Page 74 of Monster's Baby

“Thank you,” I parroted.“But more importantly, thankyoufor being awesome teammates.”

“The mark of a true leader,” Aiden said, squeezing me around my hips.“You know that you’re nothing without your team backing you.”

I nodded emphatically.

The announcer’s voice boomed around us.“That was an amazing ending to the two-hundred and fifty-third Magical Olympics!A round of applause for all our competitors, who showed great courage, fortitude, creativity, brilliance, honor, and passion in their events.But there can be only one winner!Our judges have tabulated the points from each event.The ranks are as follows: in sixth place, South America!”

Wild cheering swelled from the stands.

“In fifth place, Oceania!”

The cheers got louder.

“Asia, fourth place!”

The people around me started screaming in excitement.We had placed in the top three!

“Third place...”The announcer drew out the tension.“North America!”

I gasped.“We’re second or first!”

“In second place, Europe!”

Several competitors in my contingent let off small silent fireworks from their fingertips.I could barely think, I was so proud of my team.

An even louder swell of cheers formed on the other side of the arena as the African contingent recognized what that meant.

“Africa takes first place!”the announcer boomed over the cacophony.“Well played, everyone!See you in a decade!”

More fireworks filled the sky, this time as part of the closing ceremonies, not an independent celebration by my teammates.Once again, the sparks were made by drones, and once the exploding display was over, they started to create visual displays, replaying some of the flashiest parts of the events that had taken place over the past week.

Aiden cheered when they showed my rainbow trail in the flying event, hugging me tightly.

They even had a display of the most recent event, where our mountain homunculus jumped on each of the others and destroyed them one at a time.Everyone laughed when one of the beast homunculi tried to jump at the mountain and bounced right off the rubber side.

After the mountain had devoured the others, it shook until it exploded like a volcano, sparkles shooting up from the top and creating one last fireworks display.

The drones went dark, and then it was time to return to the academy.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” I said, shocked.“I feel like it barely started.”

“Now we can focus on our studies,” Pierre said.“How is your thesis going?”

I skipped a bit.“I have a good lead that I’ll be exploring soon, with my professor’s permission.”

“You don’t have it yet?”

“I haven’t seen him in the last two hours.”I chuckled.“I knew the Magical Olympics would give me new ideas.”

Aiden kissed the top of my head.“You’re brilliant.”

The portal back to school finally opened up, and we all filed through.

“Party in the mess!”someone shouted, and Bruce whooped.“Yes!I could eat a horse!”

I hoped that the culinary students hadn’t had to stay behind to make all the food, and could take the time to enjoy the party.I knew at least one of the fourth years had been competing earlier this week.

“I should find Professor Akhtar,” I demurred.

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