57 Off To The Lunch Break

Fwooom!! A large gust of wind spread outward in all directions as a cool-blonde femboy landed safely in the middle of the ring. He'd used Toppuu (Gust) from his spot in the bleachers and shot himself around a hundred meters in distance to the ring, landing somewhat softly in the middle, his opponent already there. His opponent, Louis Gold, was a boy only a few inches taller than he was, maybe around 5'6 or so, and he held an incredibly surprised expression as Yasuko's lifeless face appeared in front of him in such a dramatic manner. It was like he'd never seen a spell as powerful as that one or something.

Nakayama looked over to the left a little, down below, and saw that a familiar sunset brat was walking through the stadium entrance, headed towards the bleachers. He still had a couple of scratches here and there and he was given some new clothes. Nothing special, just a T-shirt and some shorts that only went about halfway down the thighs. The clothes he wore were deep blue, so they were probably just some spares made by the magic academy. The scratches he had probably indicated that he rushed his recovery and left before he was completely healed so he could eat lunch with Koko, Kiyomi, and Yasuko. Nakayama didn't dare to mention himself as a part of Chiaki's friend group, though he would certainly call himself friends with the others.

The announcer walked up on stage and got in between Yasuko and Louis Gold, both were about 3 meters apart. He pointed towards Yasuko before holding his microphone up to his lips.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen!" he shouted enthusiastically. "This will be the final match before our small break for lunch! After the fight, I'll come back to give you some details about the break, and then we'll be good to go! Nonetheless, here on the right, we have Yasuko Shiino! Yet another trap from the first magic academy quadrant! Class: F! Age: 15! Year: 10!"

He pointed to Louis.

"On the left, we have Louis Gold! Another Class F magic fighter! Age: 14! Year: 9!"

"Hngh?" Yasuko hummed a little bit as he noticed something. He thought to himself for a moment before muttering quietly enough so no one would hear him. "Yet another class F fighter, huh? There have been quite a few low-level participants in this bracket round. Perhaps that Kiyoshi Lionheart wiped out a good many of the higher-level contestants in the elimination round. That would make sense given how many people were in the middle and just how many individuals he defeated at once. Or perhaps they've decided to make this event a bit fairer?" Yasuko looked up a little and inhaled. "No. Not likely."

"Alright, fighters! Once I make my way off the ring, we'll begin!" the announcer said loudly as he began to walk off the stage. Once he did so, several seconds later, he held his hand up. "3! 2! 1!"

He lowered his hand and shouted. "Go!"

"Hmph! Hyaaagh!!" Louis shouted as he threw his foot in Yasuko's direction. He launched himself off the ground, essentially flying towards his opponent with his leg completely horizontal to the ground, his foot headed directly for Yasuko's face---

Schoom. Yasuko ducked without much effort.

"Agh!?"

"Hmph."

The monotone femboy clenched his fist, Gold hovering directly above him. It was almost as if time had stopped. Then, with speed even faster than Louis' kick, he threw his fist at the boy's face, hitting him in the cheek. In that instant, the boy's lip busted, a tooth chipped, he bit his tongue, and his body contorted a bit as he was completely changing directions due to Yasuko's punch.

"Slow," Yasuko said, his voice as dead as a doornail. His fist was deeply lunged into Louis' cheek, causing the boy's body to shoot off of his fist extremely quickly, hitting the transparent magic barrier with a loud thud and hitting the ground.

…

"..."

"..."

"...Wait…" Nakayama muttered. No one in the audience said a word. Not Kiyomi, not Koko, not Nakayama, not Chiaki who was still walking up the bleachers, not even a single soul in the audience.

"Ah-...ah…huh!?" the announcer's jaw had dropped. He was so confused he tried to fix his glasses which didn't exist. "I-I…I don't…believe it…!"

Louis Gold's body was undoubtedly on the ground, his face all beat up just from one punch, his body not moving a single inch. But…

He was out of the ring.

"I don't believe it!" the announcer shouted into the microphone as he ran over to Louis' body. He nudged his shoulder and put two fingers on his neck for a pulse before waving his hand in the air. "This is the fastest round I think I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing! Yasuko Shiino of Class F has performed a one-hit knockout on Louis Gold! He will move on to the next round!"

