However, the spirited attack failed to reach Ruite.
Chester had stepped in front of him, catching the wooden sword with his bare hand.
“What’s the meaning of attacking after you’ve already been eliminated?”
“What? Eliminated? I haven’t—”
Harrison’s face, flushed with rage, gradually went cold.
He dropped his sword and quickly checked his arm.
The cloth that had been tightly secured there was gone without a trace.
“You…!”
Harrison glared fiercely at Ruite.
“Thanks for the 50 points.”
Ruite smiled brightly and shook the cloth in front of Harrison’s eyes for all to see.
At the exact moment he had struck Harrison’s ribs with the branch, Ruite had snatched and untied the cloth.
Since there was no guarantee Harrison would go down easily from one blow, Ruite had planned to accomplish both tasks simultaneously from the start.
Chester tossed Harrison’s wooden sword onto the ground.
“Rui!”
Colin and Lucia approached the two.
Looking around, the other Class 1 students who had ambushed them were in the same state as Harrison—their cloths were gone.
“Rui, I knew you could do it. I told you we were right to trust you with it.”
“Ruite, I didn’t know you could move that fast.”
“Lucia, what exactly did you think of me before today?”
“The kid who dozes off in every lecture.”
Since he couldn’t exactly deny it, Ruite had no retort.
At that moment, the allotted time expired.
The magic tool turned red once again, signaling the end of the subjugation battle.
It was time to return to the designated assembly point.
Class 1 was eliminated, and while Class 2 had worked hard, Class 3’s 50-point bonus from the battle ensured that the victory went to Ruite’s group.
The moment the winners were finalized, the academy grounds erupted in cheers once more.
Though the students still on the mountain couldn’t hear it yet, the atmosphere was electric.
The Class 1 students picked themselves up and helped a limping Harrison.
They glanced back at Ruite’s group as they descended, but their eyes held more exhaustion than genuine resentment.
“Guys, let’s head down too.”
Colin led the way, followed by Lucia.
In the very back, Ruite and Chester ended up walking side-by-side.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. I’m fine.”
Ruite almost added, ‘Thanks to someone,’ but held it back.
No other words passed between them for the rest of the trek.
By the time they reached the bottom, the sun was setting.
Professor Harold greeted them with a triumphant face, pulling the four of them into a boisterous hug.
It seemed there had been some sort of bet among the professors; the instructors for the other two classes looked considerably somber.
A medal ceremony followed immediately.
Ruite nearly tripped in shock when the President of the Academy appeared in person to hand out the gold.
It was a remarkably grand production for what was supposed to be a small festival event.
Still, the congratulations and cheers from the crowd of students—most of whom Ruite didn’t even know—felt pretty good.
“Hey! You guys!”
As Ruite was inspecting his medal to see if it was real gold, Magnus, Rona, and the rest of Class 3 came running over in a swarm, surrounding the four of them.
“The pride of Class 3!”
“Good job. That was seriously amazing!”
“I knew our class would win no matter what.”
Ruite looked back and forth between the medal in his hand and his classmates sharing in the joy.
Before long, a smile spread across his face.
Even though he had only participated because Professor Harold forced him, the result felt genuinely rewarding.
Chester was smiling, too—while watching Ruite’s happy expression.
The academy festival continued late into the evening.
Normally, the grounds would be desolate and dark at this hour, but the festival lights kept the shadows at bay.
Students wandered about with joyful faces.
Ruite, however, was walking among them with a pout, lugging two heavy boxes.
“Unbelievable. What’s the point of winning the battle if my luck with drawings is this bad?”
The situation was simple.
He had intended to head back to the dormitory after a brief appearance at the 3rd-year booth, but he’d been caught by his classmates who were starting to clean up.
Magnus had initially looked cool, saying, “Ruite is the hero of the battle, don’t work him too hard!”
…Until he followed it up with: “Instead, we’ll draw lots to decide roles fairly!”
By the time Ruite realized he’d picked the wrong person to trust, he had already drawn the short straw for heavy lifting.
