Encounter with a Fiery Princess Page 2

  “Page One?”

  “You really need everything explained to you?” Julis gave Ayato a skeptical glare. “Fine. You know that each school in Asterisk has a ranking system, right? The exact criteria differ from school to school, but each one has a list of the best fighters—the Named Chart. It contains seventy-two names in all. The top twelve on the list are called Page One, because their names appear on the first page.”

  That makes sense, Ayato thought.

  “Now, reason number two is quite simple: These people are all idiots starving for things to gawp at.”

  …Right.

  “Of course, if you really don’t feel up to it, I can’t force you. You do have the right to decline the challenge. But in that case, I’ll have to hand you over to the dormitory watch. Although I was hoping to deal with this myself…”

  Ayato was completely cornered.

  But he would try one last time to talk his way out of it. “Oh, but look, I don’t even have a weapon.”

  Some students brought their own weapons, but most would customize the equipment provided to them by the school. Ayato had been planning to do just that, if the need arose, so he didn’t have a weapon yet.

  “You’re no Dante. What’s your weapon of choice?”

  “…The sword.”

  “Is there anyone here who can lend their weapon? A sword!” Julis called to the crowd, and the reply came immediately.

  “Here ya go. Use this!” With those words, a spectator tossed something to Ayato.

  Catching it, he saw that it was a device shaped like a short baton, the perfect size to hold in one hand. Embedded at one end was a green ore—manadite. He was holding a Lux activator.

  “And if you don’t even know how to use that, I don’t want to hear it,” Julis said with an audacious grin.

  Ayato let out a long sigh and started up the Lux in his hand.

  An angular mechanical hand guard materialized from thin air, reconstructed from the elemental pattern encoded in the manadite. The Lux shifted from standby to active mode, and a bright blade of concentrated, stabilized mana extended forth.

  The blade was roughly a yard long. A fairly standard Lux with little if any modification.

  Seeing this, Julis drew her own activator and switched on her Lux. Quite unlike Ayato’s, it took the form of a thin, lithe rapier made of light.

  “Now then, shall we begin?”

  Julis fixed her eyes on Ayato as she gracefully took a stance with her slender blade.

  Lux weapons were too light for him. He would have preferred a sword with some actual heft to it, but this was no time to be picky.

  Holding his hand to the school crest on his chest, he mumbled out the words under a sigh. “I, Ayato Amagiri, accept thy challenge, Julis.” The crest glowed bright red, confirming his will to engage.

  The Festa was an all-style fighting event boasting the largest fan base in the world, taking place each year in the artificial island city on the crater lake left by the North Kanto mass collision—the city of Rikka, better known as Asterisk. The event was a violent spectacle, in which students from the six schools of Asterisk vied for supremacy with weapons in hand. That said, the contestants did not technically fight to kill.

  The rules were spelled out in a document known as the Stella Carta. Simply put, victory was awarded to the fighter who destroyed their opponent’s school crest. Although willful cruelty was forbidden, attacks on targets other than the crest were permitted if the intent was to reduce the opponent’s strength. These were armed fights, so of course injuries were not uncommon—and sometimes casualties.

  And yet there was a reason why young people from the world over would flock to this city. Each one came with a wish that could be granted nowhere else.

  The Festa was not the only opportunity for students to fight one another. Having so many bold young people gathered in one place and eager to test their strength was bound to lead to some trouble. With such cases in mind, the laws of Asterisk allowed for personal battles to be fought.

  Which was to say—duels.

  Just as in the Festa, victory was achieved by destroying the opponent’s school crest. However, the fortified crests were equipped with processing power, capable of judging the outcome of duels as well as forwarding the battle data to a central host computer. The intent of these measures was to prevent fraud as much as possible.

  In particular, duels among students of the same school affected the rankings and therefore held significance beyond simply settling personal disputes.

  Julis herself had attained the fifth rank by emerging victorious from a number of duels. But even she was puzzled by the boy who stood in front of her at this moment—this Ayato Amagiri. She couldn’t read what his real strength might be.

