Well, just cause you're rivals doesn't mean you have to be a jerk about it. So...
With an honest smile you step forward and grab Iji's hand with your own. Her's is smaller and softer than yours, but you firmly shake it all the same. You keep a warm smile on your face as you speak, "It's nice to meet you. Names Nagai Hayato. Hope we can all have a great fight!"
[A Good First Impression + Empathy Skills]
The reaction you get...is not one you expected.
The girl makes an "Eep!" sound before pulling away and moving to hide behind the other one. You raise an eyebrow as you straighten up,s taring after Iji in confusion. She leans over the other girl's shoulder. There's a slight pink on her face as she speaks, "Haruka. He's. What. Headmistress. Warned. About."
The other girl, Haruka you now know, widens her eyes as she turns to look at you. She gets into a guarded stance with both her hands up, "So, it is true. Well know this, Nagai! Your male wiles will not have any effect on me, Iji, or Yoko-senpai!"
You tilt your head, thinking there may have been a bit of confusion here. So, you ask in as honest a tone as you can, "What are you talking about? I'm just trying to be friendly."
This time Haruka's cheeks turn pink. She takes a shaky step back, before leaning over to speak to Iji, "He really is dangerous. Go tell Yoko-senpai that-"
"Tell me what?"
You all turn to your right to see that the girl who was yelling at Sensei Hazma had made her way over to you. Behind her are your Sensei and the Headmistress of Jindai. The girl looks between her fellows and you with raised eyebrows. She takes a moment to adjust the horns on her head (do they allow those in her school?) before focusing her gaze on the other girls, "Did something happen while I walked away?"
"Senpai!" the two girls say in unison. Both rush over to the new girl and hide behind her back. Haruka points at you and starts talking, "Watch out! He's that kind, honest type of man that the Headmistress warned about! The one that catches you off guard with how nice he is!"
The girl, who you're guessing is Yoko, looks over at you. You wave hello while smiling at her. She sighs before turning around and flicking both girls in the head, "Dummies! That was just something the Headmistress said to mess with us. Right, Headmistress Yukinori?"
Yoko looks up at the Headmistress. The woman's face doesn't lose its disinterested look as she just stares at Yoko. The horn headed girl starts getting nervous. She chuckles before asking again, "It...it was a joke. Right? Headmistress?"
Still nothing but silence.
Yoko's face gets paler by the second. She starts chuckling again, before hugging Haruka and Iji under her arms. She turns to look back at you before shouting, "Right! That's what I thought! Now, come on girls, we need to practice our teamwork for the fight. Lets go."
She walks off, pulling the other two girls with her. Every now and then they glance back at you, all three of their cheeks turning pink now.
"What was that all about?" you ask, turning to the three other people in the area with you. Hose shrugs so the both of you turn to your Sensei.
Sensei shakes his head and looks towards the Headmistress, "You still haven't kicked that habit of making your disciples believe in nonsense, Yuki?"
The Headmistress crosses her arms over her chest. She widens her stance while looking up at Sensei Hazma with the same emotionless expression, "Oh, don't act so shocked, Hazma. You know that putting irrational fears of the outside into my students is one of the few joys I have left in life. And besides, it's a precaution against any of my disciples being stolen by a pretty face and kind words. Like a certain someone I know."
"I keep telling you, that wasn't on purpose. I was just being nice, and you kept pushing the issue," your Sensei protests.
"You could've turned down any of invitations at anytime. I wouldn't have begrudged it a bit," is her response.
"I did. Once. You sent another the next day."
"I never said I would give up."
Sensei sighs with a shake of his head. He turns to you and Hose, "Nagai, Hose, follow me. We need to get to our chambers and prepare for the first few rounds."
"Yes, Sensei," you and Hose say in unison. You start to follow after the larger man, the Headmistress watching you all leave. When you pass in front of her though, you stop to ask, "Uh, hey? Those ears you all wear? Is that like...just something you do or-"
"It's the uniform. Jindai was founded by a woman who got blessed by multiple animal eared Yokai. We wear these in her honor," Yukinori taps the false ears on her head with a finger. She tilts her head to the left, "Why you asking? Getting excited at the thought of a bunch of kemonomimi running around?"
"No. I just think it's interesting. And looks pretty cute," you admit with an honest smile.
Yukinori hums at your response, "You're an honest kid. Stay away from my girls, and we won't have any problems, alright?"
You don't get a chance to respond as she turns around and walks off.
...So that's Jindai then?
...Interesting.
The Tournament itself was gonna be held in a large stadium with a dome shaped roof. The place had been completely bought out by the schools for this one event. Anyone who wasn't apart of the school but wanted to see the matches would have to pay for entry. Unless they were family of the participants or students. Then they got in for free. At the moment, all the non-combatants were inside the stadium and listening to the opening ceremonies. The introductions of the other schools, the accolades, the honoring of previous combatants, etc. etc.
But you?
You weren't apart of that.
Because you had other things to think about.
[Raijin's Secret Saviors]
"Here's your water, Nagai-san," you look to your right and see a familiar face. It's one of the twins you remember helping you during the raid. You look them up and down, recognizing her as Fujuki Midono. She gives you a smile while holding out a water bottle for you.
"Thanks," you take the bottle from her hands. Then you open it and splash it over yourself. You've only got your Karate pants on right now, so there's no need to worry about dirtying yourself. You let out a relieved sigh as the cold water falls over your skin. Out the corner of your eye, you spot the male twin, Sohei, coming over with a dry towel. He reaches over to dry you off, but you hold up a hand, "Thanks, but I got it."
