A hero who wants to help others wants to live a normal life - Chapter 43

Chapter 43   Chatting After the Mock Battle

“I’m sorry for earlier.”

“Hm? For what?”

We had just finished our mock battle and stepped off the stage when Kujou came over to apologize as we were about to take a breather.

“You stopped the monster’s movements at the end, didn’t you? If it weren’t for that, I would have been taken down. Even if I could have attacked, we likely would have taken each other out. After saying I’d take it down myself, I failed miserably. I caused you trouble.”

Oh, so it was about that.

Sure, if she had taken the hit, things might have turned out the way Kujou said. But that’s only if she were fighting alone. This was a team battle. It’s only natural to step in to help a teammate in danger, and even beyond that, helping someone in need is the right thing to do as a person.

So, there’s really no need for her to apologize.

“It’s nothing to feel bad about. Even if it’s temporary, we’re on the same team. My role is to support the whole group as a mobile unit. I was just doing my part, and that goes for everyone. So, really, there’s no need to feel sorry.”

“But…”

Kujou still looked apologetic, but she didn’t get to finish her sentence.

“Sakuran, nice~! Your blessing is amazing! I mean, wow, that was something incredible!”

“Eh, well… yes, it was.”

Rinrin suddenly hugged her from behind, catching Kujou off guard. Still, Kujou didn’t push her away and simply nodded.

“Yeah! I thought my skill was super strong, but yours is on a whole other level! That one attack just went BOOM! Isn’t that incredible?!”

“B-Boom? Ah, but in the end, I couldn’t finish it in one blow… And Rinrin, you were amazing too. I didn’t expect such power from you.”

“Hehe, you think so? Well, I guess I’m not too bad myself!”

It was quite a lively scene. Well, I guess the girls can chat among themselves. If I join in now, Kujou will probably start apologizing again.

When I think about it, Rinrin’s carefree nature… or rather, her airheadedness, is actually a relief in situations like this.

“Moriya-san, you did great as well.”

“Eh, ah, no. I was just defending, and I didn’t contribute much…”

“That’s not true. If you hadn’t held your ground, Kujou’s attack wouldn’t have connected. You played a crucial role too.”

“You think so? If that’s the case, I’m glad…”

While Kujou and Rinrin were chatting, I thought I’d compliment Moriya, you know, from one guy to another…

“…?”

What’s this? He doesn’t seem that tired. He was on the front line taking the enemy’s attacks, yet he doesn’t look worn out at all.

Sure, I provided some support, and the battle at the front line didn’t last that long. But I would have thought it’d be tough for someone at the bottom of B-class like him to endure. Am I mistaken? Or maybe Moriya’s abilities are more defense-oriented than I thought.

Well, I’m hiding my own abilities too, so it wouldn’t be strange if Moriya had something he wasn’t telling us… Hmm.

“Are you okay, Sakura?!”

While I kept Moriya in the back of my mind, I didn’t dwell on it, and we made our way from the edge of the stage back to the spectator area. At that moment, as if waiting for Kujou to return, Toudou came running towards us.

No, judging by her reaction, she wasn’t just “waiting for us,” she was actually waiting for Kujou to return.

Well, Toudou is Kujou’s bodyguard, childhood friend, and someone she grew up with like a sister. After seeing her nearly attacked like that, it’s only natural that she’d be worried.

“Hikari. I’m fine. I got a bit flustered, but I’m not hurt.”

“Thank goodness.”

“I’m sorry. If I had been more composed, I wouldn’t have made you worry like that.”

“What are you talking about? It has nothing to do with being composed or not. Even if you’d won flawlessly, I’d still have worried about you.”

It seemed that meeting Toudou had allowed Kujou to relax, and her expression and tone softened compared to how she had spoken with us earlier.

I never see this side of her in class, but I suppose she acts that way because of her position. Maybe this is closer to Kujou’s true nature.

“Next team, come forward.”

As we were talking, the mock battles continued, and the next team was called up…

“Ah—”

“Huh? Oh, it’s Oda.”

Kujou let out a small sound as she saw the team heading to the stage, and Toudou, noticing her, also turned to look at the stage, but unlike Kujou, her voice carried a clear tone of disgust.

“Do you know him?”

“Huh? Oh, you mean him. Yeah, sort of… it’s more of a family connection, I guess? Not mine, but Sakura’s.”

“Kujou’s? That makes sense, since I remember hearing she’s the heir to some big corporation. It wouldn’t be surprising if she had those kinds of connections.”

