Chivalry of a Failed Knight Vol. 3

Ikki was transfixed on her youthful yet motherly appearance. She had a sort of consummate sense of beauty, almost like a painting.

“Hm? Something wrong?”

“Oh, no. Sorry.”

Startled by Touka noticing him, Ikki quickly brought himself back to reality.

What was that about? It’s like I was being drawn in by her.

When he’d watched Raikiri as she took down Shizuku with her overwhelming strength, he hadn’t seen anything like that in her. Though fairly curious about it, he pushed the matter into the back of his mind and handed her the ingredients.

“Here are the potatoes and carrots. I also went ahead and soaked the potatoes.”

“Thank you. My, they’re so neatly peeled. Having the veggies cut a little bigger is nice too.”

“Since we’re eating outside and the sky is so clear, I figured country-style curry might be good.”

“You get a gold star, Kurogane. Guess your aptitude for blades doesn’t end with just the sword, huh?”

“Haha, I just lived alone for a long time. So, is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No, thank you. I can do the rest with a single pot, so you’re free to take a break.”

Two would certainly be a crowd with only one pot, so he accepted her offer and excused himself from the outdoor kitchen.

“Heheheh. What’s wrong, bud? Distracted by Touka’s big booty?”

Utakata, cooking rice with the camp’s cookware, pressed Ikki about why he had been standing there staring at Touka.

“N-No, of course not!” Ikki denied the claim profusely. It did look big, round, and soft, so of course he was a little interested as a man, but that wasn’t the reason. “I mean it. It’s just… I don’t really get it myself, but seeing Toudou preparing a meal really caught my eye. It’s almost like there was something I just had to see.”

“Hmm…” Utakata seemed deeply interested in Ikki’s answer. “Something you ‘had to see’, huh? You’re definitely not any normal guy if you caught on that quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

“You felt like there was something you had to see about the way she was, and you were right. That’s kind of like Touka’s core—it’s the source of her strength.”

“It is?”

“Yep. I’ve known her forever, so I would know.”

“Forever”…

Ikki could tell from the way they’d made eye contact earlier that there was a long history between Utakata and Touka, so he decided to mention it outright.

“You two have known each other for that long?”

“Huh? Well, yeah. Both of us came from the same orphanage.”

“You did?”

“The Wakaba House is one result of the Toutokubara Foundation’s social work. It takes in orphaned children and fosters them. Kanata often visited the Wakaba House while Touka and I were there, so we’ve known her since back then too. The three of us hung out together so much.”

“I had no idea.”

Ikki was clueless about how to react given the way Utakata was talking about it like it was nothing. He had assumed they were childhood friends, but not that they had come from the same institution. He couldn’t decide whether he should delve deeper into such a delicate subject or leave Utakata alone.

The source of Toudou’s strength.

Regardless of which option was better, Utakata’s claim attracted his interest. He wanted to know what kind of woman Touka Toudou was, so he boldly continued that line of questioning.

“If you don’t mind, would you tell me more about the ‘source of her strength’?”

Utakata stayed silent for a moment, then posed a question.

“When you hear the word ‘orphanage’, what comes to mind?”

“It’s a place where children live after they’ve lost their relatives, right?”

“In not so many words, sure, but there are a lot of ways kids lose their relatives. Some lose their parents to accidents or fires, some are abandoned… Those are bad, but there’s even worse out there. Some kids are taken away by the government because their parents almost killed them. Stuff like that.”

“Their parents did?!”

“Yeah. There were a lot of kids with tough backgrounds at our orphanage, which made things really bad. Everyone there shared common circumstances, yet they would tease and bully each other a lot. It was so painful. But among all that, Touka was always trying to make all of us happy even though she was an orphan too. In place of the owner, she’d read books to the little kids and make dinner for us. The owner was a really nice person, but wasn’t that great at cooking. Everyone loved it when Touka took over, haha.”

“She seems like a good caretaker.”

“She’s always been that way, sticking her nose in other people’s business. Like with the guy who was almost killed by his parents. He was so violent and uncontrollable, so broken beyond repair, so willing to hurt her over and over again, but she never abandoned him. Thanks to her, he could become human again, feeling real human feelings. To this day, he’s still grateful to her. He still loves her.”

