The Kids' Fight (2)
The Kids' Fight (2)
Silence settled over the crowd once more.
But this was no longer the precarious, walking-on-thin-ice sort of silence from before. It was a charged, almost floating sort of silence—thick with shock and bewilderment.
A pink-haired girl had pushed through the crowd. Her face wasn't so much beautiful as it was striking, the kind of appearance that makes you think "cool" before "pretty." Maria shouted at her, at the girl who'd just thrown such a clean punch.
"Idni—!!"
"Ah...."
Idni had been wearing a hardened expression, but the moment she spotted Maria shoving people aside to get to her, the color drained from her face.
"Yah!!"
"W-wait! O-okay, I screwed up, but that bitch started it with me first—"
Smack—!!
"...Kyaaaak?!"
Maria's hand delivered a sharp slap to Idni's back, and Idni's knees buckled, hitting the floor hard. Several nearby students flinched and edged backward.
"If someone picks a fight with you, you settle it with words! You don't just throw a punch! Are you a thug? Huh?"
"You're the thug...."
"What was that?"
"Nothing...."
"You. Stay right there and don't move."
Maria left Idni kneeling and grumbling with her lower lip jutting out, then turned and strode toward the female student who lay sprawled flat on the ground.
The girl was wearing clerical vestments—the same pure white as her own.
But whereas Maria's chest was embroidered with a chess pawn, symbol of the God of Amusement, the unconscious student bore a coin stitched over her heart. The mark of the God of Luck.
Amusement and Luck had never gotten along.
In fact, "hostile" wouldn't be putting it too strongly.
This wasn't mere rivalry between first and second place. They truly despised each other.
Whenever an opportunity arose, the God of Luck's clergy would meddle with fortune itself, reshaping outcomes in countless ways. For the clergy of Amusement—who participated in events as witnesses and arbiters—there was simply no way to look kindly on them, no matter how hard they tried.
"Hey. Are you all right?"
Maria gathered holy power into her palm and gently tapped the unconscious student's cheek. When there was no response, Maria raised her hand high.
Slap—!!
The student's head snapped to the side.
Watching from a distance, Kang Seok-ho flinched.
"Hellooo~!! Wake up!!"
Slap, slap!!
Holy-infused hands struck the student's cheeks without mercy, and her head whipped back and forth without respite.
-Shouldn't someone... stop that?
-Go ahead and stop it yourself, then.
-Holy crap, the swelling is going down every time she slaps her... that's somehow even creepier.
True to the onlookers' murmurs, every time Maria struck the girl's cheek, the bruise Idni's punch had left on her cheekbone shrank a little closer to its original state.
"Nn... ngh."
"Coming around?"
Smack! Smack!
Just as the girl's eyelids began to flutter, Maria cracked her across the face once more, left and right.
"Kyaak?!"
"Mm. That's a healthy scream. You seem fine."
Maria rose to her feet, smiling down at the shrieking student with an expression of profound benevolence. Idni and the surrounding students swallowed hard.
"F-fine?! You call this—!!"
Clutching her left cheek, the student scrambled to her feet, eyes blazing. Maria beamed at her and asked:
"Is there anywhere that still hurts?"
"...There was."
"Then I take it there isn't anymore?"
"Yes. I'm perfectly fine now. However!!"
The student jabbed a finger at Idni, who was still kneeling beside Maria.
"That doesn't change the fact that she assaulted me. And plenty of people saw it."
"Yah!! You're the one who—"
Thwack!!
"...Mmph!!"
Maria's palm cracked down on the crown of Idni's head, and Idni couldn't withstand the impact—her face planted straight into the floor.
"So."
Every eye that had been fixed on the back of Idni's head swiveled back to Maria.
Still wearing that benevolent smile, Maria's lips parted.
"Are you telling me that our girl here unilaterally resorted to violence against you, for no reason at all?"
"Precisely. I had merely finished my business and was heading back to my seat. When I drew near, she suddenly threw a punch...."
"I see."
Her mouth was smiling, but Maria's eyes were sharp enough to pierce straight through her opponent.
Those eyes shifted, landing on Baek Ha-na, who had been watching from further back alongside Nam Seo-hee.
Their gazes met precisely, and Baek Ha-na shook her head.
It was a signal—confirming that, just as the student claimed, Idni had thrown the first punch.
But neither Maria nor the other two watching from behind believed Idni's claim was a lie. The pink-haired friend currently planting her face in the floor had a fiery temper and was often a little eccentric, but they knew her well enough to understand that she was also more honest than anyone.
That settled it for Maria.
The girl standing before her had awakened a telepathy-type ability.
Which made this a headache.
With an ordinary divine oath, exposing a lie would have been simple—but that wasn't possible when the person in question was a cleric serving a different god.
No god wants to see their own servant cornered, after all. The arm bends inward. The saying exists for a reason.
"Would an apology suffice?"
