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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
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Chapter 17: Bouncing Balls
Dodgeball.
The sports where if you can't dodge fast enough, you might end up getting up barraged by the unfairness and the harshness of balls thrown in your general direction.
I remember seeing the movie named as such, I remember the hilarious scenes, Chuck Norris… some sheer brutality with the balls and all of that.
When I took part to the training session to see what was Sona's plan with the future match, I had been surprised at the sheer simplicity of the formation.
I was placed in the middle of the frontal row, with Tomoe on my left and Reya to my right.
The entire back row was taken by the heavy hitters, with Sona standing right behind me, Tsubaki on her right side while Tsubasa taking the left.
The idea was incredibly interesting as it was based over the fact that the first row was made by quick-paced players, while the three girls standing behind us were meant to be the one going for any attacks.
Saji and Ruruko were annoyed by the fact that they would have sit as reserves for the match, but the decision had come out from the fact that both weren't much experienced in dealing with the sport.
The teams were limited to a maximum of six players and… I was actually confused when Sona mentioned that Rias had spoke about having a six member that she wanted to bring for the official game.
Which was confusing since I was aware that her current peerage, ignoring the currently-sealed Gasper, was still made by five people.
And while I was suspicious over this unexpected development, I still ended up forgetting about this matter as I started the training session with the rest of the Student Council.
Everything went smoothly, from the beginning to… the particularly awkward end of the session, finding it quite refreshing to see a little more of the true nature of the group I was part of.
I noticed that Tomoe was less inclined to reach out and try her luck in capturing the ball, preferring to dodge it for someone else to pick. Her speed as a Knight allowed her to succeed in most evasions.
Tsubaki and Reya seemed to have a slight flaw correlated to when they ended up getting hold of some balls, with both pausing a little too much in taking aim of certain targets.
Sona's major issue was the fact that she was way too defensive over her guard, preferring to outright avoiding touching any balls and leaving the rest to the other girls.
Then there was Tsubasa and… she was terribly good with her role.
I flinched more than once during training as she went for her own attacks… despite the fact that we were on the same team.
Her aim as deadly as the power behind all the strikes, none of her shots went missing each time she aimed at one of her next victi-targets.
She was merciless, almost giggling eagerly the more chances she got of proving her worth in crushing her opponents.
There wasn't nothing seriously concerning about attitude, perhaps her earnest position over victory granting me more relief on the fact that the chances of success were that high.
The problem was… how it actually ended.
The blue-haired girl hadn't forgotten about the little thought she had been having over the finale of this training session.
I was distracted by the last seconds of the spar, my attention still channeled to the ball as I felt someone suddenly hug me from behind.
I was sweaty, she was sweaty, and I was giving her my back as she squeezed closely.
"Got ya, Hoitsu-kun!"
Tsubasa's voice was highlighting a disturbing degree of happiness, enough to make me flinch at how stubbornly she was latching at my back.
Her chest was pressing quite hardly, but I managed to distract myself by noticing that… Tsubaki was looking at us with a confused look.
I blinked. "It's her initiative," I pointed out, making her heterochromic eyes turn to look at me.
"Then why are you allowing her to continue?"
I frowned back at her, glancing to the side as I noticed that Sona was slowly approaching the scene.
"It's more complicated than it looks like," I replied quietly, gaining even more surprise from her.
"Then why don't you try?"
I tend to forget that I really needed to make examples out of my current innocence in these circumstances.
Thus I sighed and tried to shift my attention back at the hugging girl.
"Tsubasa."
She hummed quietly, still lost in the embrace- seriously, why did I have to deal with this?!
I slowly tried to turn around and get a proper glimpse of the situation, finding my means to go through the action eased by the girl's willingness to permit me to do so, perhaps thinking of hugging me properly if she had me move a little.
Yet her plans swiftly collapsed as she felt her cheeks getting pinched by my hands.
She yelped, her arms suddenly lessening their hold over my waist and offering me some more relief as I continued to punish the silly girl.
"N-Nwa!" She tried to pull herself out of my grasp, but the young woman found the task nigh-impossible fairly quickly. "Hwoitsu- lwet me gwo!"
I narrowed my eyes at her panicking face. "Tsubasa, didn't I say that I didn't want to go through this little hugging thing of yours?"