Utakata lowered his eyes as he spoke of the past. At some point, his story had begun to seem autobiographical. Perhaps he was that very child who had nearly died at the hands of his own parents. After a brief pause, he continued:

“So one day, he asked her, ‘Why are you so strong?’ It just got to him so much—they were both orphaned children, so how could she be so loving toward others? She replied, ‘My parents loved me so much. It may have been a short time compared to normal families, but we had our share of smiles and love; their memory keeps me going even now that I’ve lost them. Now, I want other children to be able to smile as well. I want everyone to have happy memories that keep them going too, just like I have of my parents. The love that my parents taught me to give is a precious thing.’

“True to her word, Touka still visits the Wakaba House, bringing smiles and courage for all the kids. She had shown us orphans firsthand that we could still grow up to be amazing people, and she continues to do so as the Raikiri, one of the strongest student knights in Japan.”

With so much revealed to him, Ikki was finally able to grasp the source of Touka’s strength. It was benevolence, giving her the ability to wield unrivaled power for the benefit of others.

Touka Toudou naturally held goodwill toward others. When Ikki had caught a glimpse of a fragment of Touka’s good-natured spirit as she cooked for others, it naturally caught his attention. Her naturally good heart, the core of her strength, was vital information that he couldn’t afford to overlook.

“Ikki, you’re strong. Stronger than I imagined, to be honest. I wouldn’t stand a chance against you, and even Kanata would have trouble beating you, but not even you can defeat Touka. Her strength is special; she knows just what it would mean and how many people she would disappoint if she lost. So she won’t bend, and she definitely won’t break. The two of you simply carry different weights.”

“…”

Ikki had no response to that declaration. All he could do was to turn his gaze from Utakata to Touka, still happily cooking away, and to ponder her deeply. He pondered the many people whose hopes and dreams she carried on her delicate little shoulders, along with the strength that allowed her to sustain it all.

I know I’m nothing like that.

Ikki had gotten to where he was believing only in his own self-worth. He’d never relied on or helped anyone, only pushing onward to become his ideal self. The weight that Utakata spoke of didn’t guide Ikki’s sword. The hopes of others didn’t ride on it.

That fact manifested as something like a black, formless haze that coiled around Ikki’s heart. “Can your sword, so free of weight, defeat her?” it asked him.

◆◇◆◇◆

The curry they ate for lunch was made with garlic rice instead of white. The dish, Ikki learned, had been concocted by Utakata, Touka, and Kanata through trial and error in their orphanage days, back when they needed to make a cheap meal that everyone would enjoy. The curry roux that Touka brought in plastic containers was mixed with the taste of savory beef tendon, and when combined with the fragrant garlic rice, it made for a delicious meal.

It was the most enjoyable curry Ikki had ever eaten—he devoured it so greedily that he accidentally overate. Stella, however, didn’t bother much with it despite usually eating four times as much as the average person. Perhaps she just wasn’t a big fan of it.

After waiting a while for their food to digest, Touka split everyone into groups for the coming treks. Walking in the mountains alone was extremely dangerous even for Blazers, so Touka and Utakata were one group, Saijou and Renren another, and Ikki and Stella a third, while Kanata remained at the campsite that served as their home base in case of emergency. The groups then split off and began the hunt. Their objective: finding and securing the giant.

Ikki and Stella made way for the western side of the forested mountains. Unlike normal mountain trails traveled by hikers, the area they were in was a facility for Blazer training. As such, the paths were left unbeaten for training purposes, allowing them to become overgrown with trees and grass. Adding to that, they were walking uphill as the area was at an incline, making it all the more treacherous.

No, if it were merely treacherous, it would pose little challenge for Ikki and Stella, who regularly honed their bodies.

“Ugh, again?” With his left hand, Ikki seized a shadow that had sprung out of the bushes—a pit viper with its fangs bared, marking the third time that had happened.

Even ignoring the difficulty of walking, the ambushes were annoying. Still, he merely tossed it away with a flick of his wrist and turned his attention to Stella.

“Looks like there are a lot of venomous snakes out here. They won’t kill you, but you should still be careful.”

“…Okay.”

There was little excitement in Stella’s voice. In fact, she was visibly dispirited. If she’d still had her vigor from earlier, she would have taken the lead and pushed her way through the foliage, but instead, she trudged slowly behind Ikki with slumped shoulders and hunched back.

“What’s wrong? Did losing at badminton get you down that much?”

Her earlier match with Renren had ended in defeat. Stella had misjudged the strength of her smash, leading to her own undoing by hitting the birdie out of the court.

