2: The Weakest Produce Nothing

People who can shine in the face of overwhelming disadvantage. People who can overturn the board no matter how dire the corner they are backed into.

People like that always say the same thing:

That the secret to success is never giving up.

Keeping those words in mind, the very first person Yuri Flostre had ever witnessed who truly refused to give up was an extraordinarily unforgettable man.

If she had to put it into words, it was as though the more desperate his predicament became, the more he relished every second of it. Even now she had little idea what went on inside his head, yet he was a man who let a fearless grin tug at his lips no matter the odds.

She had first laid eyes on him during a rank-free exhibition match held as part of the freshman welcome festivities.

For Yuri—who had already accepted a scouting offer from another platoon—watching the match from the stands was supposed to be nothing more than a way to kill time.

Yet it had turned into something else entirely.

The odds were stacked heavily against him: two opponents, both A-Rank Magic Swordsmen.

“Well, I’m sure things’ll work out somehow.”

Standing across from Kanata of Fireteam D128 were the two Magic Swordsmen. No matter where he tried to evade, the pair moved in tight coordination to close him down and unleash a relentless flurry of strikes. Every time he parried one swordsman’s blow, the other darted in without missing a beat.

Seamless attacks launched from his blind spots—a merciless Combination Attack that gave no quarter even to a lower-ranked opponent.

Any ordinary Sky Wizard would have despaired at the sheer gap in combat strength. No one would have blamed him had he been overwhelmed by their barrage and shot down on the spot; the disparity between them was simply that vast.

Up in the spectator stands, Yuri briefly pictured herself in his shoes before abandoning the thought altogether.

She didn’t even need to think through the outcome. Under such overwhelmingly unfavorable conditions, there was nothing anyone could do. Defeating two higher-ranked opponents at once was flatly impossible.

Yet Kanata refused to give up until the very end.

Scrambling desperately to evade, he watched for a chance to counterattack. Until that opening came, he endured. Endured. Endured. He simply grit his teeth and held out. Booed by the spectators, taunted by his opponents, and pelted with jeers and ridicule from all sides, he still hung on with everything he had.

It would be so much easier if he just let himself get shot down already…

Watching from the stands, Yuri couldn’t help thinking that to herself.

Refusing to know his place, looking thoroughly unsightly as he clung stubbornly to opponents far out of his league—the sight was almost painful to watch. Yet in the back of her mind, even as she thought so, she was comparing him to her own weak-willed self, who gave up the moment the tide turned even slightly against her.

Fifteen minutes into the match, Kanata—who had been on the defensive the entire time—went on the offensive for the very first time.

As though he had eyes in the back of his head, he brought his blade around behind his back and parried a strike coming straight from his six o’clock.

“N-No way… How is a move like that even possible…?”

A block that looked as if he had eyes in the back of his head—no, that wasn’t it. Their timing was flawless, yet he had exploited a monotonous rhythm in their coordinated pattern.

And then came his Limit Skill—Flash Sword. Though the technique was still incomplete back then, its slashing speed was nothing short of breathtaking. His first strike sent his opponent’s Magic Sword flying from their grasp, and his second slammed squarely into their abdomen, knocking the swordsman out cold.

However, he had put a little too much force behind the blow. Instead of falling to the Arena floor, the deflected Magic Sword went hurtling straight toward the spectator stands—

Right toward the spot where Yuri sat, her heart pounding at his refusal to yield.

“Like hell I’ll let that happen!”

Diving at breakneck speed to plant himself in front of the dazed Yuri, Kanata knocked the spinning blade away with a diagonal downward slash.

“Close one, close one. You alright?”

Seen up close, his hair was plastered to his skin with sweat, and his Protector was frayed and battered all over. Even by the most generous standard, he hardly cut a dashing figure.

Yet Yuri would never forget that sight for as long as she lived.

She would never forget the fierce, blazing resolve shining in Kanata’s eyes.

Nor the indomitable fighting spirit burning quietly within their depths.

In that instant, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt: those were the eyes of a human being who never gave up.

“Sorry, gimme just a sec. I’ll go wrap this up real quick.”

Flashing a fearless grin, Kanata soared straight back into the fray.

It was a battle decided by sheer tenacity.

After a grueling struggle, that platoon—a D-Rank squad made up of three second-year Preparatory Course students—succeeded in bringing down an A-Rank platoon, stealing Yuri’s heart completely.

True to his word, Kanata glided back down to the spectator stands once the match was over.

“U-Umm, w-well…!”

“Come to think of it, are you a freshman? You didn’t get hurt just now, did you?”

“Thank you very much for saving me earlier!”

“Don’t be so stiff. It was my fault the sword flew over here in the first place.”

“Umm, how can I possibly repay you for earlier…?”

“Skip the stuffy formalities. You and I are fellow students of the Guardian Department starting today, after all.”

Just then, one of Kanata’s squadmates called out to him.

“Kanata, Chloe is calling for you. The next match is about to start, so she says to clear the field on the double. For that matter, if you spend your time hitting on a freshman right after a match, Chloe is going to punish you for it later.”

“Geh, Chloe really doesn’t cut me any slack on stuff like that. Sorry, Lloyd, tell her I’m heading out right now. …Well then, catch you later, freshman.”

“B-But I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t thank you properly!”

“Man, you really are a conscientious one, aren’t you?”

Pausing to mull it over for a beat, he hit upon an idea and flashed a bold grin.

“Then get strong. And come up to the same sky as us. Anyone we can trust with our backs—anyone willing to put their life on the line to protect somebody else—is more than welcome with us.”

Even the way he spoke those words was blindingly vivid.

He shone so brightly that it was hard to believe they were the same kind of human being.

Immediately afterward, Yuri turned down the scouting offer she had already accepted from Fireteam C331 and joined Kanata Age’s platoon instead. Filled with admiration and awe, she poured every ounce of effort she had into her training there.

She shed sweat. She gave everything she had—all so that she could fly beside the senior she admired so deeply…

Yet right when she could finally hold her head high and fly at his side, Kanata vanished.

Following the ranking match that clinched their promotion to S-Rank, he stopped showing up for Royal Guard duties altogether.

He had abandoned her. He had betrayed her.

That traitor had turned everything she had worked for to dust—

All of her hard work, all of her tireless effort, all of the hardships she had endured until then.

Why had a senior once so admirable sunk to becoming a traitor…?

It did not take long for the overflowing passion in her heart to curdle into resentment.

＊＊＊

Second-year Regular Course Class C of the Guardian Department. Lunch break.

“We saw something awful yesterday, didn’t we?”

“…Yes. It left a very unpleasant taste in my mouth.”

Still visibly shaken by the grotesque sight she had witnessed underground, Yuri looked pale as she approached Chloe’s desk. Though they were about to hold a Royal Guard briefing, her mind clearly seemed elsewhere.

“—Now then, regarding that serial assault case.”

In truth, Chloe wanted to offer Yuri some words of comfort while she was feeling down, but because her junior was so unyieldingly dutiful, she was difficult to coddle. If Chloe expressed ordinary concern, Yuri would surely brush it off with a stiff “There is no problem” or “Please pay it no mind” and try to hide how unwell she felt.

Left with little choice, Chloe moved straight into business.

Today’s meeting concerned the string of nighttime assaults that had been occurring with alarming frequency across the city. In Mistgun, unauthorized Street Fights between Guardian Department students were nothing new, yet this series of incidents was of a different nature altogether.

A distinct pattern had emerged in the culprit’s choice of targets.

“It seems the culprit exclusively targets skilled close-quarters weapon users late at night when few people are around. I suspect the perpetrator is a Street Fighter itching to test their strength, so we’ve decided to step up joint patrols alongside Raven Nest, the city’s public order organization—”

Right at that moment, Kanata rose from his seat by the window and strolled over to them.

Perhaps he had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Huh. So there’s a dangerous creep like that prowling around town lately?”

Yuri immediately fixed Kanata with a piercing glare.

“Geh, quit glaring at me like that. Didn’t you say you weren’t holding a grudge over the ranking match anymore?”

