Defeat

I had lost… Now that I thought about it, that had been the first time I'd lost since coming here.

A shock ran through me, like the ground was crumbling out from under my feet.

… What had I been thinking?

Even if I dropped a match or two, I'd figured I could just turn things around at the end with Leone.

… That was how loosely I'd been treating this.

When you fight that carelessly, this kind of result is inevitable. In other words, a result already factored in.

… But I should never have been okay with that.

I mean, when you lose, your companions get taken away, right…?

Kanan. Adelia. Maika. Lyuka… they all get taken away.

There was no way I should have been able to accept that kind of nightmare.

On top of that, I couldn't deny the thought of, "to think I'd lose to Haru-kun…"

… Was I making a fool of Haru-kun?

Like there was no way I'd lose to Haru-kun. Wasn't I underestimating him?

… But somewhere in my heart, hadn't I been looking down on Haru-kun?

He always praised me, followed along behind me. He respected me, propped me up.

That had been a really happy thing for me, but because of it… I couldn't fully deny that, on the flip side, on an unconscious level, I'd been looking down on Haru-kun.

Of course, plain and simple, there was a difference in raising too.

But I couldn't deny that I'd lost because of that conceit.

No matter what excuse I made, the result was the result. A loss is a loss.

In that moment,

Snap!

"A-Aaah…"

Kanan… the invisible chain that had linked Kanan and me snapped.

And in its place, that chain hooked into Yuria.

Jara… shariin.

… If Yuria released Kanan right here on the spot, I'd just lose the money and get Kanan back. But…

"Of course I accept. This is what a serious battle means."

Yuria, naturally, accepted.

"… Ngh. I'm sorry, Naoto-kun…"

"Haru, this is the result of a match! You can't apologize."

"… Right… But, I'm sorry…"

After that one apology, Haru-kun didn't apologize again, and he turned his eyes away from me.

The ones who'd won, Haru-kun and Setsuna, even looked like the ones in pain.

And then… Kanan became Yuria's.

I hung my head low, pressing myself toward the ground, unable to look Kanan properly in the face.

"… Well, it can't be helped. Honestly… that difference in precision of movement Naoto was always pointing out. I really get it now. The reason my technique could shield my companions was because of that. Because the opponent was lower-tier. I had no idea at all that against an opponent of equal rank, it barely works. There was just a plain level gap, too…"

In parting, Kanan tried to console me with that.

"But… in this one match, my level rose too. I was able to grow with defeat as nourishment… Next time, you'll win, won't you? I'm waiting… waiting for you to take me back."

…Smooch.

After saying that, Kanan kissed me on the forehead, and then went over to Yuria.

"So, with that, we're going to take a short nap. Whether you sleep or not, just closing your eyes and lying down to rest will mostly recover your skill counts in about four hours. If you have something to talk about, come to our room anytime… Well, as you can see, there's no door, so you can peep all you want. I don't care if you peep. See you later, then."

With that, Yuria, Haru-kun, Setsuna, and Kanan headed to the room.

The room they'd given us had four beds set up.

I sat down on one of them and just stared, with dark eyes, silently at the next room over, where Kanan and the others had gone.

"Naoto-kun…"

Maika tried to speak to me out of concern, but I just stayed silent.

"… Y-You getting that depressed in such a serious tone makes it hard to do this… Naoto, are you actually angry…?"

Yuria whispered like that into Kanan's ear.

"… He's angry. But he's angry with himself. He's thinking that if only he'd done things more properly, he could have won… Even though it was definitely a lack of skill on our part. That's just the kind of guy he is."

That's what Kanan said.

"I-I see… well, then, let's go ahead with the original plan."

"Yuria, that's… Naoto-kun is feeling down, you know? It's not the time to…"

"No, this is exactly when not to read the room! When you're going to feel down, it's better to feel down all the way… Actually, this is necessary. Haru. Are you really going to let it slide like this, become Kanan's companion, and forgive her from the heart? Without a single grudge or hang-up, can you honestly say she's a comrade?"

"T-That's…"

Haru-kun looked down at Yuria's words.

"Then let it out properly! All the murky feelings stored up in your heart, say them out clearly!"

