"I see. So you're doing all of this for the girl's father..."
"Seidokan Academy is under the Galaxy Foundation. Surely you have the authority to intervene in a criminal case and overturn a verdict," Haruki said, testing the waters.
He didn't truly believe Claudia had that kind of power, but she was the highest-ranking official he could reach.
As expected, Claudia shook her head. "I'm sorry, but even I can't reach that high. This involves the legal framework of the Asterisk City Council and the higher-tier megacorporations. To change a sentence like that, you would need the support of the Foundation's Executive Board—and those people don't do favors."
"Are the executives too busy to care about the lower classes?"
"No, it's that they can't care," Claudia explained, her voice dropping to a somber note as she looked at Haruki. "To ensure absolute loyalty and purity at the top, the megacorporations use advanced neurological technology on their high-level members. They undergo multiple stages of 'Mental Adjustment' to eliminate personal desire, bias, and empathy. Only those who have essentially traded their humanity for corporate efficiency can lead."
"So, these high-level cadres... they have no records of corruption because they literally don't have the greed required to be corrupt. In a way, they are just organic slaves to the massive monster that is the Foundation."
"You seem to know a lot about the inner workings of the elite," Haruki noted.
"My mother is one of them."
"Your mother?"
"Hehe. The world of the executives is quite fascinating. Everyone looks and acts so similarly that sometimes even I can't tell which one is my mother."
Haruki frowned at the horror story Claudia told with such a pleasant smile. It was clear that this post-apocalyptic world was just as dark as the one ruled by Gastrea—the humans here had just built shinier walls to hide the rot.
"Regardless of the tragedy," Claudia continued, "the key to saving that child's father actually lies with you, Haruki-kun."
"With me?"
"Have you forgotten? The Festa has one rule that is known to everyone: the champion is granted a single 'Wish.' The Foundations will fulfill almost any request, provided it's within their power. If you win the Phoenix Festa and demand the release of Kirin's father as your prize, they will have no choice but to comply."
"Excuse me! Are you Haruki Aizawa-senpai?!"
It was lunch break, and Haruki was sitting with Julis and Kirin in the cafeteria. The three of them formed a striking group—the new Rank 1, the Rose Princess, and the former Rank 1—drawing the attention of every student in the room.
A bubbly girl with chestnut hair had approached the table, her face lit with a wide smile.
The harmony of the meal vanished instantly. Julis and Kirin both turned their gazes toward the intruder. The combined pressure of two top-tier fighters was enough to make the girl's smile falter and cold sweat bead on her forehead.
"Is there something you need?" Haruki asked. Compared to the girls, his tone was calm and neutral.
"U-Um... could I have your autograph, Senpai?"
Encouraged by Haruki's lack of hostility, the girl pulled out a decorative board and a pen, thrusting them toward him.
"An autograph?"
Haruki looked at the board. He had zero interest in celebrity culture. To him, writing his name on a piece of paper was a waste of ink.
However, he didn't want to be rude. He reached back and drew his blade in a motion so fluid it was barely a blur. With a single, sharp flick, he carved a long, jagged line into the wooden surface of the empty stool next to him.
"A name is just letters," Haruki said matter-of-factly. "I'll leave you my Sword Intent instead. If you study the grain of this cut every day and practice your basics, you might actually learn something useful."
"..."
The girl stared at the scarred stool, her mouth hanging open. She looked at Haruki, then at the pen in her hand, her expression a mix of confusion and "what-just-happened."
Kirin, however, lunged forward. She stared at the cut on the stool with a look of pure, manic adoration. "Can I have this stool?! Master's Sword Intent... if I could observe this every morning, it would be the greatest treasure in the world!"
"Wait, Kirin-chan! If you won't give him an autograph, I'll take one from you instead!" the girl said to Kirin, pivoting quickly. "Aizawa-senpai's 'art' is a bit... intense... but your signature must be worth a fortune! I mean—it's a great souvenir!"
"Eh? My signature...?" Kirin blushed, clearly not used to being treated like a celebrity. But to secure the stool and appease the fan, she quickly signed the board with elegant, practiced calligraphy.
