The Tea Party

Rivia woke up a little later, feeling much better. She apologized to her friends for causing them to worry, and to Eskasa for being the reason she dropped out of the event.

They reassured her that there was nothing to apologize for, and tried their hardest to raise her mood.

After confirming with the doctors that she has fully recovered, the friends went directly to the front of the academy, where Sana was already waiting.

She was a young woman who didn’t look that much older than them. She had white, wavy hair that was long enough to rest on her shoulders, and light-blue eyes resembling gemstones.

To their surprise she was alone, and no students were anywhere in sight.

“Oh…? Hello there,” she greeted them, “are you also participating in the competition?”

“Yes miss,” Lord Kaiser said, “we were told to gather here for the third event.”

“You’re in the right place!” she said cheerfully.

“You’re probably wondering why there are no students here…” she said looking around the campus, “we decided now would be the perfect time for lunch, so we let the students go eat. You guys should hurry too.”

“You have a little over forty minutes,” she added, glancing at her watch, “and don’t forget to leave some space for the tea party!”

They thanked her, bowed, and hurried to the cafeteria.

As they entered the Minae cafeteria, it was the first time they saw it being that full. Almost every table was occupied, and the staff was working hard to accommodate everyone. It felt like they were going to be there for a long time, but the services were surprisingly efficient.

They managed to get a table, almost right after walking in, and gave their orders just a few minutes after.

It seemed that during the competition, the staff was increased tenfold.

A little after ten minutes, they all received their food.

They chose the same dish, nothing fancy. They decided to go with something that would minimize the chances of them getting food poisoning and ended up with chicken soup.

The soup was surprisingly very good. As expected of the food at Drezore, everything they have tried so far was delicious.

They didn’t eat quickly, but not slow either.

Listening to Sana’s advice, they didn’t overeat and left some space for the tea party.

They went back down to the entrance, where they could already see a bunch of people assembling.

Among the people assembling, Atsuo saw Crollo.

“Crollo!” he called, causing him to turn around.

As soon as Crollo turned, his expression turned ashen and apologetic. He bowed down deeply in front of the friends.

“I’m very sorry on behalf of Terzula,” he said to Rivia, “she… is not alright in the head.”

“I apologize on the behalf of Troad Academy…” he added, getting on his knees.

His sincere apologies led to people turning around and staring at him.

“Stop apologizing, it wasn’t your fault,” Rivia said, “and get up from the floor. People are looking.”

“I don’t care” Crollo said, remaining in his position.

“I care,” Rivia hissed, “get up!”

He looked up at her, baffled, and stood up awkwardly.

“I heard you will be representing Troad alone” Atsuo said.

“Yeah…” Crollo said, “they sent Terzula back home...”

“And rightfully so,” he quickly added, looking at Rivia and Eskasa’s grim expressions.

The group laughed again, seeing the concern on his face.

“Will you be fine?” Atsuo asked seriously.

“Yeah, no problem,” Crollo replied, “she never listened to me anyway. At least I’ll sleep in peace now…”

Atsuo and Lord Kaiser burst out laughing, as everyone looked at them confused.

“Ah… sorry…” Atsuo said, bending over, “we actually saw her breaking down your door earlier this morning.”

“Really? Did she wake you up too?” Crollo asked, surprised.

“Wake up…” Atsuo scoffed, “I didn’t get to sleep since we came back from Arfort…”

“WHAT?” Crollo exclaimed, “But how? Weren’t you tired?”

“Let’s just say… I know how you feel…” Atsuo said, leaving it up to Crollo to connect the dots.

Crollo glanced at Lord Kaiser, and looked back at Atsuo, who nodded inconspicuously.

“You might have it worse than me!” Crollo chuckled.

Atsuo disagreed, before finally introducing the friends to Crollo. Right after the introductions finished, Sana went on speaker, announcing the commencement of the third event.

“Hello everyone, welcome back. While you were eating, we set everything up and are now ready to begin!” she said.

“The tea party will take place behind the academy, since it is our largest area. Before you go, let me say something quickly. While I would want you to enjoy this time with your friends, that will not be the case.”

“Each table seats six students. Aside from yourselves, you will have five other people, whom you likely do not know. This process of assigning will be random, so there is a chance that you might end up sitting with someone you know, though highly unlikely.”