  “Burst into bloom—Longiflorum!”

  Julis waved her blade like a conductor’s baton and a spear of bluish-white flame materialized along its path. The flame, shaped like an Easter lily, shot straight for Ayato with the force of a rocket.

  “Ngh—!” He was barely able to deflect the attack with his sword, but the impact sent him flying. He broke his fall but was already breathing hard.

  “Huh. The new guy’s got some chops.”

  “Pretty impressive, defending against the Princess’s flames like that. But it looks like he’s just scraping by.”

  “Yeah, I mean, he looks okay…”

  “Not bad. But not that good, either.”

  “Doesn’t it look like the Princess is holding back?”

  Julis’s shapely brows drew together as she heard the crowd’s gossip. She was not holding back. She wasn’t going all out, either, but she was taking her opponent seriously.

  And indeed, no matter how one looked at it, Julis had the advantage. Ayato was completely on the defensive and couldn’t even get close. Her usual tactic was to suppress her enemy from a distance with overwhelming firepower, so the fight was progressing ideally for her. She had her blade, Aspera Spina, to hold her opponent in check if they managed to close the distance.

  …Right now, though, Julis couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. She couldn’t quite say what it was. There was just something weird about this fight.

  True, she seemed to be winning, but somehow it felt like she was attacking thin air. Ayato was evading all of her moves, if only by the narrowest of margins. For a moment, the thought crossed her mind that Ayato was the one holding back—but from the way his shoulders heaved with each breath, he certainly didn’t appear to be putting on an act.

  She was suspicious, but at the same time intrigued.

  Studying Ayato anew, she noticed that his face, still retaining a childlike innocence, was not unattractive. He had a slim build, but it was obvious from the way he handled himself that he was in excellent shape. His dark eyes had a soft look, even in the midst of battle, making him seem somehow distant, removed. Or even, one might say, easygoing.

  “Um…Miss…Julis? Maybe you could forgive me now?” Finally catching his breath, Ayato let his face relax and raised both his arms.

  “Just call me Julis. So am I to take that as a gesture of surrender?”

  “Sure! I mean, I never wanted to fight in the first place.”

  “Well, that’s just fine with me. But in that case, as a pervert, you’ll be either slow-roasted by me or handed over to the dormitory watch. What’ll it be? Oh, by the way, I heard that the panty thief who got caught by the watch the other day was left fairly traumatized. He only speaks in broken sentences now and can’t get himself to step out of his room.”

  “…I guess I’ll try to hold out a little longer.” Forcing a taut smile, Ayato once more readied his sword.

  That’s better, Julis thought. I can’t let this fight end before I get to the bottom of it. I have to find out what this strange feeling is. With that determination, Julis focused her prana.

  Prana was the source of a Genestella’s power. It clung like an invisible aura and could be focused to heighten offensive or
defensive power. For a Dante or Strega like Julis, it would also become the energy needed to activate their abilities.

  Because Dantes and Stregas had to allocate prana to their abilities, they had less to use for defense and tended to be at a disadvantage in close combat.

  Which was not a problem so long as she didn’t let an opponent get close.

  “Burst into bloom—Amaryllis!”

  I won’t miss this time. As a giant fireball emerged in front of Julis, the crowd shifted.

  “Holy crap! That’s her big move!”

  “She’s not messing around!”

  “Evacuate! Evacuate!”

  Spectators were responsible for their own safety. The crowd scattered in a panic.

  Not even sparing a glance for the rubberneckers, Julis calculated the ideal trajectory in an instant and flung her fireball. Ayato crouched to balance himself, but just as he was about to dodge the attack, Julis clenched her fist.

  “Explode!”

  On her command, the fireball burst before Ayato’s eyes.

  Even if she couldn’t land a direct hit, at that distance it was impossible to completely dodge this attack. Genestella or not, anyone swept up in an explosion at such close range would be left immobile.

