"Tedious Malice"
Hagun Academy's opening ceremony took place in the auditorium. Shinguuji Kurono, in her first ceremony as principal, announced only one thing: the abolishment of the academy's long-standing ability-value-based selection for the Seven Star Sword Festival representatives, replacing it with practical combat tests.
Surprisingly, there was little to no opposition from the students; only a few grumbled about the added inconvenience. However, this situation was arguably even worse; the majority of students felt that neither ability-value selection nor practical combat selection had much to do with them.
To put it bluntly, it was self-imposed apathy. It seemed that Shinguuji Kurono had a long and arduous road ahead of her in her efforts to change the academy's atmosphere.
After the ceremony concluded, the students returned to their respective classrooms for their first class meeting.
On the large screen of the tiered classroom, an animation of celebratory fireworks, similar to those seen at birthday parties, appeared. A woman with a microphone stepped onto the podium.
"New students, welcome to Hagun Academy! I am your homeroom teacher—Yuuri Oreki.
This is my first time being a homeroom teacher, and I'm still a fresh-faced newbie, so please call me Yuuri-chan!
While we won't have a lesson today, I do have some information regarding the Seven Star Sword Festival…"
Sitting between Ikki Kurogane and Stella, Drake clearly heard Stella's muttered comment.
"She seems totally unenthusiastic."
Stella's assessment stemmed from the teacher's alarmingly unwell appearance.
Her complexion was an unhealthy pale, and the dark circles under her eyes were far more severe than those of someone who had pulled an all-nighter for a week straight; she looked like she could collapse at any moment.
Drake nodded in agreement with Stella's assessment. It wasn't just a lack of enthusiasm; Drake could clearly sense the aura of decay that only comes with a terminal illness emanating from Yuuri Oreki.
However, Drake also understood that this was Yuuri Oreki's weapon as a sword master.
Yuuri Oreki, whose title was Jolly Roger, was rated as a C-class sword master despite her magic power, magic control, and physical abilities all falling below C-rank. This was because of her ability—pain sharing, a type of causal interference.
She only needed to activate her ability to make her enemies feel the pain she herself was enduring, causing them to collapse. And this pain was something she felt constantly.
Therefore, when Ikki Kurogane said she was a good teacher, Drake also expressed his agreement.
Yuuri Oreki continued her introduction on the podium: "Therefore, the intra-school tournament will begin next week! The match schedule and opponents will be sent to everyone's student handbooks via email, so please be sure to check them."
When Yuuri Oreki mentioned the matter she cared most about, Stella raised her hand to ask a question: "Teacher…"
Yuuri Oreki shook her finger. "No, no! I won't answer unless you call me Yuri-chan!"
Drake truly admired Yuuri Oreki; she maintained such an optimistic attitude despite being chronically ill since childhood.
Stella, however, was speechless, the butterfly-shaped hair accessory on her ponytail drooping.
"Yuuri… Yuuri-chan," Stella reluctantly uttered the slightly intimate term.
"Yes? What is it, Stella-san!"
Stella asked, "About how many matches will there be in total?"
Yuuri Oreki counted on her fingers. "Each person will have to participate in at least ten matches, meaning there'll be a match roughly every three days!"
This competition format was actually quite advantageous for Ikki Kurogane, since his One-Sword Asura could only be used once a day.
Therefore, while others were complaining about the inconvenience of the matches, Ikki felt a sense of relief. It seemed he wasn't even considering the option of forfeiting, as Yuuri Oreki had mentioned.
"So everyone, please give it your all in the coming year! Let's all do our best, yeah… yeah… oh… cough!"
Yuuri Oreki, who had just been encouraging everyone, suddenly spat a mouthful of blood, collapsing onto the floor.
Stella stood up in surprise. "Yuuri-chan!"
"Is this some kind of murder scene?!" Drake was also taken aback.
Only Ikki Kurogane, who was used to this, calmly covered his face, muttering, "As expected…"
After a flurry of commotion, Ikki Kurogane and Drake together helped Yuuri Oreki to the infirmary.
Drake was astonished to find that the infirmary actually stocked blood bags, and the doctor proceeded to treat Yuuri Oreki with practiced ease.
Even after they left, Drake felt his worldview had been irrevocably altered.
"Regardless," Drake muttered as they walked, "a body that coughs up a liter of blood every day is just too strange!"
Ikki chuckled. "I couldn't accept it at first either, but you get used to it!"
Because Yuuri Oreki's collapse had been so sudden, everyone in the classroom was somewhat at a loss. Drake and Ikki had returned to inform everyone that the class meeting was over.
However, as soon as they returned to the classroom, a crowd of students swarmed around them, and Stella, who had been about to approach them, was immediately pushed aside by the throng of girls.
"I can't believe I'm in the same class as both of you!"
"Are you two friends?"
"I've wanted to chat with both of you for ages!"
"Me too! Both of you are so handsome."
…
Ikki Kurogane had never experienced this kind of treatment before and was momentarily flustered. Drake was the same; he truly lacked the experience to handle this kind of situation.
Stella, meanwhile, was practically fuming, staring impassively at Drake who was surrounded by the girls.
Ikki Kurogane said, puzzled, "What's going on? I don't remember doing anything that would make me popular."
As Drake was dealing with the chattering girls, he suddenly sensed a wave of killing intent. But when Drake looked over, he only saw Stella's raised chin.
Thinking it might have been a hallucination, Drake said to Ikki Kurogane, "It's clearly because of the mock battle from before. Someone must have uploaded the video of the fight to the internet; it seems a lot of people have seen it."
Kagami looked at Stella, a mischievous grin spreading across her face; she had found her target.
To Stella's astonishment, Kagami directly squeezed through the crowd to Drake's side, unceremoniously wrapping her arm around his.
Drake felt absolutely no joy at the physical contact; the most troublesome person had arrived.
Drake had already heard from Stella that her roommate was a clingy person, but now he was experiencing it firsthand.
"Nice to meet you, Drake-san. I'm Kusakabe Kagami, and I'm planning to establish a news club. I've been really looking forward to meeting you.
Coming from the mysterious Shinryuu Temple, and possessing even higher ability values than Stella-san, Drake-san must have a lot of big news stories surrounding you. Please, by all means, let me conduct an interview."
"Hey! Kagami, you're too close!"
Stella would have been too embarrassed to say anything to the other girls she didn't know, but since Kagami was already a friend, she didn't hold back.
Kagami, after being pulled away, said in an innocent tone, "Why did you pull me away, Stella-san? Could it be that there's something going on between Stella-san and Drake-san…?"
Stella wasn't fooled by Kagami's act; she was clearly enjoying herself. But Kagami's words were still embarrassing... no, incredibly misleading.
Worst of all, the other girls, once the topic of romance was brought up, also became excited, their gazes making Stella blush even more intensely.
Drake, meanwhile, was completely oblivious to what was happening between the girls.
Just then, an irritating voice cut through the air.
"Just an exchange student and a repeater... you're both getting a little too arrogant!"
Drake had sensed a current of malice for some time, but he understood; it was normal for boys that age to feel jealous seeing others surrounded by girls.
He just hadn't expected anyone to actively seek a confrontation because of it; this malice was truly tedious!
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