The Academy's Savior

I gripped Hwaryeonbido and threw myself forward with everything I had. The sheer violence of the motion stripped the Ghost Cloak of its effect, and my presence and form snapped fully into view. Hattori, who had been walking toward Reika to finish her off, turned his gaze on me.

Startled, Hattori stumbled back and caught the strike.

"…Kh! You're no ordinary opponent…!"

A clone burst from Hattori's body. It ignored me completely and lunged for Reika — intent on killing her first. I clenched my teeth. My reaction was a half-step too late.

Charna closed the distance on the clone in an instant. One more use and I could have cut it down without trouble. But I didn't. I appeared in front of Reika instead and took the clone's knife-hand strike with my body.

The blade punched into my side. Blood sprayed. Gritting through the pain, I swung and took the clone's head. It vanished.

"Y-you — you're the exchange student…! Why did you save me?!"

Reika's eyes went wide with shock.

Obviously because I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠want to seduce you.

I couldn't exactly say that out loud. I turned it over in my head for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a second, then spoke.

"I saved you because I wanted to. That's all."

As light-novel-protagonist as I could make it.

"What?"

Reika stared at me like she couldn't make sense of it. The reaction was cooler than I'd hoped — but given the situation, I could live with that. Later, when the romance flags started waving, she'd look back on this moment and brood over it.

"…So you're the Thunder's son. Matches the description I was given. Tch."

Hattori clicked his tongue and started spawning clones. Two. Four. Eight. Sixteen. Thirty-two. Dozens of them swelled into existence, radiating a murderous pressure.

"Get out of here. If you don't, I'll kill you."

This from the man who'd just tried to murder Reika, suddenly telling me to leave?

He's wary of me. More precisely — he's wary of Seong Ha-ri.

They knew that if I died, Seong Ha-ri would go to war with Madojeong for real.

"Seong! Shinbo! Are you all right?!"

"You lawless scum! Step away from Tsukuyomi's Magatama at once!!"

Hyodo Yuuki, black Japanese sword in hand, and Miyakado Mieko in her shrine maiden robes appeared on the scene. Mieko, who usually wore an almost expressionless face, was genuinely furious — her voice cracked with raw anger.

"More pests keep showing up. My patience has limits. You lot will die right—"

Hattori cut himself off mid-sentence and retreated with his clones. A sphere dropped from the sky onto the spot where he'd been standing. It hit the ground and detonated, carving out a small crater.

Hattori looked up with cold eyes. A child in a lavish red kimono floated in the air above them.

"Tenrai Nagisa…!"

"It's been a long time, Hattori. Even now, I still regret not killing you twenty years ago. Today I shall scrub that regret clean by ending you."

"How are you already here?! Even you shouldn't have been able to put Nanba down that fast!"

"That bothersome magical beast, you mean? True, even I would have needed time to finish him — but the academy has someone else capable of handling him right now. I dumped him on that child and came here."

"……Gwan-cheon of the Thunder."

"Satisfied your curiosity? Then set aside your lingering attachments and die."

Nagisa stretched a small hand toward empty air. It looked far too soft and delicate for a hand that had endured decades — and then it closed into a fist.

In that instant, the space where Hattori and his clones stood crumpled like a wad of paper. They vanished with it, barely managing any resistance at all.

"Hmm?"

Nagisa narrowed her eyes at the empty spot. There was no corpse.

"I took that for the original… but it was a clone. You've improved since last time."

Dozens of Hattoris appeared from somewhere. The clones raced in every direction, surrounding Nagisa.

"As expected of the Princess of the Void. Even after all these years, that overwhelming power hasn't diminished in the slightest."

"I will accept death here."

"For the greater cause, I gladly offer myself."

"Lord Sanada! Please, fulfill the great cause!"

"Glory to Madojeong!"

The clones roared as one. Demonic power — raw mana — surged from their bodies. Their forms began to change, shedding human shape and twisting into monsters.

The fiend-transformed clones of Hattori clashed with Tenrai Nagisa. Space itself shuddered; shockwaves tore the surroundings apart. There was no room to interfere in a fight like that. Jump in, and you'd better be ready to die.

No need to jump in. Nagisa wins this eventually. What I need to do is…

I held out a hand to Reika. She hesitated a moment, then took it.

"Even if you hadn't helped… I could have managed on my own."

"You really think that?"

"……It might have been dangerous. Thank you for saving me. Your name was… Seong Yujin, right?"

"Yeah."

The short exchange ended. Reika kept stealing glances at me, then tipped her head back to watch Hattori and Nagisa's battle.

Hattori's real body is somewhere else.

Nagisa might have been fooled, but my eyes weren't. Hattori was already charging into the vault that held Tsukuyomi's Magatama. He flung shuriken and forced the barrier open by sheer violence.

"Lord Hattori! Don't do this! At this rate we'll— AAAAAAGH!"

"The barrier— GRAAAAH!"

