In the thirty minutes between Stella’s match ending and Ikki’s match starting, the weather took a sudden turn for the worse.
“Those clouds sure came out of nowhere, but it looks like it’s going to be raining hard,” one of the audience members muttered, looking up at the darkening sky.
To make things even more ominous, black crows had started to gather around the arena, silently standing vigil over the ring. Everyone in the crowd had the feeling that something terrible would happen soon.
“The next match is between Bad Luck and Another One, huh?”
“Who do you think’s gonna win?”
“I want Ikki-kun to win, personally. I don’t like that Shinomiya kid.”
“He’s definitely gotta be cheating. His power makes whatever he wishes come true, doesn’t it? One of Kyomon’s students put up a thread on the school forum about how he won all of his matches there by default too.”
“There’s no evidence that he’s cheating, though. No one can prove that he’s using his powers outside of matches.”
“I wonder if Ikki-kun will even be able to make it to the ring...”
“Everyone, it’s time for the second match of the Seven Stars Battle Festival semifinals,” the announcer said, his voice cutting through the crowd’s chatter. The broadcast on the big screen then cut back to Iida, who’d be providing commentary for this match as well.
“Hello again, everyone! We’ve got me, Iida, back to commentate the second semifinal match, and Saikyou-sensei is with me again on analysis! The weather might have gone south fast, but don’t worry! The Dome has a glass roof we can close for exactly these situations! No matter how dark the clouds are, as long as the fighters in the ring are giving it their all, our moods will stay bright, won’t they?!”
The crowd started cheering and clapping, dispelling the dark mood that had settled over the arena. Of course, they were half forcing it in response to Iida’s urging, but it still helped get everyone’s excitement levels up.
“Now then, it’s time to introduce our fighters! Who will be the one to advance to the finals?!”
At Iida’s signal, the blue gate swung open, and Ikki walked into the arena.
“From the blue gate, we have Another One Kurogane Ikki! Despite being Rank F and having one of the lowest mana pools possible, he’s more than made up for that handicap with his godlike martial arts skills and climbed his way up to the semifinals! In his first match, he defeated the previous Seven Stars Sovereign, Moroboshi Yuudai, after a heated close-quarters bout, and in his second match, he took out the runner-up of last year’s tournament, Jougasaki Byakuya, in an instant! Most impressive of all, in his third match, he overcame Sara Bloodlily’s clone of Twin Wings in a massive upset! If he wins this match, he’ll reach the finals! But will his opponent let him get that far?!”
“Look, he made it! Ikki-kun made it to the ring! And he looks perfectly fine!”
“Whew, what a relief. I woulda lodged a complaint with the Committee if he lost by default too.”
“Beat the shit out of that cheating bastard, Worst One!”
The crowd cheered Ikki on as he made his way onto the ring. Meanwhile, Stella ran back into the spectator stands and met up with Shizuku and Alisuin.
“Shizuku! Alice!”
“Hello, Stella-chan. Congratulations on winning your match. It was quite the epic finale.”
“You guys were watching?”
“Shizuku and I woke up partway through, so we only saw the latter half.”
“Gotcha. Thanks.” Stella then turned to Shizuku and asked in a hesitant voice, “Shizuku...are you doing okay?”
Stella knew how much Amane had humiliated her, so she couldn’t help but worry. But Shizuku just grinned playfully.
“Oh yes. Onii-sama embraced me so passionately that it blew away my depression.”
“What?! I can’t believe you two were doing that while I was fighting!”
“Are you jealous? If you beg, I’ll let you sniff the scent he left on me.”
Shizuku held out her tie to Stella.
“N-No thanks!” Stella brushed the tie away and let out an exasperated sigh. “Sheesh... I guess if you have the energy to mess with me, you must be fine.”
Shizuku’s expression grew serious as she fixed her necktie, and she replied, “That’s right. If anything, you should be more worried about the person behind you. She looks half dead.”
She nodded at Kurono, who was slowly walking up to the trio. Her expression was haggard, and she looked like she’d aged a decade.
“Why do you look so tired, Director?” Alisuin asked.
“Why do you think?” Kurono responded, glaring at her. “A certain idiot blew up half the stadium because she just had to go all out, and I had to deal with keeping everyone safe and fixing up the Dome.”
“Oh, so you’re the one who was in charge of repairs.”
