Capítulo 18: Izumi Miyamura: Xover - Chapter 18
"So? Taylor! You said you also took the UA entrance exam, right? To the heroes and hunters department!? " Ruby asked as we walked through the mall
"Same," Taylor muttered, still giving me looks as if they wanted to pierce my skull, dramatic.
Back to UA, the department of heroes and hunters, it was really rare for a school/academy/university to have the same curriculum for both careers, but UA specialized in both, although, it was mainly heroic classes, really, to be a hunter you didn't need much, be good at fighting, be of legal age and that's it.
But it has been proven that, of all the hunters, more people who studied and learned to fight in a fighting school survive than those who did not.
While to be a hero you needed a license to participate in heroic acts, which was what UA specialized in, even if it had a part of the curriculum that included doors and dungeons , a hero should always be prepared for a door to be broken anywhere in the city, and stopping a crime is very different from defending yourself from dungeon monsters , the last thing UA wants is for its students to end up dead due to lack of preparation.
" oohhh , this is going to be great! I can't wait for the internships! " Any hunter guilds or hero agencies that want to join?! I don't know many in Japan, I think I'll do the internship with mom if I can, otherwise I'll have to do some research, but it sounds like a lot of work." Ruby groaned and I chuckled.
"You don't need to worry yet, usually they are the ones who choose you, so your concern is to show off during the sports festival to get attention."
"oh?" Taylor now seemed interested, Ruby too.
"I've seen several of the UA sports festivals, it's like, a major event, it's broadcast everywhere, it's like, the Vytal festival ! Two years ago it was held in Vale, I heard that this year it will be held in Atlas! "
"Similar but not, the UA sports festival is only for UA students, but UA being well, UA, has quite a reputation, but it's for the students to make themselves known to the guilds and agencies, the more you stand out, the more they will want you." I explained to Ruby "On the other hand, the Vytal festival is an international festival, it takes place every two years and is a cooperation between Mistral, Vacuo, Atlas and Vale, it's much more important." Now I looked at Taylor, who nodded absorbing the information "Although, both have the same objective, to show the rest of the world their new hunters and heroes, competition." I shrugged.
"That's not funny." Ruby said while pouting.
"And you don't have anything more… national?" Taylor asked confused, I wrinkled my nose.
"No need." I hummed lightly. "Both the Japanese Hunters Association and the Hero Public Safety Commission don't really want to show all their cards, but it's something to be expected, and with UA holding the festival every year it's enough."
"What, why?" Ruby asked confused.
" the ratings game ." Ruby's eyes widened "really, with doors opening everywhere and broken dungeons roaming around attacking from all sides, there's no room for open war, but unfortunately they still happen, and rating games are a way to resolve conflicts, so the more aces a country has up its sleeve the better."
" Eehh , I hadn't thought of it like that." Ruby hummed. "So the Azazel Cup is like a world war every 4 years?" I snorted.
"Something like that, it's to prove who has the longest stick, entertainment and profits." I shrugged. "Now, if disputes are resolved by chance, well, it's 'pure chance'." Ruby wrinkled her nose.
"Too complicated." Ruby groaned, Taylor agreed before grimacing.
"My mandatory service requires me to join some guild, agency or group for ratings games ?" Ruby turned and looked at her.
"Wait what?! They can force you for that?! " Ruby asked quickly "My service is for 3 years after I graduate thanks to my mother working here in Japan , but I don't know if I want to join a Rating Game group !" Ruby seemed panicked, she snorted amusedly.
"Don't worry, it's not mandatory, they can't force you to join a rating games group , or a guild or a hero agency, just that you work as one of those two jobs after you graduate, they'll only make you meet quotas of doors you enter or patrols you do, yes, it's all designed to rob people who come to study in the country, but they can't force it or make it as blatant as they want or they simply won't come." I shrugged while both girls sighed in relief.
Rating Games , I really didn't know what to think of the High School game/sport If DxD was present in this world and was something worldwide, really, people liked to fight each other and a lot more people liked to see that, but it was good that they existed, really, because if not the next option is an open war where hunters and A-rank or S-rank heroes attacking a country, they were like mobile warheads, the amount of destruction that each one could do by themselves was devastating, and that's if we don't put the national ranks into the equation.
So it was a necessary thing, but it wasn't like it was a bad thing either, the death rate in a rating game was actually low, there were a lot of safeguards implemented by all countries, it was stupid to reduce the amount of power a country had with broken dungeons knocking on the door regularly.
But speaking of the Rating Games themselves, they were still using the same system as DxD , a chess system, with the Queen as the leader of the group, because obviously, as the gender roles had changed, so had chess, and her 15 'subjects' all had a value that was counted in pawns, which were also used to measure the ranks of the hunters.
