Secret Friend

I climbed onto the sparring arena first and started stretching. I didn't expect to need my body much, but standing in a place like this made me feel like I ought to put on some kind of show. This was a chance to salvage a little pride in front of Lucy and Rumi. I was still a guy. Being treated like the weak one didn't sit right with me.

"Putting on a show just because there are girls watching? If you apologize now, I'll pretend this never happened."

Before I knew it, Skinny was standing in front of me, grinning from ear to ear as he looked me up and down. The second he'd stepped onto the arena, he'd already decided he'd won.

"You scared? Jesus, you talk a fucking lot."

"W-what did you just say?"

The moment we stepped up, every eye in the vicinity started swinging our way. The tension thickened, and the crowd of spectators swelled by the second.

"Yo, there's a real fight going on over here!"

"Lee Ho-yeon and Kim Ho-jin are throwing down!"

Kim Ho-jin. I'd just been forced to remember another name I never wanted to know. Skinny suited him perfectly.

Down below the arena, Lucy was already shouting herself hoarse.

"Hey! A mage going one-on-one with an assassin? Does that even make sense? Kim Ho-jin, have you got no pride?!"

So he was an assassin. Convenient — the explanations just walked themselves in without me having to lift a finger.

"I know Lee Ho-yeon, but who's Kim Ho-jin?"

"You don't know Kim Ho-jin? The Iris Guild reached out to him last week. The whole place went nuts."

"For real? A first-year getting contacted by the Iris Guild?"

"Yeah. Everyday completely lost it."

Ah. I see. I see how it is. God bless academy novels and their endless supply of walking exposition machines. I had a decent picture of Skinny now.

The Iris Guild was the largest information guild in France. And for the record, Elise — one of the heroines — was the Iris Guild leader's daughter. If they'd reached out to this guy, he was a genuine prospect. Extra villains usually were; even Do Jinhyeok sat on the promising-talent track. You needed that if you were going to compete with the protagonist.

Skinny might have looked like a joke, but he was probably one of the bigger names in Do Jinhyeok's crew. Come to think of it, he did give off that second-in-command energy right behind Fatty. Same flavor of extra, different body type.

"But can a mage even go one-on-one with an assassin? In a dome with no terrain, no less?"

"That's why Kim Ho-jin picked the fight, idiot."

"Okay, but why would Lee Ho-yeon accept it?"

The resident lore-dumpers were doing a fine job of hyping the atmosphere all by themselves. Other spectators were murmuring with worry on my behalf, and I was reminded all over again why agitation was such a dangerous thing.

A low hum rolled through the floor as the arena's magic circle came alive, and a spherical mana field bloomed into existence. A barrier unfurled between me and Skinny.

He drew a dagger from his belt and dropped into a low stance — a dash posture, from the look of it.

"Countdown commencing!"

A heartbeat. Combat Sense stirred at the soles of my feet and began climbing, slow and warm, up through my body.

"Lee Ho-yeon. I'm going to pop that bubble of yours for good."

Skinny leveled the blade and started pulling killing intent up through his body. One thing I'd noticed since becoming Lee Ho-yeon: men aimed an extraordinary amount of hostility at this face. Then again, I probably would have done the same, back when I had my old one.

Thump. Thump.

"That's it…? That's all I've got?"

My body refused to boil any hotter. When I'd fought Felix, every inch of me had been screaming. My heart had been hammering before the fight even started, vitality flooding every vein, my chest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠burning, every sense standing on end.

But now…

Thump. Thump.

Calm. It was far, far too calm. Which meant that whatever was about to happen with the bastard in front of me did not require everything I had. No — he wasn't even worth the output. My full power simply refused to come out.

"I've been waiting for this, you son of a bitch! I'm ending it in one hit!"

The instant the match started, Skinny kicked off the ground and came at me. The speed was genuine — not Felix-tier, but on pace alone he was right around Elise's level.

A thin whine cut ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the air.

Mana gathered along the dagger in Skinny's right hand. The path was a straight line — he was trying to bury the blade between my eyebrows. He really did have a lot of resentment stored up for this face.

