When the duel began, Touji—who had grown incomparably stronger than just a few days ago—instantly defeated Lackey A. That part was fine. After that, Narumiya joined in with a line like [I guess I need to get serious too…]. What’s more, he started using [Poison], the Narumiya family’s unique ability that he hadn’t used before. He shot liquid poison and sprayed toxic mist—with such varied attacks, Touji struggled greatly.
Huh? What was I doing during all that, you ask? I’ve been getting chased by a shark the whole time. Even now.
I want to rush in and help Touji immediately as he’s getting poisoned, his bodily functions failing, in a punching bag state, but my ability’s proficiency isn’t high enough yet to use it while being chased by a shark in a panicked state. This damn shark…
In this truly desperate situation, the tide began to turn when Touji started showing incredible tenacity. No matter how many times he got hit, no matter how much he was beaten, no matter how much poison invaded his body, Touji stood back up each time. Seeing this version of Touji, Narumiya began to panic. More precisely, he started feeling an inexplicable fear toward the seemingly immortal Touji.
Seeing our chance there, I shouted loudly while running away, subtly guiding Touji whose vision was starting to fail. Just when he magnificently landed a hit on Narumiya, Narumiya snapped, and that brings us to now.
“That’s enough. I’ll kill you. [Venom Wave]”
Quietly but with murderous intent maxed out, Narumiya created a [wave of poison] that spread so wide there was no escape. That wave of poison threatened to engulf me, Touji, and even his supposed allies Yagawa and the unconscious Lackey A. This is what they mean by throwing caution to the wind.
This really might be the end—just as those words of resignation floated through my mind, a voice rang out.
“Bloom—[Flame Blossom]”
In the next instant, the wave of poison that was about to crush everything was annihilated by overwhelmingly powerful flames.
Whose doing was this—there was no need to even think about it. The girl who had worn a somewhat pessimistic expression ever since they first met—Akabana—descended onto the dueling stage with an incredibly clear and refreshed expression.
“Akabana-san!” “Akabana!”
“We’ll talk later. Right now, let’s blow this guy away.”
With a dignified smile, Akabana turns her gaze toward Narumiya. There’s no longer any hesitation in those eyes, proving that the choice we made wasn’t a mistake.
“I’ll attack from the right.”
“Then I’ll go from the left. Can you match me?”
“Of course!”
Touji and Akabana communicate with each other and attack Narumiya together. The movements of these two who couldn’t coordinate at all during the first recreational assignment now form a semblance of cooperation, albeit clumsy. Just that alone moved me a little.
Though I’m still left out as usual, which doesn’t sit well with me. Shark! I’m definitely turning you into shark fin soup later!
And from there it was over in a flash. On top of the numerical advantage of two against one, Touji actually awakened [the power to nullify supernatural powers] during battle. With that, he nullified Narumiya’s poison. Finally, Akabana delivered the finishing blow along with the declaration [As if I’d marry a personality trash like you!], and Narumiya was finally rendered unable to fight.
By the way, the moment Narumiya became unable to fight, Yagawa dismissed the shark that had been chasing me the whole time and declared surrender. We pretended not to hear that, and both Akabana and I beat him to a pulp, rendering Yagawa unable to fight, thus making the duel our victory.
The next day—
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“In the end, even Akabana-san who wasn’t supposed to get involved joined in, so it turned into a total mess, huh?”
“Yeah, well. But if that’s what let Akabana smile like that, then it definitely wasn’t wrong.”
“I hope you’re right. More importantly, when should we make him sign the contract?”
“If there’s even a slight chance he might complain and waste time, let’s do it after school.”
“Let’s do that.”
During the morning before classes started, Touji and I sat at our classroom seats as usual, chatting together while receiving glances from those around us.
However, those glances weren’t accompanied by negative emotions like usual. They were basically all favorable. More than that, I could even sense respect mixed in. Apparently, word had spread around the academy that the reason for our duel was [Akabana’s engagement annulment]. Well, it’s not exactly wrong, though not entirely accurate either.
But because of that, as [heroes who saved Akabana from her bad-personality fiancé], our stock was skyrocketing. Especially Touji who fought Narumiya directly. Really shows how bad Narumiya’s reputation at the academy was.
Being an outsider student apparently became a point of praise too. Like a weed’s spirit or something. Really, people are so calculating.
While I was thinking about such things, Akabana appeared in the classroom. Normally she’d immediately sit at her own seat and become motionless like a stone statue until class started, but today was different. Akabana passed her own seat and walked straight toward us. Then, stopping in front of us, she slowly opened her mouth.
“Um… thank you for yesterday. Things got so hectic afterward that I couldn’t properly thank you.”
Saying that, Akabana showed an embarrassed expression. Well, it’s true—yesterday as soon as the duel ended, everyone except me and Akabana passed out and got carried to the infirmary. After receiving treatment, Touji was in an almost-mummy state, covered in bandages from head to toe.
“Also, I’m sorry for my terrible attitude up until now. Um… Touji, Yukiharu.”
Somewhat hesitantly, what suddenly came out were our names. What’s more, the speaker’s face had turned bright red, making both Touji and me smile involuntarily.
“Hey! You don’t have to laugh! I know it doesn’t suit me…”
“Sorry, sorry, Akabana-san. I was just happy that you called us by our names. Besides, we didn’t do anything worth being thanked for. That was just us acting selfishly.”
“Nothing to apologize for either. Trouble caused by the team can be repaid somewhere in the team. So, the recreational assignment will continue for a while longer, so let’s keep working together, Akabana.”
When we said that, perhaps because being treated as a comrade made her so happy, Akabana’s eyes became slightly misty with tears. She looked down to wipe them, then opened her mouth slightly while still in that position.
“…Akane is fine.”
Then when she raised her face again, a smile bloomed there like an overflowing flower.
“Let’s keep working together, Touji and Yukiharu!”
Now then, this incident is resolved—that’s what I thought.
“Hey Yukiharu, I want to talk to you for a bit…”
Saying that, Akane whispered to me in a voice so small that even Touji in the seat in front couldn’t hear.
“That’s fine, but what about Touji?”
“Yeah, um… if possible, just the two of us…”
…Oh ho. Just the two of us, she says. Is this that? Does this mean what I think it means?
“Of course that’s fine.”
I accepted Akane’s proposal with a smile, and we moved to the hallway. There, Akane opened her mouth with a flushed face, quite hesitantly.
“Um, well, you see, actually, I’ve been feeling kind of strange since yesterday.”
“Strange, how?”
“Somehow, my chest suddenly feels tight, my heart races, my condition isn’t stable like I’ve caught some illness… My body gets hot like I have a fever, but when I take my temperature it’s normal…”
Hey hey hey, that’s completely that thing, isn’t it? A high schooler, and yet so textbook and pure.
But I see, Akane was born into a prestigious family, a sheltered young lady in both name and reality. On top of that, with that attitude, if she hasn’t properly interacted with friends, I guess this is unavoidable.
“I even consulted with the Akabana family’s private doctor, but they couldn’t figure out the cause. But they said if I consulted with classmates, I might understand…”
The doctor must have been troubled too. How should they have put it? In the end, they just passed the buck though.
“By the way, when do these symptoms occur?”
“Um… they calmed down when I was at home… But when I entered the classroom earlier, they came back… Yes—”
Akane’s face flushed even more red there, and she spoke with a heated demeanor.
“—when I look at Touji!”
“…I see.”
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