(Gege’s POV)

  Our HQ is incredibly vast in the scope of its size, so we can manage to have two training areas. One is for combat training and the other, which we’re currently in, is more oriented for exercise.

  “2.451 seconds for Akai-kun. Not too shabby.”

  “Oi, Tai! Don’t go babying Tiny, alright?! That was abysmal!”

  “Nariki, stop being a jerk, okay? If you keep being so brutish and pessimistic they’ll never have any faith in themselves.”

  My sister and I observe the scene unfolding from the side-lines whilst taking notes, just as Adjutants should.

  “Akai ended up having the slowest 1800m time, eh? I kind of figured that would be the case, seeing as to how he was the slowest running up the line of all of us.”

  “It really feels strange saying something like that, doesn’t it, Nii-chan?”

  It does, but I’m starting to get used to it now.

  “Gege-kun, Haruhi-chan, run through those p times again for us.”, Miyamura-senpai calls to us.

  “Akai- 2.451 seconds, Akane- 0.800 seconds, Arianne- 0.701 seconds, Daisuke- 0.725 seconds, Naoya- 1.226 seconds, Yoko- 0.695 seconds.”, I say, listing off the results.

  “Akane-chan’s time really surprised me, the Akai Seishin Ryoku sure is incredible.”, Yonaguni says sincerely.

  “What? You’re actually putting thought into her abilities instead of gawking at her mindlessly?”, Haruhi says, astounded.

  “Don’t be like that, Haruhi-chan! I can be serious when it calls for it, you know? Speaking of Akane-chan, let’s go meet up with them.”

  We make our way to the combat training room, where the others are waiting. We find them snacking on some chocote digestives that Daisuke brought.

  “So, what’s up next?”, Naoya asks while holding a digestive in his mouth.

  “We’ll be having you guys do some sparring matches.”

  “So we’ll be up against Scarecrow again?”

  “Not this time, Inko. You’ll be up against each other so we can see how you all handle a human opponent.”

  “To keep things banced, those who are simir in strength will be paired up. Akai-kun and Naoya-kun, you two are up first.”

  “Right.”, Akai nods.

  Naoya hops to his feet, scoffing coldly.

  “Getting the riff-raff out of the way early, eh? How humiliating.”

  Naoya’s confidence seems to be on uneven ground, especially with how he’s aware that his own little sister outcsses him greatly. Akai accepted his shortcomings more readily than Naoya has, and that might work out in his favour.

  They enter the combat room and ready their battle-stances, standing about a metre or so apart from each other.

  “You losers better give each other all you got, alright?! No damn scking. Now go!”

  With Yonaguni’s starting call echoing in their ears, they begin their bout. Naoya unches himself at Akai like a rocket, aiming the blunt end of his naginata at his head. Akai makes no attempt to dodge and simply takes the full brunt of the attack.

  “Ow…Why didn’t Akai-san dodge that?”, Haruhi winces.

  Apparently, he didn’t need to, as his head barely even shifted from Naoya’s heavy blow. Akai cocks back his huge fist and barrels it towards Naoya’s torso, but the tter disappears into thin air. At least, that’s what it looks like to Haruhi and I.

  Akai’s head snaps up, Naoya’s above him.

  “?Whirl, spin and spiral! Ravage, uproot and destroy! Terrifying Tornado!?”

  A small whirlwind bears down on Akai like a hungry predator, but again rather than evading, Akai stands there and puts up his guard as he’s engulfed by the spell.

  Seeing an opportunity, Naoya goes for a full power swing, hoping to end the match then and there.

  “Looks like Naoya-nii won this one.”, Yoko says.

  Besides her, Akane-san pouts slightly. I suppose that she wanted her brother to win.

  “I wouldn’t be sure about that, Yoko.”, Arianne replies.

  “Hm?”

  Daisuke, much like our seniors, observes the battle in silence.

  As Naoya’s attack nds, the whirlwind disperses, revealing-

  “No way?”

  Those words slip from my lips unconsciously. Akai withstood Naoya’s attack! He’s covered in a few scratches, but otherwise he’s unharmed. Naoya, seeing his weapon being compromised, tries to escape, but it’s too te. Akai nds a forward kick that nds squarely in the chest, knocking him ft.

  “Alright, that’s good enough, you two.”

  Miyamura-senpai ends the match with those words. Akai offers a hand to Naoya, which he somewhat begrudgingly accepts. After they reunite with us, we hold a brief discussion on their sparring.

  “Not bad, you two. There are still plenty of rough edges left, but it’s good to see some progress.”, Miyamura-senpai smiles proudly.

  “Although it wasn’t that powerful of a spell, I can’t help but be impressed by how unbothered you were by it, Mr.Akai.”, Arianne remarks. “Your Reinforcement skills are to be admired.”

  “I told you that Onii-chan is a Padin!”, Akane-chan grins.

  “We’ll be going over just what css Akai-kun is in more detail ter. For now, let’s see what the rest of you can do.”

  “Are there actually csses, Shirogane-senpai?”, Yoko-chan asks.

