At almost the same time, while Elwynn, Hein, Liana, and the other members of the Kingdom of Karthus's side of the Light faction were racking their brains over certain matters, worrying about what might happen and trying to come to a decision, several pretty figures had gathered in a lounge deep inside the towering royal palace at the center of the floating island, heatedly discussing something.
"This?"
"Good!"
"Just like that!"
"And then..."
In one corner of the lounge, Rin Tohsaka, Sakura Tohsaka, Illya, and Luvia were huddled together, acting all furtive. No one knew what they were discussing. They were even deliberately keeping their voices down, and every so often, they glanced toward Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko.
"Mm! Mm!"
"Shh!"
"Keep your voices down. Listen, I'm telling you..."
Once they noticed that Mikoto, Kuroko, and the others seemed busy discussing something of their own and weren't paying them any attention, they continued their mysterious conference.
"..."
"..."
At that moment, Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko really didn't have time to eavesdrop. They were studying the sheet of white paper with the list of tomorrow's matchups.
Both of them were staring at a line of small text on the page: "Triwizard Tournament, Misaka Mikoto VS Valera Sangunar!"
"W-what should we do?"
"This time, Big Sister's opponent might be hard to deal with!"
"She's a nasty rogue!"
"I heard from people in the Kingdom of Lordaeron that she once tried to assassinate a Black Dragon Princess—and nearly succeeded. What are we going to do?"
After staring at the match list—or, more precisely, at Mikoto's opponent's name—for a while, Shirai Kuroko finally couldn't hold back. She plopped down cross-legged on the sofa and loudly began to wail, looking even more anxious and distressed than Misaka Mikoto herself.
"All her opponents were