[Skyfreix 17, 0100 A.R]

[Throndrheim]

Current in-game time 9:46 PM

Filicia had no recollection of how she ended up staring at a behemoth of a wooden gate, it can be considered a fortress, by all means, thanks to its sheer size, something she doesn't see every day. Just a while ago she was wandering all alone at the side of the usual dirt road, something she had grown accustomed to, "Everyone! This is Filicia! Say hi!" Sylvia's loud and almost obnoxious voice boomed across the district.

Jovial energy oozed at every aspect of the Mage's voice as she called out the other Transcendent Dawn members from their posts to let them enter the camp. The young girl could hear the sounds of gears and rumbling of wood as the giant gate opened at a steady pace, it was like opening a present as Filicia stared at what lies beyond. A foreign feeling swelled within her as they were faced with people wearing a uniform green hood over their heads, Marked Ones she thought as she saw the tattoos etched unto the back of their right palm.

"Good to see you guys, come on in," a man with the same frame as Aldyn greeted the group, he was Muzui's, right-hand man. "How was the trip?"

"Tiring, but it was worth the effort, made some cash out of it," the man and Aldyn casually chatted as if they had been friends for a long time.

"Who's the bald guy again?" The Mage asked, not even bothering to sound gentle with her words.

"Eh? You already forgot? That's Rubarb-dono, Muzui-san's right-hand man," Tamaki explained as they walked down the aisle where every corner of the streets was covered with lights coming from lanterns. Even when it was late in the night, the whole camp stood out like a sight for sore eyes thanks to how bright it was. Marked Ones and Inhabitants alike walk and go as they passed them by.

"Anyone smell that?" Rubarb asked them, sniffing the air as he looked for the source which happened to be Tamaki and Sylvia. "What happened to you two? And why do you both smell like dog piss?"

"They fell into literal piss," Surgiu butted with a smirk. The shoulders of Tamaki and Sylvia quickly went limp as they turned pale as sheets, they were dying to take a bath right now.

"Not quite fell more so forced to take the risk," Viola corrected as she did the air quotes.

"Hehe, doesn't matter, they still smell like shit," Surgiu rubbed in more salt into the wounds as the two felt rocks comically fall unto their heads.

"Oh damn, you two need to get into a bath, good thing we just finished making the public bath not too long ago. Why not try that out?" The man explained to Aldyn while walking.

"That sounds great! why not head there right now?" Aldyn smiled as he looked at the others. Viola and Surgiu only nodded their heads, expecting this to happen as they stare at Tamaki and Sylvia, both of which have already disappeared. "Where did those two go?" The Vanguard got a couple of fingers pointing behind him. Not far from where they were, a visible trail of smoke was left behind by the two.

"Wow..." Filicia can only mumble to herself as she watched with great intrigue, she hasn't seen such a place before in all her life. People had bright smiles on their faces from what she could see, something which she doesn't see often within communities. Without her noticing, Filicia found herself at a building, it was well polished and had the signs that it was created by a master carpenter. A wooden sign decorated the front for guests to read but Filicia wasn't able to understand the characters placed on it.

"What are you just standing there for? Come on and join us!" Sylvia popped her head from behind the sliding wooden door and pulled her by the arm, effectively dragging the girl inside the bath. It was a weird experience for Filicia as she stood in a room with Sylvia as they went ahead to get undressed. She watched what Sylvia was doing and saw other people doing the same thing, taking off their clothes as they wrapped a towel around their body, it was enough for Filicia to stop and rethink what she was doing exactly, "Hm? What's wrong? Not going to take off your clothes?" Sylvia asked.

"U-uh I-I'll do it," scrambling to take off her clothing, Filicia was led into a room and was handed with a bucket of cold water at hand by Sylvia. "What is this for?" The girl inquired, confused about the whole ordeal.

"You pour it over yourself as to prepare yourself for the bath," the Mage explained as she doused cold water over her head. Then after the preparations were done, Filicia was taken into another area, this time it was an open bath where a steaming pool of water, about as deep as half of her body.

