Chivalry of a Failed Knight Vol. 2

Ikki felt so happy, so loved in that moment. Within the curtain of water and the sound of the fountain, he drew closer and placed his lips against hers. It was a light touch—one tiny kiss—but Ikki’s lips burned for more.

Friends and family often kissed each other on the cheek, but never on the mouth. It was proof above all else that they shared a special relationship, proof of the new bond between them that gave their promise meaning.

“Hey, Ikki?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you hate bad girls who beg for kisses like me?”

“There isn’t a guy in the world who hates a bad girl. I should be asking you a similar question, though. Stella, do you hate guys having sexy thoughts about you?”

“Not if it’s you having them, Ikki.”

After they took that first step, their hesitation melted away. They shared a second kiss, deeper and more forceful than the first. It was an immature, impatient, clumsy kiss, but it was one born from their desperate longing for each other.

There had been some rough patches, but Ikki and Stella had shared a day they would never forget.

◆◆◆

The sky was already getting dark when the trio left the pool. With their stomachs empty, they decided to head to a restaurant before returning home. Ikki asked Stella and Ayase if they wanted to go anywhere in particular, but they didn’t offer any ideas, so he took them to a random family restaurant.

They ordered according to their own tastes: for Ikki, a hefty serving of udon with tofu; for Ayase, a salmon meal; and for Stella, four servings of mixed grill and three servings of steak.

“Y-You certainly eat a lot, Miss Vermillion,” Ayase said, astounded by her appetite.

“I can’t help it,” Stella replied. “My body needs all of this to function.”

“How do you eat so much, yet stay so slim? It doesn’t make sense.”

Stella’s cheeks flushed slightly. She knew she was a big eater, but she didn’t care to stop. She just kept on chomping and chomping, filling up on calories. The machine that was her body needed ample fuel to keep on moving—she needed to eat a lot for everything to work properly.

“If I didn’t know better, I would never have imagined you were a princess.” Ayase laughed as she watched Stella eat.

“Om-nom. What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not insulting you! You just seem so approachable, and you don’t eat any differently than we do.”

“Well, I have taken classes on table manners, but now’s not the time or place for any of that. Knowing the proper time and place when it comes to anything—be it manners or swordplay—is an important skill.”

Stella looked around the restaurant. It was packed full of people, owing to the dinnertime rush. The sounds of clanging silverware, the bells on the door ringing every time someone came or went, children screaming and crying, and students laughing and talking loudly all mingled into a cacophony of noise. If she ate politely like she had been taught, it would look out of place.

“Haha. Isn’t that the truth?” Ayase laughed self-derisively as one of her faults was pointed out. “I’ve learned a lot today. Ever since I started training under you, every day has been full of discovery and growth. I’m nowhere near ready to use the ultimate technique my father taught me, but I think I’m getting closer and closer by the day. I don’t know how I could ever thank you, Kurogane.”

“It’s all your own doing, Ayatsuji. I mean it. Even if you were studying alone, you would’ve figured it out someday. All I did was give you a little push in the right direction, so there’s no need to thank me.”

“No. I’m going to use what you’ve taught me very soon.”

“In your selection battles, you mean?”

“Yes. This is my third year, so it’s my final Seven Stars. I have to win every one of my selection battles and make it to the Festival to take back what was stolen from me. That’s why I need strength right now.”

Huh?

Ikki saw a strange emotion in Ayase’s eyes: anger. It wasn’t your average, everyday anger, though; it was full of hatred that almost resembled murderous intent. Why was she so—

“Hah! If it isn’t Ayase. I thought I recognized that mug.”

A hoarse voice called out from behind Ikki, interrupting his thoughts.

“Gah?!”

Ayase’s eyes opened wide with shock. The man who’d spoken was just under six feet tall with dyed hair. The whites of his eyes were constantly visible, revealing his ferocity through his sunglasses. He puffed on a cigarette despite being in a no-smoking area. His deep-red top was unbuttoned to reveal a laughing skull tattoo on his chest, which bothered the nearby customers.

Ikki recalled his distinctive appearance. When they’d walked into the restaurant, he and the rest of his poorly-mannered group had been roaring with laughter.

