Previously, after Isao left, Stella was quickly approached by the director of her school, Kurono Shinguuji.
"So, his name is... Iinuma Isao?"
"Yes." Stella nodded, telling Kurono everything about Isao. Yes, he might have told her that he would tell her many things when they met each other again, but he didn't tell her not to look for him, right?
So, at this moment, Stella thought of using Kurono's authority and influence to search for Isao, especially when she knew that her school was in dire need of a powerful student to compete in the 62nd Seven Stars Sword Art Festival.
While the majority of students didn't care much, as no one thought much about joining this competition due to how dangerous it was, considering a death was possible during the fight, and only the strong wished to prove that they were the strongest, it was different with Kurono, who was a new director of the Hagun Academy, the mage-knight school where the protagonist and the most of the heroines studied.
Naturally, as the terrorist accident related to the students of her school, especially the princess of the Vermillion Kingdom, who was also someone with the strongest potential along with the princess of the Kurogane family, Shizuku Kurogane, Kurono had to be present during the aftermath of the accident.
Still, hearing Stella's confession, Kurono became interested in this young man, but then again, she also wanted the opinion of others.
"What do you guys think?"
Shizuku Kurogane didn't say anything since she didn't have much interest in other human beings except for her older brother, but she also had to admit that the young man, who suddenly appeared from the sky, was powerful.
Still, she didn't think that young man was her older brother's opponent.
"Handsome! He is the most handsome guy that I have ever seen!" Being asked, naturally, Arisuin Nagi answered excitedly with brilliant eyes. Yes, his body might be a guy, but his soul was a girl. It was love at first sight, and if possible, he wanted to meet him again.
"Director, you should invite him to our school!"
As Arisuin said so, Stella also nodded. "He is so powerful."
Kurono nodded, and inwardly, she had made up her mind, especially when she knew that Isao could make all the people in this place fall asleep. While she wasn't sure what kind of power he wielded, for him to be able to affect Arisuin, Shizuku, Stella, and Ikki, there was no doubt this young man was powerful.
"Fragrance..."
"Hmm?"
Everyone looked at Ikki Kurogane, who talked for the first time.
"I think that's his power," Ikki said in a confident tone.
"Fragrance?" Kurono raised her brows and asked, "You think the power of this young man is related to a fragrance?"
"I believe so." Ikki nodded. "When I was about to fall asleep, I remembered how the scent of my surroundings became quite sweet."
"Ah, now that you mention it!" Stella also remembered how good the scent of the surroundings was.
"Or rather, I can still smell the remains of his scent..." As Arisuin said so, his face flushed red. "This smell is so unbearable~!"
Whether Shizuku, who loved her older brother, or Kurono, who had a husband, also nodded since they had to admit that even if their hearts were on someone else, the scent of this young man was imprinted on their hearts.
This was an unforgettable and memorable scent.
Or rather, while it might be strange, women remembered the men the most from their scent, especially when Shizuku and Kurono happened to be in their ovulation phase at this moment.
"But even so, he isn't Onii-sama's opponent!" Shizuku quickly said, trying to erase this scent from her mind, and focused entirely on her Onii-sama.
Ikki didn't say anything, as if he had acquired Shizuku's words. If Isao's ability was only a scent manipulation, then he wouldn't think that Isao would be his opponent, especially when he could shut down his sense of smell with ease.
If there was a reason why Ikki had also fallen asleep before, he thought it was because he had let go of his guard, but as he knew the reason, the same thing wouldn't happen again.
This was the style of Ikki Kurogane; as long as he learned everything about his opponents, their opponents were already on their defeats!
"Really? If that's the case, then how did he suddenly appear from the sky, Ikki?"
If it was before, Stella wouldn't doubt Ikki, but then, somehow, she felt that this Ikki was too confident. Frankly, the words "unfathomable" and "mystery" had always been etched into Ikki, especially after he defeated her, who was known as the strongest, but now, it was different.
There was also another person who could defeat her and save her at the same time.
