The roar of voices, camera drones circling above, the
electric buzz of data walls calibrating battle simulations—Tokyo Arena had
never felt more alive.
Thousands of students packed the stands. Faculty lined the
upper decks. Class banners hung like battle flags. Spotlights swept across the
main floor where four rectangular platforms had risen, each prepared for a
different match.
On the far end, Class 4-D entered first. Their uniforms were
pristine, posture relaxed. They moved like royalty returning to a throne.
Then came the second-years—Tokai, Minato, Mia, and
Niso—walking into the arena through parted crowds. No cheers. No banners.
Only eyes watching and waiting.
Up in the VIP box, Hayato Arima stood beside Shiori Onabara.
He leaned over the mic, voice smooth and precise.
"Welcome to the 8th
Inter-Class Individual Trials. Four matches. Three rounds each. Performance,
precision, and pressure will determine the victor."
The scoreboard lit up.
Match 1: Niso Tanaka vs. Ruth Fujimoto
Match 2: Minato Onabara vs. Kaito Harata
Match 3: Mia Katagawa vs. Rika Kishima
Match 4: Lad Tokai vs. Reiji Kurosawa
Miyo muttered to Kai, "It's starting."
"Yeah," Kai replied. "And they're
watching everything."
Match 1: Niso Tanaka vs Ruth Fujimoto
Platform 1 rose. Niso stepped forward in her dark uniform,
eyes narrowed. Across her, Ruth smirked with the elegance of a practiced
predator.
The first simulation loaded: Legal Debate – Policy
Manipulation Challenge.
Three judges. One clause. Three rounds of logical combat.
Ruth struck first, slicing through the policy with
calculated phrasing and tight technical jargon. Her eyes never wavered. Her
smile never faded.
Niso countered—but not fast enough. Her analogies were
strong, but slightly hesitant.
"You hesitate too long," Ruth said
calmly. "And in here? That's a death sentence."
Round One Winner: Ruth Fujimoto
Applause rolled through the crowd.
New clause: Social Welfare Reform.
Niso opened with a layered argument—but Ruth interrupted,
not in speech, but in spirit.
"You're clearly smart," Ruth said,
voice cold. "But you let your emotions leak into your logic. Emotions are for
the weak."
Niso froze.
That sentence—those exact words—lit a match in her mind.
Flashback: Years Earlier
Rain hitting the glass.
A younger Niso crouched beside her mother in the kitchen.
Behind them, the thud of footsteps. The sting of a slap.
Her stepfather's voice was a drunken drawl: "You call this
dinner?"
Her mother—gentle, bruised,
exhausted—whispered, "Don't cry, Niso. That makes you a target."
Later, Niso had asked her:
"Why did you marry him?"
Her mother's voice broke.
"Because I loved him. But love doesn't protect you, baby.
Being the best does. When you're the best, no one can step on you. No one
questions you."
Her mother looked her in the eyes.
"Don't rely on feelings. Emotions are for the weak."
Back to Present.
Niso's heart hammered, but her expression changed—tightened
into something sharper. Quieter. More lethal.
"You're right, Ruth," she said,
voice like steel. "Emotions are for the weak. But mine made me stronger."
She struck back—rapid-fire rebuttals, precise
counter-claims, weaponized empathy wrapped in logic.
"You don't win by removing
emotion. You win by wielding it."
Ruth blinked. Just once
Round Two Winner: Niso Tanaka
The simulation spun faster now: new clause, surprise
adjustment, real-time media pressure.
Ruth's composure wavered under the shifting complexity.
Niso didn't slow down.
She spoke like someone who had nothing left to prove—only
something left to protect.
Her words built momentum.
And then…
Round Three Winner: Niso Tanaka
The crowd didn't cheer immediately.
They were too stunned.
Then the noise rose—cheers from the second-years, murmurs
from faculty, even a slow clap from somewhere in the faculty box.
Ruth stepped off the platform slowly, face unreadable.
Niso followed after. She didn't look proud. Just… steady.
Scoreboard Update:
🟢
2-A/2-B: 1 | 🔴 4-D: 0
Hayato grinned from above.
"One point on the board," he said.
"Let's see if they can keep it."
Match 2: Minato Onabara vs Kaito Harata
Platform 2 rose. Minato tapped his stylus once, eyes cold,
focused. Kaito rolled his neck lazily, gum in his mouth, looking bored.
> "Let's see if you're as sharp as they say," Kaito
muttered.
The simulation loaded: Cyber Fortress – Hack vs Defend
Scenario.
Three Rounds. One defender. One attacker. Roles switch every
round.
Round 1 – Kaito (Attacker) vs Minato (Defender)
The match started with Kaito whistling, fingers dancing
across the interface.
