Unlike adults who have much to protect and sometimes must choose to retreat, everyone here is equally a high school student who values appearances. And Narumiya is like the ultimate example among them.
After being provoked this much, if he were to simply endure being talked down to, what would people whisper about him behind his back, what kind of looks would he receive? I know that. And of course, Narumiya knows it too. Therefore—
“Don’t get too cocky. You absolute bottom-feeder scum with no value to live. Fine, I’ll accept your ridiculous provocation.”
That’s right. You have no choice but to accept. To protect that current position of yours where you can act superior.
“I’ll make you regret for all eternity that you proposed this duel. To the point where you’ll think death would be better, I’ll turn the rest of your lives into trash and—”
“I won’t let you.”
Someone interrupted Narumiya’s threatening words—which came from the depths of hell as he trembled with rage—with an even lower voice.
It was Touji’s. That voice was far removed from the impression I’d had of Touji until now—[getting angry while heated up]—and was endlessly quiet and cold. For a moment, even I, standing right next to him, didn’t recognize whose voice it was.
“I will absolutely never let Yukiharu suffer that fate. Absolutely.”
“……Then try it. I’ve decided. In the duel, I’ll start by thoroughly tormenting you. So thoroughly that you’ll never walk on two legs again. With that crippled body of yours, watch as your companion gets destroyed.”
Completely sidelining me, who was supposed to be the main negotiator, Touji and Narumiya pressured and glared at each other. That pressure was enough to make all the previously noisy onlookers fall silent at once.
And so, though there was an unexpected final complication, we decided to work out the details of the duel later, and for the time being, that situation was dispersed without any injuries.
“Ah……, well, I guess it went well for now.”
“Yeah.”
Having left the tense atmosphere of Class 3’s classroom and returned to our own class, Touji and I reflected on the results of the earlier negotiation.
Though I say reflection, we had succeeded in the primary objective of [getting him to accept the duel proposal] and there had been no violence on the spot, so honestly there was nothing to complain about—all green lights.
“I was worried about gathering a gallery, but Yagawa seems to have handled it well, so that helped.”
“Really, no doubt about it. We definitely couldn’t have done that part alone. Much appreciated.”
“But it wasn’t just gathering a gallery—he even provided information about Narumiya, right?”
“He did. Though there was some [is this even necessary?] type of information, like how he dislikes green peppers.”
“That’s quite generous of him. I totally thought he was like a lackey since he’s in the same class as Narumiya.”
“Doesn’t seem to be the case. When I said I’d send him photos of female acquaintances, he instantly sent me a megabyte-sized file.”
It was too heavy to open on my smartphone.
“Female acquaintances……don’t tell me Akabana?”
“As if. I wouldn’t do something like that without permission. It was from middle school.”
“Is that okay? Like, did you get the person’s permission……”
It’s fine, it’s fine. The photo I sent was of me crossdressing, taken during my middle school cultural festival after things got out of hand. With the full makeup by the class girls and the big changes in body type from puberty, there’s pretty much no way he’d realize it’s me.
“Anyway, aligning the duel conditions will probably take several days. So—”
“Yeah, in those few days, we have to get stronger no matter what. Strong enough to beat Narumiya……!”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
Without me needing to say more, Touji already understood what needed to be done and was fired up with motivation. Seeing Touji like this made me feel reassured that we might actually be able to do this.
But I can’t just rely on Touji. I need to properly master my ability too……!
Receiving Touji’s enthusiasm, fighting spirit began to well up in my heart too.
From then on, we proceeded with negotiations with the Narumiya side while devoting ourselves to honing our supernatural powers. And just like that, we reached the day of the duel.
Touji and I stepped foot into the duel venue wearing the academy’s designated jerseys. The duel would take place at the academy’s Second Arena. A circular indoor stadium boasting a maximum spectator capacity of ten thousand people—a massive facility.
I was amazed that such a thing existed within the academy grounds, and more than anything, I still couldn’t believe the fact that we were about to hold a duel here. The seats weren’t all filled, but there was quite a crowd. For just a duel between first-years.
As for why it turned out this way—
“How’s that? Quite the gallery, right? In front of all these people, you’re going to be humiliated like never before. I’m looking forward to it.”
It’s this guy Narumiya’s fault. Narumiya, who had arrived before us, turned his muddy, sewer-like eyes toward us as we appeared at the duel venue. Makes me feel like I’ll get sick.
The moment the duel terms and conditions finished the day before, Narumiya used his proud money power to rent out the academy facility and instantly set it up as a duel venue. He apparently called every acquaintance he could. To humiliate us, he’d go this far.
“After I crush you two in order, I’ll make Akane thoroughly understand who will become her master……Hey, where’s Akane?”
Narumiya, who had been giving his masturbatory speech so pleasantly until midway, noticed that only Touji and I had appeared at the duel venue, and a questioning look appeared on his face. Well, it’s understandable. The regulations for this duel can be simply summarized as follows:
Match Format: 3-on-3 team battle
supernatural powers: No usage restrictions
Victory Conditions: Victory goes to the team that renders all members of the opposing team unable to fight or forces them to declare surrender
Victory Rewards:
(Yukiharu’s Team) Make them sign the contract we present and carry out its contents.
(Narumiya’s Team) Both Watagaya Yukiharu and Watagaya Touji will spend the next three years at the academy as slaves to Narumiya Kaneaki.
……Have you noticed? Yes, despite being just a two-person team of Touji and me, it’s a 3-on-3 team battle.
Why did we agree to such conditions? During the negotiations, we came out quite strong on one particular point, so most of the other conditions ended up being Narumiya’s way.
“Hey, I’m asking where Akane is!?”
Since it’s 3-on-3, naturally Narumiya must have thought Akabana would appear.
However, since we were doing this duel on our own, Touji and I talked it over and concluded that it would be wrong to involve Akabana. The condition we were strong about was ensuring that if we lost, Akabana would suffer no disadvantages whatsoever.
So we were thinking we’d ask Yagawa to be our third person, but…….
“Yo, Yukiharu. Go easy on me.”
This guy Yagawa is casually on Narumiya’s side. No matter how much I give him a suspicious look, he doesn’t care at all. Yagawa waves his hand looking somewhat amused.
“Don’t tell me you guys……are planning to do this without Akane?”
“That’s exactly it. Even without borrowing Akabana’s power, just the two of us are enough. I’ll tell you this—I’m different from before.”
Against the pressuring Narumiya, Touji forcefully declared his stance. The expression Narumiya showed in response was, surprisingly, neither anger nor mockery. It was exasperation, as if looking at something beyond saving.
“When foolish ignorance of one’s place reaches this level, it stops being funny. That was educational. Fine, do what you want.”
Saying that, Narumiya took a step back and pushed forward his Lackey A.
“I doubt it’ll happen, but if you manage to defeat him, I’ll face you myself.”
This created a formation of Touji and me VS Lackey A & Yagawa (with Narumiya standing a bit away).
And after that, no one spoke. Everyone was already prepared—that was the proof. Seeing our state, the student acting as referee near the spectator seats announced in a loud voice—
“Begin!”
—the start of the duel.
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