it was violent and rough it didn't have that agility and sharpness.

If it was this strike, then even I can counter it.

She decided it in an instant. Ayase readied?Hizume?and slid the hammer-like strike outside. Simultaneously, Ayase put strength into her leg and moved her body forward, aiming for a counter. She passed by Ikki whose upper body was afloat and swung?Hizume?aiming for the torso.

I got him!

Ayase gained definite confidence in her judgment.

But―rather than getting the sensation of cutting abdominal flesh, what she felt was the resistance of having hit something hard.

He was able to guard it! Why!

Even though she had slid his blade to the side, how was he able to guard in that timing?

The answer lay in Ikki's hand.

He blocked Ayase's counter strike with?Intetsu's hilt.

"Oooooooo! The moment when we thought he was countered, contender Kurogane blocked the counter with the hilt of his sword! What an amazing trick play!"

"Kurogane-kun used the same guard in his mock battle with Stella-chan. Guarding attacks, which couldn't be guarded with the blade, with the hilt. A defense that uses both the blade and the hilt, as always the cross range is impregnable."

..Kuh! Now that I think about it, Kurogane-kun was able to guard in this strange manner, too..!

Upon Oreki's explanation, Ayase clicked her tongue. What amazing power of concentration. But why is he able to maintain such concentration? Even though he had lost his composure―

"―!?"

Thinking about it, Ayase, who looked at Ikki's expression, was stunned.

His expression didn't contain even an atom of anger or impatience that he showed before. Ikki had regained his composure. He was looking over at Ayase with eyes so tranquil that it reminded one of a fountain that didn't create even a single ripple.

It can't be... I was lured in..!?

Ayase reacted immediately to chills she felt on her back. She kicked off the ground and gained a considerable amount of distance from Ikki's attack zone. She was on guard thinking an attack from him would follow, but Ikki didn't chase her. Ayase was just standing still in one place but there were no attacks that followed her. She thought she was either under a misunderstanding or maybe she was being excessively cautious.

Either way, it's back to square one.

There were still many traps left. She didn't wish for a prolonged battle but it would be meaningless if she went for a decisive battle only to get bitten herself.

As she had thought, she had to be more careful next―

"..I am glad."

In that moment, the samurai with the black katana, who was her opponent, sighed as though he was relieved at something.

"Eh?"

Glad? About what? That she opened up distance between them? Ayase was trying to think hard about the meaning of those words.

"As I expected, Ayatsuji-san is a person just like how I imagined you to be."

Her thoughts froze before Ikki's smile that was filled with happiness.

There was a woman who wore a gentle smile upon hearing Ikki's words. She was his homeroom teacher, and she was one of the commentators and supervisors of this match. It was Oreki Yuuri.

This morning she was listening to Ikki for his reasons for damaging school property as his homeroom teacher.

"Sensei, in my match today, which Sensei will be supervising, my opponent will undoubtedly cheat."

"BU――!!!"

Oreki spurted out coffee and her nose started bleeding upon the sudden revelation.

"Wh, eh!? I'll stop my nosebleed; meanwhile, please explain yourself!"

There, Oreki heard all about the incident between Ayase and Ikki, which occurred last night. That Ayase called Ikki out. After calling him out, how she jumped down from the roof to reduce Ikki's strength. About how he broke the school building using his ability to save her.

"Su-Such a thing happened..?"

If this story was true then it would be a red card. Expulsion would be bit far-fetched, but this act would definitely remove her from matches.

"Bu-But how do you know that she will cheat in the match?"

"..When she severed the fence she was not doing anything, but I definitely heard the sound of a long sword in that moment. By deducing from that, though I don't know the exact mechanism behind it, I think Ayatsuji-san's ability is positioning slashes at various places, which can be fired off randomly. If she has that kind of ability then it won't be a mistake to assume that she has probably placed traps all over the sixth training ground where the match is going to take place today. After all, she tried to fake a suicide to kill my trump card, and for sure, she will use any means necessary to defeat me in the match."

"Well of course, for someone who did such a thing, I don't think she will use fair play in the essential match... Mu mu mu~ but attempted suicide and obstruction.. those are, in fact, big problems you know."