“I was just wondering where you went off to, and here you are. Hah! One hell of a coincidence, right?”

“Kuraudooo? Who are you talking to?”

“Let’s get to the arcade, man!”

“Hey, that’s Ayase, ain’t it?! Long time no see!”

“We were worried about you, y’know? You never show up anymore. Gahaha!”

“You just gonna ignore Kuraudo when he’s talking to you?”

“You got pretty full of yourself, didn’tcha? Well?”

Following the guy with the skull tattoo, around ten more outlaw-like men gathered around Ikki’s table. He figured they must have known Ayase, but she didn’t bother to look at them. Instead, she stared down at the table and bit her lip angrily. Ikki knew what he had to do.

“Sorry, I don’t think my friend likes you. Would you mind backing off?”

“Just who the hell are you?”

“You’d better shut up before you get messed up, pal!”

The henchmen yelled at Ikki, but he didn’t respond. He knew there was only one person he needed to deal with, so he turned his attention toward the guy with the skull tattoo, apparently named Kuraudo.

Kuraudo glared at Ikki with deep interest, then asked a strange question.

“You’re a swordsman, aren’t you?”

“How’d you know?” Ikki replied.

“Hah! You all have the same aura.” He then took a beer bottle and a glass from a nearby table where a family was eating.

“Sorry for butting in on your meal, brother. I saw an old friend, so I just wanted a quick chat,” Kuraudo said as he poured the beer into the glass and slid it over to Ikki. “Here, a symbol of my apology. Take it.”

“Oh, sure.”

He wanted to point out that it wasn’t Kuraudo’s drink to give away, but there wasn’t any merit in stirring the pot, so he silently reached his hand toward the glass. Before he knew what had hit him, he felt the bottle being smashed over his head.

“Ikki!”

“Kurogane!”

◆◆◆

The bottle shattered, sending shards of glass all over the table and floor. After taking such a painful hit to the head, Ikki fell forward onto the table.

“Hah! Great reflexes there, swordsman! Dumbass!”

“Ahaha! Nice one!”

“Damn, Kuraudo! You’re always flippin’ a shit outta nowhere!”

“He just does what he wants, devil may care!”

Kuraudo’s henchmen cheered him on as the people at nearby tables screamed.

He tossed the broken beer bottle aside and licked his lips.

“Beating up little sword-flailing idiots like you is my favorite thing to do. C’mon, kid! Get your Device!”

The man summoned his own Device, a nodachi with a saw-like blade that reflected no light, more akin to bone than steel. His red top, though unbuttoned, was the uniform of Donrou Academy, another Mage-Knight school in Tokyo. He was a Blazer, like Ikki.

“How dare you?! I hope you enjoy being burnt to a crisp!”

Seething with rage after watching Ikki get hurt, Stella sent embers flying from her hair and opened her hand to summon Lævateinn, but Ikki grabbed her arm.

“No, Stella,” he said, slowly rising from his seat as if nothing had happened to him. He smiled at her while a stream of blood gushed from his head. “There’s no reason to make a scene. His hand just slipped.”

“Wh-What the hell are you talking about?!”

“It’s just a cut on my head and a little blood on my clothes. We don’t have to fight here.”

Ikki was clearly trying to suppress Stella’s anger. If they used their Devices and made things even worse than they already were, suspension wouldn’t be the end of it; expulsion was the best-case scenario.

“Pfahahahahahaha! Aaahahahahahaaa!” Ikki had managed to stop Stella, but the skull-guy’s henchmen seemed to think he was running away from a fight like some sort of coward. They pointed at him and laughed oafishly. “Get a load of this guy! He’s still smiling like a dumbass even after his head got split open!”

“Are you that scared of Kuraudo? What a freakin’ loser!”

“Bwahaha! So lame!”

“Hahahah! I’ve never seen a swordsman who’s as big a pansy as you. How ’bout you grow a pair?”

They ridiculed Ikki, showering him with profanity. He showed no signs of reacting, however, instead just smiling vacantly while he waited for it all to end. Hoping for some sort of reaction, Kuraudo spat on his face.