  “I see Nariki was thorough with informing you about how our system operates.”

  Yonaguni ignores the side-eye she gives him and carries on.

  “Alright, Inko and Akane-chan, go on in.”

  “Didn’t I tell you to stop calling him that?”

  “Don’t worry about that, Red. Just make sure to give it your best.”

  Akane-san activates her Akai Seishin Ryoku and peers up into her beloved’s face with her usual wide, unsettling smile. Looks like that makes me gd that she’s on our side, and they also make me wonder about Daisuke’s mental state. How he finds that cute is a mystery.

  “If I win, you’ll have to marry me, Daisuke-nii.”

  “And if I win?”

  “Then I’ll have to marry you, of course.”

  “Ah, so I don’t have to throw the match after all.”, he smiles at her.

  “Enough flirting, damn it. Let’s get a move on.”, I say impatiently.

  “Agreed. I already lost, so don’t go rubbing this in my face too.”, Naoya frowns.

  Daisuke nods and enters the combat room with Akane-san at his heels.

  “Envy doesn’t suit you, Nii-chan.”, Haruhi teases. “Drowsiness is more your strong point.”

  “It doesn’t suit anybody, but that doesn’t stop it from happening.”, I yawn.

  Yeah, I’m sulking. Can’t I be like that every now and then? At this rate, I’ll be the st of us to get a girl of my own.

  “No venomous words from you at all, Master.”, Yoko-san points out. “Did you finally get lucky?”

  “I was wondering the same thing, actually. Are you sure you’re feeling well?”

  “Yeah, you’ve been acting totes weird today.”

  “Ah, are you girls worried about me?! I’m so happy!”

  “It seems like he’s perfectly healthy..”, Akai smiles wryly.

  Yeah, we never should’ve been concerned in the first pce. But he has been uncharacteristically lenient and invested in us all, so I can’t help but wonder what the cause is.

  “He made a wager with a fellow squadron leader that you guys would finish in the top five, so he’s definitely going to put the effort in.”, Shirogane-senpai scowls.

  Ehhhh?

  “You put a bloody pary on us, you bastard?! What the hell is your problem?!”, Naoya fumes.

  “Ahahaha….”, Akai ughs weakly, clearly at a loss for words.

  “What? You all wanted me to have faith in you, didn’t you? By betting on you, it shows that I do!”

  In some twisted way, he has a point. Although, he probably only made the wager because someone ticked him off. Yoko-san asks the important question as she pinches the bridge of her nose.

  “How much did you put down on us, Master?”

  “Seventeen million yen.”

  ……..

  “S-s-s-s-s-s-s-seventeen million?!”, Naoya stutters.

  “You suck, Yonaguni.”, Haruhi says, giving him a disgusted look.

  Before Yonaguni could begin to despair over my sister’s cold words, Daisuke taps on the gss with the hilt of his bokuto, gaining our attention. He waves at us before returning to his spot, where a clearly impatient Akane-san was tapping her foot.

  “Ah, right! Ready…Begin!”

  Akane-san initiates the battle with a blitz that pinly out-csses Naoya’s in speed. She aims a vicious body blow at Daisuke’s mid section that he gracefully slips away from. Undeterred by Daisuke’s evasion, Akane-san switches to a roundhouse kick that again misses, but not by much.

  Aggressive. Akane-san’s approach is super aggressive. You wouldn’t think that the guy she’s fighting against is her boyfriend.

  “Ms.Puppy sure is violent. She even aimed at Govvy’s head…”

  “Well, Aniki did tell her to give it her best.”

  Akane-san throws a flurry of attacks that are so fast, I can’t even tell what they even are. Making Daisuke, who’s dodging or parrying all of them, look impressive. What’s in a name, eh?

  The first hit of the contest is Daisuke’s, who nds a thrust into Akane-san’s stomach. It looked painful, but she shrugs it off and counters with a kick to Daisuke’s arm that nds flush.

  “Holy crap! Is his arm broken?!”, Naoya yells.

  With bated breath we all watch for Daisuke’s reaction, but it seems like our worries are unnecessary. He sweeps Akane-san’s legs from under her, causing her to fall back. She nimbly regains her footing, but Daisuke only did it to create some distance.

  “Good work, Red. But, if you keep that up, I’ll have to get a little rough with you.”, he says, shaking his left arm.

  Akane-san’s smile grows even wider and her face flushes brightly. Thanks to Daisuke helping me out with English, I was able to understand what he said, but now I’m left wondering if Akane-san got happy at him telling her good job, or at him getting a little rough…

  “Let’s all ignore that, please.”, Akai says quickly. “I can’t believe that Akane can take attacks that can leave marks on someone like Sanemi.”

  “Yeah, she’s for sure scary.”, Naoya agrees.

  Perhaps she was spurred on by Daisuke’s praise (or provocation), because Akane-san moves with such speed that she vanishes completely.

  “She’s gone?!”, Haruhi excims.

  “That’s what it looks like! Do you see her, Akai?”

