Ume Inari opened a wooden box. It was filled with steaming cooked rice and paper seaweed in perfect rectangles. She tossed the content in the box up in air without hesitation and calmly watched as the rice and seaweed were reaching the height of the branches above yet touched none of them, while the group of athletes eyes the scene in shock.

"A-are you crazy!?" one of the teammates cried and attempted to "save" the thrown food though knew all effort would be in vain: rice was soft and could easily be scattered if grasped even only the slightest bit tighter or looser than the force needed, and seaweed papers would be blown away upon a small indirect impact in the air, a gentle breeze for example.

"Hold on, she got this," Lucky stopped them from standing up. Ume's face showed absolute confidence as if having the occurrence planned, and the feline believed that the one Inari that Kitsune talked so highly about would not disappoint by any means.

As the food halted to a free fall, a gust of wind picked up. The rice was circled and mounded into identical balls, wrapping each ball with a piece of seaweed to form dozens of onigiris. Then she continued to use the wind to gather them and caught them with her chopsticks so rapidly that her right hand was merely a windy green blur of her haori sleeve, arranging them neatly on a wooden tray that she pulled out without anyone noticing.

Ume placed the tray in front of the stunned athletes, smiling brightly:

"Serve yourselves! Don't worry about the seasoning, the wind did everything. Oh, and please do tell me if you want extra fillings or more food. I'm glad to help."

"Wind powers!?" the athlete before exclaimed, "I know there are elemental manipulators out there but at this perfection, making rice balls using wind alone? How is this even-??"

"Shhh~ Looks like you've spotted something intriguing about us! But my bad, we're not the Karasus. We are the Inaris," Ume put a finger on her chin, "And our secrets shall be sealed. Find it out yourselves."

"Fine," they huffed and picked a ball, "Not like I'm that interest to bug into anything that's not related to the contest anyway."

Lucky took a rice ball for herself, too. It was quite hard to catch the whole thing in sight, really. The wind smelled of salt and lilies. Its flows rolling the rice as if each had a life of its own, but that was actually just the art of a skilled, multitasking mind. Compared to Kitsune, Ume was on an entirely different level.

The cathlete munched on her breakfast portion, the warm taste spreading on her tongue. Ume was clearly watching over them, though her look brought more comfort than just holes on their head, like that of a mother watching her children, humming a soft tune, which later turned to a song of a language no one could tell. Strangely, it felt both familiar and foreign to Lucky, something she'd expect herself to know yet an invisible barrier of sort had prevented her to put a finger on. She got herself the fifth onigiri. Her head unconsciously played along to the rhythm. It was somewhat enchanting, the air felt so light of a peaceful land void of fear and arguments.

The fox was sitting atop a branch, her feet dangling. Whenever an athlete ordered for more food, she didn't showed a sign of hearing the request, she didn't move at all, but a wind picked up and carried another serving of onigiri in a greenish cocoon, like the one which Ume had showed up yesterday.

Lucky stuffed herself with the nth ball. She needed a lot of fuel for the day. Never, ever run with an empty stomach. Her experience was anything but pleasant. She was planning to take on Archery next before re-challenging Kou, and there's the saying that hunger made your eyes blurry. Though that couldn't stop her head to keep thinking about the huge difference between Ume and Kitsune: Kitsune was barely able to manifest the winds she created, merely using them as a booster for her physical strength, taking form of a gust of wind; while Ume could, well, Lucky found herself lost of words to clarify it - Ume made it seem so simple and easy, the winds were like her extra hands, she could even teleport with it!

"Alright my champions," Ume stopped her singing and spoke, "I suppose it's time for you to set off. It's bright and shine and the spot of the Ultimate Champion awaits for no one," she clasped her hands together, "Venture into town and start your second day of challenges and fun! Good luck."

Everyone was gathering their stuff and set off. One by one, they went downhill in different directions, some teleported right on spot. Lucky pulled out her own compass to check the locations before devouring the last rice ball and stood up, heading Northwest. She could see the vibrant red fans and floating targets on the waters of the docks, and Yoichi himself on the beach, grand-looking on his mechanic horse with his bow and quiver. It was just yesterday when she had met him personally inside his very palace, and while she was the competitor here, he challenged her, or at least she considered it a challenge. Not like she was bothered, quite the opposite, she was estated that a Champion saw her as worthy enough to make the move first.

The Central Hill was quite low compared to the heights she had reached, but the atmosphere here was refreshing nonetheless. She loved the light sun rays of the morning and the cool breezes of mountainous woods, so she unconsciously started running, taking in her favorite sense. She leaped on a few branches, as agile as a squirrel that nothing was shackled and left a sign of anything passing by, just a couple leaves ruffling on her skin, nature cushioning her feet. Her red scarf fluttered to her steps, and a smile plastered on her face, like that of a child in their own world of play. Soon, with a pleasant stretch, she reached the old harbor.

