Ding ding ding~ Good morning~ Ding ding ding~

As the morning sunlight streamed through the window, I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh, realizing that the long night had finally passed.

Since I hadn’t slept, there was really no reason for me to wake up, yet that annoying alarm kept ringing loudly in my head.

Well, even if that’s the case, there’s no way to turn it off, so I might as well enjoy it.

I got up from my spot and did some casual stretching.

Not having slept, I didn’t feel extremely tired, so thankfully it seemed like I could go about my day as usual.

Thinking back, pulling an all-nighter for a day was something I had often done in the past.

I used to work part-time jobs even in the early hours to cover living expenses.

Now, I was in much better shape than I was back then, so I thought it wouldn’t be a problem to skip sleep for a bit.

Lost in those thoughts, I realized it was time to head to the Academy, so I set off.

Arriving a little earlier, I found Mei already up and cleaning in the morning, just like every day.

“Good morning, Mei.”

“Oh, Scarlet. Good morning. You must be tired since it’s morning; do you want something to eat?”

As I greeted her, Mei offered me some chocolates from her bag.

I hesitated for a moment but then reached out to take the chocolates she was handing me.

Stowing them in my pocket, I unwrapped one and popped it in my mouth, the chocolate’s unique sweet and bitter taste spreading across my tongue.

As the sugar seeped into my body, I felt a bit of the fatigue from the night slowly lifting away.

…… Mei had said before that chocolate is the best when you’re in trouble.

Maybe I should stock up on some chocolates at home besides just bean sprouts.

While I was mulling over this with a mouthful of chocolate, Mei spoke up.

“Did you hear? There’s a special class today.”

“Oh, right. I heard Senior Leonor’s uncle is coming as the instructor.”

“…I wonder if I’ll be okay. I received some private tutoring, so I feel like I should be able to do well, but I’m not so sure…”

Mei murmured in a slightly subdue tone.

I couldn’t help but be a bit surprised at her demeanor.

I always thought Mei was brimming with confidence since she worked harder than anyone else, so it was unexpected to hear her say such things.

Indeed, everyone has their concerns, don’t they?

Thinking this, I encouraged Mei.

“You’ll do great. If it’s you, Mei.”

Upon hearing that, Mei smiled wryly and replied.

“…Yeah, thanks. I’ll try hard. Scarlet, you too…”

“Me too?”

“…No, it’s nothing. Let’s do our best together.”

*

“…To be honest, I was a bit worried until just a moment ago. After hearing that you all faced a witch, I thought there might be a few who would back down out of fear of becoming heroes.”

In the gymnasium, the strikingly handsome man with blonde hair and brown skin, Leon Lionel, mumbled to us as we gathered for class.

After saying that, he scanned the children with an admiring expression and smiled widely.

“I’m pleasantly surprised that not a single one of you decided to quit. A hero shouldn’t succumb to fear. I assure you, in your hearts, you’re already proper heroes.”

I could feel the atmosphere among the kids heating up with his words.

The heroes they admired so much had acknowledged them.

They must have felt moved.

However, the excitement didn’t last long, as Leon, who had been smiling, suddenly turned serious, causing the kids to attentively listen.

“However, no matter how strong your hearts are, as heroes, you must possess a certain level of strength. Especially in an era like now when witches have started to appear again. Of course, I’m not saying you should all become strong enough to fight witches or high-level demonic beasts. What I’ll be teaching you today is—”

Suddenly, Leon pulled out a spear he was carrying on his back and pointed it at us.

“The way to survive.”

In that moment, I felt as if the spear in his hand was about to pierce my throat.

The intense killing intent enveloped the gymnasium.

I could see the kids turning pale, barely able to breathe.

As I glanced at the terrified kids for a moment, Leon relaxed his killing intent and continued speaking.

“Since you’ve faced a witch, I believe some of you have experienced similar feelings. When faced with someone stronger than yourself, a human tends to freeze up without realizing it, overwhelmed by the killing intent or pressure. Naturally, when that happens, one usually dies, regardless of whether they run away or try to fight. To survive, you need to train yourself to move even in those situations. So for now, let’s start by getting each of you used to it.”

In the blink of an eye, Leon appeared right in front of us and drew a line on the floor with the spear.

That was a line.

He hadn’t drawn an actual line on the gym floor, but I’m sure the kids could feel the imaginary line he had created.

It gave off the vibe that crossing that line wouldn’t end well.

“First, let’s begin by crossing the line I just drew. Who wants to go first?”

Leon casually asked after returning to his spot, but no one stood up.

I felt a headache coming on.

I sensed Leon’s subtle gestures towards me.

It was clear he wanted me to demonstrate first.

I didn’t want to attract too much attention… but…

Reluctantly, I stood up and faced Leon.

“Oh, you want to go first?”

Leon feigned nonchalance, but I could tell he felt somewhat guilty for ordering me to go.