"B-Bwut it's nwice to hug with fweinds!"
"'Basa, I don't think friends should be hugging this tightly and lengthy," I reminded with a sigh. "I know you're ecstatic because we're in the same team, but don't exaggerate."
She blinked, giving a nod as I slowly removed my hands from her cheeks, letting her out of that 'nightmare'.
"H-Hoitsu-kun, that was quite painful," She remarked with a huff.
"Then perhaps you shouldn't give sneaky hugs, especially since we're all sweating from this training session?"
"But the hardship makes the embrace even more wholesome! We're two friends sharing the pride of having succeeded."
…I really can't believe that she was trying to go down this amusing route.
I decided to let her humor me about it.
"Truly? And what would be the 'next step' of such a 'friendly interaction'?" I inquired with a degree of fascination and minor annoyance.
"Why, since we're both good friends, there shouldn't be a reason for the two of us to not share the same shower and-"
"Pass," I sighed tiredly. "'Basa, I know that you're really meaning well… but I hope you understand you can get quite creepy when your mind is just too much into a sport-related topic."
She frowned. "I- I can't be that bad."
"Tsubasa, you were hugging him quite intensely," Sona joined in the conversation, with Tsubaki keeping herself from offering an opinion just yet. "And it's not the first time you've behaved like this with someone… especially since you've done the same with others."
"I'm just… overly-affectionate?" The blue-haired young woman guessed, getting three dry looks from us. "Maybe I'm a little crazy about it, but I can assure you that I can restrain myself. And I will start doing so right now."
I blinked at the genuinely serious tone she had adopted, making my guard a little at ease as I sighed and nodded at her before looking at Sona.
"Then I will be going to get ready to go back home, I suppose you will arrive a little later, Sona-taichou-"
"Are we still sharing a shower?" Tsubasa inquired quietly, drawing me to a stop, a glance and… a facepalm.
"I will take my leave now..."
After this I ended up going through a quick cold shower, making my way back home so that I could prepare for writing the letter I had to send to Ruval Phenex.
Sona ended up passing by fairly late in the afternoon, just in time to avoid the leaving Akeno and Koneko as both girl blissfully ignored that I was going to be present in the match against their club.
I was surprised to see only Sona coming to visit for the occasion, and the young heiress explained that Tsubaki was finalizing some details for the event for tomorrow, this activity taking a drain in her spare time.
Once we were both inside the house, we waited for Baraqiel return before styling down anything that could be seen as a proper message.
The Fallen Angel had plenty of experience regarding diplomatic efforts, thus his input was well-accepted as we went through the various tasks of creating a convincing letter to send to the current heir of the Phenex Clan.
The family wasn't as prideful as it was initially shown because of how Raiser had strutted around when he was first shown in the show.
Ravel was the first member that was presented as someone that knew the limits of her own bloodline trait, something that came from her parents and her oldest sibling.
Raiser was a complicated character, not only because he got away in getting himself a harem out of his peerage, but that he had just started getting some wins in Rating Games.
Two victories right now, all that were won because of… his little sister.
While many would easily frown at this detail, Ravel was an observant individual that had plenty of opportunities to show her acumen in certain circumstances.
Her family's web of connections made it possible for her to study, understand, and then counter any threats to the peerage of her brother, giving him the chance to rise at the expense of having to listen to her for advices.
While she had yet to outright join his peerage, the girl had been helping him around as a mean to gain some experiences over Rating Games without having to make hasty decisions once she would be allowed to get her own peerage.
This very detail became one of the few topics being brought up in the letter, as we presented the issue created by the fact that the girl was hanging around someone that shared multiple overly-inappropriate interactions with his peerage.
While there was nothing that would've created a general issue, especially with how old Ravel was, the real instinct I was trying to bring up with this consideration was the brotherly instinct that I knew was there in Ruval's mind.
He was introduced in the light novel version, barely mentioned in both Manga and Anime versions, and yet his importance within this context was as much needed as necessary to avoid a fair degree of ugly endings.
Albeit Raiser himself ended up proving himself to be someone that wasn't as terrible as Rias had painted him as such or how his early encounters presented him like, the real issue here was what would've happened to Rias' peerage.
