Currently, Eichi and Sato lagged at the very back of the group. Curious, Eichi asked, "Why is that?"
At this moment, Sato was completely different from his usual cold self. He remained silent for a while, glanced at Eichi, took a deep breath, and began to speak. "I have been competing with my sister since I was a child. I fought her for everything."
"However, she was better than me at everything. Every time, my parents would lecture me and tell me to learn from her."
"Later, after we got our Pokémon, I frequently battled her, but I lost every single time."
"I kept losing; I never won. I wanted to get away from her until I was strong enough to defeat her, so I chose to enroll in Silver Academy."
After he finished speaking, Eichi felt a sense of melancholy. It seemed the pressure Sato's sister placed on him was far too great.
Furthermore, if even Sato was somewhat afraid of her, one could only imagine how powerful her strength truly was.
This made Eichi worry about the third-year students. According to others, the strength of this year's third-year class was the worst among previous years.
Not only was their strength mediocre, but they also enjoyed causing trouble. The incident with Hirota last time was orchestrated by the third-years.
Moreover, because they caused trouble last time, all the teachers had to go and provide rescue.
This led to a situation where, after Tetsu and the others were taken, the staff didn't notice a thing. Had it not been for them, Director Yanagi might have rescued them long ago.
Because the academy was so vast, the entire leadership team led the group from Indigo Academy on a tour of the campus for the entire day.
After the tour concluded in the afternoon, Director Yanagi arranged for them to rest at the guesthouse.
Silver Academy had built a guesthouse to accommodate various VIPs who came to the academy for business every year, so the construction was exceptionally luxurious. It was not inferior to a five-star hotel in the slightest.
In the evening, Sato arrived at the guesthouse. The building featured a red and white architectural style and stood six stories tall.
Sato walked into the lobby. There were quite a few people inside, with several groups of Silver Academy teachers chatting with Indigo Academy teachers.
Sato entered the elevator and pressed the button for the 3rd floor. He waited with the others. In the elevator, the other people looked at Sato with curiosity because he was wearing the Silver Academy uniform, unlike the students from Indigo Academy.
The elevator soon reached the third floor. Sato stepped out, looked around, and then walked to the right.
He arrived at the door of Room 301. A sign was posted on the door that read: Akemi.
Sato knocked on the door.
Knock, knock.
Three seconds passed.
Click.
The door opened to reveal a cold and beautiful girl. Upon seeing her, Sato hesitated for a moment before calling out, "Sister."
"Come in," the woman said.
Sato followed her inside. Akemi gestured, "Have a seat."
Sato sat down on a chair next to the large bed.
Akemi plopped down on the bed and picked up a stack of documents nearby.
Sato glanced at them; they were clearly similar to the data Director Yanagi had given them regarding the participants from Indigo Academy.
"The strength of the people at your Silver Academy doesn't seem like much," Akemi said while reading.
"I can tell what kind of level they are at just by looking; it's quite boring."
"I really don't understand why you insisted on applying to Silver Academy. Isn't Indigo Academy good?"
Sato replied expressionlessly, "Is this why you called me over, just to tell me this?"
Akemi shifted her gaze from the documents to Sato and smiled.
"How could that be? I just haven't seen you in a long time. I missed you and wanted to chat."
"Chat about what?" Sato asked. "We don't seem to have much to talk about."
Akemi sat up straight and said with a chuckle, "Although you are no match for me, I am still very clear about your strength."
"However, I was a bit surprised that someone like you actually took second place in the Freshmen Tournament."
"I am quite interested in that Eichi now. Can you tell me about him?"
Sato said somewhat sarcastically, "Shouldn't you have looked that up already?"
"I did find some data," Akemi said, "but I want to hear your perspective."
Sato pondered for a moment and said with an exceptionally grave expression, "Eichi is very strong. I am completely no match for him right now."
Akemi said with some surprise, "Oh? Really? For you to actually say such words... now I really want to go and meet this Eichi."
"I want to see exactly what he is like to make Akemi's younger brother say such things."
The next day, the Inter-Academy Exchange Tournament officially began. It was held at the same location as the Freshmen Tournament: the Battle Hall.
Since there was no audience, only about a hundred people sat around the central battlefield of the Battle Hall.
After discussion between the academies, it was decided that this Inter-Academy Exchange Tournament would start with the third-year students.
The first day featured the third-year matches, the second day was for the second-years, and the first-years would compete on the final day.
The rules for this Inter-Academy Exchange Tournament adopted a best-of-three-rounds system.
This meant that across the three grade levels of each academy, whichever academy won more grade-level victories would win the exchange tournament.
The specific rules for the grade-level matches differed from the Freshmen Tournament. After consulting with Indigo Academy, the academy adopted a traditional competition format.
The rule for this match was that both academies, without the other's knowledge, would rank their ten students from the respective grade before the match.
They were ranked by strength from tenth to first. Ten matches would then be held in order, with the tenth rank facing the tenth rank.
The final result would be based on the number of matches won. Whichever academy won more matches would be the victor for that grade. Finally, the academy with the most winning grades would be the overall winner of the Inter-Academy Exchange Tournament.
These rules were also explained to them by Director Yanagi yesterday. It was said that Indigo Academy was dissatisfied with the original competition format, so the rules were changed at the last minute.
The third-year matches were currently underway. At the referee's command, the names of the two students for the first match appeared on the electronic screen.
Eichi looked toward the third-year section. Sitting in the very center was a fat student. According to Director Yanagi, that person was Aze, Shinta's older brother.
He was the number one student of the third year, and he was the one who instructed those people to bully Hirota last time.
Representing Silver Academy was a thin upperclassman, while a green-haired girl came up from the Indigo Academy side.
Once both sides were ready, the referee signaled: "The match begins!"
Both sides released their Pokémon. The upperclassman sent out a Typhlosion.
The girl sent out an Azumarill. Eichi activated his Eye of the Bug Emperor the moment they released their Pokémon.
He took a look. The Typhlosion had an Excellent talent grade and was at the Experienced rank.
Conversely, the Azumarill also had an Excellent talent grade, but its rank was Elite.
From the moment they appeared, the upperclassman was at a total disadvantage, both in terms of level and elemental typing.
Eichi was very worried.