36th of Senio Month.
It was exactly one month before his birthday.
Varian wasn't the type to remember such stuff. It was impossible this time since a large event was scheduled in the evening.
"I am excited!" Varian grinned as he took another spoonful of the breakfast.
Baked beans, grilled meat, and lots of veggies. With the way he ate, he clearly enjoyed the food.
"You'll choke, eat slowly!" Sia rebuked him lightly and resumed eating.
"But I'm too excited!" Varian declared, louder this time, and grabbed the veggies. "And I swear, even mom can't make veggies this tasty."
Sia looked at him gobbling the food and rubbed her forehead. "I swear, your excitement can really be overwhelming."
"Hehe." Varian smiled and got up.
Then, like he was chased by a monster, he ran to his room.
Ta! Ta!
The sound of rummaging through the old items echoed in the small home.
"Hey, the juice!" Sia shouted in annoyance.
"I'm fine~let's go!" Varian stuck his head out of his room and gave her a thumbs up.
"You're not!" Sia put her hands on her hands and bellowed. "Your ligament tore in yesterday's battle. If you don't drink this today, it'll take a lot longe—"
"Fine, fine." Varian dashed towards the dining room, grabbed the juice, and emptied it in one gulp.
"Haa~" He exhaled and rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand.
Then, he looked at Sia with shining eyes and said. "Let's go!"
Sia seemed to be a bit nervous, but she nodded.
The two entered the school bus and sat side by side.
"Hey! Is she really participating?"
"No way she wouldn't! You know what, our principal personally invited her!"
"She's a genius!"
The discussions of the students revolved around the brown-haired woman sitting near the back in the window seat.
She looked out of the window and didn't pay any attention to their gossip, despite being able to hear it all.
On the other hand, the one she was paying attention to was uncharacteristically listening to the conversations with a beaming smile.
Once they reached the school stadium, Varian held her hand and said. "Don't be nervous."
"…Then why is your hand shaking?" Sia titled her hand.
"…" Varian paused a moment before quickly withdrawing his hand. "Ahahaha~"
With that awkward laughter, he joined the huge audience. There were parents, fellow students, and even guests from the city.
Sia took a deep breath and walked to the stage and stood along with forty other high school students.
She wore a light combat dress of brown and blue. It was a standard uniform like everyone else on the stage.
But the moment she appeared, almost half of the crowd was stunned. The other half wasn't paying attention to her.
When the stunned ones recovered, they couldn't stop talking.
"…she's so pretty."
"…is this the fabled phoenix goddess?"
"And she's so strong! I heard she even beat up the third year a few months ago!"
"Really? She doesn't look like someone who would pick fights."
"That, she has a trashy brother who didn't awaken. They bullied him and she went crazy."
"Whoah! High school and still didn't awaken?"
"Sucks to be him."
"If I were him, I'd just die. There's something called shame."
"Hahaha! Indeed. He is just dragging her down."
Kaa! Kacha!
The sound of wood breaking halted the gossip abruptly. The two women and one man talking turned around.
"…What?"
A young man sat behind them with a placard on his lap. But now, the wooden base of the placard was broken and the sharp wooden edge pierced the young man's palm, bleeding him out.
"…Are you alright?"
"…"
The young man looked at them with apathetic eyes and turned his attention back to the stadium.
However, his hand was tightly clenched.
"…" The three looked at each other and fell silent.
They all had the same thought. 'Maybe he is one of her crazy fans.'
{Now, the Solar Championship begins!}
A cheerful female voice announced and the stadium burst into cheers.
{As you all know, this is a federation wide event! High school students across the federation will participate in the championship!}
Varian wiped the blood off his bleeding palm and carefully listened to the announcer.
{In the preliminaries, you need to be one of the three players from your school. In the first round, you'll face off against the other schools in the city.
In the second, you'll fight geniuses from ten cities before moving on to a hundred cities! Finally, you'll fight the brightest geniuses on earth!}
Varian took a deep breath and calmed his agitating emotions.
He really wished he could participate. He wanted to fight his way through thousands and thousands of geniuses before clashing with the very best.
To have the power to end this war, he needed to be at least that strong.
That's what he believed. That's he devoted himself to training.
But.
'I am only a spectator.' He lowered his head and accepted the bitter truth.
'At least,' His desolate eyes slowly turned back to normal and he loosened his clenched fist.
His gaze turned to the brown-haired girl in the stage and he breathed out. 'At least she is participating. I'm happy for her.'
It was painful that he didn't have any chance. But the fact that Sia had such opportunities was soothing.
{The champions of the earth will clash against the champions of other planets! Do you know the rewards?} The host's enthusiasm was rising with each sentence.
The audience too was hooked by the word 'rewards' and fell silent.
Even though they knew it already, they still wanted to hear it from the person in authority.
{You will be directly admitted to the top military academies! Not just that, you will also likely be taken in as a pupil or even an apprentice from a high awakener.}
Varian gulped at the words as he felt a sense of longing.
He really, really, really wanted to join the academies.
{The ones that are the absolute top will be invited to the solar banquet and meet with the best juniors and seniors, including the Sovereigns!}
"Whoaaah!"
The stadium went bonkers.