“No, I don’t care about that…”

She denied what he thought to be the source of her sulkiness, but her response was clearly noncommittal, almost as if she herself didn’t know why she felt so down.

Seriously, I wonder what’s wrong. Ikki cocked his head in confusion at his girlfriend’s unusual state, unable to grasp just how profound the change was. Maybe she’s not used to walking these mountain trails.

“Stay close to me,” he told her. “We don’t want to get separated.”

Ikki held the foliage apart to let Stella through, but that was a mistake. The change in Stella’s mood was not something to be ignored.

◆◇◆◇◆

I don’t think I like how the sky looks. Rain, maybe?

After about two hours of walking along the rarely-trod path, Ikki stared up through the overgrown trees. He had heard that mountain weather could change at a moment’s notice, but the clear sky’s dazzling blue being so quickly replaced with a dull gray was extreme to say the least. It seemed liable to start raining at any second, and the air was chilly at their increased altitude.

“Hm?”

When Ikki resumed looking forward, he immediately noticed something strange: fallen trees. Not just one or two, either, but dozens.

The area’s topsoil had been turned up, exposing the subsoil beneath. It was as if some giant creature had crawled up out of the earth, uprooting and displacing the trees, deforesting the nearly twenty-foot diameter gouge. Nearby, he could see what seemed like almost half-yard footprints dug into the muddy soil.

“What in the world?!” Instead of a monster, the footprints had a striking resemblance to those of a human. No human could possibly grow to that size, of course, so they couldn’t have been made by one; they must have been the rumored giant’s. “Hey, Stella? Do you think…”

“Haah, haah…”

Ikki called out to Stella to confirm his bizarre finding, but noticed that she was leaning against a tree, almost hyperventilating.

“Stella? Are you tired— Stella?! Why are you sweating so much?!”

He had thought she was leaning on it because she was tired, but that was wrong. When he saw her, he noticed that despite the cool air temperature, her face was bright red and an incredible amount of sweat had collected on her forehead. It was strange no matter how he looked at it.

“I-I’m not sure… It’s getting really hard to move my body. And I’m so dizzy and nauseous… Hey, Ikki, I need to ask you something.”

Stella languidly lifted her reddened face and looked at Ikki. The severity in her eyes showed a spark of resolution; it was plain to see that her question was of utmost importance. What was she going to ask? Ikki swallowed and pressed her to speak.

“What is it?”

So weak she was about to fall to her knees, she asked him:

“Can you get pregnant from kissing?”

“…No, Stella.” Ikki didn’t want to imagine that he was some sort of creature that could impregnate girls through mere lip contact. “I think you’re probably sick.”

“You mean lovesick…?”

“No, you’ve probably just got a cold. You look like you’ve got a fever.”

“O-Oh, I see. So this is the ‘cold’ everyone talks about.”

“Stella, have you never actually caught a cold?”

“Never. This is why… other kids had to stay home from school, right? I was so jealous of them back then, but now…”

Stella grinned bitterly. It was the first time her own body had ever resisted her so much, so she had only just come to understand how bad her condition was. Japan’s hot, humid climate must have reduced her immunity to disease.

“Anyway, we aren’t going to make much progress like this. Let’s head back.”

“H-Hang on… We just found a clue.”

“You can barely move though, right? The clue can wait.”

“No, I’m fine. See… H-Huh?”

“Stella!”

When she attempted to pull herself away from the tree that supported her, Stella began to sway, nearly collapsing. Fortunately, Ikki moved quickly, supporting her just before she fell. In doing so, he realized that she was abnormally hot—hot enough to feel through her clothes.

This is worse than I thought.

Because Stella didn’t notice that she was sick, she had pushed herself beyond her limit, making her condition even worse. They had to get off the mountain immediately, so Ikki, resolving to do just that, picked up his girlfriend princess-style.

“I’m taking you back, whether you want me to or not.”

“O-Oh…”

Stella looked a little discontent, but she didn’t resist once it was clear that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Of course, she didn’t have enough energy to resist anyway, no matter how she felt. Thus, she merely surrendered herself to Ikki, breathing heavily all the while.

I need to get her off this mountain and to a doctor.

Ikki’s legs were strong enough to run down a mountain while carrying another person without too much difficulty. It wouldn’t take too long to reach the base.

