(translation)

Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Shinjuku Ward. Between other skyscrapers standing in a row, the thirty-story skyscraper of the Japanese branch of the League of Mage-Knight Nations towered over them.

In the branch leader's office at the top floor, Japanese branch head Itsuki Kurogane sported deep wrinkles on his brow while holding the telephone on his desk.

"I see. Shizuku lost."

A sigh resounded frightfully in the room that was as dim as night.

「Her opponent was 'Raikiri', so maybe it was inevitable.」

"Nangou-sensei's prized child, was it?"

「Yes. Shizuku-san was unlucky. If it weren't for how stupidly the selection battles were arranged, she likely could've easily become a representative.」

How stupidly.

Itsuki nodded without voicing his agreement with the words from the man on the phone. Those words were certainly accurate.

Selecting representatives based on real battles, the method suggested by Shinguuji, the new board chairman―Itsuki had repudiated it head-on as something abominable.

"And? What became of Ikki?"

「..The 'Worst One' is maintaining his streak of perfect victories even now. Sheesh, Hagun's students are so disappointing. To let an F-rank dunce get this far.」

"Does it seem like he'll become a representative?"

「While I'm sorry to say it, that dunce has already brought down the 'Crimson Princess' and the school's third-ranked 'Runner's High'. The way Hagun's people have been disappointing so far, no matter how a fight between Raikiri and the Crimson Princess plays out.. he'll be shown in front of the whole country.」

"That is unacceptable."

A situation Itsuki didn't even want to imagine was becoming reality, and Itsuki's voice grew as heavy as lead.

「Y-Yes! Exactly as you say!」

"Is there anything we can do?"

「Ah, if the director's authority is used to revoke his qualifications as a student knight...」

"..If that was an option, I would've taken it a long time ago. But whether it's a mage-knight or a student knight, the ones who control those qualifications are the white-bearded officials of the League of Mage-Knight Nations―in other words, the head office holds that authority. A branch can make a divestiture demand but can't do the divesting itself. If that demand isn't made with some basis, it lacks persuasiveness."

One year ago, they'd even spurred on the 'Hunter' in order to get that persuasive power, but Ikki had stubbornly refused to be baited. Even though the Hunter had driven him to the verge of death, he still avoided the temptation.

If Ikki was going to resist, then he'd be prevented from gaining combat experience. Therefore, Itsuki would be strict even to the point of forcing him to repeat a grade. To have him expelled by snatching away his qualifications as a student knight, Itsuki needed to take the first step of getting him removed from school.

However, that was helpless talk based on Itsuki's limited authority. To make it work, he needed a basis to persuade those entitled people.

"In any case, if we don't do something effective before the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival begins―"

At that moment―

"For this situation with Ikki Kurogane, I have an excellent idea."

From the dark, a droll male voice resounded. The voice came from the doorway. Itsuki turned his eyes languidly, and as if permeating the entire dark room, an obese middle-age man with an Ebisu-like face[1]?stood there.

Itsuki remembered that face.

"Akaza, is it?"

"It's been a while, honorable clan head. Nha ha ha."

The middle-aged man was Mamoru Akaza, a branch member of the Kurogane family.

"..You said you have an excellent idea?"

Asking that, Itsuki hung up the telephone. The voice on the other hand was already less interesting than Akaza's words.

Grasping the situation, Akaza pasted a shady smile on his grateful face and made a noise in his throat.

"Nha ha ha. Yes, the truth is, I have some interesting information from some of my dumb muscle subordinates. If it's used well, the anxiety that the honorable clan head is currently feeling can be cleansed―"

On the next Sunday, Ikki Kurogane and Stella Vermillion rode to Hagun Academy's training camp deep in the mountains of Okutama along with the student council members in a van that Saijou drove.

They were after Okutama's mystery, to determine the true identity of the rumored giant. However, the training camp grounds were endowed with rugged terrain of many mountains and deep forest. To search that with only seven people, even Blazers couldn't do it half-heartedly.