“I never said I wasn’t holding a grudge! I said I had stopped thinking about it!”

“Now, now, you two. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t stir up such a tense atmosphere in here…”

W-Wait, am I at fault here too?! Yuri looked utterly scandalized.

“Nothing tense about it. As far as I’m concerned, I’m just bonding with Yuri.”

For the one on the receiving end, nothing could have been more unwelcome.

“K-Kanata-senpai! Are you trying to pick a fight with me right now?!”

She lunged forward, looking ready to seize him by the collar on the spot.

Yet the instant she did, Chloe let slip a fleeting angelic smile, while Kanata chuckled with a fearless grin.

“Yeah, that look suits you way better after all.”

“Doesn’t it, though?”

Why had the two of them suddenly smiled like that? Completely lost, Yuri blinked in bewilderment.

“Wh-What are you talking about?!”

“Who knows? Just something on our end.”

Kanata looked squarely into Yuri’s eyes.

“…Still, to think you and I would end up facing off as instructors.”

“I have no intention of losing to a traitor like you, Kanata-senpai.”

“Heh. So you’re planning on winning, huh?”

Yuri met Kanata’s cheap provocation with a derisive smile.

“By order of the Guardian Leader, I have been assigned as the temporary instructor of Fireteam B227. They finished the First Quarter with a record of nine wins and three losses—the platoon led by Lily Lancaster, the top-ranked third-year student of the Guardian Preparatory Course. I shall thrash your platoon thoroughly, Senpai. …That covers everything for our lunch-break briefing, doesn’t it? I have instruction duties this afternoon, so please excuse me.”

Driven by indignation, Yuri marched briskly out of the classroom in a huff.

Yeah, a gloomy face really doesn’t suit her at all, Kanata thought to himself.

Even so—

“To think Misora and the others are going up against a B-Rank platoon.”

“Listen, Kanata. Yuri wanted to fight you on equal terms… After you left the office yesterday, she actually negotiated with the Guardian Leader in her own way, asking to take charge of an E-Rank platoon just like yours.”

“I know. Settling on a B-Rank platoon was the compromise she reached after bargaining with the Guardian Leader, right? In fact, I’ll bet the Guardian Leader originally tried to assign her an A-Rank squad.”

“Y-Yes, that’s right… Wait, did you already know about that?!”

“Nah, first I’ve heard of it. But considering how dead set the Guardian Leader is on firing me—and knowing Yuri’s personality—it’s pretty easy to put two and two together.”

When it came to Yuri, no one understood her better than Kanata.

It was almost like being an old married couple who had spent years at each other’s side.

“Yuri’s clumsy and terrible at keeping her emotions under control, but deep down she’s honest to a fault. Because she wants to keep standing on equal footing with us, she naturally wants to win under fair conditions too. She’d never come to anyone for advice about her worries, so I guarantee you she spent all last night brooding over it by herself, wondering if things were really okay like this.”

“Which is why I always end up getting dragged out as the backup crew to look after her worries, isn’t it?”

“What’s up, Lloyd? Got a complaint?”

Cutting into their conversation was Lloyd, who had just returned from eating lunch in the cafeteria.

“Heavens, no. I’m deeply touched to have a friend who cares so much about his comrades. Though if you would go ahead and resolve Yuri’s—your precious junior’s—troubles yourself, it would save me the legwork and make my life much easier in the bargain.”

“Heh, as if I could do that when Yuri and I are about to go head-to-head.”

Despite his wry grumbling, Lloyd wasted no time heading back out to check the places Yuri was likely to be. For all his complaints, he was first-rate at looking after his friends.

After all, he had a much smoother tongue than Kanata.

Left in Lloyd’s hands, Yuri’s lingering unease from yesterday would surely be taken care of.

“And one more thing,” Kanata added quietly, turning his gaze toward Chloe.

“It looked to me like there was more behind Yuri’s pale face than just a lack of sleep. Do you know anything about that?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure it’s because of that place we visited yesterday.”

“What’s ‘that’ supposed to mean?”

“—I’m sorry. I can’t tell the current you about it, Kanata.”

Her refusal was gentle and soft-spoken, yet utterly firm.

Apparently they had been made privy to something that a person was happier not knowing.

Kanata figured it had to be classified Royal Guard business.

“…I see. Guess it can’t be helped, then.”

Leaving it at that, Kanata turned and headed for the classroom door himself.

“Where are you off to?”

“Special training. We’ve gotta bring down the B-Rank platoon Yuri’s leading, after all. Anyway, I’ll leave looking after Yuri to you and Lloyd.”

Chloe didn’t bother asking, Can you really win?

People often mistook Kanata for being unmotivated, yet ever since they were children, he had always been a man who saw things through once he gave his word.

∆∆∆

The ringing clash of blades echoed across the field as students bounded over the ground, working up a sweat.

Out on the training grounds directly in front of the main schoolhouse—flanked on three sides by forest—the students of the Guardian Department were hard at work drilling in their respective platoons. Standing among them was Kanata, wearing a fearless grin, alongside Misora and her two squadmates, all three of them radiating determination.

Out of the blue, they had been scheduled to fight a mock battle against a B-Rank platoon. Right after Kanata broke the news to them, every member of the squad—Misora included—had been rattled. Yet once Kanata taunted them with a casual “What, did you chicken out?”, the mood had shifted before they knew it into Bring on the mock battle!

“Hmph. Stop dragging your feet and explain this special training of yours already.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll explain right now. Listen up, everyone.”

Unusually enough, Rico was participating from the start today. Whether she was actually motivated was another question entirely, though she seemed curious to see what sort of special training Kanata had in store for them.

Puffing out his chest, Kanata made his announcement.

“—Your positions will be decided by drawing lots. You’ll be taking on Exercise E4. Oh, and I forgot to mention: I’ll be the judge of whether you pass or fail, and there’s no Platoon Leader.”

“““…!”””

“? What’s the matter with you guys?”

“I get that you’re about to make us do something completely absurd, but…”

“I could hardly make heads or tails of what you are trying to say.”

“Umm… Kanata-san! What exactly is it that you want us to do?”

Misora and the others asked with uncertain frowns.

Why isn’t this getting through to them? Tilting his head in puzzlement, Kanata elaborated,

“Hmm, I just said that each of you will take on a different position from your usual role and tackle an exercise simulating a defensive battle against Armored Insects. During this special training, there won’t be a Platoon Leader, so every member is free to issue orders as they see fit. And once you reach the standard I’ve set, you pass. Why didn’t that get across?”

“““Because you skipped almost every single part of that explanation just now…!”””

“Hm? Didn’t I mention that?”

Wearing exasperated looks, Misora and the others reluctantly stepped up to draw lots. Reaching into an opaque box, each girl pulled out a slip of paper bearing a tactical position—with the stipulation that if anyone drew their usual role, they would redraw.

While Rico and Lecty drew their slips, Misora let out a heavy sigh.

After all, in their current state they could barely coordinate as it was. When poor teamwork was already the primary reason behind their unbroken losing streak…

With those gloomy thoughts weighing on her mind, Misora unfolded her slip—and saw the word Vanguard written on it.

Her face twisted into a grimace. Her two squadmates looked none too pleased with their draws either.

As though he had just remembered, Kanata tacked on one more detail.

“Oh! One more thing: this special training lasts for three days.”

“W-What happens if we don’t pass by then?!”

“Hm? Don’t tell me you’re not confident?”

“O-Of course I’m confident!”

“Hmph. How laughable.”

“I-I’ll do my very best!”

“Then there’s no problem, right?”

Kanata flashed a fearless grin.

“Besides, you guys have all experienced positions other than your current ones before, haven’t you?”

In the Guardian Department, students spent their first year of the Preparatory Course rotating through various positions to test their aptitude. Based on those results, each student was customarily assigned to the role that suited them best.

Consequently, none of them had zero experience in the other positions.

“W-Well, sure, I’ve tried roles other than Mid-Guard before, but…”

Before settling into her current position, Misora had trained as a Vanguard.

