Whoosh!
Thwack!
The sound of wooden swords clashing echoed through the training ground.
"Hyaap—!"
"Don't just rush in without thinking!"
A few days after the first-year beginner dungeon practicals.
Chris, having completely shed her panic-stricken appearance from that day, returned to her original self and taught Emil swordsmanship.
"..."
"Hup!"
Emil, exhaling with effort, tried to find a way to attack her opening.
Chris parried his sword, intently watching his face.
"..."
His face was drenched in sweat, trying desperately to land a hit.
In that moment, he was focused solely on her.
Chris stared blankly at him.
During the spar.
Thwack!
"Kyaah!"
"Uh, uhh? Are you okay?"
"..."
Because of that, her reaction to Emil's wooden sword, which came from her blind spot, was momentarily delayed.
Chris took the blow with her forehead.
Fortunately, Emil had lessened the power of his wooden sword right before the attack, so she wasn't seriously hurt.
"Does it hurt a lot? Will it bruise…?"
"..."
Was it because she had been hit by his wooden sword?
Emil, with a worried expression, approached her and carefully touched her head.
Gently, gently.
A careful touch, as if worried she might feel pain.
At Emil's touch, as if he were handling a child,
"U-uhh…! I'm fine! This is nothing!"
"Oh, is, is that so?"
Slap!
Chris slapped Emil's hand away, her cheeks flushed, and stood up.
"..."
Why is this happening?
She couldn't calm down.
She wouldn't have been this flustered by this distance just a short while ago.
Whoosh—!!
'It's because of these distracting thoughts…, shake off these strange ideas…!'
Chris then focused even more on the spar, immersing herself in facing Emil, unlike before.
"Urgh…!"
"I told you not to stop when we're close, but to flow through it!"
She tried not to focus on his face.
This was a battlefield.
Although it was a spar with wooden swords, it was strictly a duel where they could kill each other.
"Hyaap—!!"
Chris focused even more on her spar with Emil to shake off the distracting thoughts in her head.
And then.
Thump—!
"Kuheok!"
"Kyaa?!"
Chris, forgetting to hold back her strength as she usually did, accidentally aimed for Emil's vital spot with full intent.
By the time she realized it, her wooden sword had already struck Emil in the chest.
"Kkeueueu…."
Emil then dropped his wooden sword, collapsed to the ground, and groaned in pain.
"E-uh, oh…?"
She was flustered.
She had hit Emil countless times while sparring with him until now.
Of course, this was the first time she had attacked so strongly.
Still.
Seeing Emil suffering more than usual, her chest wouldn't settle.
"Ah, ahh…. A-are you okay?"
Slide.
Her own legs gave way, and she knelt in front of Emil.
"Uuueek…"
In front of Emil, who was groaning in pain, she made a desperate expression, unsure what to do with her hands.
Her chest churned.
For some reason, her chest ached even more than when Emil had hit her head a moment ago.
"I'm sorry…."
An apology naturally flowed from Chris's lips.
She, who would never have done such a thing just a few days ago,
"I'm sorry, d-does it hurt a lot…?"
said, looking worriedly at the injured Emil.
Her fierce eyes softened, and tears welled up in her eyes.
But Emil, unaware of Chris's state, strained to lift his head and smiled.
"Ha, haha…. You got me. Is this revenge for hitting your head earlier?"
"Huh?"
Emil thought being stabbed was a counterattack for him hitting her head just now.
Chris stared blankly at his smile.
Then, as if feeling wrongly accused, she flushed and scrunched up her face.
"N-no! That was an accident!"
"Huh? An accident?"
"Kueeugh…!"
At Emil's questioning look, Chris was speechless and just bowed her flushed face.
Suddenly.
She sprang up and turned her back.
And she put her wooden sword back in its place, then left the training ground.
"W-wait! Chris! Where are you going?"
"To the dorms! Today's training is over!"
And so, due to her turbulent feelings, Chris quickly distanced herself from Emil and returned to the dorms.
***
After finishing her shower, Chris sat on her bed, hugging a pillow, and stared blankly at the wall.
"..."
Her head, where Emil had hit her, still throbbed.
"..."
But more than that.
The moment she had struck his chest kept replaying in her mind.
With that memory, she felt an unfamiliar pain in her chest.
"…Ugh."
Chris faintly blushed and buried her face in the pillow.
Why was she feeling this way?
She had killed monsters, even participated in wars and killed people.
But.
Just poking someone's chest with a wooden sword bothered her this much.
Why?
Chris, her face still buried in the pillow, pondered the reason.
Then, something flashed through her mind.
"..."
A few days ago, when she had collapsed in the cave, the hand that was offered to her.
That hand shimmered before her eyes.
"...Urgh."
Chris then blushed again and buried her face deeper into the pillow.
Because this feeling was new to her.
She didn't know what was happening, or what she should do.
"…Maybe I should sleep."
In the end, deep in thought, she let her body fall onto the bed and slowly closed her eyes.
And the next morning.
"...I must be crazy."
Chris opened her eyes, her face flushed, and covered it with both hands.
The reason for her embarrassment was simple.
Last night, she had fallen asleep with distracting thoughts.
And this morning, upon waking.
The moment Chris opened her eyes, she immediately thought of Emil.
