ut please take care not to lost it from now on, okay?"

As they advanced meter by meter, students of various school years and both male and female gender greeted Touka, and Touka answered them individually by name. Ikki and Stella were holding the documents she had been carrying sometime ago, and were watching that scene while walking several steps behind her.

"People idolize Touka-san, don't they?"

Suddenly, Stella spoke her thoughts. To that, Touka was cheerfully smiling as if amused.

"I only know the things that are only natural for a student council president, after all. Leaving that, I must thank the two of you. Not just for gathering the documents for me, but also helping to carry them..."

"No, no. It was originally a quantity that was tiring to carry."

"Ahaha.. I was a little overconfident and tried to carry them all in one go. In the end, I shouldn't try to cut corners, I guess. I'm reflecting on it."

Touka stuck out her tongue bashfully. That gesture was extremely charming, unthinkable for the same person who had previously used the power of a fierce god to put Shizuku down.

"But.. I was surprised. I saw Stella-san's face in the newspaper before so I knew her, but for you to be the rumored Ikki Kurogane-san. ..It was a rather awkward timing for us to meet face to face, I think."

Awkward timing, it was probably because Shizuku was Ikki's sister. To those words, Ikki responded by shaking his head a little.

"..It was a match. Shizuku brought out everything of herself and fought splendidly. And you accepted that challenge head-to-head, and answered it sincerely. That's all it was for me. I'm very grateful that you accepted my sister's desire, and I bear no grudge."

Those were Ikki's true, undeceiving thoughts. But―

"I'm of the same mind, but I do have one thing I'm concerned about."

Going along with Ikki's words, Stella looked at Touka with a gaze that carried a slightly dangerous mood. She had something she needed to ask Touka no matter what. That was―

"Touka-san. We saw the situation just a moment ago, when you had the kind of eyesight that lets you see almost nothing without wearing glasses, but you didn't put on glasses during the match, right? Why was that?"

Indeed, why did Touka, whose eyesight was so bad, take off her glasses during the match?

"..Can it be, you were going easy on her?"

"N-No, dat ain't true!"

"Eh?"

"Eh? ..Ah. ..Th-That's not true at all~"

Was she agitated by Stella's question? A huge accent had appeared just now. With her cheeks reddened, Touka's confused attempt to gloss over it was already rather too late. But nevertheless, Touka cleared her throat a bit and returned her tone to normal.

"How should I put it, it's instead the opposite. Because Shizuku-san was an opponent who couldn't be dealt with by ordinary means, there was no way I could accept her challenge while wearing my glasses. If I didn't improve my perception's accuracy by cutting off my eyesight, matching an opponent of Shizuku-san's class would've been very difficult.

"Perception, you say.. what do you mean by that?"

"Me, I become able to sense the subtle signals of my opponent's body moving by cutting off my eyesight. Such a thing is a practical application of the ability to use lightning, you know?"

As Touka said. Humans are living machines. Their movements are based on autonomic transmission of signals coming entirely from the brain. Being able to perceive those signals was extremely beneficial.

The opponent's movements from the signals running down his nerves,

The opponent's line of sight from the signals controlling his eye muscles,

The opponent's mental status from the signals in his inter-cranial matter,

One could understand all of them quite distinctly.

"That sort of information, it's the opponent's true and naked feelings that can't be falsified. The opponent's state of mind. How the opponent is planning to act next. There are many things I understand beyond what the eye is limited to seeing in the opponent in practice. And if I grasp those things, reading and analyzing what my opponent is thinking becomes very simple. Thus I can see through both traps and surprise attacks."

"..I see. That's how Touka-san was able to avoid Shizuku's surprise attack, then?"

Touka nodded "yes" at Stella's words.

"That's my Noble Art,?Reverse Sight. I suppose it resembles Worst One-san's Perfect Vision, yes? Although if Worst One-san's Perfect Vision is the fruit of discernment, mine is an ordinary cunning. ..Well, that's how it is, but it's not like I never ease up on an opponent, you know?"

"Yeah.. I get that well, sorry, it was an odd suspicion."

"No, no. Hahaha."

"You seem somehow delighted.. right?"

"Yes, Stella-san was worried about her friend―was what I was thinking."

Stella's cheeks grew red as if a fire had been lit by those words.

"Wha! T-That person and I aren't friends at all!"