“Rgh!”

Stella’s rage peaked yet again, but Ikki held her back, stronger than before. Even that wasn’t enough to provoke him, which perturbed Kuraudo.

“Damn killjoy. If we hang around a chicken-shit like this, we’re bound to look bad too. Let’s go, boys.”

“Later, coward!”

“Good. Kuraudo’s not the type to bully wimps!”

“Right? Good thing he was a weakling. Ahahaha!”

The group turned around and headed out of the restaurant. Once they had left, a man who seemed to be the owner of the restaurant ran over to Ikki and bowed deeply, sweating profusely.

“I’m so very sorry, sir! Are you okay?! I’ll go call an ambulance!”

“No, I’m fine. Do you have a first-aid kit? I can just bandage this up and call it a day, if you’ll bring it over.”

“Y-Yes, sir! Right away!”

The owner ran to the break room like a madman in search of the first-aid kit while all the other workers were apologizing to nearby customers. After confirming that the situation had been resolved with the smallest mess possible, Ikki wiped the spit off of his face with a napkin.

“Your face looks twice as big as usual, Stella,” he said.

“I can’t help that I look mad!” she exclaimed, her cheeks puffed up like a balloon. “How could you let that trash talk to you like that?! Hell, you didn’t even try to avoid that beer bottle! What’s with you?”

“If I’d avoided it, he might’ve just gotten angrier. I can’t go around causing problems in public.”

“I guess that’s true. Couldn’t you have beaten those guys up even without Intetsu, though?”

“I dunno.”

“Why not?”

“That guy with the skull tattoo is really strong. I’m not sure I could take him on barehanded.”

“You’ve got that right. That guy was a quarterfinalist in last year’s Seven Stars, y’know.” A boy’s voice, so cheerful that it seemed out of place, cut into their conversation, plastering Ikki’s and Stella’s faces with shock.

The reason they were so surprised was that he had somehow appeared on their table, scattering silverware in all directions. He’d intruded without so much as a trace of his approach; it was as if they had suddenly cut to a new scene in a movie.

Wavy hair of dull silver, eyes of gold that reflected no light. The boy, no larger than a kindergartener, was wearing Hagun Academy’s uniform. He went on to speak to Ikki, wearing a smile so fake it looked like he’d glued it on.

“Ahaha! Hoo, boy, that was unfortunate, huh? Just a disaster. That’s the ace of Donrou Academy, a wild dog who’ll sink his fangs into anyone he sees. Kuraudo Kurashiki is his name, but people just call him the Sword Eater. Shame you had to run into him, Worst One, but you made the right choice.”

“Heehee. Yes, absolutely.”

A tall girl appeared next, but her presence was much more pronounced than the boy’s. Even indoors, she was equipped with a parasol and a wide-brimmed hat. Her eyes were hidden by the hat’s brim, but her features could be imagined based on the outline of her jaw. She carried herself like a noblewoman, wearing a snow-white dress that was glorious to see.

Despite her pure, innocent appearance, however, Ikki and Stella felt an intense, hair-raising disgust. Immaculate white covered her body, but she almost seemed to be covered in the blood of others. Why? It didn’t take long for Ikki to realize that she reeked of blood, unable to be concealed by even the most potent perfume.

If there was one thing he could be sure of, it was that she was, without a doubt, the real deal.

“If either of you had escalated the situation any further, I would have been forced to apprehend everyone present.” She spoke with a refined tone that further clashed against the pure-white blood and death.

“Who are these people, Ikki? What are they?” Stella, thoroughly creeped out and wary, spoke to Ikki in a low voice.

“They’re from Hagun’s Student Council. Vice President Utakata Misogi and Treasurer Kanata Toutokubara.”

“Toutokubara?! You mean…”

Even Stella, ignorant of most rumors, recognized that name. Kanata Toutokubara, the Blutrote Dame. The second-strongest student in Hagun Academy and a Rank B knight. She made a name for herself through her battle capabilities that, despite being a student, led her to be summoned into real combat under special circumstances. Toutokubara had experience with destroying bases belonging to the Rebellion and other terrorist groups.