Queen = varies from 1 to 12 pawns depending on the estimated value given by the judging committee, 12 pawns equals an S rank.
King = 9 pawns or an A rank.
Rook = 5 pawns or a B rank.
Knight = 3 pawns or a C rank.
Bishop = 3 pawns or a C rank.
Pawn = 1 Pawn (Base Value) or a D rank.
Obviously, they could also be combined with each other to have people stronger than their pieces, combining the 8 pawns could be used to obtain another A rank in the game.
Groups were usually formed by hunter guilds or hero agencies, sometimes they were combined, but there was also the exception of groups dedicated to Rating games , they were neither hunters nor heroes, just people who fought in the ratings. games , they were rare but they existed.
And the Azazel Cup , really, an international tournament that had practically replaced what the Olympics and any world sports tournament would be, because there was nothing more fun than watching multiple hunters, heroes, and of course, villains, beat each other up.
"Let's leave this aside, too much trouble for a date!" Ruby exclaimed, crossing her hands in an X before pointing to one of the tents, "Let's go to the arcade!" she said excitedly, I snorted in amusement.
"An arcade? On a date with a guy? " I asked mockingly, Ruby stopped stiffly and turned pale, I smiled widely at her "I'll kick your ass, Rose." I started walking in the direction of the arcade, I heard Taylor sigh as she joined me, Ruby recovered and finally followed me.
"What do you want to try first?" Ruby asked once inside while bouncing in excitement on the spot. "Let's go to air hockey!" No! To the dance! No! Better on consoles!! " Ruby pointed everywhere.
"We have time to go all out." Taylor added with a store card in her hand, she looked at me "Just... try to contain yourself." She gave me a long-suffering look, I smiled sadistically at her, oh, Taylor had made the same mistake as Ruby, she wanted to go to an arcade for one of our dates, first, a really bad idea for a date with the average guy in this world, girls were idiots, same as guys in my old world, nothing new, but, she was unlucky enough to go out with me, so once we entered the room, I proceeded to kick her ass in every game we played.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I chuckled, Taylor sighed tiredly "come on Ruby, let's go to hockey." Ruby nodded repeatedly as she grabbed my wrist and began to drag me along, this time without Taylor lying down, but she still followed behind us.
The next hour we went from game to game, the three of us taking turns playing each other, Ruby had the bad idea of going 'easy' on me the first round, which I proceeded to destroy without any guilt, once she finally started giving it her all if I held back enough for us all to have fun, even Taylor finally joined in and was into the games.
We went through all the games once, and stayed for a while on the dancing machines. Fun fact, coordination wasn't Ruby's strong point so she ended up falling several times to our great amusement, but that didn't stop her from continuing to dance with a big smile.
Now we were on consoles, curiously, many of the video games they had were familiar to me, Taylor and Ruby had decided on Mortal Kombat 1, something that I also approved of, it was almost the same as the one I knew, only with some changes in the story and obviously the genres were dubbed, but I was not unfamiliar with the game, I had the video game at home and we played regularly with Taylor.
"NOOOOO!!!!" Ruby screamed as she lost again, there was a smug smile on Taylor's face as she finished performing a Fatality .
"And that's 4 to 1, you lost again Ruby." Taylor taunted, Ruby groaned in defeat.
"change! I want to play against Izumi! "You must have cheated! " Ruby accused, Taylor scoffed.
"You not knowing how to play isn't my problem Rose" Taylor replied, even so, she stood up and passed me the controller, but not before approaching my hatred "be gentle" my smile grew huge when Taylor glared at me slightly blushed, she had really been traumatized by Geras and the backshot .
"I won't go easy on you Izumi! Come all out! " Ruby said as she chose her character, I took a seat and chose mine, I was thankful that Johnny Cage still existed with the same appearance and combos, so I chose that one.
Ruby wasn't bad per se, she just got frustrated easily and had her mashing all the buttons only to fail horribly, still, once she got a combo down, she knew how to take advantage of it, which is why I lost a few matches honestly, Ruby had a huge smile on her face while playing.
"Heh, you lost again Rose, and to a boy." Taylor mocked behind us as she leaned on my seat, we had played 5 games as well and ended in a 3-2 draw, credit to me .
" Izuuumiiiii , Taylor's being mean to meeee !" Ruby moaned pitifully, but her smile belied how she felt, so I played along anyway.
" Be a good girl Taylor, now it's your turn to kick your ass" I said over my shoulder, Ruby nodded and stood up as she passed the controller to Taylor.
-----
"So…" Ruby started nervously, the three of us had gotten off the train and were standing in front of the station "…was it a good date?" she asked shyly.