That’s right. I think I heard something like that about her. I never looked into it much, assuming it didn’t matter to me, but I didn’t realize she had a connection to Oda.

“She’s not officially the next president, but yeah, that’s about right. When I say family connection, I mean it’s more like Sakura’s—”

“Hikari, the next mock battle is about to start.”

Toudou was venting when Kujou cut her off. But her voice wasn’t the soft, relieved one from earlier—it was cold and heavy.

“Huh? Oh, sorry, I guess I talked too much.”

“No, I’m not silencing you. It’s not like this is some secret information. It’s something anyone could find out if they wanted to. However, that doesn’t mean it should be carelessly spread.”

Toudou looked a bit awkward after Kujou stopped her… Is there something between Kujou and Oda?

Judging from what Toudou was about to say earlier, it’s probably one of those ‘arranged marriage’ situations. But would that alone be enough to make her stop the conversation? And with that kind of tone?

…I don’t know, but it’s probably not a good idea to pry into someone else’s personal matters.

With that in mind, I switched my focus back to watching Oda’s team…

“He’s strong. But does he even understand the purpose of this mock battle or why we were put into teams? He pretty much did everything on his own.”

It seemed Oda was a spear user. As soon as the match started, he used a skill and charged at the monsters by himself, taking a few light hits but ultimately finishing them off alone.

“He probably doesn’t get it, does he? All that guy ever does is brag about how cool and amazing he is. And most importantly, he has zero sense of teamwork.”

“Well, yeah, that much is obvious just from watching. But isn’t this a bit too much?”

If he’d worked with his team a little more, they could’ve fought more steadily. Even though the injuries were minor, it’s never a good thing to get hurt when it could’ve been avoided.

“But he’s strong… unlike me.”

It didn’t seem like that muttered comment was meant for anyone to hear, but I heard it. Was she referring to the previous battle? Or maybe there’s something else going on? Otherwise, I can’t imagine someone with the title of ‘Blessed’ comparing themselves so unfavorably to someone with a ‘Skill.’

Still, there’s no denying that he’s strong.

“Even though it’s supposed to be a Skill and not a Blessing, based on the results alone, he fought at the same level as a Blessed.”

“It could just be that his Skill was a good match, but it seems like he’s been training that Skill for a long time.”

“…For a long time?”

Isn’t that strange? Skills are only learned after coming to this academy. And he only decided to use a spear after coming here, right? So how could he have been training a Skill for a long time? That’s clearly a violation of the rules. In fact, it could be considered a crime.

“Huh? Oh, no, that’s not what I meant… uh, I mean…”

Toudou finally realized that her comment was problematic and tried to cover it up, but she couldn’t seem to find the right words, her eyes darting around nervously.

Seeing this, Kujou stepped in to cover for her.

“Some of us, like Toudou and me, have the advantage of knowing ahead of time what Skills we can learn at the academy. So we can train and adjust our personalities to align with those Skills. He’s just one of those people.”

“Y-Yeah, that’s what I meant!”

“Huh. So that’s how it is. Guess that’s the advantage of being from the upper class, huh? Not something us common folk would know much about.”

That’s what I said, but I couldn’t help thinking that maybe he really had been learning his Skill since childhood. I remember Kiriya saying something like that before. If you teach a kid a Skill early and have them train it, it gives them a huge advantage later on.

Well, there’s no point in digging into this any further, so I’ll leave it at that.

“He’s probably as strong as he is because of that advantage.”

“But doesn’t that seem unfair? It’s like he’s starting from a different place than us.”

Just as we seemed to reach an understanding, Rinrin chimed in with her dissatisfaction.

“That may be true, but some people also practice martial arts, right? It’s kind of the same thing, isn’t it?”

Moriya tried to calm Rinrin down, understanding it wasn’t something we should delve into, but Rinrin, oblivious to the situation, continued speaking.

“No way! It’s completely different!”

“Different?”

“If someone who’s done kendo or judo gets a Skill, then yeah, they might be able to use their past experience well. But training specifically for a Skill from the beginning means everything—from their goals to their mindset to how they train—is different. Even if they trained for the same amount of time, there’d definitely be a gap in ability!”

“Well… that’s true. It’s a bit unfair.”

“Not just a bit, it’s totally unfair!”

Yeah, we all know it’s unfair. We’re just trying to quietly move on from it, so please, stop stirring up more trouble. We don’t need any extra headaches.