The Grand Interclass Tournament was a prestigious, serious, ancient tradition at the academy.

  A place for future legends to rise.

  A place for champions to prove themselves.

  A place where the announcer immediately opened with:

  > “Please do not attack the stands this time. That means you, Class 7-Z.”

  The crowd of nobles, students, and confused birds roared in excitement as Rin’s class marched into the arena.

  Well—"marched" was generous.

  Lirien was cartwheeling, Gorrik was eating what might’ve been a horseshoe, Mira was complaining about the arena dust, and Tessa was chanting a bee hymn in reverse Latin.

  Alain was simply muttering, “I shouldn’t be here. This is a statistical anomaly in motion.”

  And Rin?

  She walked in, already regretting every decision that led her to this moment.

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  ---

  Round One: Capture the Flag (But the Flags Are Alive)

  The first match was announced as “Capture the Flag.”

  Simple enough.

  Except.

  The flags were magical, semi-sentient creatures shaped like screaming chickens with horse legs.

  > “Begin!” shouted the announcer.

  Immediately, Team Valor Class 2-B formed an elegant strategy. They split into coordinated roles, casting spells, controlling terrain, and working in perfect unison.

  Meanwhile, Class 7-Z descended into immediate chaos.

  Gorrik yelled, “I’M THE FLAG NOW!” and sprinted in the wrong direction.

  Tessa released a bee swarm with the command: “Confuse and seduce!”

  Alain built a trebuchet out of chairs and launched Mira into the air. She screamed, “YOU’LL HEAR FROM MY FAMILY LAWYER!”

  Rin managed to catch one of the chicken-flags by tripping and accidentally landing on it.

  It shrieked in betrayal.

  Lirien was seen chasing another flag while simultaneously shouting poetry and being stabbed by her own enchanted shoelaces, which had come to life.

  --

  2-B: Flawless formations, elemental traps, perfect flag control.

  7-Z: Bees, screaming, Gorrik eating the flag he mistook for a spicy pigeon.

  Still, somehow… 7-Z was winning.

  Because while 2-B tried to control the flags, 7-Z caused such erratic magical chaos that the flags ran away from everyone except them.

  The scoreboard pinged.

  Class 7-Z: 3 flags.

  Class 2-B: 0 flags. One emotional breakdown.

  The announcer’s voice wavered.

  > “In a shocking turn of events, Class 7-Z… wins Round One! Somehow! Merciful gods, somehow!”

  Rin stood in the middle of the arena, chicken-flag in one hand, expression blank.

  “I hate everything about this.”

  Lirien threw herself into Rin’s arms. “I KNEW WE’D WIN THROUGH EMOTIONAL DERAILMENT!”

  Alain blinked at the chaos. “We have become entropy incarnate.”

  ---

  The Aftermath

  Back in the locker room (which smelled strongly of panic and bee nectar), Professor Kremeth stared at the group.

  “I… I don’t understand what just happened.”

  “We won,” Rin said flatly, brushing chicken feathers out of her hair.

  “But you—didn’t follow any rules!”

  Lirien raised a hand. “Correction: we obliterated them.”

  Alain nodded. “We are statistically toxic to structure.”

  Gorrik burped and held up the half-eaten flag. “Was I helpful?”

  Everyone screamed.