PMZ 063 – I guess we are similar.

“Gyaa!! Sorry! Sorry! I’m sorry!”  

I couldn’t help but scream out loud.  

Because I was genuinely shocked and scared. ……!  

“Why are you apologizing? … Oh, are you talking about this?”  

Maybe his hair has been dyed pink by the flames he produced. Hayato walked into the classroom and walked around to the front of me.  

I grabbed the cloak that Lady Esmeralda had closed earlier and spread it out without hesitation.  

“Wait! What are you doing?”  

I thought that I would not be embarrassed because I had a skort, but I still felt a little bit of shame.  

“I’m not sure why you’re wearing this. Hey. You didn’t wear it when you were with me, but everyone in B saw it, right? Why are you doing this?”  

The same blue eyes that had evaporated the school building in an instant is now closing on me.  

I tried to run, but he pinned me with a kabedon. It’s painful in its own way.  

I turned around with both hands guarding my forehead, and he hugged me tightly.  

“Oh, are you mad at me?”  

“I’m not mad. It’s more like… jealousy? I thought that team B is nice because Alice is with them, and then this happens.”  

“Jealousy is it!? …if you say that, I’m jealous too! Why is Anna always next to you?”  

“I have no idea. Before I knew it, I just find herself there… But you’re jealous? Is that why you decided to dress like this?”  

LYes, that’s right! It’s laughable, isn’t it, that I could only think of this as a way to get your attention after you’ve had fun on your own.”  

“It’s not laughable. It’s pretty.”  

He kissed me from behind on the ear.  

You’ve been stubbornly refusing to kiss me on the lips, and I think that’s…… okay.  

He casually reached for the necklace on my chest, and when I stopped him by squeezing the back of his hand, he defied me by lightly brushing his teeth against my ear.  

Please spare me!  

You said before that your personality doesn’t change even if you’re dyed in the color of magic, but that’s a bit of a lie, isn’t it?  

Even if you don’t realize it, I’m sure you’ve been subtly affected by it. …The things you do are getting bolder.  

As I renew the wards on the necklace, I think to myself. This is not going to do any good.   

I glanced at the clock in the classroom through the curtains, only to find out that it had half if it was evaporated, and I couldn’t tell the time.  

I wonder how long it’s been.  

I can still hear the shouts and the sounds of battle echoing from the first floor. Everyone is still working hard.  

I can’t lose yet.   

I boldly turned around and hugged him tightly.  

This should make it impossible for Hayato to touch the necklace unless he was doing something bold.  

Sure enough, Hayato stopped moving as if his hand had nowhere to go.  

“Alice … that’s a bit unfair.”  

“You can call it whatever you want. I am not in a position where I can choose my method.”  

If I can keep this up for a while, I might be able to reach a better victory.  

Team A’s necklace is hanging in front of me, but of course, it’s protected by his wards, so I don’t think I’ll be able to break it right away.  

As I stood still, Hayato’s fingertips touched the nape of my neck, and he tried to pick up the chain of the necklace.  

No way! I hugged him tighter, and he started to pull his body back, trying to escape from my arms.   

“No! I won’t let you go.”  

If I let go of him now, I have a feeling I will lose.   

While desperately clinging to him, at the same time, I secretly touched Hayato’s necklace in front of me with my lips and directly poured my magic power into it.  

I thought that no matter how strong the warding was, if I could chip away at it little by little, as if I were sanding a stone, maybe I would succeed.   

I glanced up at him and saw that his hair was already back to its normal color, but his face was red, and he covered his face with both hands to hide it.  

“No, no, no, Alice ….. please, really don’t…….”  

“I don’t want to. You can easily break my necklace if I let you go. I’m going to keep you company for a few minutes.”  

“A few minutes … That’s a long time.”  

The sweet thing about Hayato is that he doesn’t force himself away when he says that.  

I may be taking advantage of it, but I love that about you.  

He weakens as if he has given up, puts his hand on my head, and pats me, and this is the moment when a better victory for the B team is confirmed.  

I thought I would have to give them the best win condition, but it turned out that I can’t.  

“…Huh? The warding on the necklace is fading! Alice, when did you…?”  

“Ah, you found out? I’ve been secretly whittling it down.”  

“Really… I can’t let my guard down around you.”  

Hayato puts on a new layer of warding.  

“It’s a good thing that you do seem to have gaps.”  

“It’s because of the way you look. …and I think I’m pretty careful about my guard.”   

“If you didn’t have any gap, you wouldn’t let me hold on to you right now. Why didn’t you dodge it?”  

