Chapter 17.2 - Thousand Blade Academy and the Big Five Holy Festival [7] – part 2

Thousand Blade Academy and the Big Five Holy Festival [7] – part 2

The rhythmic beeping sound of the machine, brought me back to consciousness.

（……）

The smell of disinfectant.

Artificial dazzling light.

A pure white ceiling spreading out in front of me.

It seems that I’m lying on my back.

「Uh… Where am I…?」

When I turned my head and checked the surroundings, there were the figures of Ria and Rose. They were sitting in a chair, with their upper body on my bed, and were sleeping. Finding the friends I knew calmed my heart a little.

I slowly raised my upper body so as not to wake the two of them, and leaned against the headboard.

「I see, this is the hospital…」

There was an electrode on my chest and an electrocardiograph next to the bed. The beeping sound was the sound of the horizontal line moving up and down with my heartbeat.

「What happened after that…」

After Sid-san unleashed a thrust at my neck… I honestly don’t remember much. However, I remember that『something』lurking within me was happily rampaging. At that time, I was sinking in deep, dark water.

I remember being very, very sleepy. But for some reason, I felt like I should never sleep. Then, as I fought the drowsiness, I heard Ria’s voice. When I turned towards the voice – I was pointing my sword at Ria.

I struggled to death. I struggled desperately in the water – and when I noticed, I was back in the real world.

(What was all that about…?)

As I was thinking back to that time,

「U-Uun…」

Ria rubbed her eyes, and slowly raised her upper body.

「Good morning, Ria.」

「!? A-Allen! You’re awake!」

With her eyes wide open, she hugged me tightly.

「Ah, you’re hurting me, Ria…」

「I’m glad… really glad…」

She whispered so, again and again with a trembling voice.

(I have made her worry…)

It was a bit complicated, because of the feeling of guilt that caused her worries, and the feeling of joy that she was worried about me to this extent.

But…… For the time being, I have to say this.

「E-Err, you know… I-It’s touching…」

「…Touching? …!?」

She understood exactly『what』was touching me, as she blushed brightly and separated from me.

And with both hands crossed in front of her chest, she glared at me with disgust.

「…A-Allen, you pervert!」

「Oh, that’s too harsh…」

And when I was smiling bitterly,

「Nn… Allen?」

Rose rubbed her eyes and got up while shaking her upper body.

She seems to be a weak morning person as usual, and her usual dignified air was nowhere to be found. In addition, an erect ahoge protuded from the top of her head. It’s a truly artistic bed hair.

「Good-morning, Rose」

「…Good morning …Are you alright?」

She was concerned about me in a slightly lingering tone.

「Aa, I’m most likely okay.」

Strangely enough, even though I suffered so many wounds, I couldn’t find any trace of it anywhere on my body.

(Is this also… his power…?)

『Something』had taken over my body and rampaged as much as possible.

(Seriously, who was that guy…?)

When I put my hand on my chest and pondered about it, the door of the hospital room suddenly opened,

「Oh, you’ve woken up, Allen!」

Leia-sensei, dressed in her usual black suit, showed up.

「Look, I’ve brought fruits. If you have a good appetite, you can eat it.」sensei said, and handed over a plastic bag hanging from her right hand.

When I checked inside, there were three bunches of bananas.

(Well, I heard it’s good for health, but…)

To be honest, I don’t need so much. However, it’s the thought that counts.

「Thank you. I will eat it later.」

Then, when I thanked her meekly, sensei laughed.

As she did,

「-More importantly! What happened to Allen after all !?」

「Tell us quickly!」

The two stood up and approached sensei.

「……?」

Just what are they rushing?

I tilted my head, as I alone was unable to understand the situation,

「Well, calm down. The first thing to do is explain to Allen what happened later.」

After that, sensei told me about the ending of the Big Five Holy Festival. I and Sid-san, who had both lost consciousness, were immediately rushed to the hospital. Both of us were seriously injured, but they somehow managed to save our lives.

Both teams were disqualified from the match between Thousand Blade Academy and Ice King Academy due to serious violations of the rules on both sides. And today, a board of directors was held to decide the penalty of us both.

As soon as sensei finished talking,

「So what happened to Allen!?」

「Tell us quickly.」

Ria and Rose immediately asked for an『answer』.

So they were asking about the punishment that the board of directors have sentenced on me.

Sensei coughed once and spoke.

「Allen was suspended for a month.」

「…Suspension? Not expulsion from the academy but rather『suspension』!?」

「Is it really true?」

「Aa, I somehow managed to bring it down to suspension …To be honest, it was just barely」

「「That’s a relief…」」

Ria and Rose patted their chests as though they themselves had escaped expulsion.

「It’s a little hard to say but… as a joint responsibility, Ria and Rose were also suspended for a month.」

「Isn’t that strange?」

They were not involved in that match at all. On the contrary, they did not even participate in a single match of the Big Five Holy Festival.

This is too unfair.

「It’s fine, I don’t mind if it’s just this much.」

「No problem.」

They said so, but I was not convinced.

「Why were Ria and Rose suspended from the academy? Please tell me the reason!」

Then, sensei explained it tentatively while scratching her cheek.

「As the word implies『joint responsibility』. Even though they were a representative of the same Thousand Blade Academy, they couldn’t stop Allen from running wild – that is the surface reason.」

She continued talking.

「But, there is no doubt that their aim is to reduce the strength of Thousand Blade Academy. The Five Academy’s, including ours, will hold the most important class of『acquisition of soul dress』for one month from now. The purpose is to crush the whole period. Ria and Rose – they must want to weaken our future key players」

「Good grief, they keep thinking of sly things…」sensei shrugged her shoulders as she said.

「Ria, Rose… sorry」

I apologize for causing trouble to the both of them.

「Well, you don’t have to worry about that! Allen recovered perfectly and didn’t get expelled! It’s a celebration today, congratulations!」

「It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about anything.」

Then, unusually, Leia-sensei said a few words of apology.

「To be honest, this is not Allen’s fault… It’s completely my blunder. The suspension of these two could have been prevented as long as I was a little more proficient at debating…」

Saying that, she clenched her fist tightly.

Apparently she had something to think about.

「-If I could have just made one excuse… those stubborn geezers were really persistent. They persistently pinned down every slip of the tongue… In the end, it became a brawl, and the discussion flowed in a bad direction. I’m ashamed to say that I don’t even remember what I said… I certainly remember, I swore in my heart that『I’ll definitely dent these two faces like potatoes someday!』…」

Saying so, sensei confessed everything in detail as if to repent.

(……It seems that Leia-sensei is also responsible for Ria and Rose being suspended.)

I could easily imagine her screaming and forgetting herself during the meeting