The rules among Devils weren't much clear over the proper procedure to take when a woman with a peerage ended up getting married, most of the cases having some clauses within the contract to deal with this predicament.
While some were keen to accept peerages, some weren't.
I was sure that Raiser would just keep the women, ditch Issei despite his potential (perhaps leaving him to be used by Ravel in her future peerage) and… try to obtain the same results he got from his current group.
Which was bad as that would be a forced relationship. No matter how bossy Rias might be sounding like, she had all the rights to decide whom to marry.
There was no issue for both families to allow this arranged affair, especially since both were well-stable in their respective successions.
If they wanted to improve relations with each other, they could've done it by organizing some proper dinner, sparing some friendly bantering and… nothing else.
It was frustrating how backward the society ruling the underworld was and, while the Four Maous were the ones that 'ruled', the implicit truth was that the Baels were the top dogs because of their influence over Hell itself.
The letter itself didn't provide any baseless accusations as we were wary of instigating some emotion that could be seen far stronger than needed.
This is why we decided to focus on some 'suspicions' born from discovering the marriage itself and the authenticity of the signatures.
The very mention that something could've been damaged on such an important document, especially the signatures of both Lord Phenex's and Lord Gremory's, would have been more than enough to see proper investigation happening rather quickly.
I was sure that Ruval would've requested the temporary pause for the finalization of the contract for the sake of snooping around properly, making use of his heir's title to strong-arm that very right.
It was a little gamble, but one that had the highest chances of succeeding considering the words used, the kind of personality that Ruval had, and the reasoning behind such a compelling topic.
While the Phenex weren't arrogants, they were still attached to a set of social rules that urged them to make sure that they aren't on their way to mess things up so massively.
Mostly because the other family that would get screwed had ties with the Bael Clan.
With the letter finally written and promptly sent by Baraqiel some special seals connected to Grigori's post service, Sona decided to leave as it was nearing the time for dinner.
After making sure that she was well on her way back home, I re-entered back home and started to prepare some food for dinner.
But while I was well-immersed in enjoying a peaceful few hours before going to sleep, I failed to notice while happily eating my share of food that there was something that had managed to get Kunou smiling up to the very moment she went to sleep.
I hadn't noticed any clues about this… up until it was the time for the match to begin.
Morning started fairly odd as I arrived at Kuoh Academy with Kunou.
The girl was feeling bubbly, excited even, and I had labeled this little unexpected but positive mood to be born from something that had happened in school.
Perhaps it was related with Asia and her work at the Theater club.
The kitsune didn't seem keen to share what had gotten her this much giddy, and I wasn't well concerned in pestering her any further than a couple of questions that were promptly rebuffed.
My mind was focusing on another very important issue, something that I had been thinking about a lot before and after going to sleep.
Who was the sixth player for the ORC?
I had long confirmed that it couldn't be Asia as the girl would've mentioned something like that, and she wasn't just fit to play for dodgeball as a human.
Had Rias released Gasper early on? It would've been a stupid decision. The young dhampir still had an unstable Sacred Gear, and it wasn't possible that she would've let him out so soon from his little reclusion.
Plus, he wasn't even meant to engage in such activities, thus easily being removed from the list of the suspects.
I moved to any other students that the redhead could've interacted with and… none seemed 'trustworthy' enough to put to deal with that kind of situation.
While the match was going to be lacking magic, it didn't mean that a degree of limitations weren't already imposed to the two leaders about not bringing in anyone that they barely knew and trusted about.
This is why once I was done with the first lesson of the day, I tried to find Issei to share some words with him.
Yet, as I reached to where his classroom was, I found out by the leaving teacher that the brunet had been 'absent' for today's lessons.
Which was odd considering that he was one of the prime elements of Rias' squad.
The redhead and her Queen had been there for class, looking particularly confident during the lesson and… it all clicked to me.
Issei was possibly being pep-talked and 'trained' together with the rest of the club members, it was odd for them to prepare even more than they needed considering how 'unfair' the situation was going to be for them.
Once more proving to me that the situation wasn't going to be as complicated or difficult as I expected it to be early on.
We were well-coordinated and I was aware of some of the abilities that Rias and her team was capable of using that didn't require any magic.