Within thirty seconds, he found a breach. Then another.
Minato caught the first—but not the second. A minor delay in
his firewall script execution left an opening.
Kaito exploited it like it was written for him.
> "Told you," Kaito smirked. "You think. I act."
Round One Winner: Kaito Harata
Round 2 – Minato (Attacker) vs Kaito (Defender)
Minato didn't respond to the jab. He just… breathed.
And then, he struck.
No wasted lines. Every script ran with surgical intent. No
fancy movements—just absolute precision.
Kaito's firewalls started collapsing in layers. Not through
brute force—through elegant pressure points.
> "You act," Minato said flatly. "I architect."
Kaito frustrated as his system buckled.
Round Two Winner: Minato Onabara
Round 3 – Both on Defense and Offense (Rapid Swap Mode)
This was new.
Every 60 seconds, roles switched.
They had to breach and defend at the same time. Chaos.
The crowd watched as their screens malfunctioned from rapid
data flow.
Kaito's approach: speed.
Minato's approach: prediction.
At the end of 5 minutes… both cores stood compromised—but
not destroyed.
No winner. No loser.
Round Three: Draw
They stepped off the platform, breathing heavily.
Kaito wiped sweat from his brow. "Okay. You're not boring
after all."
Minato nodded once. "Good. Neither are you."
Scoreboard Update:
🟢 2-A/2-B: 1.5 | 🔴
4-D: 0.5
The second-years were holding the lead.
But the tide hadn't stopped moving yet.
Match 3: Mia Katagawa vs Rika Kishima
Platform 3 rose. Mia tightened her gloves. Rika was already
waiting, arms behind her back, not even blinking.
The simulation loaded: Mathematical Strategy – Collapsing
Market Puzzle.
Precision under time. Solve equations while predicting
economic chain reactions.
Round 1
Mia opened with speed. Equations rolled across her
screen—completed within milliseconds.
Rika barely moved, but her strategy slowly revealed itself:
solving the system, not just the equations.
In the last 15 seconds, Rika triggered a late-stage variable
Mia hadn't accounted for.
Mia recalculated—too late.
Round One Winner: Rika Kishima
Round 2
Rika upped the pressure—quietly shifting numbers, stacking
invisible pressure.
Mia fought to keep pace—but the margin for error was
microscopic.
A single mistake. An assumption about interest fluctuation.
Collapse.
Round Two Winner: Rika Kishima
Round 3
Mia slowed down, changing her rhythm. The crowd noticed.
> "She's pacing herself differently," Miyo whispered.
And it started to work—until Rika bluffed a late move,
drawing Mia into recalculating.
Too late again.
Round Three Winner: Rika Kishima
Mia walked off with her head high.
Rika looked back at her once—and then didn't again.
Scoreboard Update:
🟢 2-A/2-B: 1.5 | 🔴
4-D: 1.5
It all came down to the Leader Match
Match 4: Lad Tokai vs Reiji Kurosawa
Platform 4 rose.
Tokai walked forward with silent purpose.
Reiji was already there, arms crossed, expression
unreadable.
No words passed between them.
The simulation loaded: Executive Decision Gauntlet –
Real-Time Crisis Leadership.
Three rounds. Dynamic rules. Decisions under stress. No
pause. No help.
Round 1 – Even Ground
Immediately, both sides began calculating assets, rerouting
personnel, managing legal risks and stock fluctuations.
Observers were on the edge of their seats.
Every move Tokai made, Reiji responded.
Every shift Reiji calculated, Tokai redirected.
It was like watching a mirror… move before the other did.
> "He's matching Reiji…" Kai said, stunned.
At the buzzer—neither team had the advantage.
Round One: Draw
Round 2 – Reiji Takes Control
The scenario escalated.
Sabotage, Public scandal and Investor panic.
Reiji adapted instantly, removing all emotion, pure calculations
and pure dominance.
Tokai began to falter.
The gap widened—25 points. Then 30.
Until…
Tokai paused. Just for a second.
And then shifted his entire strategy.
He left a gap—intentionally.
Reiji struck… and tripped a silent algorithm reversal.
The damage was equalized.
> "He laid a trap," Mia whispered.
> "While losing," Niso added.
Round Two: Draw
Up in the observation deck, Hayato leaned forward.
> "He's the first to force Reiji to adapt."
Shiori looked sideways. "Are you saying…?"
Hayato grinned. "I think I just found my successor."
> "Tokai?" she asked.
> "That kid is the future of Tokyo Academy."
Break Before Final Round
Tokai stood still.
Mia, Niso, Kai, and Miyo came up to him.
> "You've already done what no one else has," Mia said.
> "Finish it," Niso added.
Minato stood farther away, arms crossed, trying to look
indifferent.
