Chapter 174 – Honoring

The arena materialized around Caitlyn as she was transported from the forest. The roars of the crowd slammed against her ears, causing a frown to appear on her face. She didn’t want to listen to such noise at such a time.

‘To hear cheers when I just lost,’ she sighed. ‘Competitions are never kind to the losers.’

Her eyes flickered to the waving hand of an Academy staff member. The member motion to her to come to him when he saw that he had grabbed her attention. Caitlyn walked toward him quietly. She ignored the attempts of the competitors who were eliminated before her to talk with her. They must have been sent there to watch the rest of the tournament.

‘I wouldn’t like that unless the people still competing were acquaintances,’ she thought. 

“You put up a good fight there,” the staff member said, beaming at her. “Everyone here was impressed. I don’t think they expected such skill from someone so young.”

“Thank you,” she replied, her voice a bit flat.

‘Though those weren’t who I wanted to impress.’

“Come with me,” the man continued. “I’ll be taking to the waiting room.”

“Why?” Caitlyn asked. “Am I not supposed to wait out here? I lost.”

“Yes, but you’re the runner up,” the staff member explained. “The runner up gets honored along with the winner.”

“They do?”

“Of course!” the man smiled. “It’s only natural to commend the runner up from getting so far in the tournament. They did almost win.”

‘That’s like rubbing salt into fresh wounds,’ Caitlyn grumbled.

“Alright,” she sighed. “Where’s the waiting room?”

“Right this way,” the man replied.

He marched down the main stage of the arena, leading her to a set of doors. The doors slid open to let them inside an elevator that brought the two up. When the doors opened again, a lounge laid before them, complete with furniture and a table filled with condiments.

“Please take a seat,” the staff member said as he gestured towards a couch. “When the honoring begins, someone will notify you. Have a wonderful day.”

The man waved and promptly turned and left through the same elevator that they had entered through. Caitlyn went to the couch and sat down stiffly, glancing about at the other people in the room. There weren’t many. Just two other staff members whose jobs seemed to be just to keep the room clean.

‘If this lounge is just for the runner up and the winners then why did they make it so big,’ she thought. ‘And where are those two?”

As if to answer her questions, the crowd outside intensified their cheers. Caitlyn had tuned them out for the most part already but the sound had grown to a whole new level. She stood up, grabbing an apple slice from a tray, and walked to the floor to ceiling window that granted a view of the whole arena floor. In the center of it, two figures stood with spotlights shining upon them. One was doing a shy wave with a small smile on her face as the announcer began praising them up and down. The other was standing still, leaning onto one leg as her unimpressed grey eyes stared at the crowd around her.

‘Yuki and Yuna. She looks bored.’

A few more words of praise and thunderous cheers later, and the arena floor dimmed as the lights shining down on it darkened. The giant holographic screens in the air began to play what the announcer described as a highlight reel of everything that happened during the tournament.

Caitlyn turned and went back to the couch, munching on her apple slice with tiny bites. A few minutes later and the elevator dinged open. Three people walked out: the male staff member from before and Yuki and Yuna.

“Please take a seat,” the man said, gesturing to where Caitlyn was sitting. “We’ll start the honoring shortly.”

“Thank you,” Yuna replied. The man nodded with a smile and left. Yuki went over to the window.

Yuna walked to the couch, taking a seat close to Caitlyn but not quite next to her. Caitlyn stared at her from the corner of her eye. She hoped that Yuna didn’t try to initiate any conversation with her. Yuna seemed to be the talkative type if Caitlyn could base anything off of her observations of her interactions with Yuki.

“Hello,” Yuna said quietly, giving her a small wave.

Caitlyn waved back, bracing herself. But to her surprise, Yuna didn’t continue and simple sat quietly, her eyes observing the lounge. Then seemed to often land onto Yuki who was busy staring up at the screens outside, watching the highlight reel.

‘What kind of relationship do they have?’ Caitlyn wondered. ‘They always seem to be together. Ever since Yuki first came to Academy.’

Yuna got up and went over to the window to stand beside Yuki. Caitlyn’s eyes followed her as she moved. She stopped, watching the screens as well. Then she leaned to the side and whispered something that Caitlyn couldn’t make out. Yuki replied briefly, not taking her eyes off of the screen. 

‘She doesn’t talk that much,’ Caitlyn thought. ‘Yuki talked quite a bit during the duel but now she doesn’t seem to want to chat.’

At the thought of the duel, she sighed and felt her mood fall back down. She break her gaze away from the two standing at the window and stared at a patch of wall with a dull gaze. Her mind wandered as she her thoughts went back to the duel. 

‘What did I do wrong.’

She tried to analyze the fight, but that soon proved to be impossible. She just didn’t know what Yuki could do. Instinct told her that Yuki still had much more than she had actually shown. That was completely different from Yuna who she felt she had a decent understanding of. To add to that, Caitlyn couldn’t completely focus on the duel. She always went back to one question.

‘What did she think about me?’

“They’ll be calling us out soon,” a melodic voice said softly, catching Caitlyn’s attention. She looked up and saw Yuki speaking to Yuna. “Did you try any snacks?”

“No,” Yuna replied, shaking her head. “I’m not hungry right now.”

“Mmm. Well, I’m not either.”

Yuki went to the couch and sat down slowly, stretching her slender arms. 

‘It’s hard to believe she’s that strong with arms like that,’ Caitlyn thought. ‘Even my arms are more muscular.’

“Hmm?” Yuki’s soft voice said, breaking her train of thought. Caitlyn raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re staring at me.”

‘Oh, I was?’ she thought.

