundoch’s class for yet another APM checkup.

“Hello! We’re back,” I announce as we walk into his lab.

“Oh,” Dr. Mundoch says as he spins around, “At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised anymore.”

He sighs.

“Is your APM malfunctioning again, dear?”

With her head low, Kiyoko nods her head.

“I figured as much.”

“Do you know what’s going on,” I ask.

“No,” Dr. Mundoch says, troubled, “To be quite frank, I don’t have much of a clue. But here, take this instead.”

From his pocket, Dr. Mundoch pulls out his APM.

“It’ll register to your ID in just a moment.”

“What,” Kiyoko exclaims, “I can’t take your APM!”

“No, no. Of course you can. I know for a fact that this APM doesn’t act up. So if it does, I might be able to narrow down what the problem is. Remember, it’s all for science!”

Reluctantly, Kiyoko takes Dr. Mundoch’s APM as she hands off her own.

“So, Mr. Kurayami, boy,” Dr. Mundoch says, looking in my direction, “You’ve been joining Miss Kiyoko for her ventures here—do you need anything yourself?”

“No, not really,” I reply, scratching the back of my head, “I’m just tagging along.”

“Well, what a good friend you are. Then make sure you report any unusual behavior to me, you hear me, son?”

“Yeah,” I say, with my brows narrowed, “I can do that.”

“Good,” Dr. Mundoch exclaims, “Then, I’m quite busy, so you two kids better scurry off and get ready for your fights. I’ll be cheering you on from here!”

Kiyoko and I thanked Dr. Mundoch before she profusely apologized for ‘breaking’ yet another APM. Clearly, he thinks the whole situation is just interesting, so it doesn’t bother him.

After that, not much of note happens as Kiyoko and I wait for my fight. Quickly, time passed by and 3:00 rolled around quite fast. Making my way through the prep room, I head to the stage to find my opponent, Nen’Ichi, already waiting in the arena. Nen’Ichi wears reflective glasses with a padded jacket over his sports uniform. He gives a nod as I make my way to the arena. A moment after I arrived, the referee asked if we were ready and we answered. Satisfied, he continued.

“Three! Two! One! Activate your Gears!”

Nen’Ichi and I yell at the same time.

“First Gear!”

My scythe appears in my right hand as a metal cuff forms around Nen’Ichi’s wrists. Forming from the outer side of them, a long, silver blade extends past his elbows. On the edge of the blades glows a bright neon color that looks like it burns to the touch. His already rainbow reflective glasses grew even brighter as they shined on his face. On top of all that, thick shoes formed around his feet as he kicked his heels on the ground—his right foot a bit shaky. As Nen’Ichi kicked his heels, two wheels appeared from underneath, almost like roller skates.

Immediately, he started to skate around the arena in circles, albeit a little wobbly. You’d think that with his Gear specializing in skating, he’d be better at it, unless…

I ready my scythe and get in a defensive position, ready for him to strike at any moment. Not long after, he starts to hone in on my position with his elbows extended. I hold my scythe close to my body with the blade forward as he charges in. His arm-blades connect with my scythe’s head with a sharp screech of metals scraping against each other. Nen’Ichi continues past me as I’m spun from his momentum. He continues doing this a few more times until I’m able to get a good read on his patterns.

Now, I’m simply deflecting his attacks as he flies by me. All of his movements do seem skilled, so why is he doing such simple maneuvers and actions? I have an idea, but I’ll have to test it out. On his next fly by, instead of deflecting his attack, I put force opposite his direction, forcing him off course. Nen’Ichi then gets knocked off balance and attempts to recover with his left leg as his right hangs in the air. He spins for a moment before putting his right foot on the ground. However, as soon as he does, it crumbles beneath him and he collapses to the ground.

“Hey,” I called out to him, “You’re injured, aren’t you?”

Nen’Ichi sighed.

“It doesn’t matter,” Nen’Ichi said as he made his way back to his feet, “They won’t pause the tournament for a single injury. You just do the best you can with the cards you're given.”

“No, but I don’t want to fight someone who’s hurt. I can’t do that.”

“Then lose.”

