The moment I checked the state of the room, I charged forward, but Sen leaped up, grabbed the light fixture, and hung upside down from the ceiling.
“I don’t really know what’s going on, but this kid is kind of important to me.”
“Don’t just butt in carelessly.”
The atmosphere was the exact opposite of her usual playful and smiling demeanor. Her cold voice and piercing gaze were aimed right at me.
This is the Chokugen Faction.
This wasn’t the killing intent you’d expect from a mere 18-year-old kid.
Ugh.
The prickling killing intent made May, who was behind me, wince and glare at Sen, but she ignored her completely.
“Just come down. I thought you might kill Demalico, but I don’t plan to hurt you.”
“……”
Sen stared at me, as if trying to read my sincerity, then sighed and came down.
“Not very surprised, are you?”
“I thought you were acting kind of theatrical.”
If even a sensitive kid like Eve could pick up on it.
That explanation seemed to be enough, as Sen slightly squirmed her eyebrows. It seemed like it bothered her a bit that a little bit showed through.
“So, can you explain what the situation was?”
Demalico was almost out of it, nodding vacantly. The skin on the ground from him was dropping in chunks.
Sen pondered for a moment, then sighed again and spoke.
“This guy has business with the thugs selling the cigarettes he buys.”
“That’s it?”
“What else do you want?”
From her perspective, she might think she was hiding things, but knowing she was in the Chokugen Faction, I could tell she wasn’t acting alone.
‘She has matters with the Chokugen Faction.’
I thought maybe a request had come in, but that wasn’t it.
If a request had come in, they would’ve used actual members instead of a trainee hiding out in the academy.
‘It’s ultimately a private matter for the Chokugen Faction.’
Thinking that, I didn’t feel like butting in, but May behind me suddenly went off.
“You almost killed Demalico, and we stopped you. Are you gonna get me expelled for saying this? Just say it straight.”
She seemed angry seeing her friend’s condition, but sorry, the opponent was in the wrong.
“So what?”
“What?”
“Do you know how he got dirt on the Dean?”
Sen suddenly pointed at me with her chin.
“He was trying to record the Dean’s office, but that woman’s place was super secure. If I pulled some stunt there, I risked getting caught, so I used you.”
May looked at me in confusion, wondering what the heck she was talking about, but Sen kept going.
“Yeah, I used you. The Dean loosens up around you, being your cousin and all, so I stuck the recording paper on you. In other words,”
Pointing at May, Sen continued.
“You delivered your and the Dean’s leash to her yourself.”
“……Me?”
“You dumb ass. And now you’re just trailin’ after her, lovin’ it? You’re content just because you took down some school punks?”
For the first time, Sen’s expression changed.
It was a sneer filled with contempt.
“I can guess your worth, May Plov.”
“You little brat!”
In the end, May couldn’t hold back and lunged forward, throwing a fist, but Sen easily dodged, tripping her up, and May fell in an undignified manner.
Sen was about to kick May while she was down, but I pressed down on her foot.
“Enough already.”
“If you thought so, you should’ve sealed your mouth from the beginning. You assumed you had the right to know, didn’t you?”
“……”
“You know you’re quite pathetic, right, Daniel?”
Sen sneered at me just as she had at May.
“I know you have power, but for some reason, you’re hiding it. Why? Are you feeling some trivial satisfaction from it?”
“……”
“Look at Ares and Rin. They transferred in and captured everyone’s attention with their amazing skills. But you? You have that kind of power too, so why are you hiding it?”
Sen continued speaking without raising or lowering her tone.
“I don’t care. You saved Tana and Eve, got May and the Dean on your side, and freed Hayun from her family’s shackles. But you actually don’t care about them at all.”
“……”
“You’re a hypocrite, Daniel McLean.”
“……”
“You want to play the savior, but you want to follow Ares. But your character is holding you back. What to do?”
With an even more pronounced sneer, Sen seemed to look down on me. Now that she seemed finished, I slowly opened my mouth.
“Interesting opinion.”
I nodded. I agree with part of it, but I wouldn’t rush in with excitement.
“I get that you’re trying to provoke me to dodge the unwanted topic, but what I want right now isn’t your evaluation of me. What did you hear from Demalico?”