There was no way they were going to truly pose an issue to what we had created out of a simple training session.
With determination driving me happy for the rest of the remaining time before the beginning of the match, I was finally called by Ruruko while I was in the fourth period.
The young brunette apologized profusely to the teacher, the woman looking at her with a sheepish and appeasing expression as to imply that there was nothing truly to worry about.
I think this was the very first time for little Ruko to be going around on her own to ask for a student, which was kind of adorable since she was doing 'great'.
As we were making our way towards where the game was supposed to happen, I ended up having quite the weird conversation with the girl.
"Uh, senpai?"
I blinked. "Yes, Ruko-chan?"
"Can I really ask you an important question?" She slowly inquired, shaking her head for a moment. "I mean, it's really important and-"
"Just ask, Ruko," I flatly interrupted with a brief shrug. "If it's important, then maybe you should tell me about it."
Yet there was something in her nervousness that was just bizarre. She didn't seem nervous out of the fact she had been assigned to led me to where the location of the event was.
It seemed more like… there was something else troubling her mind.
"Do you… remember that Sona-taichou spoke about a sixth player that Rias-san will be employing?" The brunette asked quietly. "Someone that isn't part of her peerage?"
I frowned, feeling instantly intrigued by the topic. "Yes, I've been thinking about this."
…
There was silence from the girl and I sighed.
"Ruko, is there something you wish to tell me?" I asked with some interest, pressing for some answers.
She hummed quietly. "Maybe?"
"Ruko-"
"Senpai, you might not like the situation," The kohai admitted with some hesitation. "You might even quit if you knew that-"
"Who is it?" I interjected once more, asking for a clear name and getting the brunette once more tense over the matter.
Yet her behavior and her words had strung a strange note within myself as I pondered over those as hints of an unpleasant discovery that I could be dealing with very soon.
This sixth player was someone I knew about, had been taken outside of Rias' peerage, and from what Ruruko was trying to tell me, was someone that I wouldn't want to fight in this predicament.
Enough to warrant me to forfeit.
I thought well and thoroughly about it, but then a cold realization searingly tore into my brain.
But there was no way. Rias wouldn't have been that stupid.
Yet the situation could've been different and… it was still possible. And that possibility was gloomy at best.
But while I lost myself in this contemplation, the brunette took a sign from my lack of pressure to keep quiet as she swiftly took me a higher pace to reach where the place was.
I was just about to debunk the best way possible this very notion, this silly idea that the young woman could've gone as far as risk my wrath for a little visit at the Forest of Familiars.
There was no way that the redhead could've done that and-
The doors that led to the gym-like area opened before my eyes and I was granted full sight of the entire room and its occupants.
My attention was quickly directed at the side taken by the ORC, my eyes scanning through the various members in display as I tried to decipher if my worries were legitimate or not.
"S-Senpai?" Issei looked surprised by my appearance, but I couldn't even give him some greeting as my attention was so much intensely latched at this subject.
But just as I noticed just five people around by that side of the field, I tried to look elsewhere for the mysterious sixth player and… I felt someone short reach out and swiftly giving me a hug.
"Niichan!"
...No.
I stared down, I was greeted with a certain blonde with golden eyes and I… smiled. But there was no true happiness, only dread.
"Ku-chan," I greeted quietly. "Hello there."
She smiled even more. "Sorry for keeping this a secret, but I've heard senpai talking about needing some sixth member for the team and… I wanted to play with Niichan."
I felt a stab to the heart at that confession, as I wasn't certainly expecting to fight Kunou in such an occasion.
The girl was strong, but far too cute to be targeted like this. Not by me… or anyone else.
I looked up at Rias, the girl was rightfully looking away as I had my glare set at her.
"Is that so?" I inquired quietly. "I guess you've been told what Dodgeball is before actually joining in, right?"
The girl blinked. "It's a sport to do with friends," She explained happily. "Where you hit people with soft balls that will not hurt anyone."
That's exactly NOT what dodgeball is!
I sighed and I stared carefully at the kitsune. "Ku-chan, can you allow me a moment so I can speak with Sona-san?"
Kunou frowned at this, but still nodded as I moved to reach out for where the bespectacled girl was.
She looked fairly nervous, but not as much as Ruruko had been.