"But, with just my testimony it won't count as proof, right?"

"Yeah. Sensei trusts Kurogane-kun, but due to my own circumstances I won't be able to move with just a testimony. But, I got the big picture. Sensei will be on the lookout, too. If I find any signs of foul play I'll stop the match immediately. So you can relax now, Kurogane-kun."

"No, please don't call off the match for foul play."

Blood gushed out from Oreki's nose again. Oreki, while feeling anemic and extremely dizzy, blocked her nose with tissue and asked Ikki.

"Eh? What, what do you mean? I completely don't understand what you're saying!? Then, why did you tell me about this here and now?"

"If you asked me about the reason why I broke the school building, I'd have no choice but to tell you. Furthermore, even if Oreki-sensei didn't hear this from me you would have probably noticed Ayatsuji-san's foul play, and when you did, you would stop the match immediately. But.. I don't want you to stop the match."

"Why!? If foul play really does occur, then Kurogane-kun will win by default due to Ayatsuji-san's forfeit. You do understand how important it is to win just a single match in this representative selection contest, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. If I don't remain undefeated, I probably won't be selected as a representative."

"Yes, to be blunt, from your current development, if you don't attain a complete victory you won't be selected as the representative. You understand that, and yet you wish for me not to call off the match for foul play?"

"Yes, please don't, Sensei."

Oreki couldn't comprehend it, because Ikki should be craving for victory more than anyone. Oreki knew Ikki from the time when he took his entrance exam, since she was the one responsible for his entrance exam. She had never seen a student with as strong a determination and sense of purpose as Ikki's.

Oreki was greatly saddened because someone like him had wasted an entire year because of the irrationality of the world of adults. Then, the school system had changed and he had finally gotten an equal chance this year. He should want to win even if he had to use underhanded methods. Despite that, why was he lowering his head for someone who broke the ultimate taboo as a knight against him?

"..Won't you tell me the reason?"

"Because I want to believe."

"..You want to believe?"

"Yes... I had always been thinking from the time I met her during midnight. As a friend told me, if I cut my ties with her here and now, I'll surely win the match due to her foul play. But would that really be alright? I thought again and again but I couldn't find an answer.. but I understood one thing clearly."

"What is it?"

"My feeling that I don't want to cut ties with her... That is why I thought I will believe until the very end that Ayatsuji-san has been cornered by something and due to that she has lost sight of herself."

Ikki knew. Whenever she got closer to her father's sword by a slight margin she would merry around happily like a small child. Ikki knew that smile of Ayase. Ayase's words from her saying how she loved his hands which had roughened from wielding a shinai. He could not believe all of that was a lie.

"That's why I've decided. I would believe the usual Ayatsuji-san and not the one I saw last night."

When people are desperate they become blinder than they think, to the point where they lose sight of themselves. Ikki knew that because he had experienced it himself. And the only thing that could save people like that were words from someone they held dear.

That was why, if Ayase was like him who, at the time, was not able to hear the cries of his own heart due to being too desperate, then―

"I want to help her. That's why, Sensei, please allow me this last chance to confirm her true intentions."

..Good grief, there is no knight who will be able to refuse after hearing something like that.

Always be with justice. Be honest even against your enemy. An ideal self that everyone aiming to be knights dream about.

Oreki was the same, that is why she accepted Ikki's request. Of course she saw through Ayase's foul play at the first glance but she didn't call off the match., because she had decided to leave the match and the heart of the lone girl to him.

She would not interfere. Oreki silently watched over Ikki.

Do help her, your precious friend―

To be frank, everything was in the palm of Ikki's hand from the start. He already knew there were traps set all over the ring. He had already seen through the fact that she did not want to prolong this battle. That was the reason Ikki jumped towards the slashes of his own free will to make her go on the offensive, aiming for a decisive battle.

All of that.. was to talk with Ayase through clashing their swords.

I should have done this from the start.

Ikki smiled bitterly at his own foolishness.