  “Not at all.”, Akai replies, his eyes darting all across the combat room.

  “I’m starting to wonder if some of you guys are even human.”, I scoff in disbelief. “Daisuke’s not even fazed by whatever’s happening.”

  Like a magic act, Akane-san appears in the air behind Daisuke and levels a heavy kick at him, who weaves under it effortlessly and attempts to make some space, but Akane-san relentlessly pursues him with another rush of attacks.

  “It seems like Daisuke-kun doesn’t handle close combat that well. At least not one as relentless as Akane-chan’s.”

  Shirogane-senpai breaks the silence that our seniors were holding with an observation. It certainly seems like that’s the right idea. Daisuke’s been trying to create some distance, probably to use Magic, but he can’t get the chance.

  “I’m not sure about that, Shirogane-senpai.”, Yoko-san disagrees. “Maybe I’m overly confident in Aniki, but something’s off.”

  “I concur with Yoko, but I can’t tell you why.”

  Arianne-san shares Yoko-san’s sentiments, but I think that it’s just a girlfriend having faith in her boyfriend. Akane-san is right on top of Daisuke now, leaving him with no room to really swing his sword.

  “Looks like Daisuke may have to call it soon. My little sister is sure to want a lot of praise from him after this.”

  “Jackknife!”

  Daisuke flips his sword into a reverse grip and does a blindingly fast uppercut ssh that just misses Akane-san. After her narrow escape, she tries to back off a little.

  “Looks like Yoko and Arianne were right, Akane just barely avoided that. If she was off by a second, Govvy would’ve won right there.”

  “Let these smouldering embers burst into crackling fmes!”

  Yonaguni groans audibly, clearly disgusted.

  “What a rookie move. You just got some space and you’re going for a spell that you can’t cast quickly? You’re done.”

  Sure enough, Akane-san immediately rushes in with a straight punch aimed squarely at Daisuke’s exposed torso. But strangely, Daisuke pulls his hand back and releases his bokuto in quick succession.

  What happened next, I missed completely. One second I saw Daisuke grab Akane-san’s wrist, the next she’s on the ground being pinned by her arm by him. What the hell just happened?

  “Munetsuki Ikkyo, eh? Interesting.”, Miyamura-senpai smiles.

  “Munetsuki Ikkyo?”, Haruhi echoes. “Is that a martial art, Miyamura-senpai?”

  “It’s along those lines. Alright you two, good job.”

  Miyamura-senpai pressed the button to communicate with them, but Daisuke had already released Akane-san, who looked worryingly disappointed upon being freed. Her smile returns as he pats her head after helping her to her feet.

  Yonaguni scoffs, this time looking even more disgusted than he did earlier.

  “Of course Inko’s a Wildcard type. I should’ve noticed that by how he holds his weapon, it’s the Fool stance. What a pain.”

  Wildcard type? Is that what they meant by the csses they mentioned earlier?

  As Daisuke and Akane-san return to us, Naoya immediately lets them know the news before our seniors can make any comments.

  “Oi, Govvy, Yonaguni put a wager on us! Seventeen million yen on us getting into the top five!”

  “He put money on us doing well? Did they bckmail him or something?”

  “Be grateful that I even have any faith in you losers, damn it!”, Yonaguni barks

  Daisuke ignores him and looks at Akane-san.

  “Red, convert that to pounds, please.”

  “Eighty-six thousand, one hundred and seventy-three pounds, Daisuke-nii.”

  “Thanks. Sunni, how much did the new MG that Uncle Halman bought cost?”

  “Sixty-five thousand, Govvy. Although that’s just the base model, the one Papa has costs seventy-five thousand.”

  Apparently my buddy has a calcutor and a luxury catalogue for his future wives.

  “Thank-you. Yonaguni, I appreciate you having some ‘faith’ in us, but please be fiscally responsible, yeh?”

  “He’s right, Nariki. You always burn through your sary in a week or so.”

  “Enough of that, Tsubaki. Yoko-chan, Arianne-chan, do you want to have a try at it?”

  “We’ll pass.”, Yoko-san declines. “Arianne and I have our own special training pnned with each other, and we’d like to keep it secret for now.”

  Surprisingly, our seniors don’t even try to pry for any further details. I suppose that they just have that much faith in our strongest members.

  “Alright, then. We’ll discuss things in more detail tomorrow.”, Shirogane-senpai concludes, cpping her hands together. “Hopefully Kazuya will be feeling better so he can join us.”

  Ninomiya-senpai caught a really bad cold and has been bed-ridden for the past few days, so all of us pitched in for a get well basket. Miyamura-senpai and Shirogane-senpai were adamant that we didn’t give the funds to Yonaguni, and with the betting revetion, we finally know why.

  “Good thing we didn’t give that money to you, Yonaguni.”, Naoya says tactlessly.

  “Don’t talk shit, Mop-Head. I’ll let you know that I won at the pachinko parlour for the first time yesterday.”

  Well, we’re doomed.

  “Did you buy a bottle of champagne for the momentous occasion?”

  “Shut up, Inko.”