Kirihara had stomped off, and Mia & Marisa had congratulated her until she got back home. (Admittedly, Marisa had nourished a secret hope Matoi or Mia would win, once she remembered presidency was more than a new mansion.)

  "Make sure you like, practice your speech for tomorrow, Miss President." grinned Marisa as they came up to Matoi's mansion, and the three laughed.

  "I - I still can't imagine how you dealt with four Revenants." laughed Mia, and Matoi smirked.

  "I'll tell you tomorrow." she said, trying to keep her excitement from showing. "I need to rest."

  "Byeee." chimed Marisa, and they were gone as Matoi stepped inside, shutting the door quick behind. She waited until their footsteps disappeared before rushing in to her bedroom, hands shivering as she took her phone -

  " - I fucking did it - I FUCKING DID IT!" she shouted, no embarrassment for her excitement as she stomped, fists tensing; presidency filled her head, feeling like she was stepping on the world underneath her like a giant on a globe. She'd proven her superiority & her training's efficacy and was young & immortal. Wedding had grown stronger over the years, and she nearly wanted to blast her old house down just to show she could do it in one megamissile.

  She called her mother, who took it quick.

  "I already checked the rankings." laughed Fuyuko on the other end. "Was that four Revenants in one night?"

  "Four - four Revenants in one fight." she grinned, still quivering as she paced. "Four - I - I was forced to lure them together, however - I - I - I can't say how excited I -"

  " - I can hear it." laughed Fuyuko, relevantly. "I'll book a flight tomorrow morning, yes?"

  "A-Alright." Matoi nodded swiftly.

  "Have you already decided on your… oh, what's the word for it. The - your group?"

  "Squadron. I - I have."

  "Then tell me all about it tomorrow. Were you still planning on the, ah… gifts for staff?"

  "I was."

  ◆◆◆

  The next day came, and one matter was left before fanmail. Aimee and her three had returned to campus to pass the presidency off, and a hundred students gathered to watch in the amphitheater indoors.

  "I don't have a baton for you or anything, y'know." laughed Aimee, backstage with Matoi. "Dunno if you were expecting, uh, anything special."

  "Unfortunate." laughed Matoi, white wedding with veil on. "I have a speech to be made - along with some announcements."

  "Gonna miss this place." mumbled Makoto.

  "You never -- got a girlfriend."

  "Fortunately, we have already secured employment - as tedious as the libertarian is." said Atori. "Your fourth year will be far less busy than our's."

  "Uh, she's president, dumbo." said Makoto. "Gonna be busy as shit."

  "Yeah." laughed Aimee. "Gonna change up everything. Still, uh - you know you've got a guaranteed job after graduation."

  Matoi nodded. "Thank you, Aimee. It's appreciated."

  Outside, the crowd drew low.

  "Probably our cue." muttered Aimee, and Matoi nodded. "Got some stuff to say - but that'll come after your's. How much I'll miss Urasaria, all that stuff."

  "You've left your mark with the ranking system." smirked Matoi. "I intend to do the same. Come."

  The five drew out from the curtain, and Matoi took the lead up to the microphone.

  "Urasaria Academy East. For decades, this academy has covered our housing - as an excuse for our meager salary."

  "Oh boy." mumbled Serena, sat between Mia&Yuruko.

  "Gonna bring out the guillotines." whispered Yuruko, relevantly.

  "I wouldn't mind it." murmured Mia.

  "For decades - this country has benefitted off of this, presuming that - as students - as state employees - we won't demand better. Our lives are risked every day - the bacteria we carry in our bodies, a magnet for every sort of scum - and we'll carry it until the day we die. The average salary for a police officer is $40,000 higher than a three-star student's. And sans the infirmary staff, Urasaria's faculty does little to address our concerns. A student - harassed by her mentor."

  Serena gave Yuruko a quick glance, and she shifted in her seat.

  "I - didn't." she mumbled.

  "A rapist on campus - who I see chose not to attend. The abysmal state of one-star housing - the danger of exposed Revenants - the risk of legal names exposed. I cannot guarantee that I will fix these wrongs - but as your president, I intend to fight for these changes as I would against any Revenant." Matoi's eyes stayed firm. "Urasaria's staff will heel to me - and if any student wishes to file a complaint - against their mentor - their protégé - another student - see me. I'm far less scary than I look."

