Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no 'Kokoro'-

Chapter 5.05

Chapter 5.05

Chapter 5 Part 5

Translator : PolterGlast

"Te~eiyaaaa!"

"Fu~ !!"

The outer edge of the Academic City, Arcazam.

In a place a little far from the city, two women attacked each other with their own specialized weapons, and sparks scattered.

One of them was Mimuru, a beast girl with a flexible body and cat-like ears.

The other one was a girl wielding a rapier with long jet-black hair fluttering in the wind. She was Irisdina Francilt.

Some distance away from where the two were fighting, Nozomu, Mars, Sh?na, and Tom were watching their fight.

"As I thought, Irisdina-san is amazing. She can perceive Mimuru’s movements accurately ..."

"But that Mimuru is also quite good. Even though Irisdina pushed her, she can definitely dodge Irisdina’s deadly attack."

Tom was impressed by Irisdina’s abilities, but Mars was also impressed by Mimuru’s physical strength.

Nozomu and Sh?na were also watching the fight between the two attentively and held their saliva in their mouths due to the tension.

The reason why Sh?na and the others are in this place goes back a bit in time.

Students who had finished their lessons left their classrooms with the bell’s closing chime.

Nozomu and Mars, like the other students, left the classroom and walked towards the main gate.

"So, are we going to train at that place again today? "

"Yeah, Irisdina and the others will come too, so let’s wait at the main gate."

Nozomu and Mars were supposed to meet with Irisdina and the others at the school’s main gate in order to train at the outer edge, which was their daily after school routine.

When Nozomu and Mars arrived at the main gate, Irisdina and the others hadn’t come yet, and they were killing time while chatting, but some time after they started chatting, Somia ran from Ecross’s school building towards them, waving her hands.

"Nozomu-sa~~n!"

"Oh~, did Somia-chan come first?"

"I’m sorry to have kept you waiting! What about Ane-sama ..."

"I haven’t seen her yet. Let’s wait a bit longer, and if she still doesn’t come, why don’t we go to her classroom?"

"That’s true. I think that’s a good idea."

Nozomu was a little worried that Irisdina was late, but he didn’t think it was good to make a fuss about it, so he agreed with Mars’ opinion.

At that moment, a voice was directed at them.

"Hmm? You guys ..."

A wind-like voice flowed towards the three, and they turned their gazes towards the voice as if invited by the wind.

"Sh?na ...?"

When Nozomu turned his face towards the voice, there was Sh?na Yuliel, an elf girl with long blue hair fluttering in the wind.

"Hello, Sh?na-san!!"

"Fufu, hello Somia-san"

"By the way, are you alone? What about Tom and Mimuru?"

Somia greeted Sh?na cheerfully with her carefree smile. Sh?na smiled and greeted Somia back.

Nozomu realized that he couldn’t see Mimuru and her lover, who was always by Sh?na’s side; therefore, he asked what happened to them while looking around.

"Well, umm ..."

Sh?na looked away while holding her temples down; perhaps from a headache. Nozomu and the others were tilting their heads, to her, who had such a worn-out expression.

"Well, what are you doing staying at the main gate anyway?"

"Ah! We are waiting for Iris and Tima,because we made a promise to train at the outer edge."

"T-That’s right ..."

Nozomu answered Sh?na who asked another question, but his reply was a bit awkward.

"... Hey. Do you always train with Irisdina and the others after school?"

"Well, not every day. We usually do it a couple of days a week."

"Is that so ......"

After hearing Mars’s words, Sh?na was thinking about something with a hand on her mouth for a while.

Then she raised her face as she decided something in the depths of her heart. She made a request to Nozomu.

"Hey, if it’s alright, can we also participate in your training?"

"Eh?"

Her request was for them to allow her and her friends to participate in the training at the outer edge.

"We are also going to train, but to be honest, there is a limit to what we can do with just three people. In addition, because the three of us have our own specialized skills, we have a good balance in training; however, sometimes it’s good to train with other people as experience. I’ll talk to the others, but if you’d like, can we join in?"

Certainly, the roles in Sh?na’s party of a vanguard and rearguard were clear.

As the vanguard, Mimuru was in charge of disturbing their opponent.

Sh?na supported the vanguard with accurate shooting using her bow and arrow behind Mimuru.

Furthermore, Tom gave instructions using a variety of magical support along with a wide field of view at the rear.

