Chapter 70: I’ll Play Your Game

  It was obvious what Dr Connor’s intentions were.

  "You want me to help you detain Soren,” I said.

  "I didn't say that."

  "You're clearly implying that."

  "Again, I didn't say that."

  "It's alright, I get it. No school would request a student for assistance in detaining a criminal. But if the student forced their way into the operation themselves, that would be a different story. Is that what you're getting at?"

  A huge grin crept across Dr Connor's face. "What are your plans going forward?"

  It was an easy option. The opportunity to protect my friends from a threat, to finally fight someone worthy, and to earn some extra credits?

  Wait, about the last one. "Do I get some compensation for my efforts?" I asked.

  "We happen to have a surplus of credits, as it happens. Maybe we'll give it to someone deserving enough."

  "I'm in."

  Dr Smith coughed, shaking his head. He turned away to conceal the amusement in his eyes.

  Dr Connor continued, "We'll contact you when we're ready. Remember to keep everything confidential. I trust you know that it's for the safety of both you and your friends. If there isn't anything else, you're dismissed."

  "No, sir." I got up, bowed, and headed for the exit.

  "I told you, that boy is something special..." I overheard Dr Connor say as I left the room.

  My friends had decided to gather at a quiet place, more specifically the rooftop garden that Scarlette and I had been to previously.

  The room I had just left was close enough that we all arrived at around the same time. Scarlette was with them. She looked disappointed, but thankfully, she didn’t seem any worse for wear.

  “You feeling alright?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I was just a little dazed. The medics have assured me that I’ll be fine, and to go back to them if anything crops up.”

  “I see. You gave it a good shot,” I attempted to comfort her.

  She sat down heavily on one of the benches. “Well, it is what it is. I can’t take anything away from Asher there, he deserved to win. Also, I don’t have to face you in the finals, so I don’t feel too bad,” she smiled wearily at me.

  “Does that mean both you and Zara will be sharing third place?” Kaede asked.

  “That’s the thing. Historically, the losers from the semi-finals can either choose to share the third place spot, or battle it out and claim the spot for themselves,” Scarlette replied.

  “What’s the point of that?” Jonah asked.

  “Traditionally, the two losers would share third place. But there was an incident a couple years back where both losers refused to share it and asked the officials if they could battle for it. The officials agreed, and since then, it’s been an option,” I explained.

  There was a moment of silence.

  “Um, has Zara given her stance on it?” Kaede prodded gently.

  Scarlette shook her head. “No… but I’m sure she’d be raring to have another go at me.”

  “How long do you have to decide?”

  "I gotta decide within the next two hours."

  Kaede gasped. “Two hours? That’s not a lot of time at all!”

  “The match, if it happens, will be right before my fight with Asher. So, yeah, there’s not much time,” I added. We’d been briefed about this during the opening ceremony.

  Scarlette looked like she was struggling to say something. “Um, actually… I’m not really in the mood for another fight so soon…”

  “Whatever decision you make, we’re behind you,” Kaede took a seat beside Scarlette, placing a hand on her back.

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  Scarlette gave us a small smile. “Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. Oh yeah, how’d the match between you and Zara go?” she asked, turning to me.

  “It went as you’d expect,” I said.

  “They really should allow betting. Imagine how much someone could make by going all in on Cadel,” Scarlette proposed.

  Jonah snickered. “You know that’s illegal here, right?”

  “A girl can dream, you know?”

  And then it happened.

  Our banter was soon interrupted by an unexpected figure, who floated down towards us from the edge of the roof.

  “Hey,” Zara waved awkwardly.

  “What are you doing here?!” Jonah blurted, out of confusion if anything.

  I snuck a glance at Scarlette. She was watching Zara with wide, timid eyes.

  Zara landed in front of us. “I’m here to discuss the third-place match with you,” she said, her eyes locking onto Scarlette.

  “Wait a minute, how did you know we’re here?” Kaede asked.

  “I was searching all over for you guys. Then I came across Asher, who suggested this place. I’m not sure how he knew, but he was right. Would’ve been easier if we had each other’s contact info,” she added as an afterthought.

  “So… you wanna go ahead with the third-place match?” Scarlette asked meekly. “Honestly, I’m not really—”

  “Quite the contrary, actually. I was gonna say, I have no intention of battling you for third place,” Zara stated matter-of-factly.

  The rest of us couldn’t quite believe it.

  “Um, why?” Scarlette treaded carefully.

  “I just… don’t really feel like fighting right now.”

  There was a few seconds of silence as we digested her words.

