"The first match was interesting." Leon said as he and Shiki took a break from their training. "It went pretty much how I expected it to." Leon raised an eyebrow.
"You expected Nicholas to lose?" Shiki shrugged. "Expect the unexpected from an unknown variable. After all, they're usually pretty scary."
He paused for a second, remembering the look on Nora's face. "Besides, even Pythas realized it." Leon blinked, expecting an explanation. "...What?"
Leon blinked again. "...Nothing. Anyway, what about the second match?" Shiki shook his head. "The match was honestly difficult to follow.
I still can't pin down about seventy eight percent of the moves Papyrus made." Shiki frowned as he spoke. Was that Kunoichi throwing smoke in order to keep her unreadable even to the audience?
If that was the case, then Ruroni was truly terrifying. He was right to keep an eye on her. "So, what that means is...?"
"Whatever happens in the match between Collector and Papyrus still leads to our work being cut out for us." Shiki sighed.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Leon said, waving away his concerns. "What a brain-dead response." Shiki retorted. "And whose fault is that?" Leon shot back. "..." "Thought so."
The two returned to training in silence afterwards.
***
"Good work, Nicholas." Excavre said as Nicholas closed the door behind him. "Thank you, sir." Nicholas bowed slightly.
"If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that you actually lost to him." Nicholas didn't speak. "How was it?" "He was exceptional, and so was your daughter."
"I'm not asking you to praise him. What I want to know is did he resist your ability?" Nicholas shook his head. "It seems there are requirements that need to be met-"
"That's nonsense. He resisted me." Excavre said, and Nicholas looked up at him in shock. "...What?" "Exactly. He did it without knowing what I was going to do. And it can't be up to just luck either."
"I determined that by making him fight the Nava twins." Nicholas blinked. He had used that to understand Harry's ability better on top of his other goal.
"Well, it seems that he might win the tournament. At the very least, it's likely that he'll be chosen as an 'exceptional'." "Don't worry, I was always prepared for this. It just sets things back a bit."
Nicholas nodded, having also thought the same. "That just means their fall will be all the more delicious." Excavre nodded.
"And it will be the other schools that do it. How truly amusing. I wonder how it will go." He got up, preparing to leave.
"One more thing. Observe Argent closely. Any and all of his actions, big or small, report them to me. I need to keep him on close watch at all times."
"Sir, if I may?" Nicholas asked. "Why don't you use your daughter? She'd be perfect for the role, and she would do anything to gain your approval."
Excavre thought for a moment. He had known how to handle his daughters in order to maximize their usefulness to him.
He had purposely starved his younger daughter of affection and attention to create this very scenario, one where she'd do anything to gain his attention.
"That's a good idea. Give her my orders." Nicholas bowed slightly and retained that position till Excavre left the room.
"You heard him, little variable. Do put on a good show." He chuckled slightly.
***
Harry, Ed and Charles were walking back to their dormitory, each holding a few bags and engaged in light conversation. Suddenly, Ed stopped short. "That's new."
"What is it?" Charles asked. "I'm getting brainwaves bouncing off mine. Strange ones." "What do you mean by strange?"
"Intruders." Harry said. "Seriously?" Charles asked. "I think they want our list of exceptional nominees." He guessed.
"What for?" Harry asked. "It's probably another school. Deus Ex., probably." "Deus Ex.?" Ed nodded. "It's not like this is the first time."
The interschools event. This was for the interschools event the tournament was for. They wanted information to counter the exceptionals Ex. Vox would select, and then some.
"Is that even allowed?" Charlse shrugged. "There's no rules against it, but it'd be to our advantage if we stopped them. It'd be better to prevent them having information on someone like Nora."
"How may I help you?" Nora Pythas asked, approaching them. All three boys went silent. Nora Pythas was breathtaking, almost like seeing a celebrity in person.
Her clear blue eyes were striking, and her jet-black hair picked up the evening breeze as she calmly closed the distance between them with light, unhurried steps.
"We've detected intruders within the vicinity." Harry recovered first, and his quickness to pull himself together wasn't lost on Nora.
"...Is that so? Then why haven't you made a move to stop them?" "We were just about to-" "Forget it." Nora said, cutting Ed off. "Just tell me where they were headed. I'll handle them."
"I don't advise that." Harry moved to block her. "And why would that be?" Her voice had become icier, and the surrounding area had also dropped in degrees.
"You are Ex. Vox's current superweapon alongside Nicholas. Fighting them would give them what they're looking for; concrete information on you."
Harry couldn't feel the decrease in the atmosphere around him, and he couldn't see the slight changes in Nora's expression, hence his ability to stand up to her without hesitation.
"That's perfectly sensible. It seems I was a bit hasty. But if they aren't stopped-" "We'll take care of it." Charles assured her. "Just standby in case some other surprises are in order."
Nora nodded. "Be quick, otherwise I'll have to step in, and then it won't make much of a difference if they escape or not." Charles nodded. "Thank you."
The three boys took off in pursuit of the intruders. "So, what's the game plan?" Ed asked. "Normally we'd have Harry burst through them with his immunity, but apparently it has conditions."
Charles said, a sigh in his voice. "So, I suppose I have no choice but to lead the assault this time, with Harry as my support."