  Her field of vision was filled by the raging flames. As she shielded her face from the blast, Julis was convinced of her victory.

  But then—

  “Amagiri Shinmei Sword Style, First Technique—Twin Serpents!”

  Julis thought she saw something gleam, like the flash of a blade, and two crossed slices quartered the petal-shaped flames.

  “Wha…? Is that—Meteor Art?”

  Meteor Arts were techniques to temporarily boost Lux output by pouring one’s prana into the manadite. The technical term for the phenomenon was “mana excitation overload,” and it was hardly the sort of thing one could learn overnight. The appropriate training was essential, not to mention intricate customization of one’s Lux.

  If he really did that with a Lux he borrowed only moments ago…

  Julis began to feel something akin to trepidation—and then a black shadow emerged from behind the flames and closed the distance to her before she drew her next breath.

  By the time she recognized the shadow as Ayato, he was already inside of her guard. His speed was beyond belief. At the very least, it was on a completely different level from his movements just a minute ago.

  For a moment, she thought she saw faint sparks of light around Ayato’s body. But this was no time to be distracted.

  “Why, you—!” Acting on reflex, Julis moved to counter, but Ayato struck her instead with a sharp cry.

  “Get down!”

  Before she could process his words, she was knocked to the ground. And then Ayato’s face was so close to hers, she could feel his breath. It sent a jolt through her chest. The light in his eyes was so earnest, as if he were a different person entirely.

  “Wh-what are you…!?” As she tried to raise her voice in protest, her eyes went round.

  A single shimmering arrow pierced the spot where Julis had just been standing. It had no solid form—it had to be Lux generated. Lux weapons created blades or bullets of light using concentrated, stabilized mana. A weapon such as a sword, wielded within the user’s effective range, could be maintained for a time, but fired projectiles did not last long. The arrow disintegrated into motes of light before their eyes.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” The arrow had been clearly meant for Julis. The assassin must have meant it as a sneak attack in the midst of that explosion. Wherever it had come from, with timing like that, no one would have noticed. She hated to admit it, but if not for Ayato saving her, the attack would have been perfectly executed.

  “The meaning of…? Don’t ask me,” Ayato replied, flustered. “Ask whoever just tried to shoot you.”

  “Not that! Why did you go out of your way to—?” Julis got that far into the sentence before she realized that someone was giving a firm squeeze to one of her still-developing breasts.

  Well, not someone. Ayato was the one currently on top of Julis, as if in a romantic embrace, so it naturally followed that the owner of the hand was also Ayato.

  As soon as Julis understood this, her face flushed scarlet.

  “Oh…” Ayato, belatedly making sense of the situation, jumped off her in a panic and ducked his head in shame. “S-sorry! Um, uh— I really didn’t mean to—at all—!”

  Déjà vu all over again.

  “Whoa! Did you see that asshole? He just jumped the Princess!”

  Someone wolf whistled. “There’s a ballsy move!”

  “Ooh, what a passionate advance!”

  The crowd, which had returned at some point, was working themselves into a frenzy. This only served to pour oil on Julis’s fiery rage.

  “Wh-wh-why, you…!” In response to her fury, the air around her erupted in flames. Her anger was making her lose control of her prana.

  Dumbstruck by her ferocious power, Ayato could only shake his head in denial. And then—

  “All right. That’s quite enough.” A profoundly serene voice rang out across the grounds, along with the crisp sound of clapping hands.

  CHAPTER 2

  ASTERISK, THE CITY OF ACADEMIC WARFARE

  “While Seidoukan Academy does recognize our students’ right to hold their own duels, I’m afraid that I must nullify this one.” A girl with blinding platinum-blond hair emerged from the crowd.

  She was beautiful in a calm, mellow way—quite different from Julis. If Julis had the lush, radiant beauty of a rose in full bloom, this girl’s beauty was deep and tranquil like a quiet lake. This, perhaps, was why she seemed much more mature than Julis even though they were likely about the same age.