  The room laughed, and Mia remembered that drunken Matoi.

  "Regardless." laughed Matoi. "I've already chosen my squadron."

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  "Isn't it automatic?" mumbled Serena, and Mia gestured vague.

  "Er - Aimee chose it that way, but…"

  "Marisa Gwynevere! Boudoir!"

  The fashionista drew up from the crowd, in the spotlight of their eyes as she walked down, all eyes on her for a different reason than usual.

  Mia readied to stand, heart tense, and she smiled as she saw Matoi's eyes on her.

  "Mia Schultz! Swarm!"

  The scarab princess went down the aisle, and soon joined Marisa at Matoi's back.

  Matoi's eyes went to Kirihara, and the sawblade woman stood.

  Matoi sneered. "Samuel Poundstone. Boar."

  The room's eyes went to the muscled man as he drew down, having already expected it.

  "These are your Elite F-"

  " - hey!" shouted Kirihara ahead, rushing up from her seat, stomping down the aisle. "What fucking gives?!"

  " - as I said." stated Matoi, eyes firm. "Myself - Boudoir - Swarm - Boar. Urasaria Academy's Elite Four -"

  "I'm fucking - " shouted Kirihara, stomping up to the stage - " - rank #3! - and you won't accept me in your shitty little fucking -"

  - a volley of missiles blast the ground ahead of Kirihara, and Matoi spoke direct.

  "Perhaps you did not hear me. I've made my decision. Aimee may have allowed you to run around under threat of expulsion - but I refuse to be as merciful. Question my authority again, and I'll mail your head back to your parents."

  The new student body president turned.

  "Elite Four. Our office awaits."

  "Yes, President Matoi." said Samuel, and the four left.

  ◆◆◆

  "Thank god." murmured Mia, sinking in her new seat in the now Elite Four's office. The Council of Four were still making their own departure speech, though they'd left the fanmail boxes for the four on the table.

  "I reaaaaallly wasn't looking forward to fighting with her." winced Marisa, and Matoi nodded.

  "Precisely. She achieved rank #3 - but I have no use for someone in my squadron that won't follow orders."

  "Let alone how she - acted." murmured Mia, Jeanne&Nuiko in her head.

  "And here I thought you'd forgot about me." said Samuel, and Matoi laughed.

  "Fortunately, I won't call you pig, now. The time for insults has passed."

  Marisa stifled a laugh, remembering her and Mia's joke about Matoi's bitch.

  "Still." murmured Matoi. "I intended every word of my speech. I've already read the relevant documents - before the year begins, we'll be meeting with Urasaria's faculty, to discuss the budget for the year - and any additional considerations."

  "Like the, er… new tablets were?" said Mia, and Matoi nodded.

  "Correct. I spoke with Aimee - as you might know, the faculty are stubborn. Their argument with faculty, to allow students to turn the tracking device on their tablets off - I believe it took two to three hours." Her head shook. "I intend to be finished within ten minutes."

  "… oh boy." muttered Marisa, already catching it.

  Matoi grinned like a witchdoctor. "Precisely. I can't guarantee I'll fulfill all my promises - but one or two will be a victory."

  "What've you got planned now…" murmured Samuel, shaking his head.

  "A piss hose?" chimed Mia; Matoi burst in to laughter -

  " - you - you told them about that, then?" she cackled, gesturing to Samuel, and the pig-turned-boar-turned-human nodded as the three laughed.

  "I'll tell the tale, later." laughed Samuel, gesturing to Marisa.

  "It - it was very amusing, but effective." laughed Matoi. "I remember as well, the night I had - I believe it was a week before our duel, on the 31st. Swarm and I had gone to a bar. I had gotten very drunk. The next morning, you -" - she gestured to Mia - " - were so nervous about something - I thought I had accidentally told you about it."

  "I - er - yes!" laughed Mia, hoping her cheeks wouldn't fill at the memory. "Er - she had - praised me, very enthusiastically."