Nen’Ichi then charged at me, trying to ignore his leg injury as he pushed himself forward. With even more force and speed, he continued his routines, circling around me as he attacked. Despite the strength and speed difference, I’m still easily able to evade and block his attacks. I think I understand what he wants.

While he circles the outer part of the arena, I suddenly throw my scythe toward him. As it spins in his direction, he ducks it and charges at me. As he makes it upon me, I quickly take a step to the side, still in range of his attack as I extend my hand. From almost out of nowhere, the handle of my scythe moves past Nen’Ichi’s side, under his arm. I take grip of the handle with both hands and pull. With my blade behind his legs, it pulls them forward, causing him to crash to the ground on his back.

I spin around and swing the scythe across my body as I take a hard step on the ground. A sharp crunch can be heard from underneath my foot.

“Shit,” Nen’Ichi yells from his gut.

His leg shakes underneath my foot as I swing my scythe down to his face, just resting it above his neck. The both of us stare deeply at each other, both not wanting this situation to happen. After a moment, Nen’Ichi looks up in defeat as he waves his right hand. At his signal, I release my foot from his leg and exit my First Gear as he did the same.

The referee came jogging to the stage as they quickly understood the situation.

“The winner for this match is First Year, Kurayami!”

I extend my hand to Nen’Ichi on the ground as he takes it and makes his way up.

“I’m sorry about that,” I say as we meet eye level.

“You did what you had to do,” he shrugs.

Nen’Ichi then turned around and limped off the stage toward the nurses ready to heal his already broken leg. At least now he’ll have time to recover from that without being forced to fight for the next little while. I then made my way off the stage in direction of Kiyoko who ran to me with a grin on her face.

“That was an easy one! Congratulations!”

“Yeah,” I say as I rub the back of my head, “I feel a little bad, though.”

“Why,” Kiyoko asks with her head tilted.

“Nen’Ichi was injured from yesterday’s match so he couldn’t really fight to his fullest. It wasn’t really a true victory.”

“Don’t say that,” she responded with a stern face, “You still won. Not every fight will be fair. But any time you win, that’s a victory, regardless of your opponent’s condition—or yours.”

“Yeah, I… I suppose you’re right.”

After Kiyoko’s pep talk, we relaxed on the bleachers, watching the next couple fights. Kiyoko’s a lot calmer than yesterday, mostly due to the pressure being washed off of her shoulders. I’m glad that she’s able to relax at a time like this. Time flew as we watched the fights and Kiyoko and I made our way to the prep room. As we did, a familiar face appeared from within.

“Sup, bro,” Miho says, cheerfully, “How're ya doing?”

“Hey,” I replied, confused, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, just as you’re supporting your GF...”

“Why do people keep—”

“I’m here to support mine.”

“Wait—What?”

Miho waves his arm, gesturing to a girl who stood by one of the mirrors. Noticing his wave, she came over. The girl had long, platinum-blonde hair with pale, white skin. She almost looked like a ghost or a ghoul. But that somehow added to her beauty.

“Kura, Kiyoko; meet Ayame. My girlfriend.”

Both Kiyoko and I exclaimed in shock at this sudden revelation. Ayame gave us a small wave.

“You,” I yell, “You have a girlfriend?”

“Yep,” Miho responded, cheerfully.

“Hello,” Ayame greeted, “I wasn’t aware that he hadn’t told you about us. I’m sorry.”

“No, we’re sorry,” Kiyoko apologized, “We shouldn’t be acting like this… But it’s just so unbelievable.”

“And on top of all that,” Miho added, “Ayame is Kiyoko’s next opponent!”

“Oh, that’s right,” I note, “The billboard said you fight someone named Ayame Misaki. Are you not a first year student?”

“No,” Ayame shook her head, “Much like Miho, I’ve been given permission to enter this tournament despite that. I’m in the same year as Miho.”

“Anyway,” Miho exclaimed, “I couldn’t beat you, but I’m sure Ayame can handle it. She watched our fight, after all. He’s got it all planned out!”

“Don’t say it like that,” Ayame snaps, embarrassed.

“Well, how about we let these two ladies get to know each other a bit,” Miho giggled as he pulled me out of the room, “We’ll be watching from the front row seats. Good luck, Ayame! I believe in you!”

