Sandra’s POV:

“This is no joke. We made it in that easily?”(Me)

“I told you it would work.”(Hayate)

“Still. It was solved that easily.”(Me)

“You owe me one now.”(Hayate)

“Wait that wasn’t part of the…”(Me)

Before I could finish, he already vanished in front of my eyes. First Hikaru and now him. They all do what they want without thinking about me. It’s like I am a thing that they can command at will.

“Hmpf! Just watch me, you idiots. I’ll show you what I’m worth.”(Me)

I had over one hour time until my match would start. I had nothing to do, so I just strolled around the school section and observed all the students. Some were suspicious when they saw me, but as long as no one would approach me, or talk to me, I was safe.

I already knew some of the corridors, but some others were still new to me. Eventually I walked a whole round, without me even noticing it. I just continued strolling around and didn’t mind it.

“Infirmary? Shouldn’t the one I’ll be substituting be here?”(Me)

It shouldn’t hurt to analyse her handicap.

I opened the door and went in. It was a huge room with about eight beds to my right and another seven to my left. There was a fair amount of space between each of them. Not all of them were occupied, but 12 out of the 15 were.

On one of the beds, a nurse healed one of the injured humans. It looked like a sword pierced his shoulder. I didn’t remember all the fights, I only remembered the important ones, so I forgot what caused that injury.

What was her name again? I think it was something with S.

I remembered it because she started similar to my name.

Sa…Sa…

“Sakura, I brought you some water.”(?)

Sakura!

I was a genius. Two guys were surrounding a bed, so I couldn’t see who was lying there. I haven’t seen them before.

“Thank you, but you shouldn’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Go and watch the tournament with the rest of the class. The next round is going to start in a few minutes.”(Sakura)

“But…”(?)

“Do it for me. I don’t want to hinder you guys.”(Sakura)

“You’re not a hindrance.”(?)

She forced a smile and it was enough to persuade them.

“Fine.”(?)

They were about to leave when she stopped them one last time.

“Don’t forget to tell Takeshi that I’m fine.”(Sakura)

The three of them looked like close friends. Anyone could tell because of their behaviour. They didn’t look like normal classmates to me.

“I will, but only if you really get well soon.”(?)

“Haha. I’ll do my best.”(Sakura)

They waved at her and left the infirmary.

“Hello.”(Me)

“Hello. Ahm. Have we met before?”(Sakura)

“Ah. No. I was just fascinated by your deep friendship and wanted to express my deepest sympathy.”(Me)

“Thank you. I’m Sakura.”(Sakura)

“Sandra.”(Me)

“What school are you from?”(Sakura)

I wasn’t paying attention to what I said. That question totally caught me off-guard and I had no idea how I should answer it.

“Ah… I…”(Me)

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”(Sakura)

She smiled at me. I was relieved that she didn’t poke further. I somehow escaped a bad ending.

“I was just wondering. I’m from Sonya academy and I haven’t seen you around before.”(Sakura)

“Ah that’s because…”(Me)

Again. I couldn’t think of a good answer.

“This place is huge. We’ve been here for about 5 days and we didn’t run into each other yet.”(Sakura)

“5 days?”(Me)

I accidently said that out loud.

“Sonya academy came 5 days ago. We were one of the first. You probably came later.”(Sakura)

“I came about 4 days ago. Before I forget to ask, I was wondering, what happened?”(Me)

“Why did I land in the infirmary?”(Sakura)

“Yes.”(Me)

I was so stupid today. The question was so dumb and straightforward. Something was wrong with my head.

“An injury from the tournament.”(Sakura)

“I haven’t watched it yet.”(Me)

“Oh. Well basically it was my own fault.”(Sakura)

“Hm?”(Me)

“I got my left leg broken and received a few critical sword stabs. 5 of them are all over my right arm and my right leg.”(Sakura)

“Why exactly was it your fault then?”(Me)

“The match was close. I won it somehow. It’s harsh to say but luckily, I came out with only a broken leg and a few bruises.”(Sakura)

I watched all the matches, but I couldn’t remember which she fought. All of the fights were similarly cruel. It was a contest of strength. No one looked after one’s health. Either you win or you drop out of the tournament.

Manage to completely overpower your opponent and advance with a good condition, win a close match and get something like a broken leg. That were unspoken rules of this dumb tournament.

“The referee already ended the match and I turned around to leave the stage. But my opponent didn’t accept it and jumped at me one last time. I couldn’t react in time and he managed to stab me 5 times before the referee managed to restrain him.”(Sakura)

So she was indeed the first fight. It’s still cruel. Who would do something like that?

“The king should do something about that unfair scheme of the beastman.”(Me)

“I think so too, but it seems like his hands are restrained. This is a contest both races agreed to.”(Sakura)

“If I would be Queen, I would do everything I could to support my people.”(Me)

“Haha. If I had the strength and author of a queen, I’d just go down to the stage and beat the crap out of that idiot.”(Sakura)

I couldn’t restrain my laughter.

“Sigh. The second round will soon start. Please don’t worry too much about me. Watch it to your hearts content.”(Sakura)

“Are you sure about it? I don’t really want to leave you alone like that.”(Me)

“It’s ok really.”(Sakura)

She had to force that last smile again. It was obvious she was selfless and friendly. That combination was really rare.

“Let’s talk again after everything is over.”(Me)

“Definitely.”(Sakura)

“It was a pleasure to meet you.”(Me)

Her forced smile made it hard for me to leave, but I had to. I closed the door behind me and put on my hood. Everyone already sat down and waited for the second round to start. The announcer was already talking.

“I’ll fucking kill you. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. And my victory for a friend.”(Me)

I was fully concentrated and prepared to fight to my heart’s content. The only problem was to hold back as to not kill him. Even if I did, I was sure, Hikaru would somehow deal with the consequences.