illusion

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"Now that lunch is over, it's finally time to reveal the last game!" Present Mic screamed over the roaring crowd. All the surviving students was crowded around the stage that Midnight stood on. Zero looked excited about the last round, while his brothers didn't share the same joy. They all stood to his right and seemed to be in their own world- well, Sloth and Lust were.

"It's about time!" Sloth yelled. "I'm tired of standing."

Lust talked without taking an eye away from his phone. "Then go to sleep. I will wake you up when things get important."

Sloth raised an eyebrow. "So, I'll most likely wake up in bed at home, right?"

Lust looked at him. "Most likely."

Sloth clapped his shoulder with a wide smile. "Thanks, bro." He looked at Zero. "Good luck, Zero. If you need anything from me, then don't hesitate to ask."

Zero returned the smile. "Alright, Sloth. I hope you sleep well."

Envy's shadow tendril was already awake with life as it curled around Sloth's body. It wrapped around him like he was prey, and Sloth snuggled into its embrace.

Zero silently chuckled, before looking back to the stage. He missed some things about the recreational games that Present Mic was spewing, but he caught the critical part.

"The sixteen from the four teams that made it to the final round will duke it out tournament style, one-on-one!"

Pride smirked. "Doesn't matter, they'll all fall like dominoes."

"Indubitably." Greed added.

"The last round is a tournament where we fight one-on-one, huh?" Kirishima spoke. He stood in front of Zero, but Zero could feel his excitement vibrate off of him. "I'm gonna stand on the stage that I watch every year on TV!"

"Was it a tournament last year?" Ashido asked. She, and the other girls in the class, were wearing a cheerleader outfit that managed to capture Gluttony's attention.

"It's different every year, but there's a one-on-one competition every year. Last year, it was a sports chanbara match." Sero answered.

"Now, let's draw to determine the bracket. Once the bracket is determined, we'll have the recreational games and then start! The sixteen finalists can choose whether or not they want to participate in the recreation. I'm sure some of you want to rest or save your strength." Midnight concluded.

"Now, from the first place team-"

"Um! Excuse me." A student from behind Zero spoke. When he turned around, he saw that it was Mashirao Ojiro.

"I'm withdrawing."

Pride laughed over the audio response of the students. "He's a wimp!"

"I believe the new term is: simp." Lust corrected.

"Simp, wimp- whatever. He's both." Pride chuckled, as the voices to keep Ojiro from leaving overlapped.

Zero leaned in to hear why Ojiro was leaving, but Greed grasped his shoulder.

"Don't." Greed shook his head. "In the end, it's one less person in our path. He's not changing his mind on withdrawing."

Zero looked to find more words but couldn't. Instead, he chose to stay silent.

After a while, a couple other students chose to withdraw as well. Pride smiled as he mocked the "weaklings" (as he put it) that left due to his "inferior power." Katsuki soon came over and put a hand over Pride's mouth, because all of he was getting weird looks from everyone. Zero shook his head sheepishly but thanked Kaachan for his quick thinking.

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