"What's wrong, junior?"
Walking along the nighttime road, Touka glanced at Eiji beside her.
He was staring at his own hand with a pensive expression.
Seeing his distracted state, Touka didn't get annoyed but instead asked with concern.
"I noticed something when I shook hands with Amane Shinomiya just now," Eiji mused. "There were calluses on his hand."
"Isn't that normal?"
Touka couldn't quite understand.
"Everyone has calluses, right? Whether you're a swordsman, a laborer, or even a student who writes a lot!"
Indeed, as a swordsman like her, calluses were inevitable—a mark left by years of relentless training.
"But Amane Shinomiya's calluses weren't on his fingertips or the first knuckles."
Eiji spread his fingers, demonstrating for his senior.
"Normally, calluses from writing would appear on the fingertips or first knuckles of the index and middle fingers. But his were on the third knuckles—and only on all four fingers except the thumb. The fingertips had none."
If it were from sword training, calluses would cover all knuckles, even extending to the base of the fingers.
"What does that mean?"
Touka looked puzzled.
Calluses only on the third knuckles of four fingers.
"Throwing weapons."
Eiji curled his fingers into a loose fist, leaving gaps between them.
"Thin blades or similar weapons are gripped between the third knuckles of both hands like this, then thrown. That's the kind of weapon he must be using."
Or rather, his Device was likely multiple thin blades.
Think of it like the Black Keys used by Executors in the world of Type-Moon.
Years of wielding such weapons would leave calluses only on the third knuckles.
"That's amazing, junior! You noticed something like that?"
Touka was astonished by his observational skills.
"Wait a second—then why did he earlier—?"
Suddenly, realization dawned on her, and her expression changed.
"That's exactly my question."
Eiji nodded solemnly.
"He was fully capable of subduing that criminal alone, yet he pretended to be terrified and backed away. There's no doubt—it was an act!"
Someone with calluses from martial training couldn't possibly be helpless against a mere random murderer, let alone a Blazer like him.
Yet he played the role of a weakling, screaming in fear at the sight of a killer.
What was his goal?
"Trying to appear weak to deceive his enemies?"
Touka ventured a guess.
It was a reasonable assumption.
Eiji's reputation was immense. Many students across the academy likely knew he possessed Seven Stars Sword King-level strength and was a strong contender for this year's Seven Stars Sword Art Festival. It made sense for others to hide their abilities from him.
"But he shouldn't have known we were there at the time. Why pretend to be weak?"
Eiji pointed out the flaw in that logic.
"Good point."
Touka frowned deeply.
There was no clue as to his true intentions.
Without any leads, even Sherlock Holmes would be stumped.
"Anyway, let's stay cautious around him for now."
After pondering for a while and failing to come up with an answer, Eiji could only give up and instead warned his senior, Touka.
"From what we've seen so far, his motives are definitely not pure. Even our meeting might have been part of his plan. If we encounter him at the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival, we must be careful!"
Especially when it comes to his ability.
Currently, his ability remains unknown, and if they're not careful, it could very well become their downfall.
After all, Blazers' abilities come in all sorts of bizarre forms—nothing is truly impossible. You never know what kind of monster might suddenly pop up from some obscure corner, so caution is always necessary.
"I understand."
Touka nodded solemnly.
"Enough about that—let's go to karaoke first!"
"You really are something, junior..."
***
The night of "singing" passed without further mention.
On the morning of the fourth day of training, the two returned to the training grounds together.
Touka went back to her classes, while Eiji sought out Kagami Kasukabe.
"Kagami, give me a copy of the list."
"Here you go!"
The reporter girl handed Eiji a list of the representative participants from each school for the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival.
Eiji took it and examined it carefully.
There was no need to look at Hagun Academy's list. Eiji immediately searched for the roster of Kyomon Academy.
Among the six representatives, Tsuruya Mikoto was Kyomon Academy's acknowledged strongest, currently a third-year student and a top-eight finalist in the previous Seven Stars Sword Art Festival—her strength was undeniable.
The other four were hardly worth mentioning, but the last name on the list was unmistakably Amane Shinomiya.
"So it really is him."
Eiji nodded to himself.
It seemed his claim about being a Kyomon Academy representative wasn't a lie.
But as Eiji flipped further, he found that Amane Shinomiya's profile was shockingly sparse.
No rank.
No known ability.
Not even his usual combat methods were recorded.
The only information on the paper was basic details like name and age—absolutely nothing about his abilities as a Blazer.
"Kagami, is this all the information on him?"
"Amane Shinomiya from Kyomon Academy?"
Kagami tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"There really isn't much about him. Even his fellow representatives at Kyomon Academy know next to nothing. Probably only the teacher who selected him knows anything about his abilities."
"Oh, but there is one thing."
Kagami suddenly perked up, her expression turning serious.
"His battle record is... strange."
Though there were no actual battles, each academy still held mock battles internally—about five or six per semester, akin to midterms and finals.
"In all six of Amane Shinomiya's mock battles, he won without fighting!"
Either his opponent suddenly sprained an ankle, suffered food poisoning, or had a family emergency—every single time, his opponent would be absent for some reason, allowing Amane Shinomiya to effortlessly secure consecutive victories.
It was downright bizarre.
"Is it because of his Blazer ability?"
Eiji fell into deep thought, his brow furrowing.
Honestly, this reminded him of someone.
Utakata Misogi.
The vice president of Hagun Academy, Touka and Kanata's and childhood friend, though an ordinary D-rank knight, his Noble Art "Absolute Uncertainty" possesses the terrifying ability to interfere with fate.
If he so desired, he could easily make his opponents withdraw from matches for various reasons before they even began, securing victory without a fight.
Amane Shinomiya's performance bore a striking resemblance to the abilities of Utakata Misogi!
Eiji continued browsing through the rosters of other academies—he had originally intended to familiarize himself with this year's competitors.
But as he looked deeper.
He uncovered a massive secret.
***
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