“Do you sing?” she said out loud before clamping her mouth shut. 

‘Why did I ask that?’ she berated herself.

“I do like music,” Yuki shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

“I just thought you would be a good singer,” she said. “I enjoy music as well.”

“Mmm, I see.” Yuki’s expression didn’t change. “What kind of music?”

“Whatever I like,” Caitlyn replied. “The genre doesn’t matter so much as long as it sounds nice.”

“That’s good. It’s how music is supposed to be heard. Do you have any artists you like right now?”

“Not really,” she replied, shaking her head. She thought to herself for a bit. “Well, maybe one. Numo. Have you heard of her?”

“Yes. She seems to be quite the breakout artist this year.”

“She has such a unique sound,” Caitlyn enthused. “I wish I could that creative.”

“Really?”

She nodded and opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by a staff member who was in the room. 

“I apologize for interrupting your conversation,” a woman said pleasantly. “But please, would you follow that gentleman over there. We’re about to begin the honoring ceremony.”

“Thank you,” Yuna said. Caitlyn jumped a little. She didn’t notice that Yuna had sat down beside her. “Are you ready, Yuki?”

“Of course. Let’s go,” she replied. She stood up and glanced down at Caitlyn, her grey eyes curious. “Are you not coming?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Caitlyn said, pushing herself up. “Let’s get this over with.”

“You might find this worth your time to go,” Yuki said vaguely. “So I wouldn’t dismiss it so carefree.”

‘What do you mean by that? I’m not going to win anything.’

Yuki didn’t elaborate and went to the man that was waiting for them beside a door at the side of the lounge. Yuna followed him and behind her, Caitlyn. The man opened the door, letting the three of them through before taking the lead and guiding them. They followed the man as he took them to a set of massive doors.

“Just walked through there,” the man instructed, pointed at the doors. “When they open, the announcer will introduce you. Just start walking the moment the doors open completely.”

“Got it,” Yuna replied with a nod. The man nodded back with a smile and left the three of them to themselves. 

They stood in silence, listening to the announcer’s voice just on the other side of the door.

‘Oh god. Why did I talk so much?’ Caitlyn thought as she reflected back to her conversation with Yuki. ‘I don’t usually speak that much.’

She glanced over at Yuki and frowned.

‘I thought I had to be careful about Yuna, but maybe I’ll have to worry about her as well.’

The doors before her let out a groan, distracting her from her thoughts. They slowly swung open, letting the deafening roars of the crowd flood through. The announcer began to introduce the three of them, putting in words of praise here and there as he described their achievements. 

“And here they are!” the announcer roared as Caitlyn walked out, just behind Yuki and Yuna. “Your winning team and the honorable runner up!”

A pathway guided Caitlyn to a platform outlined by a bright white circle. When she stepped on it, it rose up into the air, a spotlight on it as she and the winning team were displayed to the world. A flash of light and the announcer was standing in the center of the platform with them.

“Now let’s have a few words from these two teams who worked so hard to get to where they are now,” the man said, beaming. “Let’s start with Caitlyn, our runner up.”

The man walked up to her, snapping his fingers. A microphone appeared in his hand which he held up to Caitlyn’s mouth. One the holographic screens above the platform, she saw her face being shown.

“So, Caitlyn. That duel between you and Yuki was quite something to witness,” the announcer said. “What was going on in your head during the battle?”

“Not much. I just wanted to win,” she replied curtly.

“You were quite impressive up there. What did you take away from your lose? What could you improve on so that the next ends in victory?”

“Yuki was better than me,” Caitlyn shrugged. “That’s it.”

“Is there anything else you want to say? Any comments?”

She didn’t bother replying.

“Alright then! Then let’s go to the winning team,” the announcer said, transitioning smoothly. 

He went to Yuna first and asked her a few questions. She replied a bit shyly, her answers quiet and short. The man cracked a few jokes, drawing a few smiles from her. Then he moved on to Yuki.

“So you fought the final battle of the tournament. What led you to make the decision to decide the end of the tournament with a duel?” the announcer asked pleasantly.

“It was the most fair option,” Yuki replied flatly, her tone a bit cold but not distant. “And I was curious.”

“I see, I see. Well, your skills were something not many or anyone expected,” the man praised. “But after the fight, you said something about revealing too much and that the headmaster knew about it? What does that mean?”

“You can ask her about that. I’m sure you’ll get all the answers you want from her,” she said.

“Then we’ll do just that,” the man laughed. “I hope she’s ready for the sudden influx of calls she’s about to receive. Anyway, you’re prize. You know what it is, right?”

“Yes.”

“A place in the training camp for the Libra Taskforce,” the man said anyway. “Something many covet. What are your thoughts on that?”

“About that,” Yuki said. “I have a small announcement I wanted to say.”

“Oh? Then please say it. We’re all ears.”

“As per the rules of the tournament, the winner has the right to pass on the prize,” she recited. “With two people in our team, that means the prize is two spots on the training camp. Therefore, I forfeit my prize.”

The man’s mouth dropped open.

“You, you what?” he said slowly.

Caitlyn couldn’t believe what she was hearing. If she understood the rules then that prize would be transferred. And she knew who it would be transferred to.

“I forfeit my place,” Yuki repeated calmly. “By rule, it goes to the runner up of the tournament.” She turned and faced Caitlyn whose face was stunned. “It’s yours, Caitlyn. You deserve it so much more than I do. I’m sure you’ll thrive.”

‘Why?’ Caitlyn thought, her mind racing. ‘Why would you do that?’

“That duel told me everything I needed,” Yuki continued. “I wish you good luck on your journey.”

‘Why?’

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