"All is in the palm of my hand."
One person muttered to themselves.
"Don't I sound cool?"
A suspicious dark smile came as a bonus.
It's perfect.
A perfect plan.
Luckily, I met Kazane.
he chose the traditional route of fire magic and swordsmanship, which put me at ease.
Exclusive equipment that only the protagonist can handle.
It seemed like he was familiar with the "Holy Sword," which can transform into any weapon and has powerful abilities.
he exceeded my expectations.
"Thank goodness you're not Dekenobou."
If he had been the silent Dekenobou, I would have been half screwed.
he isn't a scumbag, and her personality is probably good.
Most importantly, he has a minimum level of skill.
"Is fate on my side?"
Thank you, fate.
I appreciate it.
It seems like Kazane missed out on winning Block A, but as a tutorial, he did well as the runner-up.
"It's perfect. You'll become stronger."
And also.
Did you see my perfect defeat?
I performed a real-time attack speedrun, pretending to struggle and losing with minimal effort.
What do you think of the production that made it seem like my skills fell short?
"Hehehe."
I was grinning as I lazily watched the C Block match.
It's starting to get dark.
Well, I can go home now.
I don't want to work overtime.
I'm going home.
One of the things I dislike in this world is working overtime.
The other is incompetent managers.
My work for today is done.
If I work anymore, it'll become an extra task.
① Participated in a mock battle and lost to the protagonist.
② To explore the protagonist's personality and abilities.
③ To make things even better, I met Jude.
This week, there's only a mock battle.
I have no business with the academy for the rest of the week.
I don't know if attendance is being taken, but I probably won't go.
I don't want to risk being alone and having to deal with any trouble.
I asked one of the organizing committee students, "Isn't tomorrow the final match of the individual tournament?" and gave them a fake name, "Sumashu," as well as a fake contact information.
I don't want any trouble.
"Tomorrow, I might wake up gracefully around noon and do some training or go to the dungeon to earn some pocket money. But, that wouldn't really be considered work. I'm not some crazy workaholic, so taking a break from work is necessary, or my mind will become sick.
Sleeping in also sounds good. They say that even if you don't wake up early, you won't miss anything. I'm getting excited. Why is it that my mood always gets lifted just before a long holiday?
As the sun set, the viewing venue and academy buildings were beautifully lit up with lights. I bought some yakisoba, takoyaki, and honey churros from the food stands, planning to bring them as souvenirs to Moridor. I had a satisfied look on my face as I bought a large amount of food and was about to leave when I was called out from behind.
"Why did you deliberately lose?"
It was a clear, dignified voice.
"What?"
Surprised by the unexpected words, I turned around.
To my surprise, the person who was there was a character I never expected to encounter.
Why did I meet this character?
Why?
Where did I go wrong?"
・
・
・
/From Komachi's perspective/
I searched for Tom, panting heavily. I looked for the man who called himself Tom, Amachi, in the crowd.
"Where are you!?"
As soon as he lost in the match at Block A, I slipped out of the venue and started running unconsciously.
There were people everywhere. Countless crowds.
It's hopeless.
It might be difficult to find him.
Who is he?
At least, I want to say just one word to him. And I want to tell him that I want to study under him.
"Haa, haa..."
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and tried to calm down a little.
I couldn't find a clue even though I searched this much.
It's too big.
This academy is too big.
Moreover, there are too many people.
I feel like there are more people since the afternoon.
Including the 4,000 academy officials, if we add the general spectators, their families and friends, people who came to cheer, and onlookers, there might be more than twice as many people in this place.
It's impossible to search this vast academy thoroughly in the flow of people.
It's also impossible to judge each person's face one by one.
With so many people crowded around here, I couldn't catch the strange color or shape of that man even with my eyes.
There were echoes of cheers around.
"We'll meet again soon..."
If he's a member of this academy, I'll eventually see him again.
It's already getting dark. I'll give up for today.
Just when I thought that.
I saw Amachi's face in the crowd in the distance, buying a large serving of takoyaki at a food stall.
"There he is..."
Someone spoke to me, and I stopped. I have to hurry or I'll lose sight of him.
"We have to go quickly."
I ran towards his back.