Since that was the case, they could hardly start without first filling their stomachs and restoring their energy. Therefore Ikki and Stella left speaking with the administrators to Saijou and Toutokubara, and made curry for lunch with the remaining members.

Dividing all of the tasks between them, using the cookware borrowed from the training camp grounds, they carried the ingredients Touka brought to a campsite.

They could've rented the dining hall as well, but since they went to the trouble of coming to the mountains, they went with the flow and made camp curry instead.

"Nn~. The fresh air feels great."

While bringing cookware like kitchen knife and chopping board, and setting up the cooking area with bricks, Stella took a grand breath.

"Since there's little asphalt here, the air is really crisp, isn't it?"

"Japan has concrete everywhere. It's too well settled. It's unbearably hot and humid."

"Well, the country is practically subtropic as well."

Stella's motherland, the Vermillion Empire, was located in northern Europe. It had a colder atmosphere, and was also drier. For Stella who was brought up in that kind of country, the Japanese summer that she was experiencing for the first time was frankly draining.

In truth, Ikki had recently been hearing Stella groaning at night as if unable to sleep. Since Japan's summers were hot enough that people died from it, her discomfort was understandable.

"Hey hey, Stella-chan! Let's play badminton together!"

Suddenly, Renren, who had been a step ahead and was done with hauling cookware, waved a racket in one hand and called out to Stella.

"Okay! But I'm pretty good, you know?"

"What was that~? I won't lose with my footwork! Come and get it!"

"Hmph~? I'll make you regret challenging me to this game!"

Stella accepted Renren's invitation enthusiastically.

"Ah, Stella..."

Ikki called out to stop them, but Stella was already running off.

"Oh man, even though we said we'd make lunch right now."

To Ikki who was sighing, Touka smiled cheerfully as she carried a bag full of supermarket ingredients.

"It's fine. We don't need that many people to make curry. Let's leave cleaning up to those two."

"I guess we should. Ah, that's right. How much did the groceries cost? We'll pay our share."

"Ha ha ha. You don't need to worry about that sort of thing, since you two came to help us out. We'll pay for things like food at least. Or should I say, if we don't treat you, I'll feel bad about it."

Touka shrugged as if slightly troubled. Certainly, Ikki would feel equally guilty if he were in Touka's place. It'd embarrass both of them if he refused after this.

"..In that case, I'll accept your kind offer."

Utakata chimed in.

"Touka's curry is made from a secret homemade recipe for curry roux, so it's ridiculously tasty."

"Yes. By all means, please look forward to it."

"But let me help prepare it at least."

"Then Kurogane-san, please peel the potatoes and carrots."

"Got it."

"Uta-kun, you'll prepare the rice?"

"For making that curry, the rice will of course be?that, right?"

"Yes. I've bought proper California rice, so I'll leave it to you."

"Heh. I'm itching to get started."

Utakata and Touka somehow spoke to each other with their eyes.

Ikki who was watching through it all didn't understand any of it, but he was at least able to appreciate their very close relationship.

It had already been five years since he left home. He had lived alone for such a long time, and naturally mastered skills in housework. Therefore Ikki finished the duties he had been assigned extremely skillfully.

First, he soaked the peeled potatoes in water, so that they wouldn't fall apart while cooking. Then while the potatoes were soaking, he peeled the carrots and chopped them into bite-size pieces, and brought them to Touka.

On the way, Ikki suddenly stopped.

Touka, wearing an apron, was cutting meat and mincing onion with magnificent technique while humming the hero's theme song of a nation-wide anime.

His breath caught at the sight of this figure that gave an impression of a young wife, because that figure, like a painting, carried a consummate sense of beauty.

"Hmm? Is something the matter?"

"Ah, no, it's nothing."

Touka called out to him after looking over her shoulder, and Ikki came back to his senses.

What was I doing? ..Just now, I was swallowed up in Touka-san's atmosphere.

After having seen Raikiri take down Shizuku with overwhelming power, he hadn't felt anything about Touka up until now. The mysterious thoughts notwithstanding, Ikki rolled that question around his head, and brought to Touka the vegetables he was carrying.