  “Claudia. Exactly what gives you the authority to interfere?” Julis demanded.

  “Why, Julis—that would be my authority as the president of the Seidoukan Academy Student Council, of course.” The girl called Claudia smiled sweetly and placed her hand on her school crest. “By the power vested in me as the representative of the Red Lotus, I hereby declare this duel between Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld and Ayato Amagiri null and void.” The school crests of Julis and Ayato, glowing red until that moment, faded back to normal.

  “Now you’re safe, Mr. Amagiri,” Claudia added with a friendly laugh.

  “Whew…” So I’m really, finally out of harm’s way. Ayato brushed the sweat from his forehead and breathed a deep sigh. “Thank you…uh, Miss President…?”

  “That’s right. Claudia Enfield, president of the Seidoukan Academy Student Council. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  She gently proffered her hand, and Ayato hurried to shake it.

  Up close, he could see that Claudia was stunning in the way that made one want to stare. But her most eye-catching feature was the ample chest that strained the cut of her school uniform. Those curves were generous enough to inspire awe. It would not have been very tactful to point out, but Julis could not hold a candle to Claudia in that department.

  Julis, meanwhile, appeared to be less than satisfied with the recent judgment call and had fixed Claudia with a withering glare. “I don’t believe even the student council president can intervene in a duel without a valid reason.”

  “Oh, but there is a reason. You are aware that he’s a new transfer student, aren’t you? His data has already been entered into the system, so his crest judged him eligible to duel. However, there are a few more technicalities to take care of before his transferal is complete. Which means, strictly speaking, Ayato Amagiri is not yet a student at Seidoukan Academy,” Claudia explained smoothly without breaking her smile. “Duels are only permitted when both parties are enrolled students. And therefore this duel is invalid. That all makes perfect sense, I think?”

  Julis made a small sound of frustration and bit her lip. Going by the fact that she made no retort, she appeared to understand who was in the right.

  “Well, now that we have that cl
eared up… Everyone, please be on your way. You wouldn’t want to be late for class.” At Claudia’s urging, the crowd dispersed. Some were disappointed with the duel’s inconclusive conclusion, but apparently not enough to complain to the student council president.

  “Oh!” Ayato cried, remembering the arrow. The assassin who targeted Julis could have been among the onlookers. He might not have a full grasp of the school rules yet, but a foul attack like that had to be breaking them.

  What if we’re letting the culprit get away? he thought. “Um—wait, just a—”

  As Ayato began to raise his voice, Julis grabbed his shoulder. “Let it go. Whoever it was is long gone.” She shook her head with a cynical smile. “Besides, it’s not that unusual for a Page One student to be targeted.”

  “She’s right,” Claudia agreed. “Unfortunately, incidents like that are not uncommon. Still, that was going too far. It’s beyond the pale for a third party to ambush a student engaged in a duel. I’ll have the disciplinary committee launch an investigation. As soon as the responsible party is identified, they will be severely punished.”

  Ayato was a bit taken aback by Claudia’s implication that she had seen the arrow as well. There had been more than a few students in the crowd, but he doubted that anyone else among them had noticed the shot. If Claudia could see that attack in the midst of a fiery explosion, then she, too, was no ordinary student.

  “Anyway, um, th-thank you…for that,” Julis blurted suddenly, turning to Ayato with an embarrassed look. By “that,” she had to mean Ayato saving her from the arrow.

  “Oh no—it was nothing…but…”

  It had all happened so quickly that in the moment, he’d had no other choice. Still, it was true—he’d tackled her to the ground, and even if it was unintentional, there was no denying that he’d touched her in an inexcusable way.

  That unexpected softness under his hand was on his mind as he asked her timidly, “…You’re not angry at me anymore?”

  Julis, for her part, averted her eyes as a slight blush lit her cheeks. “Well, I—I can’t say I’m not angry, but…you did save me.”