chapter1 · 012-ep12

Episode 12: The Rooftop Battle ③

Next time that right comes, I'm putting one into him.

The moment I decided it, the noise that had been rattling around my head went one shade quieter.

Sakagami was still saying something.

Probably taunting me, and sure enough he was still swinging at me like I was nothing — that much hadn't changed.

But none of that mattered anymore.

I knew where to look.

Right after a hard right.

That instant where his body drifts forward, his shoulder opens, and his chin lifts.

All I had to do was not miss it.

Sakagami swung the right again.

Big, as expected.

Heavy.

And because he'd gone and lost his cool, the trajectory was dead honest.

I took the right on shoulder and arm.

A dull impact ran through me.

It hurts.

Plainly hurts.

But thanks to Posture Control+, my stance holds.

That was the instant.

Sakagami's shoulder opened.

His chin lifted.

His left temple went soft, just a little.

By the time I thought "there," my left arm was already off.

Less like I swung it myself, more like the shortest possible shape for reaching that spot had been inside my body from the start.

My hips loaded.

My shoulder turned.

And my left fist got sucked straight into Sakagami's temple.

Heat seeped into it.

The feel of 【Off-Hand Strike】.

There was a heavy, muffled thud.

Solid feedback.

Sakagami's eyes flew wide, just for a second.

But what surfaced on his face right after wasn't anger or pain — it was the slack-jawed bewilderment unique to guys who don't understand what just happened to them.

"...Huh?"

A breath leaked out, barely a voice.

And then the strength left Sakagami's knees.

Less that his knees buckled, more like something at the core of him cut out first.

The body that had been standing suddenly lost its support and dropped straight to the floor.

A remarkably quiet way to fall.

In the end, Sakagami sank onto the rooftop floor without ever understanding what had happened.

It landed.

And cleaner than I'd ever expected.

"Clean" is a weird way to describe a punch, but that's honestly what it was.

No wobble, no bleeding off anywhere it shouldn't.

The left landed flush on the temple, so he went down in one.

Probably a concussion, I'd gotten that far thinking when the edge of my vision lit up.

【Achievement Unlocked】

【B: Defeat an Awakener whose Level is higher than yours in a single hit】

"Ohh."

It slipped out.

Got it after all.

I mean, is this really the moment to celebrate — but you'd celebrate this, come on.

The conditions were properly met.

And against a Level 8, in one hit.

Even I feel like I crossed one sketchy bridge back there.

And just as I was starting to soak in a little sense of accomplishment, the very next instant—

"...Huh?"

someone behind me let out a squawk.

The hangers-on.

Well, sure.

The Sakagami who was all swagger until a minute ago is sprawled on the floor from one hit.

"H-hey, Yūdai?"

"Wait, for real?"

"No, no, no — hold on a sec."

The three of them changed in an instant.

The smirks from a moment ago were wiped perfectly clean.

That's when I finally came back to reality.

...Right.

There's still three of them.

And 【Off-Hand Strike】 is on cooldown.

Three minutes.

Can't fire it again for three minutes.

What do I do.

Genuinely stuck.

Dropping Sakagami in one hit was great and all, but "then a brawl with the remaining three" wasn't in the briefing.

Plus I'd been plain old taking hits this whole time, so I hurt in a low-key way and my stamina's taken a real chunk.

If they all come at once, that's a serious problem.

No — beyond serious.

I straight-up lose.

What do I do.

Run?

But, you know. Roof.

In one flash I'd gotten that far when the short-haired guy raised both hands lightly.

"No, no, no, hold on, hold on."

He'd been riding the highest until a second ago, and his tone had audibly changed lanes.

"Yūdai going down in one hit — that ain't funny."

The fight-hardened-looking one was staring at Sakagami sprawled on the floor, and even he'd pulled back visibly.

"There is no way that pays out."

"Sorry, sorry — really, we're sorry!"

The last one even had a smile going.

Though what kind of smile is that, exactly.

"We won't mess with you again! Seriously!"

"No more Awakener hunting either! For real!"

That was some serious velocity on that capitulation.

At that point it loops back around to refreshing.

I kept my guard up, for the record, watching the three of them.

Are they really not coming?

If not, great.

But sure enough, they'd gone full retreat mode.

Sakagami dropping in one hit must have really landed.

"R-really, it's fine, we're done!"

"Yūdai's, well... yeah, we'll deal with him later!"

"S-so, we'll be going now!"

And with that, the three of them half-abandoned Sakagami and started for the roof exit.

"—Do you actually mean that?"

A voice came down from above.

Everyone on the roof looked up on reflex.

Me too.

It came from atop the rooftop tower at the far end.

A figure standing in the backlight took one slow step forward.

Wind rose, and her hair swayed.

Standing there was an unexpected person.

Mibu Iroha.

The most famous person in our entire year.

"...Huh?"

It slipped out.

Why is she up there.

Also — since when.

The three of them stopped dead.

"M-Mibu...?"

The short-haired guy's voice came out dumb.

Mibu stood at the tower's edge, looking down at us.

Her expression barely changed.

But her eyes alone were startlingly clear.

"I saw everything."

One short sentence.

And that alone changed the rooftop's air.

"N-no, this is, um..."

"I heard the talk, too. That you attacked the third-years together with Sakagami-kun. And that you attacked Makino-kun."

The blood drained from all three faces at once.

"D-damn it...!"

"From here on, Japan is going to move on a lot of fronts — education for Awakeners, guidance, all of it."

Mibu went on, level and unhurried.

"Even entering a dungeon will probably end up requiring government permission, or a license, something like that."

The three stayed silent.

Not that they had a choice.

"If I went and named you three as dangerous individuals — I think that would simply be the end for you, don't you?"

The delivery was quiet, but the content alone was absurdly heavy.

If I remembered right, Sōsuke had said Mibu's father was a politician, working in dungeon and Awakener-related business.

Meaning that with that authority — influence, call it — she could at minimum get these guys shut out of whatever Awakener-related systems get built.

That's what Mibu was saying right now.

"W-wait, hold on, hold on—"

"We're Awakeners too, you know!"

"So what?"

The comeback was truly short.

"Being an Awakener doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want."

The wind blew.

Mibu's hair swayed.

Just that, and somehow it's genuinely scary.

"Everything I heard here, I'll be passing along to my father. After that, I imagine it's for the state to decide."

At that one line, the three faces died completely.

All that "we won't mess with you again!" energy from a minute ago had been blasted away in an instant.

The three were silent.

Silent, they went back to the unconscious Sakagami.

They'd been fully prepared to leave him thirty seconds ago; now they scooped him up properly.

And like that, they vanished off the roof, fleeing more or less.

The footsteps going down the stairs faded away.

Quiet came rushing back to the rooftop.

"...What was that?"

The mutter slipped out.

I mean, I was saved, obviously.

I'd figured the ending would be a lot messier.

Sakagami drops in one hit, and then Mibu flips the whole board from above — that's kind of what it felt like.

I looked up at the tower again.

Mibu Iroha was still standing there.

Looking down at me, hair swaying in the wind.

Our eyes met.

She watched me a while, and then her mouth softened, just barely.

"...Himura-kun. How are you that strong?"

First time I'd ever seen it.

Mibu Iroha — the girl who barely moves her expression — smiling like that.