“We have people creating the groups as we speak, relative with whom you are standing at this precise moment. This means that the people you are near, will most definitely be in a different group.”

“It is pointless moving now,” she said coldly, glancing at some student, “I highly suggest you don’t do anything that would make me want to remove you from the event.”

“You’ll see the list of groups behind the academy,” she continued, “from there, take a seat and await further instructions.”

“Make sure you sit at the correct tables, or you’re getting thrown out” she warned, “that’s all. You have ten minutes.”

Surprised at the sudden change of Sana’s character, the group of friends hurried to the back of the academy to not disappoint her.

Behind the academy, on the flat field, stood exactly a hundred round tables for all competitors. They formed a large rectangle, with the long rows of tables, parallel to the back of the academy. All of them were numbered and already set, ready for use by the students.

After looking through the groups, the friends confirmed that they will all be separated. They wished each other good luck and scattered throughout the event space.

Atsuo was the first to sit down at his table. It happened to be the first column of the rectangle, relatively in the middle. Atsuo chose the seat closest to the woodlands, and waited for the rest of his group and further instructions.

After a few minutes, all of the tables were filled.

On Atsuo’s group were four girls – one of which was Lord Kaiser’s fanatic – and Greener.

Atsuo sighed, the moment he sat down, which made Greener notice him.

“It’s you again…” he seethed, from across the table, sitting opposite of Atsuo.

“Yeah…” Atsuo said, “Would be funny if you didn’t get any points again…”

“YOU BAST–”

“Everything okay here?” Sana asked, smiling from behind Atsuo, causing everyone to tense up.

“Yes… perfectly fine” Greener said uneasily, as the rest of the group nodded frantically.

“Very well then…” she said, walking away to the other tables.

They waited until she moved a little further away, before going back to their bickering.

“Take it back!” Greener whispered anxiously.

“Why are you acting like it’s your fate…” Lord Kaiser’s fanatic spoke up, who sat on the left of Greener.

She had bright pink ponytails and purple eyes. A stark contrast to Greener’s short black hair and grey eyes.

“Are you stupid?” she added, sighing.

Greener’s face twitched, and he turned to Atsuo, irritated.

“Say it to her as well” he said, pointing his thumb at her.

“Don’t give me orders” Atsuo said, leaning back in his seat.

“As if this good for nothing can do anything…” she said.

“Huh?” Atsuo uttered in disbelief, turning to her.

“You heard me,” she said, “I don’t know what someone like you is even doing here.”

“That’s not very nice…” another girl said, who sat on Greener’s right with her hands clasped.

“No one asked you, pig” the fanatic spewed.

The girl also turned to Atsuo, who sighed.

“Would be funny if you’re in the wrong seat” Atsuo said, looking at the fanatic.

“As if that could–”

She stopped at the sight of Sana approaching with another student.

“Say sorry,” Atsuo said, to which the fanatic stared back at him in bewilderment.

“S– sorry…” she whispered.

“Louder,” Atsuo said, “and look us in the eyes when you’re apologizing.”

“Sorry!” she said, looking at all of them, “please…”

“Would be funny if they were just passing by…” Atsuo said, looking away.

Sana and the student went past their table, to a table further away that appeared to have an available seat.

“Amazing…” another girl spoke up, “how did you do that?”

“Obviously it was just a coincidence…” the fanatic spoke up again.

“Would be funny–”

“NO. PLEASE...” the fanatic begged, “I was just kidding. I actually want to know as well...”

“I have nothing to tell you…” Atsuo said, “I don’t know myself.”

“This might be your innate–”

Before Greener could finish, Sana spoke up again, with details concerning the tea party.

“Continuing from where we left off…” she said, adjusting her chair, “You are going to get to know each other. By ‘get to know each other’, I mean not just your names. Let the people around you know where you are from, what you were doing prior to the competition, your hobbies, and so on…”

“There are a hundred groups. Those who get to know each other well, will be eligible to get points. Only ten such groups will get anything.”

“All ten will receive the same amount of points, regardless if they were first or last. Each student will get 30 points.”

“As some of you probably realized, I hope, Minae students have an advantage here. Those having two representatives can get a total of 60 points for their academy. Those represented by a single person will get 60 points by default, as an exception, to keep it fair.”

