"Girlfriend? You finally got her?" Lear asked with a smile as he nudged Max with his elbow while looking towards Aria.

"Which one is it?" Rias asked, looking at Lear in curiosity.

"The silver one.." Lear replied.

"Shut up... it's not her.." Max stopped Lear with a frown and forced a smile as his gaze met with Aria. She seem to have noticed them looking at her and murmuring something…..god knows what she was thinking right now….

"Yeah, it wasn't her…" Wilson said as he glanced at Aria.

"Hmmn...I thought it would definitely be her. After all, I had seen them sharing some hot moments together…." Lear said in surprise.

"Don't tell me you are two timing…" Wilson said as he looked at Max.

"Cough! Cough!" Lisa suddenly choked and coughed a few times before calming down. She then looked at Max whose face couldn't be any more ugly.

"Don't create any misunderstandings, Lear. We had already gone through it more than once….there is nothing like that...don't tarnish anyone's reputation like that…." Max frowned. He didn't like it…. not in the least bit….he wouldn't mind the joke if it was said in private among the two of them but this was not the right place…

Lear gulped as he looked at Max. 'Sh*t! He is angry…'

He immediately shut himself up, not daring to say another word.

"Then who is it?" Beli asked as she looked at Max curious as well.

"It's my personal matter…" Max replied with a smile.

"He seduced his boss. It was that blonde girl…what was her name again…." Wilson calmly said, leaving Max twitching in anger.

Everyone looked at him. His boss….was someone he was working for...which currently was the Lorenz House and there was indeed a famous blonde from that House.

"Yeah, it's true. I would love if you guys could keep it a secret for now…'' Max said glaring at Wilson.

Lisa looked at Max wondering what had happened. Did they got caught somehow and lied?

"Fine...I understand it. I should have tried to hide it as well…but regretfully I didn't." Wilson said as he looked at Max, some people didn't understand him but Max and Lear did. They knew about him and Anna after all.

….

Half an hour later, the group left the cafeteria…

Max was walking along with Lisa in the back.

"So, what's going on?" Lisa asked as she looked at Max.

Max smiled as he explained to her what had happened that day.

"Why did you go to a place like that?" Lisa looked at him.

"Now you don't need to start as well. I already told you it was due to Kevin's request...all for food.." Max said as he looked at her helplessly.

"Hmph! Who knows if you really thought it like that…." Lisa snorted in disdain.

"Elly lied to keep you in check….You deserve the trouble….but why did Elly have to use herself into it…" She muttered in a worried tone.

"What are you worried about? It was a lie in the beginning but not anymore. Not to mention, she doesn't mind people knowing about it…" Max said as he continued to walk.

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked in confusion.

"We ended up dating actually…"

"Huh?" Lisa looked at him, unable to comprehend his words.

"You heard it right? Try once again I am sure you will understand…" Max said as he looked at her.

Lisa held her head for a few seconds before looking at Max, "You mean...you are in a relationship...like a boy and girl...kind of.. one...with Elly. "

"Why does it sound so wrong when I hear it from your mouth…" Max said with a frown.

"H-How is this possible?" Lisa looked at Max. She still couldn't believe it.

"You have not seen her other side being a friend I guess." Max said as he looked at her. "Anyway, that is how it is now…"

"Then are you going to seriously consider it?" Lisa asked as she looked at Max with wide eyes.

"Yes…" Max replied.

"I said I wanted to talk with you as well, remember?" Max further asked.

Lisa gulped as she looked at Max. She could feel something serious was about to come.

"Where do you want to take this? I believe I will be unfair to you if I don't properly talk it out with you like I did with Elly…" Max said as he looked at her.

"W-What is there to talk about? We will do what was meant to be…"Lisa said nervously as she suddenly took a step ahead of Max.

The scenes which appear in her mind every night flashed through her eyes for a brief moment and made her oddly nervous. What would she do if Max didn't share the same thought? What if he asked something like dating as well? She didn't want to do it...if Elly was serious about this thing with him..

"That's fine by me…." Max's words poured cold water on Lisa's train of thought and her face twitched for a second there. She felt embarrassed for even thinking something stupid.

'Well, then that's it I guess…we would have to work our ass out of this trouble..and if we fail, we do something about it in the future when we have power to change things....' Max muttered inwardly.

Everyone returned to their beds early that night to rest. The next day was the opening ceremony and was going to be a hectic one.

…..

The night passed away peacefully…..

Max woke up as usual and went on a run. He was surprised to see the preparation, the look of the whole Academy was changed in a single day. He didn't remember seeing those decorations when he had arrived.

He could even see a large Airship hovering over the Academy. It had a large screen hanging down from it.

It seemed that those guys were still checking it as the visuals being displayed changed frequently. It was probably going to be used to display results and scoreboards.

"Holy sh*t…" Max was surprised when he reached the main gate of the Academy. There was already a large crowd that had gathered outside.

Well, the Academy obviously didn't have that many seats to accommodate all the people. It must be a first come first serve basis for these people without any significant connections.

Max could see there were a lot of youngsters in the crowd. It seemed the young ones were especially enthusiastic to watch the competitions….