[Spectator Seats]
I was able to find the girls quickly.
They were chatting about my last match earlier.
As expected, Mirana was the one who made a fuss about it. However, Lily has unexpectedly explained a reason to her.
"Listen, Mirana. In a fight, something like that happens often. I remember Zaiden being beaten to a pulp by his dad, and that was only training."
"I-is that so? I thought he beat his opponent because he hated him."
"No. Something like that often happens in a fight."
"But… he looked like he was enjoying the fight." Mirana made an excuse again.
This time I was the one who answered her.
"My bad. I was a bit pissed off earlier."
Hearing my voice, the girls looked at me.
"Oh, Vincent. Good job earlier. You won, huh?" Lily congratulated me.
I nodded my head at her, then Mirana asked something.
"What do you mean by pissed off? Aren't you going too far earlier? Your opponent even has his nose broken, from what I heard. You even tried to approach him when he was already on the floor."
I had already expected this and prepared my answer.
"Well, to be honest… Lisa was crying earlier. Her opponent only played her and never intended to give a proper fight. When I saw her, I was a bit pissed off, so I went too far in my fight. Also, the referee had yet to stop the fight, so I think he's just faking it. It's my fault."
The other went silent. Mirana looked at me with guilt. She was supposed to be a cheery person, but why did she always look guilty when she looked at me?
"I-I see… In other words, you got pissed because that girl was playing around with Lisa?"
"Something like that."
I sat on the empty seat beside Lily and leaned my back against the chair rest.
Lily then exclaimed. "See? I told you that he has his reason!"
"M-my bad," Mirana muttered as she looked apologetic.
"As I said a few times already, I don't mind. People often misunderstand me."
"Y-yeah."
The atmosphere then becomes awkward. I wonder how Zaiden was doing with Lisa.
***
[Infirmary]
The infirmary was similar to the usual school infirmary.
The wall was painted white. On the side of the wall, three beds with white sheets were separated from each other with white curtains.
Behind a curtain, a girl was lying on one of the beds; she was Lisa.
She squirmed and let out a low grunt, "Ugh…"
She was trying to remember what happened before she fainted, then her face turned red when she remembered crying in front of Zaiden; she even hugged him.
With her hands to cover her red face, she muttered.
"What have I done?"
She calmed herself down. After a while, she looked around. "Where is this?"
Her eyes then stopped at the sight of Zaiden, who stared at her.
Both of them looked at each other awkwardly. Lisa's mouth opened and closed repeatedly.
"D-did you hear that?"
"Umm… yeah. Sorry." Zaiden scratched his cheek with a wry smile.
Once again, Lisa's face turned red, and she looked away from Zaiden to hide it.
"He heard it… he heard it…" Lisa muttered the same words a few times in a low voice.
Zaiden looked at her with a small smile. He was glad that Lisa acted like usual again, but he was still worried about her.
Lisa turned to Zaiden shyly and asked.
"Umm… please forget what happened earlier. Also, please don't tell anyone."
Sensing the mood, Zaiden nodded his head.
"Don't worry. I will not tell anyone. But… Vincent seems to know that you cried because of your swollen eyes. He was worried about you. He even waited in front of the waiting room earlier."
"R-really? W-well, I don't think it will be a problem if it's Vincent. I know he can keep a secret." Lisa responded with a smile.
"Is that so? More importantly, are you okay now? The Awakener had healed the bruises on your body, and he said you just needed some rest to get your energy back."
Lisa turned her body around to show Zaiden as she replied. "Yes, it's not a problem. I was just too exhausted."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Then it's good." Zaiden smiled at Lisa.
Zaiden wanted Lisa to stop fighting, as her Talent wasn't suited to fighting.
He knew that the future Lisa was a successful businesswoman, but she didn't know about the future. She would also create a new Magic Pill that increased Mana called Mana Magic Pill.
For that reason, Zaiden wanted to tell her to try Brewing Magic Pills starting now. But he couldn't bring himself to do that. Even though he was still not Awakened yet, his Loving Trait didn't allow him to hurt Lisa, whom he loved.
Although he refused to call them his girlfriends, he loved all of them. He had come to love them, even though his intention at first was to save them.
However, his love for them was not the kind of romantic love; he loved them as friends. He cared for them, his friends.
His Loving Trait didn't differentiate between romantic love or friendship love. He was affected by both. So he couldn't do something that made them sad.
It was at that moment that he understood the feelings of Zaiden in the novel. He always wondered why Zaiden didn't hate his friends, even when they betrayed him. It turned out that his Trait restricted him. However, each betrayal and suffering made Zaiden in the novel stronger. He didn't know his reason, as he was reincarnated before he read the last volume.
"Zaiden." Lisa called out to him and snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Oh, what?"
"Vincent's match.. how did it turn out? Did he win?"
Zaiden smiled proudly at Lisa. "He won."