"Here are the potatoes and carrots. I've soaked the potatoes in water."

"Thanks for the work. Wow, they're peeled so beautifully. And the size of the cuts is great."

"Since we're going through the trouble of eating outdoors, I thought it'd be great to have hometown curry."

"A gold star for a perfect score. Kurogane-san is good with a kitchen knife as he is with a sword, I see."

"Ha ha, I've lived by myself for a long time, after all. Is there anything else I can help with?"

"No. I can do the rest myself, so you can take a break."

Certainly, two people over one pot would be nothing but a hassle. Ikki accepted Touka's suggestion, and stepped out of the cooking area.

In the middle of doing so―

"Ha ha ha. What's wrong, Kouhai-kun[2]? Were you fascinated by Touka's hu~ge butt, I wonder?"

Utakata, who was boiling rice in an outdoor cooking pot, was questioning Ikki's brief pause in staring at Touka just a moment ago.

"N-No! That wasn't what I was doing!"

Ikki immediately threw out a denial.

Touka's butt certainly looked round and soft, and a boy couldn't help but feel fascinated by it, but―

"No, what am I thinking... I don't really understand myself, but.. that is, I was captivated by the sight of Toudou-san cooking. How do I put it, it was as though I couldn't bring myself to look away."

"Oh~..."

Utakata oohed and aahed at Ikki's reply with great interest.

"Couldn't bring yourself to look away, is it? Yep. And even realizing it on the first glance. Kouhai-kun really isn't an ordinary person."

"What do you mean?"

"You felt that seeing her like that was something you couldn't pass up, right? That sensation is honest, you know. That sight is close to the core, the source of Touka's strength."

"The source of her strength?"

"Yeah, I've been watching Touka since the old days, and I know that well."

Since the old days―

Sometime ago when Utakata and Touka had exchanged eye contact, Ikki had felt some kind of old connection between them. Ikki spoke frankly about that feeling.

"Misogi-san, have you been acquainted with Toudou-san since long ago?"

"Hmm? Yeah. You see, me and Touka came from the same orphanage."

"Eh..."

"It was the Wakaba House, one of the social welfare services developed by the Toutokubara Foundation. They took custody of children without relatives and brought them up. Both me and Touka were at that institution. Since Kanata was also coming and going at that place, we've all been friends since those days. The three of us did all kinds of stuff."

"Is.. is that so?"

Utakata said it like it was nothing, but Ikki showed just a bit of embarrassment in response. He had expected them to be childhood friends, but it was completely outside his expectations that they had come from the same institution.

It was what it was, and more than that, Ikki found it difficult to decide whether he should go deeper into this subject, but...

The source of Toudou-san's strength.

The words from Utakata who has watched her since the old days, they would arouse interest without fail. What kind of girl was Touka Toudou?

Therefore, Ikki asked him boldly.

"Umm, do you mind telling me about it, Misogi-san? What did you mean by the source of Toudou-san's strength?"

At that inquiry, Utakata sank into a brief silence, then spoke.

"..Kouhai-kun, what kind of place do you think of when you hear the word orphanage?"

"An establishment where children live when they don't have relatives.. right?"

"Well, that's quite correct, but the 'don't have relatives' part can be complicated. Some kids lose their parents to accidents and misfortune, some kids are thrown away by their parents.. those kinds of children are still better off than some who are almost killed by their parents before child services separate them.. eh, there are all sorts."

"By their parents.. is it?"

"Yep. And our facility in those days had kids in those kinds of splendidly complex situations and, how do I say this, the atmosphere was bad. With a company of fellows having such circumstances, hurt and abused for trivial reasons, ..everyone was suffering. But in the middle of that, Touka had a smiling face for everyone and always did her best for them. Even though she was also in the same environment. She read picture books for the small children, and on the orphanage director's behalf made delicious food.. because the director was a very nice person, but the cooking was unbearably unpleasant. Everyone was super happy about that, you know. Ahaha."

"She was a very helpful person, wasn't she?"