Or so he thought, but it wouldn’t be so easy. A few small raindrops began to fall from the lead-colored sky before giving way to a torrential rainfall. It was one of the so-called “guerrilla squalls” that had become increasingly common as a result of Japan’s subtropical climate.

“Ugh, this is really bad timing!”

Ikki didn’t mind getting wet, but it was a problem for Stella. If she got cold, her immunity would fall even more; she would be lucky to get off with just a cold. If anything happened to exacerbate her cold even further, it could turn into pneumonia, an outcome they had to avoid at all costs to prevent her selection battles from being affected.

That’s it! There was a cabin for emergency refuge on the way up here!

Ikki changed course the moment he recalled it. Deciding that they would first sit out the rain, he gave up on getting off the mountain.

◆◇◆◇◆

There was some distance between them and the cabin, so the pair was soaked when they finally arrived. In order to dry their wet clothes, Ikki started a fire in the cabin’s hearth using some firewood that had been kept inside. He then used his student handbook’s phone function to call Kanata, who was still waiting at the campsite.

“Stella collapsed?!”

“Yeah. I took her to a nearby cabin to wait for the rain to stop.”

“My, my. How is she doing?”

“My guess is it’s a bad cold, but I can’t say for sure without talking to a doctor.”

“Very well. I’ll send help immediately.”

“Thank you. As for the giant, we found footprints that seem to fit the description, along with traces of something huge rising up from the earth. The giant may be underground.”

“Underground…? It’s rather hard to believe that something so large could live underground, but very well. We will take over the investigation of what you’ve found. You two should remain in the cabin and rest until help arrives. It will probably take about two hours. It’s gotten quite cold outside, so don’t forget to dry your wet bodies.”

“Of course. Thanks again.” Ikki hung up the phone and threw the last of their firewood into the hearth. The room had already gotten much warmer. “All right, now we can dry our clothes.”

Ikki removed his soaked clothing until he was wearing only his pants, laying it out in front of the hearth. Then he spoke to Stella, who was leaning against the wall and taking deep, pained breaths.

“You should strip too, Stella. It’s a little embarrassing, I guess, but it’s better than letting your cold get worse.”

“…Okay.”

Stella and Ikki may have been dating, but they were only close enough to be comfortable kissing. She would no doubt be reluctant to bare her skin so early in their relationship, but she didn’t grumble over it. She peeled off her soaked uniform jacket and moved her hands to her skirt, knowing full well that there was no room for her to be stubborn. It was critical that she didn’t allow her condition to worsen even more.

Both Ikki and Stella were fighting to be among a mere six people to move past the selection battles and on to the Seven Stars. If she chose to be stubborn and it made her cold worse, the two of them would never meet in the Seven Stars finals. Stella wasn’t the kind of woman to get her priorities mixed up; she refused to let a little embarrassment get in the way of keeping her promise to Ikki—the most important thing in the world to her. She stood up to take off her skirt.

“Ah.”

“Stella!”

When she did, she collapsed. It was the first time in her life that she had been in such poor condition. Because she had so carelessly worsened her cold, the resulting loss of strength was enough to leave her powerless to even strip.

Ikki, who caught her before she hit the ground, knew that. He could still feel her body temperature through her clothes, and it was even higher than it had been earlier. Her condition was getting worse, and he didn’t want to force her to do anything more, so he made a bold proposal.

“Stella, um, why don’t you let me do it for you.”

Her ruby eyes bulged when she heard the suggestion. Embarrassing as it was for her to expose herself, for Ikki to do it was entirely out of the question. Even so, Stella nodded ever so slightly and replied quickly.

“Yeah… Please.”

She surrendered herself to Ikki, as she knew that he was forcing down his own embarrassment solely for the sake of her health.

Keep it together, Ikki.

Knowing that Stella was putting aside her worries in accepting his proposal, Ikki again monished himself fiercely. It was out of the question for him to make light of the situation and embarrass her more; he was the only one who could help her.

Ikki got right to work, moving clinically and promptly to remove Stella’s clothes in order to avoid embarrassing her. He couldn’t think any sexy thoughts.

Okay.

Once Ikki had sufficiently cautioned himself, he reached his hands toward Stella’s clothes.

First were her stockings, which clung to her skin. They would probably have the worst effect on her given that they adhered so tightly to her body, so he unclipped the garter belt connected to them. Then, one at a time, he stuck his finger under her stockings, pulling them down slowly.