When Reina was desperately fighting the mock battles, Kanae peeked at Akira's information terminal to see the details of the adjustment and lightly smiled.
"Akira-boy, isn't that too much?"
"Is that so? But I think she's doing pretty well, you know"
"That's because of the equipment that Ane-san especially prepared for her. What about you? Can you win with those handicaps?"
"…It's not about winning or losing, it's about whether it's a good training or not."
Akira did not think that he had a good winning chance with all those handicaps, he would have to perform some reckless moves in order to win. But for some reason, he did not feel like saying that, so he just came up with a different excuse.
Kanae lightly laughed, she did not expect Akira would give such a childish reply.
"Well, that's true. But if you use that level of difficulty as the base indicator, you'll need to do some reckless stuff to be able to win. And once you get used to doing something like that, you might also do some reckless stuff out of reaction during a real fight. Personally speaking, I recommend doing an easier training where you can more or less maintain a 100% winning rate."
Akira looked surprised. He never expected that someone who looked so reckless as Kanae would say something that prioritized safety.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Akira looked away from Kanae, Shiori seemed to be moderately amused by that exchange.
"…Well, that doesn't really matter. By the way, Akira-boy, are you free? Want to have a light spar with me?"
"No."
"Now, now, don't say that. This is also a training, something like an equal exchange."
"Equal exchange?"
"Yes, you can't do mock battles when Milady is doing mock battles, it can even be said that Milady is taking your chance to do training. So to compensate for that, you can have a CQC training with me. I bet even if you can have shooting training with them, you can't do CQC training with them, right? I'll be sure to properly train you, you can get training for free when you would normally need money to get this kind of training, you know. So, what do you think? This is a good chance for you, you know?"
Kanae's argument sounded reasonable and unreasonable at the same time that it threw Akira off for a loop. It was true that Akira did not get much chance to have CQC training. While his training with Alpha using his augmented suit was basically him fighting an incorporeal body, so there was a limit on how far it could go. Indeed it was a good chance for him to get more experience without having to go through a real CQC fight, now, if only his training opponent was not Kanae.
After thinking for a bit, Akira then carefully asked a question.
"So basically, you'll help me train, right? Since it's training for me, I'll have you follow my wish regarding the training. For example, I might ask you to go easy on me. And also no aiming for my head even if it's just a feint. If you're okay with that, then sure, I don't mind either."
"Of course!! I'm really glad I asked! Let's start right away!"
Kanae excitedly jumped off from the observation point.
Shiori did not expect that answer from Akira.
"Akira-sama, are you sure?"
"Well, it seems that she's being serious about teaching me, and it's true that it's important to have a training opponent against whom I don't need to hold back at all."
They could easily kill someone if they were not careful when they were having a CQC fight with their augmented suits. But fighting without an augmented suit was also dangerous. So it was true that it was important to have a training opponent that Akira could fight using his augmented suit without holding back too much.
"Just to be safe, if something were to happen, I'll help you."
"Ah, right. I'll be counting on you if something happens."
Akira lightly bowed to Shiori.
Akira and Kanae readied themselves while facing each other, Kanae was smiling in excitement.
"I'll hold back just like you asked me to, but you can go ahead and seriously aim to kill me. Come now, I'm ready when you are!"
Akira took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Although it was only training, it did not change the fact that his opponent was stronger than him. He could not afford to be careless.
"Akira, how much support do you want?
"It's training, I don't plan to do anything reckless, so don't give me any support unless you really have to. Like if it's getting dangerous or in case of emergencies."
"Okay, give your best there."
"Yeah."
Akira slowly closed the distance to Kanae.
Kanae originally planned to gauge Akira's strength using training as a pretext, but her plan immediately went awry. After all, she was obviously way too strong for Akira.
Akira got his feet swept clean off the ground, got grabbed and slammed into the ground, or received straight punches and kicks that stopped him on his track. While on the other hand, Kanae could easily deflect, block, and evade Akira's attacks before countering back. His strength was nothing worth noting.
Kanae looked excited at the beginning, but it did not take long before she looked disappointed. She was so disappointed in Akira that she looked rather bored while being his training partner.
[…This is really disappointing. Is this his full strength? It doesn't seem like he's holding back either. Back then when I heard a slum boy fought and defeated 8 attackers all alone when they tried to rob a relic shop in the slum city, I thought that it might be him. But I guess this means it's someone else, huh?]
