Chapter - 3

At Ikki's confession, both Stella and Shizuku yelled out simultaneously in surprise.

"S-S-Stalker! Y-You mean that right!? They follow you around, and they break into your rooms, and they shave their mustache and mail it to you! That kind of stalker! Right!?"

"Stella-san, you're talking about a razor blade. What in the world would they do by sending their beard in letters?"

"Is this stalker being careful with personal appearances? Seems to be quite the kind stalker."

"Shuuuuut up! Don't sweat the small stuff! Rather, now's not the time to talk about that!"

"That's right, Onii-sama. Could you please explain."

"I first felt the gaze about a week back. Since then, it's been following me around constantly. Alice already noticed that, right?"

"Yeah. But since Ikki hadn't brought it up, I thought it was okay not to talk about it."

"Well at first I thought it would settle itself if I simply ignored it but… it doesn't look like that at all, no signs of leaving."

"Do you remember doing anything that would make anyone hold something against you?"

"Nope. I don't."

Asked by Arisuin, he searched his memories but couldn't find anything.

And the gaze, he really didn't think it contained malice. More on the line of regret would be appropriate.

"…Then maybe, it's love. With Ikki, that is?"

"Ah, that could be possible!? That! I've heard that the resentment of stalkers are usually born from a feeling of love."

"Onii-sama is a knight who stands out a lot. And I've heard he's especially popular with girls. When gazing from afar, if a girl's eye meets with Onii-sama's, she might think that he was interested in her. Or when talking to him as a fan, she might misunderstand after exchanging words. These are all quite possible."

"Ikki seems extremely clumsy when it concerns behaving with woman."

"That's right. When asked for a handshake, he replies with a 'Yeah, uh'. More like he gives a submissive kind of feeling."

Being looked at by Stella who seems to be finding a lot of fault with him, Ikki smiled bitterly. As the three said, Ikki with his features and kind demeanor was quite popular with women. And recently, there were a lot of them coming to cheer for him before his matches. But as for Ikki, he didn't know how to handle them. He couldn't be so cold as Shizuku, who ruthlessly ignored her gathering of fans, nor could he give proper fan service and sternly draw a line between them like Arisuin. He couldn't ignore all those who were supporting him. When talked to, he stopped and kept them company, when asked for a handshake, he ended up talking. There were also a few times when he was almost late for lessons because he was busy with the girls.

And it wouldn't be strange if one of those girls misunderstood Ikki's actions. Stella and company frowned at that possibility… but Ikki didn't think it was like that either, because from the gaze on his back, he didn't feel any malice but neither did he feel something like affection.

If he had to say, it felt more like being photographed with a camera.

"If it was something like being idolized then I wouldn't mind, but for someone to try to undeservedly lay her hands on my Onii-sama, well we can't have that can we. It's torture time."

"What are you going to do with that feather duster, Shizuku?"

"Isn't that obvious? I'll catch the stalker and have her go thorough tickle punishment."

"…It doesn't suit you, that cute way of punishing someone."

"…Well, the thing being tickled will be the eyeballs though."

"""THAT'S REALLY SCARY!"""

"…Well, since all this anticipation is built up and I don't know what's the answer to this situation but, well… let's directly ask the culprit shall we?"

Saying that, Ikki turned around towards the stone path they just passed through.

"Ikki, could it be that even now…?"

"Yeah. Ever since we finished jogging this morning."

The gaze that has been on even for a week, as if observing him. That gaze was coming from a thick bush on the other side of the paving. After lightly sighing once, Ikki called out.

"Hey, the person who's hiding there. Seems like you've been following me for a while now but, do you need something?"

He loudly called out to the stalker who was currently hiding in the bush. As so―

"Hyawaa! Ou―"

*Pyon*

As if flipping, the stalker hiding in the bush came out.

Even though there was no malice, following someone around for a week was definitely not normal. After all this, Ikki prepared himself to see what kind of snake would come of the bush but… to his great surprise; it was a black haired Yamato Nadeshiko. In both hands, she held some tree branches.

"Ah, auau, wr-wrong! It's not what you think! I-I am, uuuh, uwah~!"

She probably realized that she had been found out. The female student was confused after she was suddenly seen through like this. Soon enough, she turned around and ran away. But behind the bush, there was a small pond.

"Kyaaaaaah!!! Gyabu!"

*Splash*

While she was hastily trying to get away, she tripped and fell head first. And a strange sound that seemed physiologically traumatic rang out.

"…."

The girl floated on the pond face-down without saying a word. And then… she didn't move anymore.

"Wha-, Y-You, are you okay… hell, you're definitely not okay! Alice, help me carry her!"

"Oh my, how awful."

While Ikki and Arisuin rushed to help―

"Such a beautiful person… is Ikki's stalker."

"It seems like the time I finally get to use this feather duster has come."

The intuitions of these two girls were ringing restlessly after this meeting.

It was a small, gloomy private room. The only source of light was the small desk lamp on the table. And in the room, there was a girl sitting on the chair, and four robust men surrounding her.