“I’m sure it’s because it’s Alice who did it…So, this is what they call a honey trap.   

Before, I always wonder if there’s anyone who would fall for this? but this is something I’m willing to fall for, even if I knew what it was.”  

He smiled bitterly and brushed back my bangs, and kissed me on the forehead as if he were a victim of a bank transfer scam.  

Then he murmured.  

“When we get married, I’ll pay you back for everything you’ve done. Just remember that.”  

…Scary!  

No, it’s true that this method of using my body to gain an advantage is not fair. I know it’s not a method that can’t be used forever.  

But I think it is still worth it.  

It’s okay to enjoy a short-lived advantage.  

I’m no match for you anyway.  

“…I don’t like the sound of that. What did I ever do? I forgot about it.”  

“You have done many things, … Even now. You know, this is no different than teasing me! How harmless do you think I am?”   

“But you are harmless, right? Otherwise, I wouldn’t dare to do this.”  

“I’m completely taken advantage of…”  

“That’s not true.”  

I just like it. I just don’t think it’s harmful to touch him.  

“Mrs. Ellie! Mission accomplished! That’s enough!”  

The voice of the Team B boys echoed from downstairs, and I quickly detached myself.  

Immediately Hayato puts his index finger on my necklace and pours magic into it.  

The King’s red heart was shattered as my full power of warding was quickly broken.  

“Oh, the … team B lost. …”  

“Not really. I think it’s a draw. I’ll have to reflect on that too.”  

Several footsteps came up the stairs and shouted in front of the apocalyptic mess of the classroom, “What the hell?” They shouted.  

“El-Ellie … are you okay? Are you alive?”  

Lady Esmeralda called out from the hallway.  

“I’m alive. I’m sorry, I lost just now.”  

“No, rather, you’ve held on well. …What’s with all the destruction? There’s no debris or cinders, but there’s a hole in the ground. What on earth happened to it?”  

“I think it’s evaporated.”  

“Evaporated?”  

“Yes. by flame with a blue color.”  

“… You’ve been dealing with such a monster? No wonder if you cannot win.”  

A monster.  

Hayato shrugged his shoulders and said.  

“I was told that the school building is always heavily damaged after every mock battle in the strategy meeting. They told me not to worry about it.” 

“The school building indeed breaks down every time, but that’s only on the level of window breaks, or a door comes off, you know? Who would have thought that you would evaporate it without a trace? … If Hayato stays with his team, we would have been wiped out. It was a good decision to leave him to Mrs. Ellie.”  

By the way, did you do the honey trap? She asked me in a whisper, and I nodded my head. Maybe so, but not quite. At least I didn’t take off my skort.  

“I was just holding him down with—”  

“That sounds like an interesting story. I’d like to hear about it later.”  

“e, you want to hear about that?”  

“Yes, very much.”  

It’s not an enjoyable story, though. With that in mind, I headed to the first floor to heal the injured.  

By the way, Mr. Blaze was KO’d by Arthur.  

He was lazily dozing in the hallway, so Arthur cast sleep on him and let him rest to the last moment.  

Team A, who had recovered, looked relieved to know that they had won according to the rules, while Team B was generally satisfied with the result.  

Then they went to report to the principal on the extent of the damage to the old school building. When the principal saw the scene, he muttered, “This is the power of the demon king’s secret skill, isn’t it?”  

After a few moments of rapt attention, he said   

“Hayato. You’re banned from the mock battle from now on.”  

See? Told you.  

I’m not sure who said it first, but Hayato’s nickname at the academy became “The Banned Demon King” from that moment.  

—-  

“I’m not sure why I’m getting all these weird nicknames.”  

At lunchtime, when we were having lunch together as a group of friends, Hayato made such a comment.  

This is because Maurice spoke to him, saying, “Banned demon king, you don’t have to use honorifics with us in the academy.”   

It was a comment that came out when everyone was holding in their laughter, and it seems that he doesn’t like being called by his new second name.  

Well, Of course.  

“What’s up with the banned thing? I don’t mind the Demon King part.”  

“You don’t mind the Demon King?”  

“Yes. I mean, it’s kind of cool.”  

“Are you a kid? …. But I understand, I’d like to be called the Demon King too.”  

“You can have it. Chameleon is good enough for me.”  

“Ah that, What your chameleon form look like? I’ve heard rumors about them, but I can’t quite picture it.”  

Lady Esmeralda is with me. Brigitte and Cecilia, too.  

“It’s just a color change. I think it’s weird myself.”  

“Still, I want to see it. It must be amazing.”  