Ah yes, that's right, there is no way a man like him, who couldn't even recognize the feelings of the one closest to him, his lover, for an entire month, could ever understand Ayase with words alone. In the end, he only had the sword. He could only understand the true feelings of other people through the sword.

But, now, with certainty, Ikki saw Ayase's true feelings.

"I am glad... As I expected, Ayatsuji-san is how I imagined you to be."

"..What do you mean?"

"I meant, Ayatsuji-san was not someone who could act like nothing happened after doing something wrong."

"..I was wondering what you'd say.. ahahaha. After being beaten to a pulp, you sure have some nerve to say such nonsense. Isn't this a bit too much? No matter what, aren't you being too much of a nice guy?"

Ayase glared into Ikki's eyes, talking and scorning in the same manner as she did last night on the rooftop. But―

"It's not nonsense."

Ikki wouldn't be deceived by that false expression anymore, because swords didn't lie.

"Your sword play, steps, rhythm, breathing, every single thing is messed up. Forget about what I taught you, you aren't even able to perform what you already knew from before. Even the execution of a counter, which is your specialty, is shaky. That's why it was parried with such ease. You can't deceive your soul no matter how much you try to make yourself look bad in your head. Swordsmanship is made up of heart, technique, and body. There won't be any real power in a sword if your heart wavers... Ayatsuji-san, you're a proud person, more so than you think yourself."

"I-It's nothing like that!"

Upon Ikki's deduction, Ayase suddenly raised the volume in her voice.

"I am not wavering! I experienced it two years ago! It doesn't matter how proudly you fight. If you lose, everything will be over! There is no meaning in mere pretty words that won't bring any results! Because you can't protect if you don't win! That's why I'll use any means necessary to win! No matter what methods I have to use I'll win, and take everything back!"

Rather than being a rebuttal against Ikki, those were words meant to persuade herself. Ikki understood that. By becoming that desperate she was closing her ears to the scream of her heart. Just like his past self.

"..Then, there is only one thing left for me to do."

That was to let her hear the scream of her own heart. That was the only thing to do now. That's why Ikki pointed the tip of?Intetsu?towards Ayase.

"With my weakest I'll make you regain your pride."

So he declared.

"Ooh! Contender Kurogane lowered his upper body! Just like in the beginning, it's the attack stance! Even after receiving those mysterious slashes there is no sign of nervousness on his face! The Worst One plans on attacking! It can't be that he already saw through the mysterious slashes!?"

Ayase immediately reacted to that action. She stepped back to further the distance. Her reaction had composure, but her mind was greatly discomposed.

I am in the wrong!? Scream of my heart!?

What kind of blabber is that? There is no way such a thing is possible.

No matter what I have to do, I just have to take back the dojo to relieve Father!

She was not wavering, nor trying to deceive herself. Ikki was just trying to lead her astray. Ayase strongly persuaded herself with those words and tried to avoid thinking deeply.

―If you say that much, then very well, I'll end this match with the same mistake you talked about!

The distance she had created by back-stepping was thirty meters. And in between was the minefield of slashes. She had completely memorized the speed of Ikki's charge in the beginning. Next time she'd be able to activateMark of the Wind?with more lethal timing!

"Here I come, Ayatsuji-san."

In that instant, Ikki raised his upper body and ran forward!

Here!

Upon that action, Ayase opened the wounds of?Mark of the Wind?that were in front of Ikki. The gap in the atmosphere that suddenly opened was the guillotine of vacuum that cut everything it touched. He wouldn't come out unscratched if it touched him. But―

"Wha―!?"

Kurogane Ikki's body rushed forward like a bullet, incomparable to the speed he showed in the beginning, and left Ayase's blade behind before the vacuum opened. ―That super-speed was the same as Ittou Shura!

"What speed! Contender Kurogane finally uses his trump card Ittou Shura!"

Wh, why!? That trump card should have been sealed..!

Oreki's voice reached a baffled Ayase.

"Well, that is not Ittou Shura―"

"Eh? Is that true, Oreki-sensei?"

"That is just like everyone, he is only speeding mana emission."

Mana emission!

Ayase realized her mistake at those words.

