Twist of Fate

Chapter 31: Day Two

A/N: I'd like to slap myself at how short this is, but I won't. I don't like pain(not my own :D). Enjoy!

I yawned loudly into my hand as I took in the crimson and violet colors painting the sky. It was dawn once again, and the second day of the Festival of Spirits. Raifa, Deth, and I were walking leisurely with crowds of other students to the seats that were used the day before. They had yet to take the stage and seats away, so I guessed they were still necessary. For what, I didn't know, nor did I care as we sat and waited for the seats to fill.

Headmaster Kaelon walked up to the podium on the stage, waiting with a patient smile for things to settle. Today he wore a black sleeveless shirt, with the Kurona Academy insignia of course, white leather pants, and white combat boots. It appeared he was wearing the reverse of what he wore the day before. His long hair was still tied in a ponytail at the base of his neck, but he now also sported a black headband, which, unsurprisingly, also bore the the Academy insignia.

"Who's ready for another day of battle?" The Headmaster asked loudly, receiving a deafening shout in response.

I sighed as I resisted covering my ears. They would be just as loud as the day before, wouldn't they? Might as well adjust my sensitive hearing to it now.

"Today we are going to jump right into the tournament," he continued. "This year, we will have a qualifying round before we officially begin."

Murmurs began around me and I heard what today's problem was. Apparently, there hadn't been a qualifying round for the Single's Tournament since close to the opening of the Academy. So, the Headmaster suddenly adding a qualifiers this year was rather strange.

"Everyone who desires to participate in today's event, please move to the area where the tents were before." The Headmaster said, gesturing with a hand in its general direction. "There will be two tents that will have Instructors accepting your name, rank, and year. Then they will give you a card that will tell you what block you're in."

"Block?" I repeated, glancing at Deth, but I shouldn't have expected a response. He stood from his seat and wordlessly began to head for the tents. "Lovely brother you got there," I commented drily to Raifa.

She laughed lightly. "I know, right? He's irreplaceable."

"If you mean there's no one who can be so cocky and aloof at the same time," I sighed, "then yes, there's not a single person who could take his place."

"Shouldn't you get going?" Raifa asked, looking at the waves of students moving towards the tents. "Deth is nearly there, didn't you want to stick with him before the matches began?"

"Right," I said, dragging out the word so she could hear the doubt in my voice. "Deth will definitely let me stick to him today."

She smiled at me. "Of course he will. Now go on, before he signs in and you get separated." Her eyes flicked toward the large growing crowd moving to the tents. "Today will be far more...exciting than yesterday. There are twice as many participants."

I gazed at the crowd appraisingly and hummed my agreement. She was right. The number of people was much larger; there were twice as many first years from what I could gather with a single glance. As well as many high rankers, which I could tell from my aura perception, or so Kei called it. I could feel that many of the people there were of even, average outputs of aura, but a fraction of them were of strength that could rival the champions of the Team Tournament, excluding Tenran and Issa.

"See you later." I waved to Raifa as I began to walk and she waved back, smiling softly. I paused for a moment. How strange. Where was all her usual energy and inappropriate metaphors? Since the night before, she had been oddly quiet, but I didn't think I had any right to ask her why. Perhaps something bad happened...