Although the match was brutal and Vincent took it too far, in the end, he won. Zaiden learned about it from his parents.
"I see… How about you? When is your next match?"
"It's in 30 minutes. The referee gave us time to rest."
"30 minutes, huh? Your next opponent is that girl, right?" Asked Lisa worriedly. "Will you be okay? I know that you are strong, but…" She couldn't finish her sentence as Zaiden interrupted her.
"Ah, about that. I heard from the Awakener who healed you that the third match will be held differently. The fighter will be selected randomly, so I won't know my opponent before the match starts."
"Oh, so that's how it is. It's different from last month, huh?"
"Yeah. The third match is always different each month. Last month was a battle royale. It was a miracle that I won in the end."
"Hahahaha. Your body was full of bruises, though."
"Hahahaha."
Zaiden managed to win the previous month's tournament. That was the main reason why his opponent surrendered in the second match.
Vincent never participated in any tournaments. When he decided to join this month, Zaiden was surprised as well as happy at the same time.
He had heard the rumors about Vincent too. How he beat some delinquents from other schools and how he sent people to hospitals before the entrance ceremony of the Academy.
But he never believed them. He was sure that there was a reason for that.
After seeing Vincent's match in the first round, Zaiden was excited to fight him. Vincent was strong, maybe even stronger than him.
"Good luck, Zaiden." Encouraged Lisa.
"Yeah, I will win this time too."
***
The third match started after a 30 minute break.
I never expected that the fighter would be randomly selected by the Academy headmaster, Jack, who sat on the teacher's spectator seat. How could he randomly select the fighters? Was he crazy?
I glanced at him only to see him grinning widely; he was excited by this match. Because why not?
The first fighter that was chosen was me. Maybe it was due to my S-Rank Luck or because of his E-Rank luck, my opponent was Zaiden.
The positive was that I was given a chance to punch Zaiden legally without him being suspicious of me. The negative was that he would know that I was stronger than him, and he would certainly bother me to fight with him again in the future. Well, the negative was not too important as I would have a chance to hit him again, which served as a good stress reliever for me.
"I never thought that I would meet you this fast, Vincent."
Zaiden warmed up in front of me by stretching his arms and legs. He had chosen a wooden sword again as his weapon.
"Yeah, me too." I was swinging the wooden sword in my hand to loosen my wrist.
"Let's have a nice duel, Vincent. Promise me no hate or something, whoever wins."
"Don't worry about that. I am confident that I will win."
"Hahahaha. We won't know until we try."
Zaiden took a stances with the tip of his sword pointed at me.
I didn't take any stance. The tip of my sword faced the ground.
We faced each other with a grin. There was a serious atmosphere around us, but it was also friendly.
Unlike the matches before, which had a serious atmosphere like an actual tournament. The fight between Zaiden and me was similar to a friendly spar.
The crowd looked at us with interest. I just found out from the girls earlier that Zaiden was actually the winner of the previous tournament.
It was natural that the crowd would be interested. They knew that Zaiden was strong, and they certainly wanted to see him beat me, the famous delinquent of the Academy.
"Are both sides ready?" The referee asked us while looking at us alternatively.
"Yes!" Zaiden gave an energetic answer.
I nodded my head in affirmation.
"Then, begin!"
We moved at the same time. We met in the middle of the arena while swinging our swords at the same time.
Tak–!
Zaiden's swordsmanship was great; he was able to keep up with my movements even though he was a Non-Awakener.
While I was not moving at my top speed, I was still faster than normal people.
"As expected, you are good, Vincent."
"Nah, you are the one that's too weak." I mocked him and used this chance to kick him in the stomach.
However, Zaiden had expected it. He immediately jumped back to dodge my kick. As soon as he landed, he rushed toward me again. He swung his sword sharply, aiming at my temple.
With a smooth movement, I moved my sword to parry his. Our swords bounced off each other when they met , but I quickly gripped mine back and sent a thrust toward Zaiden.
He quickly stepped to the side, dodging my thrust. He couldn't entirely avoid it as it grazed his shoulder, tearing his uniform and leaving a bruise mark.
Swoosh–!
The crowd gasped in surprise. They must have been surprised that I could get the upper hand in this fight.
Zaiden created distance between us and stared at me with an excited look. He looked like a child that had found a new toy to play with.
"Vincent! I know that you are still holding back. You don't need to worry about me; attack me with all your strength!"
Uh, no. I would refrain from that. If I attacked him with all my strength, he would die.
But to respect his bravery, I replied to him.
"Fine! Don't regret this." I pointed the tip of my sword at him.
"Hahahaha. Don't worry about me! There is a healer in the infirmary in case something happens!"
If he was that determined, then I guess I could break one or two bones in his body, right?
After all, he was the one who said that. So I would take his offer happily.
"Then, here I go!"