"Hoitsu-san-"
"I request that we switch to a softer ball," I pointed out calmly. "I reckon this is a friendly match, we shouldn't be using the standard, and far sturdier ball."
Which is also known to create any devastating damage on anyone getting hit by those nasty things.
She frowned. "Would this change keep you in the game?"
"Kunou-chan wants to just play, and I don't see any reason for us all to not enjoy some nice game," I stated sweetly. "Of course, it has to be a nice game for both sides, or I might retaliate quite unprofessionally."
Did I forget to mention it was a sickly kind of sweetly?
Sona looked uncertain abut this, but the girl eventually condoned the need of switching to a softer ball.
Some moments passed and all players were set in their proper positions.
Momo was picked to be the impartial referee for this match, having been provided with a chair, a whistle, and some flags to help in her role.
I stared right at Rias, the redhead having some trouble looking straight at me. Three balls had set on the line dividing the field in two.
"I-I didn't mean to bring her to this-" She tried to apologize. "Even before knowing that-"
"But you still did and… I forgive you," I interrupted with a calm smile. "So there is no need to be nervous about, this is a normal game after all."
I felt in my zenith, the culmination of true peace and anger realizing within my features.
Blue eyes widened in a moment of surprise but relief.
"R-Really? That's good to hear and-"
The whistle rang true to the beginning of the match, and a distracted Rias failed to reach for the ball right in front of her.
Tomoe reached for her ball, while Reya to pick hers because of Kiba's speed.
Instead of instantly hitting the girl, I merely threw the ball behind me, right towards… a grinning Tsubasa.
Dread filled Rias' face as she realized what was going on, her body tensing up as she prepared to dodge whatever hit was coming her way and-
The ball rushed murderously, with the blue-haired young woman having once more decided to spare herself none of the restraints that common sense usually imposed.
Panic swelled within the redhead, the Gremory heiress having some issues to react properly at the deadly ball coming her way.
But just as the sphere seemed ready to strike her, someone else moved between her and the ball.
It impacted, and it took its first victim as Akeno fell by Rias' arms.
"A-Akeno?"
The Fallen Angel hybrid smiled caringly as she sighed. "I suppose this… is how I go."
"N-No-"
"Himejima-san has been hit, she is now to retire," Momo announced calmly, holding a red flag directed at the ORC's side of the field.
I stared to the girls beside me and I sighed. "Am I the only one that found the scene a little over-dramatic?"
Reya shrugged while Tomoe held a thumb up before we all returned our attention to Rias as Akeno had slowly stood up from her arms.
"What a pity," The Yamato nadeshiko pouted a little and I frowned.
"The ball wasn't sturdy enough?" I inquired dryly, getting a surprised look from the girl.
"To be honest… yes."
I groaned while Rias blushed a little at the comment, but then she gave me a stern glare.
"Y-You distracted me!" She accused me with some irritation and I frowned.
"I think you were the one getting uneasy over having invited Kunou-chan here without telling me anything, Gremory-san," I pointed out steely. "And the game is quite harsh."
Just as I concluded this comment, the balls were once more set by the line and we were all waiting for the beginning of the next round.
I rushed in just like before, but just as I expected, Rias had picked up her speed and swiftly took the ball before I could.
She smiled deviously, the ball soaring quickly in the air and directed right at me… but I ducked, looking back. "Taichou!"
Sona was already in action, her hands ready to grasp the ball mid-air and force the redhead to a quick defeat.
But before this plan of action had any chances of succeeding, we heard another whistling from Momo.
"Meguri-san has been hit, she is now to retire," The white-haired young woman announced, and just as the bespectacled caught the ball, we both looked in shock at the groaning form of the retreating Tomoe.
I trailed the culprit back to a smiling Kiba, the blond looked way too happy about this and… yet his smile dropped as Tsubasa took a couple of step forward.
Her smile had twisted in a furious scowl, one that claimed some prophetic vengeance upon the recent fallen.
"Pretty boy, you're next," The blue-haired girl proclaimed and I sighed as I noticed that the boy was now sweating bullets.
New round, I knew that I had to pick up a higher pace if I wanted to make a difference.
I sighed, eyes fixed at the ball in front of me as I waited for the beginning of the new clash.
