Arena 13.
Like in Battle Area Three, this battle area was filled with people, especially when the one who would fight in this battle area was a famous character in this school.
"Kirihara Shizuya?" Shizuku, who wasn't interested in any humans except for her Onii-sama, was confused.
"Who is this guy?" Arisuin also wasn't familiar with Kirihara since he wasn't one of the people he had to watch out for.
"His ability is troublesome for me."
"His ability?" 2x
Kirihara Shizuya.
While he might not be the strongest, his power was only so-so, and his rank on the previous Seventh Stars Sword Art Festival was horrendous; there was no doubt, among all the students in this school, he was the most threatening to Ikki. More importantly, he was also the one who had inflicted the most trauma on Ikki.
Whether it was Stella, Arisuin, Shizuku, or many others, Ikki believed that he could win.
Yet, Kihara was different.
"What is his ability?" Arisuin asked curiously.
"... invisibility." Ikki had a rare solemn expression on his face. "His nickname is "Hunter."
"Hunter..." 2x
Shizuku and Arisuin didn't look down on Kirihara since everyone had their own way of fighting.
Still, if Stella was here, there was no doubt she would look down on Kirihara since all he could do was hide and attack his opponents secretly by using his invisibility ability.
Such a way of fighting wasn't suitable to be called respectable and honorable.
Dirty and cunning were probably the most suitable.
Yet, if there was a reason why Stella could say all of that, it was because of her power that allowed her to give an overwhelming power whether it was close combat or long-range combat, but Kirihara's ability was just invisibility, and the shape of his Device was also a bow.
If Kirihara didn't attack secretly, how could he win?
More importantly, every duel he had to fight, whether it was in the battle arena or the Seventh Stars Sword Art Festival, gave him a disadvantage, especially due to the limited size of the stage, as it was only about a hundred in diameter.
Still, there was no doubt that this was something that Ikki could take advantage of, and at the same time, he was glad that Kirihara wasn't his first opponent since it made him able to gain confidence due to his first victory. Moreover, as he had many expectations on his back, it was impossible for him to lose.
No, he couldn't lose!
Nevertheless, he never let his guard down. He might be able to win this match, but in the next, he had to watch out and learn everything so he could take advantage of Kirihara, searching for Kirihara's weaknesses so he could take him down.
Still, there was no doubt that this opponent made him helpless, especially since none of his abilities or techniques helped him to search for a man who could use his ability to become transparent.
Whether it was his sight, smell, or hearing, it would be useless against Kirihara's ability, so how could he win?
It would have been great if he hadn't had to fight Kirihara, but unfortunately, if he wanted to be acknowledged, he knew that he had to pass through this obstacle known as Kirihara Shizuya.
Watching the solemnity of Ikki's expression, Shizuku and Arisuin could tell how much trouble Kirihara would give to Ikki, but regardless, they believed that Ikki would win!
Still, as they entered the arena 13, they met someone unexpected.
"Huh? Stella?"
Stella was there, sitting quietly, alone, as she looked at the stage with focus.
"Huh?"
Ikki was surprised, and at the same time, he wondered whether Stella had come because she was worried about him. His heart felt happy for some reason, and a smile subconsciously appeared on his face.
"...." 2x
Shizuku and Arisuin thought that Ikki was so simple.
"Let me call her." Arisuin was helpless, but he decided to become a cute cupid to help Stella and Ikki. "Stella-chan! Here! Here!"
Stella heard someone call her name, and naturally, she noticed the group of three, which consisted of Shizuku, Arisuin, and Ikki. When her eyes met Ikki, she quickly looked away, still feeling annoyed by his previous words.
"..." Ikki.
"Geez, you are so stubborn." Arisuin was helpless. "Come on. Let's go over there."
Ikki hesitated, but Shizuku pulled his hand. "Sh-Shizuku?"
"Just follow us, Onii-sama." Shizuku's heart was bleeding, but if this could make her older brother happy, she could only do it since she didn't want to see her older brother in this pathetic state all the time.
Ikki was helpless, but his body was honest, so he let himself be pulled by his little sister.
Still, as they got closer and their eyes met, Stella quickly looked away. "Hmph!"
"...." Ikki.
Ikki was speechless and sighed, but he didn't get too close and just sat by Shizuku's side.
"...." 2x
Arisuin and Shizuku were speechless. Frankly, in their minds, this matter was simple. There was no need to fight, and what Ikki had to do was just kiss Stella, smooching those lips deeply, and everything was over.
Happy ending.
Instead of being humble, being a little forceful was better since being hated was much better than being thought of as a lower creature.