"In the old days. She was the type who always had to meddle in other people's business. ..Even with the guy who was almost killed by his parents. That one was already unmanageably violent anyway, so broken he couldn't be helped, but no matter how he injured Touka over and over again, Touka couldn't abandon him even once. Thanks to that.. he got his humanity back again. He managed to recover human emotions. That's why that guy is still thankful to Touka to this day, and loves her very much."

Utakata lowered his eyes humbly, and spoke of the old days. The tone of the story had turned to first-person here and there. Perhaps.. it was likely that the child who was almost killed by his parents was Utakata himself.

"That guy asked Touka once. Why was Touka so strong? That she would care no matter what. Touka who was in the same situation of having no parents, even though she was the same as the other kids, why she loved everyone else that much. And Touka answered."

「My parents loved me very much. It might've been a very short time that I had an ordinary family, but I received a lot of smiles and affection. With those memories, my dead parents continue to support me even now. Because of that, I want to smile at the other kids too. I want to make memories that can support everyone, the way my parents did for me. Because to love others is something precious and beloved that my parents taught me.」

And then―

"Exactly as she said, Touka continued to give her smile and her courage to everyone in Wakaba House until she left the facility. She continued to demonstrate to us orphans that even we can become great people. And she's energetically continuing to do so as someone with top strength among the entire nation's student knights, Raikiri."

Having heard that much, Ikki also understood what Utakata meant when he spoke of "the source of that girl's strength".

It was―good intentions.

Demonstrating a peerless strength not for her own sake, but for other people. Touka Toudou was a young lady who held that kind of spirit. Ikki had caught a glimpse and was captivated by a fragment of that in seeing the figure of Touka making food to treat Ikki and the others.

Therefore, he had recognized the information that couldn't be overlooked, the heart that the foundation of her strength was built on.

"―Kouhai-kun. You're strong. And you're more frank than I expected. I'm not at the level to compete with you face-to-face, and I think even Kanata wouldn't be a close call. But someone like you can't surpass Touka. Touka's strength is extraordinary. The reason is because that girl knows what it would mean for her to lose, and how many people will grieve if it happens. That's why she can't lose. That's why she can't break. Between the two of you, the weight of responsibility you're carrying is different."

Ikki didn't answer those words. His gaze simply left Utakata and turned to Touka who was cooking cheerfully, his thoughts moving in her direction. To those delicate shoulders burdened by the hopes and prayers of many people. And to the answer regarding Touka's strength.

..Certainly, I don't have that kind of thing.

Ikki came this far by only believing in his own worth. Not relying on anyone, not doing it for anyone. Simply working for the sake of his own dream. Therefore, the weight that Utakata spoke of didn't dwell in Ikki's sword. No one else's hopes dwelled there.

That truth coiled around Ikki's heart like a dark, vague shape. And he asked himself. Was his sword, lacking that weight, able to defeat that girl?

Lunch was curry made with garlic rice instead of white rice.

It seemed to be a recipe from the time at Wakaba House, when there wasn't much money to spend and everyone couldn't make feasts to rejoice over, so Touka, Utakata, and Kanata put it together through trial and error.

Touka had dissolved ample amounts of savory beef tendon into the homemade curry roux she brought to camp in Tupperware, and together with the fragrant aroma of garlic rice, there was no way it could be unappetizing.

Because Ikki had never eaten such delicious curry before, he had unfortunately stuffed himself too much unintentionally. But in the other direction, unlike the four people who were eating normally, Stella didn't have very much. Maybe she wasn't hungry.

Then after lunch, Touka chose how to settle their stomachs by splitting them into groups so that they could walk around.

After all, though they were Blazers, it was too dangerous for people to walk in the mountains alone.

The groups were Touka and Utakata, Saijou and Renren, and lastly Ikki and Stella. As a provision for emergencies, only Kanata remained in the training camp building, and the party finally set out on their mountain hunt.

The objective was to find a giant and secure it.

The Ikki/Stella group was walking around the area that they were entrusted with, the mountain forest on the west side.