“Looks like we don’t need any introduction, huh?” Utakata said. “Great job not dodging the bottle, though, Kurogane. That Sword Eater attacks other schools whenever he wants, goes around destroying sword dojos around the city, and is overall just not a fun guy to deal with when he gets mad. We didn’t have to because of you, so thanks! Maybe we underestimated you a bit.”

“It’s no surprise now that you were able to defeat Renren,” Kanata added. “That Demon Princess really has a keen eye; she saw your potential in just one battle. We certainly think more highly of you now too.”

“Ahaha! Definitely. So, how about you let me see that little scrape? I’ll fix you right up.”

“Oh, no, thanks. I can handle it myself.”

“Come on, don’t be like that! Let your upperclassmen help you out. ‘Pain, pain, go away’, as they say!” Utakata gently touched Ikki’s wound. “There! All done.”

“Huh…?”

Ikki was surprised at how skilled Utakata was. Despite not dodging the blow, Kuraudo didn’t land a direct hit, so Ikki’s wound wasn’t that deep. Still, Utakata had an almost unnatural healing ability—both the cut and the bruise had been healed quickly and cleanly. Even Shizuku, with her Rank A magic control, needed more time than that to fully heal someone. There was something more to his healing power.

Actually, it’s as if he was removing the wound in its entirety.

Utakata Misogi, also known as Fifty-Fifty. Ikki had no idea what his ability was; all he knew was that this boy was stronger than most.

“Ahaha! You don’t have to look at me like that. I’m not in the selection battles this year, so don’t sweat it.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude after you were so kind to me.”

“Ahaha! Don’t worry about it. That cautiousness is what makes you a knight. Now that your wound’s all taken care of, we’ll be off. Let’s get going, Kanata.”

“Yes, Vice President.”

With a “Don’t party too hard tonight!” to see them off, Utakata Misogi led Kanata Toutokubara out of the restaurant. Once they were gone, Ikki looked out the window at the twilight sun and sighed deeply.

It feels like dusk is looming more ominously than ever.

Ikki felt as though the only people he’d met recently were big shots, but seeing as they’d left, Ikki didn’t bother letting the student council members’ appearance get to him. There was something weighing more heavily on his mind.

“Hey, Ayatsuji?”

“Nh!”

Having known he would bring it up sooner or later, Ayase turned to look anywhere but at him. She tried to escape him, but he asked his question regardless.

“What’s your relationship with that jerk?” He had known Ayase’s name. As skilled a knight as she was, she wasn’t all over the internet or TV, so it must have been a personal relationship. It clearly wasn’t a positive one, however, as the expression on her face showed. As her friend, he wanted to help her. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But when they were harassing you, you looked different. If they’re making trouble for you, I think I might be able to help you out.”

“I…”

She visibly hesitated to answer his question, but eventually opened her mouth to speak before an email suddenly interrupted their conversation. The tone had come from Ikki’s and Ayase’s pockets simultaneously.

Ikki looked at his handbook’s display to see the sender: the Selection Battle Committee. He got a bad feeling about the email, which was confirmed by the text.

“Ikki Kurogane, for your eleventh selection battle, your opponent will be Ayase Ayatsuji of class 3-1.”

Gee, great timing, he thought, certain that Ayase’s email had given her the same news.

“Uh, sorry! My roommate said I need to get back to our room ASAP! I gotta run!” she claimed, her face as pale as a ghost. She was clearly lying. Reading the notification from the committee had probably made her feel uncomfortable to be around him.

“Oh, all right. See you tomorrow.”

Ikki didn’t try to stop her. Kuraudo and Ayase’s relationship bothered him, but he didn’t need or want to interrogate her in public. He could just wait to ask until she was more comfortable.

“Yeah, tomorrow…”

Ayase set her portion of the bill on the table and left Ikki and Stella behind.

“She didn’t look good. I wonder what happened.” Stella didn’t understand the situation, so Ikki showed her the email on his handbook. “Oh. Oh, no.”

“I didn’t want to have to fight her, but I guess this is fate.”

“Come to think of it, didn’t she say she had to make it to the Seven Stars so she could take something of hers back?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not gonna throw the match, are you?”

