ch401-ch420 · 412-ch412

Chapter 412: To Dream the Same Dream

"Ah, no moving yet."

After an unnaturally bright light rose—makes you wonder if THAT was okay—'Sword Saint-chan' tries to stand and gets stopped.

The one flaw of the 【Wicked Woman】's 【Heal・Evil】 is that it's flashier than it needs to be.

"I'll take that as my win, then?"

There's no referee's call, so I'll ask her directly.

"What do you mean, win! You hurt a girl! I'm telling Harue-san on you!"

Ugh, I got scolded......

Telling my mother on me? I'm about to be a university student, you know?

Besides, I did ask her to put her armor on before we started, and—ah, yes, it's my fault. I'm sorry.

"......up."

"Huh?"

Oh?

A declaration of defeat?

"I can't stand, so pull me up."

'Sword Saint-chan' spreads both hands toward me, still sitting.

"Refeeeree! He's making eyes at me! That's a foul! Take me hooome!"

"No, weren't we about to have our discussion? Still, I have no grounds to refuse the complaint. If you need my declaration, then so be it: Haruki-kun wins."

Hmm. There are actually plenty of complaints to be made—about my preparation, about her injuries—but just this once, we'll call it my win.

"Yes! Alright!"

Soushi and Aikawa high-five.

Mia-san clasps her hands together and nods along, mm-hm, mm-hm.

I was hoping for a more shocked reaction, honestly.

'Sword Saint-chan,' hands still spread, gets grabbed by the scruff of the neck by Kasumi-san and relocated between Mia-san and Aikawa.

Onto our side, that is.

"Seriously......? Chiharu loses? And not on some careless-mistake level either, right? It was so fast I couldn't even tell what happened. So how does this go now?"

"Right. Honestly, I'm a little scared of what comes next. So this counts as the discussion, then?"

"No. What you just saw was something like a light greeting from Haruki-san. We merely showed how much we can do. Which means, by rights, it's your turn to show us how much YOU can do. Wouldn't you say?"

That was not a light greeting—it was a full-power one......

"......"

See, now 'Sword Saint-chan' is glaring at me because you stirred her up.

But she's awfully quiet.

I thought she'd immediately demand a rematch......

Was her knee hurting that badly?

She's not going to tell me she's never been injured because she's too strong, is she?

"I see. So we're to fight and demonstrate our strength, then?"

"Ohh, got it. Sorry, Ao, but I'm not going easy on you."

It's true that I need to see what these two can do.

Ideally, I'd like them to survive, after all.

The reason I'm joining the Floor 50 fight is to save these two.

"If I beat Yukiya, might you fight me as well?"

"Hah? If I win, I'M the one who fights you, Haruki."

So popular it's a problem, really.

That last fight was over in an instant, after all.

I suppose they mean to size up my abilities and skills.

But......

"When the time comes, Soushi will be your opponent."

"Eh? Me?"

Ao-san will probably win, so I'll have Soushi take the next one.

Though since he doesn't seem ready yet, I don't think it'll be today.

For today, I'm planning to watch the two of them fight, then move on to the discussion.

"Hoh. Him, huh...... Come to think of it, they were here too, weren't they. This is getting interesting. Yukiya—and Chiharu—if I lose, there's a chance 'Blue Ocean' ceases to exist. You understand that, yes?"

"Y-yeah. Well, I mean, going easy on—"

Having taken the starting line, Ao-san opens with psychological warfare.

That's cheating!

"We won't disappear~! And Kaito-san is still with us, so it's fine! Give it everything you've got!"

Not letting that happen.

"Guh. Really, now? Well, if I lose, I suppose I really will have to leave it to Kaito......"

The best outcome is Yukiya-san winning, so we can steer the discussion at our own pace.

But just like before, the match format means raw Agility stats decide everything.

Ao-san's published 【General】 stats show his Agility is the same as Yukiya-san's 【Samurai】—but on top of that come the 【General】's stat-boosting buffs.

And with those buffs, Ao-san will be above him in every stat, not just Agility.

Besides......

"Then we begin! Start!"

At Kasumi-san's signal from the referee's position, the mock battle begins—and as expected, Ao-san backpedals hard to open the distance.

He has no intention of clashing head-on.

When your stats are superior, you resort to tricks.

That's a real pain in the neck, you know?

Ao-san holds a wooden sword in each hand.

Yukiya-san, meanwhile, has a proper wooden sword tucked at his waist—but unbelievably, he's holding a wooden spear.

And it's the cross-tipped one I was using earlier, at that.

Here comes the Hiramatsu-ryu......

He wants to counter the dual blades with reach—but the ninja won't let him.

"Gh! Oi! Where were you hiding those!"

Shuriken come flying.

Real ones, at that!

