Thud thud
“Aaaaah!”
A man screams, tears streaming down his face as he looks at his oddly bent hand. It might have been an ugly voice, but he was backing away as if pleading, eventually tripping and falling.
“Was that the last one?”
As I turned my shoulders and glanced around, the soldiers who had charged at me with fire in their eyes just moments ago were now all pleading for their lives while shedding tears.
The last one.
Except for Demerk, who stood at the back.
He looked back and forth between me and his comrades with a shocked expression before taking a step back.
“……!”
His flinch suggested he realized he was instinctively trying to flee. It was definitely a sight that would make anyone want to back away.
“I said I wouldn’t care if they got hurt.”
“W-what are you? Just a student…!”
“Well, isn’t it about time you learned your lesson? You were too reckless.”
He probably approached this thinking he had a mission to fulfill, but he was lacking flexibility, way too much.
This is a school, after all.
They were pushing immature students too hard while forcing their own agenda.
“Dean! You need to talk! Tell this student to stop!”
“No, sorry, but I’m gonna go puke. Ugh!”
The dean either recalled the trauma from when I had hit him before, or this might have just been his first time seeing such a scene, but he started throwing up on the floor in an ugly manner.
“Ew, gross.”
After giving the dean a cold glance, I charged at Demerk, who eventually drew his sword in desperation.
“Y-you brat!”
His usual calm and composed demeanor was gone, replaced by clear emotions mixed with the desire to escape this situation.
He discarded all his trained techniques and went for a simple, brutish strike powered solely by his physical strength.
He miscalculated the strength needed, and with a simple shift of my body, his sword lodged itself into the grass.
At that moment, a flicker of fear crossed Demerk’s face, but I couldn’t stare into that face for long.
My fist was already smashing into his face.
Thud!
As Demerk fell, bursting his nose and about to collapse, I grabbed the neck of his armor and smiled.
“You even drew your sword?”
“……!”
After a few more strikes, Demerk hung limply like a fish pulled from the water, and I dusted my hands off while turning my gaze towards the cafeteria.
“Is it over now?”
It seemed like things were winding down since I couldn’t hear Eve’s voice anymore.
“Wow, you’re amazing!”
Elise, who had been watching from a corner, hopped over as if dodging a fallen bird dropping.
“I think you let a bit of your frustration out.”
If I had accidentally killed a royal soldier, it would have been irreparable; so I had restrained myself as much as possible, but I still had thoroughly beaten them.
“Well, that’s just for the best. If they acted reckless at the academy, they must face the consequences.”
“……”
What should I do now?
To be honest, I beat them up because I felt annoyed, but seeing the aftermath made me feel it was a bit excessive.
‘Am I going to get expelled from the academy?’
Of course, since the dean was on my side, that was unlikely. But it would severely affect the dean’s standing.
If a new dean came in, it would only cause me headaches. The current dean is just incompetent and cowardly enough to be just right.
But as if she knew my worries, Elise smiled and leaned in.
“It’s okay. I’ve seen how these people have behaved at the academy for a while, so I’ll handle it.”
“I don’t want to put any pressure on you unnecessarily.”
“If I tell my sister, it’ll be simple. They are not innocent, and everyone at the academy saw how they acted just to maintain their positions.”
When I thanked Elise for her smiling response, I couldn’t help but grimace at her suggestion to just give a single slap to her face.
“Oh, I like that!”
Elise seemed to actually be happy about it.
I walked into the cafeteria, irritated, to find Charlie and Counselor Sean collapsed.
Snicker, snicker.
Eve was trying to calm her heavy breathing while looking down at both of them. It seemed like she might have hit both Charlie and the counselor a couple of times.
Seeing him trembling and frothing at the mouth made me wonder if she had used a special move on him too?
Then, as Eve looked at me, her excitement seemed to calm down a bit, and she spoke with a slight quiver.
“Is it okay that I hit the counselor?”
“It’s fine, he’s the type that specializes in forgiveness.”
I figured he would let it go.
“Please forgive me!”
Eve unwittingly hit him one more time.
*
“Fight on!”
“Go go!”
“Um, thanks.”
After school, Arni Duratan with her vibrant red hair shimmering in the sunset was shaking noticeably.
It was obvious how tense she was, and all three pairs of eyes turned to me.
“Can’t you say something?”
“Let’s cheer for the girl confessing her feelings.”
“……”
In extreme situations, they say even gods would be sought. Since Arni was looking at me, urging me to speak up, I scratched my head and replied.
“Make the pie delicious; let’s start with that.”
Now that Arni had fully mastered the town’s specialty pie, I advised her to capture his taste first, and she nodded and ran towards Ares, who was waiting in the distance.
“Will it go well?”
“That’s not something we should involve ourselves in.”
It’d be a bit awkward to watch the confession scene, so we turned our bodies toward the café, but while trying to figure out my mood, Tana cleared her throat and awkwardly spoke.
“Ahem, I have someone to meet, so I’ll be going.”
“You have someone to meet? Don’t you have any friends other than us?”
“I do!”
Tana snapped angrily and hurriedly dashed off somewhere, and we ordered coffee and sat down.
“I hope Arni’s confession goes well.”
“Yeah, me too. Ares should really stop messing around and just date someone already.”
I heard he confessed to Rin but got rejected.
Ares wasn’t close enough with me to discuss it; Rin told me,
I was surprised by how casually she mentioned it, like “Did you eat yet?”
We casually sipped coffee and chatted. It was just like any other day. Eve explained a book she had recently read while I listened with a smile.
If there’s a good book, she’ll introduce it to me, and if I’ve read something, we’d exchange opinions about it.
Through these small actions, I knew how much healing she was receiving, so I always responded positively.
After talking about books for a while, sipping coffee, Eve wiggled her hands and asked.
“Um, how did it go?”
It’s been three days since that incident.
At Eve’s question, which she had held back on asking, I replied with a faint smile to put her at ease.
“Everyone at the academy saw them forcefully following you. Especially May’s clique even helped. They claim our side was overreacting but…”
sip
I took a sip of coffee, moistening my lips before continuing.
“The fact that they drew swords at me and were blinded by results without considering the victims was huge. Looks like even the Second Princess ended up getting involved because of it?”
“Wow.”
“Don’t worry. Everything’s been resolved.”
I was more concerned about whether Eve was okay.
She had recently started avoiding my gaze or clamming up whenever she tried to say something.
As if she read my mind, Eve began fiddling with her straw and finally spoke.
“I read somewhere in a book that once you break out of your shell, you can never go back.”
“……”
“Thank you, Daniel.”
There was no need to exaggerate.
That one line made my corners of my mouth lift up, and I slowly crossed my legs.
“Just a small thing.”
Truth is, practicing until dawn is quite something, but isn’t it more stylish to say it’s nothing here?
“By the way, I think Daniel bears some responsibility too.”
“……Huh?”
Eve, who had been staring blankly at the ice, now turned her gaze to me.
The sunset light strangely illuminated her, making it seem like her face turned slightly red.
No, did it really turn red?
“Tana told me, right? That my situation felt like something out of a novel. It’s partly your fault too.”
“Eh?”
I unknowingly pushed my chair back slightly, creating a little distance, but Eve rested her chin on the table and spoke.
“Aren’t you going to cheer for me?”
“Uh, cheer?”
With a mischievous smile, Eve whispered softly.
“That’s what I just learned; cheering for the girl making a confession.”