“Do you really think I’d do that?”

Ikki answered her question with one of his own, to which she smiled and shook her head, relieved.

“No. That was a stupid question, sorry.”

Of course Ikki would never do such a thing. Even if his opponent were Stella or Shizuku, he would fight sincerely. That was common courtesy for a knight, no matter what sort of curveball fate threw at them.

I said “see you tomorrow”, but she probably won’t be coming to our training sessions for a while.

Ikki’s intuition turned out to be correct. After that day, Ayase never came to meet them.

◆◆◆

“Man, that guy today was a real piece of work.”

“Hah! That’s what you call a sissy.”

“What a loser! Who the hell just sits there and smiles after being smashed upside the head with a bottle?”

“You know how it is, Misato. It ain’t smart to try to fight Kuraudo.”

“Bahaha! You right. Don’t pick fights you can’t win!”

The teenagers laughed as they filled the ruined dojo they used as a hangout spot with smoke. They were, of course, talking about the scene at the restaurant.

“Heh. You boys think so?” Kuraudo sipped some sake as he spoke to his henchmen, looking down at them from a hole in the roof.

“Hell yeah! A beansprout like him can’t beat you, Kuraudo!”

“Seriously. He’s not even worth your time. I could beat his ass with one hand tied behind my back!”

“Gahaha! C’mon, guys, don’t bully weaklings like that. He might snitch to the cops.”

They laughed again. Even when nobody said anything funny, they just kept on laughing.

Idiots. They don’t know a damn thing. Kuraudo glanced down at them and chuckled before turning to look at the moon. He remembered Ikki’s eyes. Those eyes showed no signs of horror or panic as they pierced his soul; just the coldness of ice. All that guy cared about was getting out of there without making a scene. He probably took that bottle to the head on purpose. A man with eyes like his could’ve easily dodged that.

“He’s above all that. He wouldn’t fall for such a cheap challenge. Heh…”

It didn’t matter. Ikki was certain to get into Seven Stars.

When that happens, I’ll gladly crush him.

Kuraudo gulped down the rest of his drink as his heart throbbed in anticipation of the first real challenge he’d faced in a long time.

◆◆◆

Three days had passed since Ikki and the gang had last seen Ayase. Even the afternoon before their match, she was nowhere to be found.

“She never came. Not even once,” Stella sighed listlessly.

“Isn’t that more convenient for you, Stella?” Shizuku asked. “I recall you being jealous of her for taking up all of Big Brother’s time with their lessons.”

“Shut up. This is a different issue. It just feels kinda lonely without her around.”

“How selfish. But that may be one of your better sides.”

“Did you say something?”

“I said your legs are fat.”

“I keep telling you, they’re muscular!”

Still unsure of whether they had a good or bad relationship, Ikki watched them from afar while toying with his student handbook.

“So she still hasn’t sent you any emails or anything?” Alisuin cast a long shadow over him as she approached.

“Nope,” Ikki replied.

“Are you being honest?”

Ikki raised his head and looked at Alice. A smile spread gently across her face, but she probed for more information with her eyes.

“You don’t believe me?”

“Of course I don’t. I don’t know her all that well, but I know she’s frightened that she won’t reach her true goal of fighting in the Seven Stars. She can’t bear the thought of losing to you in tomorrow’s match.”

The six participants to be sent to the Seven Stars Battle Festival were chosen based on their win-loss records. Judging from what Ms. Oreki had said, there would be about twenty battles per person. With a number like that, there was bound to be a number of students with perfect twenty-win records. In other words, even a single loss meant forfeiting one’s chance to enter the Seven Stars.

“But if you fight the way you normally do, there’s no chance she’ll win. There’s just too big a difference in your skill levels. To make matters worse, you know her style of swordplay better than anyone else since you’re teaching her. What I’m saying is that she must be concocting some plan to secure victory. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“You’re really sharp, Alice.”

Ikki shrugged his shoulders in defeat and tossed his student handbook over to Alice. The display revealed a single email sent by Ayase Ayatsuji.

