Chapter - 19

"Ooh! Contender Kurogane lowered his upper body! Just like in the beginning, it's the attack stance! Even after receiving those mysterious slashes there is no sign of nervousness on his face! The Worst One plans on attacking! It can't be that he already saw through the mysterious slashes!?"

Ayase immediately reacted to that action. She stepped back to further the distance. Her reaction had composure, but her mind was greatly discomposed.

I am in the wrong!? Scream of my heart!?

What kind of blabber is that? There is no way such a thing is possible.

No matter what I have to do, I just have to take back the dojo to relieve Father!

She was not wavering, nor trying to deceive herself. Ikki was just trying to lead her astray. Ayase strongly persuaded herself with those words and tried to avoid thinking deeply.

―If you say that much, then very well, I'll end this match with the same mistake you talked about!

The distance she had created by back-stepping was thirty meters. And in between was the minefield of slashes. She had completely memorized the speed of Ikki's charge in the beginning. Next time she'd be able to activateMark of the Wind with more lethal timing!

"Here I come, Ayatsuji-san."

In that instant, Ikki raised his upper body and ran forward!

Here!

Upon that action, Ayase opened the wounds of Mark of the Wind that were in front of Ikki. The gap in the atmosphere that suddenly opened was the guillotine of vacuum that cut everything it touched. He wouldn't come out unscratched if it touched him. But―

"Wha―!?"

Kurogane Ikki's body rushed forward like a bullet, incomparable to the speed he showed in the beginning, and left Ayase's blade behind before the vacuum opened. ―That super-speed was the same as Ittou Shura!

"What speed! Contender Kurogane finally uses his trump card Ittou Shura!"

Wh, why!? That trump card should have been sealed…!

Oreki's voice reached a baffled Ayase.

"Well, that is not Ittou Shura―"

"Eh? Is that true, Oreki-sensei?"

"That is just like everyone, he is only speeding mana emission."

Mana emission!

Ayase realized her mistake at those words.

Mana emission was to release one's mana to accelerate and enhance oneself. It was an enhancement technique that many other Blazers used unconsciously. Of course, Ayase used it as well.

"Kurogane-kun doesn't have much mana unlike other students, so if he uses it like this he will run out of mana after using it once or twice. That is why he doesn't use it normally. But, 'does not use it' is different from 'not being able to use it'. He probably, for some reason, can't use Ittou Shura this time. That's why I think he is using this as a replacement."

As Oreki had said, 'does not use it' is different from 'not being able to use it'. Normally Ikki 'does not use it' because he doesn't have much mana. But, now since the amount of mana required to use Ittou Shura will not recover in time, he doesn't have a reason not to use mana emission to enhance himself. That's why he used it. By releasing all of his existing mana, although only once, he was able to produce speed that was not inferior to Ittou Shura!

I was too concerned about Ittou Shura!

What a fatal mistake. Ikki had already stepped into a range where his sword can cut her by using just a single super-speed step.

Mark of the Wind wouldn't make it in time.

She was completely outwitted mentally.

However, this isn't the end!

He had broken into her range. She could not avoid a clash of swords. But only just once, she had to endure this clash with all she had and open the distance between them once more! Then, Ikki's mana would have run out. He wouldn't be able to perform a bullet-like start then.

My chance of winning exists there! I have to overcome this clash at all costs!

Ayase swung Hizume while screaming intensely, and slashed at Ikki who was before her eyes―

That blade slashed through empty air.

"―Eh…."

Ikki was, for sure, before her eyes―

Ayase's slash, which was swung with all her might, had only scratched the tip of Ikki's nose, while he was running towards her. It didn't reach him. Had she miscalculated the distance between them? No. Certainly, Ikki was within the range of her sword. But, that Ikki disappeared like a mirage, and another Ikki from behind him was running towards her.

Ayase blanked out. She could no longer understand what was going on. But that confusion was not meaningless. This was one of original techniques Kurogane Ikki possessed, a technique rivaling the seventh secret sword, Raikou. With radical footwork he creates an afterimage before himself while running to confuse the distance between him and his opponent.

"Fourth secret sword―Shinkirou."

At that moment, the blade of Intetsu swung with all of his might slashed through air and Ayase.

"It's overrrrr! Contender Kurogane's attack was a clean hit!"

Upon the voice, which dislodged from the accumulation of scenes, the audience, too, raised loud cheers.

"Contender Ayase has fallen to the ground! However she is not bleeding…! What is going on…?"

"*Cough, cough*…Yes, that is because he changed his device into Illusionary Form the moment before slashing her."

"Then, does that mean she only got exhausted and did not necessarily received a fatal blow?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"But why did he do such a thing? Does it mean that he does not want to hurt women?"

"That's not true. I was slashed by him in the past. Probably, from the start he was just aiming to tire her out… because this time around, wining is not Kurogane-kun's only goal."

Oreki whispered to herself, and looked down upon the ring.

The fallen Ayase was trying to get up by putting strength into her limbs. Ayase, while trembling, raised her head and glared at Ikki who was standing before her.