She watched as Sylvia took a dip into the water, looking satisfied as she submerged her body into the warm water. At first, Filicia was hesitant about going in, until Sylvia told her; "Come on Filicia-tan, the water's fine..." she said in a droopy manner. There was no harm in trying, I guess... Mentally, Filicia told herself that it was going to be fine, even though it was a new experience for her.

She tested the water with her toes, it was warm to the skin but the longer she felt it, the more she found it nice. Keeping her head above the water as she leaned at the edge of the pool, a satisfied sigh left their lips, "It's nice, isn't it?" Sylvia began to ask while her eyes were still closed.

"Mhm..." the young girl nodded.

"I'm glad you liked it," Sylvia smiled.

"Where's Tamaki? I don't see him here," Filicia turned her head, looking for the lad.

"What're you talking about Filicia-tan? Tamaki-kun's at the men's bath, of course," Sylvia chuckled.

"You mean you don't scrub the backs of men in your culture?" Filicia had the expression like she was hit with a truck. An idea popped into Sylvia's head as she grinned. She went ahead and whispered something into Filicia's ear. Somehow, while Tamaki was taking a dip at the bath, he felt a shiver across his body for a brief moment.

[IRL]

Shuko yawn tiredly while standing in line, she hated it when P.E classes involved actual physical lessons such as the one they were doing right now. It's not that she hated exercise or anything she likes exercising from time to time. "Shuko Takamura! Step up!" Their P.E teacher called out from upfront.

Her classmates watched from the sidelines, quietly waiting for their turn to come. Among the crowd of students, there was one person who cheered for her, "You can do it Shuko-san! I believe in you!" Chiyo was the only one with a voice loud enough to cheer for her. It was a bit embarrassing to have someone cheer for you while people watch you. In this current lesson, they have been all separated and divided between genders as all the boys were at another course doing different routines than theirs.

There was also one more twist. Other years were placed into the lessons as they have been thrown into a mix, effectively teaching all of them without much of a hassle. Older students would also compete in this race along with their juniors to create a sense of competition to spice things up, killing two birds with one stone. Shuko walked up to the running track, but before she went into position, she went to talk with the coach.

"Uhm, can I take a leave this time, teach, I feel kinda sick," she held her stomach, trying to convince their teacher to not let her join the competition.

"Don't give me that crap Shuko! Get into position or I'll be taking a deduction from your grades!" The teacher yelled with a snarky tone. It was always like this between Shuko and their P.E teacher, being that Shuko would almost always, without fail, would try her best to skip this lesson in particular. On the other, she doesn't want her grades to get a deduction as that makes it so that she can't take on a decent job in the future, but she hated P.E. It was a series of pros and cons going inside her head, eventually she decided to just give up and go into position.

She was up against one of her seniors, Saotome Yuriko, a third-year, about 17-years-old and is the current track and field club president of their school. Saotome has always been able to snag a gold and silver from competitions in her whole career as a track runner, making the match unfair, "If you don't feel well right now you should take a rest at the clinic, I can talk it out with the coach if you like." Saotome kindly offered to Shuko. When it came to looks, Saotome was the winner as she had an athletic body and cute face to follow it up.

Some of the guys who were at the next court cheered at Saotome with their loud voices. She did have a fan-club thanks to her looks.

"U-uh-no, it's fine, I can manage..." she kindly declined, although she was tempted to take her offer, her grades were on the line.

"Don't worry senpai, once I win this race I'll ask the coach to let you rest!" Besides Shuko was a first-year named Obata Chie. Like Saotome, she is also part of the track and field club, being the only first-year able to match up with Saotome in terms of speed. Not to mention she was also a cutie as her charms could swoon nearly any boy in their school. She has been dubbed as the 'First-year Idol' thanks to her bubbly personality.

"T-thanks..." Shuko replied, almost forgetting that there was a first-year among them. "Good luck." She wished them some luck as the signal was sounded. In an instant, Saotome and Obata took the lead as they both fought to take it from each other. People yelled in excitement as the match began, both Saotome and Obata got all the eyes focused on them as they sprinted and fought for the lead, finishing the first lap as they did.

