by Yuu Miyazaki
The Pan-Dora was, by nature, better suited for defense than offense, as while it allowed its user to test possible outcomes through trial and error, the more complicated the course of events, the greater the number of opportunities that became available.
“So what’s our strategy for the semifinal?” Julis continued.
“Now, now, there’s no need to rush,” Claudia replied calmly before taking a swig of the drink she had brought with her. “Fortunately, we still have some time to spare, so why don’t we all take a breather first?”
It was currently around noon.
Their match had originally been scheduled for early evening, but seeing as the other semifinal match, which had been due to begin afterward, had been canceled, theirs had been moved back to compensate. That gave them more time to rest and ample opportunity to work out how to proceed.
“Hmm… I guess I might be rushing into things a bit too quickly.” Julis sighed.
“A-ah… Yes, let’s try to calm down first,” Kirin added, letting herself relax.
There had been so much going on over the past day that they all still seemed somewhat on edge.
“In that case, there’s something else I want to get out of the way,” Saya began, raising her hand. “Claudia confessed to Ayato, right? I want to know what happened next.”
“Bffft?!” Ayato blurted.
“What?!” Claudia exclaimed, almost spilling her drink. Her face turned red, and she had lifted both hands to her cheeks to cover them as she gasped for breath—before slowly turning toward Saya with a tremble. “Wh-what on earth are you saying?”
Ayato had never seen her act this way before, and Julis and Kirin must have been just as surprised as he was, because they both stared at her suspiciously.
“Well, if you think about what happened, if you think about why it happened, even Ayato ought to have realized it by now.”
“Th-that’s true…,” Claudia murmured as she averted her gaze.
There was something indescribably cute about the reaction.
“Um, Saya… The thing is…,” Ayato began, trying to explain, when Claudia held out a hand to stop him.
“Ah…” She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and put a hand to her chest, though her cheeks were still tinged red. “As far as I’m concerned, my thoughts were rather disorganized, and I wasn’t able to convey my feelings the way I would have liked,” she declared clearly. “Which is why, one day, I intend to properly tell Ayato how I feel. That’s all!”
Saya gave a slow nod. “I see. That’s good enough for me… In other words, I still have the advantage. That’s a relief.”
“I don’t know what to say… You really are impressive.” Claudia stared back at her in grudging admiration.
“Feel free to praise me more often.”
“No, I wouldn’t say that I was praising you, exactly… But oh well, I guess we can call it that.”
“Come on, this isn’t the time to be worrying about that kind of thing!” Julis suddenly cried out, as if she couldn’t bear to listen to the two anymore.
Julis’s flustered expression was so endearing it rivaled Claudia’s from a moment ago.
The same went for Kirin, standing beside her.
“Th-that’s right…!” she stammered. “Claudia, what about the match…?”
“Ah, yes. In that case…” She pulled out her mobile and cleared her voice. “Let’s start with a simple analysis. To start with, all five members of Team Yellow Dragon are highly capable close-combat martial artists. However, because of that, they don’t place significant emphasis on teamwork. It seems they prioritize individual decision-making over group coordination.” With that, she opened five air-windows displaying the profiles of their opponents. “This isn’t to say that there’s no division of roles between them. The Li twins, whom Ayato and Julis fought during the Phoenix, effectively serve to support the other team members. It’s safe to say that their illusionary seisenjutsu techniques are extremely effective in team situations.”
“Do you mean they’re supporting the others, even without coordinating?” Kirin wondered aloud.
Claudia nodded. “Their techniques create opportunities that their team members can then use to their advantage. That said, it can’t really be called coordination.”
“I see…”
“That being the case, I’ll be the one to take care of those two,” Claudia declared.
“Huh?” Ayato startled. “By yourself?”
Certainly, the twins might not be as powerful as the others, but they were still formidable opponents. Ayato knew that from experience. Moreover, they excelled at controlling the conditions of the arena. They would be even more dangerous if they could afford to leave offense to someone else.
“Of course, I’ll need Julis and Saya to support me whenever possible, but I’m the one best suited to take them both on.”
“Best suited? What does that mean?”
“It’s simple, really,” Claudia replied indifferently. “My personality is even worse than theirs.”
Ayato didn’t know whether to nod along to that or not, but there was no denying that none of the others would be capable of seeing through their tricks the way she could. In that respect, at least, he and Julis had been completely bested during their encounter with them in the Phoenix.
“However, Julis and Saya will also be facing Raigeki Senka and Tenka Musou as well, so you’ll both need to consider them as your highest priority,” Claudia added as she enlarged two of the air-windows.
The first held a picture of Cecily Wong, a young woman with European features—a rarity at Jie Long—while the second was Hufeng Zhao, whom Ayato had met during the Gran Colosseo.
The air-windows soon changed to recordings of a match. They had already watched it several times before, and so, Ayato immediately recognized it as the pair’s championship match at the Phoenix four years earlier.
At that time, Cecily had yet to learn seisenjutsu, so the pair had fought with the kind of martial arts typical of students from Jie Long.