"…What are you… trying to do here…?"

"About what?"

"Don't play dumb… why are you not cutting me down…!?"

"I don't have to. Ayatsuji-san can't fight anymore."

Making fun of me…!

She was made light of. Thinking of that action as insult Ayase flexed her limbs. One does not receive any physical damage if she is cut by a Device in Illusionary Form. Only her stamina gets depleted. Ayase had confidence in her stamina, to the point where she can easily keep up with Ikki and Stella on their morning runs. A fatigue of this level did not mean anything to her.

"…Huh?"

That's how it should have been… but she could not feel any power in her body.

"…Why…?"

She had to stand up, she had to win this fight, or else everything will be over. She won't be able to save her father…. Why, why?

My heart… was it this cold?

Her heart wasn't stirring. She couldn't feel her fighting spirit to stand up once more by mustering the last of her strength.

Ayase realized upon feeling that fact. That her soul was rejecting such a fight which didn't have pride in it.

I see…. This is the scream of my heart….

When people were cornered, they were only able to stand back up because they have pride within their hearts. That they could still do it. That they should still do it. Not to give up. They encouraged themselves like that.

Ayase, too, had been doing so all along. No matter how hard the training was, no matter how much her hands got blistered, she was able to endure it all because she had pride in herself who wielded the sword of Ayatsuji.

But… for the Ayase who rejected that same pride….

"…It's just as Kurogane-kun said."

She no longer had the power to stand up.

"…It's my loss."

Part 10[]

"Wow, there is the surrender sign from contender Ayatsuji! The match ends with this~~! As expected, it was the Worst One, contender Kurogane, who won! With this, contender Kurogane has eleven consecutive wins! The eleven consecutive wins he earned by defeating famous people like Hunter and Runner's High! We can now say it with confidence that he will be a representative for the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival!"

Glancing over the excited cheers of the audience, Ayase let out a dry laugh.

"So uncool… forget about abandoning it, I couldn't even maintain it…."

The words that came out of her mouth were meant as a sneer at her own half-hearted self.

But, that sneer―

"You are not uncool."

Ikki rejected it strongly.

"Eh…?"

"You wandered, were mistaken, and in the end lost sight of yourself, but you had not thrown it away yet, and that is Ayatsuji-san's strength."

And Ikki asked while extending his hand to the fallen Ayase.

"Ayatsuji-san, please tell me… what was taken away from you by that Sword Eater? What was it that pushed you so far?"

"What do you plan to do after hearing something like that…."

"I'll get it back."

There was not even a bit of hesitation or falsehood in those words. If Ayase relied on him, Ikki would fight for her without any hesitation. She understood that, and precisely because she understood it that, she said―

"…I cannot tell you, because it doesn't have anything to do with Kurogane-kun after all."

She could not let him fight against such a monster. She could not let such a kind man get hurt because of someone half-hearted like herself.

Father is enough. I can't let such a thing happen to him too.

That was why Ayase was concealing everything. But―

"Then, I'll just investigate the matter."

"Eh?"

"I'll investigate everything by following you around and researching you."

"Wha, what are you saying…."

"I'll inquire about everything, and get everything back for you. Ayatsuji-san, too, stalked me before, so we'll be equal with this. Thus, I have no reason to listen to your complaints, do I?"

Incomprehensible. What "we'll be equal with this"…? This was not balancing debt, just increasing it.

"…Why…?"

Ayase couldn't stop the trembling in her voice, nor could she stop the miserable tears.

"Even though I betrayed Kurogane-kun…. Even though I did such horrible things…. Why… are you trying to help me?"

Ayase asked with a trembling voice. Ikki's answer was filled with clarity.

"I don't need a reason to wipe my friend's tears."

"…!"

For a moment Ikki's figure overlapped with Kaito's in Ayase's eyes. The figure of her father that climbed the stage of battle for the sake of his apprentice. Ikki was the same as him. Even if he was spat on or jeered on, he would not take out his sword for things trivial like those. But, if his precious comrades are hurt, he would not hesitate in the slightest to draw his sword.

Ah…. Yeah, that's how it was….

Since when had she lost sight of it? This, right here, was the figure she had been chasing so badly after in that dojo. Ayase looked at her own hands. They were blistered hands that couldn't be said to be pretty even as flattery. Just like her father and Ikki, they were the hands of a swordsman.

That's right, I just wanted to be a cool swordsman like Father. That's why I wielded the sword.

She was confronted by Kuraudo's violent strength just once, and lost the sight of herself in the impatience of trying get the dojo back. Where her pride was, Ayase had finally remembered that and squeezed her hands, strongly.

At that moment, Ayase's heart finally decided.

"…Kurogane-kun… please help me… !"

The thing she should do now was not to go against the teachings of her father, and betray her own pride and bask in self-pity like a damsel in distress. It was to ask this gentle yet strong boy for his help, and believe in his victory.

That's why Ayase took Ikki's extended hand.

"I just wanted to hear those words."

Upon those words, Ikki smiled like he was really happy and strongly gripped Ayase's hand.