Chapter 24

“Y-you monster…”

“T-Toujou-kun, you’re just too strong…”

“It’s frustrating, but… you really are strong…”

“I couldn’t do anything… even at full power…”

One hour later.

I had finished my one-on-one duels with all four of them and was taking a short break.

The four of them were on their knees, glaring at me while they gasped for breath.

Despite fighting four duels in a row, I was uninjured and still standing with energy to spare.

“You’ve got to be kidding…”

“He fought all four members of the student council and he’s still standing?”

“He looked completely fine… he’s not even out of breath…”

“Who is that guy…?”

“His strength is monstrous…”

“I can’t believe Lady Saionji lost…”

A stir rippled through the crowd of magical girls who had been watching.

They were whispering amongst themselves as they stared at me.

“Hah, hah… did you figure anything out… from fighting us?”

Saionji asked me, her breath ragged.

I gave a vague nod.

“For now, I’ve grasped all four of your combat styles.”

Fighting the four of them had made one thing clear.

Their combat styles were all fairly extreme.

First, Saionji. Her fighting style is all brute force and pretty crude.

She uses high-firepower magic and forgoes any sort of finesse, opting to crush her enemies from the front.

This style is extremely effective when your opponent is weaker than you or when facing large groups of grunts, but if she faces an opponent who can withstand her firepower, she’s suddenly at a huge disadvantage.

Saionji needs to broaden her range of tactics.

As for Kisaragi, she has a tendency to prioritize speed above all else.

Her spell activation, her movement speed—she’s by far the fastest of the group.

But the moment an enemy appears who can match her speed, that advantage vanishes.

So, Kisaragi ought to have another weapon in her arsenal besides her speed.

Regarding Usami, she focuses far too much on defense.

She’s the best defensive specialist among them, but you can’t win a fight on defense alone.

If an enemy’s firepower overwhelms her defenses, Usami has no path to victory, so she’ll need to train with a greater emphasis on offense.

And in Takanashi’s case, she has a propensity to rely too much on the element of surprise.

Compared to Saionji, Kisaragi, and Usami, Takanashi is lacking in firepower, speed, and defense.

Her specialty is using magic to create diversions or disappear from sight to catch her opponents off guard.

This can be an effective fighting style in its own right, but sometimes, no amount of cheap tricks can win against overwhelming power.

Therefore, for Takanashi, rather than combat technique, her urgent priority is to improve her fundamentals, like raw firepower and defense.

I explained the weaknesses I’d discovered, breaking things down for them as best I could.

The four of them listened to my words with serious faces.

“I see… that makes sense. It’s true I have a tendency to rely too much on my own magical firepower.”

“When my speed is matched, I have no other options, you say… That’s hard to hear, but you’re right.”

“She’s right… just defending isn’t going to cut it… If I don’t have a way to attack, I’m just fighting a losing battle…”

“Ugh… As someone who isn’t good at high-power magic, this was a combat style I put a lot of thought into developing… but against someone truly strong like Toujou-kun, it really is useless… I knew it, but it’s still depressing…”

The four of them slumped, dejected by my critique.

I desperately tried to encourage them.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you four are weak. I just wanted to say that you can’t rely only on your strengths. If you keep your strengths and work on crushing your weaknesses, I’m sure you can all get stronger.”

“Yeah, you’re right. That’s true.”

“I can’t let something like this get me down.”

“I have to try harder… If we give up, who will protect the city from the monsters?”

“I-I don’t want to just be someone who needs Toujou-kun to protect her… To be useful to Toujou-kun, I have to get stronger myself, right?”

The three girls who had been on their knees stood up, their expressions hardening with resolve.

“Alright, everyone, transition to training to compensate for your own shortcomings. Using what we learned from the battle with Toujou, we’re going to eliminate our flaws.”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

“I’ll do my best.”

With their weaknesses now clear from our duels, the four of them transitioned into their own individual training routines.

Now at a loose end, I rested my body and watched them train.

“Um…”

“Do you have a minute…?”

“Eh…?”

A few magical girls approached me, speaking timidly.

I was so surprised I froze.

I still haven’t completely fit in at this school, so it’s rare for anyone outside the student council to talk to me.

“Y-yes…? What is it?”

I forced a smile, completely tensed up, and the magical girls who had approached me pointed toward Saionji and the others.

“Um, we were watching the duels just now and…”

“I-it was amazing, we were totally captivated…”

“This is magical instruction, right? If it’s okay, could you please help us, too?”

“Eh, you want me to… instruct you in magic?”

“Yes.”

The magical girls looked at me with expectant eyes.

After a moment of hesitation, I nodded.

“O-okay… if I’m good enough, I’d be happy to.”

“Thank you so much!”

“We’ll do our best!”

“We’re looking forward to it!”

The three of them introduced themselves.

Just as I had done with Saionji and the others, I had one-on-one duels with the three of them, told them their weaknesses, and gave them magical instruction.

