And not long after their fight, someone knocked on the door.
After opening it, Alea found Hontar in front of their room and asked, "Would you like to go to a family restaurant or something? We are planning to grab a bite while talking about our next plan."
Since there was nothing wrong with this plan, Hontar nodded his head while secretly glancing at Theo, remembering his thought earlier.
After he agreed, Theo turned off the machine and told them their fight was over so that the room could be used for another pair.
Since the restaurant wasn't that far, they decided to go on foot. Of course, Theo exited last because he didn't want to get more exposure, forcing Alea to drag Hontar first while explaining the situation to him.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the restaurant and asked for a private room.
It was a 2x2 couch arrangement where Alea ended up sitting next to Theo while Hontar sat on the opposite side of Theo, looking at him with a serious expression.
Alea didn't care and picked up the menu while showing it to Theo. "Order?"
Theo only pointed out two things, fried rice and melon juice, without having a change of expression.
"What about you?" Alea asked Hontar with a smile.
"I will have the same as him."
Alea nodded and called the waitress. Meanwhile, Hontar glared at Theo as if he was his enemy before he asked Alea, "Are you blackmailed?"
Both Theo and Alea widened their eyes at the same time, exchanging looks and blinking a few times. They just couldn't comprehend how Hontar could arrive at this conclusion. They even acted like normal teammates.
"Ehm, sorry? I heard it wrong, right?" Alea tilted her head and asked with a weird expression. "If you're talking about blackmail, I don't happen to understand what you're talking about."
"But you were…" Hontar frowned.
"Ah!" Alea remembered the word "agreement" and with how Theo acted like a douchebag, he must have had this kind of thought. She couldn't help but chuckle. "You're misunderstanding things. Let me explain a few things to you. First of all, he acted completely like someone I've never seen before, so yeah, I couldn't comprehend his way of thinking. Maybe we should have him explain it first?"
Hontar then glanced at Theo with a serious expression, wondering if this was true.
Theo let out a long sigh and asked, "What's the purpose of this competition? It's to win, right? And I'm planning to do that."
"But you should just beat that Scott guy a crap out of him since he was your bully." Alea pouted, still feeling not satisfied with Theo's explanation.
"I could do that and play weak before turning the situation around, but that's only for one round. There are still a few more fights!" Theo shook his head in disappointment.
"Ah!" Alea suddenly fell silent and looked down, contemplating the meaning behind his words. Meanwhile, Hontar, who first met him this way, didn't know what they were doing.
"What do you mean?"
Theo thought for a moment and believed it would be fine to tell them. "First of all, what do you think about my performance earlier?"
"You've good head but poor skills. Nothing great about you."
Theo gave a thumb up. "Exactly. Our fight earlier was different from three versus three. Since you were a third-year while the other one was a first-year, Alea alone should be enough to handle both of you. The moment that thought appeared in my mind, I quickly decided to play it this way.
"And when our next opponents think of me that way, what will they do?"
"I will…!!!" Hontar understood what he meant. "They will underestimate you and it's the best chance to turn the situation around."
"I think that's not all." Alea shook her head, feeling something was off. "Your plan is not only for the next fight, right?"
Theo smiled and acknowledged her statement.
"With that kind of acting, when we reach four versus four, the opponent will be wary of him and his scheme. This will become a mind battle soon. And in the last five versus five fight, he will do another trick which I can't figure out."
"!!!" Hontar was beyond speechless. He only stared at Theo with eyes wide open, but Alea could find a fear behind his eyes. "You… Are you really the same grade as Scott? You're not a big boss of an evil organization, right?"
"What do you mean?" Theo rolled his eyes and said, "I am just a regular student."
Unbeknownst to them, he just wanted to be like his master, trying to see a few steps ahead even if it meant sacrificing a bit of his satisfaction. After all, he could only think this way because he got the restriction from his master.
Without revealing his Clone and Magic Bullet, he needed to get through this training, so yeah, he needed to be more creative. Of course, he was grateful to his master for giving him this chance.
"Anyway, he can obliterate Scott in a few rounds. I think he can also fight you and even I don't know who will win." Alea smiled. "So, don't underestimate him in that aspect as well."
"I understand." Hontar nodded and looked at Theo, extending his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Hontar Dagher. I will be your teammate from now on."
Theo shook his hand politely and asked, "How may I call you?"
"The same as her. Just call me Hontar. No need to be polite in a fight."
"Sure. Then, I need your contact information so that we can talk about your fighting style, etc. I can make a fighting arrangement against our next opponent after that. You don't mind sharing it with me, no?"
"I won't share my skills with you, but I will teach you how I fight, including what kind of attack I have without mentioning the specific skill names. Do you mind?"
"Nope. As long as I know what to expect, I think we will be fine." Theo waved his hand, telling him it wasn't that big of a deal. He then took out his Skylink and exchanged their contact.
Alea, on the contrary, had her mouth wide open, staring at the two with a dumbfounded look.
Noticing her gaze, Hontar asked with a weird expression. "What?"
"He has never given me something this smoothly! No, he has never treated me this way. What spell did you use? I need to learn it as well to have him treat me a bit better."
"Ehm? Seriously?" Hontar only looked away, not knowing what to say.
"Hey, hey… How come?" Alea came closer to Theo, demanding this kind of treatment. "Theo, how come?"
Theo only covered her face and pushed her back while saying, "Shut up. You're annoying."
Hontar only looked at them with a smile. If it were not due to Alea's saying Theo was strong, Hontar might have noticed something was wrong with this pair… The only thing that could only be seen by an opponent who had fought him not as a teammate but as an opponent. And this one thing they missed might cause Theo's destruction at one point.