You gently grab the towel from him and start drying yourself off. The two twins bow to you before backing into the crowd of your fellow Club Members. It's a good thing this locker room they set up for your team was wide as heck. Otherwise, you're not sure if they'd be able to fit all fifty of you in here. When you're done drying yourself off, you look up to see your seniors all standing in front of you and next to a white board. You give Hose, Seteke, Sakura, and Sensei Hazma a nod each, "Alright, give me the rundown. How's this gonna work?"
Sensei Hazma stepped towards the whiteboard. He picked up a black marker near the surface and started to draw. He spoke as he did so, "There are five other schools involved in this Tournament. Jindai Academy, Amaterasu High, Susanoo High, The Satsuma School, and Tosa Academy. With us included, that makes six schools in total."
He stepped away from the board, showing off a drawing of the Tournament Brackets. Raijin, Jindai, and Amaterasu were on the left, while Susanoo, Satsuma, and Tosa were on the right. Seteke stepped up next, pointing his good hand at the board, "The Brackets have already been set by random choice. Our school will be going second and will be up against Susanoo High. We're not allowed to watch the previous battle between Jindai and Tosa, nor the battle after ours between Amaterasu and Satsuma."
"Wait a sec, why aren't we allowed to watch? We're in this fight too," you ask, confused at the rules.
"It's to ensure that no school has an unfair advantage against the others," Sakura explains with a shrug, "If you see the other team fight and know you'll be up against the winners, you can better prepare for battling them."
You frown but wave for them to keep going. Hose steps up and points at where Amaterasu sits on the board, "However, all schools are told of Sole Participants when they are chosen. Mainly cause it's kind of hard to hide prodigies. So, we know for a fact that the only other Sole Participant in this Tournament belongs to Amaterasu High. We don't know anything else about them though. So, keep an eye out."
"Alright," you nod then hold out both your hands, "Now, how exactly are the matches going to work? Am I just gonna fight all three of Susanoo's students at once?"
"If you so wish," Sensei begins to explain, "As a Sole Participant, you are given a choice when it comes to the actual matches. Considering you are a single person who is expected to fight three separate bouts one after the other."
"Traditionally," Seteke takes over for Sensei, "there would be a team of three chosen students. Each one would represent a separate school of Martial Arts that is allowed in the Tournament Of The Divines; Mixed Martial Arts, Kendo, and Karate. This team would meet the other school's team in the ring, then they would each send their respective representative to fight it out."
Hose comes over and sits next to you on your bench, "But the Tournament Organizers recognize that things get messy when you bring in Sole Participants. Thus, whenever they are up against a Traditional Team, Sole Participants are able to choose to battle in one of two ways."
He brings up his hand and counts off on his fingers, "One, you can do it traditionally. Fight each representative one-on-one. In this case, you are only allowed to use the Martial Art they represent. So, Karate for the Karate guy and so on and so forth. Under these rules you'll be fighting three fights, back to back, only able to use a single Martial Art. Each match will be under the same rules as a normal match featuring that Martial Art. So, points for Kendo and Karate, and until either surrender or knock out for MMA.
"Two, you can take the special option: Fight all three at once. You essentially battle all of the representatives at the same time. This time the rules are a bit different. They each get to combine all their skills together and need to get three confirmed hits on you. If they can manage that, they win. You, on the other hand, have to get one confirmed hit on each of them, using each of the Martial Art Style at least once. That means that, no, you can't just use MMA through the whole fight. If you do, you'll get a strike and have to start the match over once the other three have had their time to recover. You only need to do one match. But you need to fight three people at once, switch up your styles mid-combat, and hit each one of them with a different style at least once."
He lets his hand fall while watching your reaction. You look him in the eye and ask bluntly, "And they made that ruleset because...?"
"Sole Participants are prodigies of the Martial Arts world, and this a Tournament dedicated to showing those things off," Sensei Hazma explains. He cross his arms and speaks in a voice filled with finality, "If you cannot prove that you have a mastery over all the Martial Arts you're meant to be representing, then you have no right holding the title of Sole Participant."
....Alright.
"And, what do I need to do to bring the gold home? Matter of fact...what do I get if I win it big?" you look around the room at your fellow club members.
Hose places an arm around your shoulder. He puts a finger to his lips, "We're gonna keep that a secret, Nagai. Will make it more special if you manage to pull it off. Though, all you gotta do is win every fight and not suffer a single loss."
"Or take any strikes for illegal behavior or maneuvers," Seteke says.
You raise a hand.
"Yes, this includes below the belt strikes," he cuts you off.
You lower your hand.
"So, Nagai, what do you think? Three One-V-One fights, or one One-V-Three fight?"
[] Do this Traditionally. You'll fight three of them in succession. (Three Martial Art Skill Checks. No Skills will be Combined for this Check. Traits and other Bonuses will be considered. Enemies may gain consecutive bonuses as they learn how you fight)
[] Take the Special Option. You'll fight all three them at once. (One Martial Art CSC. Traits and other Bonuses will be considered. Enemies will combined their Skills for the DC).
When the battle begins, who's POV would you like to watch from?
[] Stick With Hayato. ("Time to prove all my hard work wasn't for nothing")
[] Move to Yamato. ("That Estella woman...I would like to speak with her.")
[] Move to Munagi. ("Where did that Yameko woman get away to? I swear, if she's with Yamate then...I mean, I need to make sure they're not doing anything inappropriate!")
[] Move to Yameko ("...Why do I have a bad feeling about this Tournament?")