chapter1 · 010-ep10

Episode 10: The Rooftop Battle ①

After school.

Closing homeroom ended, and the scrape of chairs overlapped from every corner of the classroom.

Everyone started getting ready to leave.

The guys slinging bags over their shoulders.

The ones checking their phones.

The ones standing up while chatting quietly with friends.

At a glance, it looked like a perfectly ordinary after-school scene.

But the school's air had been off for days now, and my own head was nowhere near settled.

Because—

Makino Sōsuke of Class 1 had gotten beaten.

And on top of that—

"Himura. Got a minute?"

the guy I'd been about to call out to had called out to me at almost the exact same moment.

Sakagami Yūdai.

Level 8 Awakener.

The guy believed responsible for stealing the Awakener roster and assaulting the students on it.

As good as guilty, in other words.

And he's grinning like crazy.

...Why me!?

"Uh, what?"

I'd meant to answer like it was nothing, but it probably came out a little stiff.

I mean, nobody said anything about him coming to me.

I was the one about to go do that, you know.

Sakagami didn't seem to care about my reaction one way or the other; he set one hand on my desk.

"Lemme borrow that face a sec."

At that one line, the surrounding air wavered just a little.

The same-class hangers-on were wearing looks of pure spectator sport.

Obvious.

Painfully obvious.

But honestly? Works out fine for me.

I was planning to call out to him anyway.

"Sure, whatever."

When I answered, Sakagami's eyebrows rose for just a second.

He'd probably expected me to be a bit more scared.

"Heh. Nice."

"So where are we going?"

"You'll find out when we get there."

That way of talking was textbook, too.

But backing out now would be its own kind of wrong.

I set my bag back down on the desk and fell in behind Sakagami.

Out of the classroom, he and I walked down the hallway.

...Wait, the hangers-on aren't coming?

No, I mean, that's fine, obviously?

If those guys are Awakeners too and this turns into a multiple-opponents situation, even I would be in trouble, probably.

First question is whether I could beat Sakagami one-on-one, though.

I mean, I hear he beat down a third-year Awakener?

Probably plenty used to fighting, too?

And on top of that, he dove into a dungeon and raised his Level.

Meanwhile, yours truly—

Zero experience fighting Awakeners.

Never been in a fight in my life.

I've done the dungeon thing, sure, but all that amounted to was punching Greyfish with my left hand and borderline-stalking Greyfish.

Pure hobby-tier stuff.

However you slice it, by any reading, the advantage is his.

Thinking all that, I climbed the stairs.

Up.

Further up.

Just when I was wondering how far this went, the stairs finally ran out.

"...The... the roof?"

When I said it, Sakagami laughed without turning around.

"Bingo."

Called it.

Well, I figured it'd be this.

Somewhere with no people, to talk about things you don't want overheard.

Or to do things you'd be in trouble for anyone hearing.

Obvious doesn't even begin to cover it.

The rooftop door opened.

A dry wind blew in.

The sky was absurdly blue.

Why is it only at times like this that the weather's pointlessly perfect?

Sakagami and me.

Plus three guys already there.

A sporty-looking guy, a short-haired punk type who looked fight-tested, and a straight-up remora of a guy — the type who just loves glomming onto whoever's strongest.

I hoped, sort of, that this was unrelated business, but every one of them was smirking at me.

"Yūdai, this is today's guy?"

"Yeah. Closest friend of that Makino Sōsuke from yesterday, and an Awakener. Perfect, right?"

Judging by that exchange, I should probably abandon my faint hopes.

So the headcount gap was one to four.

Think about it normally, and I'm pretty thoroughly done for.

But, well.

Sometimes you've just gotta do it.

Sakagami walked to about the middle of the roof before he finally turned around.

"So?"

"'So,' what?"

"Didn't you have something you wanted to say too?"

At that, my eyes narrowed a little.

Ah. Got it.

He's been keeping track on his end, too.

That I might make a move over the Sōsuke thing.

"Well. Yeah, I do."

"Figured."

Sakagami smirked.

"It's about Makino, right?"

The instant that name left his mouth, the pit of my stomach went a little hot.

"What did you do to Sōsuke?"

When I said it, Sakagami shrugged.

"What did I do?"

"Don't play dumb."

"I'm not playing anything."

He kept answering in that light tone.

Which was irritating all over again.

"He tripped on his own, didn't he?"

"That excuse is a reach, don't you think?"

"Right?"

Sakagami laughed easily.

The hangers-on laughed along.

What a bunch of lost causes. Seriously.

"So?"

Sakagami kept his hands in his pockets and lifted his chin a little.

"What're you gonna do about it, now that you've heard?"

What am I gonna do.

Asked point-blank like that, I choked for a second.

"For justice," and so on.

"For my friend," and so on.

It wasn't the kind of moment that produces pretty words like those.

But it wasn't nothing, either.

"Nothing much."

I said.

"You just rub me the wrong way."

For an instant, the rooftop air stopped.

Having said it myself, I almost cracked up.

I had the feeling there might've been, you know, a better way to put it.

But it was the truth, so nothing to be done.

Sakagami went quiet for a few seconds, then burst out laughing.

"Hah."

A dry laugh.

"What even is that?"

"Exactly what it sounds like."

"Thought you were gonna play champion of justice or something."

"Not really my style."

"Fair enough."

He agrees with that part?

Still grinning, Sakagami took one step closer.

"But here's the thing, Himura."

His voice dropped a little.

"You're not getting the wrong idea here, are you?"

"About what?"

"About talking to us like that and walking away in one piece."

Ah. So it is that kind of thing after all.

Well, obviously it would be.

The hangers-on were faintly smirking behind him.

Under normal circumstances, this is where you back off.

Probably.

But right now, it wasn't quite there yet.

Not that I wasn't tense.

I was, but it was better than I'd expected.

"Whether I walk away in one piece — no way to know till we try, right?"

The moment it was out of my mouth, I surprised even myself.

Look at me, being all talkative today.

But ever since I'd heard what happened to Sōsuke, something had been smoldering in the pit of my stomach.

Right now, it was coming out as-is.

Sakagami's eyes narrowed a little.

"Heh."

And then, one more step.

The distance closed.

"Then let's see how far you can actually go."

And there, Sakagami smirked.

"—I'll be the one to size you up."

The next instant.

Sakagami's shoulder moved.

A big step in, a fist swinging.

Fast—!

But not so fast I couldn't see it.

"...!"

I caught it with my body on reflex.

The impact landed on my shoulder.

Heavy.

A genuinely heavy hit.

But.

"...Huh?"

I didn't buckle.

I should've staggered for a second there, but my feet came back on their own.

My center of gravity settled into the middle.

Huh. That was surprisingly fine.

Just then, a single Skill floated into my head.

Posture Control+.

Ahh. It's this Skill's doing.

The one that saved my hide over and over in the dungeon.

So it works plain well against people, too.

It hurts, sure.

But I can take way more of this than I expected.

Actually, you know what—

This is way less scary than Greyfish was on first meeting.