“There’s something important I can only ask you for. I need your help, Kurogane. I’ll be waiting on the roof of the main building at 3:00 a.m.”

“She sent it this morning.”

“This certainly reeks of a trap.”

“Heh, yeah. It does, but there’s no trickery afoot here.”

“You seem sure of that.”

“I believe in her. Ayatsuji would never do something so cowardly. I may have only known her for a few days, but I can say that for sure.” The Ayase he knew was honest to a fault, and a sincerely hard worker. “She said she liked my hands.”

Would someone cowardly enough to rig the fight beforehand, someone who would spit on everything their fellow knights trained and put their hearts on the line for, say something like that? No. They wouldn’t be able to say that even if they wanted to.

“I’m going to go see what she wants.”

Ayase was a friend—one who only had him to rely on. Ikki couldn’t just ignore that, so he told Alice that he would go.

“You really are a star, honey,” she responded with a bitter smile, and extended her hand toward Ikki. He was within arm’s reach, but the look in her eyes suggested that he was far, far away.

“A star?”

“Yes, absolutely. I’m honestly jealous of you all sometimes. Shizuku and Stella have the ability to love with all their hearts, and you have the ability to trust someone with all of yours. It makes me realize just how rotten my own heart is, because I always find myself thinking twice about others.

“Sometimes, however,” Alice punctuated before warning Ikki with a worried expression, “that’s exactly why I’m able to figure out the truth. You might think I’m stepping too far into your business here, but you should be ready to cut ties with her if need be. You never know what may be lurking behind a person’s mask. Going in half-heartedly and faltering may turn a winnable match into an unwinnable one, like what almost happened with The Hunter.”

“You warned me about the same thing back then, too, Alice. But don’t worry about me. I can’t falter anymore because I know what’s most important to me.” Ikki turned his attention to Stella, who was still bickering with Shizuku. They’d made a pact to fight for the crown in the final battle. “No matter what, I’m not going to break our promise.”

“Ahaha. I guess I was prying too much. Sorry for being such a downer.”

“You’re not. In my battle with Kirihara—and even now—I managed to turn things around thanks to my friends’ help. That’s why I won’t let anyone call any of you rotten, Alice. Not even if you’re saying it about yourself.”

For a moment, Alice appeared as though she were worried by some difficult truth, but she quickly masked it.

“Teehee. Don’t be too smooth, now. I might just fall in love.”

“Leave the jokes for the girls, please.”

Alice spoke as cheerfully as ever, so Ikki reciprocated by not pressing any further. She probably wouldn’t have gone along with it even if he’d tried to probe for more information anyway. For the time being, he decided to focus on what lay ahead.

He looked up at the roof of the school building, bathed in the light of the setting sun. At 3:00 a.m., Ayase would be waiting there for him.

I hope I can help her.

◆◆◆

Ten minutes before they were to meet, Ikki quietly left his room, being careful not to wake Stella. He exited the dorm, which was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop, and used the dim, pale moonlight to guide him as he moved toward a window that he’d opened in preparation.

From there, he snuck through the school building, his footsteps just barely echoing through the night. The place was normally so loud and active, but Ikki pushed through the deafening, discomforting silence until he finally reached the top of the school and opened the steel door before him.

Pale moonlight shone into his face, accompanied by a gust of wind. The rooftop before Ikki’s eyes was entirely plain, with a sterile concrete floor and an ugly fence sullying the night sky. It was summertime, but the wind and moonlight felt cold, making the sight all the more dreary.

Ayase Ayatsuji stood there, facing away from the fence, basking in the pale moonlight.

“Hey. I haven’t seen you since we went to the pool, Ayatsuji.”

“Yeah. Sorry to ignore you, considering you were helping me and all.”

Hmm?

Ikki noticed something a little bit off about Ayase’s eyes—something more than the apologetic glance. Her gaze seemed dry and artificial, as if her eyes were made of glass.

Ayase seemed to have gotten more comfortable with Ikki to the point that she didn’t constantly avoid eye contact, but the day they’d gone to the pool, when their conversation was interrupted and their eyes met, she’d had the same artificial look. Ikki had figured it was a normal reaction for someone like her who wasn’t used to boys.