“It’s not that good. It’s much better when a girl changes her hair or her clothes.”  

“You …because you are that kind of man, this is why Miss Anna likes you.”  

“What?”  

He looked at Maurice for a while, who was eating quietly, and then glanced at me.  

We’ll talk about it later.  

I stared back with such intentions in my eye contact.  

I’m not sure if he got the message, but Hayato suddenly became quiet and went back to eating.  

The Quinby-three shake their head and hold back their laughter.   

“By the way, Hayato, you have a fiancé, don’t you? What do you like about her?”  

“Oh, I want to hear it!”  

“Me too!”  

Stop it! This is wrong!  

I wanted to say so, but it was strange for Mrs. Ellie to say such a thing, so I couldn’t speak up and just froze.   

“I’m not sure what to say. It was love at first sight, so if you were to ask me what I like about her…, I’d say …… everything.”  

My face is getting hot.  

Is that so?  

Was it love at first sight?  

I had no idea.  

“That story …… again. I’m getting heartburn, so please give me a break.”  

Neitz, who was on the A team today, said with a disgusted look on his face. He is the second son of Baron Fornaul family, the one who stubbornly maintains a respectful tone, saying that he is of a lower status than Hayato.  

“It’s fine. We haven’t even heard about it yet. So, it’s love at first sight! It’s so cute! Does that mean you like the way she looks?”  

“I did at first, but I soon fell in love with the person inside too. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought of marrying her, would I?”  

“I see, I see. Hayato, you are such a good guy. I want to marry someone I like too.”  

“That’s true. I envy you.”   

Oh, Esmeralda, … Her expression is so sad.  

I’ll make her stop talking about it.  

“Oh, by the way, Maurice. How is your physical condition? Do you have any dizziness?”  

“I’m fine. …No, I’m ashamed to show you this. I didn’t expect to be kicked in the chin by a lady and faint.  

Is it true that Mrs. Ellie been trained by a Master? I think your master is a very talented individual. …I know it’s rude, but could you please introduce me to him? I’d love to have that person as a mentor.”  

*Goho*, Hayato ate his tea. 

His eye was asking me (what are you saying?). 

“Um … I’m sure he’s busy, so … might be a little difficult.”  

“Mm …in that case, can you at least tell me the name?   

The way that Mrs. Ellie carries herself without feeling that her small stature is a disadvantage. The way she uses magic to ward her sword while fighting and then instantly switches to strengthening her body.  

I fell in love with it… I would love to learn from Miss Ellie, but as she is a lady, I thought it might cause a problem.”  

Then Hayato interrupted us.  

“Maurice, …you can’t do that. Elie-sensei teacher is not very good at teaching people.”  

“How does the banned know about that?”  

“If you going to shorten it, at least make it [Demon King]. I’m not going to tell you how I know this, but all I can say is that her master will tell you to observe a lot of things and try to do what you think is right.”   

Indeed.  

The only thing I did with Hayato was to hit each other.  

I don’t think he gave me any real advice.  

“You can’t call yourself a master with such random advice. … oh, I see. He is a practical person.   

That makes sense. Even though he is not good at conveying his word, it doesn’t matter because his passion led him to go along with his disciple’s training to that extent…  

Then… I’d like to ask you to let me have just one meeting, please.”  

Quinby-three once again trying their best to hold in their laughter as Hayato fell silent.  

The conversation turned to other topics, such as what kind of second names he would prefer, and after a while, the demon king said in a whisper, “Hey, sensei. Am I bad at explaining…?” He asked me.  

Oh, I didn’t know you were worried about that.  

“Well, … I’ve not felt that way before.”  

“Really?”  

“Yes.”  

I don’t know how it is because I only have total acceptance when it comes to Hayato.  

But I’ve never thought of him as a bad teacher.  

I wonder if that means we’re kindred spirits. Oh no, that’s embarrassing.  

“fufu, ufufu…”  

“What’s wrong, Mrs. Ellie? … Did you come up with an interesting nickname?”  

“My my, That’s wrong, Maurice. I’m sure she’s thinking about her husband right now.  

I, Esmeralda, would like to propose to you the nickname [Heavyweight Champion of Love].”  

“That’s long!”  

Nobody calls me that, and it’s too long.  

I mean, heavyweight.  

“… I’m not that heavy! Maybe!”  

“I know that. What I mean is your love is as heavy as a champion title.”  

My love is heavy.  

I’m a little shocked.  

Is it? Is it heavy?  

“Um, …… Hayato…am I look heavy?”  

“? No, I don’t think so.”  

“Really?: 

“Yeah.”  

Okay then.