"You can do it Obata-san!" The first-year's would yell at the top of their lungs as they cheered for their classmate. "Beat Saotome-senpai!" Cheered the students while doing it in unison.

Whilst the first-years cheered with pride for their Idol, the third-years didn't back down with their cheering. The third-years brought out their cheering squad as they began doing patterns while singing in a rythm. It was a friendly match they said. It was going to be fun, they said. Shuko doesn't know about the fun part, but she was sure as heck felt like this was a war between years, "You. Can. Do. It. Saotome. San!"

A few other students stood at the other side of the fence, watching the competition while they stopped what they were previously doing to watch the match. Moments later, laughter erupted in the crowd as other students began laughing among themselves for some odd reason.

"What the heck is that second-year doing?"

"Has she given up already?" The taunting finally came, all of it was directed at a single person, that being Shuko as the center of all the negative attention. She had been left behind by the two and was currently making use of her time jogging lightly towards the finish line towards ten laps around the course. She had been passed by two times already by the two as Saotome and Obata took the match seriously unlike her who had the nerve to even let out a tired yawn.

"Hahahaha, she might as well give up, she's against the best of the best our school has to offer," declared one of the students watching.

"Shuko! What the heck are you doing!?" The P.E teacher yelled from the sidelines, a pulsating vein popped on their foreheads as they yelled at Shuko angrily. The teacher wasn't the only one angry at this as the girls in Shuko's class began throwing daggers at her using their eyes, "Don't you dare come back to our classroom!" One of her classmates growled in anger.

You'd think, 'What does a friendly competition such as this has to do with anything, right?' That type of thinking would take you nowhere here at Tsukiyama Academy. In this school, where the children of many rich elite families study, reputation was a major deciding factor in whether a student has a chance in gaining fame or not. So in layman's terms, throwing away this match was to throw away the pride of your year. Not that Shuko cared about all that none sense.

While the flames of hatred slowly rose, a single person was able to cheer her all for Shuko. Chiyo didn't give a speck of attention to the people glaring at her right now as she cheered for Shuko, "You're doing great! Keep at it!" Her carefree attitude made it hard for anyone to prevent her from cheering.

The match went on for almost half a minute as Saotome and Obata finished five laps already while Shuko only down with a single lap. By this point, people were already close to snapping, ready to pounce on Shuko as she jogged past them.

"What the heck is she doing?"

"Does she not care about her reputation?"

"Should we send her some threats later?" The scheming finally begun as groups of second-years began clumping up together, planning the next step of how they should humiliate Shuko after this match was done. All of them had already lost any hope by this point.

Meanwhile, Chiyo kept cheering without faltering, "Go go Shuko! You're almost there!" She said with a bright smile.

"What's going on?" Shuu popped up from behind her, looking tired as always.

"Oh, Shuu-kun! Just in time, help me cheer for Shuko-chan, she's almost done." She told him. Taking a look at the competition for himself, Shuu saw that the other two were already done with five laps and are already finishing the sixth one. He felt amused by all the booing he was hearing from the crowd, making him chuckle slightly.

"Should we motivate her now?" Shuu asked, grinning as he and Chiyo exchanged the same knowing look. A scheme was forming, and Chiyo agreed with a mischievous smirk, exuding an aura of unease as they both whispered, "Hehehe."

While unperturbed by the ruckus happening around her, Shuko lazily jogged along the course. Not minding the dirty glares and insults being hurled at her way. "Hehe," In fact, she found the chaos she was causing as very amusing. It was merely a funny joke for her as the others did not matter to her one bit, she was only doing this for participation and grades.

"Shuko-san, please take this match seriously, we don't want you to be part of the outcasts," Saotome told her as she passed her by, leaving Shuko to bite the dust.

"Please listen to her senpai! I don't want to see you covered in red paint!" Obata also said while running past her. Their words fell on deaf ears even when Shuko nods her head to them. She kept her pace as steady and slow as she could, trying not to break a sweat as she doesn't want to be smelling like sweat, "Haahh, I want a milk tea right now..." she complained to no one in particular.

Her words caused her classmates to snap, making them even fiercer as their insults became harsher and harsher, "Looks like I hit a bull's eye." She chuckled.