Mana emission was to release one's mana to accelerate and enhance oneself. It was an enhancement technique that many other Blazers used unconsciously. Of course, Ayase used it as well.

"Kurogane-kun doesn't have much mana unlike other students, so if he uses it like this he will run out of mana after using it once or twice. That is why he doesn't use it normally. But, 'does not use it' is different from 'not being able to use it'. He probably, for some reason, can't use Ittou Shura this time. That's why I think he is using this as a replacement."

As Oreki had said, 'does not use it' is different from 'not being able to use it'. Normally Ikki 'does not use it' because he doesn't have much mana. But, now since the amount of mana required to use Ittou Shura will not recover in time, he doesn't have a reason not to use mana emission to enhance himself. That's why he used it. By releasing all of his existing mana, although only once, he was able to produce speed that was not inferior to Ittou Shura!

I was too concerned about Ittou Shura!

What a fatal mistake. Ikki had already stepped into a range where his sword can cut her by using just a single super-speed step.

Mark of the Wind?wouldn't make it in time.

She was completely outwitted mentally.

However, this isn't the end!

He had broken into her range. She could not avoid a clash of swords. But only just once, she had to endure this clash with all she had and open the distance between them once more! Then, Ikki's mana would have run out. He wouldn't be able to perform a bullet-like start then.

My chance of winning exists there! I have to overcome this clash at all costs!

Ayase swung?Hizume?while screaming intensely, and slashed at Ikki who was before her eyes―

That blade slashed through empty air.

"―Eh..."

Ikki was, for sure, before her eyes―

Ayase's slash, which was swung with all her might, had only scratched the tip of Ikki's nose, while he was running towards her. It didn't reach him. Had she miscalculated the distance between them? No. Certainly, Ikki was within the range of her sword. But, that Ikki disappeared like a mirage, and another Ikki from behind him was running towards her.

Ayase blanked out. She could no longer understand what was going on. But that confusion was not meaningless. This was one of original techniques Kurogane Ikki possessed, a technique rivaling the seventh secret sword, Raikou. With radical footwork he creates an afterimage before himself while running to confuse the distance between him and his opponent.

"Fourth secret sword―Shinkirou[1]."

At that moment, the blade of?Intetsu?swung with all of his might slashed through air and Ayase.

"It's overrrrr! Contender Kurogane's attack was a clean hit!"

Upon the voice, which dislodged from the accumulation of scenes, the audience, too, raised loud cheers.

"Contender Ayase has fallen to the ground! However she is not bleeding..! What is going on..?"

"*Cough, cough*..Yes, that is because he changed his device into Illusionary Form the moment before slashing her."

"Then, does that mean she only got exhausted and did not necessarily received a fatal blow?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"But why did he do such a thing? Does it mean that he does not want to hurt women?"

"That's not true. I was slashed by him in the past. Probably, from the start he was just aiming to tire her out.. because this time around, wining is not Kurogane-kun's only goal."

Oreki whispered to herself, and looked down upon the ring.

The fallen Ayase was trying to get up by putting strength into her limbs. Ayase, while trembling, raised her head and glared at Ikki who was standing before her.

"..What are you.. trying to do here..?"

"About what?"

"Don't play dumb.. why are you not cutting me down..!?"

"I don't have to. Ayatsuji-san can't fight anymore."

Making fun of me..!

She was made light of. Thinking of that action as insult Ayase flexed her limbs. One does not receive any physical damage if she is cut by a Device in Illusionary Form. Only her stamina gets depleted. Ayase had confidence in her stamina, to the point where she can easily keep up with Ikki and Stella on their morning runs. A fatigue of this level did not mean anything to her.

"..Huh?"

That's how it should have been.. but she could not feel any power in her body.

"..Why..?"

She had to stand up, she had to win this fight, or else everything will be over. She won't be able to save her father... Why, why?

My heart.. was it this cold?

Her heart wasn't stirring. She couldn't feel her fighting spirit to stand up once more by mustering the last of her strength.

Ayase realized upon feeling that fact. That her soul was rejecting such a fight which didn't have pride in it.