This location was different from the ordinary mountains that a mountaineer would go through. It was part of a facility for Blazer training. Consequently, there the trails were not well maintained, and vegetation grew dense and abundantly all over the place. In addition the slope of the terrain was severe. It was very much a precipitous trail.

No, if it was simply precipitous, then for Ikki and Stella who regularly trained their bodies, it wouldn't be anything special, but―

"Huh, again?"

Ikki caught in his left hand a shadow that leaped from the thickets with a crunching sound. It was a pit viper with its fangs bared.

This was already the third time. The ruggedness of the trail aside, for surprise attacks to continue like this was a little tiresome.

Ikki threw the viper far away with a snap of his wrist, and tentatively called for Stella's attention as she followed behind him.

"It looks like this side of the river has a lot of poisonous snakes. They're not the type to kill with a bite, but Stella, you should be careful."

"..Right."

Stella's answer wasn't energetic. How should he put it, at a glance, Stella didn't have much ambition right now. With the spirit she had shown at the student council office before, she should probably be leading the charge, pushing her way through the thicket. That was how she should be, but Stella right now was sagging her shoulders and slouching, and only following Ikki from behind sluggishly.

"What's wrong? You don't look too lively, but did losing at badminton shock you that much?"

It seemed that the badminton match with Renren had ended with Stella's utter defeat. Stella had miscalculated the force of her smashes, ruining herself by hitting the birdie out of the court again and again.

Certainly the matter would make her sulk, he thought, but...

"It's not really about that..."

Stella answered with a denial. But as she answered, there was an indecisiveness in her voice, as if the person herself didn't entirely understand why she wasn't energetic.

I wonder what's really the matter?

Ikki tilted his head in puzzlement at his sweetheart who was acting different from usual.

But at that moment, he didn't grasp how huge the change was.

I wonder if she's just a little worn out from not being used to mountain trails.

"Follow me properly so you don't get lost, okay?"

Saying that, Ikki cleared the way forward through the thicket so that Stella would have an easier path.

But he was mistaken. This abnormality of Stella's wasn't something that should be disregarded.

At around two hours of walking the unpaved trail―

..Looks like the weather's getting bad, huh?

Ikki stared at the sky through spaces in the dense foliage above. The sky visible through the leaves that had been dazzlingly green just a while ago was now darkened into an ashen shadow of itself. It was a color that suggested it could start raining at any time. He had heard that the weather in the mountains can change quickly, but this much? And since they were high above sea level, he also felt unpleasantly cold.

Could it be that rain is coming?

"Hmm?"

Lowering his eyes back down from the sky, Ikki suddenly saw something unusual.

Fallen trees.

And not just one or two of them. Ten or twenty trees had collapsed, opening a clearing in the mountain forest.

That cause was the ground, as if something gigantic had crawled out of the ground, turning over the brown earth as it came up and bringing the deep scent of soil in doing so. The trees that were standing there were similarly uprooted.

The huge gouge had a diameter of about five meters. And in the horribly muddy, mushed-up ground, there was a footprint of fifty centimeters wide.

"This is..!"

That shape wasn't from the hoof of a beast, but resembled a human's footprint. But there were no humans that big, so the maker of this footprint was no human―perhaps it was the rumored giant.

"Hey Stella, this―"

Ikki called out to report his discovery to Stella behind him―

"Ha.. ha..."

When he saw Stella breathing heavily and leaning on a tree for support, he noticed something.

"Stella? Could it be you're worn out..?"

He thought she was leaning on the tree because the mountain trail had fatigued her, but he was wrong. Ikki realized it as he looked at Stella's face. Even though the air was this cold, Stella's face was deeply red, and her forehead was packed with drops of sweat.

It was to an unusual degree. It was strange under any circumstance.

"Stella!? What happened to make you sweat so much?"

"I-I don't know... It's just, for a while now my body has been really heavy.. I've been nauseous, and dizzy... Hey Ikki, there's something I need to tell you."