"Oh? Is that how it is?"

"No, I think they're on very good terms."

"I-Ikki, even you! Ugh―I don't care anymore!"

Suddenly in a bad mood, Stella turned her eyes away from Ikki and quickened her steps, walking ahead by herself.

..I wonder if she actually knows where the student council office is?

She probably, no definitely has no clue. She was waiting for them after having turned the next corner, most likely. So Ikki didn't chase after Stella, and asked Touka instead.

"By the way, is that alright?"

"Is what?"

"Well, telling us about your own ability. There aren't many matches left in the Selection Battle Finals, but there's still a high likelihood we'll become adversaries."

"It's not really a concern. I've leaked the mechanism of Reverse Sight, but―it's not like I'll lose or anything."

In an instant, as if Ikki had been struck by a lightning bolt, he felt a numbing fighting spirit from the top of his head to his feet. Touka, who had been cheerfully giving the calm smile of an older girl a moment ago. From the narrowed eyes of that smile, a savage light like a sparkling knife was visible. It was unmistakable proof that this girl was Raikiri. Holding absolute confidence in her own strength, and craving battle with people even stronger than herself. One who was the same type as Ikki or Stella―with eyes that burned with self-confidence and ambition.

..Ha ha.

That was what Ikki thought on seeing it. That this girl and himself, they could surely become very good friends. And more strongly than that. Some time in the future―he wanted to try and fight this girl.

After walking for about five minutes, Ikki and the others finally arrived in front of the student council office.

"Whew. Got here at last. The student council room is unexpectedly far, huh?"

"Thank you, the both of you. You must surely come in and have some tea, please. Just yesterday, Toutokubara-san supplied us with very delicious tea leaves."

"Then I'll accept your kindness. How about you, Stella?"

"Me too. My throat is cracking."

"Then please come inside―"

As Touka said so, opening the student council office door, and taking a step inside to guide the other two―

"Bgyu!"

Touka's toe caught on to something heavy, and she pitched forward and fell dramatically. Her head descended all the way, and her butt presented itself to Ikki and Stella, exposing her underwear yet again. Since some time ago, Touka's skirt hadn't done its job at all.

"..Hey Ikki. Shouldn't this person's underwear earn a fee from an ad sponsor?"

"There was no such arrangement."

"Owwowow... Wha was dat?"

While speaking with an accent at the unexpected trap, Touka got up and took a good look at the student council room. And she turned white as a sheet.

"Wh-What the heck is this―!!!"

Touka raised a cry.

The student council room had bookshelf to bookshelf of books, miscellaneous objects withdrawn here and there, absolutely everything there scattered about. And in the middle of that chaotic room, all the student council staff members besides Touka were present. The secretary, Ikazuchi Saijou, was transcribing meeting records with truly skillfully written letters. The treasurer, Kanata Toutokubara, was pouring tea for him. But the vice president who was the type to do his work diligently, Utakata Misogi, was enthusiastically amusing himself with video games, and Renren Tomaru was watching the game screen with great interest and exercising with a resistance band while wearing nothing more than an athlete's T-shirt and a pair of panties.

"Oh~? The Prez is back―. Welcome―"

"Ahaha☆ Touka is such a klutz. Did you get turned around again?"

Renren and Utakata greeted Touka when they noticed that Touka had entered the room. Towards those two, Touka's eyebrows lifted mechanically, and―

"Geeze~! Tomaru-san! I'm always telling ya if ya gonna use dumbbells then put 'em back in a proper place! Iz dangerous, ya know! And Uta-kun, if ya gonna read manga then straighten da bookshelves properly afterward! Ya always take them out and leave 'em like that! I mean why'z the place this cluttered when I only went away for one day to prep for my match!?

She shouted with a raised voice.

"Pff, why's Prez deciding that we were the ones to make it cluttered? That might be a false accusation, you know!"

"The only one who works out in the student council room is Tomaru-san, and only you and Uta-kun read manga and leave it out!"

"Well no.. I somehow suddenly wanted to read through all of Rur●Ken and Dragon B●ll and Sla● Dunk[4]?in one go, and going back and forth to take each volume from the bookshelf was troublesome, so I just grabbed all of them together, you know? And when I read them, I got nostalgic and suddenly wanted to play some SNES, so I turned over the room and dug through it little by little. Ah, but while Touka was gone, Ikazuchi and Kanata were working properly, so everything's okay!"