That fact was embarrassing.
"…Get a grip."
Chris, her face flushed, got out of bed.
She then changed her clothes and stepped out of the dorm.
Her own way of clearing her head by getting some fresh air.
But.
"Huuht, Huuup…!"
"Ten, …it's ten. Come up more."
"Haang…! No…! I can't…."
"Come up! You can do it!"
"Heukkeueeuup…!"
The very act of going out for air to clear her head made her see a scene that only caused more distracting thoughts.
After leaving the dorm and walking for a short while, she came upon a grassy area.
Two people, a man and a woman, were sitting on the grass.
The man was holding the woman's legs, and the woman was doing sit-ups, relying on the man's arms.
She didn't know who the woman was.
But.
She knew that familiar back of the man very well.
"..."
It was Emil.
"Hyaaaap!"
"Good! Ten! Amazing, Sierra! You did one more today, didn't you?"
"Haa, haa…. U-uhu-hu…. Yes, I'm a woman of my word, after all…."
"Shall we move on to push-ups now?"
"Ugh, ah, no…. Let's take a short break first…."
"Where did the woman of her word go?"
The two seemed to be on very good terms at a glance.
They had no hesitation with each other, easily joked, and easily laughed.
"..."
That kind of expression from Emil.
She had… never seen it when she trained with him.
'...Why?'
Throb.
Emil, making an expression she'd never seen before, in front of another woman who wasn't her.
As she watched him from afar,
a pain in her chest worse than when she had stabbed him with the wooden sword.
'When he's with me… he's always scared.'
Now, it didn't matter what this feeling, this pain, was.
What was important right now was.
That watching those two hurt.
That it bothered her.
Therefore.
"Ahem!"
"Hm?"
"Oh?"
Chris approached the two and deliberately cleared her throat.
Emil and Sierra, who had been engrossed in their exercises, noticed her and looked up.
"…Uh, oh?"
Emil, recognizing her, widened his eyes in surprise.
"Ch-Chris…."
"Chris? Is she a friend?"
"Uh? Should I call her a friend…."
"..."
Emil's hesitation at the question of 'friend' somehow irritated her.
…She wasn't a friend?
"..."
But somehow, even if he said 'friend,' it would probably still bother her.
"…Just an acquaintance."
So Chris spoke up first, before Emil could say anything.
"Ah, I see. Same year? I'm Sierra."
"..."
The woman with Emil, Sierra, greeted Chris with a bright smile.
A woman completely different from her sharp and intense self.
She was even very pretty.
…Do men really prefer women like this?
"Huh? Chris, do you have a cold?"
As she was thinking that, Sierra, who had been looking at her, spoke up.
Only then did Chris realize her cheeks were very flushed.
"N-no! More importantly!"
She hastily changed the subject.
"Emil!"
"Yes, yes, ma'am!"
"…Don't tell me you've been training in the mornings too, not just in the afternoon?"
"Huh? You train in the afternoons too?"
"Uh, uhh? Y-yes, I do."
"..."
*How admirable.*
Chris barely managed to hold back such words from springing to her throat.
The reason she didn't say it was simple.
Because it was embarrassing.
So, barely suppressing what she wanted to say, she found herself glaring sharply at Emil.
"Starting tomorrow, I'll be coming to morning training too."
"...Huh? …Uhh?!"
Emil was startled, and Sierra next to him looked bewildered.
"Suddenly…? Why…?"
"Ugh, w-well, if you drain too much stamina in the morning, it'll interfere with afternoon training!"
"Ah…."
"Starting tomorrow, I'll be carefully checking next to you, so be aware of that!"
"Okay…. Got it."
Chris, having said all she intended, hesitated with a somewhat displeased expression.
Swirl.
She turned around and walked straight out of the grassy area.
"...Kueeugh."
And feeling the hot flush on her face, she went straight back to the dorm.
'Why did I suddenly make such a suggestion….'
The suggestion that she would attend training from tomorrow morning.
Chris had blurted out that suggestion very impulsively.
Without any proper logic, without even realizing it herself.
However, she vaguely understood the reason for such impulsive behavior.
Sierra.
She didn't like the idea of Emil and Sierra, who was beautiful even to her eyes, training alone together every morning.
"..."
Like that.
Chris was slowly beginning to understand what this stifling feeling in her heart was.
She felt like she was slowly beginning to understand.
***
"...Huh, what is this?"
Edric, having woken up early by chance and going to school earlier than usual this morning, discovered something unexpected.
It was a training scene involving three people.
Emil, the male student he had seen recently, and Sierra, whom he currently harbored feelings for.
And.
"Good, Emil, one more."
"Heukkeueeuup…!"
"Good, one more."
"Heukkeueeuup…!"
"Hmm, one more…."
"Heukk…! Ah, I can't…!"
His fiancée, who was helping Emil with his sit-ups.
Chris.
'She makes a face like that…?'
Chris was holding Emil's legs, helping him with his abdominal exercises, and making a strange expression.
Her shoulders twitched every time Emil strained to lift his body.
Her eyes trembled slightly.
Her cheeks were subtly flushed.
"..."
Edric stared blankly at this never-before-seen side of Chris.
Even though Sierra, the one he harbored feelings for, was nearby.