"Haa haa haa ..."

In the forest, someone wielding a katana. In front of him, there were demon beasts with countless red eyes and countless black humanoids with smoke raised like a miasma.

Those black humanoids wield swords, spears, axes, halberd, and other weapons in their hands and attacking him.

***

Nozomu's POV

Avoid the blade swung down from the front and pass through the side of the opponents, and cut through their side.

From the right side, another black humanoid with swings its greatsword sideways and tries to get rid of me along with the black humanoids that have just been cut.

"Kuh !!"

I see through the trajectory of the greatsword, crouched down and lowered myself to avoid the greatsword, and put my strength on my bent knees.

The moment the greatsword passed over my head. I released the power stored in my knees, swing my katana up while jumping, and slash the black humanoid in front of me.

A black humanoid with a spear rushed in from the opposite direction, but I thrust the blade of my katana into the opponent and cut it off.

"Damn……" 

Even if they was slashed off, mowed down, and knocked down, the black humanoids reappeared one after another.

Before I knew it, my surroundings were covered with black humanoids, and there was no way to escape. The black humanoids surrounded me and I backed away to put some distance between me and them.

The difference in number was inevitable. Before I knew it, I was trying to release the invisible chain that bound me.

The next moment, the surrounding black humanoids jumped at me all at once.

With my left hand, I hit the ground with all my might against the black humanoids that were approaching from all directions.

Qi technique *Light of Extinction*

A pillar of light erupted to cover my surroundings and burned away the black humanoids that jumped in, but as I though, it can only stop them temporarily.

"Gaaa!"

The black humanoids who couldn't be defeated launched a counterattack at me which was full of gaps and pierced my body with the weapons they had in their hands.

My consciousness turned white due to the severe pain, and blood oozed out of the wound. As the blood bleeds all at once, it gets cold rapidly and my field of vision becomes pitch black.

"A, aa……" 

Chills felt all over my body. A presence of death that slips into my body.

(No, I refuse……)

Even though my body was already cold, the feeling of not wanting to die swelled in reverse proportion and suddenly started burning my heart.

The flames blazing with attachment to life shook the limits of my body, moved my hands, and tore apart the chains that bound me.

In the next moment, my whole body was full of power, and an overflowing stream of power blew away the black humanoids.

My strong will for not wanting to die.

Blood was still flowing from all over my body, but I didn't care about that. I cut the black humanoid who was about to attack and hit it with a bisection slash using Qi technique *Phantom*. And I hit the scabbard into the flank of the black humanoid who was charging from the other side.

The black humanoid's ribs were crushed by the scabbard and its body was bent into a dogleg shape, and several black humanoids were involved in it and were blown away.

Furthermore, I sent Qi to my feet and activated *Instant Move -Curve Dance-*. Before being surrounded again, I slipped past the black humanoids in a high-speed curve movement and activated Qi technique *Phantom -Clad-* onto my katana and cut the black humanoids.

I broke through the encirclement and swung my katana while running around inside a group of black humanoids.

The black humanoids couldn't follow my movements and were one-sidedly slashed.

Finally, all the black humanoids had been cut down, and I took a deep breath and let the chains wrap around me again.

However, by the time the chain finished wrapping me. The scene in front of me changed completely. 

"Eh?"

I was supposed to be in the forest, but before I knew it, I was in the ruins.

A familiar building that collapsed and caught fire dyed its surroundings red. It was the same red dream I had before.

"U, Ue ..."

A tremendous feeling of nausea came from the depths of my chest.

The countless black humanoids that had just been cut and fallen had turned red before I knew it.

No, they are not black humanoids.

The familiar white-based uniform.

They wear the same uniform as me, they were also Solminati Academy students.

They were slashed with sharp blades without exception. What was happening in front of me was my own work and it hits me hard.

"Gu, ge e ~e~eee~e!" 

I can't bear it anymore and spit out what is in my stomach.

I crouched while holding my head like a child. I didn't want to admit it, the person who caused this tragedy was me, not "that guy".

"A, aa"

However, no matter how much I close my eyes tightly to deny it, the smell of blood that fills the surroundings, the sound of sparks erupting, and the rumbling sound of buildings collapsing continue to point out the tragedy that I have caused.

When I crouched down, I could see the face of someone in front of me.

"U~ !!"

In the darkness with almost no light, that face came to my sight. I'm familiar with that face. However, instead of a face with a sun-like smile, only a pure white expression of death appeared before me.

Obviously, her body, from her neck down, is gone. Because I already cut it off.

"Uaaaaaaaa !!"

While my scream reverberated across the bloody and crumbling Arcazam, my outstretched shadow suddenly changed, forming six wings.

My shadow kept changing, forming a shape, a light lit up in my eyeballs and began to pulsate, but I didn't notice it and kept screaming.

"Uaaaaaaaa !!"

I jumped out of the futon and immediately rushed into the bathroom. 

"Ugu, eu, geeee "

I desperately thrust my face into the washbasin and tried to vomit what was in my stomach, but there was nothing in my stomach, so only gastric juices came out.

However, the feeling of nausea did not disappear, and I drank the water in the jug and immediately spit it out.