  Kaede broke the silence. “I mean, I guess it’s a little hard to fight so soon after a loss… no offence by the way!” she added quickly. “Please don’t feel pressured to do it.”

  Mira nodded. “Yeah, there’s not really much reason for you guys to fight it out, right? Like, they’ll just give both of you the third-place medal.”

  It looked like my friends were accepting of her words, but something about her demeanour felt off. Before I could dwell on it any further, Scarlette finally spoke up.

  “If you’re cool with it, then I’m cool too. I’ll share third place with you,” she said, bearing a trace of a smile.

  “Awesome,” Zara beamed. “I’ll be taking my leave then. Good luck with your match against Asher, Cadel.”

  After she left, Scarlette let out a sigh of relief. “Oh my gosh… I’m glad that’s decided.”

  “That’s great! Now you two don’t have to fight each other!” Kaede cheered.

  Despite the now positive mood, I was slightly concerned for Zara. I made a mental note to check in on her later.

  We returned to the Grand Hall with some time left before my match. The stadium was bustling with people. We quickly pushed our way through the crowd and fortunately found some empty seats. As usual, multiple stares and glares were thrown in our direction, but we did our best to ignore them. Scarlette in particular must have felt ashamed after losing her match, but she was still here to support me, which I greatly appreciated.

  Just as we settled in, the second semi-final match for the third-years began—Neil Cosby, the gravity user from Horizon High, versus a girl named Celestia Belmond from our school. Her Ability was certainly fascinating. She appeared to be slashing at empty air, yet Neil was still being damaged.

  After watching closely, I realised what was happening. She wasn’t attacking where he stood, but where he had been a few seconds ago. Was this some sort of delayed attack? If that was the case, it could be troublesome for him.

  On the other hand, Neil seemed unable to land a hit on her. She appeared to be teleporting, dodging his gravity attacks with ease.

  Unfortunately, Neil couldn’t find a counter and soon succumbed to her attacks. But I was still mulling over her Ability. If it was time-related, that would make it an extremely rare one. A thought crossed my mind—if I rushed down to the holding rooms now, maybe I could ask her about it?

  “Sorry, guys, I gotta go prepare now,” I said, standing up.

  “Give ’em hell, Cadel!” Jonah yelled, with the rest of my friends echoing his cheers.

  When I arrived at the holding room area, Celestia was nowhere in sight. I didn’t want to scurry around too much in case I raised suspicion, and I really didn’t feel like being questioned right now, so I gave up the search.

  Her absence wasn’t surprising, but Asher should've been here by now. Was he going to be late for the finals? Or was this an intentional move? Surely not. I pushed aside the suspicion and focused on warming up. The medics had offered me a quick-recovery treatment to erase any fatigue from my previous match earlier today, but I felt perfectly fine so I declined.

  I was waiting at the player’s tunnel with 3 minutes before we were due to head out when Asher finally made his appearance.

  “Phew, almost missed it,” he feigned wiping sweat from his brow.

  “I’m glad you made it in time,” I said. “Where were you?”

  “Just had some business to take care of,” he replied nonchalantly.

  So, something he didn’t want to share. Fair enough.

  However, his next sentence was something I wasn’t expecting.

  “Anyway, I kindly request that you don’t paralyse me immediately after the battle begins. I intend to simply concede, and for that I need to be able to speak.”

  I gazed at him curiously. Was this one of his tactics? I decided to ask the question he was clearly waiting for.

  “Why're you conceding immediately?”

  “Because there’s no way I can win, am I wrong?”

  I tried to come up with a rebuttal but couldn’t think of a single strategy where he stood a chance.

  “No, you’re right.”

  “In that case, wouldn’t it be more efficient for both of us to simply not fight? You’re only in it for the credits, no?”

  The last sentence piqued my curiosity. “Wait, what do you mean—”

  “Please welcome our first contestant for the finals… Asher Marez!” the announcer’s voice reverberated around the stadium.

  “That’s my cue. I’ll see you back here in a few minutes,” he patted my shoulder as he headed into the arena.

  Only in it for the credits. That was an oddly specific line for him to say. More like, he wouldn’t have said something so random without good reason. Was he implying he knew more about me than I thought?

  More importantly, should I honour his request? If I didn’t paralyse him and he had a trick up his sleeve, I’d be making things unnecessarily complicated for myself. But if I did paralyse him, only for him to immediately concede, I’d be revealing my own caution—an admission that I saw him as a potential threat. This wasn’t just about the match, he was testing me. He was playing the long game.

  Well, if that’s what he wanted, he’d get his answer.

  As the announcer called my name, I stepped into the sunlight.