Chapter 5

Sleep was not coming.

Rolling over onto her side, Rachel called out her watch, only to be disappointed to see that it was the second hour of the night. After lying on the bed for a while longer and realizing that it will not help, she got out of bed. Quickly throwing on the clothes she had left on the chair beside her, Rachel left the room.

As she turned to her right, she nearly collided with Hizu, who was standing with his back against the wall. It took her a few seconds to get over her bewilderment, and then she realized that the boy had been standing there since Rachel had gone to bed. And he'd probably been here the night before, too.

"You..." The girl began to speak, but then just exhaled and waved. "Never mind."

As she passed Hizu, Rachel walked leisurely down the corridor. She had no destination as such, just wanted to walk and clear her mind. The interesting thing is that as long as the participants observe the simple rules, which include the prohibition of attacking other regulars or damaging the floor's property, the Rankers care absolutely nothing about what regulars do and spend their time on. Those might not attend classes at all and it would be their problems and points.

Anyway, in her own thoughts, Rachel didn't notice how she found herself in an unfamiliar room. Despite the night time, it was quite bright, allowing a girl to see the unfamiliar area in detail. And there was a lot to see: on the left and right sides there was different greenery, creating some semblance of small parks, through which she could walk if she wanted, and in the center there was ... a road? dotted with bluish rectangles. The room itself seemed to stretch endlessly into the horizon, and only after a closer look could one see the outline of a building at the other end.

As she approached one of the rectangles, Rachel was somewhat surprised to find a regular inside. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully with his eyes closed, and that was what the girl thought at first, but when she looked up she found a plaque with the participant's name and the years of his life. The realization came at once. Rachel had come to the cemetery. Rachel wondered, if she walked through it, would she be able to see the faces of those regulars who had been unlucky enough to meet her team during their first test?

"It's a depressing place, isn't it?" The blonde asked the question, but there was no answer. Given Hizu's own reticence, who was even considered mute for that reason, it was to be expected. But Rachel didn't like it very much. "How difficult it is with you..."

The girl stood in the cemetery for some time longer, looking at something on the horizon without any particular thought. Sighing heavily, Rachel decided to head back to her room, especially since the insomnia seemed to have receded. In confirmation of this, the girl yawned widely. As soon as regular walked back into the building, she nearly bumped into someone. Still yawning, the girl looked up and ran into the frowning face of Lero Ro. Apologetically, Rachel was about to head further toward her room when the Ranker called out to her:

"Miss Rachel, I'm going to ask you just for a second, since we crossed paths here," Lero Ro glimpsed a glance in Hizu's direction, then continued. "One of the participants from the other Zone asked about you. Does the name Baam mean anything to you?"

"W... n-no, nothing," the Ranker could see the girl's reaction when he said the name. And the trembling of her voice indicated the real state of affairs.

"Well, in that case I will tell Baam that you are not the one he is so ardently seeking," Lero Ro shrugged, he was not going to meddle and understand the relationship between the participants, and the request of regular he decided to comply only because it did not require any effort. "In that case, I apologize for the delay. Oh yes, I remind you that you are not allowed to move between zones."

"Thank you for your concern, Administrator," Rachel smiled back, and then continued on her way. Hizu silently and silently followed her. After watching regulars leave, Lero Ro shook his head and returned to the problem that had been troubling him for the second day in a row...

***

In the morning Rachel was greeted by the annoying beeping of the clock, and her attempt to find it with her blind hand to turn it off was unsuccessful. She had to open her eyes. Finally, after turning off the disgusting sounding object, the girl laid back down on the bed. The idea that it was possible to turn off the alarm clock by a voice command did not come immediately, and did not stay for long, being displaced by the struggle between the desperate reluctance to get out of bed and the need to get up for class. Technically, there was still a full hour before those began, but that time would run out pretty quickly over the morning routine and breakfast.

Of course, it was possible to skip class and lose some points, but the counterargument to that was something else. Activating the Lighthouse that was lying on the bedside table, Rachel opened a small table that listed the names of the contestants and their current scores on each line. It had been posted in the main hall of the building on the seventh day of class, and it was also posted on the first day; she just hadn't noticed it then. Juga helped here. Thanks to him, Rachel was now able to compare the values of the ragulars. The conclusion was disappointing.

Even though the girl had had a good advantage in points over the other regulars from the first test (though to be fair, she had done almost nothing there), the gap had now narrowed quite noticeably. If she stays that way, in a week she'll be overtaken by at least Anayuma, who started at the bottom of the list, and a couple of others are closing the gap as well. Technically, it was too early to worry, for even if Anayuma overtook Rachel in points, the blonde would still move up to the next floor, but it was those two Regulars that also were the problem. Worsening the mood was the fact that the girl had absolutely no idea what she could do about it, and her feelings of powerlessness and helplessness were increasing with each passing day.