"What's with making that triumphant look while leaving everything to other people!? It makes me angry! Sheesh, you people are always, always―"

"President, it's not the place and there's no reason to get excited, and we do have guests as well."

"―Oh!"

Touka, who had forgotten herself in her wrath at the disaster area the room had become, looked over her shoulder at the entrance. There, Stella and Ikki stood with small smiles, gazing at the wretched state of the student council room that had become like a hoarder's house overflowing with garbage.

"O-Ohoho. Won't you please wait just a bit~?"

Touka, while unsteadily plastering a forced smile on her paled face, pushed the two of them back into the corridor, and slammed the door shut.

"Look here! Everyone help clean this place up! Uta-kun, stop playing games already!"

"Wa! W-Wait a second, Touka! I haven't saved since yesterday, wait, waaaaa! My Hagurin[5]!!!"

"I'm always telling you, only an hour a day for games! Sheesh, I let my eyes off of you and this is what happens! And Tomaru-san, are you still in that state!? There are boys in the student council too, so please put on a skirt or something!"

"Eh? But it's so hot because Prez destroyed the air conditioner―"

"Since electrical appliances get short-circuited whenever the President touches them."

"I-I'm very sorry about that, but that has nothing to do with wearing underwear in the student council office! It disturbs public morals! It's an unbecoming display for a student council member who should be a role model for the students!"

"Even though Prez is the chief of napping around in her underwear―"

"Ahaha☆ It's because Touka didn't used to have opponents to keep her in shape, so she was endlessly idle, right?"

"M-M-My private life has nothing to do with this! Anyway, please clean up quickly! If you don't clean the place up, I'll throw all of it away!"

"Whoa, I get it! I get it!"

"Hurry! Hurry!"

Thump thump thump thump. With a noise as if someone was moving house, a clattering and rattling sound came from the student council office's shaking window. While that riotous noise was audible from the corridor―

"Touka-san somehow seems like a mother, huh?"

"..The student council has its own troubles, I think."

Ikki and Stella both felt an affectionate mood toward Touka. In the end they had been driven out before setting down the documents they'd been carrying, but they weren't going to complain.

They then waited in vain for a few minutes, until the student council office door finally opened.

"C'mon, c'mon.. ah, sorry for the wait. Please come in..."

Touka peeked a disheartened face through, and invited the two of them inside.

"Ah, yes. Please forgive the intrusion..."

While wondering if it was a mistake to accept the invitation to have tea, Ikki entered the student council room with Stella.

And he was astonished.

The place had become beautiful as if the room had been completely replaced by an entirely different one. The books that had been scattered everywhere were now all put away in the bookshelf, and the floor had been polished to the point that his face was reflecting off of it. The cleanliness and hidden antique style of the refined furnishings, it gave the sense that the space was a room from a Western castle. It was quite admirable that they could clean up this much in just a few minutes.

However, Ikki whose eyes were sharp had noticed it.

Umm, wait a sec. The closet over there looks like it's bulging in a weird way.

And in front of that door, Saijou was planted there looking like a Jizou statue[6], which might mean―

..Yep, let's pretend I didn't see that.

He gently ignored the lid sealing that hellish pot, and Ikki and Stella accepted that recommendation and sat down on the sofa in the middle of the room, gathering around the same table as the student council members.

After that, Renren with her light brown skin sat toward them and gave a friendly, cheerful smile and spoke.

"Kurogane-kun, it's been a while. It looks like you haven't had any trouble winning continuously after beating me, huh?"

"Yes, I've been pressing on somehow."

Following that exchange, Kanata greeted Stella with a gentle smile. Beneath the brim of her hat, blue eyes peeked out for the first time.

"It's been a while for us too, Stella-san. You met me at the restaurant, yes?"

"Yes. Though I didn't think that the day would come that I'd be called to this room."

"Toutokubara-san. Please serve tea to the both of them."

"Certainly."

"Ah, Kanata, I'd like some too."

"Kanata-sempai! I wanna eat some madeleines!"

"You two bad children will go without afternoon snacks today."

"Wha-What are you saying!"

"You're so mean, Touka! If we don't get afternoon snacks, why would we come to the student council room!?"

"It's because you're student council officers, right!?"

Touka raised her voice in a scream. The student council president's life was summarized by that retort.