"I had fun." I told her honestly, Ruby's expression brightened before she looked at Taylor expectantly, Taylor blinked in confusion.
"And you Taylor?" she asked anxiously, Taylor blinked a couple of times.
"Does it matter?" Taylor asked confused, Ruby pouted.
"I'm not stupid, well, not always." Ruby laughed nervously "but, when Izumi told me you were going with us, I knew you'd have to like me too, which, okay! You're looking out for Izumi and all, if I was in your position I would too! But it made me really nervous! That's why mom gave me her special tea! Too bad the cafeteria didn't have some of that tea." Ruby pouted before shooting shy glances at Taylor. "...so?" Taylor grimaced before smiling.
"Yes Ruby, I was fun."
"YES!" Ruby smiled widely and punched her fist in the sky. "Does that mean I get a second date?!" she asked excitedly. I looked at Taylor with a raised eyebrow. Taylor shrugged, but nodded in my direction.
"Yes, Ruby, you have a second date" the smile that blossomed on Ruby's face was completely wide with happiness.
"Good! Good, good, good ! " Ruby squealed happily while laughing.
"I'll text you, Ruby." I approached Ruby and kissed the corner of her lip, stopping her stiffly. A blush exploded on her cheeks and for a second I thought she would faint like the other day, but she remained conscious so I walked away. "See you later, Ruby." I said goodbye, wrapped my arm around Taylor's and started to walk away. Taylor waved goodbye to Ruby.
"Bye Izumi! Bye Taylor! " Ruby screamed when she recovered, we were already far away from her so it made me smile.
"So… are you sure about Ruby?" I asked Taylor genuinely curious, Taylor hummed lightly.
"Yeah... Ruby is... lively-" Taylor grimaced and I chuckled, it was an understatement "-but she's not bad, in fact, I don't know if she's capable of having a bad or dishonest streak in her body" Taylor snorted and I laughed.
"Yeah, that sounds like Ruby," I agreed.
"So, yeah, I… I'm not gonna lie to you Izumi, I was worried, I am worried, not being the only one and not knowing any of the other potential girls is… stressful" Taylor said with a bitter smile "I had plans, with… with Emma, that we would share a guy, that we would be together like sisters for our whole lives… obviously that's not going to happen, I had never… thought about opening up to other girls." She sighed tiredly.
"I'm sorry," I said honestly as I squeezed her arm.
"No need, we already talked about it, it's not your fault." She smiled weakly at me "And… I don't really have a problem with other girls, obviously if I meet them first, I won't let just anyone get close to you." Taylor growled and I burst out laughing.
"Of course, anyone who wants to join has to have the approval of all of the above, what do you think?" I asked jokingly, but Taylor took it seriously.
"I like it, I like it, let's do that." Taylor nodded firmly, I shook my head playfully, if she wanted to do it I wouldn't refuse "what I would, stop at the first dozen." Taylor told me mockingly, my eyes widened and I looked at her in disbelief.
"A dozen?! You want me to go out with a dozen?! " Taylor shrugged.
"I know you Izumi, I know what you like." she said mockingly "and I also saw UA's statistics, there are usually 1 to 4 male students per course in the hero and hunter classes, that's an average of two men and 18 women, it will be inevitable that you will attract other girls." Taylor shrugged.
"It seems like a complete change since the last time we discussed this," I said in disbelief, now she laughed.
"I told you, the other time it just… hit me off guard, it was almost 10 months just the two of us, it was nice, beautiful while it lasted, but… I don't see why it can't still be that way even if there are more people involved." Taylor laughed softly, before looking at me mockingly "besides, if there are more girls maybe I can finally tire you out during sex." I stopped stiffly before letting out a loud laugh.
"You're dreaming Hebert, even with a dozen I'll be able to top them all," I said with a lascivious smile, Taylor's pupils dilated slightly and I could feel a spike of excitement coming from her.
"You know, I believe you, you fucking monster, but I won't go down without a fight." Her voice dropped an octave.
"Calm down, we still have to get home," I chided her playfully as I nudged her with my shoulder.
"No one said we have to get home," Taylor purred, and I let out a laugh.
"You've finally been completely corrupted Cuddlebug " I said mockingly, Taylor sighed dramatically.
"It's all your fault, you're more tempting than any woman can resist, I couldn't stand your cruel seduction" Taylor pretended to faint "religion was right, the devil is much stronger than women" I pushed her with my shoulder playfully.
"I didn't hear any complaints coming out of your mouth, sinner." I joked, Taylor blushed slightly but smiled amusedly at me anyway, I returned it "... seriously, Taylor, if at any point you don't agree with anything, just... tell me okay? I don't want to lose what we have over something like this." Taylor smiled softly and nodded.
"I promise, now, let's go home."
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