A Wicked Smile
“Three days left.”
That was the offhand remark Cecilia tossed my way the moment Academy let out.
Three days. Three days until what, exactly?
Was she going to confess to me in three days and wanted me to prepare my heart?
It still felt a little early for that…
Or maybe it was a declaration that she was going to kill me.
Cecilia was ridiculously pretty, sure, but as long as I existed she could never claim the title of the most beautiful person in the world. Maybe she was plotting to erase me so she could finally take the crown.
If it came down to a life-or-death duel with Cecilia, how was I even supposed to fight her?
I still had no idea what her ability was, so I couldn’t plan any countermeasures in advance.
“…Ah!”
The “three days left” wasn’t a confession or a murder announcement at all.
It was the deadline for the bet we’d made—the one where I had to guess her ability!
I’d completely forgotten there was a one-week time limit on top of the “three tries” rule.
“Four days have already gone by…”
And I only had one guess left.
“I really want to win, though…”
The stakes were a wish each. If I won, I’d get a free wish to do whatever I wanted with Cecilia. If I lost, she’d get free rein over the most beautiful girl in the world…
Wait. Both of those sound pretty good?
“Still, winning would be better.”
I preferred being the one doing the things rather than having them done to me. Of course, if the other person really wanted it, I could happily play the receiving end too.
Ah, that wasn’t the point right now.
The real issue was figuring out what the hell Cecilia’s ability actually was.
I’d already asked every plausible guess… It wasn’t physical enhancement, and it wasn’t mind-reading…
So maybe something like super-senses that maximized every sense except sight?
Dragging it out another three days didn’t seem likely to give me any new hints, and nothing else was coming to mind…
“I’m just going to go confirm it right now!”
I caught up to Cecilia on her cheerful way to the faculty office and asked.
“It’s super-senses, right?!”
“Completely wrong!”
Wrong!
“Huh? Then what is it?”
“Hmm… Should I even tell you?”
Cecilia tilted her head playfully and gave me a soft smile.
“My ability is ‘Future Observation.’”
“Precognition?”
“It’s a little different from other foresight-type abilities.”
She tilted her head again, tapping her chin as she searched for the right words.
“There are two ways I can use it. On myself, and on other people.”
“You can do both?”
That was extremely rare. Foresight abilities were broken enough that they always came with heavy restrictions. Most users could only see their own future or only someone else’s—never both.
Yet Cecilia was casually claiming she could do either.
“So how is it different from other people’s precognition?”
“Well… mine isn’t simple future-sight. It’s more like… directly experiencing the future?”
“…Directly experiencing it?”
I cocked my head in confusion. Even though she couldn’t see me, Cecilia still laughed, “Ahaha.”
“Basically, my ability lets me possess the future of whoever I target.”
The more she explained, the harder it got to follow. But Cecilia seemed to know I wasn’t quite getting it and just smiled again.
“I’ll give you an example. Remember those guys I took care of on that request last time?”
“Yes.”
“Back then I was constantly using my ability on myself. Nonstop, looking two seconds into the future.”
She tapped her own eyes with a finger.
“But I can’t see. So even when I use it on myself, my eyes still don’t work. Instead… every other sense is vividly feeling that two-seconds-ahead future.”
She paused for a beat, then continued.
“Simply put, the first guy’s punch that was about to smash into my shoulder…”
She lightly patted her own shoulder.
“…I felt the floor vibrating, the way the air moved, and the pain that would hit my shoulder two seconds later. From those, I figured out the direction of his swing and dodged.”
Then she tapped her stomach.
“Next I felt the pain of the second guy’s bullet two seconds early, mapped the trajectory, and dodged that too.”
“So… you actually experience all that pain?”
“That’s right.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Doesn’t it hurt…?”
“It does. But it’s still better than actually getting hit and dying.”
So she had been clearly feeling countless near-death agonies just to dodge attacks. She had to feel a bullet piercing her to dodge the bullet. She had to feel a blade stabbing her to dodge the blade.
“Then… even if you beat those two with future senses, how did you beat the guy who was spewing fire? That wasn’t an attack you could read with senses alone.”
Cecilia smiled and tapped her temple.
“When I sense a future my own senses can’t grasp, I observe someone else’s future instead.”
She touched her eyes again.
“Remember how I said using the ability makes me possess the future target? While it’s active, I become that future person.”
“……”
“I became the guy two seconds later and watched through his eyes—how he swung his arm, where and how he was about to breathe fire.”
“…That’s completely broken.”
Cecilia gave a short laugh.
“Not entirely. Looking at someone else’s future puts a cooldown on it.”
“Still broken is still broken.”
No wonder I’d never landed a single hit during our sparring. She felt every attack I was about to make, and whenever she didn’t know how to dodge, she just possessed future-me and saw exactly how I would move.
If that wasn’t cheating, what was?
“Then what about that ridiculous skill of yours? Are you a multi-ability user?”
“Nope. That’s just from training until I got strong.”
“…I see.”
Suddenly Cecilia planted a hand firmly on my shoulder.
“And that training is deeply connected to the wish I’m about to use.”
“Huh? You’re using it right now?”
“Yep.”
“…What wish are you going to make?”
At my timid question, Cecilia smiled wickedly.
“Elysia, you’re weak in close combat, right?”
“…I guess so?”
“So how about this… You train under me for a while?”
“…Train?”
“Yep!”
She nodded vigorously, planted both hands on her hips, and thrust her chest out. The motion made her far-from-small breasts stand out proudly.
What is this? Is she trying to seduce me?
“…But I hate hard work…”
“Picture it, Elysia.”
“…Picture what?”
Cecilia drew her sword, scabbard and all, from her hip and swung it a few times in a beautiful form.
“The situation’s desperate. You’re forced into close combat. Your friends are in danger and you have to rush out right now.”
“…Okay.”
“In a battlefield swarming with villains, a beautiful woman swinging a sword of crystalline light.”
“……!”
“Every time she swings, crystal flowers bloom around her. The blood sprayed by her blade settles on those flowers and dyes them crimson.”
“……!!!!!”
“But she never stops swinging. She keeps cutting down villains one after another! And… wherever she passes, a path of red flowers is left behind!”
That was insanely cool!
Just imagining it sent a thrill through me!
“Th-then… if I learn swordsmanship from you, Teacher, will I be able to swing a sword that beautifully too?”
“Of course. I’m not sure what ‘swinging a sword beautifully’ even means exactly, but…”
Cecilia curled her lips into a sweet smile and whispered in a honeyed voice.
“You, swinging a sword, will definitely be beautiful.”
“I’ll do it!”
“Great! Then we start tonight!”
“Yes!”
“I want to go home.”
“We just started.”
“But it’s hard…”
I’d answered her late-night summons in comfortable workout clothes, only to discover that what we were doing wasn’t beautiful swordsmanship with beautiful sword swings—it was pure physical conditioning.
“This is boring…”
“You need basic stamina before you can even swing a sword!”
“But…”
Cecilia grinned.
“You do remember this is my wish, right? The one we agreed I’d get as long as it wasn’t impossible.”
“…Ugh.”
She clapped her hands sharply to snap me back to attention.
“Alright, alright! One more lap! We’ve still got a mountain of exercises left!”
“Please spare me…”
Cecilia smiled kindly and chirped with pure energy.
“It’s fine, it’s fine! You won’t die!”
Of every expression I’d ever seen on Cecilia’s face, this one looked the most evil.