"Thank you so much! I'm going to sell this—I mean, I'm going to cherish this forever!"
The girl bolted with the signed board, leaving the three of them behind.
Kirin didn't care. She was too busy cradling the wooden stool as if it were a holy relic. "Hehe... Master's intent... maybe I should put this on my nightstand so it's the first thing I see when I wake up..."
Julis massaged her temples, looking at her partners with a mix of exhaustion and secondary embarrassment. "Haruki. Kirin. Enough. That stool is school property. You can't just vandalize furniture and then take it home as a 'treasure'."
"Is that so?" Kirin's ears drooped, her expression shifting to that of a kicked puppy.
Seeing her so dejected, Julis felt a twinge of guilt. She looked at Haruki and sighed. "You're a bad influence on her."
"I'm an instructor," Haruki corrected. "Eat your food. It's time for training."
"Right!"
Both girls scrambled to finish their meals.
It had been a week since Haruki had taken the Rank 1 spot. The news had spread beyond Seidokan, causing a stir in the other five academies. The video of the duel was being analyzed by tactical teams across Asterisk, though most could only see a blurred flash for the final strike.
Opinion on Haruki was split. Some saw him as the new "God of the Blade," while others suspected a fix, unable to believe a transfer student could dismantle the Toudou Style so easily.
Haruki ignored the noise. He had focused entirely on the Phoenix Festa. He had even "hired" Kirin as a consultant to help train Julis. Since Julis's swordsmanship was basic, Kirin was the perfect person to drill her on fundamentals that Haruki found too "obvious" to explain.
Initially, Julis had been prickly about being taught by a middle schooler. But once she saw Kirin's serious "instructor mode"—which was a mirror image of Haruki's own cold intensity—she had buckled down.
"Faster! Keep your weight centered! Don't blink!"
Kirin's voice rang through the training hall, sharp and demanding. When she held a sword, the shy, stuttering girl vanished, replaced by a master who tolerated zero mistakes.
Julis was drenched in sweat, her lungs burning. She looked at Haruki, who was sitting cross-legged at the edge of the arena, his eyes closed.
Haruki was deep in his own world. He was still trying to pierce that "final layer" of the Fire Fluctuation. He could feel the heat, he could create the flame, but he couldn't yet become the fire. He was missing the spiritual "snap" that would allow him to manifest the true Explosive Wave.
He visualized the flames of Stella and Julis, deconstructing their mana signatures into pure harmonics.
Slide—
The arena doors opened. Claudia Enfield walked in, her usual playful smile in place.
"You all look very focused," she said. "A reliable sight, considering the news."
Haruki opened his eyes. "Claudia."
"The brackets for the Phoenix Festa have just been released," she said, holding up her terminal. "I've sent the data dump to your devices. You should take a look."
Haruki and Julis pulled up the files. It was a massive list—512 participants, 256 pairs.
"L-Zone," Julis noted. "We're in the primary block."
"The good news is that there are no other Seidokan Page One members in your immediate bracket," Claudia said. "We want to avoid 'friendly fire' for as long as possible. But don't get comfortable. The competition this year is fierce."
She began highlighting the primary threats.
"For Seidokan, you two are obviously our trump card," Claudia smiled. "The Rank 1 and Rank 5 pairing is the strongest duo we've fielded in a decade. But the other schools have been busy too."
She swiped the screen to a pair from Le Wolfe Black Institute. "The 'Twin Puppeteers' are the favorites for the semi-finals. And then there's the Allekant team—Ernesta and Camilla have registered a pair of autonomous Al-D units that have been clearing test matches in seconds."
Haruki's eyes sharpened. He didn't care about rankings or prestige. He looked at the names and felt the "vibrations" of the potential battles to come.
"Prelims start in a week," Claudia said. "One week to reach the Round of 32. After that, the real tournament begins."
Haruki stood up, his hand resting on the hilt of Onikiri.
"A week is plenty of time," he said. "Let them come. I've been looking for something worth cutting."
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