What If the Strongest Villain from the Original Story Became the Protagonist's Ally?

“Ugh… I’m tired today too…”

All classes ended.

Even though I was just accompanying Iris to the academy, having nothing to do was conversely exhausting… The position of guard was far too idle.

“Good work today, Yuu-san. Nana too.”

“I’m totally fine.”

Nana made a V-sign toward Iris.

“Nana is excellent. Meanwhile a certain father causes problems, gets mistaken for a suspicious person, causes problems again, and is busy…”

“Iris has it tough too.”

“I’m talking about you.”

Terrible! I’m just freely enjoying life as I like! Rather, I think the side trying to catch me is at fault—what does she think about that!?

If I clearly told her that, her fist would definitely come flying, so I won’t say it.

“What’s with that dissatisfied expression? Have you already forgotten falling into the courtyard when you were playing by the window at lunch and causing a commotion?”

“Come to think of it, that happened too. Nostalgic story.”

“It was just a few hours ago.”

Glare—Iris stared at me.

—I-it couldn’t be helped… I couldn’t say that I’d sat by the window looking at the scenery outside, then got distracted by a cute girl and leaned out too far and fell…

Iris would kill me in various ways.

“Well, it’s fine. Yuu-san’s strange behavior didn’t start today.”

“As expected of Iris. You’ve already adapted to my existence.”

How resilient. In exchange, I was lonely that I wasn’t being retorted to as much anymore. Should I try more flashy jokes next time to catch Iris’s interest?

“More importantly, let’s return to the royal palace. We’ll be late for evening training.”

“As always, you’re a training maniac, Iris.”

“The stronger you become, the better, in these times.”

She said that somewhat sarcastically and laughed. I shrugged.

“No doubt.”

I lined up behind Iris, who carried her bag, and the three of us headed home.

▼△▼

“————”

During our walk home with Iris and the others, I suddenly stopped.

“? Yuu-san? What’s wrong?”

Noticing my behavior, Iris and Nana stopped simultaneously. They turned to look at my face, but I looked in a completely different direction while—

“…Sorry, Iris, Nana. You two go ahead and do training or something. I have some business that came up.”

—saying that as I changed course toward that direction.

“Eh? B-business?”

“Yeah, business.”

“Is that… more important business than training with me?”

Suddenly Iris directed dark, yandere-like eyes at me. Her pupils had no highlights.

—That’s the kind of reaction you’re showing? While I liked Iris in that state too, I didn’t have time to waste, so—

“I-I’ll return as quickly as possible, okay? Promise, promise~! Well then!”

*I waved and started running.

From behind—

“Ah! Wait, you cheater~!”

“Papa, you womanizer~!”

I heard terrible abuse from Iris and Nana.

I think cheater and womanizer were a bit different. But since I really did have business, I hurriedly disappeared from their sight.

▼△▼

I turned the corner at the crossroads and entered an alley.

Going around another corner and straight down a dim road, I emerged into a surprisingly open area. There, one man(?) was leaning against a wall.

The reason I couldn’t clearly determine the gender was because this man(?) was muscular but wore a gray robe. I couldn’t see his face due to the hood. Blond hair peeking from inside swayed slightly in the wind.

“That strange mask… plus being Iris Rune Aldnoa’s close associate means you’re no ordinary person… It seems my prediction was correct.”

“You’re the one who’s been directing killing intent at me?”

Actually, a little while ago during our walk home with Iris, this guy had directed killing intent at me. Iris didn’t seem to notice, but it was truly exquisite technique. I could intuitively tell he was strong.

“Yes. At my level, I can tell… roughly judge an opponent’s capabilities just by looking. In that regard, you’re stronger than that Iris. —Am I wrong?”

“So you specifically wanted to date and called me to this creepy place? You’re surprisingly shy.”

“Kukuku… well, don’t get so angry. Between two men, it’s better to have a quiet place for killing each other, right?”

Saying that, the man separated from the wall, put both hands in his pocket, and—took out two knives.

Distinctively shaped knives. The blades were jagged in places.

—They had an ominous quality like poison might be applied. They looked more like torture instruments than weapons.

“…Damn. I just fought after being bothered by that young master today. On top of that, I have to deal with you… what a pain.”

But the fact that he knew about Iris and picked a fight with me meant this guy’s original target was Iris.

Besides, I knew this knife-using figure with this appearance. I wasn’t 100% sure yet, but if it was as I imagined—this guy was a named character.