Still, this might be their first love, and they didn't have any experience in this area, so they didn't know what to do.
While Arisuin felt helpless by the two, he sat next to Stella and asked, "It's rare of you to watch a match, Stella-chan."
"Well..." Stella blushed, pouting, and looked away, knowing that Aruisin teased her. Usually, she had never seen any matches, and all the matches she had fought were met under the condition that she knew nothing about her opponents.
As someone who aspired to become the protector of her kingdom, she knew that she had to face many challenges, including an unknown opponent whose abilities were mysterious.
This was her training, and everyone knew that, so Arisuion teased her, thinking that she watched the Kirihara match due to Ikki, as she knew that Kihihara was the nemesis of Ikki.
"I just do whatever I want."
"You cow! You should just be honest instead of being troublesome!" Shizuku directly blamed Stella for being a chicken and not making a move on Ikki, making Ikki sad.
"Say whatever you want, you flat chest!" Stella snorted, becoming even more annoyed by Shizuku's words.
"Shizuku..." Arisuin looked at Shizuku helplessly.
Shizuku also knew that she had said something wrong, so she quickly shut her mouth, knowing that she had made the situation between Stella and Ikki become even more troublesome.
Frankly, instead of Stella, they hoped for Ikki to make a move, but... it might be a little hard to expect him to do that.
Nevertheless—
"There are sure a lot of people here," Arisuin said as he looked at the people around him. While partly due to the fact that he wanted to distract everyone's attention, he had to say the number of people that came to watch this match was so much!
"There are student council presidents... even the director..."
The murmur of Arisuin made the three confused, too, since they saw the members of the student council, Touka Toudou, the president of the student council, and Kanata Totokubara, the vice president of the student council, respectively. Moreover, they also saw Kurono, who rarely appeared in the match, which confused them, wondering how Kirihara could attract their attention.
"Hehehe... let me answer that!"
Suddenly, a familiar girly voice was heard, causing them to turn. "I know the answer to that!"
They saw a cute young woman with glasses and short peach-blonde hair whom they were familiar with.
"Kagami!"
Kagami Kusukabe.
While not many knew her due to the popularity of Stella and Shizuku in the first year, she was also known as one of the cutest and was also their classmate. More importantly, she was also a member of the newspaper club, which made her familiar with many juicy news that could be called quite sketchy, too.
"Kagamin~!"
As Arisuin and Kagami greeted each other, Stella asked, "So what's happening?"
"It's because of Kirihara's opponent!" Kagami said proudly.
"Kirihara's opponent?" 4x
This quickly attracted their attention since they had been focused on Kirihara and had forgotten about Kirihara's opponent, but before Kagami gave them more explanation, the match was about to start.
"Now, let us welcome our first contestant, Kirihara Shizuya!"
As Kihihara entered, everyone cheered on him.
"Kirihara!"
"Kyaa, so handsome!"
"Look at me, Kirihara-kun!"
As Kirihara entered, the cheers, especially from the women, echoed through the area.
"Hahaha..."
Kirihara smiled as he waved his hands at everyone, happy with the cheers that were aimed in his direction.
While he might be a bastard since he had bullied the protagonist, his popularity wasn't low, and due to his power and quite good-looking appearance, he was a target of many women in this school or even on the outside.
Stella and Shizuku snorted at Kirihara, but Arisuin nodded. "His face isn't bad."
"..." 3x
Ikki was speechless, but he knew Arisuin's hobby, so he didn't say much and focused on the match entirely.
"But his opponent is much better!" Kagami puffed her cheeks, then blushed when she recalled the appearance of Kirihara's opponent. Frankly, she felt a bit regretful because she couldn't take his photo, as she had fallen into a daze when she met him for the first time.
"Really? What is his name?" Arisuin asked curiously.
"It's..."
Once again, before Kagami answered this question, the emcee announced Kirihara's opponent.
"Now, let us welcome Kirihara's opponent, the new transfer student who only came to the school last night."
"Eh?"
Everyone was dumbfounded.
"Transfer student?"
"Only came last night?"
"Yet, he directly fought today?!"
Everyone was at a loss, thinking that this transfer student had such bad luck, but somehow, Stella had a feeling she somehow knew who this transfer student was, and unexpectedly, they would meet again, which made a smile subconsciously form on her lips.
Fortunately, Ikki didn't see this smile of hers since all of his attention was on the stage.
Rather, not only Ikki but everyone also stared at the stage since when his name was called, everything was eclipsed by his presence.
"Iinuma Isao!"