"Qin Zhang? You saw him?"
Hikari asked.
"Yeah. I went for a haircut yesterday and I saw him. He came with me and I ended up paying for his haircut too."
When I suddenly mentioned haircut, I was wondering why no one said anything about mine.
"That's weird... I'll check in with the principal as you guys spar. Get on with it."
Everyone split into their pairs and fought.
The only group that had three people was Anastasia's one since we had 31 people in our class.
I moved to an empty area with Hikari.
"Well, do you think you'll get into the top six, Shoya?"
She suddenly started to refer to me by my first name. Not that I really mind. Now, that I think about it, I don't know her first name. Is it Hikari?
"I mean, I don't think so, but I'll try my best."
"How do you want to spar first?"
"Hand-to-hand combat would be fine."
"Okay, I'm ready when you are."
Hikari got into her stance. It was a defensive boxing stance but not really. Her right arm was in front of her left arm, which was practically on her face. Meanwhile, her left foot was in front of her right.
This stance would seem amateur to the average person, but I could tell that it left no openings.
No matter how hard I attack or how fast, she'd be able to counter.
Hikari had the advantage in this fight. For now.
"Here I come,"
I said.
I rushed toward her with the intent to attack.
As I approached her, I raised my right arm and pushed it toward her. She levelled her left arm with her right to guard the blow.
My fist stopped.
I feinted.
With her guard up, she can barely see me, and that means her legs are left wide open.
I dropped to the floor and swiped the ground, going for her legs.
She jumped.
"What..."
"Seems like you're slightly experienced! I knew there was something different about you when I saw you this morning!"
She smiled as she stomped the floor, aiming at me. I was able to roll away. As soon as I did, I charged in for another attack.
We travelled with each other, matching each other blow for blow.
Hikari smiled as she was able to land a solid hit on me in the face. I was also able to hit her as I leaned toward her to throw off her gravity slightly.
I could beat her if I raise my speed... But I want to have more fu-.
As I was thinking, I was thrown off my feet.
I guess I shouldn't do that during a sparring match.
Hikari helped me up.
"You're definitely not the flirt I met a month ago."
"Flirt? God, that's how you thought of me... Ah, that reminds me. Why did you glare at me when we first met?"
I was slightly curious since I had never known her before that point.
"Eh, that's because you were flirting with me."
I facepalmed.
"Wow. So, now looking at others is flirting. Got you."
"That's not important. How did you get so strong within a month?"
Week, but okay.
"Let's just say that I did some hellish training."
The thing is Ai-nee said that this is only the beginning. I'm not even halfway through her training. I hope I don't die in the process.
"If it's alright, I'd like to suggest how we compete next?"
"Compete? This suddenly turned into a competition, huh?"
Hikari gave me a smirk while she swatted her blue hair out of her eyes.
"It's more fun that way, right?"
She winked.
Damn, I never had cute girls like this in my high school. Maki, not the guy, excluded.
"Besides, the bracelet will measure our stats no matter what."
I sighed.
"That is true. What do you suggest?"
"Magic. As long as we have this training suit on, we should be able to take on magic spells without any fatal damage."
Ah, these training outfits are more useful than I could've ever thought.
I offered for Hikari to go first.
When it's my turn, I don't think I'm going to use my Shadow Magic. I'll leave Shadow Magic as a trump card. Not many can use it and most have forgotten about it.
I think I'll use Flame Magic, my second-best element.
(The difference between Fire and Flame Magic is that Fire depends on oxygen while Flame is pure.)
"With the solace of the sea, grant me the freedom and flexibility to smite my target; Aquatic Cross!"
Aquatic Cross? Wait, isn't that...
Water began to materialise and form a cross. The cross was large. It was as large as me, if not larger.
Wait, if I remember correctly, Aquatic Cross is an Advanced Class spell...
(Novice - Amateur - Intermediate - Advanced - Apprentice - Master - King - Deity. Order of spell ranks and also for other things.)
Without hesitation, she fired the cross at me.
As it hit me, I felt a shocking rush through my body. I flew across the ground.
Pain smeared my whole body.
Hikari ran over to me.
"Are you okay?! Maybe I shouldn't have used my strongest spell."
"N-no, no, it's fine. I'm just aching all over. No fatal damage here."
No fatal damage doesn't mean you don't get hurt.
I got up and Hikari distanced herself away from me. She was ready to be hit by a spell.
Well, she's a girl and I don't want to hurt her, but I think she'd be offended if I went easy.
In that case, I'll use Cremation. An Intermediate spell.
I can just abbreviate the spell name to 'Cremate,' due to some experiments Ai-nee and I did.
I lifted my hand.
"Cremate."
The flames roared from my hand and rocketed over to Hikari. She stood her ground. From my stance, it looked like she was being devoured by the flames. After 10 seconds or so, I stopped.
Hikari's hair was untidy. Before it was in a ponytail but now, it was messy and untied.
She had slight burn marks on her face, but they looked more like scratches. Her training outfit seemed to hold out.
"Uhhh... Sorry?"
I didn't know what to say.
"It's fine. Your prayerless Quick Casting is the real deal."
"I... guess so?"