「Ah,
Yuse... that flat girl (Pettanko). Yeah, she is rather troublesome」
「So,
you know this girl, Riko?」
That's
what Maria and Riko said when I asked them after I got home.
Apparently,
the girl named Yuse Shuka is quite famous, but Chihiro doesn't remember much
about her.
「Izu...
you're pretty absent-minded at school, aren't you?」
「Is
that so?」
He
tilted his head, but it seemed true. Although he was in the classroom, he
didn't pay much attention to others in the corridor or on the way to school.
And since nobody talks to him, he often ignores any information.
Maria
tilted her head and asked Riko.
**a
「By
the way, what do you mean by troublesome?」
「Well,
she's always eyeing Kamishiro, so if she sees his face, she'll probably come at
him. And she'll probably keep bothering him until one of them gets beaten up」
（...It
sounded like a story I'd heard somewhere）
Chihiro,
who hears that, feels sorry for Kamishiro, but this time he should not worry
about it. After all, last time it was Chihiro who was targeted.
「Chihiro」
「Hmm?」
「Do
your best」
Riko
said with a big smile on her face.
She’s
so cute that Chihiro can't help but looked at her, but he's definitely amused
by this situation.
*exhale*
Chihiro
exhale. In any case, he has no choice but to do it. Fortunately, it's not a
real battle, just a cavalry battle.
「Anyway.
About the mark last night」
「Ah,
right」
Chihiro
nodded at Maria's voice. He wants to check it out as soon as possible.
「Mark?」
「Yes.
Last night, all of a sudden, a mark appeared on my body. Look, it's still there」
「Don't
just take it off! Or better yet, remove that scribble!」
Maria's
navel is exposed, and Riko stares at it intently.
「What
are these, a letters?」
「It's
probably a collection of letters. The meaning, I kind of figured out after
living with it last night...」
「Really?」
「Yeah」
Maria
nodded, but tilted her head and looked at Riko.
「Before
I tell you my guess, could Nishizaki-san help me verify it? Two samples are better
than one, right?」
「Sure,
what do you want?」
「It's
easy」
The
method Maria explained to her is certainly not a difficult procedure.
The
three of them, including Riko, verified the new ability and found that Chihiro
had indeed awakened a new ability, but...
「...Umm.
Congratulations, is it?」
「Fufu.
I didn't expect it, but I think it's an interesting ability」
The
contents of the letter caused a slightly skewed reaction in the group.
☆ ☆ ☆
Shibahou
Academy is a private school with a rather large space for its less than two
hundred students. This is because, due to the nature of the academy, most of
the classes are physical, and it requires a large area and a variety of
facilities to nurture the abilities of the [Lost Items].
For
these reasons, the school's grounds are large enough to accommodate all 200
students, their parents and guests, as well as various tools and equipment.
「So,
let's get started」
After
the opening ceremony by the principal, they returned to the student booth.
As
Chihiro took a break, Maisaka, who sits to his left, talked to him.
「You
look like you're having fun, Maisaka-kun」
「Sort
of. That's why Izumi is going to be my entertainment」
Really,
he's more interested in watching the game than competing in his own events. And――
「Well,
that's just the way he is」
A
refreshing voice said from right next to them.
He
looks at Maisaka with a sideways glance and smiles, his tall frame making it
easy to watch the game. As Chihiro thought at yesterday's PE, the two of them
are unexpectedly close.
「Are
you guys close?」
「Yeah,
maybe we are. I was surprised that Maisaka suddenly spoke to me at the entrance
ceremony, but before I knew it, this had become the norm. You'd better be
careful, Izumi-kun」
「Haha.
Then it's too late. Because Izumi was listening and I spit on him」
「...Haha」
Chihiro
chuckled, partly pleased, partly annoyed.
And
with a subtle smile on his face, he looked at the girl's seat nearby. Riko is
talking with her friends as usual, and Maria is talking with Aika.
...And
Hana.
He
tried to look in the opposite direction, across from the B group, but the crowd
made it almost impossible to see what happened.
「Look,
Mishuku-san is there」
Chihiro
gulped.
Then,
Maisaka looked at Chihiro with a smirk on his face.
「I
wonder if she'll try something, or if Yuse will go on a rampage, or if the B
class will play a modest game and turn the tables on us before we know it. But
I guess that's the point of the event」
*stare*
The
girls of B class, who seemed to have heard the word "modest", stared
at Maisaka, but he didn't seem to care.
**b
☆ ☆ ☆
The
first half of the festival consisted of a close battle, with each class gaining
small points.
It
all went as Maisaka had predicted, but Chihiro finally noticed something that
Maisaka, the class president, hadn't mentioned at all. The second and third
year students, the senior class, who are playing an active role.
The
reason for this is immediately clear.
They
are on a different level. Both in terms of their simple physical abilities and
their abilities as [Lost Item]. Their simple age-based growth, their amount of
experience, and their amount of training. All of these are things that
first-year students don't have, so they are difficult to measure and impossible
to discuss lightly. For example――
There
are those who manipulate the flow of air to obtain a tailwind.
There
are those who run at high speed by suppressing their body shaking and recoil
with telekinesis.
There
are those who accelerate by rolling forward at the same time as the start of
the race and throwing themselves with their hands on the ground.
There
are those who do not use any ability, but only try to catch up with the speed
they have trained.
But
usually, in individual events such as running, students of the same grade are
matched against each other, so there are not many opportunities for senior
students to dominate them.
Thanks for reading...