I see... This is the scream of my heart...

When people were cornered, they were only able to stand back up because they have pride within their hearts. That they could still do it. That they should still do it. Not to give up. They encouraged themselves like that.

Ayase, too, had been doing so all along. No matter how hard the training was, no matter how much her hands got blistered, she was able to endure it all because she had pride in herself who wielded the sword of Ayatsuji.

But.. for the Ayase who rejected that same pride...

"..It's just as Kurogane-kun said."

She no longer had the power to stand up.

"..It's my loss."

"Wow, there is the surrender sign from contender Ayatsuji! The match ends with this~~! As expected, it was the Worst One, contender Kurogane, who won! With this, contender Kurogane has eleven consecutive wins! The eleven consecutive wins he earned by defeating famous people like Hunter and Runner's High! We can now say it with confidence that he will be a representative for the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival!"

Glancing over the excited cheers of the audience, Ayase let out a dry laugh.

"So uncool.. forget about abandoning it, I couldn't even maintain it..."

The words that came out of her mouth were meant as a sneer at her own half-hearted self.

But, that sneer―

"You are not uncool."

Ikki rejected it strongly.

"Eh..?"

"You wandered, were mistaken, and in the end lost sight of yourself, but you had not thrown it away yet, and that is Ayatsuji-san's strength."

And Ikki asked while extending his hand to the fallen Ayase.

"Ayatsuji-san, please tell me.. what was taken away from you by that Sword Eater? What was it that pushed you so far?"

"What do you plan to do after hearing something like that..."

"I'll get it back."

There was not even a bit of hesitation or falsehood in those words. If Ayase relied on him, Ikki would fight for her without any hesitation. She understood that, and precisely because she understood it that, she said―

"..I cannot tell you, because it doesn't have anything to do with Kurogane-kun after all."

She could not let him fight against such a monster. She could not let such a kind man get hurt because of someone half-hearted like herself.

Father is enough. I can't let such a thing happen to him too.

That was why Ayase was concealing everything. But―

"Then, I'll just investigate the matter."

"Eh?"

"I'll investigate everything by following you around and researching you."

"Wha, what are you saying..."

"I'll inquire about everything, and get everything back for you. Ayatsuji-san, too, stalked me before, so we'll be equal with this. Thus, I have no reason to listen to your complaints, do I?"

Incomprehensible. What "we'll be equal with this"..? This was not balancing debt, just increasing it.

"..Why..?"

Ayase couldn't stop the trembling in her voice, nor could she stop the miserable tears.

"Even though I betrayed Kurogane-kun... Even though I did such horrible things... Why.. are you trying to help me?"

Ayase asked with a trembling voice. Ikki's answer was filled with clarity.

"I don't need a reason to wipe my friend's tears."

"..!"

For a moment Ikki's figure overlapped with Kaito's in Ayase's eyes. The figure of her father that climbed the stage of battle for the sake of his apprentice. Ikki was the same as him. Even if he was spat on or jeered on, he would not take out his sword for things trivial like those. But, if his precious comrades are hurt, he would not hesitate in the slightest to draw his sword.

Ah... Yeah, that's how it was...

Since when had she lost sight of it? This, right here, was the figure she had been chasing so badly after in that dojo. Ayase looked at her own hands. They were blistered hands that couldn't be said to be pretty even as flattery. Just like her father and Ikki, they were the hands of a swordsman.

That's right, I just wanted to be a cool swordsman like Father. That's why I wielded the sword.

She was confronted by Kuraudo's violent strength just once, and lost the sight of herself in the impatience of trying get the dojo back. Where her pride was, Ayase had finally remembered that and squeezed her hands, strongly.

At that moment, Ayase's heart finally decided.

"..Kurogane-kun.. please help me..?!"

The thing she should do now was not to go against the teachings of her father, and betray her own pride and bask in self-pity like a damsel in distress. It was to ask this gentle yet strong boy for his help, and believe in his victory.

That's why Ayase took Ikki's extended hand.

"I just wanted to hear those words."

Upon those words, Ikki smiled like he was really happy and strongly gripped Ayase's hand.