At that, the smirk she had just a moment ago vanished entirely, replaced with a blank expression.
I knew she had deliberately provoked May to change the subject and was speaking harshly toward me.
Because that was one of the tactics these guys used.
I locked eyes with Sen, who was holding her mouth tight.
“Why? Didn’t anyone teach you what to do when you’re figured out?”
This time I shot back with a mocking smile.
“From the Chokugen?”
Crash!
In an instant, Sen charged at me.
She flipped the dagger she was holding and hurled her body at me. I barely managed to avoid falling, slamming against the wall instead.
I had been ready, so I grabbed her wrist holding the dagger, and she was gripping it really hard, shaking with power.
“You, how did you know that?”
For the first time, a sincere expression appeared on Sen’s face.
Seething rage.
Suddenly, the ferocity in her cold eyes poured out toward me.
“Well, how about asking the Chokugen who know everything?”
I taunted with a scoff, provoking her as Sen retreated and leaped out the open window.
“Did she run away?”
May was still dazed and asked me blankly, but I grabbed a sword from Demalico’s room as I answered.
“It’s not over yet.”
At the same time, Sen flew back into the room through the window.
She entered, daggers in both hands, and as I swung my sword to respond, my hand numbed from the impact.
“You have to die. Not just you, but May and Demalico are dying today. Because of you.”
Sen had a rope tied around her waist, so when she jumped out the window, she probably tied it to the rooftop to swing back in.
Thanks to that, she twisted and attacked me in mid-air, but as I managed to keep up, she quickly zipped back out again.
Seems like she thought she couldn’t win in close combat and planned on continuing with ambushes.
“I won’t let you escape.”
I followed her through the window and stepped onto the sill, climbing up.
This was the third floor.
I checked the rope tied to Sen on the fifth floor’s rooftop and jumped toward it, landing straight on the rooftop.
Sen came up after me to keep the rope secure.
On the rooftop, May’s group was smoking cigarettes, but after I had said something on the academy rooftop, it seemed they fled to the dormitory.
“W-what?”
“Daniel McLean? How did you get up there?”
“I’m with Sen!”
I glared at the startled ones and yelled.
“If you get caught smoking, you’re dead. See you later!”
Taking advantage of their briefly diverted attention, Sen charged at me.
Realizing the atmosphere was off, May’s group fled off the rooftop without looking back.
“You came up all that way in one jump?”
Sen seemed a bit surprised that I had jumped from the third floor to the rooftop, but she didn’t stop attacking.
With quick movements, she kept trying to stab my vital points. I wondered if the dagger had poison on it, but since this was an academy, it didn’t seem likely.
Clang!
I swung my sword to push Sen back and got into position.
Demalico’s sword was shaking like it was about to break; the maintenance was terrible.
“Do you think you can win with that?”
With the rope wrapped around my waist undone, I wore the same smile as before.
It didn’t feel like a sincere laugh; it felt more like a tactic she was using to provoke me in this situation.
But could she win?
Sorry, but I was confident in my victory.
This wasn’t arrogance or overconfidence, nor was I underestimating Sen.
Confidence comes from the past.
I didn’t clearly remember when it was.
As usual, while wandering the Forest of the Demon Realm, I met a girl of my age.
I knew nothing about her name, title, or how she ended up in this forest, obviously a noble.
She was crying and bleeding, wandering through the woods with her clothes all torn up, and I took her in.
It was just me picking up a cat to care for, nothing more.
But after spending a week together, we kind of became friends.
But the girl, whose name I didn’t even know, died.
She had said she’d gather some herbs nearby, and when pursued by the Chokugen, she ended up a cold corpse.
I tore apart every last member of the Chokugen.
It was a rather vague memory, but seeing Sen’s fighting style, I could be certain now.
“I already killed Sen.”
Not the pale and white-skinned version before me now, but the woman with a horrific and grotesque scar from her forehead down to her chin, along with a burn scar over her left eye.
She said nothing but left me with a faint smile right before I killed her, a scene that wouldn’t fade from my mind,
The future Sen.
That’s why, gripping my sword, I felt certain.
“You’ll need at least another 10 years before you come back.”
Now, Sen couldn’t defeat me.
