The morning of the ranking battle...

"Get up! Today's the day, Erina!" Yuiko begged while trying to pull Erina out of bed.

Unwilling to get out of bed, Erina moaned while hugging Strawberry, "I don't wanna~! Who cares about the ranking battle?"

Sighing, Yuiko began heating up the blanket in order to draw the sloth out of the bed.

Getting Erina out of bed, Yuiko ate breakfast while keeping an eye on Erina to make sure she didn't return to bed.

Waking up after a while, Erina inhaled her breakfast before running off to catch up to Yuiko, "Wait for me, Yuiko! I don't want to walk to the arena alone!"

Waiting as Erina ran up, Yuiko teased, "Finally got up sleepy-head?"

"Yup! I'm wide awake now!" Erina replied, ignoring the obvious teasing in Yuiko's voice, "I'm ready to destroy the other teams!"

Walking into the arena, Erina asked, "How do you think we'll do? To be honest, I don't have a clue, because our team combat is pretty different from most of the other teams..."

"True, our team does use bending much more than spells," Yuiko agreed, sitting down in one of the seats near the stage, "Though I have watched a few other teams practice, and I think we stand a pretty good chance. Other teams usually have a slower start than us, so we just need to utilize that advantage and we'll do well I think."

"Cool~" Erina replied, sitting down next to Yuiko, "So we just wait for the rules to be explained and then we start fighting? From what I know, it's going to be some kind of tournament."

Waving the other group members over, Yuiko added, "I think they're also doing something with points, so it'll probably be a bit more complicated than a normal tournament..."

"Hm..." Erina pondered, watching the arrival of the administration, "Maybe it'll be multiple events... or it'll be different every month?"

Sitting up straight in her seat, Yuiko replied, "Who knows..."

Nodding at the admins on stage, Erina teased, "Well they do~"

Poking Erina's cheek, Yuiko muttered, "I don't need that cheek from you right now, young lady."

Walking up to the microphone, the principal, Edgar began, "Hello students! Welcome to the Monthly Ranking Battle! Furthermore, to all 1st-year students, welcome to your FIRST MONTHLY RANKING BATTLE!!"

Waiting for the cheers to die down, Edgar continued, "Because we have about 500 groups per grade, our battle this month will be the crowd favorite... the CLASSIC TOURNAMENT! Each year will have its own tournament, so 1st years don't worry about facing your seniors, however, once you lose a battle, you will be eliminated! So make sure to try your best right out of the gate!"

Taking over for the principal, vice-principal Louise continued, drinking some water before beginning, "Another reason you want to try right out of the gate is that, if you lose let's say second round out of the 9 round tournament, your placement will depend on your performance during your battles!"

Pausing to drink some water, Louise added, "During each battle, two judges will be watching the battle, scoring each team based on many different criteria, including but not limited to magic skill, teamwork, and efficiency."

Putting on a hat to protect herself from the sun while drinking some water, Louise explained, "Our judges will be composed of many different people, including teachers, admins, commandments, and magicians that usually serve as security!"

Waiting for the murmurs to die down by taking a drink from her water bottle Louise continued, "However, rest assured because each judge has been trained to grade each criterion as fairly as possible!"

"So..." Edgar announced, taking over for Louise, "LET THE BATTLES BEGIN! 1st years go to the North Arena, 2nd years go to the South Arena, and 3rd years stay where you are sitting! The first round will begin in 15 minutes!"

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Walking over to the North Arena, Erina asked, "So our group didn't get a bye? That's a shame..."

Holding Erina's hand, Yuiko replied, "Nope, they randomly chose 3 teams to get a bye, and our team wasn't one of them."

"Though there is still a chance that we'll get a bye," Hiroshi explained from the side, "If the other opponent doesn't show up."

"Actually in our first round we have a pretty good chance," Krystina added, "I investigated a lot of the groups, and it turns out that the group we're facing off against doesn't care too much about this ranking tournament."

Walking through the archway that led into the massive North Arena, Krystina continued, "Furthermore, our group has a pretty good reputation, you know, having 3 people with level 4 affinities, 1 person with a level 5 affinity, and Erina, the only person at the camp with 2 complex affinities."

Pulling Erina towards the board that listed which mini arena they would be fighting in, Yuiko asked, "So what you're saying is, we have a pretty good chance at a bye because they don't want to participate and are afraid of us?"

"It's over there," Krystina exclaimed, having found their mini-arena, "Also yeah, there's a good chance they won't show up. If they haven't shown up 15 minutes after the fight begins, we automatically get a bye."

Following Krystina, Erina asked, "What if like... half of them show up?"

Squeezing Erina's hand, Yuiko replied, "The battle only starts if the whole group is there, so it's fair."

Bewildered at how everyone knew more than her about the tournament, Erina asked, "Where did you guys find all the information about the tournament? Like... did I miss something?"

"Yeah you did miss something," Vladimir answered from the side, "When we were leaving after the announcement, you didn't read the message that we got on the terminal. We didn't say anything since you seemed to really like one of the clouds."

Blushing a little while entering the mini-arena, Erina defended, "B-but the c-cloud... the cloud looked like a bunny, okay?!"

Giggling, Yuiko replied, "Yeah we know your obsession with bunnies, so we didn't bother you~ you looked so cute while admiring the cloud too~"

"How can you say that..." Erina mumbled while flushing, "It's embarrassing..."

Sitting down next to Erina to wait for the match to start, Yuiko teased, "I know~"

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Meanwhile...

"Just get a room! How are they 'just friends'?!" Krystina whisper-shouted while iron-claw clamping Vladimir's shoulder.

Feeling the familiar shoulder pain, Vladimir turned to Hiroshi while sighing, "Ah... the girls are doing their thing again..."

Sighing as well, Hiroshi asked, "So how are you doing? Read any good books lately?"

Esiyx

Thanks for reading~! Please comment or rate~!
I spent so much time debating how many groups there would be...
I kinda just chose a random number... I don't know...
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Also someone commented that Louise drinks a lot of water, so I just went with it?
Originally it was because I didn't know what else to say... but now! Now, it's because Louise is a health guru, so she makes sure to drink tons of water!
Especially while speaking, to make sure that she's hydrated, as well as making sure her throat is being taken care of!
[(◡‿◡) Another amazing author-patented hot-fix]