Yet if anyone asked whether she felt confident in that role, the answer was a flat no.

No matter how hard she had practiced back then, she had never managed to produce results as a Vanguard.

Still, she couldn’t bring herself to admit her lack of confidence in front of Kanata…

“Then there’s doubly no problem this time, right?”

“~~~~~! B-But still! …I have no idea what you’re thinking, and your passing criteria are super vague… Can we really beat a B-Rank platoon in three days doing something like this?!”

Though Misora was the only one to voice the protest aloud, the other two clearly shared her misgivings.

Both Rico and Lecty gave small nods of agreement.

When they had only three days of training left before the match, spending that precious time on an incomprehensible exercise seemed borderline insane.

Positions in which all three of them were sorely lacking experience—as for Kanata, who had just made the outrageous call to shuffle every member into an unfamiliar role:

“What I’m thinking, huh… Come to think of it, I haven’t told you what I’m aiming for yet, have I?”

A bold grin spread across his face. Wearing the sharp look of a gambler, he surveyed Misora and the others.

“There’s only one thing I’m asking of you guys in this special training.”

“Hold on. What does that—”

“Listen up. At every moment, I want you to think about how all three of you can grow stronger together, and act on it. The answer—your results—lies at the end of those actions. Once all of you come together as a single platoon, the answer will naturally reveal itself. That’s my passing standard. Reach that point, and you’ll at least be able to fight evenly in the mock battle.”

“In other words, you are telling us to think for ourselves?”

“Well, pretty much.”

“…You want us to figure out the point of this baffling special training all on our own…?”

How is doing something this cryptic in such a super-short window supposed to close the gap between us and a B-Rank squad?!

A shadow of unease crept across Misora’s previously fired-up expression.

Special training that simply shuffled their positions around—could something like that truly raise the strength of their platoon? Rather than wasting time on such a roundabout exercise, surely he ought to be putting them through the sort of grueling, advanced drills used by the Royal Guard… Because if they lost this upcoming mock battle, their instructor was going to be fired…

In contrast to the grave-faced Misora, Rico maintained her usual composed expression.

“I do not mind humoring you, but if we should lose the mock battle against this B-Rank platoon, how do you intend to take responsibility?”

“Responsibility, huh. If you guys somehow end up losing the next mock battle… well, I’ll tell you when that time comes.”

Doubtless out of consideration so as not to saddle them with unnecessary pressure, Kanata had no intention of telling his students that his own dismissal was on the line. Although Misora knew the truth, she decided against mentioning it to Rico and Lecty.

After all, Kanata was putting the platoon first.

“Alright, let’s get this special training started. Just to remind you, Misora, you aren’t the Platoon Leader during this training period, so don’t go acting like the leader out there. And all three of you—watch your surroundings closely as you move.”

∆∆∆

Altitude 4,000 meters above Mistgun. The Third Training Airspace.

“Hmm. So this is what it is like.”

Assigned to the Mid-Guard position, Rico watched the scene unfold with her arms folded across her chest.

The special training was already underway. Dummy Birds modeled after two-meter-long giant fly-like monsters—Achernar-class Armored Insects—were invading the Vanguard airspace, where Misora was frantically blasting away at random with her Magic Cannon Sword.

However, the Achernar-class Dummy Birds slipped right past the Vanguard with ease.

Next, they entered Rico’s Mid-Guard airspace—yet astonishingly, she didn’t budge an inch, merely observing the situation in silence. The targets cruised effortlessly through Rico’s zone as well. Faced with their Mid-Guard’s blatant sabotage, Lecty scrambled in a frantic panic down in the Rearguard airspace to intercept the incoming Dummy Birds, only to find herself overwhelmed…

“Rico! Stop slacking off and take out the enemies right in front of you already!”

“R-Rico-san! Please, I need covering fire!”

Her squadmates’ transmissions rang through the crystal at her ear.

Yet Rico simply kept her arms crossed, deep in thought.

Something was nagging at her.

Sitting cross-legged atop his Broom, Kanata glanced back and forth between Misora in the Vanguard and Lecty in the Rearguard, while keeping a particularly close eye on Rico.

Heh. Misora, Lecty—fighting tooth and nail against the enemy in an unfamiliar position is fine and all, but that’s not the point of this special training.

Much like Kanata, Rico looked back and forth between the Vanguard and Rearguard several times before resting a hand on her chin with an inquisitive air.

“Good grief. Looking forward and turning back over and over—this position is quite hard on the neck.”

The Mid-Guard position demanded constant awareness of both the Vanguard ahead and the Rearguard behind.

“Hey, Rico! If you’re playing Mid-Guard, then move like a Mid-Guard already! Why don’t you fly around all over the place like I do—going ‘whoosh!’ and drawing the enemy’s attention with a big ‘kaboom!’?!”

Between bursts of artillery fire, Misora barked her blunt complaint over the comm line.

“…Hmm.”

Under normal circumstances, Rico would have snapped back with a haughty “Be quiet, you’re too loud.”

Right now, however, instead of retorting, she fell silent.

There was undeniably a grain of truth in what Misora said.

Alright, Rico, how’re you gonna play this? With your stamina, pulling off the Mid-Guard role the same way Misora does is flat-out impossible.

Musing to himself, Kanata watched the uncharacteristically quiet girl.

The Mid-Guard had a distinct role expected of a Mid-Guard. Whether Rico could realize what that role entailed would have a decisive impact on the success or failure of this training…

“Hmph. So that is how it is.”

Having apparently arrived at an answer of her own, Rico thrust her left arm straight out to the side.

Materializing out of thin air, her sniper-rifle-shaped Magic Gun appeared in her grasp.

“Good grief. This really is a thoroughly mean-spirited training regimen.”

“Hm? What makes you say that?”

“Do not play dumb. Once we complete this training, I will have no choice but to acknowledge Misora and Lecty.”

As though she had seen right through the heart of his training regimen, she added with a scoff,

“Acknowledging Lecty and her refined Magic Dual-Swordsmanship is one thing, but having to acknowledge that simpleton Misora—who blew up her own house—is deeply vexing.”

After sweeping her gaze across the entire combat zone, she raised a hand to the communication crystal at her ear.

“Listen, Misora. Can you hear me?”

“What is it?!”

“Pin down the enemy group approaching from your left flank. In the meantime, Lecty and I shall annihilate the right flank.”

Just as Rico said, a fresh wave of targets was closing in from the left flank, while Lecty in the Rearguard was already moving to intercept the group advancing from the right.

“Why are you going after enemies that far away?”

“Because pinning down the left flank is a job only you can handle. Lecty lacks the strength for it.”

“Eh?! Really?!”

“Indeed. That is why I am asking this of you. Can I count on you?”

“W-Well, if you put it like that… I suppose I can do you a favor!”

For the very first time since they had been placed in the same platoon, Rico had asked her for a favor. Thrilled to be relied upon, Misora rocketed off in high spirits to scatter the enemies closing in from the left flank—

Completely oblivious to the fact that she was being played like a fiddle with cheap flattery…

Rico then switched her communication crystal to a private channel with Lecty.

“Now then, Lecty. Misora is currently holding back the enemies approaching from the left flank. While she keeps them busy, you and I are going to swiftly wipe out the enemies advancing on the right.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am! U-Umm… Rico-san. Well… I-I’m so sorry for lacking strength!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. As if you were actually lacking in strength, Lecty.”

“Eh?! U-Umm… B-But! Just now you said that I lacked the strength…”

“Hmph, that was a white lie to get Misora fired up. That simpleton Misora is a one-track-minded stamina monster, so I had her focus exclusively on the task that consumes the most stamina and magic power: stalling the enemy swarm.”

“U-Umm… Won’t Misora-san get mad at us if you do something like that?!”

“So long as you and I keep our mouths shut, there will be no problem. More importantly, three targets are slipping through toward your position. They are bunched tightly together, so cut them down all at once.”

Taking aim through her scope, Rico squeezed the trigger of her Magic Gun.