  "I bet she did." winked Marisa, prodding her confidant. "I gotta see that."

  "… ah. Some other time." smirked Matoi. "Still. We'll wait until Aimee and the rest have made their speech, and open our fanmail."

  "Wonder how many I got this year." murmured Marisa.

  ◆◆◆

  Speeches finished, the rest had made their way to the new Elite Four's office; Serena, Atori, Dmitri, Makoto, Aimee, and Yuruko.

  "Our last -- one." chimed Dmitri, one box.

  "How appropriate." muttered Atori, twelve letters.

  "Yep." said Makoto, zero.

  Matoi frowned at her own six boxes, hoping there wouldn't be a repeat of last year's.

  "Seems like men always get the least amount." murmured Samuel, five letters.

  "… yeah. That's sometimes a good thing, like." winced Marisa, three boxes.

  "Yep." winced Yuruko, one box.

  "Guess I'm passing." murmured Serena, one box.

  "Let's see what that dude drew this year." murmured Aimee, digging in to her letters to see what that dude drew this year, and as she pulled a photo out - " - oh, man, that's almost offensive -" she laughed - and winced as a tuft of blue flame burnt the drawn pornography out of her hand - " - ow - shit -"

  " - you should have known better." winked Mia, ice scarabs chilling her girlfriend's hand.

  "Actually hurt through Rider that time, too." laughed Aimee. "Flames are getting pretty hot -"

  - the other prodigal couple burst in to laughter, Serena peeking over Yuruko's shoulder as she held a photo.

  "Oh man." grinned Serena, far more comfortable with it than Mia. "Jeez."

  "That's a doujin artist, too." laughed Yuruko, tracing the black&white panels.

  "At least he, um, doesn't know." whispered Serena, and Yuruko grinned laughing.

  "Guess he saw us out in public with your tentacle out, though."

  "Blackburn only has one, though."

  "Unfortunately."

  "Huh?" panted Serena, and Yuruko shook her head, setting the hentai in her pocket for later use.

  "Nothing."

  Mia winced as she opened her box, almost afraid of the dozen letters as she opened them; and sighed relieved.

  "Something normal. 'Swarm. Congratulations on achieving blue flames. You'll be the strongest hero in the world some day. - Kagume.'"

  "Short and sweet." nodded Samuel.

  With a grimace, Matoi pulled one of her letters out, tearing in to the envelope -

  " - this one's from an eleven year old. 'Rain-On-A-Wedding - Thank you for saving me from that man on the train. Could you give me your number to - oh my fucking god." She groaned as the men laughed and the women winced.

  "Men have odd tastes." said Samuel, relevantly.

  "They'll - do anything to get some." murmured Marisa, taking her own out. " - oh! This is the same guy from last year, like. 'Boudoir - I'm working on becoming a fashion designer. Would it be okay if I based a model off of your Revenant?'"

  "Aw." chimed Yuruko, relevantly, and Samuel laughed, taking one of his own.

  "Lessee. This one's from a - Pat - oh god, I'm not reading this -"

  " - what's wrong with it -" said Matoi, peeking over; and cackling - " - no, no - I'm ordering you to read that -"

  " - I'm going to have to refuse that order -"

  - with the speed of light, Matoi ripped it from his hands, laughing again as she read. "'Dear Boar - Is there a sow in your life? Seven three six -"

  - ghastly hands ripped it back to the man as the table laughed -

  " - now you know what it's like." chimed Marisa, relevantly -

  - Aimee laughed - " - hey, least you didn't get porn of your -"

  " - stop it -" laughed Mia, mock shoving her girlfriend away -

  " - ah, no, no, there's even more here, isn't there?" grinned Matoi, digging through Samuel's letters -

  " - Serena -" - Samuel laughed - " - please, go next and save me from this -"

  "- sure." chimed the punk, searching through her own box. "…um, let's see…"

  "You'll end up going through all of them, eventually." laughed Mia, and Serena nodded, pulling one out. She tore it open, and started to read silently.

  Her eyes filled without fog, and Yuruko's eyes took over her shoulder; she hugged Serena smiling, punk suddenly teary.

