Over these last few months, Koji had practiced various ways of improving his skills in martial arts: first, he was simply fighting against other kids without a true goal, but then over the next months he forced himself to focus on developing certain skills in combat.
The first one he developed was defensive ability.
Previously, Koji's defensive ability was well--to put it simply, excruciatingly lacking in prowess; however, now he felt it was at an all time high! Eh, at least if you considered that his high was being nothing but average...
As a side effect to his relentless defensive enhancing training, he also gained more endurance--prior to his defense fixation, his endurance could be considered low rate at best; though, now--for his age at least, he was top class!
The next skill he focused on was unpredictability; for the coming tournament, he knew he would have to be unpredictable in his methods--especially against the more experienced kids who would wipe the floor with him with the techniques they already know.
Though, Koji quickly learned this was indeed not a very simplistic task.... Of course, he already knew martial arts was extremely complex--but even then, the difficulty in having an answer for every path, for every strike against him--it was near impossible.
That's why the third concept he focused upon was developing a technique.
...
"So it's decided; Ms. Cecilia's and Mr. Tristan's schools will compete first, and Mr. Elijah's school and Ms. Alice's school will go second!"
A man with a dark red uniform on consisting of a red blazer, a white collared shirt underneath--a neat tie with red and white stripes cascading over it flowing down the opening of his blazer, and dark brown pants on spoke up.
This uniform, it was so fancy for good reason.
He was an Academy representative!
The tournament would be as such: first, the schools would compete against each other, and then the winners of those--no matter what school they were from would split into individual teams of one and go against someone who was either from their school or not; it was completely random.
In this first round, the school who had the most of their kids win would receive a reward from the Academy--it was not specified on what that rewards would be, but nonetheless all the teachers were excited for it.
Proceeding from the second round, it would follow a basic tournament format--winners moved up until two of them remained, and losers were eliminated from the tournament.
The rules however, they were the shocking factor to everyone.
The only rule was to not deal a death blow during combat, and everything else was allowed.
'Why do we have to wear this uncomfortable shit...'
Koji looked down at his fully black outfit resembling a Kendo uniform; it's material felt a bit scratchy on his skin, and he would much rather be in the attire in which he usually wears.
'I guess it does provide adequate flexibility...'
Currently, Koji was waiting for the first round of the tournament to start; he would be going against one of the kids from Mr. Tristan's school.
'I'm confident I can win the first round, I mean unless I go up against someone extremely skilled in the first round--eh, this probably won't happen; if it does, then all I can do is try my best to beat them....'
Koji sighed and continued sitting down on a bench; his face was leaned against his fist as he stared off into the distance at the kids from the other school.
'They don't exactly look the strongest, but of course I can't underestimate them just based off of that.'
Koji's eyes continued to drift over every kid, none of them really looked like anything special.
Though, until his eyes fell upon only one of the kids did he stop and stare.
'W-what!? What the fuck is she doing here!?'
Koji's eyes went wide--yes, he was staring at no other than Ivory; she was here, at the tournament!
'No, it can't be her--she gets private lessons anyway right?'
Though, she looked exactly like Ivory--just older than before; her hair was longer, her face a little more developed, and of course she was taller.
But her dark green eyes, her white hair--the soft, pale skin on her face; even down to her jaw structure everything resembled Ivory!
'I mean it has to be her, there's absolutely no way it isn't her.... It's Ivory, it's Ivory--why am I getting so nervous at seeing this 11 year old girl? She's just a child, I shouldn't feel anxiety about her.'
Koji tries to calm down as he continues to stare over at Ivory, who was talking with another girl next to her; everything was the same, he could not find a single difference that would set this girl apart from Ivory.
'Am i going to have to fight her? No, that's a low chance; unless she makes it to the finals and so do I--but what are the chances? She is very talented in combat though, but really the concern here is me--am I talented enough to make it there? Most likely, this isn't the case.'
'What will I do if I happen to fight her? She'll probably recognize me, so maybe she'll be thrown off and I'll be able to catch her off guard easily; also, she's just a young girl she can't have too intelligent of thoughts, so I may be able to take advantage of that--her physical condition, well it's logical to assume it's inferior to mine.'
'No, no but she's not just any opponent--she's Ivory! How am I going to not be distracted by fighting her too, there's no way I'll be entirely focused on the duel even if I took advantage of this previous knowledge and prepared myself.'
Though, Koji couldn't think about this for long--as in just the worst moment, Cecilia spoke up--her soft, pink lips opening--to Koji's dismay, they opened to declare contents in which he was entirely unprepared for in the current moment.
"Everyone, the duel will start now! Each of you have gotten your numbers beforehand, so go stand in the arena that is labeled with your number!"
Cecilia, who usually waved her hands around like a lunatic while speaking, restrained herself and instead resorted to speaking in a now more formal tone, and also while keeping a still posture.
Koji's eyes went wide--the realization struck him like lightning, how could he fight when he was so distracted by the thought of Ivory? It was like trying to jerk off but being bothered by the thought of something like going to school--it just wouldn't work!
'Are we serious? Now!? Right now!?'
Though, gradually--however, it's relevant to mention, rather reluctantly--Koji moved to his selected numbers arena.
His number was 11.
The arena was less of an arena and more of a simple square; there was white lines painted across the dirt which signified the borders of the arena, and it was about 20 feet in width and height.
This was where Koji would have his first duel.