200 Way Back When
The orb quickly rotated even faster, at an obscene speed.
It quickly became a tornado that grew taller and taller, sucking up all the Zhulong in the sky, only adding to the tornado of lights that illuminated the relatively dark school.
『...How's that… for a finishing move?』[Nova]
Nova's Raiment disappeared into nothingness as he fell to the ground, his dueling mana shield breaking with the fall.
After a couple of seconds of the tornado raging, he heard another thud right next to him, and a groan.
『...You're a bitch, you know that?』[Rai]
He laughed a bit, before the pain in his body stacked up and he grunted in pain.
Nova sucked in a bit of the cold morning air before responding.
『...So are you.』[Nova]
The emotionless voice of Genesis Academy rang out in the area.
『Both mana shields were destroyed at the same time.』
『In the match between Nova and Rai, there is a tie.』
『...Damn! I thought I got you good, too..』[Nova]
『...Dude, shut the hell up..』[Rai]
The two of them laid there on the ground, laughing at each other.
『Blessed Flame Rebirth… Here...』[Nova]
Embers of flame covered both him and Rai.
『..Thanks.』[Rai]
『...That move you used was good… When did you come up with that?』[Nova]
『Zhulong helped me out. My seed isn't so constrained like yours is, so I just combined a weakened version of Extend with a bunch of other things. How about you? That move was… crazy.』[Rai]
『...Reischneid told me to do some vague things and I pulled it off. I've never used that move before...』[Nova]
『Really…? Man… screw that guy, and screw you for pulling it off.』[Rai]
Nova chuckled to himself before the pain stopped him again.
『...The shield doesn't block damage so well, does it?』[Nova]
『...Damn it, yeah. It realllllly sucks when you're on the side that's getting owned...』[Rai]
Nova slowly pulled himself up, but ended up falling back on his back once another pang of pain hit his abs.
He tried once again, but once he was up, he felt a wall supporting him from behind.
『...There, can't fall down if I've got your back, right?』[Rai]
Nova turned his head a bit to the side to see Rai supporting him with his back.
『...Heh. Right. Just like… old times.』[Nova]
Nova shut his eyes and smiled to himself.
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes while the flames calmly burned.
『...Hey, Nova. Do you remember how we met?』[Rai]
Nova stared far into the distance, at the school.
『...Yeah. You were all I had back then.』[Nova]
He shut his eyes as he began to reminisce.
...
『...Kuh..! Kugh..!』
A younger Nova sat against a wall, soaking wet with kids pointing at him and laughing.
He had tears running down his face as he shouted at them.
『Why..? Why are you all doing this to me…?!』[Young Nova]
A boy threw the bucket used to throw water at him at Nova, causing it to hit him in the nose and causing blood to start dripping down his face.
『You think you're cool just because you can go home and stuff by yourself, don't you! Because your parents give you re...spon-suh…bility?!』[Boy with brown hair]
『Th..That's not true..!』[Young Nova]
Another boy with short hair kicked Nova in the stomach.
『Guh..!』[Young Nova]
『My crush saw you looking cool in class and said that she liked you..! You're nothing special, though, are you?! You aren't "muh-mu-...mature"!』[Boy with short hair]
Off to the side, a young boy with medium length red hair stared silently.
『...I… never said that!』[Young Nova]
The third and final boy, a boy with blonde hair kicked Nova in the face again, letting the blood spill from his nose endlessly.
『I know who you really are. You don't have a mom, do you?!』[Blonde Boy]
The boy with red hair's hand twitched a bit.
The blonde boy kicked Nova in the shoulder again.
『Your dad isn't even home most of the time! That's why he never picks you up! You're just an orphan!』[Blonde Boy]
He kept applying pressure onto Nova's shoulder, causing Nova to cry harder.
『I… have a mom!』[Nova]
The blonde boy scoffed at him.
『Like hell you-』[Blonde Boy]
The boy's sentence was cut off by a punch hitting him straight in the nose and sending him tumbling to the ground.
『Doah?!』[Blonde Boy]
『Who?!』[Boy with brown hair]
The two kids turned over to stare at the kid who punched the boy in the face.
『R….Rai?!』[Boy with short hair]
The young Rai spit onto the boy with short hair's shirt and punched him too.
『Gugh?!』[Boy with short hair]
The boy with brown hair backed off a bit, looking scared.
『Wh...What are you doing, Rai?!』[Boy with brown hair]
He stared at them with a cold gaze.
『...Tch. You looked like you were all having fun, so I wanted to join in.』[Young Rai]
He looked down at the bloodied Nova and offered him a hand.
Nova weakly raised his head to see the hand.
『...It's no fun playing on a team alone, right?』[Rai]
The blonde boy finally got his nerve back and began to shout at them from the floor.
『Y-you think you can get away with doing this to us?!』[Blonde Boy]
Nova raised his hand slowly, before being raised to the ground by Rai.
『...You can't reason with some people. Use your fists to solve problems that words can't solve.』[Young Rai]
Nova looked at Rai in the eyes, and found himself reflected in Rai, somehow.
He wiped his blood with his hand, nodded, and went over to the brown haired boy, which was out of expectation for Rai.
『...Hey, you have something on your shirt, you know?』[Young Nova]
The boy looked down at his shirt, completely taken by surprise by a right hook straight from Nova.
He went tumbling to the floor, where Nova followed up by spitting a mix of blood and saliva on him.
『...H...oly...』[Young Rai]
Nova looked back at Rai, with a cool look on his face.
『...How was that for following your lead?』[Young Nova]
A shuffling noise was heard from behind Nova, which led to Rai rushing out at Nova.
Nova quickly jumped back out of reflex, but found Rai's fist hitting the blonde boy once again.
『...Not bad! But let's finish the job before we talk any more!』[Young Rai]
…..
At the end of the fight, all the other kids were on the floor, crying and beaten.
Nova and Rai were panting, with their backs to each other.
『...Haaah… Haaah… Damn… They're weak, but… if I'm tired from just that, I guess I am, too...』[Young Rai]
『...Haha...』[Young Nova]
『...My name is Rai, how about you?』[Young Rai]
『...Nova. Thanks for helping me out...』[Young Nova]
Rai sighed slowly.
『...Hey, if those guys give you any more trouble… I'm always down to make it two against them.』[Young Rai]
『...I appreciate it, Rai.』[Young Nova]
He raised his fist to the side, just barely in Nova's peripheral vision.
『...What is this?』[Young Nova]
『...A symbol of friendship. Bump fists with me.』[Young Rai]
Nova slowly raised his fist up, before bumping wrists with Rai's wrist.
『...Hey, not bad.』[Young Rai]
『...Hahaha… I'd like to see them show their faces again...』[Young Nova]
Rai gave Nova a concerned look, but Nova couldn't see it from the angle they were sitting.
『...Hey, did they hit your head a little too hard? You look more messed up than they do...』[Young Rai]
....
Nova sat still with his back to Rai, immersing himself in the memories.
『...To think that was only a few years ago...』[Nova]
『Tch. I'd beat those kids up again...』[Rai]
Nova wiped his nose, as if he was remembering his nosebleed.
『Heheh. You've had my back since way back when, haven't you?』[Nova]
『You bet I did. Us "orphans" gotta stick together.』[Rai]
Nova raised his fist to the side while staring at the direction of the rising sun.
『...Good fight, bro.』[Nova]
Rai took a moment before bumping wrists with Nova, staring at the darkness being chased out by the light in the sky.
『G.G., dude. Nice fucking moves.』[Rai]
The decimated courtyard had the sound of two boy's laughter echo about.
