Chapter 33: A new tournament.

Kazu navigated his way through the maze of circular wooden tables, effortlessly balancing a silver tray carrying three steaming mugs.

As he approached his usual spot near the large, floor-to-ceiling glass window, his steps faltered for a fraction of a second.

He had expected to see Elsa waiting for him, perhaps scrolling through her phone with that usual intense, calculating expression she wore when planning their next move.

She was there, of course, but she was not alone.

Sitting across from Elsa was a girl he had not seen in quite some time. Suna.

Suna wore the crisp, dark blue blazer and pleated skirt of her academy, a stark contrast to the casual street clothes worn by the other patrons surrounding them.

She was tracing the rim of an empty water glass with her index finger, her posture rigid and uncomfortable.

When she heard his approaching footsteps, she lifted her head. The moment her eyes locked onto his, a visible jolt went through her shoulders, and a deep, rosy flush rapidly spread across her cheeks.

’He looks completely different,’ Suna thought to herself, her heart performing a sudden, erratic flutter against her ribs. ’No, not different. Just... more handsome. A lot more handsome than the last time I saw him.’

Since she attended an entirely different school on the other side of the district, their paths rarely crossed during the week.

There was simply no casual way for her to run into him, no shared hallways or lunch breaks where they could bump into each other.

Seeing him now, moving with a calm, effortless confidence that seemed to draw the eyes of a few other girls in the cafe, left her feeling entirely out of her depth.

She quickly averted her gaze, staring intensely down at the wooden grain of the table as if it were the most fascinating thing in the room.

Kazu offered a warm, easy smile as he set the tray down on the table. He distributed the drinks, sliding a caramel latte toward Elsa and a rich hot chocolate toward Suna before taking his own seat. Karl, who was already sitting at the end of the table destroying a massive slice of chocolate cake, gave a muffled grunt of greeting.

"I hope you do not mind that I invited Suna," Elsa said, taking a deliberate sip of her drink. Her sharp eyes shifted between the two of them, instantly catching the lingering tension and Suna’s obvious shyness. "We have some important matters to discuss regarding the team, and since she is one of us, she needed to be here."

"I do not mind at all," Kazu replied smoothly. He looked over at Suna, keeping his voice gentle so as not to startle her further. "It is really good to see you, Suna. It has been a while."

Suna offered a small, hesitant nod, her fingers tightly clutching the warm mug in front of her. "It is good to see you too, Kazu. I have just been really busy with academy work lately."

They spent the first half of their meal catching up.

The cafe provided a comfortable, relaxed backdrop, the clinking of silverware and ambient chatter masking their conversation from prying ears.

Kazu ordered a plate of savory club sandwiches, and they ate in a comfortable rhythm.

The food was excellent, the toasted bread crunching loudly with every bite, but anyone who knew Elsa understood that small talk was merely a preamble to her true agenda.

Once the plates were pushed aside and the mugs were half empty, Elsa leaned forward.

Her demeanor shifted instantly from a casual friend to an absolute tactician. She tapped the surface of her sleek smartwatch, projecting a crisp, translucent blue hologram into the space directly above the center of the table.

"Alright, enough catching up. Let us get down to business," Elsa announced, her tone clipping along with practiced authority. "I found us a way out of the minor leagues. There is a new tournament opening up next month, and it is being held directly in the central metropolis. The big city."

Kazu leaned back in his chair, resting his hands in his lap as he studied the glowing blue text floating in the air.

"The big city? That is a massive step up from our local district matches."

"Exactly," Elsa countered, her eyes gleaming with raw ambition.

"That is the entire point. This is not just another neighborhood brawl for pocket change and local bragging rights. This tournament is heavily monitored by professional scouts. If we perform well there, we get recognition from actual coaches who have the power, the influence, and the budget to sign us. This is our direct ticket into major tournaments and official pro plays. It is exactly what we need to get our names on the global map."

Suna leaned in slightly, her shyness momentarily forgotten in the face of such a massive, intimidating opportunity.

"Are there any registration requirements? Tournaments in the central metropolis usually have incredibly strict entry barriers to keep the player pool clean."

Elsa nodded approvingly.

"Good question, Suna. Yes, there are barriers, and they are brutal. They do not want amateurs clogging up the brackets and wasting the scouts’ time. To even register a team, every single player on our roster needs to possess a constant, verifiable high rank on their official accounts. The automated system will reject our application entirely if even one member falls below the threshold."

Kazu took a slow sip of his coffee, letting the bitter liquid wake up his senses. "Remind me how the official ranking ladder works again. It has been a while since I bothered to check the global boards."

"It is a harsh grind," Elsa said, swiping a finger across the hologram to bring up a tiered pyramid graphic that rotated slowly in the air.

"The bottom of the barrel is Beginner. From there, you have to fight your way up through Intermediate, and then Master. Most casual players get permanently stuck in Master. Once you break past that wall, you hit the true high tiers. Grand Master, followed by Legend, and then Grand Legend."

Elsa paused, pointing to the very peak of the digital pyramid, which glowed with a faint, shifting gold light that seemed to command respect all on its own.