The children who were taking a break there were surprised and felt a bit hopeless seeing how Akira kept getting beaten by Kanae. There was no reason for Akira to pretend to be weak. Judging from his reaction and how the other children reacted to that, Kanae realised that Akira's real skill only amounted to that much and felt greatly dispirited by it.
When she saw Reina return back, Kanae decided to stop the training.
"Akira boy, Milady has returned too, so let's stop here."
Akira was trying to even out his breathing as he said.
"Thank you very much."
"You're welcome. Well, you're not that bad, so it depends on how much you train yourself in the future."
Kanae returned back to Shiori who was welcoming Reina back and confusedly asked Shiori a question.
"Ane-san, did you really have a hard time fighting against him? If that's true, that's a little bit… You know…"
Shiori did not seem bothered by that at all and casually said.
"You may say whatever you want."
Kanae looked closely and carefully at Shiori, but Shiori hardly showed any reaction at all.
"What is it? It seems that Milady also had her fill, so let's return the equipment back and head back home."
"Ane-san, you don't believe that was Akira-boy's real strength, right? And you have an idea what to do to make him fight seriously, right?"
Shiori seemed slightly annoyed, Kanae did not let that go as she smiled amusedly.
"So, what should I do to get him to fight me seriously?"
"I have no plans to get dragged to your mess."
"Geez, it's fine, isn't it? It's thanks to me who spotted Akira-boy's vehicle and suggested to come here that Milady got a good training here, so isn't it fine to help me for a bit? Not to mention, Milady is having a hard time finding a training partner since she got kicked out of Katsuya's faction. Coming here was beneficial to Milady, you know."
"It's our job to be useful to Milady in the first place."
"That's not exactly true for me though? I'm here as Milady's bodyguard and just helping out with the training while I'm on it. I don't mind stopping anytime, you know?"
Shiori sighed. It was difficult for her to say no when Kanae brought up Reina's training. But she honestly did not want to just help Kanae out. So she decided to pick another option.
"In that case, I'll go and discuss it with Akira. So give me 1,000,000 Aurum."
"Y-You're going to make me pay?"
"Of course, we're helping each other when it's out of our job description, right? I don't mind if you want to stop here."
"Ahhh, alright, I'll be leaving it to you then."
Judging from Shiori's character, it was unlikely that she would keep that money for herself. And more than that, Kanae was interested in Akira's real strength. So after a short consideration, she decided that she did not mind paying that much money.
"We have a deal then, I'll deduct it from your wage. You won't get your money back even if I fail, okay?"
"Ehhh? That's unfair!"
Shiori just left complaining Kanae behind to have a talk with Akira. Although it was originally a half-joke to make Kanae forget about it, not that they had a deal, she only had one job now. She smiled at Akira and made a request to him.
"Akira-sama, can you please do another round with Kanae? Consider it as a request for Akira-sama."
Akira frowned.
"One more time? I believe that we did enough just now though?"
"No, this is a little bit different. It's not Kanae helping you train, it's more of Akira-sama helping Kanae train. The reward will be 500,000 Aurum. It'll be paid in full upfront. The request will be completed once Akira-sama works hard enough to earn that 500,000 Aurum. That will be all, will you accept it?"
Akira slightly frowned since he felt like Shiori was able to see through him. He then started considering whether to take that request or not. That was when Shiori suddenly said.
"If I may, it might be not good for Akira-sama to wrap up the training with Akira-sama's complete defeat."
As Shiori said so, she glanced in Erio's direction. Akira followed suit and looked at Erio and the other children. It was true that he looked rather pathetic there. For some reason, after seeing how they looked at him, Akira thought that some of them might think that they have a chance to win if they try to challenge him in CQC.
After Shiori gave that slight nudge on Akira, she then continued.
"If I may add my personal opinion, I believe that Milady started to work hard since she's aiming to be as strong as Akira-sama who was able to fight side by side with the other Hunters. If I may, I wish that Milady's goal would stay somewhere high."
Akira glanced at Reina. Reina seemed rather conflicted and slightly disappointed.
"She's already using pretty expensive equipment there, combat power-wise, I think she's already above me though?"
"Is that so? At the least, I don't believe so. Moreover, strength is not only about pure firepower, it's not decided solely based on the quality of equipments."
At first, Akira took some time to think about it, he then made an expression as if he just gave up.
"Alright. But I'll be the one to decide when the request ends and I won't take any objection, okay?"
"Very well, thank you very much."
Shiori lightly bowed and paid 500,000 Aurum to Akira. That was just to be safe in case Akira wanted to get cash instead of a bank transfer. Akira received that, returned back to his vehicle, took out some medicines from his rucksack, and swallowed them.