A hiss of displaced air. Skinny surged in, and I leaned my body aside on the exact beat, letting the dagger slide past. To anyone watching, it would have looked like I'd barely slipped it. In truth, I'd had room to spare.

He shot past my shoulder and killed his momentum behind me.

"A worm that can't do anything but dodge — why the hell did you even pick this fight?"

He'd read the dodge as a near miss too. He started cackling, trying to get under my skin.

"That all you've got? Nothing stronger? Nothing faster? No finishing move? You're not giving me anything to work with here."

If all he was going to throw were attacks that simple, I had nothing to show off. The stands were packed. I owed them a performance.

"…Fine. I was going to play with you a little, but I'll just end this quick."

He thought I was looking down on him, and it had actually pissed him off. I was being sincere, though. He needed to pull out something impressive so that beating him would look that much more spectacular.

The Skinny in front of me wrestled with how to finish me, then started drawing mana up through his entire body.

"Ohh…"

Cycling mana through every limb like that was almost the same principle as Acceleration. The difference was that Acceleration had been designed to dump the recoil into space, so the body never took the strain. His technique clearly wasn't that advanced. He'd succeeded in forcing his body faster by overclocking the mana, but he hadn't built in any way to eat the backlash — which meant he couldn't stop. He was probably dumping every ounce of force into the attack itself and handing the recoil off to whoever he hit.

In plain terms: if I didn't get hit, every bit of that rebound came straight back to the caster.

He started circling me at speed, carving the same kind of ring Felix had — except the pace was nowhere close. I had tracked Felix. There was no world in which I failed to read something this slow.

"How's that?! I'll cut you down before you even know you've been cut!"

"Wow… that line was actually pretty badass."

"Too late for compliments!"

"…Uh. Yeah. Sure."

Watching him spin around me, I triggered Acceleration of my own. The familiar wind wrapped my whole body.

"I'll kill you!"

He couldn't hold the speed anymore. Skinny dropped his stance, clenched the dagger, and drove himself at me in a straight charge. I wound mana around my hand and braced for the impact.

A hard, flat crack.

"Ghk—! W-what the…"

"Too slow."

Osoi.

To everyone else, that rush had been so fast they couldn't even react. I answered it like I was taking a stroll. I simply walked forward and caught the charging Skinny by the collar with one hand.

"Nngh— h-how?!"

I hoisted the handful of collar all the way to the sky, then drove him straight into the floor.

A heavy slam.

"Kh… huh…?"

He still hadn't processed what had happened. He lay face-down, his whole body trembling. He'd landed on his back, at least, so it probably hurt a little less.

I set a hand on his head and glanced around. Lucy and Rumi, who a moment ago had been shrieking with worry, were staring with their eyes gone perfectly round. The same cadets who'd been going on about Skinny's guild and his bright future were standing there with their mouths hanging open, unable to believe it.

I grabbed him by the hair, hauled him up, and slammed him into the floor again.

Another slam.

"Kh… hhk…"

The magic circle was running, so his life wasn't in any danger — but the pain would be arriving in high definition. That was the point of practical training.

I dropped to one knee and brought myself down to his eye level. I dragged his head up out of the floor by the hair and made him look at me. Whatever had happened to all that confidence, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his eyes were nothing but fear now — raw, undiluted terror.

"I-I'm sor—"

Sorry, but reflecting now wasn't going to help him. Let him off here and he'd only become more of a headache later. He was the unlucky first sacrifice — the kid who talks during class, gets caught, and takes the point deduction so everyone else gets the message. You could let it slide. You dock him anyway, for the sake of the room.

Slam. Slam. Slam.

"Ghhk…"

"Pathetic."

I'd only put him into the floor four times and he was already gone. The arena's halt call rolled out and the match was forcibly ended.

Outside the ring, most of Class A had gathered at some point to watch. I swept a glance across them — no Nam Da-eun, but Elise's face was in the crowd. I stood, still holding Skinny's ruined head by the hair. Every cadet was looking this way.

"You all know I didn't use any magic just now, right?"

I heard someone swallow. I rolled my eyes sideways and found Do Jinhyeok's crew.