I waved him off with a gesture, indicating it was fine, and faced the imaginary line he had drawn.

Memories of the last time I was at Leon’s place flooded back.

He had told me to cross a line back then too.

Having done it before, I didn’t find it particularly difficult.

I stepped boldly over the line, and Leon’s expression transformed into one of disbelief.

In a voice only I could hear, he asked,

“…I felt the same last time, but you really are an interesting girl. Didn’t crossing that line bother you?”

I tilted my head at his question.

“Huh? Why would crossing it bother me?”

The sensations I felt when crossing the line were no different from the usual ones.

It was all a sensation I had become numb to.

In hindsight, perhaps finishing the task so anticlimactically was the problem, considering the other kids were watching.

Leon frowned slightly before asking me,

“…You seem accustomed to this, so I think I can add a bit more training. Let’s have a sparring session. Is that okay with you?”

Since I had no reason to refuse, I nodded.

Then Leon, understanding my agreement, turned the spear around for safety and murmured softly to me.

“I’ll fight at a similar speed as last time, so give it your best shot.”

With that, Leon lunged at me with the spear.

And as I watched the attack, my first thought was,

‘Huh? Isn’t this a bit slow?’

It was undoubtedly not an unusually slow attack, yet it felt strangely clear.

Last time, I had relied on my instincts to dodge his attacks.

But now, I felt like I could simply evade by looking at them, and I actually did.

As I slightly moved my head to avoid Leon’s attack, his expression turned into one of shock, and he quietly asked,

“……It hasn’t been that long since we trained together, but what happened in between?”

…I don’t know.

Could it be the results of the special classes I had attended so far?

But it felt like something had changed so significantly that it was hard to explain it with just that.

While dodging several of Leon’s attacks, I began to ponder.

Could it be that I had made progress during that time?

Feeling a sense of disbelief, Leon suddenly exclaimed,

“……Looks like you’ve been working hard. This won’t work for a training session anymore. Alright, I’ll show you my serious side, so you give it everything you’ve got.”

As he said that, I suddenly noticed the spear whirling toward me.

I quickly turned my head to avoid what was aimed at my head, launching a punch, but he had already vanished from that spot.

Leon swung the spear at me from a distance while wearing an expression that seemed to say, “What will you do now?”

While desperately trying to keep my stance low and avoid his attacks, I thought to myself,

“Yeah, this is how it should be.”

While dodging, I attempted to counterattack, but I just lacked the distance.

After all, it was a hand-to-hand fight against a spear, which has the longest reach among weapons.

The more I tried to back away to dodge, the more disadvantaged I became, so I resolved to close the distance by charging forward.

However, even with my charge, Leon maintained the perfect distance to keep me at bay, continuously striking me with ranged attacks.

If this were a game, I would surely be praised for perfect spacing.

Just enough for me to evade and counter, but still too fast for me to catch him, and that infuriated me even more.

Even if I unleashed flames with my prosthetic arm, I had no certainty I could hit him.

Dodging and countering, I was becoming increasingly heated in the head.

I had to find a way to land a solid blow…

Burn it.

…Suddenly, a good idea crossed my mind.

Now that I thought about it, we were in a sparring session.

If I intentionally took the hit, Leon would come rushing in worriedly.

Burn it.

If I attacked then, I could surely… kill him.

Oh.

As that thought crossed my mind, I froze for a moment, and then thud,

Leon’s attack landed squarely in my stomach.

“—Cough, cough… Ugh…”

“Are you okay?! No, what was that? You were dodging so well earlier; why did you suddenly freeze during a spar?!”

Through the blur of tears welling in my eyes, I could see Leon’s worried face.

…What on earth was I just thinking…?

It shouldn’t have happened.

It was something that absolutely shouldn’t happen.

As I spat out the words of apology through the nausea rising in my throat, I expressed remorse.

“Ugh, I… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

“…Wait, you have a cold sweat on your face…”

With each labored breath, I felt the heat in my head slowly dissipating.

As it drained away, chills ran down my body as if I were experiencing a fever.

“…I’m sorry, I… I need to go to the nurse’s office…”

“…Oh, really. I thought you said you were fine, but you clearly are not… I’m sorry; I must have pushed you too hard. Hurry and go rest.”

I barely managed to hear Leon’s words as I rushed out of the gymnasium.

I hurried into a stall in the restroom inside the school building and buried my head in my hands, trembling.

“…I’m just… I’m just tired from lack of sleep. It’s just the lack of sleep…”

But I knew, even saying that to myself.

Even if it was an unintentional thought, the fact that I had it wasn’t just due to lack of sleep.

Sitting in the restroom, shaking from fear for a long time, I emptied the chocolates from my pocket into my mouth.

But the overwhelming sweetness only made my head spin even more and didn’t stop my trembling.

Sadly, the limit I could endure was merely my own demise.