"Akira, are you sure you're okay taking that request?"
"Well, I do want to test your support too, not to mention that I don't want Erio and the other children to misunderstand something here. Moreover…"
"Moreover?"
"Moreover, I don't like the fact that I kept getting beaten up one-sidedly."
Akira said so as he smiled smugly, Alpha smiled back confidently at him.
"That's true, so then, how much level of recklessness is okay?"
"At least enough to be suitable for that reward. It's a request after all."
"Very well. Not to mention, it seems you're willing to go as far as to take some medicines beforehand, let's change the setting of your augmented suit a bit. If she already has her guard down, we can use that to defeat her quickly and show her your strength."
Akira smiled seeing that it seemed Alpha was raring to go too.
Akira and Kanae were facing each other again. Akira had a serious face just like last time, but that was not the case for Kanae, she seemed half-convinced and was still suspicious.
"I'm ready when you are. Also, it's my training this time, so it would be great if you can give your full power."
"Honestly speaking, I wasn't holding back my punch at all though."
"I guess that doesn't really matter now. Come now, I don't mind if you want to aim for my head, you know."
"Roger that."
Just like last time, Akira slowly closed the distance. Looking at that, Kanae thought that her guess was indeed correct. Her expression slightly turned disappointed for a split second, right at that moment, Akira used the full power of his augmented suit to propel his body forward and closed the distance in one quick and fluid motion.
That sudden move as if Akira was completely a different person caught Kanae completely off guard and slowed her reaction. But that did not pose trouble due to her fighting skill. She saw Akira trying to dive straight at her as she moved to block that incoming attack.
Right at that moment, she immediately shifted her posture and blocked a powerful kick aimed at her torso.
[…That right straight was a feint!? Not to mention that both his gaze and attack were seriously aimed at me!? Isn't he too good at making a feint!?]
After receiving that kick, Kanae immediately shifted to counter that attack as her leg drew a sharp arc from under her maid outfit. But Akira took a step back and leaned back, Kanae's leg just cut clearly through the air.
[…He did not get thrown off balance even when I countered with that strong kick! And that reaction time!! He immediately moved away to evade my attack right after his kick!! Or more like, he didn't even look at my kick, did he?!]
Kanae used the momentum from her kick to shift her posture and changed the trajectory of her kick. But Akira immediately ducked and evaded that too. Now that Kanae had her both legs off the ground, Akira zoomed in to throw an attack.
[…Still too naive!!]
Normally, now that Kanae was flying in the air, she should not be able to evade that attack. But both of Kanae's legs were armed with forcefield armour.
She activated the force field armour on her left leg to forcefully change her posture and evaded Akira's attack, and she did not stop there, she used the projected force field that was only there for a split second as a platform to fix her posture in the air.
But as if Akira completely expected that, Kanae suddenly received a powerful kick on her torso. She was slammed hard into the ground and found herself lying face-up on the ground.
Not too far away from Kanae, who was lying on the ground, Akira was trying to calm down his breathing. The exchange only lasted for a few seconds, if one of them looked away even for a bit, it would have ended in an instant. But even so, it left a big impression on everyone who saw that. Reina, Erio and the other children were completely shocked since they could not process what just happened.
Shiori looked half-shocked since she was half-expecting that would happen.
Kanae pushed herself up. She was smiling widely that it was creepy. Akira frowned as he saw her smile.
"No damage even after she received that powerful kick, huh?"
"That must be because of her equipment."
"That's kinda true."
Akira then shook that off and said to Kanae.
"That's it, that will be the end."
Kanae's smile was filled with excitement for more as she replied.
"…What are you talking about? We're just getting started here. You're surprisingly strong when you're serious, it's indeed amazing, but it would be troublesome if you think that was enough to defeat me."
"No, this is the end."
Kanae interpreted that as Akira looking down on her, so then she said while smiling amusedly.
"Don't worry, I'll crush that misconception in no time."
"That's not what I meant, this is the end of my request."
Kanae seemed genuinely confused about what Akira was talking about.
"The request only lasts until I put in enough work to earn the 500,000 Aurum reward. And that one now was worth at least that much. The request is finished, it's done. So I have no plans to go along with you."
Although Kanae was confused, she was able to understand what he meant, she obviously looked displeased.
"Ehhh!! You would just back off after putting my heart on fire like this? That's just so unfair, you know!"
"I didn't get my medicine and energy pack for free, you know!"
"I know, I'll pay the extra money! How about that?"