In broad terms, Cecily excelled in power and Hufeng in speed.
Even back then, Hufeng had moved incredibly quickly.
“They’ve no doubt become much stronger since this recording.”
“Hmm… We’ve no shortage of opponents, so why choose Saya and me?” Julis asked.
“Are we well suited to facing them or something?” Saya added.
“No, I’m afraid not. It merely comes down to the process of elimination.”
Julis blinked in surprise at this admission, quickly breaking out into a deep frown. “What does that mean? You’d better not be playing around.”
“There’s no hidden meaning behind it. We need you to hold those two down at all costs. Because you see…” Claudia paused there, turning to face their two still unaccounted-for members. “We need Ayato and Kirin to take care of the last one, Hagun Seikun… Although, I’m not sure whether even the both of you together will be able to beat him.”
At this, the four all caught their breath.
“…Right, Xiaohui Wu…,” Julis whispered.
It went without saying that Xiaohui Wu was strong. Overwhelmingly strong.
Ayato and Kirin were among the highest-ranked close-combat fighters in all of Asterisk, but there was every chance that even they, fighting together, might not be enough to defeat him.
“B-but Ayato has the Ser Veresta,” Kirin pointed out as she stepped forward.
“Right, that should count to our advantage,” Ayato added. “Xiaohui Wu and the other daoshi are basically just Dantes. They shouldn’t have any Orga Luxes of their own.”
Stregas and Dantes were said to be ill-suited to using Orga Luxes.
“And you said that Ayato undid his third seal yesterday. In that case—”
“Ah, no, I mean… Doing that again will be…difficult.”
Saya was talking about when he had repulsed Eishirou’s father, Bujinsai. Ayato had already explained it all to e
veryone, and he doubted he would be able to pull it off again.
His sister, Haruka, seemed to have placed her seal on him in stages. Ayato had yet to satisfy the conditions necessary to release the last one fully—though he had a vague feeling that he was coming close.
That being the case, he wanted to avoid breaking through the seal by force, as he had the previous night.
He had probably only been able to do so then because he had been so desperate to save Claudia. The simple truth was that he didn’t think he would be able to open that door again under normal circumstances.
“Ayato’s strength was indeed incredible when he did that… But it’s an uncertain factor. We can’t rely on it in our strategy.”
“There’s no getting around that,” Julis muttered in agreement.
“Anyway, Hagun Seikun will be their team leader, just like during their previous matches. In other words, we can’t win unless we can defeat him. So we’re all counting on you both.”
“Got it. We’ll figure something out,” Ayato declared.
“R-right! I—I’ll… We’ll do our best!” Kirin nodded in agreement.
“Of course, this is just an outline of sorts, so make sure that you’re all aware of what the others are doing at all times and support them as necessary. As far as more specific coordination patterns are concerned…”
And with that, the five spent the entire remainder of their time before the match preparing their strategy.
“Mmm, delicious! There truly is no beating your tea!”
They were within Xinglou’s private quarters, in a room situated in an elegant tower surrounded by a wide garden overflowing with flowers.
Of all her disciples, only Xiaohui had been granted permission to enter this place—although that being said, no one else would even have been able to find it. The spaces within the Hall of the Yellow Dragon expanded and twisted in seemingly impossible ways, with this section in its deepest, innermost recesses being the most confounding of all.
Outside, with autumn approaching, the air was becoming cooler with each passing day, but in here, it was a perpetual spring.
And amid that suspended landscape was something that never failed to rekindle Xiaohui’s distant memories and make his heart ache.
“Xiaohui, would you pour me another?” asked Xinglou, sitting atop a chair beside a window, her childlike legs swinging back and forth.
“…As you wish.”
Xiaohui, who until that moment had been waiting patiently behind her, gathered the tea utensils and began to prepare another cup.
After giving it some consideration, he decided to brew a pot of Huangshan Maofeng tea. Xinglou’s tastes could be unpredictable; there were times when she would tell him directly what she wanted, and others when she would leave everything to him. Comparatively speaking, the latter tended to be more common. As if she expected him to see right through her and read her desires.
Right, Xinglou only tended to put the bare necessities into words.
That was why he was always at a loss as to what to do.
What could he do to satisfy her?
He was, after all, just a foolish, ignorant disciple, unable to answer that ever-pressing question.
All he could do was pick out the tea that he thought would best suit her tastes at any given moment.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, master.”
“Oh-ho… What a splendid aroma.” Xinglou brought the cup to her lips, her eyes narrowing in contentment.
There was no bitterness in that yellow-green tea. It was mellow in flavor, with a faint sweetness that he had suspected would please her current mood.
“Now then… Xiaohui,” began Xinglou, turning her eyes toward him.
“…Master?
“I’m looking forward to your semifinal match,” she said tenderly.
However, there was something behind her words that sent his brain turning.
Of course, he would do the same thing he always did. No matter the situation, he always put everything he had into serving her.
But he understood there was a deeper meaning behind her words.
“I will put my very soul into it.”
