As I was surveying those faces, I suddenly felt Kurashiki’s sharp gaze from beside me.
“Hm? What’s up Amamori-kun?”
“Nah, it’s nothing.”
She asserts I’m assessing them. As I convince myself of the meaning behind her gaze, Teacher Sakaki’s explanation just finished.—However.
“Now then, pair up in twos and begin ability training.”
“Huh?”
I felt like the teacher just said the four words I least wanted to hear right now.
Pair up in twos… Did she really say that? My vision darkened in despair.
With Kirido gone, our class had twenty-nine students total.
In short, there was one left over.
Let me say it again, there was one left over.
“Ah, Amamori-k—”
“Asahina-saaan! Hey, let’s pair up!”
“No fair! I’ll pair with you!”
“Oh, me too, me too!”
Asahina who tried to talk to me was swallowed up by the mixed group of boys and girls, and before long she was out of sight. Good, I’ll allow it.
I try to quickly look for Kurashiki, but somehow she had disappeared from my side.
Glancing around, I discovered her joining a group of girls in the distance saying “Hey, will someone pair with me?” Her crisis perception skills are way too high.
Giving them a once-over, I mutter in my heart, “Welp, gotta find a partner!”
Hm? You thought I wouldn’t actually mutter it?
Sorry, but I don’t have any friends.
On second thought, I don’t have confidence in properly conversing with anyone but Kurashiki. Asahina is out of the question, and…maybe barely Umaru? Though he was already getting friendly with the top dogs of the class hierarchy. In the end, I’m alone.
So, with that whole situation—
“I see, so you’re the one left.”
“Yeah…”
Of course I’m left over. I knew it.
My grades are average. My eyes are dead and there’s not a shred of vigor in my face.
Plus my Ability is weak, an utterly ordinary guy without a single noteworthy trait. On top of that, the incident with Kirido made me stand out in a bad way. There’s a kind of atmosphere in the class now of ‘Amamori Yuuto, the guy who’s hard to talk to.’
So I was left over.
“I see. Well, that’s reasonable.”
You don’t have to say it’s reasonable.
My classmates had already started training in pairs around me.
Asahina was with some female student over there. Kurashiki seemed to have paired with a taciturn-looking girl. I guess Asahina just went with whoever, while Kurashiki as president paired with someone leftover like her.
“Now then, Amamori…I’ll be your pair. That said, I don’t know how to train your Ability.”
Let me say upfront, she knows my true strength.
That’s simply because she’s my homeroom teacher.
The homeroom teacher knows every student’s ‘real’ Ability. …Though it seems she doesn’t know other classes’ students. Yes, I heard from a trustworthy source.
…But it’s odd. My Ability should even be registered in the academy’s database as [Eyesight Ruiner]. So how did she trace that back to my real ability?
It’s worrying, but this isn’t the time to investigate. Convincing myself of that, I opened my mouth.
“Um, how exactly do you strengthen abilities?”
“That’s simple. Use them. The more you use them, the more skilled you become, and they’ll gradually strengthen.”
It’s just like a game. As I muttered internally, Teacher Sakaki said “It’s just like a game.”
Good thing I didn’t say it out loud. I almost double booked. Though I feel like our wording was a bit different. Well, no use fussing over minor details.
“Your power is an unprecedented heterodoxy even looking back through history… Honestly, faced with that uniqueness, I have no advice or anything, but the key is that your power has already reached its complete form. In that case, I believe you should focus on improving your technique over your Ability.”
—Complete form. Hearing her say that, I smiled wryly.
“I see. You’re right, I should prioritize that.”
“Oh right, you were spouting some nonsense about [Eyesight Ruiner] or whatever wasn’t it? Clean up your own lies, I don’t know anything.”
She said that then averted her gaze, so I was relieved.
I don’t really want to talk about my real Ability and stuff… She might let something about my Ability slip by accident.
“Then, independent training it is.”
“Yeah, just sit over there and practice.”
Told that, I sat down on the nearby stairs and grabbed my left arm with my right palm.
“Now then.”
Unexpectedly, I had ended up with this time.
I was training, but had nothing to do besides that.
With that, the things I could do became limited.
“Let’s see… Oh, found one.”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
Among my classmates training their abilities as Teacher Sakaki directed, I spotted a tall figure and fixed my gaze on Kurotsuki.
He had…paired up with another leftover probably. He was paired with an unpopular male student, looking like bocchi from the side.
But the reason he wasn’t seen as ‘bocchi’ like me was likely his excellent looks. And that he had strong abilities.