Relative to the size of the oncoming swarm, she fired only a handful of rounds. Even so, the third wave of enemies failed completely to breach the defensive line stretching from the Mid-Guard to the Rearguard.

“Huh. Now that’s an interesting way to go about it.”

Watching from above, Kanata let out an impressed breath.

“It’s a completely different approach from Misora’s, but it’s working like a charm.”

Rico was sniping only the isolated targets that approached individually while intentionally ignoring—glossing right over—the targets advancing in tight clusters. By letting those groups pass through the Mid-Guard airspace intact, she was funneling them straight into the waiting jaws of Lecty’s Magic Dual Swords in the Rearguard.

Making full use of her silver-tongued double-talk and sharp situational judgment, she was achieving maximum effect with minimal effort—

And fulfilling the true role of a Mid-Guard in the process.

By nature, the Mid-Guard was a position that demanded balancing offense and defense while keeping track of both the Vanguard and Rearguard—acting as the tactical playmaker of the squad. At times, a Mid-Guard would use the Vanguard as a decoy while delivering the decisive blow themselves. That was Misora’s go-to pattern, though she hadn’t come up with it on her own; it was simply what Kanata had drilled into her.

Misora still lacked the broad situational awareness needed to grasp movements across the entire combat zone and link up seamlessly with both the Vanguard and Rearguard. Rico, on the other hand, had a complete grasp of the entire battlefield and was issuing her instructions accordingly.

That was why the flow of battle had transformed before their eyes.

Misora and Lecty—who had previously had their hands full just defending themselves—suddenly came alive, gaining the breathing room needed to go on the offensive. Continuing to deftly tailor her instructions to each girl with her silver tongue, Rico picked off wave after wave of enemies with minimal exertion—until the exercise was cleared. And they had pulled it off despite all three of them fighting in unfamiliar positions.

Rico had delivered those results without breaking a sweat.

Though Misora and Lecty hadn’t noticed, by grasping the entire combat zone in the palm of her hand, Rico had disposed of the entire enemy force without moving a single step from her starting spot.

Heh, not bad at all…

Just as Kanata called Misora and the others together to descend back to the ground—

“Hm…?”

A shadow briefly crossed the sunlight overhead, drawing his gaze upward. There, in the adjacent airspace, he spotted a familiar former comrade hard at work as an instructor.

∆∆∆

Altitude 4,000 meters above Mistgun. The Fourth Training Airspace.

“Sasha, are you good to go?!”

“All good here, Lily.”

“What about you, Greg?!”

“Ready whenever you are, Lily-san!”

“Alrighty then, everyone, let’s give this everything we’ve got!”

With short ash-blonde hair and boundless energy, the high-spirited girl shouted to rally her squad.

Her name was Lily Lancaster—the top-ranked third-year student of the Guardian Preparatory Course and the Platoon Leader of Fireteam B227.

“Well then, well then, make sure you don’t fall behind!”

With those words, Lily accelerated in the blink of an eye, while Sasha and Greg matched her pace right beside her without missing a beat.

Their flight speed and stamina were beyond reproach.

To test their mettle, Yuri had deliberately deployed over thirty Achernar-class Dummy Birds at once. Yet with Rearguard Magic Gunner Lily calling out crisp orders to support the movements of Vanguard Magic Swordsman Sasha and Mid-Guard Magic Archer Greg, the trio wiped out the entire swarm in short order.

Though Yuri had initially wondered just how capable a Preparatory Course squad could really be, the sheer physical athleticism of these three left her genuinely impressed. While their individual magic skills were fairly average, their full-body coordination and agility stood head and shoulders above the rest. Even without Physical Reinforcement Magecraft, all three of them boasted top-tier physical performance.

“Shabadoobi Touch, Yeah!”

““Yeah!””

Gathering around the absurdly hyperactive Lily, her two squadmates clapped their hands against hers in a synchronized high-five.

They looked like a pack of goofballs, yet they hadn’t made a single notable mistake during the drill.

If anything, Lily’s tactical command had been spot-on.

“How was that, Yuri-san?! How did our movements look to a member of the Royal Guard?!”

“Your commands were a fraction of a second late just now, Lily. For the next run, I am doubling the number of Dummy Birds. Since all three of you have more than enough foundational athleticism, approach this next drill with the aim of expanding your tactical patterns. We will execute Exercise Curriculum C2. The movements of the Dummy Birds will be far more advanced and complex, so brace yourselves.”

“Roger that, Yuri-san!”

Lily rocketed cheerfully back toward her squadmates.

“Shabadoobi Touch, Yeah!”

““Yeah!””

Chanting that baffling phrase once again, the trio whipped themselves into an absurdly high-spirited frenzy.

“Honestly… If not for that ridiculous cheerfulness, they would be a model platoon.”

Still, compared to the training of Kanata’s squad—which she had been glancing over at from the corner of her eye—Yuri honestly couldn’t imagine losing.

“Prepare yourself, Kanata-senpai. You seem to be considering converting your squadmates’ positions, but cheap tricks like that will not work on us.”

∆∆∆

“Huh. Looks like they’re brushing aside more than twice as many targets as you guys fought without breaking a sweat.”

Kanata accepted the sight with nonchalant ease. Flying beside him, however, Misora couldn’t hide her anxiety at the glaring gap in ability.

She had known it in her head, of course, but seeing it with her own eyes drove the point home painfully.

The difference in their strength was downright decisive.

“H-Hey… Can we really beat a group that moves like that?!”

“…………”

“They’re doing super intense drills over there! Are you sure we don’t need to be doing training like that too…?”

Driven by impatience and unease, Misora asked him anxiously. Nor was she the only one—Rico had fallen into a sullen silence, while Lecty looked on with a worried “Auugh…”

Even among the three of them, however, Misora seemed noticeably out of sorts.

There appeared to be more weighing on her mind than just what she had voiced aloud. During today’s special training, her performance had been worse than usual.

“Hey, Misora. Come to think of it, your accuracy was way down today. Are you going into this training with your head in the clouds?”

“Of course I’m not! B-But still…”

With Rico and Lecty right there, she couldn’t blurt out that it was because his own job was on the line.

“You know me, don’t you? I don’t pick fights I don’t have a shot at winning.”

As though reading her mind, Kanata spoke up evenly.

“The reason you guys kept losing wasn’t because your training menu was too soft or because someone was slacking off. This special training is designed to fix what you’ve been missing.”

“The reason we kept losing…? Does this position-swap training really have something to do with that—?!”

“For the next two days, rack your brains for all you’re worth. Figure out what it’ll take for you guys to beat a higher-ranked squad that moves like that.”

After Day One of special training concluded. The massage room inside the Locker Building.

“Alright, I’ll announce today’s passing students. Passing today: Rico. That is all.”

“Hmph. A natural outcome.”

Clad only in her dress shirt, Rico lay face-down on the treatment table.

Kanata had taken on the task of giving her a massage.

Because Rico had grasped the intent behind his special training so quickly, they had finished their practical session with time to spare.

Ordinarily, Misora would have been right there barking a complaint—“All she did was bark orders without moving an inch!”—but she was nowhere to be seen. In fact, neither Misora nor Lecty was in the room.

Right after touching down on the ground, both girls had collapsed in complete exhaustion and were currently stretched out flat on the benches in the locker room. Though Kanata hadn’t bothered asking why, both Misora and Lecty had clearly run themselves completely out of stamina—

Having fallen victim to a certain corner-cutting slacker who had passed the exercise with the bare minimum of personal exertion.

As for the root of all their misery:

“Hmm, put a little more spirit into kneading my calves. You wouldn’t want my legs to swell, would you?”

She was lounging in regal comfort as she enjoyed Kanata’s massage.

Complaining that the special training had tired her out, Rico had demanded a massage, and Kanata had obligingly agreed.

Working his hands methodically along her legs, he loosened her stiff muscles in a soothing massage designed to flush out built-up fatigue. Slipping into a pleasant mood, Rico murmured her honest thoughts under her breath.