That was what made her current gaze bother Ikki all the more. Was Ayase really the type of girl who could look at him so calmly on such a quiet night? Even if she did seem off, though, it was really only a tiny bit. They weren’t here for something so small, so he didn’t waste his breath asking her about it.

“You’re fine. Honestly, I felt pretty awkward after that email too.”

“I’m glad you understand. But… You really came alone, didn’t you? That seems pretty immoral for a boy with a girlfriend, but thank you.”

“Oh, I thought you might mention that. Let’s not tell Stella about this; she’ll get mad at me.” Ikki shrugged as a follow-up to his joke and approached Ayase, ready to change the subject. “So, what did you need me for?”

“…”

She didn’t answer. Was she reluctant to tell him, or was there some other meaning to her silence? Ikki couldn’t read Ayase’s emotions or motives behind her glass eyes. A conversation couldn’t advance if both speakers were quiet, though.

“If you don’t want to just come out and say it, could I ask you a question?” Ayase remained silent even when Ikki attempted a different approach. He took it as a no and tried again, aiming for the core of the matter. “Sorry to bring this up again, but is Kuraudo Kurashiki the one who stole what was important to you?”

“What makes you think that?” Ayase answered his question with one of her own.

“Just a bit of observation and intuition,” he replied, not overlooking the instant change from glass-eyed stoicism to wide-eyed shock. “At the restaurant, when you said you wanted to take back what was stolen from you, I saw something in your eyes that almost seemed like bloodlust. You had the same look on your face when the Sword Eater came over to our table.

“You said you had to go to Seven Stars to take it back, so that means the one who stole it from you would be there as well. The Sword Eater was a quarterfinalist last year, and since his school doesn’t use Hagun’s new Shinguuji System to select its candidates, his place in the Festival is guaranteed. With those two things established, I figured the person you’re trying to take something back from must be the Sword Eater. Am I right?”

Ikki didn’t have to ask; he knew he’d hit the nail on the head.

“Haha, that’s right. You’ve figured it all out. Now I don’t have to hide it anymore. With that out of the way, Kurogane, I came here because I wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Miss Vermillion told me in the changing room when we were getting ready to leave the pool that you two promised to meet in the final battle of the Seven Stars Battle Festival this year.”

“Yeah. If the bracket works out for us, at least, we’re going to meet in the finals. But we will fight at some point, for sure.”

“But what if you were pitted against an enemy that you just couldn’t defeat no matter how hard you tried? What would you do?”

Ikki raised an eyebrow, unsure of where Ayase was headed. Why was she so interested in him and Stella?

Instantly, though, he realized that her question applied to herself just as much as it did him. Ikki had to win to fulfill a promise, while Ayase had to win to take back what was hers. Their reasons differed, but their resolve was the same.

Was it possible she was asking him because she wanted advice on how to prepare herself to fight even the strongest warriors? Ikki still wasn’t positive about what he wanted, but he was positive about how to answer.

“I’d fight with every last ounce of my strength.”

“Even if you couldn’t win?”

“I wouldn’t know until I tried. But even if I ended up losing, the only thing I can do is fight, fight, fight.”

When he’d fought The Hunter, Ikki had accepted defeat, but it was thanks to Stella that he remembered. If someone lost to their enemy and got hurt, their wounds would one day heal. They would be able to fight again. However, the wound of running away—of losing to oneself—would never heal, dragging that person down forever. Even if one was fated to lose, they should at least fight so that they were able to pride themselves on their effort. Ikki would never lose sight of that again.

“I disagree.” Ayase coldly cast his answer aside. “Why play fair if it means you won’t get what you want?”

“Huh?” Ikki gasped in surprise, taken aback by her sudden conclusion that the ends justify the means. He had no idea why she would say such a thing. The Ayase in his mind could never imagine something so awful. He didn’t even know how to respond.

As he stood there, still silent from the shock, Ikki noticed that Ayase’s lips had curled into a sneer beneath her artificial-looking eyes. He had never seen her look that way.

Is this really Ayase? No, maybe this is the real Ayase? Her cold smile pierced into his confused thoughts.