The whistle rang, and my legs pushed more power to the action as I blitzed close to the sphere and managed to snatch it out and away from Rias' close grasp.
I looked on the right and I saw Tsubasa ready to growl at the fact she was slower than Kiba, yet the blond looked unsure about what to do with the ball and-
"'Basa!" The girl's attention was quickly on me as I passed her my ball and- She didn't hesitate with the free shot offered.
Kiba's eyes widened as the sphere of doom slammed painfully by his left leg, making him trip to the ground.
"Kiba-san has been hit, he's now out."
The young man sighed, but didn't contest the subtle tactic I had just employed.
Sighing calmly at this development, I tensed up as I felt a ball slamming by my side… quite softly.
I looked to my left and at the responsible of this little backstab.
The kitsune grinned back at my smile, making me snort on the spot.
"Ku-chan-"
"Sorry, Niichan," She let out a faux apology, still grinning. "My fingers slipped."
My little amusement was curt short as I noticed someone moving to replace Kiba's freed role.
"Senpai," Koneko curtly muttered as I glanced right at her.
"Kohai, I'm sorry but you will have to lose," I hummed quietly, gaining me a rare sigh from her.
"You're allowed to try."
Sassy.
I smiled, and her lips twitched in response.
The round started, and I once more tried to outspeed Rias, barely succeeding by merely pushing the ball away from their field but failing to take hold of it.
I groaned, dodging Kunou's ball as it flied over my head while I was forced to shift away to avoid Konekos'… except her ball completely missed me.
I was stunned by the development, but then I trailed the trajectory and-
"Gah!" A surprised yelp left Tsubaki's mouth as she didn't see the ball incoming from her left.
"Shinra-san has been hit, she has to leave the field."
Drat, this wasn't just taking a pleasant turn.
3 vs 4, and we had their best deployed on the first row.
I was slightly nervous by this situation and I glanced at Sona with a serious look.
The girl glanced back at me, frowning as if inquiring about what I was thinking over this instance.
"We… we are dodging."
"Dodging?" Tsubasa inquired confused.
"Dodging," I repeated mysteriously, yet the simple action was going to be the reason of our success.
While the front players were good, their only flaw was that I was their main priority.
Thus, by focusing on dodging, I was going to offer the girls to my sides to finally intervene and score some free hit.
The round started with a new wave of nervousness as the three opponents before us did as I had expected.
Rias threw her ball first, followed by Kunou and Koneko.
Nervously, I drifted around to dodge the triple attack, managing just barely to not get touched by any as Tsubasa took the closest that had landed on our field and… launched her mightiest throw at Rias.
It was a blur, it promised eternal pain and injustice to its target and… the redhead ducked to avoid it, shying away from even daring to catch it.
The issue behind this quick-thinking was that the very one member behind her was left to deal with this situation.
Issei had tried his best to keep track over the match, yet the more intense it was getting, the more difficult it was for him to understand what was going on.
So when his Buchou ducked and offered clear sight over the field, his eyes widened in pale shock as he barely noticed the ball rushing towards him.
Groaning and yelping in pain, the sphere impacted on his stomach.
If it had been a couple of centimeters lower than that… I think there would've been a funeral by the end of that day.
Still, that was a point and Momo reported it.
"Hyoudou-san has been struck, please vacate the field."
The boy had to be hauled by Kiba because of the agony he was now suffering about.
"'Basa, I think you were close to commit murder there," I pointed out at the blue-haired girl.
The young woman merely shrugged. "It's alright, he would've respawned."
...Wait, what?
"This isn't a videogame, 'Basa-"
"But he is fine?"
I'm starting to remember way too fondly why I never went too close to her while she was doing any sport-related exercise.
Still, my mind turned back to the main problem and I saw that the round was about to restart.
Just as everyone prepared to merely dodge… I decided to rush forward, surprising Rias to stay unmoving as I ran towards the central ball and I took it-!
Only to realize that both Kunou and Koneko were already aiming at me with theirs.
"We got you, Niichan!" "Senpai!"
I tensed up as I backed away, yet I could see the balls already flying and I reacted on pure instinct.
I lifted my own sphere up and something rather shocking happened.
As I brought my 'defense' up, the ball made the two others approaching bounce away from me, missing my fingers by just a little.
