I stared absent-mindedly at the moon up in the night sky while immersing myself in hot water all the way up to my shoulders.
“Thank you, senpais,” muttered Kraim, and I nodded.
What had once been just a simple spot where hot water came out of the ground had, after many years, turned into this wonderful construction that wouldn’t have been out of place at one of those inns with a hot spring.
“–you think, Luna-sama?”
My heartbeat sped up.
The voices of the girls merrily talking amongst themselves made their ways over to us from the other side of the very thin wall separating us.
I looked up at the sky again to calm down and sighed at the sight of the stars and the moon snuggling up together.
“…Pretty pretty, eh.”
The moon was the only lightsource around, and it shined down gently on us.
“Yuno, I hope things are going well with Luna-sama?” Kraim asked, looking over in my direction with a splash of water.
“Are… things going well, I wonder? I really don’t know. Well, at least I’ve not been fired yet.” I smiled, and a strange expression flashed across Kraim’s face for some reason.
Then, almost inaudibly, “– Man, I’m jealous.”
“…Huh?”
“…To tell you the truth, I was frustrated. Like, really frustrated,” he said.
It didn’t take me long to guess what this was about, so I decided to ask him directly.
“…You have a crush on her?” I asked, his eyes widening a little in surprise, which he followed up by scratching one of his now blushing cheeks.
“I wonder about that. Personally, I’ve always thought it was more admiration.”
…Man, I feel bad for you.
Like… even I can tell. The name of what you’re feeling is most certainly love.
“I’ve looked up to her ever since I was little. I’ve been trying my best ever since to get her to acknowledge me,” he said proudly, and I could almost see him shining.
“So with that in mind, I have one thing I want to ask you.” he said with a serious expression, which I answered with a confused nod.
“…What is it?”
“Why… have you been holding back until now?”
I gulped.
“What do you–”
“– The skill ‘Spear Arts’. I heard you received it when you made a contract with the goddess Athena.”
I nodded.
“But if that’s true, then things don’t quite add up. How are you going to explain the barrier magic you used today?”
“What do you mean… I asked Alice to teach me how to use it–”
“– High-rank magic ‘Holy Barrier’. That’s the name of the magic you used today. Its official difficulty is level 7. While it’s not very impressive magic in the grand scheme of things, it most certainly is not something that someone who has been called incompetent up until now would be able to do. In fact, Alice-san is probably the only first-year who can use it.”
Before the training camp had begun, I had asked Alice to show me barrier magic.
I recalled how she had made a relieved expression as the magic had activated.
I see. So you showed me such difficult magic, Alice.
“I… I found it really strange. I wondered why Luna-sama chose you. Like, you might’ve made minced meat out of your classmates with ‘Spear Arts’, but-”
Nono, that’s wrong. It was one hit, I tell you, one hit. Not a single drop of blood was spilt.
“-but anyone would be able to figure out that it turned out like that because you had a skill and your classmates did not. Skills are, in a way, symbols of absolute power after all. But you are different. That has become blindingly clear to me today. So, I’ll ask you again.”
His blue eyes pierced through me.
“Why are you acting like you’re incompetent?”
…Acting like I’m incompetent, huh?
“What point is there in making yourself appear worse–”
“Kraim,” I interrupted him, and he stopped speaking, waiting for me to continue.
“I might not be incompetent, true, but I never acted like I was.”
I had worked really hard learning to control my powers.
I was afraid I would injure someone by accident.
And by the time I had overcome that fear, the ‘incompetent’ label had been plastered all over me.
Not to mention there was nothing I wanted to do I had to use my powers for, and it’s not like I had aspirations of becoming a hero or something.
“But you’re hiding your true strength. And Luna-sama probably noticed that. Am I wrong?”
…Kraim Elrode, huh. He seems just as sharp as the rumours about him make him out to be.
“Perhaps. But let me say just one thing.”
I looked him straight in the eyes.
“I have no intentions of hiding my power any more.”
In the past, I did hide my powers, but now, I have a goal.
“Woow! Look, the moon is so pretty!” came the cheerful voice of Athena from the other side of the wall.
–I have decided what I will use this power for.
I will make the goddess Athena the supreme god.
That is the path I myself have decided on.
“…You look really determined. So I guess you also have a reason to do your best now?”
“…I guess you could describe it like that. Anyway, I’ll be ge–”
– The surface of the water rippled.
At that moment, Kraim’s toned, nude body was illuminated by the soft moonlight as he stood up.
Eh? What?
I was surprised by this sudden turn of events.
And not unfoundedly, as his whole body was on display for the world, and thus me, to see.
“W-what is it?” I asked as Kraim looked at me with a heated gaze.
“Yuno… I have a favour to ask of you… wanna do it?”
––Huh?
“– a duel.”
That was really misleading!
“Why”
“I want to have a fight against someone Luna-sama acknowledged.” he said in a heavy, deep voice.
His eyes were full of determination.
That was probably the reason I wanted to accept.
“Time and place?”
“Today, once everyone’s fallen asleep. We’ll decide the place then.”
I nodded, and Kraim left with a smile on his face.
“…A duel, huh.” I muttered to myself, stretching out my hand towards the moon high up in the night sky.
Sponsored Content