"And lastly, the absolute top dogs of the global servers. The Mythic Legends. The system only allows players ranked from 1 to 999+ to hold this title globally. It is exclusively reserved for the absolute monsters of this game."

"So, where is the cutoff for this big city tournament?" Kazu asked, his expression remaining perfectly neutral.

"The tournament requires every registered player to be at least Grand Master or above," Elsa stated firmly. She crossed her arms over her chest, a confident smirk playing on her lips. "I am currently sitting comfortably at Grand Master. I have been able to consistently maintain that rank for the past two seasons without much trouble, so my account is cleared and ready to go."

She turned her calculating gaze toward the quiet girl across from her. "Suna, what about you?"

Suna fidgeted, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink again as she hastily pulled up her own profile on her phone. "I am also a Grand Master. Barely, though."

Elsa leaned over the table to inspect the screen and let out a soft, amused snort. "Your win rate is incredibly whacky, Suna. You have massive win streaks where you play like a genius, followed by terrible losing slumps where you play like you have a blindfold on. But, the system still officially registers you as a Grand Master, so you are caught up and eligible."

Suna let out a long, heavy breath of relief, clutching her phone to her chest as if protecting it.

"Alright, that is two of us cleared," Elsa calculated aloud, tapping the table. "We still need to confirm the status of the others. We need Dean, Dori, and Kazu."

Right on cue, Karl swallowed a massive mouthful of cake and pulled out his own phone, wiping a smear of chocolate from his chin.

"I already checked with Dean yesterday," Karl mumbled. "He is solid. Grand Master as well. He grinded it out last weekend and hasn’t played a ranked match since so he wouldn’t lose the points. Let me text Dori real quick and see where she is at."

The table fell silent for a few agonizing moments as Karl typed away on his device.

The ambient noise of the cafe seemed to fade into the background as the heavy tension of the registration requirements hung over them.

If Dori did not meet the mark, their dreams of the big city tournament would crumble before they even began.

A sharp chime broke the silence. Karl looked down at his screen, his eyebrows shooting up so high they nearly disappeared into his hairline.

"Well?" Elsa demanded, tapping her fingers impatiently.

"Dori says she is Grand Legend," Karl reported, his voice tinged with genuine disbelief. "She actually sent a screenshot to prove it. It is verified. I have absolutely no idea when she found the time to grind that high between her classes, but she is way past the requirement."

Elsa let out a loud, triumphant laugh that caused a few nearby customers to look over. "Perfect. That is incredible news. That means almost the entire team is cleared and ready to dominate."

She finally turned her full, expectant attention toward Kazu.

"That just leaves you, Kazu," Elsa said, her tone carrying a heavy hint of a challenge. "You are usually the wild card of this group. Do you have the Grand Master rank required, or do we need to spend the next two grueling weeks hard-carrying you through ranked lobbies to get your points up before registration closes?"

Kazu looked calmly at the three of them. Elsa looked determined, Suna looked mildly anxious for his sake, and Karl was simply waiting for the verdict. Kazu slowly set his mug down on the saucer, the ceramic making a soft, distinct clink that echoed in the quiet space of their table.

"You do not need to carry me anywhere," Kazu said, his voice quiet and entirely devoid of arrogance.

Elsa raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Oh? So you managed to hit Grand Master? Let us see the profile to be sure."

Kazu reached into his pocket, pulled out his own device, and tapped the screen a few times to boot up his official player card. He did not say a single word as he slid the phone across the smooth surface of the table, letting it come to a rest right in the center where all three of them could see it clearly.

Elsa leaned in first, her sharp eyes scanning the digital display. Karl stretched his neck over the table to look, and Suna stood up slightly from her chair to peek over Elsa’s shoulder.

For three long, agonizing seconds, absolutely no one at the table breathed.

The holographic emblem rotating slowly on Kazu’s screen was not the silver and purple crest of a Grand Master. It was not the glowing crimson of a Legend, nor the shining platinum of a Grand Legend.

It was a shifting, brilliant crown of shattered gold, the unmistakable, undeniable mark of a Mythic Legend. And right below that crown, a specific number was etched in absolute stone.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine.

"Mythic Legend 999?" Elsa whispered, all the practiced authority and bravado completely draining out of her voice in an instant. She stared at the screen as if it might suddenly catch fire. " I always foget that you are one of the globals."

Suna simply covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide with unadulterated shock. The boy she had been too shy to even look in the eye was actually a gaming deity walking casually among normal people.

"I have kept myself steady at that exact rank for years now," Kazu explained casually, reaching forward to retrieve his phone and slipping it back into his pocket as if he had just shown them a picture of his breakfast.

"I just never saw a reason to brag about it. The queue times are terrible up there anyway, so I mostly just play unranked."

Elsa slowly sank back into her chair, pressing a hand to her forehead as she processed the sheer absurdity of the situation. Her supposed wild card was actually a global top-tier player.

A slow, dangerous smile eventually began to spread across Elsa’s face, her ambition reigniting with ten times the intensity it had possessed mere minutes ago.

"Well then," Elsa said, her voice trembling slightly with pure, unfiltered excitement. "I believe we can register for this tournament with absolute ease."