After repeating it several times, the feeling of nausea finally subsided, but this time an overwhelming sense of malaise enveloped my body, and I just sat on the floor and leaned my back against the wall.

It had been two weeks since encountering that black demon beast. But my condition is getting worse.

Somehow I managed to get up and get ready to go to school.

The morning sun was warm and enveloped Arcazam.

"Fuu ..."

Before leaving the dorm, I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.

To be honest, my current complexion is not great.

After the incident with the black demon beast, Iris and the others became somewhat worried about me.

I met Lisa and Ken just before going into the forest and at that moment my wicked impulse rose within me.

I didn't want my wicked impulse to explode, so I ran to escape from that place.

Mars, who was with me at the time, told Iris and the others. So, after me, Shīna, and her friends defeated the black demon beast, and after finishing the report to the school, I was questioned by Iris and the others.

However, in the end, I could only give them an ambiguous reply. 

"……Is that so"

“…………………”

I remember.

Irisdina and the others looked somewhat lonely. Mars silently glared at me without trying to hide that he was dissatisfied with me for not saying anything.

On that day, we were feeling awkward the whole time.

Furthermore, even during training in the forest, nightmares and wicked impulses flashed through my head and it bound my heart, and even if I tried to grab and tear the chain of Ability Suppression, my hands couldn't move any further.

"Good morning. Nozomu"

"Good mo~rni~ng!"

I was called and when I turned around, Iris, Somia, Mars, and Tima were there before I knew it.

"Good morning, Nozomu-kun"

"Yoo"

Tima and Mars also greeted me after Iris and Somia.

"Good morning"

I forcibly put the dream I had last night in the depths of my heart and tried to pretend to be calm and return the greeting.

However, my voice was also a little stiff.

"That's why Lansa-chan got angry and scold the boys with all her might."

"Well, I don't know how she feels, but I think they're both at fault."

"Is that so? I think the boys just reap what they sow ..."

"Hahaha……"

"Well, the cause is those boys, the girl named Lansa wouldn't suddenly scold them for no reason..."

We had such conversations on our way to school early in the morning.

Somia-chan was talking about her classmates.

There was a girl named Lansa who was giving a warning because the boys had forgotten their class duty, but the boys didn't reflect on it and started to lose their temper, and Lansa also got heated up. It seemed that it later developed into a big quarrel.

Iris said that both were at fault, and Mars said that the boys reaped what they sow.

Tima smiled bitterly at the two of them.

I couldn't talk about what happened in the forest, and for a few days after that, our atmosphere became awkward. Our facial expressions are a little stiff, but recently we can finally speak normally.

Another thing that has changed is... 

"Ah! There he is! O~i! Nozomu-kun !!"

A voice like the sound of a bell resounded in the surroundings.

Seeing the person who made that voice, three people wearing the same Solminati Academy uniform came here.

The first was Shīna Yuliel, an elf girl with long blue hair tied with a black cloth headband.

The other is Mimuru, a Wildcat girl with cat ears and tanned skin.

And behind her was Tom, Mimuru's lover, who was smaller and thinner than the other two.

It was probably Mimuru who called out to me. She waved her hand to show off her existence, just like when she found her close friend.

This is another change around me. After that incident, they started talking to me from time to time.

"Good morning, Nozomu-kun. Sorry. Mimuru suddenly shouted like that."

"No, I don't mind about that..."

"That's right! He's not someone who minds about such things. Shīna is still very stubborn~~"

"It's because you are too soft like a cream, so I have no other choice."

"I'm in trouble. If I look so delicious, I might get attacked by Shīna and get eaten by her. It's hard to be so popular~~."

“I assure you, Mimuru, you are very popular right now. Everyone remember about your cooking skills, what you put in the soft cream was not sugar but salt and chili peppers. Such a meaningless dish. No one should be able to eat it."

"Wha! It's not that terrible!! Of course, I'm not good at cooking, even so, my only mistake was the salt !! "

"It's no good either way ..."

Mimuru retorted and didn't aware of Shīna's sarcasm.

Tom's face next to me turned pale... Yeah, let's pretend not to see it. At that time in shisho's hut, it might be right for me to cook. 

"Good morning. You three are the same as usual."

"Good morning, Nozomu-kun. Even in class, Shīna and Mimuru are still like that. Well, that's a good thing though."

Tom smiled as he said so.

Shīna and Mimuru were sarcastic about each other, but despite such an exchange, their facial expressions were very bright.

The bond between those who overcame that incident grew stronger.

"O, yaho Somi~chi! How are you doing ?!"

"Yess! I'm fine today too~ !!"

When Mimuru found Somia, she smiled and gave a high five after she arrived beside her.

After that incident, Iris and the others started talking to Shīna, Mimuru, and Tom as the chances of our meeting increased.

"Ah, good morning Mars-kun. About the knife I gave you yesterday, how was it?"

"Oh, I was able to develop the technique quite easily. But the power is the problem. If you carve a formation on the blade, the power will drop."

Tom was talking with Mars and Tima about magic.

Mars was studying magic with Tima, but it was still difficult.