“Th-thank you so much…”

“You’re so incredibly strong…”

“I have a much better understanding of my own weaknesses now…”

The three of them, though exhausted after their duels with me, wore satisfied expressions.

“W-well, I’m glad I could be of help.”

Feeling the fatigue in my own body, I tried to move away to rest.

When I turned around, a large crowd of magical girls was waiting behind me.

“Um… if you would, could you train me too…?”

“Me too…!”

“I’d love it if you would!”

“I want to get stronger!”

“Could you teach us over here, too?”

“Please teach us magic!”

“Please make me your disciple!”

“I want to become a stronger magical girl! Please, we’re counting on you for magic instruction!!”

In an instant, I was surrounded by magical girls, all begging me to teach them.

Unable to refuse their expectant, sparkling eyes, I ended up having to instruct a huge crowd of magical girls, one by one.

It was over two hours later by the time I was finally released.

◆

“M-man, I’m beat…”

Having finally finished instructing every last magical girl who had begged for my help, I sat down on a bench at the edge of the grounds and took a breath.

It was dusk.

On the grounds, dyed orange by the setting sun, a large number of magical girls were engrossed in their own magical training.

I watched them train, trying to recover my own spent stamina.

“You look rather exhausted.”

Just then, Saionji came over to me.

She sat down next to me and offered me a plastic bottle.

“Drink this. It’s cold.”

“Ah, thanks…”

I gratefully accepted and rehydrated myself.

Saionji watched me with an amused smile.

“It seems even the great Reiya Toujou gets tired after instructing that many people.”

“Of course I do… I never expected this to happen…”

“Fufufu… With your level of skill, it’s only natural that people would want to learn from you… There might be even more of them tomorrow, you know?”

“P-please, spare me…”

Saionji let out a soft chuckle at my weary muttering.

“Still, I’m relieved. Most of the students were hostile to you at first, but it seems you’ve finally been accepted here.”

“…Thanks to you. Though, I have a feeling a certain someone was the most hostile of all.”

“D-don’t say that… It’s embarrassing to remember…”

Saionji’s cheeks flushed red.

“I-it couldn’t be helped… At the time, I’d had almost no interaction with the opposite sex… so I misunderstood you… I thought you had infiltrated this place with some ulterior motive… Please forgive my ignorant behavior.”

“I’m not mad. Besides, it’s probably more than half your doing that I’m being accepted like this.”

In fact, ever since Saionji, who is admired by the other magical girls, started interacting with me normally, the general atmosphere toward me has softened considerably.

It’s an undeniable fact that because she invited me to the student council, the other magical girls have come to acknowledge me to some extent, and there’s been less friction.

In that sense, I was grateful to Saionji.

Regardless of how it came about, I was truly thankful that she had invited me to the student council.

“Thanks for inviting me to the student council, Saionji.”

“…I-I haven’t done anything to deserve your thanks. I’m… probably far more selfish than you think… Even inviting you to the student council was less about you and more for my own…”

WWOOOOOOOO! WWOOOOOOOO!

‘MONSTER ALERT! MONSTER ALERT!’

“…!?”

Whatever Saionji was about to say was drowned out by the monster alert that suddenly blared across the area.

At the sound of the wailing siren, all the magical girls on the grounds turned in unison toward the direction of the sound.

‘A monster has appeared! Residents in the vicinity, please evacuate immediately! I repeat! A monster has appeared! Residents in the vicinity, please evacuate immediately!’

“Student Council President!”

“Lady Saionji!”

“It’s a monster alert!”

“What should we do!?”

The magical girls rushed over to us, looking to Saionji for instructions.

Saionji, who had been startled by the sudden alarm, tightened her expression and looked at me.

“Toujou. You and I will go. It’s too dangerous to send anyone else.”

“No, I’ll go alone. You stay here, Saionji.”

I said, standing up.

Saionji tried to stop me.

“Wait, you can’t go alone! You’re exhausted because of us! It’s dangerous for you to go by yourself!”

“It’s fine. Physically, I’m already mostly recovered.”

Saionji’s eyes went wide.

“Really?”

“Yeah. No problem. I don’t think it’ll interfere with my ability to fight the monster.”

“Unbelievable… what kind of recovery rate is that?”

“Saionji. I need you to stay here. It’s not because you’d be a burden. It’s because I trust you. If… something were to happen while I’m gone… I want to be able to entrust the other magical girls to you.”

“…!”

“Can I count on you?”

“You can.”

Saionji nodded.

“Leave it to me. While you’re gone, I will take responsibility and protect the other magical girls.”

“Good. Thanks.”

I gave Saionji a nod and then started walking toward the blaring monster alert.

“Be careful, Toujou. Come back safely.”

“…”

With Saionji’s prayer-like whisper at my back, I broke into a run toward the site where the monster had appeared.