Because their roles were divided so clearly, their party was very well-balanced and it was easy to formulate a strategy, but at the same time, there were some difficulties in their flexibility.

Each role was fixed, and there was no substitute for it.

In other words, if even one person was killed, there was a chance that the party itself would collapse all at once.

In fact, when they fought the black demon beasts for the first time, Tom, who was in a position to give instructions, was the first to be defeated, and their group was nearly wiped out. No, they would have been annihilated if not for Nozomu.

Seeing Nozomu’s calm and quick judgment up close, Sh?na realized that what she needed now wasn’t a formidable power to repel the enemy, but the ability to respond to various situations like him; therefore, she approached Nozomu with that in mind.

"I see ... I think it’s alright. I’ll ask Iris later. What do you think, Mars?"

"Isn’t it alright? It seems that Sh?na and Mimuru can do quite a lot of things, and I’m not against it.

"I’m glad ... Thank you."

Sh?na waited for an answer and was a little nervous until Nozomu answered. When she heard Nozomu’s words of approval, she felt relieved, loosening her shoulders and smiling. Irisdina and the others hadn’t agreed to it yet, but at least they could be convinced since Nozomu and Mars were on board with the idea.

Sh?na’s beautiful appearance was comparable to Irisdina’s. Until a while ago, she had a hard ice-like expression on her face, but now, Sh?na’s spontaneous smile made Nozomu’s heart beat a little faster.

Just as Nozomu was about to feel nervous in another sense, they heard a groaning sound, and the three of them turned their eyes towards the source of the voice.

"Uuh ... I still have a headache. Why use violence. I was just dozing off for a minute. So cruel ..."

"But, it’s because Mimuru was asleep in Inda-sensei’s class ..."

It was Mimuru who was groaning while holding her head and Tom who had an astonished expression while walking beside her.

"B-But! I didn’t think she would swing the textbook with all her might !? As a bonus, Inda-sensei even told me to write a 20 page reflection by the end of school! "

Mimuru raised her voice, venting the feelings deep inside her chest. It seemed like she fell asleep during Inda-sensei’s lesson and she was punished.

When Nozomu glanced at Sh?na who was next to him, Sh?na said, "Is that the reason?" Then she shrugged her shoulders with a bitter smile.

"This is Inda-sensei we’re talking about. If it wasn’t for me, you would have had to go through a whole sermon in the staff or interview room after school. Would you have wanted that instead?”

"Ugh............"

It looked like Tom was the one who suggested writing a reflection as punishment. Judging by Mimuru’s facial expression, it would have been worse otherwise.

Inda-sensei was a very talented teacher, but she was also known for being serious and strict. While taking charge of the second class, Inda-sensei sometimes took charge of the first class as a substitute for the busy Jihad Roundel. Mimuru, who fell asleep in this type of teacher’s class, would suffer the consequences ...

"Finally, it’s over. Mimuru, you’re taking too long."

Sh?na called out to Mimuru as if she was tired of waiting.

"It can’t be helped! I wrote 20 pages of reflections !!"

"If you don’t like it, just take the class seriously ..."

"I-I took it seriously!"

"Well, you fell asleep in about 10 minutes tho... "

"Wha, Tom!"

Mimuru tried to gloss it over, but even her lover, Tom, began to find fault in her.

"... That’s not how you take it seriously. You didn’t take notes either, did you? I was saying that because nowadays, we might have a sudden exam on the spot."

"Uu~ ... Alright! But, I’ll have Tom show me his notes!!"

Mimuru glared at her traitor lover with tears and drawing closer to Tom while groaning "u~ u~".

Since Tom thought he had done a little too much, he scratched his cheek and showed a bitter smile, accepting Mimuru’s request.

"Haha ... Well, that’s okay, Mimuru."

"Tom, don’t spoil your lover too much."

"Hmm! Tom is always on my side, so it’s okay !!"

Perhaps because Tom had returned to her side, Mimuru stuck out her chest as if she had regained her momentum and turned her proud face towards Sh?na.

Originally, Mimuru had been the one to suffer the consequences, but it seemed that for Tom, it was more important to be by her side instead. The reflection writing and her dozing off during class were no longer on her mind. In these situations, she would fall asleep again in the next lesson.

As Sh?na was holding her head due to Mimuru’s selfish behavior, Irisdina and Tima came and called out to Nozomu.

"Nozomu, I’m sorry to have kept you waiting."

"S-Sorry to make you wait ..."

"N-No, I haven’t waited that long."