All of the men had grim expressions and they questioned the girl while shouting.

"Give a straight answer! You were stalking the victim, Kurogane Ikki! Isn't that right!?"

"You were caught red-handed! You aren't gonna spout crap like you didn't do it, are ya!?"

The pressing questioning voices and the desk lamp's light which seemed way too dim. While prevailing over all of these, the girl frantically answered.

"N-No! That wasn't really stalking….!"

"Enough with the excuses!"

"Hii―"

"It's obvious that you've been tailing him for a week!"

"And after all that, you're still trying to make things up!?"

"Yeah! It's time for torture! Torture I tell you!"

"S-Stop iiiit~!!!"

"Ha-!?"

And finally, the girl snapped out of her nightmare. A white ceiling covered her field of vision. From the smell of medicine, she realized that this was the infirmary. It seems like she was sleeping on the sick bed here.

At that fact, the girl relaxed.

'Thank goodness, that was a dream—'

"Wax punishment, whipping, tear off, bondage, stone-weighted kneeling…."

As she turned her head, she saw an silver-haired girl whispering suggestions near her ear.

"Stake and burn, drowning death, nailed down, made to walk around town naked, triangular shaped wooden horse… ah, are you awake?"

"That stuff you've been whispering near my ears… that…."

"I wonder. Maybe you just saw a bad dream. Onii-sama, she has woken up."

The silver-haired girl, Shizuku, called towards the other side of the privacy curtain. After hearing that voice, Ikki, Stella and Arisuin entered.

"Oh my. You're already up. I was worried. That was quite the bump. As expected of Shizuku's healing magic."

"Since it wasn't an injury caused in a match, we couldn't use the capsule, but thank godness Shizuku was there. So, does it still hurt?"

After looking left and right, the girl completely grasped the situation. She fell head first in the pond and bumped her head, and those fellows carried her all the way to the infirmary and treated her.

"N-No, that's… I'm okay. Thanks… for taking care of me."

As she slowly got up from the bed, she bowed and showed her gratitude to Ikki and the others.

She really was a kind stalker. But why was it that she wasn't meeting anyone's eyes, and kept averting them?

"Well, I was very surprised about that injury. It's a good thing that it wasn't serious. But… why do you keep averting your eyes?"

"P-Please don't mind it. T-There's a really personal reason for this."

She sounded pretty nervous while answering. And now even the state of her body was obviously tensed, and she just couldn't calm down. Maybe, she really was tailing Ikki because of some resentful reason and now she wouldn't look him in the eyes. Well, it was probably about time he asked that. First―

"If you're okay now, then I'd like to ask about a few things…. First of all could you tell us your name?"

"I-I'm Ayatsuji Ayase. A senior."

An upperclassman? That's a bit unexpected.

Maybe because she made that blunder when they first met. Or maybe because she simply couldn't calm herself down. He couldn't imagine her as someone older. But since she was older, he couldn't afford to back down or speak so unreservedly now. He changed to using honorifics, and asked the thing that bugged him the most.

"Then Ayatsuji-sempai, I'll repeat what I asked before: why was Sempai following me aro-… err… Sempai?"

"W-What?"

"You're not just looking the other way, but your head is completely turned in the opposite direction… honestly, what's the matter?"

Before he even noticed, Ayase had turned towards the wall on the opposite side. Her neck was turned to its limit, he could tell by seeing the nape of her neck.

"D-Don't mind it. I-It's nothing."

"No, of course I'll mind it!? This is the first time in my life that someone I'm talking to is trying so hard not to meet my gaze!? What is it? Is there something on that wall over there?"

"I-I mean…. I-It's… embarrassing."

She said, with a voice so low that it could be mistaken for the buzzing of a mosquito.

"…Huh?"

"T-Talking with a boy I don't know, w-while looking eye to eye… that's too embarrassing."

Looking carefully, Ayase's face was completely dyed red to her ears, as if she was on fire.

"W-Why is Kurogane-kun able to talk face-to-face so easily with a girl he just met?"

"Eh… why? Even if you ask that, I think it's normal to look at the face of the person I'm talking to in a conversation."

"N-Normal…. I-Is that so…. Amazing…. That's impossible for me. Even though I know it's rude, I can't face straight when I am being looked at so fixedly…."

Ikki never thought that he would ever be complimented because of something like that.

Certainly, Ayase looked his way as if peeping several times, but as soon as she met Ikki's gaze, her eyes immediately escaped. Seemed like she herself was trying to look this way, but since she was so embarrassed, it didn't seem like she would be successful.

And that didn't seem like acting. It seemed like Ayase was a very shy sempai.

…This is troubling. If possible, I'd liked to talk face to face but….

If not, it'd be difficult to see through it if she lied. Ikki pondered on what to do.

"Well, if it's us girls then would that be all right?"

Suddenly, Stella and Shizuku stood imposingly before Ayase and spoke to her with a criticizing tone.

"I'll have you confess. Why was Sempai tailing Ikki? What's your objective?"

"T-That… That is…."