“Still, you are being awfully kind today. Ordinarily, I would not expect this sort of treatment from you.”

“Well, today’s a special occasion. You turned in some pretty unique results out there.”

“Hmph. You aren’t angry?”

“? About what?”

“About those ‘unique results,’ as you call them. Surely you noticed that I didn’t take a single step the entire time because I hated the thought of getting tired.”

“Oh, that…”

Kanata replied without missing a beat.

“Why would I get mad? I called your results unique with that included. Sure, Misora and Lecty were completely wiped out, but it was classic you—and fun to watch.”

“…Hmph. You really are an odd one.”

“…Pretty sure you’re the odd one here.”

In truth, they were two of a kind.

Pressing his elbow vertically into the small of her lower back, he worked out the knot of tension there. A faint, sweet sigh escaped Rico’s lips. Just as the self-proclaimed goddess relaxed into the table, Kanata casually tossed out a question.

“So—you acknowledged them, didn’t you?”

“Acknowledged what?”

“Misora and Lecty.”

“…Who knows?”

Normally, Rico’s pride would have kept her from saying another word. When her body was this relaxed, however, it was a different story. Even between an instructor and his student, honest feelings had a way of slipping out.

“Come to think of it, during the exercise, Misora said the most absurd thing to me: ‘Why don’t you fly around all over the place like I do—going whoosh and drawing the enemy’s attention with a big kaboom?!’”

“Well, can’t blame you for having a rough time with that one…”

Though Misora herself hadn’t realized it, the only person capable of pulling off a stunt like that was someone blessed with her own ridiculous acceleration.

“Indeed. It irritated me to no end, yet because there was not an ounce of malice behind it, she is impossible to deal with.”

“No malice behind it, huh. Then she still hasn’t seen what really matters.”

Compared to Misora, Rico had already figured it out remarkably well.

In high spirits, Kanata had Rico turn over onto her back and began stimulating the pressure points along the soles of her feet to speed her recovery from fatigue. Once again, a soft, sweet sigh slipped past Rico’s lips.

“Hmph. For a goddess such as myself, a result of that level goes without saying. Still, you look awfully pleased with yourself, don’t you?”

“Sure do. Being able to hand out spot-on instructions like that means you’ve noticed Misora’s strong points, right? Which means you acknowledged her today.”

“Inefficiency is exhausting, that is all. I merely sought to achieve results with the minimum possible effort. …What is it? Is there something on my face?”

Before she knew it, Kanata was leaning over, gazing straight down into her face as she lay on her back.

“Nah, nothing. Just thinking you’re a pretty great girl.”

Because he said it with a completely straight face, Rico reflexively raised a hand to her own peerless features.

“Ah, you mean this face of mine. I am so accustomed to having my beauty praised that it hardly moves me…”

“Not your looks—I’m talking about your personality. Seems to me you might actually care about your squadmates more than anyone else among the three of you. Observing people that closely is just the flip side of looking out for them, you know.”

“Hmph! Are you making fun of me right now?!”

“Not teasing you one bit. A girl who watches the people around her that closely and makes the right call for them is guaranteed to be loved by everyone around her. Now if only Misora and Lecty can notice your good points too.”

“…Do you mean that?”

“Yeah. Every word.”

Looking up into Kanata’s eyes and finding not a trace of falsehood in them, Rico’s porcelain-featured face—the very pinnacle of sculptural beauty—flushed a bright crimson.

“H-Hmph! Even if you flatter me like that, I shall not fall for you!”

“Uh, I didn’t ask you to fall for me.”

“I-Is that so…? Come to think of it, you didn’t…”

Hmm. Whenever I am around this man, my rhythm gets thrown completely out of sorts.

As Rico sank into a strangely subdued silence, Kanata continued massaging her legs for a while longer.

“Good work on your instruction duties today. Getting called out by you is a rare treat, Kanata.”

After Day One of special training wrapped up, Kanata parted ways with Misora and the others and headed briskly back to the classroom, where Chloe greeted him with a warm smile.

“Yeah, well, the conversation you guys were having at lunch caught my attention. That serial assault case you mentioned—the culprit’s targeting skilled close-quarters weapon users, right? It bothered me enough that I asked around a bit myself afterward, and apparently nobody knows who’s behind it yet.”

“That’s right. Come to think of it, one of your students uses close-quarters weapons too, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah. It’d be a real problem if Lecty got jumped out there.”

Even as he said that aloud, Kanata added a silent thought to himself:

If we’re talking about skilled close-quarters fighters, there’s one more person besides Lecty who fits that bill.

Someone who had once stood closer to Kanata than anyone else.

Chloe offered an angelic smile.

“My, you’ve developed a real sense of responsibility as an instructor in no time at all.”

“It’s nothing as grand as a sense of responsibility. I’m just doing what needs doing.”

“Hehe, does that mean it’s already entered the realm of duty and obligation for you?”

“I just told you it’s nothing that high-and-mighty. You know how much I hate stuffy words like duty and obligation.”

“Oh? Is that really true, I wonder?”

“That’s just how it is. Quit poking at annoying spots already.”

Right as the two of them were chatting about work—

“It has been a while, hasn’t it, Kanata-senpai?”

A third voice cut into the room. Kanata turned his gaze toward the doorway, where Yuri had just stepped inside.

Was she here on Royal Guard business? Come to think of it, Lloyd had apparently been mobilized for joint security patrols with Raven Nest.

“We just ran into each other up in the sky a little while ago, didn’t we? You noticed us too, right?”

“Yes. I took the liberty of observing your platoon’s movements, Kanata-senpai. On that note… Kanata-senpai?”

Unusually enough, Yuri squared her shoulders directly toward Kanata.

“…Hm? What’s up? Didn’t you come here to see Chloe?”

“Today, I have something I wish to discuss with you as a fellow instructor. Would you mind moving to another location?”

“Huh, business with me, is it? Works out great—I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about too. …Sorry for calling you out here and cutting it short, Chloe.”

“I don’t mind at all… Just don’t get into a fight, you two. If you bully Yuri too much, I’ll have to punish you later.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll just make sure Yuri doesn’t bully me.”

“I-I have never once bullied you, Kanata-senpai!”

“Take a hint, Yuri. Chloe’s just teasing you.”

Two people who got along closer than either would admit—having once shared the Vanguard together and even forged a bond as mentor and student.

Watching the two of them talk face-to-face again warmed Chloe’s heart.

∆∆∆

The sight of Kanata and Yuri leaving school side by side.

Anyone who knew the history between them, like Chloe or Lloyd, would have chosen to leave the pair undisturbed. As they walked together through the main gate toward the shopping district, the atmosphere between them could hardly be called friendly; if anything, the air practically crackled with tension.

To Misora, however—who knew nothing whatsoever about Kanata and Yuri’s past relationship—

“The person walking with him is… Yuri-san?!”

After showering off the sweat of special training, Misora had planned on skipping independent practice today and heading straight home. Having been sweet-talked by Rico into flying around at top speed all afternoon, she was completely drained of stamina and couldn’t muster an ounce of motivation.

On her way back to Artemia Dormitory, where E601 was currently rooming, she happened to spot Kanata near the school gate—with Yuri walking right beside him…

Wait… Don’t tell me he’s planning on throwing the match on purpose so he can quit being our instructor…?!

It was hardly a logical leap, and under normal circumstances such a thought would never have crossed Misora’s mind.

Yet for Misora—who still couldn’t fathom why an elite Sky Wizard of Kanata’s caliber would bother serving as their instructor in the first place—the sight before her only compounded her anxiety. After all, Kanata himself had been the one to propose the condition that he would step down if they lost the upcoming mock battle against Yuri’s platoon.

“Rumors said he had become estranged from his former comrades after being branded a traitor, yet…”

“I-Isn’t she the one who serves as the Vanguard of the Royal Guard…?”

As Misora crouched behind cover to tail the pair, two familiar voices spoke up from right beside her ear.

Spinning around, she found her two squadmates standing right behind her.

“Wh-Why are you two here?!”

