Two figures were sitting on a bench in a nearby park, which was only a hundred meters away from the High School.
The first figure had a brown-colored outfit with messy black hair, but his face, which was only dirtied a moment ago, was now smooth and clean, without any signs of wounds, scars, or dirt.
The second figure was a girl with a pink and white outfit, her face was bright red as she kept taking glances at the young man with her palms getting sweatier with each passing second.
Ichiro had his arms crossed as he looked over the park fences, straight towards the high school.
The park was peaceful, with couples and families having either picnic or simply walking and enjoying nature.
''What is your name?'' Ichiro suddenly asked with his grey eyes gazing at the girl's young face.
''Ah...'' She was startled and quickly replied, ''Sini!''
''Sini?'' Ichiro raised an eyebrow, ''Can you tell me the name of this city?''
Sini thought it was a pretty weird question but decided to answer, ''It is called City of Architecture!''
Ichiro rubbed his chin and nodded. He didn't say anything else and started finding ways to make money.
The System was again a bitch, who won't give any money because they had a deal that only once in a month, and it was only recently when Ichiro used it.
He knew that a journey from here to Winterlight was massive, and it would cost a shit ton.
He might also be unlucky enough to have no flights to Winterlight.
''E-Excuse me, you don't seem to be from around here?'' Sini said with some uncertainty but seeing Ichiro's demeanor, which is vastly different from every other boy she has met so far, she was almost certain that Ichiro wasn't from here.
The men and boys usually act like they have a sticks up in their asses. Moving classy, eating classy, even talking in a graceful manner. It is deeply rooted in Damio's culture to act like that.
Even their fighting style is classy, they don't rely on brute strength; instead, they fight in a way that looks classy and gentlemanly.
Rarely anyone in Damio enters a world stage, but there are expectations, like Fang's School of Martial Arts, who originated from different Continents, but the classy fighting style still influenced them.
They are respected figures in society because they manage to reach a high level in Martial Arts and still keep their demeanor classy.
Not being graceful would mean that person is a barbarian.
''What gave that away?'' Ichiro asked; he doesn't know the culture of Damio because he never bothered to learn anything from different Continents.
He didn't expect the cultures have such big differences, it was like he entered a whole new world.
''W-Well...'' She blushed and scanned him from head to toe; his muscular figure already gave it away.
It's very rare for anyone to have proper muscles among the younger generation because to people in the City of Architecture, having muscles would mean that the person doesn't have any manners and is a very rude individual.
''I am from Arya,'' Ichiro said and expected to see Sini surprised, but not in the way he expected.
''Wait, you are from Arya?!'' She exclaimed and continued, ''So you are part of the Youth Competition?!''
Ichiro's ears perked up, and snapped his head towards her, ''Can you elaborate?''
''Y-You are part of Arya's team, right?'' She asked and pointed at the high school, ''In an hour, there will be competition between Arya and Damio, it's a friendly competition, and there seems to be quite many spectators.''
Ichiro rubbed his chin, and a smile appeared on his face, ''That's right.''
Sini's eyes sparkled and asked, ''Then why are you here? It will start soon!''
Ichiro slowly stood up and stretched before saying, ''I wanted to take a breath of fresh air.''
Sini nodded and cheerfully said, ''I will cheer you on!''
''Thanks...'' Ichiro said and then asked, ''I kind of forgot the route there... I am bad at directions. Can you show me the way to Arya's locker room?''
Sini stood up and hopped cheerfully, ''It would be a pleasure!''
Ichiro put his hands on his pocket and started following behind Sini, whose nervousness seemed to have disappeared, instead only excitement left.
After they left the park through the gates and turned to the right to start walking towards the school, Ichiro decided to ask, ''Why are you cheering me on? Aren't we enemies?''
Sini shook her head, which caused her pigtails to move in a cute manner, ''I met some of the Arya fighters— they were fun, even though most of my classmates were afraid of them.''
Ichiro nodded and looked towards the high school, there were some students who left, but more and more people were entering the school.
Sini stopped in front of the gates and patiently waited for people to enter.
Ichiro saw most of the people wearing suits and walking in a very elegant manner. He looked at the sky and saw the sun shining.
'Aren't they getting hot?' He thought to himself and saw a few sweating buckets while wearing the suits.
Few young men saw Ichiro and saw his unnatural body stature.
Ichiro narrowed his eyes and saw them whispering between each other, he thought he heard words barbarian and ugly.
Sini felt her anger rising but calmed her down and said, ''I will show you the way!'' She entered the school through the gates while Ichiro followed behind.
The school building was quite large with four floors and around 500 meters in length!
The front yard was even larger, with a sports field and a lake. The backyard of the school had a park with sakura trees blossoming.
Sini didn't go to the school building. Instead, she followed behind the crowd of people who were walking in the same direction.
Next to the school building was another large dome-like building. It was the Martial Arts building, and currently, there was a swarm of people entering with half of the stands already brimmed with people.
Sini and Ichiro entered the line and started waiting patiently.
Ichiro had now enough time to think about his next course of action.