"Isn't it obvious why a girl would stalk a boy, or a boy would stalk a girl. She was obviously peeping at him with eyes filled with carnal desires."

"IS THAT TRUE!?"

"T-That's wrong! Honest!"

As expected, it seems like the reason Ayase was tailing Ikki was neither malice nor affection. Then, why in the world would she tail a repeating student like….

….Hmm?

At that moment, Ikki noticed something on the palms of Ayase's hand, who was waving them rapidly while denying Stella and Shizuku. Calluses, a result of swinging a shinai several thousand, hundreds of thousands of time. Seeing that, Ikki immediately thought of a possibility.

…Those calluses, and the surname Ayatsuji… no way!

"Sempai. Could it be that Sempai is a relative of Ayatsuji Kaito-san?"

Being asked that, Ayase immediately widened her eyes open and turned towards Ikki.

"C-Certainly, Ayatsuji Kaito is my father… b-but, how could you tell?"

"The calluses on Sempai's palms. That's the hand of a swordsman. And besides, for you to be able to keep up with me and Stella's jogging, that wouldn't be possible unless you have a substantially trained body. And Sempai's surname was Ayatsuji… so just maybe, I thought. But who would've thought you really were his daughter, and that you study in the same school. That was quite the surprise."

Stella tilted her head, seeing the excited Ikki and wondered about what could be so exciting about that. And she asked Arisuin―

"Hey, who's Ayatsuji Kaito?"

"Who knows? I'm not familiar with that name."

"A non-Blazer who is also called 'the Last Samurai'."

Instead of Arisuin, Shizuku was the one who answered.

"Since most Blazers aren't interested in martial arts that much, it isn't a surprise that Alice doesn't know. But for people who've studied the sword even a little, there isn't even a single person who doesn't know of the name 'Ayatsuji Kaito'. He is that much of a master."

Heavenly Dragon's Contest― Tournament of the East and West― Musashi Cup― Tenth Dan Match―

He was a genius swordsman who participated and won in all the world-famous sword competitions. There was also a record of him suppressing several Blazer criminals in his prime, despite not being a Blazer himself.

"Normally, even a pistol wouldn't do much against a Blazer who is protected by magic. But before his sword, that handicap was nothing. He was probably the person who grieved over not being born a Blazer the most… but since he was so strong while not even being a Blazer, he seemed to have bought the resentment of the mage-knights, so his fame didn't reach so far into the world of knights."

"But Shizuku knows him."

"Because unlike most mage-knights, the Kurogane house knows the merits of martial arts."

Because she grew sick of the Kurogane house which chased away her beloved brother, she didn't follow through the path of the martial arts the Kurogane house took. But she still remembered about the Last Samurai. And there was no way that Ikki, who followed the path of the sword much more earnestly, didn't know the name of the great pioneer.

"When I was a kid, I watched the videos of Kaito-san's matches and decided to study swordsmanship. During middle school, I even went to the dojo to challenge him directly."

"Eh? Is that so…."

"However, I was refused you know. They said they didn't do unsanctioned matches like that. But I'm really happy, to be able to meet Kaito-san's daughter like this. Kaito-san, how is he doing? Is he well? I haven't been hearing about him lately, so I was wondering what had happened."

Ikki asked with an excited voice. But at that question, Ayase's expression clouded.

"…Actually, because of an injury during a match… he's currently hospitalized."

"Eh…. …I-I'm sorry. I asked something rude."

"N-No, you don't have to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. For someone amazing like Kurogane-kun to hold my father in such high regard, it makes me very happy. A-And this talk isn't unrelated to why I was following you around."

"What do you mean by that?"

"…After my father, who was also my mentor, became hospitalized, I've been training in the Ayatsuji single-blade style, but recently I seem to have fallen into a slump…."

She anguished over how to follow in the steps of her father, her mentor.

"But then, I heard rumors about Kurogane-kun, a first-year who used a strange sword technique. So I thought, if I consulted Kurogane-kun… I might figure something out but―"

At that point, Ayase's voice thinned out, and she averted her eyes from Ikki.

"But, other than my father and the students in the dojo, I haven't talked to any boys since I was a kid…. That… I was wondering how to approach you and…."

"Were you… were you following me around the whole week while thinking of how to talk to me?"

"As embarrassing as it may be…."

…Uwah, what a reserved person.

Almost like a rolled bun left on the table that grew moldy without anyone noticing. Other than Ikki, the three people behind them were speechless at her reason for stalking.

At that time, Ayase once again bowed to Ikki.

"…I-I'm really really sorry! I've been stalking you for so long. It can't be helped if you think of me as an unpleasant woman. B-But I swear not to approach you again…. S-So please don't call the police."

"No, it's not like I'm thinking about handing you to the police."

Rather, he felt quite attracted towards the strange swordswoman he met today. And moreover, she was the daughter of the Last Samurai. Just what kind of techniques did she use? He was extremely curious.

"Erm, Ayatsuji-sempai. If it's okay with you, would you please train with me after this?"

"―Eh?"