I take a deep breath and sigh. These past days have been exhausting. With everything that has been going on, I feel like a chicken with it's head cut off. What am I supposed to do with Henry and Mary? Not to mention all of the issues with class separating between us. And then there is the Protagonist... I don't remember him being in the same class as kara. What changed?
"Hey." I hear a voice speak beside me.
"Huh?" I jump a little at the sudden intrusion of my thoughts. I look over to see Scarlet sitting next to me, giving me a worried look...how long has she been there?
"Are you alright?" She asked not taking her eyes off of me.
"Yeah, of course." I force a smile.
"Liar..." Scarlet mumbles.
"Sorry?" I ask, not certain of what she said.
Scarlet takes a deep breath and sighs. "Nevermind. Are you ready for the tournament today?"
"Oh. Yeah, I'm excited!" I smile in excitement. "It's in pairs right?"
"Yep. Kara should be he-" Scarlet starts but before she can continue a loud bang booms through the room.
"Helloooo~!" Kara bursts in yelling.
I wince a little to the volume. "Hey Kara..." I reply hesitantly.
"Kara, please enter quieter next time." Scarlet lightly scolded.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be better next time~!" Kara laughs. "Anywho, look who I brought!"
As Kara says that, she then steps to the side allowing whoever she brought to step in through the door.
"Heyo!" Mr. Protag comes walking in flamboyantly. "Pleasure to see ya again!"
Both Scarlet and I just stare at him confused and then turn to Kara expecting an explanation.
"Right, so I thought we could use another teammate!" Kara exclaims proudly.
The protagonist then turns towards Kara and whispers something to her that I couldn't catch. Kara then seems to be reassuring him of something and then gives him a thumbs up with a glint in her eyes.
"I heard you guys could use an even number of fighters. So I thought I could help out with that." Mr. Protag says...
Why do I keep calling him Mr. Protag or MC, etc? What's his name in this world?
"I see. Well, we appreciate your help Mr...?" Scarlet asks.
'Way to go Scarlet!' I think to myself.
"Ah, right, I haven't introduced myself have I?" He laughs almost embarrassed. "The names Alexander! You can just call me Alex though."
Alex? So this world went with the original name huh? Makes sense.
"Well Alex, how well do you think you can keep up?" I ask sighing.
"Keep up?" Alex smirks, "Trust me. I won't disappoint you."
"Quite the confidence you got there." Scarlet says amused.
I know she is just curious about his strength but hearing her compliment Alex makes me uneasy. The story won't be following the secret route...will it? Who was even considered the 'canon route' anyways...? 'Whatever, I will sort that out later.'
"I can vouch for him!" Kara chimes in smugly. "I personally tested him."
"Is that so...?" I stare at Alex for bit. "Well alright, fine. Welcome to the team."
"Awesome!" Alex cheers, and then walks towards me. "Does that mean that you and I are going to be partners?"
Alex then holds out a hand for me to grab. I start to reach out and respond but I get cut off.
"Adrian will be my partner." Scarlet says matter of fact like. She stands next to me and almost stares down Alex.
We all just kind of stand there confused at her action.
"Well you heard her." I spoke up, trying to ease the tension. "You will be partnering up with Miss Kara over there."
"Yay! This is going to be so much fun!" Kara says as she jumps onto Alex's back.
Alex almost falls over from the sudden weight jumped onto him. 'Sorry Alex. Good luck.' I think to myself.
We all get ready, so that we can go to the tournament. We are going to have to register Alex as a teammate quickly. Once we are all ready, the girls walk out first and I stop Alex before he left, grabbing his shoulder.
"Huh?" Alex says as he turns around, caught off guard. "Is something wrong Adrian?"
"What are your true intentions?" I ask, glaring at him.
"My true...intentions?" He asks and tilts his head to think.
"I will be short. Do you have any intentions of hurting Scarlet or Kara?" I asked pointedly.
"What?! Of course not!" He exclaims, placing his hand on his chest. "I admire what you have done and want to help!"
"I see...just make sure you are aware..." I walk up right beside him and give him a side glance as I walk past. "If you ever try to hurt them...there will be consequences."
I continue walking out of the room, as Scarlet and Kara both turn around and call out to us to hurry. After a moment, Alex then snaps back to reality and rushes over to us. I know that Alex is supposed to be a good person but still, I thought I could trust Mary and that only just put Scarlet in danger. I won't be making the same mistake twice.
We make our way to the arena already full of students getting into their seats. We stop at the registration section for the tournament and speak with the teacher there.
"Hello Mrs. Sugio!" I smile.
"Wow, you guys actually came." Mrs. Sugio remarks coldly.
Why does she dislike us so much?
"We would like to register, along with our new member." I gesture to Alex.
Mrs. Sugio gives a tired look. "And where is your advisor? Has he approved this?"
Before I respond, I feel an arm get placed onto me. "Of course I have! You really think I left these kids hanging?" Mr. Fang appears out of nowhere with his sly smile as always.
"I see. Fine, here is the paperwork." Mrs. Sugio sighs.
We grab the paperwork and start to walk away. We stop at a nearby empty counter, and fill out the paperwork. After we finish signing the papers Mr. Fang picks them up.
"Alrighty, why don't you kids go and prepare for the tournament? I'll handle this paperwork." Mr. Fang says, waving the paper in front of us.
"Wait...did Mr. Fang just say something reasonable?" I say feigning surprise and turn towards Scarlet.
"I believe he did!" Scarlet sarcastically exclaims, feigning surprise as well.
Both Alex and Kara cover their mouths and stifle their laughter.
"Oi! I'm very responsible, I'll have you know!" Mr. Fang teases. "Now hurry along before I change my mind."
We all say our thanks and make our way to the room for E Rank participants. Once we get there, we sit down on one of the benches and look around. There doesn't seem to be many people that we need to be cautious of.
"Hey Adrian," Kara grabs my attention, "We are planning on participating in the Tournament D if we win this one right?"
"That's right." I respond cautiously, "why do you ask?"
"We have a request to make of you and Scarlet!" Alex says awkwardly.
"Can we take on all of Tournament E?" Kara speaks up.
"What? Don't be-" Scarlet starts.
"Please." Kara cuts off, "We should conserve your strength and hide your skills."
Everyone stares at me, waiting for my response. I watch Kara and Alex carefully. With all that is going on, Alex suddenly joining, and Kara proposing the idea of just them fighting. They both must have talked about this before, but when and why? How long has Kara been planning on having Alex join the team...?
More importantly, for now anyways, why would they want to do something like that? The next tournament shouldn't be that big of an issue? 'Maybe that want to prove their worth in the guild?' came across my mind. I take a deep breath, I better not regret this.
"We'll be counting on you two then." I tell them.