"Hey! Shuko-chan! Look over here!" Her attention was brought to the side as she heard Chiyo's voice calling out to her. As she turned to look at them, her eyes went wide at the sight of Komiya standing there beside Chiyo while waving his hand at her with a smile, "You can do it Shuko-san!" Komiya cheered.

In a single moment, the whole crowd went silent. The only thing that you could hear was the sound of sprinting as shoes collided with the ground. In a single fluid motion between Saotome and Obata, a blurry image of a shadow slid past them once in such a quick flash that they almost didn't notice it, What!? The two of them mentally screamed as a second image passed them by another time, then another, and another until they could not count the times it happened.

Chiyo snickered as she watched the two's surprised face, "Nice work, you can do it Shuko-chan!" She happily shouted as Komiya also cheered beside her. The students who threw only insults at Shuko earlier now stared in shock at what they were seeing. It was like something changed within the race.

"D-did you see that?!"

"So fast!"

"How did she do that?!" They all had the same question as they stared at the match. In a matter of seconds, Shuko caught up with the six laps and even led the race by a huge margin. Without batting an eyelash to the two other competitors behind her, she passed them once more, taking her last lap. Everyone's expectations were broken in mere seconds as Shuko finished all ten laps in a flash with three laps ahead of the two. Chiyo walked up to Shuko with a big bright grin as she handed her a towel to use.

"Well done!" Chiyo patted Shuko's back in a friendly manner while laughing in the process. "How do you feel?"

"I feel like I could die thanks to you," Shuko glared at Chiyo as she wiped some of the sweat on her face.

"Aww, sowwy Shuko-chan! Let me treat you with some ice-cream!" Cuddling the girl from behind, Chiyo had a smug feline grin as she snuggled up to her. Shuko was irritated but did not shove her away, and instead, went ahead and walked down towards the changing room along with Chiyo which she carried behind her as she wouldn't let go. People parted like the red sea as they walked through the crowd of students, their shocked looks were priceless as Chiyo shot a sharp glare at all of them.

While Shuko went ahead, Chiyo stayed a bit while she stared down at the students who were still shocked by what happened. An ominous grin spread through her face as she gave them all a thumbs down while showing them her tongue then laughed, "Heh." She caught up with Shuko soon after that, leaving an army of angry students behind them as they did.

Meanwhile, Saotome fell on the ground, feeling utterly defeated as she stared at the ground in despair. The same can be said to Obata Chie as they both got served in a flashy manner.

"Two ice-cream sandwiches please!" Chiyo ordered some food at the counter and came back to their table holding a tray full of sweets along with a large platter of pizza for Shuu to eat.

Angrily, Shuko ate her ice-cream sandwich, "I can't believe you two tricked me!" She glared at Shuu and Chiyo, the both of which shrugged with a grin.

"What can we say other than you're welcome," Shuu's snarky tone made her blood boil while he ate a slice of his reward. Chiyo enjoyed a healthy serving of her parfait while Shuko complained to them.

"I can't believe you two would dare to use that type of tactic! I call foul play!" She yelled at them. Earlier back in the match, Shuu and Chiyo knew of a sure-fire way of motivating Shuko, and that was of the use of her feelings for Komiya. She could never lose in front of Komiya, never in her wildest dreams would she allow that to happen to her. Back then, Shuu had used a disguise of Komiya and even mimicked his voice for extra ingenuity.

"You can do it Shuko-san!" Shuu said in Komiya's voice while he taunted.

"Damn you! Stop using his voice!" Shuko threatened.

"But aren't you happy that you were able to win?"Happily eating her treat, Chiyo's eyes glimmered as she took a bite.

"Eurk, I guess..." Calming down just a bit, Shuko leaned back to her chair and took a bite of her ice-cream sandwich which was already drooping thanks to holding it for so long. She took another bite and let out a sigh, regretting the fact that she won that match. It was supposed to be a low profile match, she didn't want to stand out like a sore thumb to the others, "Argghhhh! Now I'll be getting more attention and people trying to recruit me to join their club! I won't be able to play VR as much now!"

[To be continued]