I opened my hand and let his head drop. Then I walked down off the arena.

Lucy and Rumi were waiting for me, and luckily the look on their faces was joy, not fear. It wouldn't have made any sense for the heroines to be afraid of the protagonist being strong.

"What the hell! Since when do you fight like that?! And why don't you ever use magic in a spar?! You're not actually a mage, are you?!"

"Th-thank you."

I wasn't sure what context Rumi was thanking me in. She looked happy, though, so I decided that was enough.

Someone had, of course, recorded the sparring match from the one-on-one practical and put it online.

"And these so-called professionals are sitting around talking like this? If you're weaker than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me, you should hand in your hunter license."

I was checking the Everyday reactions, and they weren't entirely satisfying. Still, I had to be grateful the tide had turned. I'd gone looking through the older threads, and back then the place had been on fire calling me a con artist.

They could have said something to my face. I would have found a way to clear it up sooner. How did not a single person tell me? There was such a thing as being too considerate.

"Fwaah. I'm done! Rumi, what about you?"

"I'm done too."

We were in the club room working through assignments. I'd finished mine in about thirty minutes; Lucy and Rumi had taken closer to an hour. I'd offered to let them look at mine, but they'd stubbornly insisted on doing it themselves, which I found genuinely admirable.

"If you're finished, shall we head out?"

"Yes!"

"Okay! Homeward bound!"

Our club was still just the three of us. Thanks to all the work I'd put in, the club was finally showing up on the official list. On top of that, the combination of Lucy and Rumi — a pair of beautiful twins — had male cadets lining up to apply, and my presence had pulled in a fair number of female applicants as well.

But Felix's scar was still sitting on Lucy. Ever since that day, she had cut her contact with men other than me down to the absolute minimum. Which was fine by me — I didn't have to watch her talking to other guys. I'd intended a little of that, if I was being honest.

Either way, we'd agreed not to take new members for the time being, and we were using the club room as a space for the three of us to exist in peace.

"See you tomorrow, then."

"We're going back to the dorms together anyway. Why are you saying goodbye?"

"Huh? Oh — I've got some shopping to do today!"

Lucy gave her wallet a little shake as she said it.

"Ah, really? What are you buying?"

"J-just, y'know. Necessities?"

The stammer gave her away. Pads, then. I'd gotten sharp enough to catch a woman's mood from something that small. My instincts were improving.

"Got it. I'll go with Rumi. See you tomorrow."

"Take care, Lucy. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah! Bye-bye!"

Lucy took off toward the academy's front gate at a full run. I turned to the Rumi who was left.

"Shall we get going too?"

"…H-Ho-yeon?"

"Yeah?"

"I-I have something I want to say. Could we go back to the club room for a moment?"

"Oh. Of course we can."

I followed Rumi back to the club room. She waited until I was inside, then shut the door, locked it, and checked the lock two or three more times.

"…Rumi?"

Her face had gone a little red. And she'd locked the door. By this point, I had a fairly clear idea of what was about to happen.

"Th-thank you so much for standing up for us today. Lucy feels the same way. I'm sure of it."

"It was nothing. I was just annoyed, that's all."

"The feeling that there's someone who gets angry for my sake… it makes me really happy. Lucy is family, but you aren't, Ho-yeon. And you still did that for me…"

Honestly, a handful of reasons had stacked on top of each other. I decided to keep my mouth shut and let her have it.

Rumi was twisting in place, thoroughly overwhelmed. Cute.

"W-we're secret friends, after all. I-I think it's okay to do something a little more secret at times like this."

"…Yeah."

"I want to thank you in a s-secret way, Ho-yeon…"

Rumi made a V with the index and middle fingers of both hands.

"S-so… as a thank-you… I'll m-make you feel good. I-I'm still not very good at it, though…"

Then she pushed the V-shaped fingers into her own mouth, stretched it into as wide a square as she could manage, and mumbled around them.

"H-here. Pleash ushe Ho-yeon'sh… in here…"

I swallowed.

The wet, red flesh inside Rumi's mouth filled my eyes.