The club agreed to test out the elusive girl who went by BckFlower. She was the only real female pyer to apply for the club. In fact, she was even Ptinum V! But, that was in Duel.

  Meanwhile, in the MOBA mode, she was still in the qualifier. So, what was her actual skill level? The club will have to test her thhly.

  Acc to the application, the girl's name was Nia and she was in css 1-B. On the following day, Kai went to 1-B during lunch break.

  "Why are you tagging along?" Kai asked.

  "Just think of me as your advisor," Vi said. "I’m just here to make sure you don't scare anybody off."

  "Huh? Why would I?"

  "Let's just say you be pretty direetimes. Too direct, in fact," Vi smiled meaningfully. "Remember the guys you chased away st year when the club was recruiting? Poor fellows. All they did was ask you a couple of questions."

  "That's ‘cause their questions were dumb," Kai crossed her arms. "How somebody py Mancers seriously and not know where to find their pyer ID? Them s. No wonder none of them passed."

  "Whew, ruthless," Vi whistled. "You see? That's why you need somebody who is all smiles and sunshio tag along. That'll make you look less intimidating. You think of me as your standup partogether, we're the Two Senior Mancers!"

  "Whatever," Kai shrugged. "Just make sure you don't get in the way. I don't want to hear any of your usual nonsense. You know these things rub people the wrong way."

  "Uood. I shall seal away my powers as the Arbiter of Talents and y Information Bckhole until the right moment arrives!"

  "There won't be such a moment."

  Eventually, they reached css 1-B. As, they had no idea how Nia looked because Yuel was the only one who ever saw this elusive girl. So, they had to ask around.

  "Hm? Nia? Was there somebody like that in our css?"

  "Oh, isn't that the bck-haired girl? Sorry, don't know much about her."

  "Hmm, I don't see her. Maybe she went to the cafeteria."

  Their first attempt ended in failure. Apparently, Nia wasn't in the . Kai and Vi arrived here as soon as unch break begahey still somehow missed their target. What an elusive girl this Nia was.

  "Why didn’t she fill in her phone number?" Kai sighed and put away the application form. They only knew Nia’s name and , nothing else. The phone number field was left bnk so the only way to tact this phantom girl was by catg her in person.

  "So, we do a stakeout?" Vi asked.

  "What else we do?" Kai took out a sandwid begaing in front of the .

  "Somebody sure came prepared,” Vi ented.

  "I figured that may happen. What, you didn't bring your food?"

  "Nope," Vi scratched his head. "But, it’s quite alright! I shall sacrifice my lunch break for the sake of summoning the ever-elusive BckFlower! Only by starving myself for half an hour while everybody else feasts on their lunches, I summon the dark energy required for maing BckFlower!"

  "If you're that hungry, just g it."

  "Nay! I shall overe this ordeal given to me by the a gods!"

  "Whatever you say," Kai shrugged and took another bite off her sandwich.

  Grrr. Vi squinted his eyes. As hard as he tried, he couldn't unglue his eyes from Kai's sandwich. However, he'll bear through this torture! By making a sacrifice to the evil gods, he shall summon for the bckest flower of them all! He’ll be able to see the phantom girl whily the chosen ones could y their eyes on!

  Fifteen mier, Vi was still suffering. They questioned every girl who passed by the but none of them was their target.

  GROOOOOWL. Vi rubbed his ag stomabsp;

  Kukuku, as expected from my Perfect Clockwork Body. Vi forced a smile. His body kly when to alert him about lunchtime being overdue. He was like a natural walking clock! But, he won’t be able to bear this much longer...

  "Wouldn't it be funny if she's not at school today?" Vi said.

  "It's weird," Kai crossed her arms. "We ’t even firm whether she's supposed to be here today. It's like nobody knows her."

  "Maybe she's actually a ghost."

  "T-There's no way. Ghosts 't fill in a registration form."

  "One should never uimate the power of ghosts! Say, if she belongs to the Piest family, she could manipute the objects around her. So, she could've have moved a pen to scribble on the paper."

  "Sure, sure," Kai rolled her eyes. "Damn, if only we knew how she looks like."

  "Welp, there's one person who cims he saw her," Viook out his phone. "Let's call Yuel to help us out here."

  "Good idea."

  Kukuku. I finally got you, K! You have fallen for my eborate pn! Vi snickered. With Yuel here, we'll pinpoint our target right away and this mission up before lunch break ends! That way, I'll have enough time to enjoy my lunch! All acc to keikaku.

  Yuel arrived a few mier.

  " you tell if she's in here?" Kai asked.

  "Use your Mystic Eyes of Phantom Perception to unmask this ghost for us!"