"That’s right. I wasn’t even bored."

Irisdina and Tima apologized for being a little late, but since both Nozomu and Mars were talking to Sh?na and her friends, they didn’t feel like the wait was that long, telling them not to worry.

"Iris, actually, Sh?na and her friends are requesting to participate in our training."

"Hmm? Is that so?"

Nozomu relayed Sh?na’s request to Irisdina.

"Yes, would you please let me participate?"

"... I think it’s fine. What about Ai?"

"I think it’s okay. Nozomu already agrees to it hasn’t he?"

Neither Tima nor Irisdina had any reason to decline, so they were willing to accept Sh?na’s request.

Sh?na was also relieved that her request was accepted.

"I’m glad. Then, please treat me well."

"Oh, about that, I also agreed to it!"

Mimuru listened to Irisdina and the others’ conversation and raised her face. She regained her energy due to Tom’s voice, but she was still rubbing the spot on her head that was hit by Inda-sensei. It still hurt.

"Su~re, with more people training together, we can have a variety of experiences and the range of training will expand."

"Alright! If we’ve decided to do so, let’s go! Let’s go right away!! Hurry up!"

Since Mimuru was in a good mood from their request being accepted, she wrapped her arm around her lover’s arm, grabbed Mars’ arm with her other hand, and rushed out.

"Wha, Oi!"

"Mi-Mimuru! Uwa!"

"Ah, Mars-kun!?"

"Please, wait a minute!"

Tima and Somia hurriedly started chasing after Mimuru who suddenly rushed out while dragging the two men.

"Haa, good grief ..."

"Haha! It looks fun. Alright, we’ll follow them too."

"Eh~? Wa!"

"Wait, Iris!?"

Sh?na was astonished by Mimuru’s sudden high spirits, but Irisdina wondered if Mimuru was having fun, so she also grabbed Nozomu and Sh?na’s hands and started running after Mimuru.

"Wait a minute! Fast, it’s too fast!"

"If we don’t hurry, we’ll lose sight of them! Do your best, Sh?na-kun!"

"Hahaha ..."

Sh?na couldn’t keep up with the sudden turn of events, and sometimes her legs would get tangled, but Irisdina kept running. Nozomu gave himself up, and only a bitter smile appeared on his mouth.

However, at that moment, Nozomu noticed something strange. Someone was peeking at him.

"Hmm?"

Nozomu traced the source of the gaze he sensed, but he couldn’t clearly identify it; however, Nozomu remembered this gaze.

(This is ......)

"Nozomu, we don’t have time to be in a daze. If we don’t hurry, we’ll lose sight of them!"

"...... Eh?"

Nozomu tried to look for the person gazing at him, but suddenly the power pulling his hand became stronger, so he hastily accelerated.

In the end, when they arrived at the outer edge of the city, Nozomu and Sh?na were exhausted, and Irisdina was in a good mood as she smiled because she felt like she was returning to her childhood for the first time in a long time.

====================================

"Take this!"

"Fu~!"

After discussion, they decided to first get to know everyone’s special abilities and battle styles. Then Irisdina and Mimuru would fight in a mock battle first.

Mimuru tried to take advantage of her high physical capabilities, which were the characteristic of the beastman, but she still couldn’t break through that gap in power due to Irisdina’s swordsmanship and high-speed magic casting by [Immediate Deployment].

In the beginning, Irisdina didn’t go on offensive because she was waiting and observing; however, after she had determined Mimuru’s abilities from exchanging blows to an extent, Irisdina gradually increased the intensity of her attacks.

"Hyaah!"

"Ha~ !!"

Irisdina’s rapier grazed Mimuru’s cheek. Moreover, Irisdina immediately activated her magic, wind swirling around Mimuru. Mimuru and Irisdina were trapped inside the wall of wind.

"This is bad!!"

A voice escaped from Mimuru’s mouth.

The generated wall of wind completely separated the space between them and the outside, and within that narrow space, Mimuru couldn’t make full use of her agility.

Of course, that was Irisdina’s goal, and she didn’t miss this opportunity.

Irisdina used her body strengthening magic, closed the gap with Mimuru in an instant, and unleashed a storm of thrust towards Mimuru.

"Haaa!!"

"Wawwa wawwa!"

Mimuru managed to dodge the storm of thrusts with her reflexes, but Irisdina’s thrusts, which were strengthened by physical strengthening, were not only fast but also heavy, and Mimuru was gradually pushed.