To Touka who was wildly gasping for breath from that strain, Saijou who was holding back the closet seemed to give her a grave look and spoke with an admiring voice.

"But it's just like the president. The job was quick, finding helpers for the thing we were talking about. It was a good selection too. If it's these two, their combat ability is nothing to complain about.

Combat ability? Helpers?

Ikki and Stella came to attention and tilted their heads at the words with a suddenly dangerous atmosphere. Those words, they hadn't heard them from Touka even once. They shifted their eyes to Touka to ask what he was saying.

"Yes?"

Touka herself also sported a puzzled face as if asking what this was about.

Saijou looked baffled by this response.

"Umm, was I wrong? I thought that had to be the reason for such unusual guests."

"What's this, Touka? It can't be that you forgot about it? Look, didn't the board chairman make the request?"

"Something Kurono-san requested.. ah, aaaaahhh!"

At that moment, Touka screamed with a paled face.

"Oh my, did you really forget about it? Even though I also thought that was surely the reason you brought those two here."

"..Au, yes. I was concentrating on the match with Shizuku-san and forgot..."

"Umm, what are you all talking about?"

Stella, who was sitting next to Ikki, asked that of Touka who was greatly troubled and downhearted. The one who answered wasn't Touka, but Toutokubara while she poured black tea for everyone.

"A few days ago, the student council received a favor from Board Chairman Shinguuji. Although representative contenders usually lodge together before the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival at a training camp in Okutama[7], recently there has been a suspicious person appearing there."

"It's not quiet, then."

"Yes. Confirming the safety of that place just in case has been left to the student council, because the teachers are currently very busy with administering the Selection Battles. ..However, there are high mountains and wide forests at the boarding house grounds, and the student council alone are not at all sufficient to cover it."

"I see. So you're saying you need helpers for the outside areas?"

It seemed that it wasn't just the teachers who were busy with the large-scale Selection Battles.

"Incidentally, what kind of character is that suspicious person? Is there any information?"

"Yes, these is some, but―"

Toutokubara hesitated for a moment, but answered.

"It seems it is a giant with a height of four meters."

"Huh!?"

"G-Giant!?"

"Yes, giant. Not the professional baseball team[8], you know?"

"I know."

"And also not at all, All Ha●shin-san's partner[9], you know?"

"I know. I mean, I'm surprised that Toutokubara-san knows of him."

"H-Hey, this thing about a giant, is that true!?"

Suddenly, Stella leaned forward and bit into the abruptly nonsensical topic.

"You're really getting into that, huh Stella."

"B-But! A giant! That's a cryptid, you know! Isn't it intriguing?"

The scarlet pupils of the girl who was speaking were sparkling entirely like a young child. To that response from Stella, Renren agreed as if she had just found a comrade.

"Hey! Stella-chan likes that sort of thing!"

"Since I learned Japanese from?Kawag●chi Hiroshi Tankentai?DVDs[10], I love them!"

What a staggering place to get into Japan, this imperial princess..!

Though unlike Ikki who felt a bit conflicted, Renren seemed to have found a kindred spirit in Stella.

"Ooh! Stella-chan, tell me about it!"

"That might be almost―"

"Vice president, we can't go further into that."

"Hey, hey Ikki! Since Touka-san also looks troubled, let's cooperate! I want to see a giant!"

Stella shook Ikki's shoulder while her eyes sparkled.

Frankly, Ikki wasn't curious about some giant, but―he was someone who reaped the benefit of the Selection Battle system that was making the student council busy. So the idea of cooperating with them felt like an obligation. Therefore he acknowledged it immediately.

"If that's what you're talking about, then as a student I'll happily cooperate."

"R-Really!?"

To Ikki and Stella's ready consent, Touka's face that had been troubled and depressed regained its vitality.

"The boarding house is also an institution for students, right? If our help is enough―"

"It's more than enough! Thank you so much, really! You're very much saving us!"

Speaking with a lively voice, Touka offered a handshake that expressed her feelings of gratitude. But―

*Grab!*

The hand that Touka was extending to Ikki was intercepted by Stella. Making up for Ikki, Stella shook Touka's hand enthusiastically.

"Best regards, best regards."

"Eh? Ah, yes, my best regards as well."

Thus Ikki and Stella made plans to go next weekend with the student council members to Okutama.