“As to why, you should know yourselves,” she said, glaring at some complaining students.

“I don’t want to hear any whining.”

“That’s all. Start talking.”

She got up from her seat and started walking along the perimeter of the rectangular shape that the hundred tables formed.

“Hey, did she intentionally leave out the part on how we are going to be judged?” said another girl, speaking for the first time.

Sitting on Atsuo’s left, she had dark blue hair and light-blue eyes.

She brought up a good point, that Atsuo was wondering about as well.

“Who knows…” he said, “she didn’t seem to be in a good mood, so we can only guess what she really ‘intended’.”

There was a slight pause, until the girl on Atsuo’s right broke the silence.

“Well then, shall we start with introducing ourselves?” she said, “I am Hina from the Myriad Academy in Durmount.”

Hina had curly, dark red hair that extended past her shoulders and yellow eyes, behind her thin glasses.

“I am good at studying. Intermediate at sports, and love music. You could say getting good grades is my hobby,” Hina continued, “as for why I’m here, I was chosen as the representative of Myriad by a general consensus.”

She finished and turned to the Lord Kaiser fanatic, who clicked her tongue.

“…Solla…” the fanatic said, “I’m from Grotto Academy in Osgrow…”

“Can’t say I have any hobbies…” she said unenthusiastically.

“Does following guys around not count?” Atsuo asked, getting his revenge.

“YOU BASTARD…” she hissed, blushing, “I WILL–”

“You will what?” Atsuo asked daringly.

As Solla fought with her exasperation, due to having to take the hit, Hina used the chance to move on.

“…What about you?” she quickly asked Greener.

“Uhh… Greener… is my name” he started, to which Atsuo started laughing.

Despite being frustrated at Atsuo’s sudden outburst, he continued.

“As you can see by my uniform, I’m the only one from Drezore at this table…” he said, “I was born here in Taigoren, and my hobby is reading advanced magic…”

“That’s pretty much it” he said, looking at the girl on his right.

“I’m Dao,” she introduced herself, “I represent Trerimar Academy in the Battai Region of Rozair. I am good at any sport, and am very competitive.”

They all turned to the last girl on Atsuo’s left.

“I’m Ivia from Yozuern Institute in Pilmo of the Rotesar Continent” she said, “I love art, music, and martial arts.”

“You’re from overseas?” Hina asked amazed, to which Ivia nodded.

Atsuo was a little surprised, but it was to be expected of Drezore Academy. It lived up to its reputation of attracting students from everywhere, Atsuo thought.

Finally, it was Atsuo turn, who ironically, the students were the most eager to know about.

“I’m Atsuo from Brimor in Weingrove” he said, “here to ‘learn more about myself’. Wasn’t doing much before coming here, and am just an average student.”

“Woah woah woah… that was a little too fast…” Greener said, “and if you were just an average student, you wouldn’t be here. Don’t be shy now and tell us how you got here.”

Atsuo stared at him, annoyed, before starting to share a bit more of his personal information.

“There were ‘unprecedented circumstances’ due to which, I, and the guy you were following,” Atsuo looked at Solla, “…had to come here. We replaced the original people that were supposed to represent Brimor.”

“Are the ‘unprecedented circumstances’ that personal that you can’t tell us?” Greener asked.

“I would’ve considered sharing if you and the fanatic over there weren’t present…” Atsuo replied.

Visibly irritated, Greener tried again.

“Aren’t we basically friends now? What’s with the hesitance?” he prodded for details.

“Trust me and keep your curiosity to yourself” Atsuo said sternly, remaining adamant as he took a sip of tea.

As the students watched him in silence with puzzled expressions on their faces, wondering what made him say that, he decided to divert the attention away from himself by going for a small walk to the washroom.

“I’ll be back” Atsuo said, standing up.

Suddenly, cheering erupted.

People whistled and clapped their hands, as Atsuo’s eyes widened.

He froze, looking around frantically. He found himself standing on a stage, in queue for something. But that was the least of his worries.

He started sweating, knowing that he blacked out again.

Becoming a habit, he looked down, trying to regain his composure as more than a thousand students watched him and the other people on stage.

Before he could calm himself, he heard a woman’s hoarse voice sounding across the whole auditorium.

“Congratulations, to the first person with limitless potential, Lord Kaiser of Brimor!”