Those will hurt if they hit, you know.

Even the 'All-Rounder Samurai' can't seem to 'enhance' his spear—three shuriken, in a vertical line, stick neatly into the wooden spear.

No, wait—he parried them skillfully.

Holding a spear while your opponent has the longer reach is, I have to say, a very rough situation.

If the enemy closes in, you can withdraw the spear.

Withdrawing puts you at an advantage.

But if the opponent's reach is longer, you have no choice but to step in yourself.

Once your options narrow to that, it's easy to read you......

"Gotcha!"

He steps in instead.

Because Ao-san, who had been backing away, comes forward instead, the distance closes easily......

"Tch."

Pinning the spear down with one wooden sword while attacking with the other......

Yukiya-san lets go of the spear, draws the wooden sword at his waist, and somehow gets past it.

But Ao-san takes the distance again.

Yukiya-san can't get a moment to shine, huh......

So that's how he's being outmaneuvered......

Would things be different with full equipment, or with a hammer?

Ao-san, meanwhile, hasn't even used an evasion skill yet.

Yukiya-san's plan had to have been: force evasion skills out with the spear, then finish with the sword.

After that, Ao-san pressed the attack one-sidedly with his stat-backed dual wielding, but Yukiya-san held out far beyond expectations—the result was a close win, I'd call it.

Being able to receive the enemy's attacks one-handed by leveraging raw Strength is a huge advantage.

It frees up your other hand to go for the openings.

I threw one of my spears away today, but two spears might not be bad either.

"The winner: Kinoshita Ao!"

"Hah, hah...... Yukiya, you're...... too stubborn...... But with this, maybe I can at least...... sit at the negotiation...... table?"

"Dammit! I lost agaaain!"

The two of them sprawl out spread-eagled.

If these two can somehow manage the 'Sword Saint-chan skeleton,' they should be able to hold their own just fine.

"Whew, that wore me out a little. Shall I go ahead and fight Soushi-kun? Or shall we move on to the discussion?"

"Let's see. Since Soushi doesn't seem ready on his end today, we'll make the showdown a matter for another day. I'd like to move somewhere else for the discussion. Is that all right?"

"Ready? Well, that suits me fine."

Depending on the event, even Soushi should have a chance......

︙

︙

"This is a touchy subject if word got out, but—am I right in assuming everyone here knows the full story up to today?"

We've moved to the meeting room on the surface side.

"The Floor 50 matter. The three of us have heard it too. In fact, we have something to tell YOU about Floor 50."

Shiraishi-san isn't here, so we're one short—but Mia-san, Kasumi-san, myself, Soushi, and Aikawa sit on this side, and across the table sit the three of them: 'Sword Saint-chan,' Ao-san, and Yukiya-san.

'Sword Saint-chan' tried to sit on our side, but Kasumi-san grabbed her by the scruff of the neck again and seated her over there.

Powerful even on the surface, I see.

"I'm listening, then?"

"Before that: everything concerning Haruki-san is strictly confidential. You must never let it reach anyone outside the people in this room—no, promise me you won't so much as bring up the subject of Haruki-san outside. Our discussion starts from there."

Kasumi-san calls a halt before we begin.

I talked it over with Kasumi-san in advance, but I thought Yukiya-san could be trusted, and Kasumi-san had said that with Ao-san's character, he'd almost certainly keep quiet.

But apparently, the rule is: get the promise squared away first, then talk.

"The skill we saw earlier—well, and the fact that three high schoolers are abnormally strong, that too, yes? Naturally. Not just Haruki-kun—all three of them, no, all six of you: Watanabe-san, the blacksmith, and Shiraishi-san included. I swear we won't speak of it. Yukiya, Chiharu—promise me as well. Not to the other members, and certainly not to Kaito or Asuka."

"I promise."

"Wasn't planning on talking in the first place. The way this is going, Ao and I die, right? You knew that, kept putting us off all this time, and now you've decided to save us. That makes you the one who saved our lives. Haruki too. You're different from the Haruki I know, but...... I'm not the type to bite the hand that feeds, and I won't let anyone else do it either. I promise."

'Sword Saint-chan' and Yukiya-san answer instantly.

They're taking the situation in more calmly than I expected—or rather, they seem to have fully believed the story of 'Sword Saint-chan's' dream.

"Thank you. Furuta-san, hearing that puts me at ease. It's exactly why Haruki-san trusts you. Please continue to look after Haruki-san. Haruki-san—please, go on."

Prompted by Kasumi-san, I pick the thread back up.

"First things first: I've had the Floor 50 dream too. That's where this conversation starts, isn't it?"

'Sword Saint-chan' shoots to her feet with a clatter.

"Haruki, let's sleep together!"

What a problematic statement......