The room fell into an eerie silence as Sora uttered the word "friend" out of her mouth.
Even Theodore and the teachers seemed to be quite shaken, actually, wondering what the hell was happening for THE Sora, THE 'Untouchable Rose' to be comfortable enough with Stark to be able to shake his hands without her body being disgusted/backing away.
And more than that, she called him a "friend"! Meaning that they met before.
But then, why would Stark jokingly say "nice to meet you" before?!
People were wondering what was happening, but no answers came as Stark began to go back to his square, his sole goal being to show Sora that he was here.
'Looks like she told us her real name in the trial though...'
"Well, anyway," Theodore coughed and got ready to ease up the atmosphere as soon as Stark returned to his place, the boy ignoring the angry and judgmental gaze from Lana, "As for the last thing you have all been wondering: how the teams will be made!"
The chairman clapped both his hands together, and the final part of the video began to play, although this time it was just a golden text that said:
[You students make the groups, yoohoo!]
[Once the bell rings, you will all be free to choose your own teammates to conquer the rift for three hours, then immediately afterward we will start the 'boxing raffle' for each of you to get your trials!]
"NICE!"
"Finally some good fucking news..."
"Thank you, chairman!"
After all these bad news one after the other, getting just this much was enough to make the students happy.
[NO ONE is allowed to leave until all teams are formed, and those teams pick their respective rifts!]
[And if anyone remains alone by the end of the timer, then they will be randomly paired with teams that need more members or with other people that are alone!]
"..." Stark didn't mind, he would solo the rift anyway, so all he needed were half decent people that could manage to not be annoying for him to kill the 'Godless Demon' apostle.
[3...]
[2...]
[1...]
[RING, RING]
An animation of a bell appeared on the screen, and as soon as the sound came out, the entire room shook as students rushed toward the people they wanted to pair with.
"Hey, wanna pair?" Lana said as she smiled.
"Of course, but I'm the leader, since I want to pick the card!" Stark proposed.
"Fine by me, as long as I complete this trial," she sighed, but was confident that with Stark in her team, there was no way they could be stopped.
Of course, this was how it worked: the strongest and thus most famous people in the room were the ones with the highest demand as everyone attempted to approach them, meaning they had the choice to join whoever they wanted.
People such as Sora, Karl Spikeford (even after being humiliated by the former), Olivier Stardust, Lala Hunter and many more were now surrounded as if they were celebrities at a red carpet event, each person throwing out their own tempting offers of partnership.
[Timer: 1:56:32 left!]
An entire hour had passed, and so many groups had already formed.
Yet Stark and Lana remained, talking to each other calmly as if they didn't even care about any of this, and they clearly didn't.
But... something would change all of that.
Because after an entire hour, Sora finally managed to push through the crowd of annoying people surrounding her, a neutral expression on her face as she approached Stark, hundreds of people still behind her though as they didn't want to give up.
"Want to team?" she said calmly with her normal voice, looking at Stark in the eyes.
"..." Stark looked at Lana, who shrugged, then back at Sora, and he smiled, "Sure, why not, but I'm the leader," he said again.
"I don't mind..." Sora mumbled as she sent out an invitation.
['Sora Gardenis' has sent an invitation to join your party!]
[Do you want to invite her?]
[Y/N]
'Y'
The panel flashed again, and another name was added to the group.
['Sora Gardenis' has been invited to your group!]
[47 spots remain!]
And so suddenly, as soon as that happened and people checked their own panels to search Sora's name and confirm whatever the hell was happening...
[Sora Gardenis is currently in a group]
[Group Leader: Stark Heartsouls]
If they wanted to be with Sora, they actually needed to speak to Stark, as it is the group leader that accepts invitations.
"..." all these students stared at one another, and they actually regretted not joining Stark's group when no one wanted to, now the places were going to be limited.
[You have received 437 party invitations!]
[Do you want to check them out?]
'Holy...' Stark was baffled.