  "Let's see," Yuel peered into the .

  Frankly, his memory of the girl was a little hazy. He only saw her twid it always in a hurry. However, he did remember a couple of key details, such as her messy bck hair. So, he trated on finding a girl with long spaghetti hair.

  At first ghere was nobody like that in the . But, this girl was always needlessly difficult to spot for some reason. So, Yuel walked around the and carefully examined every nook and y.

  Eventually, he found it. Tucked away at the er of the room, hidden behind waves of students, there was a table. Behind it, the familiar sight of a long and messy bck hair.

  "There she is!" Yuel almost broke into a run. It felt like the girl might vanish at any moment if he doesn’t hurry. The seniors followed right behind him.

  "Oh, she really got messy bck hair," Kai tilted her head. "'t believe we missed her."

  "Indeed, what a mystery," Vi frowned. "To think that a mere human could possibly escape the pull of my Information Bckhole. Nay, impossible! This is further proof this girl is no human! She's a ghost!"

  "Pipe down already," Kai stepped in front of the group. This was her ake a good first impression the girl; she couldn’t let Vi's nonsense ruin this important moment.

  “..........” The girl didn’t budge. Even though Kai was standing right in front of the table, Nia didn't even raise her head. She was pletely absorbed in her smartphone. Her fingers danced oouchs at blinding speed.

  "Oh, we found Shining Finger!" Vi whispered a tad too loudly in Yuel’s dire. A few students threw funny looks at them.

  I don't know this guy. Yuel averted his eyes and maintained a poker face.

  “Excuse me?” Kai called out.

  “............”

  “Hey.”

  “..........”

  “Nia?”

  “Hm?” The spaghetti hair finally moved. Nia unglued her eyes from her phone and slowly raised her head. “Eh?” She looked at the three pairs of eyes locked down on her. “Eh? Me?”

  “Yeah, you,” Kai said. “I wanna talk about your application to the Cssmancers club.”

  “Eh? Ah, that’s, um...” Nia froze like a statue. “So, you got that...”

  “Yeah, we did,” Kai nodded. “We checked your profile and you look promising, so we’d like to-”

  “You looked into my profile!?” Nia jumped. “Oh, no! I knew I shouldn’t have written that! I better ge my password and everything.” She returo her phone and began tapping at lightning speed.

  “Huh?” Kai raised an eyebrow. “Nobody get your password just by looking at your profile.”

  “You never know. The i is a scary pce. Hackers everywhere.”

  “I don’t think that’s how it works...”

  It sure as hell doesn’t. Yuel made a face. How did she even arrive at that clusion? That expins why her at had increased privacy settings.

  “Anyway, about the club,” Kai tried to wheel the versation ba topic.

  “Yes?” Nia g Kai while keeping her fingers oouchs.

  “We sider recruiting you but we’d like to see how you py first. you drop by at the club after school?”

  “Hmm. Ok.” Nia gave a weak answer.

  “You know where the clubroom is, right?”

  “Is that basement pce your clubroom?”

  “Yeah. Unfortunately, it is.”

  “So, a basement clubroom? Weird.”

  “Tell me about it,” Kai sighed deeply. “But, don’t worry. The pce is alright. You’ll get used to it.”

  “But, I’m not a member yet.”

  “ht,” Kai smiled awkwardly. “Anyway, make sure to e.”

  “How?” Nia examihe trio. “How did you find me?”

  “Huh?” Kai raised an eyebrow. “You left your name and css when yistered.”

  “I know, but...” Nia fell silent for a moment. “Nevermind.”

  “Speaking of which, you fot to fill in your phone number.”

  “I didn’t fet,” Nia cimed.

  “Then, why is it bnk?”

  “Because I didn’t fill it.”

  “What, on purpose?”

  “On purpose,” Nia nodded. “If you give your o an anization, you’ll start getting spam messages.”

  “Huh, ‘anization’, you say...” Kai forced an awkward smile.

  “And,” Nia tinued. “People might hack your phone.”

  Again, that’s not how these things work. Yuel sighed. This girl is... peculiar, to say the least.

  “Anyway,” Kai returo the topic. “Do you mind giving me your phone number? It’ll make things so much easier for both of us.”

  “Only if you give me your phone oo,” Nia said with suspeg eyes. It’s as if they were about to exge risoners.

  “Sure,” Kai exged phone numbers with Nia. “Alright, see you after school.”

  The trio left on that note.

  “Iing girl,” Vi said.

  “‘Iing’ is definitely one way to describe her,” Yuel hough, I’d personally go with “peculiar”.

  “There’s ohing I still don’t get, though,” Vi crossed his arms. “How e Kai and I didn’t spot her earlier?”