The barrier shattered under the forced breach and dragged every nearby subordinate into it. Their bodies burst apart and died. Hattori didn't walk away clean either — the entire right half of his body had exploded open. White ribs, organs, and muscle were laid bare. A normal human would have been dead from a wound ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like that. He was a fiend.

With his remaining hand, Hattori seized Tsukuyomi's Magatama.

"So this is Tsukuyomi's Magatama…. I can feel the power in it, all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right."

He created a clone and handed the Magatama over.

"Take it. Deliver it to Lord Sanada no matter what. That is your mission."

The clone sprinted away.

"You bastard!!"

Nagisa's roar cracked down from the sky. She drew a folding fan from her robes and swung it like a blade. Space split. Hattori stepped calmly in front of the clone and smashed the space-rending sword-aura aside with one hand. The aura slammed into the ground and buried itself.

"Hold her even if it kills you."

Hattori pointed a blood-soaked hand at Nagisa. His clones charged her in a desperate swarm.

Boom! Boom-boom-boom!

They threw themselves at her and self-destructed. Even Nagisa couldn't simply ignore the force of those detonations.

"No! Give back Tsukuyomi's Magatama!"

Miyakado Mieko tried to chase the clone fleeing with the Magatama. Hattori stepped into her path.

"You're not going anywhere."

His shuriken moved. The target was Mieko's throat. I'd been about to slip after the clone under the Ghost Cloak — I changed plans on the spot.

"Mieko!!"

I moved before Hyodo Yuuki could even start running to protect her.

I knocked Hattori's shuriken aside with my blade, snaked an arm around Mieko's waist, and pulled us both back. Hattori let out a low sound of admiration at the clean execution.

"That's a level of skill you don't often see in an academy student."

Kiiiiiiing—!

Flames erupted from the ground and closed around me in a ring.

"A fire barrier passed down through my family for generations. Enjoy yourselves in there."

Hattori's form and voice vanished.

It was a burning forest. Everything blazed. I stood perfectly still — the slightest movement sent a wave of heat crashing over me.

If I stay still, I don't feel the heat. Some kind of binding barrier.

I could force my way out if I wanted. Heavenly Mind would do it. I didn't use it — because of the woman I was holding.

This was the perfect setup to work on Mieko.

"Let go of me! As the shrine maiden of Tsukuyomi Shrine, I have to recover Tsukuyomi's Magatama!"

"Calm down. If you run outside with no plan, you'll burn to death. Then you won't recover anything — Magatama or otherwise."

"Tsukuyomi's Magatama must not fall into Madojeong's hands! I have to get it back— Kyaaah! Where do you think you're grabbing?!"

My hand was on Mieko's full chest. She'd looked too rattled to notice, so I'd snuck it there — I hadn't expected her to snap back to her senses in ten seconds flat.

"Ah, sorry. I was trying to stop you and… it was a mistake."

I dropped my hand to her waist. Through the fabric I could feel the firm line of it — the opposite of her soft chest.

"You…! No. Never mind. Just let go of me."

"No. The second I do, you'll throw yourself into the fire."

"I will not. I've already regained my composure. The situation has already gone beyond anything I can fix."

"Your voice does sound calmer. Still don't trust it, so stay put."

"……"

Mieko's brow furrowed as hard as it could go.

She'd been quietly waiting for a chance to slip free when her eyes caught the blood running from my side. She started.

"There's a wound on your side?!"

"Ah — must have reopened when I was moving hard earlier. Huh? Why are you taking my clothes off? Don't tell me…"

"I'm going to treat you, so hold still."

A magic circle bloomed in Mieko's hand. She pressed it to my side. It itched.

"Healing magic? A shrine maiden using magic… doesn't really fit the image."

Mieko ignored me and focused on the treatment. Once she seemed to decide it was enough, she spoke first.

"…Why did you save me? You and I are nothing to each other."

"Because I didn't want to watch you die?"

"I don't understand. Your opponent was Hattori, an executive of Madojeong. One wrong move and you could have died."

"I didn't die. And I saved you out of goodwill — are you really going to interrogate me over it?"

"I don't believe in people's goodwill. Goodwill is just hypocrisy. If I were your friend, or family, I might understand — but you and I are nothing. We've barely exchanged greetings. We've never even had a proper conversation."

"I saved you because I wanted to. That's all. Even if it wasn't me, Hyodo Yuuki would have saved you."

"Hyodo and you are in completely different positions. If you don't want to talk about it, fine. Either way, I've incurred a debt… and someday I will repay it."

Mieko said it with a serious face.

Affinity 33.

Not bad.

I deliberately let the strength drain out of my body. I collapsed against her, practically draping myself over her in an embrace.

"W-what are you doing right now?"

"Sorry — the wound… I don't have any strength left…"

"Haa. Fine…. Lean on me for a little while. I'll support you until this barrier disappears."

"Thanks."

I quietly enjoyed the feel of her.

The fire barrier vanished five minutes later. Hattori had died at Nagisa's hands.