"Still no! My augmented suit is in a rather bad state, you see. If I go along with your training, there's no mistaking it that it'll break! To be honest, I'm planning to use it as carefully as possible until my new augmented suit arrives. That's why I can't go along with your request. If you keep forcing me, I'll run away while emptying the extended magazine of my DVTS minigun at you, you know."
After Akira said something that completely killed Kanae's chance of convincing him, she looked utterly disappointed and finally gave up.
"Alright, haaahh… I just don't get it. But that one exchange cost 500,000 Aurum, huh. Isn't that too expensive?"
"Honestly speaking, I think I didn't charge enough since I had to fight someone who's doing fine even after taking that kick square on."
Before fighting Kanae, Akira returned the setting of his augmented suit from follow-type to read-type. He then gathered his focus to compress his time perception, and raised the output power of his augmented suit to its limit with the help of Alpha's support, and he even took some medicines beforehand to brace for the burden that would be put on his body. After all these preparations, he was finally able to get a strike in, but that did not hurt his opponent at all. So Akira believed that it was at least worth that much.
Kanae recognized Akira's skill, but that caused another question to surface up.
"But still, if you're that strong, it would have been great if you had put that much effort in our first battle. Is it that you can't get serious unless it's a request?"
"I was being serious back then too, you know? It's just that since it's training, so I thought there's no need for me to get reckless. That was enough training for me too. While the last fight was a request for training, so I only did what I needed to do. As I said before, I didn't get my medicine and energy pack for free."
Kanae seemed to be thinking for a bit before she made a serious face and said.
"Akira-boy, are you actually hiding your real strength while trying to be a superhuman?"
Akira frowned.
"I have no plans to be anything like that. Someone else also asked me the exact same thing not too long ago, so let me say it again, that's not true. I have no plans to be strong enough to be able to throw a tank with my pure strength."
"…I see"
Kanae somehow looked amused. There was a trace of favourability toward Akira in her gaze, but it was much closer to a favourability toward a rival or someone who was of the same type as her. Akira thought that smile was similar to Neria's, it was a smile of someone who would try to seduce the opponent that she wanted to kill, Akira could not help but to make an annoyed face at that.
After that, Reina's group thanked Akira and left. Akira looked tired as he said.
"Alpha, I somehow feel tired. Is it okay if we finish the training here today?"
"Sure, do you want to head straight back home? Or do you want to let Erio and the other children continue the training themselves?"
"Hmmm, let's see… I guess I'll let them continue the training themselves, huh. It's their precious opportunity to train, so I would feel bad if I send them all back just because I don't feel like doing it."
"Alright. In that case, let's break them into two groups and set them to fight each other, then I'll have you observe their fight and take notes. It's important to be able to do that kind of analysis too, you see."
Erio and the other children continued the training by themselves for some time after that. Akira did not join them at all, and when the time was right, they decided to wrap up the training.
That was the first training session where they finished before Erio and the other children got too tired to do anything.
—*—*—*—
After they left Akira, Reina, Shiori and Kanae headed back to the city. Kanae sounded rather happy as she said while driving the vehicle.
"Well well well, although it was rather unfortunate, I'm glad that we visited Akira-boy. It served as a good training for Milady and I got to see how strong that Akira-boy is. To be honest, I didn't expect him to be that strong. That explains why Ane-san had a hard time fighting him. So then, Milady, how was the training? To be honest, I stopped watching midway, you see."
Reina somehow looked displeased. At least, she looked displeased enough that it was obvious that it was not because Kanae said she stopped watching midway.
"It was hard, I feel like I got a good gauge of my current strength at the moment. Though it's all thanks to my equipment."
"It's also important to properly gauge your fighting ability when you have your equipment. Even that Akira-boy also said that you'll need both equipment and training to be strong. And if he had to pick one, he did say that he would pick equipment."
"You're right. Although they were special equipment used only for training, it's true that I was having a hard time because of how superior their equipment was. I feel like I was defeated by a group of amateurs with overwhelmingly superior equipment. Well, that also applies to me too to some extent though. I'm okay with the equipment since Shiori prepared them for me, so what's left for me is only training, huh. I still need a lot of training before I can get as strong as Akira. Shiori, Kanae, I'll be relying on both of you."
Reina sounded as if she finally made her resolve to move forward, so Shiori happily replied.
"Please leave it to us. It's our job to be useful to Milady."
But in contrast to that, Kanae said while making a grim face.
"Milady, it's all good if you want to be as strong as Akira-boy, but it's impossible for Milady to get as strong as Akira-boy, you know. He's someone who you should not aspire to be."