“…Hmm.” Xinglou nodded in apparent satisfaction before casually putting her fingers together in a symbolic gesture.
At that moment, a streak of light ran through the center of the room, and as if it had been there all along, a space opened up before him.
It was his prep room in the Sirius Dome.
The other members of Team Yellow Dragon were all kneeling inside. Xiaohui turned to his master, placing his right fist in his left palm as a gesture of obeisance, before stepping forth to join them.
CHAPTER 2
THE SEMIFINAL
“A-ah, I’m so sorry! I—I need to go the bathroom…!” Kirin, who had been acting restless for a while now, gave them all a polite bow and sped out of the prep room.
They had just finished their strategy meeting and were about to enter the arena.
“…”
After a short moment, Ayato stood up, too, quickly facing his remaining team members. “Uh, sorry. I’ll be back in a minute.”
It didn’t take Claudia long to understand what he meant. “Thank you, Ayato.” She nodded.
He stepped outside, scanning his surroundings. Seeing as this section of the Sirius Dome was off-limits to everyone except contestants, even his highly tuned senses could not detect anyone nearby.
There was only the dull, roaring excitement of the many tens of thousands of spectators who had come to watch the match, like a deep rumbling somewhere off in the distance.
Turning down the corridor in the opposite direction of the stage, it didn’t take him long to find Kirin.
She was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, as if to mentally prepare herself for the upcoming battle.
“Kirin…,” Ayato called out softly.
“—! A-Ayato…!” She opened her eyes with a start, clearly taken by surprise.
Ayato flashed her an apologetic smile. “Are you worried about the match?”
“That isn’t it,” she replied, her hands gripping the hilt of the Senbakiri tightly. “I’m just nervous for some reason.”
Kirin certainly had a reserved and shy personality, but she also wasn’t the kind of person to lose her nerve over an upcoming match.
No matter how strong the opponents she faced were, she wasn’t inclined to regret her actions, even if they resulted in defeat—that was the kind of swordswoman she was.
“Um… I’ve just been thinking about some things.”
“Some things…?”
“I mean… I’m not just fighting for myself in this match.”
So that’s it.
There was no mistaking that being part of a team required entering a different state of mind than fighting alone.
All the more so when you were the one responsible for facing Hagun Seikun, Jie Long’s renowned Celestial Warrior.
Kirin’s reason for participating in the Gryps was to help her father, but both he and Julis had their own reasons, too.
Julis was fighting for her country.
Ayato was fighting for his sister.
While the situation was different for Claudia and Saya, they, too, had their own reasons for taking part.
With so many weights on each of their shoulders, it was only natural to feel troubled.
“…You really are kindhearted, Kirin,” Ayato said softly as he placed a hand on her head.
“Ah…” She looked up at him in surprise before quickly glancing down at her feet with a faint smile. “It feels like it’s been a long time since you patted me on the head.”
“…Has it, now?”
That hadn’t occurred to him, but when he thought about it, she did seem to be right.
They remained that way for a long moment, until Kirin glanced up toward him, meeting his eyes. “Thanks for thinking about me, Ayato. But I’ll be okay. To tell you the truth, I’m not just nerv
ous.”
“Huh?”
“It makes me happy, too, that I can help carry the team on my shoulders,” she said clearly, looking straight at him.
There was no hint of hesitation or doubt in her voice.
“Ha-ha, maybe I was worrying too much.”
Kirin was strong.
Stronger than he had realized. Much stronger.
“N-n-not at all…! I mean, you’ve helped cheer me up!” she replied, waving her hands and bowing her head.
“I see… In that case, we should probably head back. The others are waiting for us.”
“Right…”
Ayato led the way, with Kirin trailing along behind him.
“…”
“Huh?” He looked over his shoulder, thinking that she had murmured something.
“Ah, no, it’s nothing…!”
He had heard something, though. He was sure of it…
“Hurry up, you two!” came Julis’s voice echoing down the corridor. She, Claudia, and Saya were all waiting outside the prep room.
“We should hurry. It’s about to start,” Claudia said.
“We’ll be disqualified if we’re late,” Saya added.
“That doesn’t sound very convincing, coming from you, though…,” Julis remarked.
They spoke in their usual, easygoing manner.
Kirin, watching on, broke out into a laugh.
“You don’t look nervous at all,” Ayato noted.
“Not anymore,” she replied with a smile.
Ayato let out a relieved sigh before turning to the others. “All right, then. Let’s win this.”
“And here we are, the one and only semifinal of the twenty-fourth Gryps!” Mico Yanase’s voice echoed throughout the Sirius Dome. “We only have two matches to go until we find out who will be this year’s champions! The winners of this match will face off against Team Lancelot, who have advanced to the championship by default. Which of our two teams today will come out on top? At the east gate, we have the team that includes the tag partners that conquered last year’s Phoenix, who you’ll all remember from their last extraordinary match against Queenvale’s Team Rusalka! It’s Seidoukan Academy’s first team to make it to the best four in the Gryps in years, Team Enfield!”