Mars did his best, but even if he managed to learn the technique, it didn't work when it came to practicing it.

Mars was tactless when it came to magic, as Mars had only used Qi techniques, and that was the only way for him to fight.

When he tried to use magic while fighting or wielding a sword, the control of his Qi technique that he applied to himself became unstable. In addition, Mars is by no means good at controlling magic.

Therefore, Tom proposed a method of using alchemy to draw a formation in advance and then pouring magical power into it to activate the magic. This can reduce the burden on Mars instead of activating magic from scratch.

By the way, Iris sometimes joined their conversation.

"But Mars' weapon is a greatsword, right? If it's for magical development, I don't think you need to think too much about strength..."

"That said, I'm a vanguard. There might be occasions where I need to change my weapon to counter the opponent's attack. Well, I will not use this knife though ... "

The knifes depicted with magic formations were commercially available, but it seemed this time it was just an experiment. Perhaps Tom was thinking of adding it to his lover's knife.

"Hmm... It's hard to carve a magic formation directly onto the blade... but, I guess there's no problem with trying..."

Tom is an alchemist, not a blacksmith. Although he had no problem with the application of magic, he was a complete amateur in terms of the power of the weapon and how to handle it.

"Hmm. As I thought, I need to think about it a little more. Thank you, Mars and Tima."

"No, you helped me too. To be honest, I had a hard time using magic while fighting."

"N, no. I'm the one who should be thanking you...... I'm not familiar with adding magic to weapons..." 

Tima had various kinds of magic that could be learned, such as attack magic, recovery magic, and auxiliary magic, but having the ability to learn it and whether it could actually be used was a different matter.

She is only 17 years old. She could not cover thousands of years of magical history and wisdom.

It can't be helped, especially when she wasn't familiar with the magic she didn't usually use. 

"Speaking of which, Shīna-kun, you have long hair, so I wonder how you take care of your hair?"

Well, I wipe my hair thoroughly after washing it with water, I try to make it feel as natural as possible so as not to apply strong force. Besides, it seems that my hair gets damaged easily if I wipe it right away after washing... How about you, Irisdina-san?"

"Well. Sometimes my maid does it for me, but I try to do it myself. But I'm still worried. It seems my hair has been a bit damaged lately..."

After saying that, Iris brushed her own hair with her white hands.

Iris and Shīna were talking about something very girly.

Her hair is black and very shiny, and to be clear, I don't know where or how it got damaged.

"Well, that's right. A lot of things have happened lately, so my hair was a little damaged."

Shīna also pinched her long blue hair and showed it to Iris. They show each other's hair the same way, but I still don't get it.

"Hey Nozomu. You think so too, right?"

"……Eh?"

"See, this hair. It's a little damaged ..."

"Yes, this one too ..."

They suddenly talked to me.

It seemed like Iris and Shīna were pinching the ends of their hair and showing them in front of me, which seemed to be about the hair quality they talked about earlier.

Black and blue. The colors are different, but both hairs are very beautiful. I feel that Shīna's hair is a little lighter, it seems that Shīna's hair is thinner than Iris's.

I saw their hair presented in front of me, but I still couldn't get it at all.

"Ummmm ... I'm sorry. I don't know ..."

"" Ha~a ... ""

The two shocked and sighed, they frowned with dissatisfaction.

"Nozomu, you have no sensibility"

"Yeah. You lack sensibility."

"Ummm ... I'm sorry ..."

Perhaps they didn't like my answer, they complained, and their voice strangely pierced me.

"Hmm?" 

I was feeling depressed, but suddenly I felt someone's gaze, so I looked towards the source. A girl with red hair looked at me from within the crowd.

"Lisa?"

It was quite far away, and I couldn't read her expression.

When Lisa noticed my gaze, she quickly averted her gaze. There were so many people coming and going that she immediately disappeared among the crowd.

"Nozomu! Come on, quickly!!"

"Y, yea!"

Mars called my name.

Lisa was in my head for a moment, but Mars urged me again and I hastily started chasing after everyone.

***

Lisa’s POV

"Nozomu ..."

I saw his figure when I was on my way to school. At that moment, the inside of my head turned bright red, but at the same time, I remember something.

About two weeks ago, when I was leaving school with Ken, I met him.

I glared at that traitor. At first, he was facing his head down and he was a bit different than usual, and the next moment he glared back at me.

At that moment, I felt a pain as if my chest was pierced by his gaze that seemed to return my anger.

When I noticed, he was looking at me. He was so far away that I couldn't see his expression clearly.

However, when I saw him with Iris-san and the others, I got angrier and my chest hurt.

He betrayed me, and he abandoned me…….

Naturally, I clenched my fists and teeth tightly.

"Good morning, Lisa. What's wrong?"

" !! "

Ken's voice was heard from behind and I hurriedly repaired my expression, turned my back to his gaze, and turned my face towards Ken.

"No, it's nothing. More importantly, you're so slow!"

"I'm sorry, It takes some time to prepare."

Ken's smile was the same as usual. I felt the pain in the depth of my chest healed by his smile that hadn't changed since 10 years ago.

......Let's forget about him. Ken is here now. Even without him, I'm not alone...