There were no ideas, and there was little point in continuing to lie around and so, with a disappointed sigh, Rachel got out of bed and went about her morning routine. As she left the room, she caught a glimpse of Hizu absence from his usual position, but she did not pay much attention to it. On her way to class, Rachel had enough time to look in the canteen, but she had no appetite, so she limited herself to a simple coffee, taking a couple of apples with her just in case. It did not help Rachel mood that today's lesson was again purely about theory and every minute spent inside the lighthouse, the girl was overcome by a desire to do something more active, to run, to wave her arms - no matter, the main thing wanted to get rid of that nasty feeling that haunted her since morning. As soon as the class was over, Rachel quickly left the classroom for the only place she hadn't been to until now: the training ground.

To her considerable surprise, place was already occupied. Not that that was really a problem: there were several areas in the area she could just leave for another if it wasn't for the regulars here. Androssi and Hizu, and the Ranker. If Rachel remembered correctly, the Ranker's name was Hax. Ranker noticed Rachel, but did not say anything, continuing to follow the discussion between the Regulars. Well, discussion: the Princess spoke, while Hizu only occasionally nodded or shrugged. At some point they moved slightly away from each other. So that immediately after the Ranker's wave off, they would meet in hand-to-hand combat.

Androssi seized the advantage from the first seconds, showering a hail of blows on Hizu and having no problem dodging the rare, but no less dangerous counterattacks. However, despite such a strong onslaught, the boy calmly blocked or dodged the fists and less often the heels of the Princess. Realizing that such tactics were not working, Androssi right in the middle of a combination of punches cut the distance.

For a while Regulars stared at each other.

A blink, and Hizu makes a dash towards the Androssi, simultaneously swinging for the punch. Once at the right distance, the guy stops abruptly and instead of the original attack, grabs the surprised Princess's arm, slightly outstretched for a block. Androssi frees the limb with ease, but due to the force exerted, she literally loses her balance for a moment, for which she nearly gets kicked in the knee, ending up with only torn pantyhose. Which, however, judging by the girl's face - not much better.

However, the attempted counterattack was thwarted by a successful (or unsuccessful, depending on how you look at it) move by Hizu under the attacking arm. Princess had to break the distance again, but it was as if the Hizu was just waiting for that, because the girl had barely begun to move, and he was already swinging in an attempt to undercut his retreating opponent. At first it looked as if Androssi had managed to avoid that as well, but as soon as the girl's feet touched the ground again, Princess fell to the ground with a surprised shriek. Anyone watching could instantly understand the reason for this: one only had to look at the Princess's right shoe to see the broken heel.

Hizu did not move, evidently and quite rightly considering the duel to be over. Androssi, on the other hand, kicked off his shoes in one motion and rose sharply to his feet.

The clapping from the Ranker's side prevented the fight from continuing.

"Gee, didn't I tell you this was likely to happen, Princess?" From the sound of her voice, Hax was pleased with the sparring. Androssi didn't have time to answer, and not that the Ranker needed to. "Certainly beauty is an important characteristic, but it is best achieved without making such sacrifices."

"I'll think about it, Miss Hax," the slight irritation in the Princess' could be easily noticed.

"Of that I have no doubt. Now, as to your request," Hax tilted her head, "I did wonder what you could show me without restriction on the Shinsu, and Quant has been buzzing my ear about Hizu's incredible abilities. I suppose the day after tomorrow at the same time and place would be fine?"

Regulars nodded briefly.

"All right then, I'll be going now, I have another group to go to. You have a guest that was also waiting there," said Ranker, walking to the exit of the training ground, clearly hinting at Rachel who was still standing in the doorway.

"Well, it's not that..." muttered Rachel as Ranker passed by, "I just wondered what was going on."

"Well, I wanted to see if I really was the strongest in our team," Androssi crossed her arms over her chest, glancing in Hizu's direction. "Technically, no one forbids the regular to spar with each other, but full-fledged fights between regulars are forbidden, so I had to ask the Ranker for help."

"Team?" Rachel looked questioningly at the Princess.

"Well, yes, me, you, and your bodyguard," Princess shrugged vaguely. "I'm fine with this lineup. Maybe some of the rest of the trash that's also on this floor will be good enough to go with us to the next floor."

"Oh... I see," Rachel bite her lip as she thought about something else.

"Oh, by the way, have you finally decided to get in shape?" This question took Rachel by surprise. Before she could answer, Androssi continued. "Of course the Light Bearers spend most of their time inside the Lighthouse, but even they sometimes have to move around the battlefield or just run away from something. I'll help you with that, and not only that! Now go on!"

Androssi's commanding voice clearly hinted that she had no intention of hearing no. Most likely the Princess had simply decided to amuse herself at someone else's (Rachel) expense (or was this just a way to vent her frustration over a lost sparring match?) For it was no secret that Rachel was in poor physical shape. However, Rachel wasn't going to argue or protest much: she herself was going to the Training Ground with a similar intention, of course it wouldn't solve her main problem with the points, but it could get the unnecessary thoughts out of her head.

Exhaling deeply and a little doomfully, Rachel, after all, began to run. Surprisingly, Androssi decide to run as well even without her shoes. Only Hizu, remained standing where he had been since the sparring ended, and what's more, it might be just imagination, but did something changed in Hizu gaze?