“It was one of my students who caused the damage, so yes.”
“What do you want from me?” Stella cut in. “I still can’t control my power perfectly while I’m in that trance. It’s the stadium’s fault for being too small.”
“There’s no stadium big enough for someone who can shoot fire all the way out to sea a kilometer away. Please just try and hold back next time.”
“I’ll do what I can to focus my attacks more, but I’m not holding back. If I lose because of that, I’ll definitely regret it. Besides, Nene-sensei said any batter who holds back because they’re afraid of hitting someone in the stands with their home run is second-rate. She also said that it’s the job of teachers like her to keep the crowd safe, so I should just go all out without worry.”
“Why’d she have to go and tell you that?”
“I heard you were just as destructive back when you were a student, Director,” Alisuin said, coming to Stella’s defense. “In fact, no one’s allowed to go near that abandoned stadium because the space-time hole you opened up in it still hasn’t closed. And that’s not even the craziest thing you’ve done.”
“Urk.” Kurono looked away awkwardly. It was true that she’d left wounds on the world that still hadn’t healed to this day, so the damage Stella had caused was tame in comparison. It was damage that could be repaired, after all. Thus, with a sigh, she surrendered. “Fine, fine, rampage all you want. We’ll take care of fixing everything afterward. I suppose that is what they pay me for.”
“Thanks, Director,” Stella said with a smile. Then, she turned back to the arena as Ikki’s opponent walked out of the opposite gate.
“From the red gate, we have Akatsuki Academy first-year Bad Luck Shinomiya Amane! His first opponent, Doctor Knight Yakushi Kiriko, had to forfeit because an emergency came up at her hospital. His second opponent had a health emergency and was sent to the hospital the day of their match. And his third opponent, Lorelei Kurogane Shizuku, seemed to think he was breaking the rules and went for an underhanded surprise attack while he was in the waiting room. It failed, though, and he made his way to the semifinals with another win by default! Those of you who keep a close eye on internet forums may already be aware, but Amane’s undefeated record while he was at Kyomon was also a string of wins by default! That being said, please bear in mind that there’s no proof he’s used his power to cheat. This may seem like an unbelievable string of coincidences, but such coincidences do happen. Truly, Amane is worthy of the nickname ‘Bad Luck.’”
“Yeah, yeah. They were all just coincidences. Totally...” Saikyou said in a sarcastic tone.
“Y-You can’t just say that, Saikyou-sensei!” Iida shouted at her, cutting off her microphone. “We still don’t have any proof, so you can’t make insinuations like that!”
“If I can’t make insinuations, can I just say what I think?”
“That’d be even worse! Please just stay quiet!” Iida then spoke into his mic again. “Ahem. A-At any rate, thanks to his wins by default, this is the first time Amane has actually set foot in the ring! This will be his first real match! What powers will he show us, I wonder! This will be quite a fascinating match!”
Fortunately, his attempt to smooth over Saikyou’s faux pas went mostly unnoticed. The audience was too interested in Amane to be paying much attention to the commentary.
“Now that I think about it, this is my first time seeing him. He looks more girly than I expected.”
“He’s actually kinda cute...”
“You really think so? He creeps me out with that fake smile of his.”
“Amane sure is unpopular,” Stella mused.
“He hasn’t fought in any matches, so it’s hardly surprising,” Alisuin replied. “Considering his track record, it’d be stranger if he was popular.”
“The Committee’s been keeping a close eye on Shinomiya, but since his power makes everything work out the way he wants, I doubt they’ll find anything that incriminates him. It sucks, but there’s nothing we can do,” Kurono muttered.
Much like the courts, the Management Committee operated on the principle of “innocent until proven guilty.” As a result, though, there was nothing anyone could do to expose Amane’s cheating. After all, since he had the power to twist fate in his favor, it was nigh impossible to find hard evidence of any wrongdoing.
Shizuku had seen how strong that power was firsthand, and as she looked at Ikki, she wondered just how he was planning on dealing with such a troublesome ability. Ikki had sounded confident, but she couldn’t think of any possible way to overcome Nameless Glory. But very soon, she realized that it was pointless to even try.
“Both fighters have reached their respective positions. Let the second semifinal match of the—”
“Ah, hold on a second!” Amane shouted, interrupting Iida. He turned to the referee and said, “I’m thinking of forfeiting this match.”