“Kurotsuki! Show a bit of your power, one of the top ability users in class—!”
I could hear Teacher Sakaki’s voice from afar.
Looking, Kurotsuki’s brows were slightly furrowed, but he probably didn’t intend to defy the teacher.
Silently, he held up his right hand forward.
And then—a [Magic Circle] manifested in thin air.
“I see. So that’s…”
Seeing his ability like this, I could feel how tremendous it was.
What appeared from the magic circle were crimson flames.
The tremendously powerful flames shot forth, searing the grounds, gouging deeply, causing explosions.
The blast blew back Kurotsuki’s bangs.
The exposed eyes…somehow looked despairing.
“[Divine Protection of the Devil King]…an Ability to use any and all magic.”
A Divine Protection Ability. In other words, equal to Asahina and Kurashiki.
And the terrifying thing was that power.
I would call his Ability ‘omnipotent’.
Since his Ability lets him use any and all magic-categorized things, it’s a rule-breaking one.
“If I had to pick, it’d be him right.”
And he was a true genius.
He showed no sign of effort whatsoever. He doesn’t even properly listen in class. And he’s clearly slacking in P.E. too. Yet he’s surely earning good grades.
Of course, he isn’t posting the foolish exam scores from entrance exams.
But it remains fact that he boasts the top grades in Class C while slacking off.
…However.
His back after finishing his magic somehow looked lonely.
Gifted with great talent and power, yet why did he make a face like that?
“Well, that’s interesting but…”
The problem is how to persuade him.
As I said before, what does he desire? What can I give to form a cooperative relationship? I need to think about that… However, as the greatest premise, first I need to get him to recognize me not just as a random classmate, but as the individual Amamori Yuuto.
At present, we’re still strangers who haven’t even talked. We couldn’t even hold a discussion.
So after getting him to recognize the individual Amamori Yuuto, I need to have something persuasive enough, be it theoretical armaments or even bribes.
—And at this point organizing my thoughts, I feel I was somewhat impatient.
…Damn. Since he seemed useful, I got ahead of myself.
I had completely forgotten what I should be thinking about first.
I stared at him again, and asked myself once more:
—Is Kurotsuki kanade truly a suitable person?
I have to reconfirm that point.
He’s strong, talented, and meets the conditions.
But to what extent? How strong? How talented?
It’s easy to gloss over with a blanket statement of ‘potential,’ but that’s simply dangerous expectation.
No good if I don’t know at all. If I lack information, I have to gather it.
I have to gain enough information to turn expectation into conviction, or I can’t even start negotiation.
…And for that, this chance is deeply desirable.
“Now that you’re somewhat warmed up, we’ll begin mock battles for ‘Conflict requests’ from here.”
Over ten minutes later. Tension ran through the Class C students at Teacher Sakaki’s words.
“R-Right now…?”
“That’s right. As I said before, Conflict requests will soon be opened up. If you’ve done nothing but train without any actual experience by then, you’ll be easy pickings for the second and third-years, no?”
…She says it lightly, but we first-years will be targeted by the second and third-years?
From information I privately gathered, I feel like we first-years won’t be pushovers though.
Well, Teacher Sakaki probably knows that too… She’s probably choosing not to say it. Even if you’re wary of upperclassmen, you’ll only get your feet swept by classmates… She has an awful personality.
Smiling awfully before our gazes, the teacher held up her index finger.
“The important thing here is to not hold back.”
Kurashiki looks this way. Hey, stop that, don’t look this way.
Stubbornly keeping my eyes off her and on Teacher Sakaki, Kurashiki heaved a sigh and averted her gaze.
Instead, this time my eyes met precisely with Teacher Sakaki’s… Since Teacher Sakaki knows my real ability, her earlier words may have been directed at me.
But personally, I want them directed at Kurotsuki.
“Umm…why’s that, Teach?”
A light voice flew from the front. That just now was Umaru? In response to his question, Shake smiled a little.
“Let’s see. There will probably also be chances from here on to fight as a ‘class united’, not individuals. Things like ‘battles between classes with representative members’ for example. To be ready for times like that, it’d be good to have a solid grasp on who’s strong and who’s weak, right?”
“…I see. You’re certainly right.”
Teacher Sakaki gave a concrete example as she said that.
…So there probably are things like that huh.
Oh no. I’ve got a bad feeling my weakness will be exposed there and Asahina will approach me again. Maybe being the ‘weakest’ really is no good?
Should I aim for ordinary, neither weak nor strong? Is that what I should do?
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