"…What do you mean?"
Reina was confused. Kanae then answered her question with a serious tone.
"He's not right in the head in all kinds of meaning. Akira-boy's augmented suit is not an advanced augmented suit like Milady is using right now. Its capability is relatively low and its user burden compensator is also relatively bad. That's why their power output is lowered for the sake of the safety of its user. But, although it's only my guess, I believe that Akira-boy modified that limiter or maybe even completely took it off. So it should have been putting his body under immense stress. And well, normal people would die if they do that. Akira-boy's move suddenly changed as if he was completely a different person after he accepted that request from Ane-san, remember? Oh, did you even see that fight?"
"I did, he suddenly became surprisingly strong…"
"That's the difference when he was willing to put that burden on his body, you see. The reason why he took medicine beforehand was because he would die if he didn't do that."
"I-is it really that bad? It didn't seem that bad though…"
"In that case, would you like to give it a try? You should be able to try it if we change the setting on your augmented suit."
Kanae said that so casually, but Shiori immediately interjected as if she was scolding Kanae.
"Kanae, stop talking nonsense. Milady, it's really dangerous, so don't even think about it no matter what."
Reina frowned, she understood the danger of doing something like that from how Shiori sounded there. Kanae lightly giggled and said.
"To be honest, I think it's a good idea to at least try it once though. But as I explained before, it's basically awful."
"If it's really that dangerous, I can understand why I should not fight using that method."
Reina seemed to fully understand the importance of that subject. But Kanae shook her head and said.
"That's not what I meant, as in matter of fact, that's not the biggest issue."
"Eh? Shiori also stopped me though, but that was not the real issue?"
"Even Ane-san also has a similar trump card too. It's not a bad thing to keep something like that in case of emergency. The problem is how Akira-boy is using that method without any hesitation even though he doesn't have a cyborg body. That way of thinking and common sense is simply abnormal."
"A-abnormal…?"
"Although Akira-boy's augmented suit is a new augmented suit compared to the one that he used when he fought Ane-san, it's already pretty rugged to the point that he said he's already buying a new one. Normally, augmented suits won't get that bad so quickly. That would mean that he had gone through enough fierce fights to get his augmented suit, not his body, that bad so fast. So it's not an exaggeration to say that he's not right in the head since he thinks that it's a normal thing. Then to top it off, he said that someone also mistook him before and asked if he's trying to be a superhuman, that would mean he's been doing that without knowing it. Although I feel bad for saying this, but he's simply crazy."
Shiori frowned.
"It must be rather severe since even Kanae says so."
"Well, I bet it's because he's like that that Ane-san had a hard time fighting him."
After Kanae said so, she suddenly made a rather confused look.
"…But still, putting that aside, I still find it rather strange. People who are that strong usually have an aura that you can recognize. But although Akira is actually strong, why does he still look weak? And I don't think that he's deliberately trying to look weak either. Milady, do you have any guess?"
"M-me?"
"I heard that Milady looked down on Akira-boy thinking that he's just a small fry the first time Milady met him. Is there any particular reason why Milady thought he was just a small fry?"
Reina remembered her mistake and looked slightly displeased. But as she continued searching through her memories, her expression slowly changed to a confused one.
[Now that Kanae mentions it, why did I think so? No matter how he looked, he was called to that place as a Hunter and he had proper equipment too. Was it simply because there was something that I did not like about him? No, I only felt so after I talked to him, I thought that he looked weak even before I spoke to him… That's why when he refused our offer to work together, I got irritated and… Is it because Akira is just a small boy? But I think he's more or less of the same age as me though…]
Shiori was also searching through her memories as to why she misjudged Akira's strength. She then remembered Shikarabe's answer when she inquired about him and realized that Shikarabe also had made the same mistake as her.
This could not be just a pure coincidence, there must be something behind it. Although Shiori could not identify what this something was, there was no mistaking it, something was causing it. As she thought so, she decided to be more careful with Akira.
"Ane-san, did you get anything?"
"What are you planning to do with that information?"
"As Milady's bodyguard, it's so that I won't lower my guard even if my opponent looks weak."
But then Shiori replied back causally.
"Nothing in particular came to mind except the shame from the mistake I made. So you should be careful too."
"Yes ma'am."
Kanae noticed that subtle change in Shiori's attitude and smiled excitedly.
[This Akira-boy is really an interesting boy. The more I know about him, the more questions come up about him. I wonder if I can get a chance to properly fight him soon.]
And so, her interest in Akira got even deeper along with her smile.