Owari no Seraph – Ichinose Guren, 16-sai no Catastrophe v1c4

Each day was fundamentally a day of getting ridiculed.

During paired practices.

A practice session involving the whole school was taking place.

Glen was struck with a solid blow and fell.

With hair bleached blond, and frivolous drooping eyes.

Goshi looked hard at Glen and grinned.

The students encircling Goshi all laughed together.

"Why don't we tell Sensei? We should tell her that everyone's going to have a low morale with such a guy like that in our class."

"Yeah, we should do that. In the first place, it's really weird that a weak guy like him got assigned to a class full of elites."

Then, a girl standing behind him said to him.

Turning around, he saw a girl with red hair standing there. It was Jyuujou Mito. For some reason, she was glaring at him with a strangely irritated face,

Glen smiled and said in response.

But, those words made Mito's eyes turned up suddenly for some reason.

It seemed like he had touched some other raw nerve.

"Ah? Who are you calling second-rate?"

"Screw you Jyuujou, don't get ahead of yourself? This is the only time you Jyuujou House can remain full of yourselves. Once I become the head of Goshi, I'll crush you right away."

"Oh my, did I hit the bull's eye about you being second-rated and made you angry, Goshi-san?"

"Then try me. I'll show you the difference in level between the Jyuujou House and the Goshi House."

"Try me!"

Their movements were considerably fast. Their invocation speeds were also pretty fast. The other students who could only call themselves elites in name, were also overwhelmed by their battle.

Instead, she told the students to watch how they fight and study them.

"............"

Upon doing that, from behind him, with his arms folded, his eyes on the fight, Hiiragi Shinya called out to Glen.

Glen looked at Shinya, and after that,

Without answering anything, he turned his eyes to the fight between Mito and Goshi.

But Shinya came up beside him and said.

"............"

But Glen cut him off and said.

"Ah-haha."

"No but, I'd really love to know the real strength of my future comrade in crushing the Hiiragis."

"Well well, why don't we spar a bit? It's about time to show me your real strength."

Instantly, he could tell that the students surrounding them had turned their attention to them. Even Mito and Goshi who had been fighting stopped.

After all, during the first paired practice in this school, Shinya defeated Goshi with just one hand.

"By the way, I'm going all out. No matter how strong you are, I'd think that it's impossible for you to go easy on me. No matter how skillful you are at taking hits, you'll end up with some broken bones, won't you?"

"Erm, Shinya-sama. I don't think I have enough of ability to be your opponent though......"

Shinya moved. A spell swirled around his fist. Clearly, it was a means of summoning demon gods to latch on to him. Was that the Vajrayaksa Curse? Or something else altogether?

If Glen did not react, and deal with it appropriately, he might just die.

"Aah, damn...... it can't be helped."

"Guah."

He took it right in the chest. The sound of a broken rib was heard. His body went flying in the air. And fell. As it took some time before he reached the ground, he must have been sent flying pretty high in the air.

"You're kidding me ~. How stubborn can you be? Or, could it be that you're really weak?"

Following that, Mito rushed up to Glen for some reason,

She yelled.

On top of that, he heard voices saying, "as expected, the ability of one from the Hiiragi House is way too different".

"Hey, what on earth are you guys thinking of......?"

"Hey, the way this blood is flowing out, it looks seriously awful doesn't it?"

But that should not have been the case. Glen had shifted his body at an angle where his vitals should have escaped injury even if a rib broke after getting hit --- but still, his consciousness was fuzzy.

Goshi then said.

But, at that moment, Glen completely lost consciousness and could no longer hear his voice.

White ceiling.

He got up from a bed in that room.

"............"

"...... hm."

Then,

A voice sounded outside the infirmary.

A girl's voice which he had heard before.

Beautiful ashen hair, eyes with black irises.

Hiiragi Mahiru.

"...... you can't just take off the bandages without permission."

"Isn't this...... Mahiru-sama...... it's been a while."

On saying that, he could see a small shock reflecting from the depths of her eyes.

"Aah, so this is how it goes."

"You aren't talking to me the way you used to."

"The situation was different."

"I'm no longer the ignorant kid I used to......"

"Enough of that. Keep quiet."

Mahiru came into the room.

"Mahiru-sama, your father will be angry if you get close to a person like me."

"I'm also different from the past. I can make my own decisions. It is the duty of the head house, my duty as a member of the Hiiragis, to worry about the people of the subordinate houses."

By the way, the Ichinose House had split from the main house and created their own denomination, so strictly speaking, they were not subordinate to the Hiiragi House, but still, Mahiru had probably elected to use those words despite knowing that.

But he said nothing.

The reason was because nothing had changed since then.

He then recalled the event that occurred 10 days ago.

Mahiru then said to him.

Glen replied.

"............"

An uncomfortable silence went by in the infirmary, and because of that, they noticed the presence of a clock in the room.

"How's your injury?"

"No problem."

"If that's what they reported, then it's the truth I suppose."

But he did not know what she wanted to say for now. He did not know what he wanted from her.

After these 10 years of separation, regardless of how strong he had grown, the gap between the Hiiragi House and the Ichinose House had not changed. And if that did not change, then the gap between him and her would not change at all.

Glen looked up,

He said.

"And a thug like you has learned how to flatter people?"

"But I'm happy to hear you telling me that I'm beautiful, I guess."

She pouted her lips in slight embarrassment. Glen looked up at her face but his expression did not change.

He asked.

"...... no, I'm just here to ask about your injury."

"...... is that so?"

"............"

"Nothing."

"Yeah. Well then, sorry for disturbing you."

And then, Glen said to her back.

He could tell from her back that she quivered. Her feet stopped, and then,

She said without turning around.

Glen stared in the direction of the door from where she had disappeared.

With a dull face, he stared hard at the empty space, at the white wall,

He said in a groaning tone.

Chapter end