The bounce was just… divine as the balls arrived right at the waiting hands of the two ladies and they both struck, one towards Rias, while the other one against Koneko.
The silver-haired Nekoshou was the one to go out first.
"Toujou-san has been hit first, please leave the field."
The girl huffed but nodded as she calmly walked away and to the stands where the others were sitting by.
The game was coming to a close situation and I was feeling the panic rising up at the sight.
One of the balls was removed to increase the difficulty of the match.
I prepared for the most intense minutes of this days, perhaps even more intense than training with Baraqiel.
At least that was training, this is a genuinely important situation I couldn't truly afford to lose right now.
The whistle rang again and we all sprung to action towards the balls.
Rias got the central one first, while Sona got the one on the right.
"Rias, let's end this," The bespectacled girl announced, aiming at her friend much to the latter surprise.
The redhead recovered by the surprise quickly, throwing the ball at the same time as her current foe.
Both orbs struck them both by the arms and-
"Gremory-san and Sitri-san have been hit at the same time, you've lost."
"WHAT?!" Both girls inquired loudly, even Sona seemed to break away from her usual composure for this occasion.
"You both hit each other at the same time, thus you both lost at the same time," Momo explained calmly. "And now it's just Kunou-san and Hoitsu-kun."
...I think this was staged somehow, but I wasn't truly sure about it.
I stared at the kitsune, I could see some giddiness as she prepared for the last round.
"I'm gonna win, Niichan!" She announced, making me frown a little as I thought about this and… sighed.
"I suppose you could but… I think it's best to stop there," I replied calmly, smiling even as I stared at the confused girl.
"What?"
"Ku-chan, there are some bets that have been set about whom was going to win," I revealed quietly, making her eyes widen in surprise. "And one of the bets was that I would make skip some of the paperwork as the Treasurer for the next two weeks."
She froze at the thought. "And… wait, that means that you wouldn't have to stay there for too long."
I nodded and she tensed up.
"That also means that, if I win, you would be staying here longer than normal?" I could see her mind glowing in realization as she understood what I was referring to.
"So I should… lose?"
"Nope," I replied, ignoring some of the chorus directed at the girl to sway her to continue. "I was thinking you tell your team lost, but after having some fun playing, and that I buy you a nice ice cream before we go back home."
Her jaws dropped at the little bribe, but her interest at the sweet treat was quick to take over some reluctance about this matter.
She sighed. "Fine but… I decide the flavors."
I nodded, carefully moving by the entrance as the kitsune followed me to the stands.
I could see most of Rias' peerage groaning at the defeat, while I saw relief washing over Sona's group.
But most importantly, I saw a grinning Tsubasa staring at me with anticipation.
"Hoitsu-kun! Victory hug?"
My eyes widened, but before I could do anything about it, I saw the blue-haired girl already pouncing.
I fell on the floor, feeling the full weight of the girl pressing onto me.
The sudden reaction from those present and seeing this sight developing was instant amusement, and terrible chagrin from my part.
Before I had even the chance of trying to push the young woman off, I found another weight joining her as Kunou jumped at the opportunity for a pile up.
Next were the rest of the student council, with the exception of Tsubaki and Sona, rushing to make the most inglorious of dogpiles.
I was buried by people… and I think I saw Momo rushing to grasp at the opportunity to be 'part of the group'.
Yep, this was indeed a… sweet victory?
…
Okay, who's the owner of that cheeky hand there?
AN
It took a while, I had to update some stuff but here it is!
Dodgeball, some overly-dramatic scenes and… next is Tiamat.
Which is not a Beast II. (Sadly).
P.S. The title of this chapter was picked by translating the title given to the Italian version of the 'Dodgeball' movie. Truly a fun movie.
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REVIEW Q&A!
Sultan Asil Arslan: Maybe, I'm not 100% sure about it.
Guest (Chapter 17): Maybe.
DarklordUA1323: No.
Na2s: I don't know.
Blaze1992: Only Devils can use their magic to the BS extent of their imagination. Both cases of the Lemons have their own reasons to have both women appear 'tame' (Kuroka literally was the one to start the whole act, quite aggressively so), and I would say that Yasaka was more interested in 'seeing' before 'teaching'.