“Hmph. Just as I thought, Misora, you really do have a fetish for stalking people.”

“Umm… Rico-san pointed out that Kanata-san never actually told us how he plans to take responsibility if we lose the upcoming mock battle…”

“Precisely. We came to ask him how he intends to take responsibility should we lose… yet to think we would find him strolling around with a woman on his arm.”

The words with a woman on his arm struck Misora right in the chest.

Could it be—are the two of them really in that kind of relationship…?!

“Walking home alone together with the instructor of the opposing platoon smells mighty suspicious. …Hm? Are you listening, Misora?”

When they had first met, she couldn’t have cared less what Kanata did…

Yet for some reason, watching him now made him feel terribly far away, tightening a sudden knot in her chest.

“Umm… What are you going to do, Misora-san?”

“U-Umm… W-We’re tailing him, of course! Y-You know… we might be able to dig up some dirt or a weakness we can use on him!”

“Hmph. So stalking really is your hobby after all.”

Misora and the others shadowed Kanata and Yuri from a distance. As they entered the shopping district, Lecty hesitantly spoke up.

“Do you think… today’s special training really has a point to it?”

“I know, right? Honestly, it looked to me like he was just getting a kick out of watching us flounder around out there.”

“That is not the case. There is a clear purpose behind it. Incidentally, I was informed that I passed today.”

“N-No way! You passed already, Rico?! Even though all you did was boss us around…!”

“That’s amazing, Rico-san!”

“I grasped the exact intent of the training regimen. Passing was only natural.”

“‘Only natural’…?! What part of standing still is natural?!”

While they were whispering back and forth, Kanata and Yuri disappeared inside a café. Misora and the other two exchanged a brief glance over what to do next before Misora squared her shoulders.

“W-We’re going in!”

What if… he really is planning on quitting as our instructor?

With that nagging fear flashing across her mind, Misora made the call.

∆∆∆

“Man, those girls still have a long way to go,” Kanata mused to himself as he noted the familiar trio of stalkers.

Their technique for masking their presence and maintaining proper tailing distance was completely amateurish.

Compared to his very first student—Yuri—the difference was like night and day.

At a four-person booth, Kanata and Yuri sat facing each other across the table, while Misora and her squadmates nonchalantly claimed a booth just a short distance away.

Observing his current students out of the corner of his eye, Kanata revised his silent assessment.

Then again, when it comes to being clumsy, maybe they aren’t all that different. After all, the girl sitting right across from me is so rigid she trips over her own feet too.

“I’ll have a black coffee. What about you, Yuri?”

It was a popular café chain with several branches across the city. Almost as soon as they opened their menus, a waitress arrived to take their order.

“B-Black…?!”

Yuri’s eyes flew wide in alarm.

“Yeah, why? Something wrong with that? What’re you getting?”

“Guh… I’ll have the same as Kanata-senpai, please.”

“Hey now, you don’t have to force yourself to order the same thing as me. Just order whatever you feel like drinking.”

“I-I happen to be in the mood for black coffee right now!”

Half out of stubborn pride and half out of sheer desperation, Yuri blurted out her insistence.

It was painfully obvious that she had zero desire to drink bitter black coffee.

Still, Kanata had no intention of changing his own order, and frankly, he felt Yuri needed to learn to speak her mind a little more openly rather than always trying to save her senior’s face.

With practiced efficiency, the waitress returned and set two saucers and cups filled with dark liquid on the table between them.

“U-Uuugh…”

A rich, bittersweet aroma rose from the cup, tickling her nostrils. Faced with the full-bodied scent of premium dark-roast beans brewed with distilled water, Yuri couldn’t stop her face from puckering into a grimace.

“See? What’d I tell you? …Can’t be helped, I’ll order you something else. How does a cream soda sound?”

“I-I believe I just told you that I wanted coffee! I do not need a childish drink like that! Besides, I already have a countermeasure in mind!”

Driven by sheer stubbornness, Yuri fixed her gaze on the sugar bowl of cube sugar and the small pitcher of coffee creamer sitting on the table.

She then proceeded to commit an act of culinary atrocity.

Dropping sugar cube after sugar cube into her cup with methodical precision, she followed up by pouring in coffee creamer right up to the very brim.

The result was a murky, milky-brown concoction from which every trace of the roast’s refined flavor had been thoroughly obliterated. Wincing slightly, Yuri downed the entire cup in a single breath.

“There, you see? Something like this is… n-nothing to me at all!”

“Uh, if you were gonna do that, shouldn’t you have just ordered coffee milk from the start?”

“N-No! I specifically wanted coffee right now!”

“You were wincing the whole time you drank it, though. Did that seriously taste good to you?”

“O-Of course it was delicious! Though it still had a slight bitterness to it.”

“Look, it’s coffee. Of course it’s bitter.”

“~~~~~! I-I know that much already! J-Just now, I meant that I was savoring the nuances of its bitterness!”

Mortified by her own slip of the tongue, Yuri ducked her head and squirmed in her seat.

Come to think of it, it’s always been like this, hasn’t it? Why does she always get so flustered or stubborn whenever she’s around me?

Wondering that to himself, Kanata raised his cup and took a slow sip of his black coffee.

∆∆∆

“Hmph. It seems that man is… quite the womanizer after all. Even Yuri—Brionac, the Sky-Piercing Flash herself—is blushing over there.”

Seated at a table diagonally across the aisle, Misora and the others were surreptitiously keeping watch over Kanata and Yuri.

“Speaking of Brionac, the Sky-Piercing Flash, rumors say she’s been in a slump lately…”

“Indeed. Apparently she has stopped using the Magic Spear that gave rise to her epithet. Since she has been seen fighting with a Magic Sword instead, it does not appear to be due to poor health…”

“C-Could it be that the two of them are… on a date right now?”

“Hmm. Perhaps they are at that.”

While Rico and Lecty watched the pair with lively curiosity, the waitress arrived and set their orders of black tea and cake down on the table.

Both of them looked thoroughly captivated by the unexpected romantic drama unfolding before their eyes.

At their age, girls naturally had a weakness for gossip about love and romance. While it wasn’t quite snacks with drinks, their hearts fluttered with anticipation for what would happen next as they lifted forkfuls of sweet cake to their lips to soothe their training-weary bodies.

They could practically feel the sugar melting straight into their tired muscles—a blissful moment where sweetness dissolved every ache of fatigue. Both Rico and Lecty were basking in that sensation, yet Misora alone hadn’t even touched her fork to the strawberry shortcake sitting in front of her.

“…I-It really does look like a date! Then just as I feared—… Wait, doesn’t that mean she’s won him over and gotten him to promise to lose on purpose…?!”

She mumbled dark theories under her breath.

“Why are you pulling such a heartbroken face, Misora?”

“~~~~~! I-It’s nothing at all!”

“Umm… Misora-san, are you not going to eat your cake? It’s really delicious, you know.”

“Ah, u-umm… I-I don’t need it, so you can have mine if you want, Lecty…”

“Eh?! R-Really?! Are you sure I can eat this…?!”

Gulp. Lecty’s eyes sparkled as she stared at the extra slice of cake, looking ready to drool on the spot.

Ordinarily Lecty was far too diffident to accept, but for a girl, sweets were another matter entirely.

“Yeah, I’m kinda full already…”

To be precise, it was her chest that felt too full to eat.

“Th-Thank you very much, Misora-san!”

While Lecty dug happily into the second slice of cake, Rico took a graceful sip of her black tea, watching Kanata’s table with a puzzled look in her eyes.

“? What’s the matter, Rico?”

“Hmm. I was merely impressed that despite being despised as a traitor, he is surprisingly popular with women. Perhaps that man possesses some strange charm after all.”

∆∆∆

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

After a bit of light banter, Kanata steering the conversation naturally to the point.

“Please go ahead with your business first, Kanata-senpai.”

“Nah, you go first. In situations like this, a junior’s supposed to listen to her senior.”

“Even if it’s only on paper, you are still my senior, Kanata-senpai, so I must insist that you speak first!”