The crowd did not cheer. But, rather, their reactions were filled with "woah's" and "oh's" of surprise.

"Th-that's it!!?" Nakayama shouted in complete surprise, his face looking awfully similar to some crazy horror manga panel it was so contorted. "Christ, Yasuko! Go a bit easier on 'em next time? I-I don't even…"

Yasuko walked unenthusiastically of the stage, his hands in his skirt pockets and his cool blonde hair flopping all around.

"I'm hungry," he said.

It took a couple of minutes before the announcer finally returned his voice to the microphone. A couple of medics came to get Louis Gold off the ground, though his injuries couldn't have been that bad. Though, what the hell did Nakayama know? The kid probably could have bitten off his own tongue from a blow with that much force. After thinking for a second, he wondered why the announcer never said the fighters' levels. Perhaps it was to keep the element of surprise? If the audience knew a level 1000 was going against a level 100, they'd know who was going to win immediately. He couldn't determine whether or not it was a smart tactic for the entertainment of viewers, but he supposed it didn't really matter.

"O-okay, folks…" the man-child said into the microphone, his enthusiasm gone and replaced with shock. "We're all in the same boat here. I did not expect that last round to take only a total of 2.5 seconds, but here we are. Regardless, we are about to commence our scheduled lunch break! We'll give you all about 30 to 40 minutes or so of proper eating time. We will be sending out about 400 employees with magic buttons containing meals around the bleachers, so feel free to accept those for a minimum price of 300 Euls! Of course, you are free to leave the stadium and do as you wish for these 30 to 40 minutes. Remaining enlisted fighters may come to me and receive a magic pad that displays the bracket on a small screen if you plan on eating outside the stadium. It will tell you what fights have been completed, so you will know when your turn is coming up. Thank you!"

With that, the lunch break was about to commence.

After some talk with Chiaki about his healing process, Kiyomi stood up on his seat.

"Guys!" he shouted, putting a hand to his chest and puffing it out. "We shall not dine within this establishment! We shall seek other places of consumption elsewhere and we shall enjoy ourselves until the next matches begin! Lord Chiaki! I would recommend that you snatch one of those, whaddya-call-it, magic square things from the announcer man! Thank you!"

For whatever reason, he decided to speak in a brazen tone, something like an extremely cartoony superhero one might find in a children's show.

Chiaki gave Kiyomi a funny look and then rested his eyes upon Koko.

"...You guys want to go somewhere else to eat?" he asked in a calm tone, completely opposite to Kiyomi's. Though, the overzealous hyperactive one was still standing atop his seat with that same over-the-top stance he'd been putting on for the last few seconds.

"Mhm…" Koko nodded cutely. Just a couple of minutes ago, when Chiaki made it to the bleachers, the shy one expressed his previous worry for the brat in a manner that melted Nakayama's heart. To him, Chiaki and Koko's relationship was one of the cuter things in life, but he definitely wouldn't voice his opinion on it.

"Well…okay, then," Chiaki responded to Koko before looking down at Yasuko who was near the stadium's entrance. The monotone femboy had his mouth slightly hanging open, motioning for the others to go down there. "I guess he had the same idea."

"Great! We're off!" Kiyomi shouted, hopping off his seat and making his way for the stairs. Chiaki and Koko soon followed, Nakayama just behind them.

When they finally made it to where Yasuko was, Chiaki went to the ring to fetch one of those "magic pads" the man-child had spoken about a little earlier. The cool-blonde femboy didn't seem to care for one since they'd just return when it was Chiaki's turn to fight again anyway.

"Yasuko! We all saw that, you know!" Kiyomi said, pumping his fists in the air whilst praising Yasuko. "I don't know how you freakin' did it, but that was the quickest round ever! I bet even that Kiyoshi guy would've taken longer to beat that kid, don't you think?"

"I guess," Yasuko responded, seemingly not very concerned about the match he was just a part of. He suffered no injuries. It was a flawless victory within the first 3 seconds (specifically, about 2.5 seconds). "Anyway, where are we eating? I am hungry."