“I believe in you, too, Kiyoko,” I yelled as I got dragged to the bleachers.

As we sat down, I snapped at Miho.

“What was that about?”

“What? The match was about to start soon. It’s best for them to get ready on their own.”

I puffed and crossed my arms, waiting for Kiyoko’s fight. Not long after, the two of them exited the prep room and made their way to the stage, not a word being exchanged.

“Ayame Mitsuba, are you ready,” the referee asked

Ayame nodded her head.

“And Kiyoko Shimada, are you ready?”

Kiyoko nodded her head.

“Then, three! Two! One! Activate your Gears!”

With a wave of the referee’s hand, Kiyoko and Ayame yelled.

“First Gear!”

An orb then appears around Kiyoko as mist starts to form around Ayame. It doesn’t appear that Ayame has any physical weapon. That’s a little rare.

“Tiger Nature,” Kiyoko yelled.

Suddenly, like last time, her tiger-like features started to form on her body. As the mist grew bigger, Kiyoko lunged toward Ayame, but was caught off guard. Suddenly, forming from within the mist, ice shards flew toward Kiyoko. Getting hit by a couple of them, Kiyoko jumped backward. She tried attacking multiple times, but the same result occurred. Any time Kiyoko tried to get close, the ice would form and pelt itself toward her. It's almost as though it’s automatic without Ayame having to think about it.

“Welp,” Miho said from beside me, “That’s all that she can do.”

“Huh,” I responded, confused.

“Ayame. That’s all her First Gear does” he continued as he crossed his legs, “But it’ll be enough to win. Just watch.”

“Crocodile Nature,” Kiyoko yells.

Growing sharp teeth and claws, Kiyoko’s skin becomes slightly scaly as it hardens. She then charges back in to attack Ayame. Like before, shards of ice started shooting toward her, only this time, the shards bounced off of her skin, only piercing the skin briefly. Kiyoko winced at the pain but continued forward and lunged at Ayame.

Jumping out of the way, Kiyoko spins around to attack again, however, Ayame had run to the other side of the arena, leaving a trail of mist behind her. Chasing after her, Kiyoko’s skin gets pelted by more and more ice shards as she runs. Now, her skin looks like it has many pin holes in it with little bits of blood trickling out.

Just before approaching Ayame, Kiyoko runs to the other side of the arena to recover. Looking at her body and her wounds, she tenses up. She then moves her gaze to Ayame standing on the other side of the arena who has a slight grin. Thanks to the crocodile’s ability to regenerate, Kiyoko’s wounds healed up quite fast.

Ready to attack again, Kiyoko lunges at Ayame, but gets pierced much sooner than she had anticipated. Giving a good look at her surroundings, she noises that half of the arena had filled with mist. When the mist exits Ayame’s body, it doesn’t dissipate. So any movement either of them do, the mist just gets moved around to cover a greater surface area. And at this point, nowhere is safe for Kiyoko.

Now from all around her, shards of ice continue to throw themselves and stab Kiyoko. Still in her crocodile form, most of them simply bounce off leaving a small tick, but some pierce deep. Kiyoko screams and cries from within the misty bubble as Ayame runs around the exterior of the arena, keeping a constant current of smoke to form.

It would be best for Kiyoko to exit the arena, and the only place to go is up—until the smoke rises, anyway. But even if she switched forms for a more aerial approach, she would then instantly be pelted by the ice without any lizard-like protection. After a moment of the barrage of ice from within the deep mist, Kiyoko’s cries stop.

Almost immediately, Ayame releases her First Gear and all of the mist vanishes in an instant. Lying in the center of the stage with bloody holes all throughout her human body is Kiyoko. At the sight, I dart to the arena and collapse in front of her. I hold her head in my hands, completely ignoring my surroundings until I’m pushed out of the way.

A nurse says something to me, although I don’t listen. About four or five of them surround Kiyoko as they activate their Gears to heal her. To be honest, I don’t quite remember what happened next. All I do remember, however, is seeing a figure standing in the crowd. Eyes red, skin black, with purple armor. It just watched the scene unfold as I looked back in horror. After that…

Darkness.