Why does she always insist on standing on ceremony for her senior at times like this?

She really was a far more conscientious junior than he deserved. Thinking that to himself, Kanata leaned in to look at Yuri’s face, only for her to turn her head away with a huff—while still sneaking sidelong glances back at him out of the corner of her eye.

“…Can’t be helped, then. I’ll go first. Look, I read this month’s issue of Monthly Guardian.”

Unusually for Kanata, he sounded hesitant, almost as if he were struggling to broach the subject.

“And what about it?”

Yuri tilted her head in curiosity.

Wearing a remarkably solemn expression, Kanata pulled the magazine out of his bag and flipped it open to the feature article.

“Right here, where they did a special feature on you. In the Q&A box about who you’re interested in, it says here that you’re ‘only interested in people stronger than yourself.’ Is that for real?”

“Yes, it is true… Why are you looking so grave about it?”

When the interviewer had asked if there was anyone she had her eye on, the face of the traitor—Kanata—had reflexively popped into her head, and she had blurted out that answer to cover it up. Any ordinary reader would surely have taken her reply for the nuance she intended: I don’t have anyone special I like right now.

Kanata should have been no exception—yet bizarrely enough, he looked genuinely floored by her confirmation.

“…Look, I think personal preferences like this are entirely up to the individual, okay? But it’s probably not something you should go announcing in public like that. You’ve gotta feel embarrassed about it yourself, right?”

“I don’t find it particularly embarrassing, and frankly it hardly matters anyway…”

“What do you mean, ‘it hardly matters’? That’s a super huge deal, isn’t it?!”

“…Eh? In what way is that a huge deal?!”

She had only meant to say that she wasn’t interested in dating anyone…

“Quit playing coy. I’m actually worried about you here, you know. The person stronger than you that you’ve got your eye on—you’re talking about Nirvana, the Princess of Annihilation—Chloe, aren’t you? Even if you didn’t name her outright in the magazine, announcing to the whole school that you’re into girls is way too bold.”

Yuri’s face turned beet red in an instant. Not even pausing for a second to think Oh, that’s how he misread it!, she tried to clear up the misunderstanding on pure spinal reflex.

“Th-That’s not it at all! What on earth are you blurting out all of a sudden?!”

“Wait, don’t you like Chloe? Between Royal Guard briefings and patrols, the two of you spend tons of time together.”

“W-Well, if you’re asking whether I like or dislike her, then of course I like Chloe-senpai, but…”

“See? I knew you were into Chloe after all.”

“B-But! That is NOT what I meant! T-To think you were looking at me that way this whole time…! I-I completely misjudged you, Senpai!”

“Getting that worked up over it makes it sound like I hit the nail on the head…”

“…………………Forget it already!”

Swallowing her fury, Yuri cut the topic off flat. Ever since the old days, being around Kanata had a way of throwing her completely off balance. For all she knew, the man sitting across from her might be a world-class genius at ruining other people’s composure.

“Look, you might be fine brushing it off, Yuri, but—”

“I just told you to drop it! Honestly, Kanata-senpai, did you seriously come all the way out here just to say something so ridiculous to me?!”

“Hey, you’re the one who insisted on hearing my business first. I was just trying to look out for you in my own way…”

“I’ll be more careful how I phrase things next time!”

Snapping out that curt reply, Yuri clamped her mouth shut, and a long silence fell over the table.

Attempting to smooth things over, Kanata briefly rose from his seat and brought back a glass of ice water for her. As the ice melted inside the glass, it settled with a faint clink, yet Yuri never once raised it to her lips—

Because it had been brought to her by the senior who had betrayed her.

“Anyway, what was it you wanted to talk to me about…?”

“I shall get straight to the point. Kanata-senpai, please resign as an instructor immediately.”

Having regained her composure at last, Yuri delivered her demand in a crisp, unwavering tone.

“If you step down now, you can avoid tarnishing your career any further. For a pack of dropouts branded an F-Rank platoon to think they can defeat a B-Rank platoon led by me… is the height of presumption. It is categorically impossible.”

“Well, you’re not wrong about that. At their current level, if Misora and the others fought a B-Rank platoon right now, they’d almost certainly lose.”

“Then why not resign as their instructor at once? That way, you won’t have to heap any further disgrace upon yourself. Even if the entire city brands you a traitor, you still possess overwhelming strength that leaves no room for anyone to complain. You can still make a fresh start as a Sky Wizard, Kanata-senpai! So quit wasting your time instructing an F-Rank platoon—”

“Make a fresh start, huh. That’s asking the impossible. Officially, I’m on medical leave right now, remember?”

“How much longer do you intend to keep up that feigned illness?!”

How much longer am I gonna keep it up, huh?

Why had his magic power deteriorated while Curse Power took root inside his body?

An aberrant, inhuman power dwelling within a body that ought to be human.

When would it vanish and let him return to normal? Or would it ever vanish at all?

If anyone knew the answer to that, Kanata himself wanted to hear it first.

Still, saying any of that aloud right now would serve no purpose.

Some truths were better known to only a select few.

“Who knows? …Besides, don’t get the wrong idea, Yuri. I said they’d lose at their current level.”

“‘At their current level’…? Don’t tell me you actually believe those dropouts can grow stronger? In a mere two days…?”

“Those three are still tottering little fledgling chicks right now. But they’ve got something inside them that’ll shine if you polish it. Helping them realize what they have and drawing it out—that’s my job as their instructor.”

“Forgive me for speaking bluntly, Kanata-senpai, but I cannot agree with that assessment.”

Kanata’s unwavering declaration failed to reach Yuri’s heart.

Because deep down, watching Kanata direct his gaze and devotion toward anyone other than her filled her chest with an unbearable mix of frustration and heartache.

“In that ranking match where they suffered their eleventh straight defeat—even if it was a mock battle, squabbling with one’s own squadmates in the middle of combat was the height of folly, worthy only of dropouts. It is no wonder they are treated as the weakest platoon in Mistgun. Why must you lower yourself to humor such an incompetent, dim-witted lot, Kanata-senpai?! Do you not see how absurd this is?!”

Before she realized it, Yuri had risen partway out of her chair.

She no longer had the composure to care about the stares of the surrounding customers or staff.

That was how immense a place Kanata occupied inside Yuri’s heart—

Far too vast to ever be contained within the simple label of senior.

“Even when people revile you as a traitor, Kanata-senpai, there are still those who look up to you! Leave those hopeless dropouts behind and return to the Royal Guard where you belong! Everyone is waiting eagerly for you to come back!”

Yuri poured her whole heart into that desperate plea.

Right then, however, a quiet chuckle—“Hahaha”—drifted across the table.

Looking up with a fearless grin on his lips, Kanata met her eyes.

“Everyone’s waiting eagerly for me, huh… Hey, Yuri, does that mean you’re waiting eagerly for me too?”

“Eh?! N-No, I, u-umm…!”

“Well, whatever. Leaving that aside, you sure seem to have it out for Misora and the others.”

“Of course I do. An F-Rank platoon has no place in Mistgun’s Guardian Department.”

“Huh. By that logic, though, Chloe and I wouldn’t belong in the Guardian Department either.”

Here, sit down. Kanata gestured calmly with his hand, his demeanor completely unruffled.

Flustered as she was, Yuri found herself sinking back into her chair.

“…What do you mean by that?!”

“Look at Chloe. You’d never guess it now, but back when we were kids living in Ryun, there was a time when she couldn’t even use Flight Magecraft properly—everyone called her a hopeless dropout. Nowadays she’s hailed as Mistgun’s strongest, Nirvana, the Princess of Annihilation, or whatever. By your logic, though, Chloe never belonged in the Guardian Department in the first place.”

“Th-That’s different…”

Pressing his advantage, Kanata spoke straight to the wavering girl.

“Listen to me, Yuri. Who decided that a dropout has to stay a dropout forever? Misora and the others have the potential to become strong—and as their instructor, I guarantee it.”