"Uhm…w-we could all go to that family restaurant," Koko spoke up softly. If one looked really closely, they'd notice just how much shorter that trap was than any other in the group. It was uncomfortably noticeable, like he didn't belong. "Kazoku Grill… (Family Grill)?"

"Oh, oh! Yeah, that's a good one!" Kiyomi chimed in. "Say, we're like a big family, right? Nakayama's the daddy, I'm the mommy and you, Yasuko, and, Chiaki are all the kids!"

Nakayama facepalmed while Yasuko somehow facepalmed with only his words.

"I'm the oldest," the cool-blonde femboy said with complete monotony as Chiaki began making his way back to the group.

"Chiaki, come on! We're gonna catch the bus!" Kiyomi called out, prompting Chiaki to jog to get to the rest of the group. As he made it back, Kiyomi informed him of where they were about to go.

As they walked through the short, shaded, tunnel-like area that existed between the stadium and the rest of the world, noticing that hundreds of other people had the same idea as them, they finally made it outside the stadium. At this point, it was around 11:30 A.M., so their stomachs were naturally growling a bit since it was around that time that lunch was an accepted meal. Though, as they peered out at their surroundings, they noticed that there was one small problem.

There were no busses. All that they saw was an empty parking lot.

"Well, that's a nuisance," Nakayama said without a hint of concern in his voice. It was almost as if he'd expected that much. He and the others took a look behind them and noticed the thing that almost everyone was headed towards.

There was a warping station with 4 portals for leaving the stadium and 4 for entering. Every one of the hundreds of people who were leaving the stadium were headed towards those as their only means of transportation, aside from a few people who simply jumped or flew using crazy ass magic spells that Nakayama had no idea how to do.

Yet.

Kiyomi put his hands on his head in a panicked fashion and started jumping around sporadically.

"Huh!? B-but how are we supposed to get to the city!?" he yelled. "I didn't bring my wallet, so I don't have any money to use the portal! Y-Yasuko, do you have any?"

"No." Yasuko nodded his head with monotony and rubbed his belly like he was hungry. "But, if we can't go anywhere, then I'll eat one of you."

Chiaki put a hand up to his chin and spoke as he was thinking.

"I didn't bring my wallet either. And, if the bus doesn't come, then that means we can't go get our wallets from our dorm, which means we'd be forced to stay here and eat nothing since we can neither travel to the city using the portals nor buy any of the magic buttons-..."

"I brought mine," Nakayama said, holding up his wallet near his face and revealing some cash and coins. In reaction to that sudden reveal, Kiyomi jumped with a giant smile smeared across his face and dashed over a few feet to Nakayama. He grabbed his wallet and held it up in the air like some kind of trophy.

"Geez! If you had this, you shoulda brought it up earlier!" Kiyomi shouted, still holding up the wallet. "I have conquered the wallet, ladies and gentlemen!"

Koko gave a gentle clap to Kiyomi's greatness as Nakayama snatched his wallet back.

"I'll take this back now," he said, slightly annoyed. He stuck his fingers in and fished out five 50 Eul coins and handed one to each of the femboys except for Chiaki who was hesitant to take anything from Nakayama, afraid he'd owe him something. As the level one held the 50 Eul coin near him, Chiaki leaned back a little and stared at it with slightly pinkish cheeks.

"Mm-..." Chiaki hesitated while staring at the coin in Nakayama's hands. The level 1 gave him a puzzled look, cocking his head to the side and staring at the sunset brat with childish eyes.

"Hm? What's the matter?" he asked gently, a voice so delicate a butterfly wouldn't mind landing on his nose.

"...Tch. Nothing…!" Chiaki grunted as he scoffed and snatched the coin from Nakayama's fingers. "Th-thanks…" He spoke extremely sheepishly, it was almost as if he was embarrassed that he'd have to accept money from this bastard who stood about 6 inches taller than him. Nakayama returned his head to its natural posture.

"...Well that's a first…" Nakayama muttered to himself, referring to Chiaki's reluctant gratitude. Of course, the brat heard him and retorted sharply.

"What!? I'm just being polite!!" he screamed, probably catching the attention of onlookers. "Is there a fucking problem!!?"

"...No?"