"As a fellow cleric, I wouldn't ask for much—but wouldn't it reflect well on you if she were to acknowledge her mistake and apologize? Others are watching, after all."
The corner of Maria's mouth twitched ever so slightly.
What she really wanted was to bury this girl somewhere, but as much as it galled her, the infuriating brat standing before her had a point: there were too many witnesses to simply walk away without an apology.
If the enemy in front of her had actually spoken some insult aloud, it would be different. But since she'd used a telepathy-type ability, there was no choice but to bow her head here. Their petty pride couldn't be allowed to bring harm to the whole.
"Idni."
"...."
At Maria's call, Idni—still face-down—slowly pushed herself upright. Rubbing her slightly reddened nose, she spoke.
"No."
"Idni."
"...I said no."
Glaring right back at Maria, Idni thrust her finger toward the other student.
"I can put up with just about anything else. But do you know what this bitch said? She called the Executor a washed-up has-been who got herself hung up on some loser and retired early."
-Loser?
"Yeah. Some pillar... suh...?"
Idni blinked and fell silent. Because the voice had come not from Maria at her side, but from behind the student.
Behind the student.
More precisely, Baek Ha-na had been standing a short distance away, next to Kang Seok-ho and Na Ju-hee. Now her cold, dark gaze was boring into the back of the student's head.
Idni spotted her, swallowed, and stepped toward the student.
"Hey. I'm sorry."
"I'm not sensing the slightest bit of sincerity."
"What're you talking about? I'm being sincere as hell right now."
Idni glanced at Baek Ha-na—who was slowly approaching—and swallowed again. Baek Ha-na normally had a fierce look in her eyes that was offset by a slightly vacant impression, but the moment anyone brought up something negative about Baek Woo-jin, her whole demeanor shifted.
"Yah, Nam Seo-hee!! What are you just standing around for?!"
Idni shouted at Nam Seo-hee, who was still in the back. But before Nam Seo-hee could move, Baek Ha-na had already reached the student's side.
"Hey."
"...?"
At the voice, which carried something unnervingly bleak, the student turned her head.
A beautiful girl with white hair and blue eyes—taller than herself—was looking down at her with a gaze that was, frankly, a little chilling.
Perk.
"Oh my."
A pair of pure white beast ears had sprouted atop the girl's head.
She'd only ever heard the rumors, but seeing it in person, the girl looked like something uncanny—something that made you want to reach out and touch it.
"Idni.... What she said. Is it true?"
"Huh?"
At Baek Ha-na's question, the student frowned and glanced at Idni, who was shaking her head frantically.
"No. I said nothing at all."
"...Liar."
"It's not a lie—"
Yank—!!
"Kyaak?!"
The student couldn't withstand the sudden pull. She tumbled backward, landing hard on her backside.
"What... is the...?"
She'd been about to shout in anger, but then she blinked dumbly at the new girl who had suddenly stepped in to block her path.
"Ha-na. Calm down."
"Y-yeah. If you seriously hit her, she'll die, and it's you we're talking about, you know?"
"Good girl. Here, say ah~"
Nam Seo-hee blocked the front while Idni clung to Baek Ha-na's waist from behind. And at the side, Maria—who had produced a chocolate from somewhere and peeled back the wrapper—slipped it into Baek Ha-na's mouth.
The student whom Nam Seo-hee had yanked backward moments before Baek Ha-na's fist could connect, and everyone else nearby, stared blankly at the four of them. It was like watching a sitcom.
Right then.
"A dispute between clergy is one thing, but if an outsider interferes, I'll have no choice but to respond in kind."
Na Ju-hee, who had been standing beside Kang Seok-ho, stepped into the center.
Her vivid red hair was strikingly memorable. She helped the fallen student to her feet and continued.
"If you want to lay hands on someone I personally invited here today, you'll need my permission first. That's basic courtesy. Not that I'd give it."
"...."
Baek Ha-na had been glaring at the student who was now subtly hiding behind Na Ju-hee. Her gaze shifted naturally to the one providing that cover.
Eyes tinged with crimson met eyes of blue. Each held the other's reflection.
Na Ju-hee raised a hand, and the group gathered behind her began to withdraw. Those on the opposite side, sensing the shift, gradually retreated as well.
In an instant, the open space doubled.
"Also. I've been watching this whole situation unfold, and I still don't understand why your side suddenly inserted yourselves. For the sake of face and trust, I can't do anything but block you now."
Na Ju-hee took one more step forward.
"So."
Whoosh—!!
Without a single syllable of incantation, vivid scarlet flames erupted above Na Ju-hee's open palm.
"If you have business with my guest, you'll have to go through me first."
A bold declaration of war.
Idni, still holding Baek Ha-na from behind, poked her head out from behind Baek Ha-na and scowled.
"Why do we look like the villains here...?"
Maria said nothing. She simply smiled quietly. And she resolved that as soon as they returned, she would report every detail of today's events to Claire.