Donning on the Cloak of Invisibility, Satoshi then proceeded to sneak away from the place with Midori tagging right behind him. Since the Cloak of Invisibility could only fit one person, Satoshi couldn't offer it to Midori. Instead, he left a small portion open so Midori could still somewhat see him and follow him.
Since Satoshi and the others couldn't research all the schools that will be participating, they don't know which school they met. And of course, they didn't want to find out after witnessing their sheer strength.
"How do we meet up with the others?" Midori asked. "I mean, unlike the free-for-all training we had, the area won't shrink so it's up to us to regroup as soon as possible and try to locate the other schools to get their badge. But then again, I l already got the bonus after getting Akane's badge. Who would've thought that she'll be my target, what luck."
Meanwhile, the guy who detected Satoshi and Midori couldn't detect them anymore since they had already started moving. With a shake of the head, he turned around. "Let's get out of here, it's too open." He said.
Without further ado, their team got out of the thickest parts of the forest after getting eight badges for themselves. On one hand, the guy held the badge with a certain number on it— zero six nine zero.
...
Itsuka Shidou scratched his head in confusion, he could feel that something was wrong ever since he was chosen as a candidate for the inter-high tournament. It's as if his life was turned upside down but he couldn't quite put a finger on it (well, it's just that he hasn't been getting any screen time lately— that must've been the reason). There were times when he spoke and conversed with everyone but it seemed like no one cared to listen (once again, it was because he hasn't been shown that much), and yet, it felt like everything was normal.
As soon as he woke up, he saw the scenery that everyone saw when they were transported into the stage. The first thing that came to his mind was their method of being transported. 'Someone must've used a space-type skill to transport us, like teleport. But there were a lot of us... maybe they've hired multiple superheroes with space distortion superpowers?' He asked.
In any case, Itsuka wasn't like the others when it comes to his superpower. If he was alone, he was as useless as a sitting duck in the middle of a highway. That's why, instead of moving around, he hid and waited for an opportune moment.
and waited.
and waited.
"This is not working." He sighed while plucking one leaf after another from the bush where he hid. He was getting bored, and until now, no one passed by him, which was disappointing since he was waiting for a person to do so. After all, there's a fifty percent chance that the person passing by would be someone from the opposite sex.
CRAAASH!
FWOOOSH!
Suddenly, the ground a few meters from him was struck by something and a huge crevasse was formed, making him flinch and fall out from where he was hiding. When he looked up, a girl wearing purple armor was flying through the air while a familiar girl was sliding on the ground with fluid movements. The purple girl was carrying what seemed like a large sword and she was swinging it around. Purple lightning was emitted from that sword, and the girl on the ground was trying to dodge it. Sometimes, the girl on the ground would disappear and appear in a nearby space. She would then swing her hand and a powerful sound wave would be released, tearing down its path like a miniature hurricane.
"Space distortion and Sound Manipulation? What a scary superpower combination," The girl in the air laughed haughtily. "But with my Astral Superpower, your attacks are ineffective against me."
"Wait, Fuuka?!" Shidou exclaimed. At that moment, Fuuka slid towards him, falling rear-first onto his face since she tripped.
"Oomph!" Shidou exclaimed. Fuuka then responded by standing immediately. "Shidou? What are you doing?"
'Oh, she talked to me, am I finally getting screen time?' Shidou told himself while grabbing Fuuka by the shoulder and throwing his body to the side. Fortunately, he was just on time. They managed to avoid the purple-armored girl's attack.
"Oh, another prey. You know, instead of running around, you should just give me your badges. I'll let you off scot-free."
Shidou couldn't shake off the feeling that the girl seemed familiar, as if he saw her somewhere in the past. But once again, he couldn't put a finger around it. It's as if fate is playing around with him like a marionette on strings. "Why would we do that? How about you give me your badge, that will make me happy."Shidou continued.
"Hey, what are you doing? That will just needlessly rile her up. Also, she's my target and I'm hers. Why would she give her badge just like that? Stop being stupid." Fuuka continued.
"Shut up, just let me handle this," Shidou said, gently putting Fuuka on the ground.
For a moment there, Fuuka could've sworn that her heart skipped a beat when Shidou spoke to him. Her face reddened and her heart rate quickened. 'What's going on? But he looked so cool just no— aargh! What am I thinking?" She shook her head in frustration.
Then she remembered something.
"... but basically, how my power works is that I can woo anyone of the opposite sex bu using my voice alone."
There was no doubt about it. Right now, Shidou was using his superpower. 'So that's why my mind was fooled for a second there. What a scary superpower.' Fuuka shuddered. Having experienced Shidou's superpower first-hand, she finally recognized just how scary it could be.
"And w-w-why would I do that?" The girl stammered, her face flushed red.
"You know, I feel like... we've met somewhere before. I don't know... " Shidou muttered, his eyes turning a light blue color even though it was light brown a split second ago. His blue hair also became a shade lighter as he spoke. "What's your name?"
"M-m-my name?" For some reason, the girl could also feel like she met Shidou before. 'Is this fate? Did we meet in our past lives?' She asked herself. By now, her face was a bright shade of red as her heart rate quickened.
Shidou then smirked, but that smirk mesmerized the girl to the point that she sheathed her sword. At first, she thought that she sheathed her Astral Sword just because she wasn't in combat at the moment, but the reason was much more superficial than that— in short, she was letting her guard down in front of the 'ikemen' who seemed to tug at her heartstrings too well— no, it's as if he was playing a melodious tune on her heartstrings, making her feel warm inside as her pulse quickened.
"Yes, your name," Shidou repeated.
"I-i-i-t's... Tohka." She said, fidgeting. "I'm... Tohka."
"WHAT ON ACTUAL— " Shidou lost his composure in that instant.
.....
Satoshi stared at the number behind his badge, zero six nine zero, and he wondered whether he'd locate his target before the time runs out. "Wait, is that your number?" Midori asked, surprised.
"Why?"
"I saw that number just a few moments ago," Midori responded quickly.
"Really?! Where?"
"You know the guy we met back then? The one who annihilated several candidates and there were just three of them in his team? Yeah, that guy."
"Are you sure??? Are you absolutely sure?!"
"Yeah, while we were walking away, I briefly saw him turn around and that number was the last badge he was holding. That was the same number, zero six nine zero— what a nice number?" Midori continued.
"What do you mean nice?"
"Nothing. In any case, it's nice that we know who has it now. The only thing we need to do is get it from him. It might not be easy but there are two of us. Besides, you're strong, and I might very well be the number one support-type superhero here." Midori could've sworn that he heard a couple of 'boos' as soon as he said that he wasn't wrong. As soon as he said that, a few people who were watching the live stream heard what he said and they started booing him.
"Right, but for now, we have to regroup," Satoshi said. "Still, this forest is so big, huh. If I didn't know this is located in the middle of a stadium, I'd probably assume that I'm in a real forest or something."
"I know right," Midori muttered.
Just as they were walking in the open, Satoshi stopped short as he heard a noise nearby. A split second later, three figures came out from the thickets.
"Satoshi? Midori? Phew, good thing we found you." Shidou sighed in relief, patting Fuuka on the back. "We can finally breathe."
"Oh, Fuuka, Shidou... uhm... and who's the other one?" Satoshi greeted, his hand stopping in the middle of its wave since he didn't know who the third person was.
"Ah, it's a long story," Another sigh left Shidou's mouth.
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