While Yuri sat struck speechless, a sudden commotion broke out at the booth diagonally across the aisle from them, accompanied by the loud clatter of shattering plates and teacups.

Shortly afterward, a brief squabble broke out between Kanata and Yuri over who would pay the bill. Even after Kanata said, “Well, I’ll cover the tab here,” a bristling Yuri stubbornly insisted, “I am paying for myself!”, slammed the largest bill in her wallet down onto the table, and stormed out of the café at a brisk clip.

A flustered Kanata called out after her to wait, but Yuri flatly ignored him. When she finally whirled around in exasperation and barked, “Please stop following me!”, Kanata dryly replied, “Uh, this is my way home too.”

After all, the two of them lived in the exact same building—Artemia Dormitory…

＊＊＊

Night fell over the academy, and the school buildings—so lively with the bustle of students during the day—sank into a hushed stillness. Down in the underground research laboratory, lit only by the pale glow of computer monitors, two men were on duty.

“I’m stepping out for a bit. Hold down the fort.”

“…Yes, understood.”

Wearing his pasted-on smile, Real waited until he was certain his partner had stepped out into the corridor and the door had clicked shut. Then he walked slowly over to the cultivation pod standing at the center of the room.

Assigned to the night shift tonight, Real and his colleague were tasked with monitoring the Chimera flesh specimen suspended inside the cultivation pod for any abnormalities.

Alongside observation, however, they had a second task. Scattered across the desk beside the pod were scalpels, pipettes, and other laboratory instruments, along with beakers filled with green bodily fluid extracted from diced fragments of the specimen’s flesh.

In the push to produce results as quickly as possible, animal trials were being conducted in parallel.

They were injecting laboratory animals with bodily fluid harvested from the Chimera’s cells and observing their progress—though those trials were going poorly.

The instant the green fluid was injected into a test subject, the animal turned violently berserk. Regardless of individual variation, every injected animal thrashed wildly against the wire mesh of its cage, tearing its own body to shreds—

Only for those self-inflicted wounds to heal before their eyes in a matter of seconds.

That was the power of the Chimera’s cells.

Harnessing that regenerative phenomenon for medical science was the official objective of Real’s research team.

To Real himself, however, none of that mattered in the slightest.

Clutched in his hand was a hypodermic syringe—and from its barrel, he was plunging the eerie green fluid straight into his own arm.

It had started as an accident. While pinning down a thrashing guinea pig to administer an injection, he had inadvertently jabbed the needle into his own arm instead.

The solution, diluted with saline, had entered his bloodstream directly through a vein. Moments later, an aberrant, otherworldly power had surged through every fiber of his body. Pleasure and excitation chemicals flooded his brain, while every cell in his body seemed to awaken and Violently regenerate as though reborn. He knew no words in human language adequate to describe that sensation.

If he had to sum it up in a single word, perhaps ecstasy came closest.

Ever since that night, whenever no one was watching, Real had been secretly injecting the Chimera’s bodily fluid into his own left arm—

Just as he was doing right now…

“Hehehe… Ahahaha… Fuhahahahahahahahahahahaha—!”

A laugh bubbled irrepressibly from his throat. With eyes that gleamed somewhere between manic rapture and hollow obsession, Real stared transfixed at the pod before him—

At the cultivation pod standing in the center of the room like a sacrificial altar, where the suspended lump of flesh writhed and pulsed as though resonating with his very blood.

“Now then, let us begin the experiment, shall we? The experiment to make me stronger than Yuri.”

∆∆∆

Ginius Freed’s greatest misfortune was parting ways with his friends and walking home alone tonight. Had his companions been with him, he might at least have stood a chance of escaping.

Assigned to Fireteam B395 as a Vanguard Magic Swordsman, Ginius was one of the foremost fighters in the entire B-Rank league—skilled enough to have come within a hair’s breadth of claiming the title of Top Scorer during the First Quarter.

“Hehe. You are Ginius, aren’t you?”

“…Who the hell are you?”

It wasn’t as though Ginius had let his guard down. He was walking along a night street in District 4, an entertainment district packed with nightlife venues and notorious for its rough public order. Naturally, he had been keeping a sharp lookout for street punks looking to pick a fight.

Yet by the time he realized that every pedestrian on the street had vanished without a trace, an unidentified figure cloaked head to toe in a black robe was standing directly in front of him.

“Sorry to spring this on you out of nowhere, but how about having a match with me?”

A low, resonant voice—most likely a man’s.

Dressed like a black mage of old, the stranger produced a Magic Sword seemingly out of nowhere and leveled it one-handed.

“Hey, hey, an amateur like you is a hundred years too early to think about beating me.”

For a combatant of Ginius’s caliber, a single glance at an opponent’s stance was enough to gauge their skill.

A fighter’s stance betrayed everything: their technical mastery, their fighting spirit, and the sum of their real-combat experience.

At the very least, this attacker showed zero trace of honed training—the stance of a rank amateur.

“Does a greenhorn like you seriously think you can take me on and win…?”

With a derisive sneer, Ginius materialized his saber-shaped Magic Sword.

This would be over in an instant.

Against an armed assailant who had ambushed him on a dark street at night, there was no reason to hold back.

Making that call, Ginius lunged in to cut the man down—only for a sudden chill of doubt to flash across his mind in the split second he closed the distance.

Wait—where the hell did this guy appear from in the first place?

There was no hesitation in the arc of his blade. His diagonal downward slash from upper-right should have stripped the attacker of all ability to resist. Yet his hand felt none of the impact of a blade biting into a target—only the hollow sensation of slicing through empty air.

“Where are you aiming?”

A voice spoke abruptly from directly behind him. Spinning around, Ginius found the attacker—who had been standing right in front of him a split second ago—now looming at his back.

“You look like you’re dying to ask how I got behind you. Are all students of the Guardian Department as dim-witted as you?”

“…You bastard, how the hell did you take my back?!”

“Good grief. As if someone of my intellect would bother explaining the trick to an idiot.”

The attacker’s figure vanished once more. In the next heartbeat, the black mage’s robe filled Ginius’s entire field of vision—and the instant his mind tried to register it, a searing pain lanced through his right arm.

“Guh! Wh-What the hell was that just now…?!”

The man’s movements were too fast for his eyes to track. Worse yet, the energy radiating off the attacker before him didn’t feel like Magic Power at all—it felt more like—

“Guh… DAAAMN YOOOOU!”

To drown out his rising dread and momentarily numb the pain in his arm, Ginius unleashed a ferocious roar.

Instead of bottling up pain, vent your emotions outward in a battle cry—a technique he had forged through real combat.

His fighting spirit unbroken, Ginius moved to press the attack even without the use of his right arm—

“Guhah!”

Terrifying brute force sent his sword spinning from his grasp, followed immediately by a crushing kick driven straight into his wide-open midsection.

Both the attacker’s counter-slash and that follow-up kick carried a monstrous, bone-shattering weight—

Even though every movement of his body remained as clumsy as an amateur’s.

“Good grief. Even a B-Rank ace isn’t much to write home about. Nothing personal, but I need to prove that I’m stronger than the likes of you.”

As Ginius collapsed to his hands and knees with a groan, the attacker booted him upward with a mocking laugh.

Beneath the shadow of his hood, an ecstatic smile twisted the man’s face as he kicked the helpless Ginius again and again—relentlessly, gleefully, until Ginius’s agonized cries for mercy faded into unconsciousness.

He looked as though he were having the time of his life.

“Hehehe… Ahahaha… Fuhahahahahahahahahahahaha—!”

Pushing back the stifling hood of his robe, Real stood over his victim, his eyes gleaming with a feverish, predatory light as a cry of pure rapture spilled from his lips.

“Ahahaha, I love you! I love you so much! Just a little longer! Very soon, I will become a man worthy of your love! I’ll come for you right away, Yuriiiii—!”

Reaching into his breast pocket, Real pulled out a photograph of his next target. Pressing his lips to the picture, he drank in the euphoria of the moment. Captured in the photograph was Yuri Flostre in her school uniform.