Deception: A Tactician's Card

Solving Problems at Once

"Are you sure about this Yukti? It might end up badly, you know?"

"Of all the people here, you're the one who asked for that?"

I tugged Yukti's shirt and whispered directly to his left ear. He answered my question with another question without batting an eye. What's going on inside his head?

The two parties were separated by Yukti and I. Faze and her two companions are on our left, whereas Roderick and the six others are on our right. The hallway is spacious enough for us to walk in that arrangement. We met some students along the way, and the three were met with the same gaze they got in the classroom earlier. This time however, Edward didn't lash out. Is it because of what Faze asked of him, or is it because of...ugh, there's no point in this. I better not think about this mess too much. I'm just a bystander, someone who's not involved.

"Hello...uhh, mister Yukti?"

"Yes?"

"May I ask I question?"

The cute girl — I still don't know the name — asked Yukti with her child-like voice. Is she really someone within our age range!? She looks like a middle schooler.

"Go ahead."

"What's your connection to Edward?"

"I'm his math tutor before."

"That's all?"

"Yes."

I could see that she's pissed off on Yukti's way of interacting people. I know that feeling. I'm starting to get used to it, though.

•••

After minutes of walking, we reached our destination. It's practically a facility shaped in a dome. Inside it are five floors, with the upper two still undergoing some kind of renovation. This made me felt like I'm in a supermarket.

"This place is about to become a commercial building exclusive for the students of Crimson Academy. More precise details about this building would be released next week. The first three floors will be for the main reason of its existence — commercial use. The other two would be for the virtual battles. It was meant for students to compete with each other without sustaining injuries."

How did he learn all of that? Perhaps my sister has something to do with this. Why didn't she gave me that information as w I felt being left out.

Wait a minute.

Since the floors meant for virtual combat weren't available for use, what are we supposed to do in here?

"Pardon me, but the floors for the virtual duel appear to be under renovations, Yukti. What's the purpose of coming here, if I may ask?"

Faze questioned Yukti in a seemingly polite manner, but I could sense that there's a strand of being annoyed mixed up in her tone.

I'm pretty curious as well. What are we doing here in the first place?

Don't tell me...

"There's this one time a certain person reached out to me and asked if I could do something about a particular matter. Her message came abruptly, and it kind of ruined my day. But at the same time, I wanted to see the capabilities of the chosen elites of the school. Just this once, I'll help her out and see to it that you guys would create a good stable relationship after this."

Once more, he made all of us confused. Faze tilted her head and asked.

"Would you kindly state it not in a roundabout way?"

Yukti just sighed and then stared at all of us with his most serious gaze I've ever seen. This is clearly the same way Yukti was during the time when he stated that final act thing. This isn't the socially awkward Yukti, this is his sinister side. His eyes might look that he's bored, but he's sizing us up.

I was relieved during that time that he's on my side. But this...

"First Seat, Faze Marshall; Third Seat, Janet Melody; Seventh Seat, Edward Topaz; Eighth Seat, Roderick Glaives; Transfer Student and Student Secretary, Snow Lore — the five of you will coordinate with one another and try to capture me. The venue would be, of course, this very dome we're in. You got until sunset--"

"W-wait! I haven't heard of this!"

"Well, you asked me to state my point directly. Casting that matter aside, for the others who are here, you can help them out or just be witnesses. It's your choice."

"But senior, we're not ready--"

"I thought I told you that in real life, there's neither a time out nor pause. We're in a world where rune cards exists, and as the members of the Student Council, it's a given that you guys have to stay prepared at all times. I'm not questioning your individual prowess, but that alone won't be enough if you're facing against high-tier outlaws. I think all of you knew about the Dawn Edge Incident. The chairman of that institute himself mentioned that that incident happened due to the lack of preparation and miscommunication between the staff and their Student Council. This is one of the chairperson's precautionary measures to ensure that you elites who shoulder both the fame and responsibilities, united as one. Cast away your worthless pride, and train before you wear it back."

With those words of his, he made us speechless. He continued it with his normal, bored tone while scratching his head.

"I know that this is sudden, but consider this as your training. As someone who got the experience in real life situations, I've been appointed as your trainer for at least a week. I just did this for as a source of income by the way. You're free to not participate, but I don't think it would leave a good taste in your mouths if the chairperson gets a report about the chosen elites' failure in training, right?"

Yes. This is his way of combat. He always attacks the psyche, not physically injuring his opponent. I know this much after seeing that impostor sustaining zero injuries and yet he's down. My sister also received reports of him being too dormant, something that I find rather confusing. That guy always harass anyone in the school whenever possible. Fot that guy to act the opposite of his usual fiendish personality...

I find it hard to believe that I'm going to win up against Yukti. Sure, this is a team fight and a friendly match, but with my experience with Yukti during that incident tells me that this will be an overwhelming victory on Yukti's side.

•••

In a hidden room within the dome, Rose Crimson awaits the arrival of several people she invited after receiving Yukti's mail. As expected, the guests used their [Teleport] card and were warmly welcomed by the chairperson herself.

"Hello everyone! I'm glad to see you all coming today. Today's--"

Before Rose could continue her statement, one of the guests approached her and grabbed her shoulders. Her name is Celes Marshall, Faze's mother. She possessed bluish-white eyes and green hair reaching her hips. She's the epitome of elegance, however what she just did was out of her norm. She soon realized it, and immediately withdrew from her previous action.

"I apologize. That was rude of me."

"N-no. No worries. What would you like to ask? I'm pretty sure that you wanted to say something."

"Y-yes. I would like to ask if it's really true that an individual named Yukti is currently a student of your school."

"He is. And look at the monitor. He's with your daughter and the others. But may I know why you're asking for Yukti?"

"Allow me to answer that."

From the small crowd comes a bald, moustached individual. He's bulky enough to get his clothes almost look like they're about to be torn off. His eyes were slit, and has his deep husky voice.

"My name's Christopher Glaives, Roderick's father. Some time ago, my family and the Marshall Family aren't in good terms. It became worse when that accident happened and killed a lot of citizens around that powerplant. We pointed fingers among each other, shoving the blame. It was that time when someone appeared to fix the mess. He might be a newcomer during that time, but due to his interference, we managed to came to an agreement, casting away our hatred to each other and were now business partners."

"However, it appears that our children still bear that same hatred we had before. Therefore, we went to the Bureau and asked for his help if it's possible but sadly, the Bureau told us that he did an early retirement. But they gave us this email address, and told us that this is his active account. We sent him a message about our children's feud, in hopes of him coming back and fix this mess that we parents couldn't."

The two parents then smiled as they look at the monitor, and then chatted with the other parents in the room. The chairperson was shocked to hear their story and raised her eyebrow while looking at Yukti.

"No wonder you accepted my request to become Snow's tutor just this morning. You're trying to solve multiple problems at once eh?"