  “Well, the was quite packed,” Kai said. “Besides, she was literally tucked away at the very er there.”

  “True, but Yuel gave us a rather accurate description of her,” Vi insisted. “He said ‘a girl with long and messy bck hair’ and, indeed, we found a girl with long and messy bck hair. She should’ve stuck out like a sore thumb. Yet, we couldn’t find her until Yuel came here.”

  “Well,” Kai shrugged. “I guess we don’t have a future as detectives.”

  “No kidding.”

  “So, you decided how we’ll test her?” Yuel asked. Naturally, he already had some ideas in mind but he decided to let the captain have her say first.

  “Let’s start with 1v1 matches,” Kai said. “That’s where Nia should be most fortable”

  “I’m fih that,” Yuel said. “But, we’ll have to eventually test her in 5v5 as well.”

  “Yeah but let’s go oep at a time, okay? First, a 1v1.”

  “I see somebody is being really cautious,” Vi smiled meaningfully. “Afraid of sg away the shiny Pokemon?”

  “Something like that,” Kai said. “As for Nia’s oppo, I’ll do it.”

  “Not sure I agree with that,” Yuel objected. “I have a feeling you might go too easy oo make her look better, even if uionally.”

  “For sure,” Viuned in. “Kai always goes easy on female pyers. She is the Softhearted Amazon!”

  “Who’s softhearted?” Kai shot him a look. “But, alright, fair enough. I might end up going a little too easy on her by act. So, who do you suggest instead?”

  “Anybody would do,” Yuel said. “Personally, I’d like to see how well she fares against Lars.”

  “Whoa!” Vi excimed. “Throwio the lion’s den right off the bat!? She’ll be sughtered by the Beast of the Apocalypse!”

  “Yeah, that’s definitely not happening,” Kai waved her hand. “How about you py her?”

  “Holy, I’m not well-versed in 1v1,” Yuel admitted. “I read a few Duel guides yesterday to catch up to the currea but I don’t have enough experieo properly test somebody on it.”

  “Then,” Kai turo Vi. “How about you do it?”

  “Little ol’ me?” Vi poi himself. “’t say I’m exactly a pro in Duel. I’m only Gold II.”

  “That’s higher than me,” Yuel said.

  “Yeah, I know, but...”

  “Wait, you know my Duel rank?” Yuel raised an eyebrow.

  “Hmhmhm,” Vi smirked. “Of course I do! Never uimate the knowledge of my Information Bckhole! It absorbs all and everything!”

  “So, what rank am I?”

  “Gold IV.”

  “Correct...” Yuel felt like he was stalked. This guy likes keeping tabs on everybody, huh.

  “Anyway,” Kai cut in. “You’re almost the same rank as Nia so it’ll do.”

  “Welp,” Vi shrugged. “I suppose I shall do it then. The Arbiter of Talents shall pass judgment on this fresh meat!”

  After school, the clubmates gathered in the clubroom. Per usual, Ben was the only one missing.

  “She’s te,” Kai tapped her foot. Maybe Kai wasn’t persuasive enough whealked to Nia? Thinking ba it, Kai was extremely straight to the point and didn’t do anything to make the club sound more appealing. Maybe she should’ve tried hype it up some more, the way Vi does with everything. This is SO not my thing, though.

  “What are we waiting for?” Yuel asked.

  “For the star of the show, obviously,” Vi said.

  “Yeah, we ’t start without Nia,” Kai nodded.

  “But, she’s already here,” Yuel poioward the door.

  “Huh?” Kai raised an eyebrow. “No she isn’t... wha!?”

  Nia was ihere, with her smartphone in hand and her fingers busy. She was standing behind the wall so only half her frame was visible but it was clearly possible to see her. Yet, somehow, both Kai and Vi failed to spot her until Yuel poi her.

  “Unbelievable!” Vi staggered backward dramatically. “She’s really here! The ever-elusive phantom girl!”

  “She’s been standing there for a while now,” Yuel pointed out. “I was busy settings things up so I thought one of you would call her over. But, you never did.”

  “Really?” Lars wiped his eyes. “I didn't notice either, dude.”

  “I think I literally passed by her and didn’t see her,” Luke testified. “Maybe she’s really a ghost?”

  “Hey, that’s rude” Kai was quick to defend.

  “It’s ok,” Nia mumbled as she ehe room. “I’m used to it.”

  “Huh? Used?” Kai asked.

  “Everybody says I got resence,” Nia put down her phone and stared at Yuel. “But, you saw me. How?”

  “Well,” Yuel started. “I’d like to think that seeing a person who literally stands in front of you is kinda basic.”