Stella raised her red face listlessly, and put on a very serious expression. From her heavy but indecisive seriousness, he easily knew the inquiry was about something very important. What was she going to say?

Ikki gulped, and braced himself.

"What is it?"

And she asked―

"Do kisses cause pregnancy?"

He almost fell to his knees in the aftermath of his exhaustion.

"..No. No they don't."

He didn't want to think about how frightening humanity would be if kissing a girl made her pregnant.

"I mean, Stella, are you not feeling well?"

"Lovesickness..?"

"No. Umm, in English it would be?cold, wouldn't it? No, don't they call it?fever?"

"O-Oh.. I guess I understand it."

Stella managed to dig out Ikki's meaning from his awkward English.

"I see. This is.. the 'cold' I've heard about."

"Stella, have you never had a cold?"

"Not once... Oh, right... When I was a child, I was envious of people having an excuse to take a break from school, but this doesn't feel like anything to envy."

Stella declared that and forced herself to laugh. For her, it was the first time her body had experienced such a thing. That was why she couldn't figure out until now the reason her body was in a bad condition. Perhaps, in Japan's hot and humid climate which her body hadn't adapted to yet, her immunity had fallen.

"It's impossible to keep investigating with your condition, I guess. Let's go back right now."

"W-Wait a second... Since we just found a clue after all that work..."

"Even if you say that, you probably can't move anymore, right?"

"That's not true. Something like this.. w-what?"

"Stella!"

Stella tried to separate from the tree she was leaning on, when she trembled unexpectedly and began to fall to the ground.

Ikki moved quickly, and just barely caught her on his chest. And he noticed her temperature; it was so abnormally high that he could feel it through her clothes.

This is worse than I thought...

Stella didn't realize she had a cold, and worsened it by pushing herself to the limit. If they didn't get down from the mountain immediately...

Ikki made that judgment, and picked her body up in his arms.

"Even if you don't like it, I'm going to carry you back like this."

"Ah, uuu..."

Stella made a face like she was a little dissatisfied, but gave up resistance at Ikki's forceful tone. But naturally, Stella's intentions aside, her body already had no energy to spare for resistance. As proof, Stella breathed roughly and entrusted her body to Ikki.

If we don't get out of the mountains and have a doctor examine her...

For Ikki, running down a mountain while carrying a person wasn't difficult. Reaching the bottom of the mountain probably wouldn't take much time. That had to be true. But this was when trouble sprang up.

*drip, drop*

Rain fell onto Ikki's head from the gray sky. And soon after, the rain turned to bucketfuls coming down.

Recently, the subtropical parts of Japan had seen lots of squalls and heavy rains.

"Whoa, with this timing..!"

Ikki aside, right now was a bad time for Stella to get rained on. If her body got cold, her immunity would drop even more. Her body was still strong enough to fight the illness, but if her body got worse here, the illness could even become as bad as pneumonia.

If that happened, it would affect her representative selection battle matches. He had to prevent that at all costs.

―That's right! On the way here, there was a small shack at the river for emergency evacuation!

Recalling that, Ikki changed his plan immediately. He gave up the idea of running down the mountain, and decided to wait out the rain in that shack for now.

It was a small distance to the mountain shack, and by the time they finally managed to arrive there, both Ikki and Stella were completely soaked.

There, Ikki raised a fire in the shack's sunken fireplace in order to dry their clothes. And while he fed the fire with the stored firewood, he used the student datapad's telephone function to get in touch with Kanata who was standing by at the training camp lodge.

「Stella-san collapsed?」

"Yes. At the moment, I've carried her to a shack nearby to take shelter."

「Oh my... How bad is it?」

"I think it's probably just a bad cold, but a doctor should still examine her."

"I understand. I'll send for a rescue immediately."

"That'll really help. Also, about the giant we were looking for, we found footprints that look to come from such a thing. What's more, there were signs that something gigantic came out of the earth. It might be that the giant is underground."

"Underground.. is it? We're suddenly talking about something unbelievable like a gigantic creature underground, but.. alright, I understand. We'll take over investigating those traces. The two of you should sta-->>

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