  "That's how you looked." grinned Marisa, pointing to Mia-Mia.

  Mianaisse nodded. "Er - you - don't have to read it out loud, Serena."

  "Y-Yeah." She wiped her eyes and smiled. "U-Um. I'll tell you - what it said, after."

  "Still." murmured Matoi, unable to catch it. "Before I forget. Marisa - we will begin training and hunting together next week."

  "And for myself and Mia?" said Samuel, and Matoi smirked.

  "Spend time with your protégés. You'll miss them when they're gone."

  [END OF URASARIA ACADEMY: YEAR TWO]

  not next Monday, but the Monday after starts Year 3 [October 7th]. I probably gave myself leeway to get the other arcs out - but the one of the upcoming arcs does require more... cultural research, to ensure relative realism. I'll be swapping arcs between Mia and Serena, as the two are fleshed out well enough to not need arc-to-arc character development.

  Fight and Arc Rankings

  High: Scourge Over Urasaria, The End Of An Era, French Depression, It Blew In From The East

  Mid-High: 21st-Century Schizoid Man, Lock Eyes With A Gorgon, 30 Days A Revenant, Best Friends

  Mid-Low: Red&Blue&White and White, Bitch Better Have My Money, Seasons Don't Fear The Reaper

  Low: Lanacca State Of Mind

  It Blew In From The East: Serena's first arc. I think it still ranks a little below SOU - generally, my arcs are simply rated via how much character development & depth I think is present in them. Fight ranks surprisingly low in it, with perhaps this arc being the only exception, as fights are usually 2-3 stars with a 4-5 star high in most arcs. Serena being transgender used to be much less obvious, but now you can tell pretty much from her worrying about what gender Mia thinks she is. Two new characters, an ongoing slight mystery (plot has always been my weakness), culminating in a very good fight that doesn't end predictably.

  Lanacca State of Mind: Originally, this essay said "I think nostalgia tints me on this", because I had it rated as high-tier. Well, it did. The Matoi development is nice, some small stuff for Mia&Aimee, but I just could not get myself to characterize Atori & Dmitri that well, leading to two chapters of essentially very little development. The plot was a good decision by me (very early in my writing at the time), I believe, since it's not necessarily "what is the mystery?" but "how are Mia & Aimee going to resolve this?" The fights are standard, but the roadtrip feeling is a bit nice. I do want to replicate that more sometimes. I've got a real nice slice-of-life one planned in Year 3, though.

  Bitch Better Have My Money: Actually dropped in rating by an odd thing - see, this arc was originally a LOT of development for Serena, showing how she views herself, her dysphoria, etc...

  Best Friends: The first character deaths. I knew I had to give them a good last fight, and I knew I had to make sure it was characters you actually cared about - or at least had developed enough to. The title is cliched, and the main good fight is the Lunation fight. Serena sticking up for herself shows development from her initial encounter with Kirihara, and Mia's insane anger during the last fight feels in-character for her using it to suppress her grief. It was a shame when I wrote the last, continuous section first, thought it was really good - and then knew I had to do it. Boy, I really sound like I'm fellating myself here. The scene where Mia vomits because she realizes "this is how Magnus felt" is a real "hoo boy" moment.

  Lock Eyes With A Gorgon: This arc took so many tries. Initially, it was actually only Henry + Matoi + Grant + Gamage. Gamage's Revenant allowed him to turn back time 10 seconds - Sundial, and his personality was a boring chivalrous man. He was seriously dull. I realized "no, Mia & Serena are the main attraction - they should be in it." Then I was like "uh. so an arc with 6 people? One with a Revenant that literally can't do anything on its own?" So I took Gamage out, and initially had scenes where Medusa & Stheno would talk to each other. Then I was like "wait, shit. Is it better if you don't know what they're like and have to just guess it based on what little you do see of them?" I figured that was better.

