Scarlet

Carol and Anthony both approach me with the girl simply giving me a nod and the guy grinning from ear to ear as he asks, “So did you see the annual broadcast with the Knights?” I blankly stare at him, which seems to be answer enough for him since his grin widens and he continues while bringing up his terminal with a video on it, “Well watch this then!”

The video he shoves in my face shows four of the five Knights – with my mother missing as always – sitting across from a newsman as the man introduces some random dude from another university. But then the moment the screen changes to show me, Blue does something shocking.

He shoots to his feet and walks straight up to the image of me, only to stare at it.

A shiver runs down my spine at the sight.

And to make matters worse? He just turns around again after a few seconds of staring and sits back down without a word.

But it’s not just him. All of the Knights had a reaction to seeing me. And I can’t help but notice that Blue looks a bit like the White I saw in my memory.

Coincidence? I sure hope so.

“Why do you think they had that reaction?” Anthony asks, sounding very interested in this turn of events. And even Carol shows some interest as she shrugs and answers, “Maybe it’s because they’d heard something about her before? Or because she was seeded a slot in the primaries by White, who never shows her face?”

I keep my face neutral as the two talk.

If I had to guess, the reason they reacted the way they did is probably because I look a lot like White. But it could also be because they recognize my blood lycan appearance.

I really hope it’s the former though.

Then again, they probably know White’s real name. So they could already know that I’m her daughter biologically speaking.

The three of us begin walking down the road as I take the moment to look around. I’ve seen the ITOMR on livestreams before, but it feels very different to see it in real life. The place has five enormous stadiums with the centermost one being the largest by far. But I know that the stadiums shift during the actual tournaments to accompany whatever current competition is going on in it, since some of the tournaments aren’t simple duels and are on varying types of terrain.

Of the five stadiums, the centermost one uses the colors of Lion’s Heart, those being black and gold, with a large image of a lion’s head over the various entrances whereas the other four have the colors and animals of the other four top five Guardians Universities.

A darker ocean blue for the stadium to our left, which is South-West of the center stadium, with the image of a large squid whose tentacles are spread out representing the Aquatic Pride Guardians University over the various entrances.

A deep red and violet for the stadium to our right, which is South-East of the center stadium, with the image of a large komodo dragon with its tail curled up around it representing the Scorched Halls Guardians University over the various entrances.

A vivid green and brown, giving off a nature-like vibe for the stadium to the far back left, which is North-West of the center stadium, with the image of a large deer’s head representing the Yggdrasil Guardians University over the various entrances.

And a pure black, mixed in with some eerily moving shadows making a very dark and ominous vibe for the stadium to the far back right, which is North-East of the center stadium, with an image of a wolf’s head representing the Hunter’s Peak Guardians University over the various entrances.

Now, the universities in question have nothing to do with the stadiums that represent them. It’s more so just a way to represent and show off the top five ranking Guardians Universities. Simply a manner of pride.

Meanwhile the roads connecting the stadiums are all a staple black and gold with black and gold streetlights that really aren’t necessary but add to the ambiance in a way that makes them look nice.

We all continue walking down the road until we reach the main entrance for the stadium which is packed with people already. But Anthony and Carol just go around them to enter a side entrance, and I decide to follow them, very much not wanting to get stuck in a crowd of civilians like that.

And I quickly find myself thankful that I did, because the side entrance – which turns out is only open to participants as staff check our Guardian Identification Card more than once while we walk through – leads us directly to one of the many waiting areas for participants. A nice large room filled with thousands of people, all Guardians, and all chatting away without noticing any new entries to the room since it’s just so big.

Overall I believe there should be about two hundred and ninety-one Guardians Universities in the world, with Lion’s Heart having three thousand students and each of the others only having around one or two thousand at most. Some going as low as not even reaching a thousand students.

But even with that, it makes a massive amount of Guardians all stuffed in waiting rooms around the stadium.

Of course, not all of the students are going to be participating, since participation is expensive in the non-primary tournaments, the Primaries being the only free ones to participate in. And not all students have the funds necessary to participate in the regular tournaments.

Most do though, strictly from the income they’ve made from fighting in Fractures.

Even I’ve started building up a decent chunk of credits myself at this point.

I look around the room for a bit, briefly noting the dozens of people who do look my way out of the thousands. And those dozens end up staring and seemingly sizing me up for a moment before returning to whatever conversations they were having beforehand.

“The waiting rooms will be a lot more empty when the tournaments actually begin,” I hear Carol mention as we go find a place to rest in the room. “It’s only full right now since everyone participating in the Interschool Tournaments is here for the opening ceremony. But after this, only the participants directly competing in whatever round of whatever tournament is going on will be in here at a time. In fact, most people won’t even be using the waiting rooms. You’ll likely just be using a private booth in the stadium instead.”

That’s good to know.

Because there are way too many people here.