D-Class Tournament

Our first-round opponent was the alternating-Mamoru party I'd been worried about earlier. Mamoru's skill counter was 5, so we couldn't lay a finger on them for ten turns.

Luckily, though, the attacker was a physical attacker. We weathered those ten turns by squeezing every drop out of evasion and defense, and once the buffs we'd stacked up were ready, we blew them away on the eleventh.

… That was about how it went, and we were advancing through the tournament smoothly enough.

Of course, the people coming out for the tournament were the top tier of D-Class. Every opponent had nearly double our LV.

So it was by no means easy, and we had to fight hard, but I never seriously felt like we were on the verge of losing.

Incidentally, this thing called D-Class is split across fifty regional blocks throughout the world.

Which means D-Class Rank 1 exists in fifty places worldwide.

So even calling someone a D-Class Champion doesn't mean champion among all the D-Class fighters in the world. It just means the champion of this particular block.

That said, it's not like every other region holds a championship tournament, and apparently the perks (the title of town mayor, plus a promotion to C-Class after two successful title defenses) are unique to Eora.

So it's very popular, and supposedly counts among the highest-level tournaments in the world.

The high-ranking D-Class fighters all had skill on roughly the same level as that opponent of Noda's I'd seen before… Glade, was it. Every one of them.

Earlier on, I'd thought their LV would be too much for Kanan and Adelia to handle, but the techniques we'd cultivated against the mid-tier D-Class fighters worked well enough.

For one thing, in normal battles you have to scrimp on skill uses, keep HP consumption low, and pull off all sorts of little tricks, but in the tournament you start every battle in perfect condition with skills free to use as you please. That's huge.

So even given the LV gap, we were advancing without much real danger.

… And on top of that, the strange high of being on a tournament stage gave me just the right amount of tension, and I was steadily piling up experience points. The goal of raising my LV by 2 over the course of the tournament looked like it would be met just fine.

But the real highlight of the tournament hadn't been there.

That day too, I'd won my match and was on my way back to the waiting room.

"… Well, well, it's been a while, huh, Naotooo."

A clinging, sticky voice suddenly called out to me.

He was wearing his old, familiar school uniform.

And by his side, also in her uniform, was Yukishiro-san.

"… Noda-kun."

"Noda…"

Kanan and I were in our school uniforms too.

So for a moment, I got caught up in the illusion that we were standing in a school hallway.

"Well, well, it's been a long time, Kanan-sama."

Noda lowered his head a touch as he said it.

What in the world did he want?

"So, what exactly do you want?"

Kanan called out to him, as if she'd read my mind.

"Oh my, oh my. Since my old Master, and my fellow slave Naoto, had so kindly come all this way to me, I figured I'd come greet you in person. As champion, and the mayor of this town, that's what I, of all people, ought to do…"

Noda said it and grinned a nasty little grin.

"Naotooo… you were always a useless piece of trash, but here, for the first time, you've finally been good for something… To think you'd bring Kanan straight to me. This Maika here, too. She was one of the women I'd always wanted to grope these big titties on and have suck my cock, so I guess I got my wish in that sense, but… The one I really, truly wanted to do that with was Kanan…!"

A leering grin spread across Noda's face.

… This guy hadn't really changed much, even in this world. He'd been like this from the start.

Ichinose, who'd looked like a normal human being back in the original world, was the one whose change was extreme. He'd fallen completely into madness.

It struck me as ironic that the guy who'd been twisted to begin with was the more stable of the two now.

The only thing about Noda that had changed was that, where before he used to grovel and play meek in front of Kanan, now he was haughty and overbearing even with her.

"That's why I'm grateful to you, Naotooo…"

So saying, he reached out and squished Yukishiro-san's breast in his ugly, fat fingers.

"Right, then. I'll give you a little reward… Hey, Maika, strip."

"… N-Noda-kun…!?"

Yukishiro-san looked at Noda, frightened.

"You didn't hear me? I said strip, Maika."

Noda repeated himself in a cold voice.

"… Yes, Goshujin-sama…"

A Garumon can't disobey her Master's commands.

The only thing protected is penetration of the vagina or anus. Almost any other order is fair game.

"… Aah…!"

And then Yukishiro-san began to take off her uniform.

"Hahaha… look at this. The peerless beauty of the academy, the idol of every boy in school. The Maika Yukishiro striptease show! You'd been wanting to see this, hadn't you? You too, hm… Naotooo!"

"… Stop it, Noda."

"Oh ho, Kanan-samaaa… I'd appreciate it if a mere slave didn't talk back to her Master. Wouldn't you? Naotooo… your slave's discipline is awful, isn't it? Useless as ever… Well, that's fine. Just means I get to enjoy training her. That's the best part! Once you're under me, I'll re-educate you, plenty. How to properly serve me, that is… Maika, teach her well, all right? Drill into Kanan exactly how you've been serving me and pleasing me all this time, and raise her up into a useful sex slave just like you, fast. Got it?"

"… Yes, Goshujin-sama."

While he was saying that, Yukishiro-san had finished stripping… completely naked.

"Hahaha! How about it, Naoto? Pretty good, right? Maika Yukishiro in the nude. These exquisite tits! And the way they feel when you grope them, that's the best, you know…? These titties, no matter how many times I let her squeeze my cock between them, I shoot off in no time… ah, ah… I'm getting in the mood. Maika! Do it, right here, right now!"

So saying, Noda whipped his cock out into the open.

