Akita followed Kiro and Ally to the building.  She was slightly intimidated by all of the people showing up for the preliminaries.  It was good that people weren't going to be watching because she didn't want the distraction from her first real fight.

"Don't worry, Akita. We'll fly through these preliminaries!" Kiro assured her in response to her reaction, giving her a small pat on the back to try and cheer here up a bit. He walked alongside the other two, as they found an empty space to stand and wait. There were had to be over a hundred people in the large room! Everyone looked like such amazing fighters, which did intimidate Kiro, but he'd never admit to it.

One of the many preliminary referees stood atop of one of the four fighting rings located in the center of the room, as he patted the head of his microphone, making sure that it was actually on before speaking into it. "Ehem." He grumbled, as he signaled his sound man to turn the volume just slightly up. "Welcome to the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, I'd like to begin by thanking each and everyone of you for coming out here. Because, let's face it, without you fighters, we wouldn't have a show, now would we?" The referee awkwardly laughed at his failed attempt as a joke, as he blankly stared off into the harsh crowd. Not a single laugh. "Uh," He coughed to fill in the void of silence. "You all will be divided into eight brackets, competing in mini-tournaments to decide who will move on to the actual tournament. You will have a one-minute time limit on every match, you lose if you either fall out of bounds, or get knocked out (being on the ground for more than ten seconds). If neither of these events occur, it will be up to the judge to decide who wins, and moves on to the next round. There are 160 fighters this time around, and so every single one of you will receive a number from our helpful referees, these numbers will decide who goes in what bracket. Numbers 1-20 will be in the first half of bracket A. Numbers 21-40 will be in the latter half of bracket A. And so on and so fourth. I appreciate your time, and I wish all of you the best of luck." With that, the referee exited the stage. Only moments after, eight referees went around carrying a silver container containing 20 slips of paper, giving everyone a chance to reach in and get a number for themselves, to determine which bracket they're in.

Kiro took his time reaching in to get his number, making sure he got the luckiest one. "This is the one!" He exclaimed, pulling out the slip. Once he opened it, he read it aloud: "Number 12!" He excitedly informed his fellow students.

Eno reached into the box, as he pulled out a slip. He opened it up to read, number 78. It didn't matter what bracket they put him in, though. There wasn't a single fighter there that even resembled someone that could cause him any trouble. He eyed the turtle hermit's students from across the room, recognizing their insignia. The faintest smile formed on his face, he was glad that they were able to make it in time. Now he'd have the chance to embarrass the pathetic school in front of everyone.