Even though Stella also agreed that Isao's part of power might be related to a scent or a fragrance, she didn't think that it was all. While she didn't have evidence, she believed in her instinct, and she believed that she was correct.
If it had been before, Ikki would have agreed, but somehow, partly because he felt strange as Stella showed his attention to this young man, he suddenly became stubborn. "No, I believe in my observation. My "Perfect Vision" is correct, and I believe that's his power."
Perfect Vision.
This was a technique that Ikki had developed as a weak to defeat the strong.
Using this technique, he could grasp his opponents' fighting styles using his incredible insight into their personalities and tendencies. This made it possible for him to figure out their thought processes and predict their moves in advance. It was as though Ikki could see everything about the person in question.
Still, Stella looked at Ikki strangely, feeling strange as Ikki suddenly became stubborn and could even confidently say that he was right.
Jealousy.
This was why Ikki might have done such an act, but as he had never fallen in love, and he had never thought of any of the students as his competitors to get Stella, he had never felt this feeling before.
However, for the first time, Stella showed interest in another man other than him, and while Ikki hated to admit it, Isao was much better in appearance or ability than him, so he couldn't help but feel threatened as if Stella would be robbed away from him.
After all, no king would feel jealous of the commoners, right?
Yet what if the queen showed an interest in another king?
Naturally, the king would show jealousy, and jealousy wasn't a good thing.
Still, while Ikki was a genius martial artist, his knowledge of feeling was zero, and he was a newbie in this new genre of battle known as "Love."
"No, I think that he has another power," Stella said. She also became stubborn since this was her personality; she was a short-tempered princess who easily showed her temper to anyone.
"No! Why didn't you believe me?"
"It's not that I don't believe you, but I think it is far too simple if we just determine everything like that."
While Ikki somehow had an impulse, he suddenly asked, "Do you like him?" He felt this should be the case, especially when he knew Isao had saved Stella.
"....." Everyone.
Stella looked at Ikki in disbelief, and her mood quickly destroyed. "Idiot!" She shouted, then ran away as she wiped away her tears.
"Wa-Wait! I'm not done with my talk yet!"
Ikki wanted to chase after Stella, but Nagi and Shizuku stopped him.
"Arisu? Shizuku?"
"That's quite too much, Ikki."
"...even if I don't like her, I think that's a bit too much, Onii-sama."
As bystanders, the two knew Stella's feelings toward Ikki, so they understood how Ikki had said something unnecessary and hurt Stella's feelings.
"What do you mean?" Ikki was confused, but somehow, he could tell that he had said something bad.
Still, Kurono didn't care about the love life between her students. Instead, she focused on searching for information about Iinuma Isao as her career was at stake. If she couldn't prove that she could be a good director and give an achievement to her school, she might be kicked out of her position.
In other words, she was desperate, especially since she was the family breadwinner and her husband was the household husband.
If she lost her job, then what would her family do?
Not only had she retired, but her power as a Blazer had weakened as she had retired for a while. She also didn't have much savings, considering the consumption of her family. Still, using her connections, she tried to search for any Blazers with the name Iinuma Isao, but unfortunately, she couldn't find anything until she stumbled upon the news.
'A fight between two students?'
Kurono quickly played the video and saw two male Blazers fighting each other. Instead of a duel, it should have been a one-sided battle, a complete massacre.
Watching this handsome young man who defeated his opponent, the top eight of the previous Seven Stars Sword Art Festival, so easily, Kurono felt her breathing become harder as she thought many paychecks would be sent to her bank account.
"Hey!"
"Huh?" 3x
Shizuku and Arisuin, who were about to lecture Ikki, stopped and looked at Kurono in confusion.
"Is this him?"
"Hmm?" 3x
As the three looked at Kurono's smartphone, they saw the familiar face that was impossible to forget, but the news that came out with it stunned all of them.
"...criminal?" 3x
There was a photo of Isao, who was handcuffed and led by many Blazers. He showed a calm expression even if he was caught as a criminal.
Yup, in this world, Isao is a criminal.
---
Grr!