Won't You Cheer Me On?

Crack. Snap.

"Aaaaargh!"

The man screamed, tears welling as he stared at his grotesquely twisted hand. His voice was pathetic, yet he still stumbled backward in a desperate plea until he finally toppled over.

"Was that the last of them?"

I rolled my shoulders and scanned the surroundings. The soldiers who had been charging at me with murder in their eyes just moments ago were now all on the ground, drooling and begging for their lives.

‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The last one.

Everyone except Demerk, who had been standing at the very back.

He looked back and forth between me and his unit members with a stunned expression, then took a single step back.

"......!"

From the way he flinched, it seemed he had just realized he was instinctively trying to flee. It was certainly a sight that would make anyone back away.

"I told you I wouldn't care if you got hurt."

"Y-You... What the hell are you? Just a student, and you did this to my men...!"

"That's why you should have known when to stop. You went way too far."

He might have thought he was simply carrying out his mission, but he had zero flexibility.

This was a school, for crying out loud.

They had pushed too hard against still-immature students, forcing their own agenda without any regard.

"H-Headmaster! You say something! Stop this student!"

"Sorry, but I need to go throw up first. Uweeeek!"

Whether the headmaster was recalling the trauma of getting beaten by me before or simply seeing something like this for the first time, he started spewing vomit all over the floor in a disgraceful display.

"Ugh, disgusting."

I shot the headmaster a cold glance, then charged straight at Demerk. In the end, he drew his sword in a desperate flail.

"Y-You little brat!"

The calm and composed demeanor he usually showed was gone without a trace, replaced by a single sword strike laced with pure desperation to escape this situation.

He abandoned every technique he had trained and simply swung with raw strength.

He even misjudged the force, so I just twisted my body slightly, and the sword buried itself in the lawn.

Terror flashed across Demerk's face for an instant, but I didn't get to enjoy that expression for long.

My fist was already crushing his face.

"Guh!"

As Demerk reeled back with a burst of nosebleed, I grabbed the collar of his armor and grinned.

"You even drew your sword, huh?"

"......!"

A few more blows later, Demerk went limp like a fish out of water and passed out. I dusted off my hands and turned my gaze toward the cafeteria.

"Is it all over now?"

Eve's voice had stopped, so it seemed things were wrapping up over there.

"As expected, you're amazing!"

Elise, who had been watching the entire spectacle from a corner, approached while carefully hopping over the fallen soldiers as if avoiding bird droppings on the ground.

"I ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠think I let out a little of what I'd been holding back."

I had held back as much as possible since killing a royal soldier would be irreversible, but I still beat them pretty badly.

"Well, they deserved it. If they were going to rampage through the academy by force, they should face the corresponding punishment."

"......"

What now?

Honestly, I beat them up because I was pissed, but looking at the aftermath, it felt like I might have gone a bit overboard.

Am I going to get expelled from the academy for this?

Of course, with the headmaster on my side, that was unlikely, but it could still hit him hard.

If a new headmaster came in, it could become a real headache. The current one was just incompetent enough and just scared enough to be perfect.

But as if reading my concerns, Elise leaned in with a smile.

"It's fine. I've seen how these people have been acting at the academy this whole time, so I'll take care of it."

"I don't really want to put that burden on you."

"If I just tell my sister, it's simple. It's not like they did nothing wrong. Everyone at the academy saw them go overboard just to protect their own positions."

When I thanked the smiling Elise, she replied by asking me to hit her cheek just once, and I couldn't help but make a disgusted face.

"Ah, aah. That sounds wonderful!"

Elise actually liked it.

Annoyed at being around her, I headed into the cafeteria, where Chapeni and Counselor Sean were down.

"Huff, huff."

Eve was looking down at the two of them, breathing heavily as she tried to calm herself. It seemed she had hit not only Chapeni but the counselor a few times as well.

Seeing him trembling on the floor, foaming at the mouth, had she used her special move on this guy too?

Then, as she looked at me, her excitement seemed to subside, and she spoke with a slight sob.

"I even hit the counselor... Is that going to be okay?"

"It's ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fine. Forgiveness is his specialty, right?"

He'll forgive us, I'm sure.

"Please forgive me!"

Eve hit him one more time for good measure.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

"Fighting!"

"You can do it!"

"Mm, thanks."

After school, Arni Durattan's red hair swayed vigorously in the light of the setting sun.

It was plain to see how nervous she was, and then the three of us turned our gazes to me.

"Won't you say something?"

"A girl's going to confess her love. At least cheer her on."

"......"

They say even non-believers seek God in extreme situations. Even Arni was giving me a look that said to hurry up and say something, so I scratched the back of my head and answered.

"The pie turned out delicious, so feed him that first."

Arni had completely mastered the village specialty pie by now, so it was my advice to captivate his taste buds first. She said she understood and ran off toward Ares, who was waiting in the distance.

"Haa, I wonder if it'll work out."

"It's not really our place to get involved that far."

Watching the confession scene would be a bit much, so we turned around and headed toward the cafe. Tana, who had been watching my reaction, cleared her throat and spoke awkwardly.

"Ahem, I have someone to meet for a bit, so I'll go."

"Someone to meet? You don't have any friends besides us."

"I do too!"

Tana snapped angrily and hurriedly ran off somewhere. We ordered coffee and sat down.

"I hope Arni's confession succeeds."

"Yeah, me too. I wish that Ares guy would stop messing around, settle down, and just date someone already."

I heard he confessed to Rin but got rejected.

Ares and I weren't close enough to talk about that kind of thing, so Rin told me.

She said it casually, like "Did you eat?" as she passed by, which left me flustered at the time.

We simply drank coffee and chatted about this and that. It was the same as usual. Eve explained the book she had read recently, and I listened with a smile.

If there was a good book, she would recommend it to me, and if it was one I had read, we would exchange impressions.

I always went along with it, knowing just how much healing this small act gave her.

After talking about books for a while and holding coffee in my mouth, Eve fidgeted with her hands and asked.

"Um, how did it turn out?"

Three days had passed since that incident.

To Eve's question, which she had been holding back all this time, I answered with a faint smile to put her at ease.

"Everyone at the academy saw ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them forcibly following you around. Especially May's group even helped out. They claim it was overreaction on our side, but..."

Sip.

I took a sip of coffee to wet my mouth, then continued.

"Drawing a sword on me, and being blinded by results without considering the victim—that was the big part. Because of that, even the Second Princess got involved, apparently?"

"Wow."

"Don't worry. It got resolved well."

I was more worried about whether Eve was okay.

Lately, whenever she saw me, she would avoid my gaze or start to say something only to clamp her mouth shut.

As if reading my mind, Eve stirred the ice with her straw and opened her mouth.

"I read something like that in a book once. Once you break out of the egg, you can never go back inside."

"......"

"Thank you, Daniel."

There was no need to exaggerate.

At those words alone, the corners of my mouth lifted on their own, and I slowly crossed my legs.

"It was nothing."

Actually, practicing getting hit in the balls until dawn was quite something, but saying it was nothing here was cooler, right?

"But I think Daniel has some responsibility too."

"...Huh?"

Eve, who had been staring blankly at the ice, now turned her gaze to me.

The sunset light illuminated her strangely, giving the effect of her face flushing.

Or was it really flushed?

"Tana said that to me, right? That I was looking at my own situation like reading a novel. That's partly Daniel's fault."

"Hmm?"

"In the midst of a peaceful daily life, you made me experience a love that feels just like something out of a novel."

"Huh?"

I unconsciously pushed my chair back to create a bit of distance. But Eve rested her chin on the table in front of her and said,