The Third Task, Part Two
It was now time for Nekozawa and Yuki to face off. Nekozawa was nervous, how could he beat someone who could tell the future? Despite this, he wasn’t ready to give up. He had seen Leorio beat him once, and it had sparked an idea in Nekozawa’s dark twisted mind. Since powers are permitted, Nekozawa would use his.
Off in the crowd the teachers of Oxbridge watched on.
“He looks nervous,” Kakashi noted.
Victor trembled by their side, and suddenly spoke up. “Surely it doesn’t matter if he wins this round or not? With Yuki’s place in last for the first two tasks, even if he comes first he could never win the tournamount overall. And with Leorio coming last in this task, Nekozawa is guaranteed to win the tounramount even if he loses. So why doesn’t he just let himself lose?”
“You fool!” Fukuzawa spat. “He’s doing this for the pride of his school. He’ll secure our overwhelming victory. I’m sure he’s already aware of this fact.”
Nekozawa was not aware.
On the stage, he turned to his puppet Belzenoff for support. “Let’s win this together my old friend.”
“And begin!” Sebastian cried.
Yuki stepped forward, ready to continue the same act. Nekozawa met Yuki’s grin with one of his own, barely visible beneath the shadow of his hood.
“No need to tell me you have assured your victory with your future diary, Amano. I already saw in the last match.”
“So you know there’s no point in trying?” Yuki sneered.
“No, actually. The opposite. You see, I know your power, but you don’t know mine. I have cursed your future diary; I wrote your name on my curse doll! Your future diary will no longer tell you the rael future!”
Yuki gasped. Kurapika gasped. Karou gasped.
“M-m-my future diary isn’t going to tell the truth?” Yuki stuttered. He whipped his head around to stare at Yuno, whose face had become grim.
“Ready?” Nekozawa asked. “Rock…”
Yuki frantically glanced at his diary. It said he played paper and won. ‘If this is a lie, then I should play either rock or scissors. If according to my future diary I played paper and won, then it would mean Nekozawa played rock. That means he could play either scissors and paper. But that might be a lie as well. There’s no way to assure my victory! And since this is the first round, it’s impossible to predict what he’s more likely to play!’
“Paper… scissors!” Nekozawa cried.
Yuki closed his eyes and cried out dramatically as played his hand, choosing scissors randomly.
“One point to Nekozawa!” Sebastian announced.
Yuki was shocked. He opened his eyes, only to see that Nekozawa had played rock! Impossible! His future diary was supposed to be lying. He looked back down at his phone. His future had changed! It now said he had played scissors and lost to Nekozawa’s rock. Had his future diary changed because Nekozawa was a diary user too?
Nekozawa chuckled. Yuki was trembling. How had this happened?
“Ready to play again?”
“N-not really-“ Yuki began, but Nekozawa cut him off, shouting “rock…”
Yuki’s tears blinded his vision. He peeked at his diary quickly, trying to read what it said. On the screen, the words read
‘I can’t see what my future diary says because I’m crying too much, I play rock randomly and lose to Nekozawa’s paper.’
Unfortunately Yuki could not see the words because he was crying too much. He randomly played rock, tears and snot streaming down his face.
“And a second point to Nekozawa! Nekozawa wins!” Sebastian announced excitedly.
Oxbridge erupted into jubilations. They cheered Nekozawa’s name. Nekozawa was touched. It seemed everyone was there, celebrating his victory. No, THEIR victory. The school had achieved this together, he would never have achieved all that he had without their never ending support. He was particularly grateful towards his closest friends- Soma and Atsushi. And of course who could forget Belzenoff.
Nekozawa then heard a whisper behind him. He turned back to Yuki. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
“How?” Yuki asked, louder this time. “How could you beat me? How did you trick my future diary?”
“I didn’t.” Nekozawa assessed the boy’s expression. “You seem confused, so let me enlighten you. I did nothing to your future diary, it told you truth. If you had followed the diary, you definitely would have won. So I had to convince you not to. And it worked.”
“But how did you know what I was going to play?”
“I had no idea. I won by luck, which, in my opinion, is how rock paper scissors should be played. I’m not into these mind games.” Nekozawa smiled. “Better luck next time Amano.”
Yuki bowed his head, accepting his defeat.
“Will the contestants please approach the podium and take their places?” Sebastian announced.
Nekozawa stepped up onto the highest platform, taking his place as first for the tournament. Leorio stood beside him in second place, and Yuki snivelling in third (aka last).
The crowd cheered again. Nekozawa soaked it up. He then turned to shake Leorio’s hand, congratulating him. Leorio was a worthy opponent, and Nekozawa was pleased to have met him. Likewise Leorio recognised that Nekozawa was a brialliant young mind, and admitted to himself that if he had to lose to someone, then he was glad it was Nekozawa. Leorio and Nekozawa both ignored Yuki, who hadn’t earned their recognition.
The Triwizard Tournament had been a long and difficult road, but successful. No one had died, and Oxbridge had finally restored their reputation as the best university. The students were ready to resume their education.
Unfortunately for them, fate was not on their side. Perhaps Shanks would have had the effort to predict this had he not wasted his efforts on using astrology to see whether or not Yuki was alive. The association between the snivelling, pitiful Yuki, and his life's work of astrology had blackened it in his mind. Over the course of the last task even the thought of doing it made him see Yuki's disgusting, cowardly face. He couldn't stand it, and decided to use sake to rid himself of the gruelling memories.
Across the field, unbeknownst to the cheering Oxbridge students and faculty, a white Rolls Royce stopped at the end of the field. Fuhrer Bradley stepped out from the driver's side, patent leather shoes sinking in the mud. He wore a navy blue suit and a resting bitch face. Asahina Kaname, who had been rolling some prayer beads between his fingers, followed the Fuhrer's lead. His shirt was unbuttoned to the top of his ribcage, hair touching his shoulders.
"What a lovely university," Kaname said, looking up at the aged Oxbridge building.
The Fuhrer hummed in response. Though they were metres away, hardly distinguishable, Kakashi sensed their presence. He detached himself from his fellow tutors.
"Kakashi," Fukazawa noticed the charged tension about him, "What is it?"
Both of Kakashi's eyes were revealed, his Sharingan eye swirling. He turned to Fukazawa somberly.
"Ofsted inspectors."