  21st Century Schizoid Man: I watched Crimes & Misdemeanors by Woody Allen before this arc, which also stars a murderous doctor named Rosenthal. That film's much more character-focused and a great film, of course. Regardless; this was the arc where I thought "alright, corrupted Revenants. What happens if you try to put two colonies on the same heart?" I'm still not sure I nailed it, but I think there's some interesting, weird stuff that goes on in that arc, and the Serena&Yuruko drama is very soap operatic; for better or worse. (I like soap operas, if you can't tell. I think it's funny that a lot of writers will shit on them while making stuff that's just as melodramatic.) Some decently funny fights for an arc that stars a villain that literally shreds homeless people alive. He ends up being a pretty scary villain because he just has no guilt about it; there's way more Rosenthals in the world than there are Akiras.

  Seasons Don't Fear The Reaper: A simple arc on a classic; well, let's say trope and not cliche. I leave very little described in that arc, because I know that anything your mind can come up with is going to be way scarier than anything I can describe. This ends up being weird at some points, but so goes the gimmick. (I've gotten people saying Mr. X from Resident Evil 2, Xenomorphs, and Verdugo from Resident Evil 4.) Some good dialogue developing Mia&Serena and Rochelle&Tiffany, and the first action scene gives the return of "here's how ridiculously strong hosts are compared to normies". The intro is a nice development following up on Mia's grief from last arc and showing that she's almost fully recovered. It was interesting, because in doing my research for that arc, I found that counseling doesn't actually help grief (at least in studies) - but the purpose is is that Mia & Serena think that it would, so that's why Serena suggests it and why Mia goes. So it works out alright. The scene where Mia gets three-star is just "ah, fuck." I wanted to avert a cliche of "oh, she gets three-star in an epic fight, and she's super triumphant and happy about it" by having it be "...oh."

  Red, Blue, White & White: A nice daily arc; that's the gimmick, showing every day. Matoi's training is just entertaining and bizarrely relevant. Half of the reason she's such a good fighter because she's able to think crazily; she probably has her own list of Revenants where she comes up with Revenant ideas and how she counters them. Not much to be said on this arc - the jokes land, or they don't, since the fights are passable. Matoi drunk is an instant classic, and the soap opera drama feeds in to Mia's now-shrinking naivete. If you'll notice; if I characterized right - Mia & Aimee are both pretty idealistic of relationships, which is why they cry so much whenever they get in to arguments and hate being away from each other, because they're both very special to each other, for lack of a better phrase. Aimee saying "please don't hate me." in Lanacca arc was meant to show she's immature when it comes to relationships, as is Mia.

  30 Days A Revenant: An arc that's solely fights. No character development, no plot, just hope Kirihara doesn't win and root for your favorite. Simple, was fun, gave me something to do whenever I was busy thinking of Revenants in other arcs. I will also say I am likely rating this arc lower than it deserves because I don't like the thought of other people making better powers than me. (; (But I still had to do the fights, you know!)

  The End of An Era: This was one of the worst arcs before, but character development has flipped the world topsy-turvy. Sylvia's development feels really in-depth. Originally, Makoto saved Marisa&Sylvia from that guy with the exploding gun or whatever, but it's pretty good to have her get jealous as fuck of Sylvia too. Mia also never realized that Era was after Ryumi in the original, but, well, sometimes evil just has to die.

  French Depression: From worst to best again. Jeanne's depression arc is so, so good. Mia stomping and disintegrating both of their beds because she's so pissed at Jakuze is a very entertaining 18y/o moment. Maybe they shouldn't be giving these people legal immunity, huh? Laura's really fucking terrifying and probably the most realistic villain, maybe... Magnus is just so good too, though...

  Scourge Over Urasaria: This arc is so fucking good, the character development is really good. I think my only two main flaws with it are the too-fast pacing of the last chapter (fortunately, better than too-slow) and the part where Mia cries over Aimee is a little melodramatic - just in how it's described. Otherwise, I was extremely pleased with everything coming together. Fights are not that good, but serviceable, given that Mia really doesn't have much versatility until she has all four pieces.

  SOU - the only retcon I'm aware of is that he took Mizuchi back from Rayaka's corpse when he snapped him as a man might snap a wishbone. He did torture Akira as part of the 19 - there's a reason he didn't kill him, that we'll learn much, much later, that sits at the heart of why Ryumi was Threat Level Existential.

  [ARC 13: SWIM LIKE AN EEL]