Since Mimuru had reached her limit, the knife was blown away from her hand and the rapier was struck at her throat.

"Game over ... Right?"

"... Ahh, that’s right. I lost."

After Mimuru admitted defeat, Irisdina put her rapier back into its scabbard and Mimuru also picked up the blown knife.

"Thank you for your hard work. It was a good match."

"Thank you, Nozomu"

Nozomu handed the water bottles to the two who came back.

"Thank you! A~a, I couldn’t win after all"

She didn’t think she could beat the A-ranked Irisdina, but she still felt disappointed, and Mimuru dropped her shoulders for a short time. Her ears, which were usually moving energetically, seemed to hang down.

"But Mimuru is amazing. You can last that long against Irisdina-san, so I think you should have a little confidence."

"Is that so? Ehehe ..."

However, as expected, Mimuru recovered very quickly. As soon as Tom complimented her a bit, she smiled and her ears rejuvenated. Still, her face became red. Perhaps she was embarrassed at being praised by her lover.

"Next, Nozomu and I will do it. Be my opponent for a bit."

"Alright, but wait a minute"

"Mars-kun ..."

"... I know ..."

Mars asked Nozomu to be his opponent, and Nozomu agreed.

Tima was worried that Mars would do something reckless again, so she called out his name in a faint voice.

Mars knew he was a little reckless in today’s mock battle, but maybe because there was still a hint of impatience in his heart, he answered Tima’s plea but his voice was a little stiff.

Nozomu and Mars faced each other and prepared their own specialized weapons.

Mars took out the greatsword from its scabbard and held it in a Seigan-no-Kamae (Kendo Stance), and Nozomu lowered his back and put his hand on the hilt of the katana that was still in the scabbard.

"Who do you think will win?"

"Hmm. Mars has higher physical strength, but his opponent is Nozomu ..."

"I don’t know what will happen if he uses attacking techniques such as [Phantom] ..."

"He had never used it in mock battles until now. It was because it was too deadly ...... Anyway, how come Sh?na, Tom, and Mimuru knew about his technique?"

When Mimuru asked about which one would win, Tom and Sh?na predicted that it would depend on what tactics Nozomu used, but Irisdina responded to the speculation by asking why they knew about Nozomu’s technique.

Sh?na and her friends were petrified at once.

Irisdina’s doubts were justified, and both Somia and Tima by her side also turned their gazes to Sh?na and her friends.

They didn’t know how Nozomu befriended Sh?na and her friends.

Nozomu and Sh?na had been told by Jihad that they shouldn’t talk about the black demon beast to anyone else, not even Irisdina and the others.

However, Irisdina and the others also felt concerned about this matter.

Reason being, Nozomu was clearly acting strange before the incident of the black demon beast occured.

Nozomu didn’t want to answer no matter how many times he was pressured to answer the questions, even though it was so obvious he did something reckless again.

They knew something was going on, but they couldn’t make any progress as if they were being blocked by a transparent ice wall.

Two weeks after the incident, Nozomu and the others seemed to be gradually recovering over time, but what stuck to their chests hadn’t disappeared.

Irisdina didn’t think she should interfere too much, but just as she was wondering why Sh?na knew about Nozomu’s technique, she instinctively asked.

Now, because of her own words, the lid covering her heart opened albeit slightly and resulted in a strangely awkward atmosphere.

"Well, various things happened ..."

Sh?na whispered to Irisdina who stared at them.

"Various things ......?"

"Yes, various things ..."

The two were completely silent.

No one was able to say a thing, remaining silent; however, Nozomu and Mars looked at each other’s appearances because they weren’t aware of the conversation between Irisdina and the others.

Finally, when Nozomu lowered his body’s center of gravity further, Mars also exhaled and started sending Qi throughout his body.

Nozomu also focused his Qi on his feet and as he tried to move forward, a voice could be heard, telling them to stop the battle.

"Could you give me a minute?"

It was not a loud voice, and when everyone turned to the source of the voice, they could see a male student in Solminati Academy uniform walking towards them.

"...... You"

"Yo, Nozomu. Can you give me a little of your time?"

Golden hair, ears and tail. His slit pupils and the smile that appeared on his neat face should have been attractive, but on the contrary, his smile looked suspicious because they had no idea what he was thinking, and in his right hand he carried something like a sling bag.

3rd year, 2nd class, Feo Rishitza.

He was the previous Fox-tailed boy who collided with Nozomu in the corridor.