It wasn't all that big, but it was a black, twisted, weirdly grotesque thing, like a physical manifestation of his rotten nature.

"… Yes, Goshujin-sama…"

And Yukishiro-san wrapped it… in her own large breasts.

"Mm, mm…"

Squelch, squelch… slurp…

She began to service him.

"Ha, oh, oh, ohhhh…! Sho gooood!"

Spurt! Spurt!

And in less than a minute, Noda came.

"Don't swallow it right away. Savor it slowly."

"… Yesh…"

With the cum pooled in her mouth, Yukishiro-san returned to a standing posture. Her breasts and the hair below were, of course, still bared.

"Phew… did I keep you waiting?"

Noda was wearing this vulgar leer…

I just stayed silent and waited.

I glanced over at Yukishiro-san's face. She…

"…"

Even with tears welling in her eyes, she was smiling.

Don't worry. I'm fine… I can endure this.

Trying not to make me worry, she was telling me so with all her might, with her eyes alone.

Yukishiro-san… I'll save you. Without fail.

The resolve burning inside me like magma, I forced myself to hide it and feigned calm.

"That's enough, Noda! Doing something like that to Yukishiro-san… she's pitiful! Stop it!"

But Kanan wasn't able to stay quiet.

"Hahaha! What are you talking about, Kanan-sama… This is what you used to do, isn't it? You're the one who made us into slaves and did whatever you pleased with us. I learned how to handle slaves from you, you know…?"

"N-no, that's not, I, I never…"

Kanan was trembling violently, looking frightened.

… As if she were being forced, all over again, to confront just how ugly the things she'd done really were.

"Well, all I came here to do today was let you have a look at my own dear Maika, too. A friendly gesture between former fellow slaves and former classmates. Just goodwill, that's all. Hahaha. Did you enjoy it? Naoto-kun. Hehe…"

"…"

I gave no reply. I was afraid of what would come out if I opened my mouth.

"Maika, open your mouth."

When she had, his cloudy white juice was still pooled inside, plenty of it.

"Right, swallow."

Gulp…

"Well?"

"… Delicious. Goshujin-sama. Thank you for the meal."

"Good, well said, Maika… I'm heading back. My business here is done."

"… Yes, Goshujin-sama."

"… One last thing. You stay behind and at least say a parting word to him before you come back. How deeply you respect and adore me, this dear Master of yours, go ahead, give him an earful. Ahaha…!"

So saying, Noda walked off alone…

Behind him, Yukishiro-san remained.

"… Yukishiro-san."

"… It's been a while, hasn't it, Akai-kun, Kazami-san too… For me, it's been three and a half months…"

She offered up that information. Three months… so my earlier guess had been roughly right.

"For us, it's still only been half a month. We were supposed to have come to this world at the same time, but apparently there was a time lag in when we appeared."

"I see… Well, I'm so glad you're safe. Besides me, it seems a lot of the academy's students came to this world, too. A lot of them came as boy-girl pairs, but the number of Masters who actually managed to form slave contracts doesn't seem to be that many. Most of them were captured as slaves by the Masters of this world, and taken away… I have no idea what's happened to them. When you think about it that way… I'm one of the lucky ones, even. After all, Noda-kun, who came from the same world, is here with me…"

She said that, and… let her tears fall.

"Yukishiro-san…"

"… You know… there was something I'd been thinking. While I was caught in this awful nightmare… I wondered, will the day ever come when someone comes to save me…? Even while I knew that wasn't going to happen… Someone… and what I was probably picturing in my head was, well…"

She glanced over at my face, and,

"But over and over and over, I kept picturing that dream… So that day, I almost couldn't believe my ears. I wondered if I'd finally started hearing things…"

"Yukishiro-san…"

"I-I'm… I'm Noda-kun's slave. Goshujin-sama is absolutely not going to lose. Because I'm going to make sure he wins. But…"

With a face on the verge of tears, she smiled…

"Do your best. Akai-kun… I'm… looking forward to fighting you…"

That's what she said.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going to win. I'll win, and…"

Save you…

The words wouldn't come out of my mouth. They faded out partway through. I had a feeling they wouldn't reach the heart she had right now.

"… And take you for myself."

Those were the words I ended up saying.

"Mm… if you win… please, do. But I'm not going to lose."

I don't know how those words moved her. But she was smiling.

She seemed reluctant to be the one to leave, so I decided to walk away first.

"The tournament… do your best. I'll be cheering for you…! Kazami-san, you do your best, too! Take care of Akai-kun for me…!"

She waved at us with a big sweep of her arm and saw us off.

"… What a sweet girl. She's kind, she's brave, she's pretty… if I'd talked to her sooner, I'm sure I would have liked her, and we could have been friends."

That's what Kanan said.

But I wasn't so sure about that. The old Kanan… probably wouldn't have been able to get along with her.

… She had changed, too.

"For Noda to do that to Yukishiro-san… I will absolutely never forgive him! And above all, the way he was so rude to Naoto… that's what's truly unforgivable!"

Kanan was indignant.

It was almost like she didn't really care about the rudeness directed at her own self.

"We're absolutely going to save her! From now on, I'm even more fired up than I was before! Special training, right now!"

That's what she said for me.

… Kanan. The Kanan she used to be might not have been that different from Noda as he was now.

But the Kanan she was now was different. She was different.

Now… she was a precious comrade to me, too.

As long as I had Adelia and her with me, I'd definitely be able to save Yukishiro-san. Of that, I was certain.