At least his classmates had the conscience to tell him he could rest once he finished moving these final loads.
“The external warehouse was back that way, right?”
The external warehouse sat between the main building and the dormitories.
As he walked, the boisterous noise of the festival began to fade.
“Ah, my arms…”
His muscles were already trembling from blocking Harrison’s attacks earlier.
Just as he felt the urge to dump the boxes on the ground, the weight suddenly lightened.
“Just to the external warehouse, right?”
“Oh… yeah.”
Chester took one of the boxes and started walking toward the warehouse.
With the weight halved, it was much easier to carry.
When they arrived, Chester was already opening his box and organizing the items inside.
Ruite stepped in and closed the warehouse door.
The sound of the rusty door shutting felt strangely distinct in the quiet.
After a glance at the hardworking Chester, Ruite set his box down and began unloading.
The only sound in the room was the clinking of objects.
Ruite worked as fast as he could.
Being alone with Chester in such a quiet place for the first time in a while made the awkwardness feel twice as heavy.
Since the start of the new semester, the distance between them had returned; they hadn’t even spoken much since the mid-term tests.
Naturally, the air between them felt dry.
“If you were tired from the battle, you should have gone straight to the dorms. Why take on this work?”
Chester eventually broke the silence.
“Just because. The others are working hard at the booth, so I wanted to give them some encouragement. This part was unexpected, though.”
Silence returned after Ruite’s answer.
“Ahem, but aren’t you tired? I can handle this alone, so you should head back.”
Feeling the awkwardness of the cut-off conversation, Ruite spoke again.
“Aren’t you more tired than I am?”
“Me? Why?”
“It’s not like Harrison was holding back. I heard he’s incredibly competitive.”
“Ah, definitely. I felt it once we started clashing. It looked like fire was literally shooting out of his eyes.”
Even though it was just a school event, Harrison had treated it like a life-or-death struggle.
Recalling it now actually made Ruite want to laugh.
“He must have really wanted to win. Honestly, halfway through, I regretted volunteering to handle him.”
“You should have called me then. I could have switched with you anytime. It would have ended much sooner if I had faced him.”
True, Harrison was strong, but he was no match for Chester.
If those two had clashed, Chester would have gained the upper hand more easily and ended it faster.
“I told you. I had a debt to pay him.”
Before he knew it, Ruite had forgotten his previous resolutions and was chatting comfortably with Chester.
“Is that why you hit him in the ribs so hard? That looked like it really hurt.”
“They say when you pay back a debt, you should return it twofold.”
“I didn’t realize you took his provocation so much to heart.”
“Provocation? What do you mean?”
Ruite asked, placing an item on a high shelf.
“Before the match started, he called you an unfamiliar face and said the team balance was off.”
“Ah.”
“Even I found that offensive.”
“That’s true, but that wasn’t all of it.”
As Chester picked up the last item in his box, Ruite let something unexpected slip.
“Then what was it?”
“Well, as he was turning away, he definitely said it. He said you were just living as your brother’s sidekick and acting all high and mighty. People who look down on others without knowing anything need to be taught a lesson to wake up—”
Ruite trailed off.
He failed to finish the sentence for two reasons: one, he’d accidentally blurted out a thought he’d meant to keep buried, and two, he felt Chester approaching from behind.
“…”
Ruite bit his lip and slowly turned around.
Chester was looking down at him with an unreadable expression.
He was standing remarkably close.
An atmosphere quite different from before enveloped the two of them.
“Does that mean the ‘debt’ you had to pay back included a share for me?”
“…I’m going now. Everything’s organized.”
Ruite quickly tried to slip out of Chester’s line of sight.
Though he heard his name being called, Ruite ignored it and grabbed the door handle.
“Huh?”
“Ruite, I told you to wait.”
Chester closed the gap and grabbed his shoulder.
“We aren’t finished talk— What’s wrong?”
“Chester, I think we’re in trouble.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“…The door won’t open.”