She saw first thing sight of a badger - the one she had met with back at Otohime's contest, and at the morning meal with Ume and the rest of Team Yellow - Morgan, raising his bow high and shot a furry of green arrows toward the clusters of target-on-boats and fan-on-sticks which were constantly gliding through the waters. The badger himself, too, was running along the shore to get a good aim at as many targets as possible, sometimes even leaped on the large boulders nearby and soak his feet in sea water trying to get closer. And Yoichi was also there, on the back of his wheeled ebony horse, his legs soaked and his cast was covered by waves, which were surprisingly foamy today. He had a quiver full of red arrows over his shoulder, and raised his own bow firmly and calmly. With one single arrow, he shot through three targets at once. The Torii wasn't on the sea anymore - it was floating in the sky, shining bright white. Instead of the usual orange emblem, attached on it was a scoreboard, no less, showing a countdown stopwatch in the middle and Morgan's and Yoichi's current scores. Morgan's, which was on the left, was significantly lower than the samurai's, and it seemed that he was in vain trying to catch up. His force was strong enough to send an arrow flying over the targets, yet his aim hadn't got enough of accuracy, or so Lucky assumed from observing. A coal-grey rabbit whom he danced with at the contest, Vanille, was cheering him on on the side. "Cheering", to put it lightly, but she was actually hopping, stomping the ground with her strong feet and shouting Morgan not to lose, which, obviously, didn't come true.

"There. Told ya I tried my best." Morgan said as he passed the bow and quiver to Vanille to compete next.

"Geez, and there you are, being so laid-back in times like this! Our city didn't memorize this island and choose us for nothing, y'know?" Vanille made a 'whatever' gesture then held up the bow, stepping closer to the waves:

"I'm your next challenger."

The icon of Morgan's head on the Torii scoreboard changed to Vanille's, and numbers were reset. As a tweet was heard and the stopwatch started running again, the rabbit began shooting arrows. Unlike her friend, Vanille shot with much better stability, almost knocking out all the targets she aimed at. Still, Yoichi always seemed to be one step ahead. It was quite a close call, but Vanille couldn't manage. A few more shots and she could've, probably, so her arms trembled from disappointment.

Then it came to the last one waiting in line - Lucky.

Honestly, Lucky hadn't got much experience in archery of all sports. Well, technically any sports that were related to weapons. Not like she had a chance to encounter such things in her way-too-peaceful hometown - though she did not complain, only while travelling to Champion Island had she actually held a bow. Aiming and shooting were no stranger for a game-keen like the feline, yet wielding something almost as long as her own height was no doubt difficult.

She picked up the bow anyway. In fact, it seemed to reduce in size to fit better with her form.

"Let me explain the rules again, since you weren't here with Morgan and Vanille," Yoichi said, "You ought to take down as many targets as possible within 1 minute and earn a score higher than mine in order to win my scroll. Targets give more points than fans; however, there's a catch. Fans are much closer and more vulnerable, but you have to literally shoot them down, not tear a hole through them, to be counted. Targets are father, and of course tougher, but it will be down as long as your hit lands strong enough, and hitting the bullseye is unnecessary. You may mobile among this beach, but do not go further than the Torii. Got it?"

"Got it." Lucky nodded.

"Taking those fans down is even harder than bullseyes, if you ask me," Morgan grunted, "You have to hit a slim critical point between the fan and the bamboo stick."

"Really?"

"Watch closely, Lucky," Yoichi raised his bow as Lucky came beside him - waterproofing herself with some air-boots - and released. A single red arrow glided through the air to the thinnest spot on the said target.

And the fan fell into the sea.

Shooting that thing down would be anything but easy, especially when she was against a skilled samurai.

At first, things went well. Lucky closed her right eye and stood with her body side to the right as she took her aim. The first arrow didn't reach, so she put more and more power into the next until one landed on the big target and took it down with a splash. Silently cheering to herself, Lucky tried to keep on the momentum. She did miss some targets by mere millimeters, and tore holes on fans without shooting them down, but she also got quite some achievements as well: two fans and one big target, all three at the same time!

"Lucky, concentrate! You're falling behind!" yelled Morgan.

The moment the feline took notice of it, targets were swarming all over the place, so many that she could feel like shooting with her eyes closed and actually hit. All the same, that gave out quite a shock, it was overwhelming that Lucky barely knew where to head to. The confusion drove her down in agility. Blunt force was enough to take down any random targets at this rate, and soon the same would be of the fans, but Lucky was in such a panic that she couldn't think straight. She drew the arrows clumsily, and somehow got them tangled in the bowstring, even shot in some weird misdirection from the one she intended. A complete mess of herself. Vanille, who was still watching with her friend, shook her head with a pitied smile:

"She cannot make it, that's for certain."

"Say it for yourself. None of us managed," Morgan replied, "Creatures tend to end up strained from winning Archery and Mountain Climbing, no? At least that's stated in the old record."

A whistle-like sound twittered in the air, announcing times out. Lucky lowered her tired limbs, breathing, and knowing that she had lost, without even looking at the scoreboard she knew, for this feeling felt that way of defeat. Still, she dared one glance at the floating Torii above. The score difference was just too huge to be filled by any chance. Like a difference sky, out of reach. The feline might be able to work against Kou next time, but against Yoichi? Seemed impossible.

Yoichi pulled out the usual participating reward, a dango of two - so close already, keep trying. He gave it to Lucky, then looked at all three of them as he spoke:

"My Archery challenge is about the skills of a warrior, as wielding a weapon should never be taken lightly. You need strength, accuracy, calmness, observation and swiftness in both decisions and actions. In practical situations, you need to possess all of that in order to pull off an effective task with minimum damage to your surroundings and least sacrifices possible.

"Feel free to practice at my dojo, or seek for aid. Until you see yourself grasping a hold of those qualifications, I'm always ready for a re-challenge."

"To the dojo we go, then," Morgan said as if it was the most obvious thing. Vanille and Lucky nodded and together they headed to the large palace.

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