"I remember you," Haruki said, his gaze shifting toward the orange-haired boy. "You're in my class."
"Whoa, whoa... you actually spotted me?"
The boy stepped fully out of the shadows, his expression one of genuine shock.
Beside him, Claudia's voice crackled through the terminal, sounding equally impressed. "You detected Yabuki-kun? That's remarkable. He's a specialized operative for Shadowstar."
"Shadowstar?" Haruki repeated.
"Every Integrated Enterprise Foundation has its own strategic intelligence branch," Claudia explained. "They handle the 'darker' side of corporate competition—espionage, counter-intel, and tracking high-value targets. Galaxy, the Foundation behind Seidokan, runs Shadowstar. Eishiro Yabuki is one of their rising stars."
"I see." Haruki nodded. It made sense now why Claudia had such a tight grip on his movements.
Yabuki let out a long, theatrical sigh. "Man, and here I thought my concealment was flawless. Is my training really that lacking?"
"No," Haruki said, a rare note of approval in his voice. "Your stealth is excellent. Until I specifically focused my intent, your presence was almost indistinguishable from the background noise. It's practically invisibility."
"That..." Yabuki trailed off, unsure whether to be flattered or terrified. He looked at Haruki and realized that the man in front of him wasn't just a strong student—he was a genuine predator that existed on a different level of the food chain.
Once the dust had settled and the Guard had taken Silas into custody, Claudia spoke to Haruki privately through a secure channel.
She requested that the incident with Silas be handled internally. She didn't want the news of a Seidokan ranker being a corporate spy to leak to the public, as it would damage the academy's reputation. More importantly, she intended to use Silas as a bargaining chip against Allekant Academy, trading his silence for technical data and political concessions.
"You want to use him for leverage?" Haruki asked, looking at the image of Claudia on his screen. "What's in it for me?"
Haruki's tone was icy. He didn't like being used as a pawn, and the fact that Claudia had been tracking him left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Claudia sensed his irritation. "I'll make sure the Foundation compensates you. I'll grant you full access to Allekant's latest research dossiers on combat bio-rhythms. Furthermore, if Allekant releases any new Pure Stellar Lux prototypes, you will have first priority for synchronization testing."
"Fine," Haruki grunted. He didn't care much for the politics, but the data on combat rhythms would be useful for his Sense of Fluctuation. He was willing to let it slide as long as she stopped treating him like a subordinate.
Before leaving the site, Haruki noticed a tiny, blinking red light on one of Silas's broken puppets. It was a microscopic surveillance camera.
Haruki picked up the scrap and stared directly into the lens.
"I know you're watching, Allekant," Haruki said, his voice a low, chilling warning. "If you want data on me, come get it yourselves. If you send another toy to do your dirty work, I'll come to your labs and dismantle them piece by piece. Don't test me again."
The red light flickered twice, then the camera short-circuited, dissolving into a puff of grey smoke. It was a silent acknowledgment.
Far away, in a darkened laboratory at Allekant Academy, a girl with messy brown hair and a white lab coat leaned back in her chair. A faint, intrigued smile touched her lips.
"Haruki Aizawa... an anomaly among anomalies," she whispered to the empty room. "I've never seen a human soul vibrate like that. I really want to take him apart and see how he works."
She looked at two massive, coffin-like containers in the corner of the lab. Inside, two advanced Al-D units were "dreaming" in their stasis tanks.
"The Festa is going to be very interesting this year," she chuckled, returning to her keyboard.
Haruki and Julis walked back to the Seidokan campus together. The silence between them was heavy, but no longer hostile.
Julis looked troubled. She kept glancing at Haruki, her fingers twisting the fabric of her dress. Finally, she stopped walking and looked him in the eye.
"Haruki... thank you. Truly. You saved my life back there."
"It was nothing. I was finishing a job."
"It wasn't 'nothing' to me," she snapped, though her voice lacked its usual bite.
She looked away, her face flushing. Previously, she had found his attitude arrogant. Now, she realized it was just a total, unshakeable confidence. It was magnetic, and it made her heart race in a way she wasn't prepared for.
"Haruki," she said, shaking off the feeling. "Do you still want to be my partner for the Festa?"
"That was the deal, wasn't it? I took down the assassin. You agree to team up."
"I... I do. I'd be honored to have you by my side."
Julis offered a small, genuine smile. Her face was so red it looked like it might actually catch fire, but she didn't look away.
"Good," Haruki said. "Now, are you going to tell me why a Princess is so desperate for money?"
Julis hesitated, then nodded. "Follow me. My room is... more private."
Haruki followed her, though he felt a pang of apprehension. Not another bedroom meeting, he thought, recalling the incident with Claudia.
However, Julis's room was different. It was a single, modest chamber. No luxury, just a bed, a desk, and a small vase of roses. She showed him a photograph sitting on her nightstand. It was a picture of a younger Julis standing in front of a group of tattered, smiling children in a slum-like setting.
"My kingdom, Lieseltania, is a puppet state," Julis explained, her voice bitter. "The Foundations run everything. They don't care about the poor or the orphans. I grew up sneaking out of the palace to play with the kids in the slums. They were my only real friends. But their orphanage is being shut down because it isn't 'profitable.' I'm fighting in the Festa to win enough wealth to buy that land and fund the orphanage forever. I'm the only one who can save them."
Haruki looked at the photo, then at Julis. He understood now. Her "greed" was her strength.
"The city is a cesspool of desires," Julis said, reaching out to him. "It swallows everything. But it's also the only place where a wish can come true. Haruki... help me win. I need your strength to reach the top."
Haruki didn't hesitate. He took her hand, his grip firm and reassuring. "I'll get you there, Julis. We're taking that trophy."
A week passed in a blur of high-intensity training.
Haruki and Julis spent every spare hour in the Seidokan training halls. While Haruki continued his personal meditation, he also focused on coordinating with Julis's Strega abilities.
"—Bloom! Red Circle Scorching Slash!"
A whirlwind of crimson flames erupted around Julis, forming into a dozen spinning discs of thermal energy. They whistled through the air, converging on Haruki from all sides like serrated blades of fire.
Haruki didn't move until they were inches away. He drew Onikiri and delivered a single, lightning-fast horizontal sweep.
VROOOM—SHING!
The flames didn't explode; they were simply snuffed out. Haruki's blade moved with such speed and "vibration" that it collapsed the mana structure of Julis's spell instantly. The fire discs dissolved into embers.
Julis panted, wiping sweat from her brow. She was frustrated, but she was learning. She realized that if a direct attack wouldn't work, she had to be more creative.
She launched another wave, but this time, as Haruki moved to cut them, she snapped her fingers. The "dead" embers suddenly flared and coalesced into two smaller, faster wheels that lunged from his blind spots.
"Better," Haruki noted.
He adjusted his grip, raising the blade slightly higher. He delivered a simple, unadorned strike that seemed to cover both directions simultaneously.
CLINK.
The two wheels were cleaved in two. Haruki stood in the center of the room, his uniform untouched, his expression as calm as a summer pond.
"You're a monster, Haruki," Julis sighed, deactivated her Lux. "Honestly, I'm starting to think you could win the Phoenix Festa by yourself. Why do you even need a partner?"
Haruki looked at his blade. "The rules require a pair. And besides... the world is more interesting when you have someone worth watching."
Julis's heart skipped a beat, but she covered it with a huff. "Whatever. Let's go again. I'm not stopping until I at least singe one of your hairs!"
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