Chapter 104 Breaktime

"And that's what happened." Hiroshi narrated, expecting everyone to react accordingly.

But all he got was silence.

Pause.

"So..." Satoshi suddenly uttered as everyone stared at him. "His superpower is shapeshifting? Or does he only have a single transformation?"

"That, I have no idea. He moves faster than the eye could see. A white blur and then bam! Just like that."

After Hiroshi's simple depiction of what he experienced, another silence soon followed and they were all left staring at each other.

"I'm gonna go sleep," Siril said, heading to the room. He was tired from all that moving around in the first round and shifting to his dragon form drained a lot of his energy. That's why he needed more food and rest compared to an average teenager with superpowers.

"Me too," Hiroshi said.

"Me too," Fuuka as well.

In the end, there were only Cherry, Kurogami, Midori, Satoshi, and Shidou left in the room, staring at each other in the face. Satoshi could tell that they were expecting something else aside from someone yelling that he or she'll sleep for another time. They didn't look that tired at all either, much like Satoshi. Well, Satoshi didn't really expend that much energy since his familiars did all the work for him. All he needed to do was observe from the sidelines and give instructions through his mind. It might've been pretty exhausting though but Satoshi was used to it.

"You all want to go out?" Satoshi asked, hoping that he was right on the money with his suggestion.

In an instant, Cherry and the others got up and grabbed their backpacks by the corner of the common area. Their serious expressions were instantly replaced with excitement as if they were dogs who were offered a walk.

As for Satoshi, he didn't need to pack up anything since everything he needed is stored in his Orb Oboros, he just had to bring his bag so that no one would get suspicious of him.

Within a minute, Satoshi and the others were already out of the waiting room and a guard immediately went up to them, tipping his hat before leading them outside the Inter-High Stadium. Satoshi didn't even need to tell him anything since the guards know full well what they want to do if ever they go outside.

And it's not like the Stadium has any place where you could eat. One would have to go outside if they were to buy anything. The Stadium, in all its glory, is just a plain old stadium after all. Of course, by now, countless stores would have already flooded the space surrounding the stadium as if there was a festival in town.

A cacophony of noises and indistinct voices were what greeted Satoshi and his party as they got outside. As soon as Shidou saw the crowd where they were, he immediately put on his glasses, his mask, and he wore an oversized hoodie that covered most of his body. He did it so fast that Satoshi thought Shidou disappeared behind him. "What are you doing?" Cherry asked.

"My superpower, it gets amplified the more people there are in a scene." Shidou responded, darting his head here and there as if to tell the whole world that he's a suspicious person.

"I'll be checking out some of the stalls over there. They seem to be selling some kind of parfait." Kurogami said with a straight face before walking away. His pace quickened in an instant though and before they knew it, Kurogami was already running full throttle towards the nearest parfait stall.

"I'll be going to— "

Bump.

Shidou felt his heart leap out of his chest when someone bumped him. Now that his powers are amplified due to the sudden increase in the headcount of people nearby, he knew that just a simple touch is enough to get a woman's attention— assuming that what bumped him was of the opposite gender, of course. He gulped and slowly turned around. He didn't want to say any words since that would be akin to jumping right into a trap.

"I'm sorry are you— wait, Shidou?! What is up with your outfit?!"

It was Tohka, and she was with her group of friends. Apparently, they all visited the Inter-High Stadium so they could cheer her on. All of them seemed familiar and by now, Shidou didn't want to ask what their names are. 'I mean, what is the coincidence that their names are like... that that, right?' He said in his mind, thinking about a certain series where his name and Tohka's name came from.

"This is Kurumi, this is Yoshino, and this is— "

"Stop, I get it!" Shidou hissed before Tohka introduced the third one. He could tell that her name would be no different from the...

"— Kokko."

"Wait, her name is not Kotori?"

"How did you know that?" Tohka exclaimed, impressed. "Kokko is her nickname but her name's really Kotori. How did you know her name?"

"How did I— look here Tohka, Either fate's playing with us, or someone up there is having a good laugh about this," Shidou continued speaking in a low tone just so Tohka's other friends won't hear him. Since Tohka was already charmed by Shidou before, she's still under his influence but her three friends aren't and Shidou didn't want to risk it.

"What do you mean?"

"Ugh~ never mind. Off you go then, I have an ice cream to catch up with." Shidou said, turning around heading to a nearby stall where they were selling ice cream.

Meanwhile, Satoshi, Midori, and Cherry were just watching Shidou from the sidelines. They briefly met Tohka from the first round Badge Fight but who would've thought that they'd run into her as soon as they got outside.

"Do they know each other?" Cherry asked,

"I don't know, who knows, maybe?" Satoshi answered, to which Midori just shrugged.

For some odd reason, Midori was not in his talkative mode today.

"We're about to get some ice cream as well! Let's get one together." Tohka suggested, grabbing Shidou by the arm, causing her three friends to take a deep inhale in shock. They didn't know that their friend was actually seeing someone.

"What are you doing?!" Shidou continued, wondering why Tohka was still pestering her. He didn't interact with her that much during the entire first round so he knows that the effect should've worn off by now. "Did my powers get stronger? No no no no..." Shidou muttered to himself.

"Why, what's the matter?" Tohka asked.

"Nothing."

Cherry, Midori, and Satoshi followed right behind Shidou's group since they were quite aimless as well. At first, they were eager to get out and experience the fresh air of the Saitama Prefecture, but now that they were outside, they lost all of that excitement. Without a plan to back up their little excursion, they didn't know what to do, in short.

"I'm not going to treat you," Shidou continued.

"My treat."

"Everything all right on your end, Midori?" Satoshi suddenly asked.

"No, not really," Midori continued. "It's just that, it's my first time being away from my family and it kind of sunk in while we were in the first round of the Inter-High. Don't worry about me though, my mind's just constantly thinking about whether Miya and the others were eating properly, or if they were doing okay. I mean, I gave them most of my savings just so they could treat themselves to something nice while I'm gone... am I worrying too much? Is this normal?"

To be fair, Midori still talked a lot, the only difference was he wasn't doing it spontaneously.

"Yeah, they'll be fine. They're probably watching the live stream right now or something. Right now, you should worry about the second round happening tomorrow. You remember what happened during the first round right? I don't think the event coordinators like us that much... or maybe they're trying to give us a handicap because of our record."

"Maybe, I thought of the same thing as well." Midori sighed for the third time. "I'm really worried about mom and dad right now."

"You can give them a call or something."

"I don't have a phone. Ah yes, I forgot to buy a phone for them as well! I should probably save up for that huh. It would be bad if I were to die and then I couldn't get to call my family for my last words, right?"

"Not a nice way to think about a phone but sure. You know you really need one, right?"

While Midori and Satoshi were having a casual chat about phones, Cherry just lingered right behind them. She didn't know what to talk about at all so she just kept quiet.

As for Shidou and Tohka, they finally reached the ice cream stall and they both shouted their order at the same time.

"One large mint chocolate chip ice cream, lots of sprinkles, please."

"One large mint chocolate chip ice cream, lots of sprinkles, please"

"Aiyo~ coming right up." The friendly guy behind the counter smiled.

Even their ice cream preferences were the same.