> "Don't screw it up," he called.
But his eyes… betrayed hope.
Tokai gave no reply.
He simply turned and walked back onto the platform.
Final Round – Turning Point
Tokai took early control. Sharp moves. Predictive strategy.
It was beautiful.
Then…
Reiji closed his eyes—briefly.
Flashback: 2 Years Ago
> Class 2-D stood on the same arena floor—Reiji, Ruth,
Kaito, Rika.
Facing them: Hayato Arima, Shiori Onabara, Giyusiah Kaseki,
Riya Yamato.
They didn't stand a chance.
Reiji vs Hayato: Loss by 41-point margin.
Ruth vs Shiori: Ruth's rhetoric was picked apart in seconds.
Kaito vs Giyusiah: A demolition in 90 seconds.
Rika vs Riya: Psychological breakdown mid-round.
Reiji had stood in that same place. And been crushed.
> "I'll never lose like that again," he had promised.
Back to Present
Reiji's expression shifted. His presence changed.
He went cold.
And countered Tokai's strategy with a ferocity no one
expected.
Tokai didn't back down—but he was slowly, methodically
stalled.
At the buzzer…
Round Three: Draw
Final Scoreboard:
Niso vs Ruth – Win
Minato vs Kaito – Draw
Mia vs Rika – Loss
Tokai vs Reiji – Draw
Final Result: Individual Trials → Draw
The second-years stood silent as the scoreboard froze.
Then the crowd… erupted.
They didn't beat 4-D.
But they stopped them.
Outside the arena, 4-D approached them.
Reiji stood at the front. Calm again. Ruth, Kaito, Rika
behind him.
> "You stopped the momentum," Reiji said. "But the group
trials are different."
Ruth folded her arms. "We've never lost one."
Kaito grinned. "And we don't intend to now."
Then all four said it together—low, firm, absolute:
> "Hope you've built up enough momentum. You'll need it."
The second-years stepped forward. Shoulder to shoulder.
And together, they answered in perfect unison:
> "There's always a first time for everything."
The second-years stood still for a beat.
Then Kai broke the silence with a wide grin.
> "Okay, that was legendary. And I didn't even do
anything."
Miyo stepped forward, hands on her hips.
> "Exactly why I still have energy. So—I say dinner. Our
treat. You four carried the weight today."
Mia arched an eyebrow. "You do realize this is Tokyo, right?
Dinner prices hit harder than Reiji."
> "Don't care," Miyo replied. "Today we held off 4-D.
That deserves carbs."
Niso gave a faint smile. "And sugar."
> "And meat," Kai added. "Lots of it."
Minato looked away, but his voice betrayed a small note of
relief.
> "We'll go. Before someone overanalyzes it to death."
They turned to Tokai.
He hesitated.
Then, quietly: "Yeah. Let's go."
As they walked out together—Miyo chatting with Niso, Kai
making terrible food puns, Minato quietly typing a message no one could read—it
didn't look like a team who had drawn a match.
It looked like one that had just begun to win.
The ramen shop they picked was small, hidden down a quiet
side street near the station. The kind of place where the broth had been
simmering for hours and the walls were lined with faded photos of past
customers who swore it was the best in Tokyo.
They pushed two tables together.
Steam curled from bowls. Meat sizzled on plates. The tension
that had followed them out of the arena finally gave way to the simple comfort
of food.
Kai had already slurped down half his noodles before anyone
spoke.
Tanaka broke the silence, sipping miso with quiet precision
before glancing across the table.
> "Tokai… how did you pull that off in round two?"
Everyone turned.
Mia leaned in, chopsticks paused midair.
> "Yeah," she said. "Seriously. You were down by thirty.
Then suddenly it was even. How?"
Tokai stirred his noodles slowly, eyes on his bowl.
For a second, it looked like he wouldn't answer.
Then:
> "I stopped thinking like I had something to prove," he
said. "And started thinking like I had something to lose."
Miyo blinked. "Meaning?"
> "Reiji was playing to win," Tokai said. "I was playing
not to lose. That's why I froze. But then I realized… I didn't need to beat him
in power. I just needed to make him overcommit."
He tapped the table gently.
> "I created a vulnerability he couldn't ignore. Lured
him in. Then redirected the outcome."
Kai whistled. "So basically… you played dead and bit him
when he leaned in."
> "Something like that."
Mia shook her head, but a smirk tugged at her lips. "You're
terrifying when you're quiet."
> "He's terrifying when he's not," Minato added, not
looking up from his phone. "The silence is just a courtesy."
They laughed—finally, genuinely.
Miyo lifted her glass of iced tea.
> "To holding off perfection," she said.
> "To strategy," added Mia.
> "To ramen!!," shouted Mia, Miyo and Kai.