Chapter 25: Avoidance

It was a peaceful night. The two girls being overjoyed to see her enter the room, Chloe slept quietly, and as did Rein. The next morning, the girls were greeted with a note after they exited their room. It was on Rein's door, informing them that he'd gone ahead of them to the arena.

"Did you and Rein get into a fight yesterday Chloe?" Asked Emria.

"Oh, hmmm… I don't think it was a fight…" Chloe laughed it off, which earned her stares from both Saphrilla and Emria.

They made their way to the arena, with Emria and Saphrilla going to the spectator seats to watch. When Chloe entered the waiting room, she saw Rein talking with Clyde on the bench. She tried approaching them.

"Hey, you two." She waved at them with a vibrant smile.

"Oh, hi Chloe. Sorry, Clyde and I are discussing some things, would you mind leaving us be for a bit?" Said Rein while avoiding eye contact with her. Chloe was saddened by his words. He was clearly trying to avoid her, and even after reflecting on yesterday's argument, she couldn't remember anything that could have ticked him off.

"You didn't even greet Emria and Saphrilla this morning, you should at least go say hi. They're in the stands." She said as she walked away sadly, sitting alone in the corner. She buried her face in her arms and began sulking.

"You two get into a fight?" She looked up and saw the masked man, striking up a casual conversation with her without a care in the world.

"Huh? O-oh, no… It was probably me… I said some things I shouldn't have…" She replied.

"Sounds like a fight to me. Keep your head up though. You don't want this clouding your judgment during the matches, especially since you might be fighting him. You make sure to study his fighting style in the last round?" He asked her, which prompted a confused look on Chloe's face.

"His last fight? Oh right… He won a match to get here… But wait, the only person I've seen him fight is Clyde, and that was without his Spring..? Huh?" She began thinking, the masked man's face growing a slight smirk.

"Oh, I see what he did." He chuckled to himself.

"Hmm, I remember that he had a fight, but just who was he fighting? I really shouldn't have stayed up so late talking with the girls…" She said as she began lightly smacking her head trying to remember.

"Well, just remember, be careful when you're in the ring. There's some weird shit your opponents can do that isn't against the rules. Be wary of that. Always expect the unexpected." He uttered his parting words to her as he walked away to sit in the other corner.

Some time passed, and eventually, the arena filled up once again.

"Welcome back one and all! I hope you've had a great night recuperating from yesterday's intense matches! Wait, matches? There were only two! Hahaha, I must be going senile, even though I'm so young! Anyways, now that the arena has been filled, let's get on with the second round, shall we? Time to bring out the randomizer! Our first contender will be… number three!"

Chloe stood up, fastened her hoodie, and hastily walked into the arena. She heard cheers from the crowd, mostly from Emria who was cheering at the top of her lungs.

"Wow! It looks like contestant number three is raring to go! She looks fired up, ready to take on any force that comes her way! And that force will be…" The screen began to roll. Chloe subconsciously hoped that it wouldn't land on number 8, which was Rein.

"Contestant number one! Please make your way to the arena!" Chloe let out a sigh of relief when she didn't see the number 8 appear. She then realized that she knew virtually nothing about her opponent. He was a short masked man who was extremely lucky. He was able to pass the death course, which was rumored to be next to impossible. He passed the first round out of sheer luck, getting a by on the void that Weiss left when he dropped out. This meant that he didn't have to fight, so nobody had any information about him. She became anxious when thinking about what she knew about him, beginning to devise plans to accommodate for her lack of information.

He arrived at the arena and stood in front of Chloe. Chloe had thought long and hard about her plan, remembering his advice to her. 'Be careful when you're in the ring. There's some weird shit your opponents can do that isn't against the rules. Be wary of that. Always expect the unexpected.' She smiled to herself, having come up with a plan that she was incredibly proud of.

"Both of our contestants seem to be ready to begin! So without further ado, let the first match of the second round commence!"

Chloe summoned her sword and waited for her opponent, who was wearing a weapon ring, to summon his. The man raised his hand as if he was bracing for a large impact. Chloe also braced herself, getting into Leona's one-handed fighting stance. The man inspected her stance, then softly laughed to himself, as if he recognized it,

"What are you laughing at? Stop standing there and fight me!" She asked nervously, starting to feel less optimistic about her chances of winning. After Chloe made her remark, her opponent began laughing even harder, but it was not an ominous laugh. It seemed as though it was a genuine laugh from the soul.

"Nothing really, but you really are just like her. Both your stance and your speech," He remarked as he continued holding his hand in the air.

"My stance? My speech? You couldn't mean…"

"Do you remember what I told you before the match began? You never know what your opponent might pull," He smiled, then took a deep breath, visibly expanding his lungs out. Chloe took a step back and began blocking with her sword. She made sure to keep each point of weakness on her body defended, as to be able to defend against any unexpected attacks. But no matter how much mental preparation she had done beforehand, nothing would have prepared her for her opponent's next words...