  “Nay, nay, nay!” Vi excimed. “Clearly, it’s because he’s the successor of the Mystic Eyes of Phantom Perception! It allows him to see that which ’t be perceived with the naked eye!”

  How many different “Mystic Eyes” one person even have? Yuel rolled his eyes.

  “Anyway,” Kai turo Nia. “You’re here, so let’s start. Yood at Duel, right?”

  “Yeah, I Duel,” Nia nodded.

  “Alright, so let’s start with that. You’ll py Duel against one of us so we gauge your skill.”

  As agreed, Vi will be Nia’s oppo. He was one of the most ral testers here and he seemed to know Duel a little better than Yuel. On top of that, it should be easier for Yuel to analyze Nia from outside the match rather than doing s the heat of battle.

  "As the Arbiter of Talents," Vi stretched his arms dramatically. "I shall be the oo pass judgment on you today!"

  "Um, ok..." Nia backed away a little.

  "Pipe it down," Kai smacked Vi's shoulder. "You're sg her."

  "Haha, my bad," Vi fshed a smile toward Nia. "Don't worry, it won’t be anything difficult. Just py a normal 1v1 against me and show me what you got."

  "Hm," Nia nodded weakly in response.

  "Do you prefer to py on tablet or PC?" Vi asked as he poioward the two P the room.

  "Hm..." Nia stared at the two PCs for a moment, then g everybody else in the room and then examihe rest of the room. "Tablet."

  "Oh, really?" Vi echoed the question Yuel his mind. "Alrighty then, I'll py on tablet too to keep it fair."

  "Wait," Yuel cut in. "PC is the ptform we'll be pying on at tours so it's best to test her on it. I don't see a reason to not do it. We got exactly two PCs to spare." He gave Nia a long questioning look.

  "Um, but..." Nia averted her eyes.

  "Give her a break," Kai said. "I also like pying on tablet more because I like trollers, so there you have it. If she py well on tablet, I’m sure that experience will trao PC as well; o worry. "

  "Fine," Yuel wasirely vinced but he let it slide. Kai was extremely protective of Nia so he didn't feel like starting a fight. As far as he could tell, there wasn't a single good reason to not py on PC during the exam so it was arming. It'll be bad if turned out Nia was skilled with a troller but struggled with a keyboard.

  "Alrighty," Vi said. "And so, it begins! The fateful match! Information Bckhole vs. Bck Flower!"

  "Would you drop that shit already?" Kai jabbed. "You're just making everybody unfortable."

  "Oh," Vi realized that Nia has already backed away all the way to exit. "My bad, my bad. It's just a friendly test match, that's all. Really."

  "........" Nia still had some suspi iare but she slowly returo the clubroom with cautious steps.

  "Set up your tablet wherever you want," Kai said.

  "Hm," Kai nodded and walked further into the room. In fact, she walked so far she literally reached the er of the basement. It was half a room away from everybody else, a tiny isoted spot suited from hiding.

  "Not sure I'd reend that spot," Vi said. "The wifi down here is rather whimsical so it might not reach over there at all."

  "We just have to keep the door wide open," Kai moved the metallic door. "Do you get aiohere?"

  "I think it's okay," Nia nodded weakly.

  "Yeah, it seems fine," Yuel firmed by looking over Nia’s shoulder.

  "E-Eh!?" Nia jumped. "Ah, um..."

  "What?"

  "Um, why are you here?"

  "What do you mean? I o see how you py," Yuel answered pinly.

  "Um, but..." Nia shifted her eyes from side to side. Her entire body stiffened like a statue.

  "You watch from over there," Kai dragged Yuel away. "It's a 1v1, so you pretty much tell everything she does from Vi's s."

  "I suppose. But, it's easier to watch everything from her perspective."

  "Just give her some space, will you?" Kai lowered her tone. "She looks nervous enough."

  "Fine," Yuel obediently retreated. He will be able to watch the repy ter anyway, so it wasn't neccessary for him to breathe down on Nia's neck while she was already nervous about the exam.

  We're suice examiners. Yuel smiled wryly as he recalled his experieh StormBlitz’s entrance exam. Back then, Aron pressured Yuel by asking to justify every single move Yuel made. It was already stressful enough to py alongside seniors and Aron applied further pressure on top of that with all his difficult questions. Ugh.

  Maybe it’s really better if I maintain some distance. Yuel cluded. He could see himself asking Nia all sorts of questions and distrag her. The girl already looked so pale like she could faint at any moment. She definitely didn’t need any more pressure on her.

  Onia and Viook their seats, the entrance exam was about to begin. What kind of show will this Ptinum rank duelist put on?