Enrico spun the sword with both hands, and Kai ended up spinning along with it from the force. A second later, Enrico landed a kick to Kai's ribs, sending him flying.
"Alright, that's enough for now. You should rest."
Kai sat down as Liam and the others came to check on him. Even though it had just been a training match, they thought Enrico might've gone a bit overboard. As his injuries were being healed, Kai felt disappointed. After all this time yearning for a rematch, it turned out Enrico had only been training him.
He was grateful—but it didn't erase the disappointment in himself. Just how far behind was he? But now he had another question.
"How did you know what my magic was?"
He knew Enrico was a fan of his father, but not even he or his father knew what type of magic he had.
"Because I know."
Liam, Giulio, and Camila were stunned by that blunt, unexplained response. Kai sighed with a smile—apparently, Enrico was going to keep it a secret, but that was fine. He trusted him. After confirming Kai was okay, Enrico stood up and walked over to Yumeha.
"Yumeha, let's begin."
"Yes, Master!"
She was very excited. Sitting down and closing her eyes, Enrico sat right in front of her, giving her confidence. As she closed her eyes, she felt something stir inside her. Deep within, she thought about how to form this new yokai. To her, Enrico had become someone who guided her onto the right path, someone who cared for her and helped her grow. To her, Enrico was like a sun she would follow to the end of her life.
A dark shadow appeared and transformed into gold. From it emerged a three-legged black crow with golden eyes. As it opened its eyes and she saw it, she made her decision and spoke its name.
"Yatagarasu, you will be my first magic."
Yatagarasu bowed as if saying farewell, which made her a little sad. He transformed into mana and began transferring into her heart. She felt a warmth in her chest and clutched it.
"Well done, Yumeha."
A hand rested on her head. Seeing Enrico in front of her made her blush, and she nodded. He asked her to go to the center of the field to test her new magic. The others, seeing all this, were quite surprised—this was the first time they had seen magic like that. They had seen her fight before and thought it was just summoning, but it turned out it was her actual magic.
Enrico created a large fireball in his hand, the same size as Valença's had been before—though his magic had increased after evolving to Circle Two.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes!"
He threw it toward her but clenched his palm into a fist, splitting the magic into three still-large fireballs. He might have been using one of Valença's unenhanced techniques, but he continued to do things his own way.
Yumeha saw the attack coming from three different directions and began to sweat. Not wanting to disappoint her master, she clenched her teeth and used the first magic that came to her mind.
"Kōmyō no Hane."
Spiritual wings appeared on her back, boosting her reflexes and speed. She vanished—then reappeared above Enrico, swinging her staff, now covered in golden energy. Blocking the staff, a hole formed beneath Enrico's feet.
"You're much stronger. Let's keep going."
Enrico smiled excitedly, wanting to use this training to improve. Yumeha, excited by the idea that he wanted to train her longer, began to give it her all. With both of them smiling as they fought, the others watching were in awe of their level.
Kai, watching this, was jealous of Yumeha for being able to fight evenly with Enrico. Why were so many people ahead of him? He also wanted to excite Enrico in a battle.
Liam stepped in a bit closer, trying to note everything from that battle to improve himself. Maybe he could learn a new technique from Yumeha's staff or something new from Enrico. After the short fight, Yumeha lay on the ground, breathing heavily, while Enrico stood with slight fatigue on his face.
As always, their level was very similar—she could reproduce everything and even gained some improved physical traits from him, even if just a little.
[It seems their bond can't fully reproduce your muscles at one hundred percent.]
'Yeah, seems I've found a small weakness. Even if it's minor, the more circles she has, the better she'll get.'
Helping Yumeha up, he walked back to the others who had been watching the training. After exchanging a few words, he was about to leave with Yumeha when Giulio, ever the bold one, brought up the festival happening today.
"So, are you all going with someone special today? Just so you know, I've got a date, so I'm set."
Liam looked a bit down, Camila stole a shy glance at Kai, and Yumeha's ears twitched upon hearing about going with someone special. Curious, since she wasn't from this city, she asked a question.
"This festival—what is it?"
"Well, it's a day to have fun, but young people usually use it to go with someone they like."
Yumeha looked at Enrico, who was grabbing a bottle of water handed to him by Liam.
"So it's like a day of love, Master?"
"In a way, yes. You could say it's a youth-made invention to have two special days in the year."
Kai looked confused and asked why they'd do that if it was meant for friends. Liam tried to explain, but Kai was clueless when it came to romance—a typical protagonist trait.
[He's so innocent—unlike a certain someone.]
'Yeah, he is. And also too focused on training. Even up until the day he died, he never got with anyone.'
[Wait, does that mean you have?]
Enrico didn't respond and ignored the system as he got ready to leave with Yumeha, who looked excited. Before they got far, he saw Camila approach Kai. It looked like she was having her first crush, seeing how hard Kai had fought.
"Kai, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"What's your type?"
Seeing that interaction, Enrico smiled, already imagining the answer—as in the original story, it seemed the first girl to fall for him had finally appeared.
"Let's go, Yumeha."
"Yes, Master."
"Someone like Enrico."
Everyone froze like statues when those words came out of Kai's mouth. Camila's mind seemed to go blank, not knowing what to say, while Kai had no expression—just wondering why everyone was reacting like that.
Yumeha gripped her staff and turned toward Kai. It was bad enough having so many girls around her master—now a guy too? She wouldn't allow it. Enrico just grabbed her arm, waved goodbye to everyone, and left. As they reached the academy hallway, Yumeha bit her finger in irritation, and Enrico looked at the system messages—the latest one read:
[Tell me that's a lie.]
'I'm surprised too. But he's an idiot who knows nothing about love. Still, it's so fun to see their reactions—I'll let it slide.'
[You sound like the idiot for letting it slide. I hope you're right. He can't be corrupted by someone like you.]
As the system vanished, he looked at the jealous Yumeha—this might actually help the girls grow stronger. So it was fine. And if one day things crossed the line, he could handle it—so he stayed calm.