Yuria gave that order.

"… Y-Yeah…"

And then Haru-kun lifted his face firmly and glared at Kanan with strong eyes.

"I'd been hearing, more or less, that you'd become Naoto-kun's companion and were fighting alongside him. But… I still haven't forgiven you for what happened in our original world. Taking advantage of the fact that Naoto-kun couldn't resist because of his family circumstances, doing such terrible things…"

Flinch. At Haru's reproach, Kanan's shoulders trembled.

"In any case, I want you to apologize properly!"

And then, with a strong, accusing tone unusually firm for Haru, he chastised Kanan.

"… Understood."

And then Kanan turned toward me and tried to kneel. But…

"Wait."

Yuria slipped her long leg under Kanan's chin in a flash, keeping her from lowering her head.

"Where do you think you're trying to apologize? The one who just reproached you was Haru. Apologize to Haru."

"E-Eh, b-but the one I want to apologize to is…"

"Haru. It's not your place to butt into Naoto and Kanan's relationship from the outside. What matters is whether you yourself are angry or not angry at Kanan. Whether you want her to apologize. Answer that clearly."

"I-I'm… what happened to me, that doesn't really…"

"Haru!"

Yuria sharply called his name in a strong tone.

"I understand your feelings. But you absolutely cannot say things like 'doesn't really.' For Setsuna and me, you're someone we deeply rely on, someone precious… Even your own heart, you must never neglect it. Yourself, do you really have no hang-ups about Kanan? You're not angry? … If you have even a bit of a hang-up, you absolutely have to dissolve it properly!"

That's how Yuria reproached Haru-kun.

… She really had it together. Just like Leone and Lyuka had guided me, I could clearly see Haru-kun had had a wonderful encounter too.

"Yeah… thanks, Yuria. You're right. I do have a hang-up… Kanan-san, I want you to apologize to me properly, just once."

That's what Haru-kun told Kanan.

Kanan obediently knelt before Haru-kun and then placed both hands on the floor and lowered her head, dogeza style.

"… Haru Midoriya… -sama. In our original world… I am truly sorry."

Kanan rephrased it freshly.

As she spoke, she lowered her head even more deeply, as if pressing her forehead into the floor.

It was a perfectly correct dogeza, unthinkable for the Kanan of our original world.

Kanan… ah, she really had changed.

That much I understood clearly.

Honestly, my own desire for Kanan to apologize that way wasn't zero either.

Probably even now.

But since coming here, things had been so much fun, and I really felt we'd grown close, so I'd thought bringing the original world's troubles into it was no longer the right move.

… But maybe I should have made her draw a line like that, just once.

If you asked me why I hadn't, maybe it was because I hadn't sorted things out properly inside myself.

I see, that's why Yuria stopped Kanan from apologizing to me on her own.

"U-Um, that's, t-that's enough… I-I mean, the whole slave business was, on this end, basically framed as us asking, since there were family circumstances… if you're apologizing, that's already…"

Soft-hearted Haru-kun, on the contrary, looked pained at making her go this far.

He immediately backed off, ready to forgive her.

"Haru, with that one apology, did the murky feeling in your chest really clear up entirely? Perfectly? Not a single shard of resentment left?"

But Yuria still hadn't let it go.

"E-Eh…? But she apologized, didn't she? It's already enough. When Kanan-san has shown this much sincerity, I can't possibly ask for more…"

"In other words, you do still feel a tiny bit of hang-up, right? You just feel like you have to forgive her because she apologized. She and you are going to become comrades from now on. Comrades who entrust each other with their trust, sometimes even their lives. Can you really build that kind of relationship while genuinely murky feelings remain? Besides, sometimes punishment can be a salvation for the one receiving it too. Punish her properly."

Yuria's words felt like they cut into my ears too.

Up until now, with Kanan, I'd been getting along with things half-resolved.

Hiding the resentment and anger from our original world for the time being, just letting it flow as it would…

Since then, Kanan had changed quite a bit.

So much so that she'd even seemed… maybe even reflecting on what had happened in our original world.

But I had never made her apologize.

Because I hadn't done that, I couldn't fully erase the resentment toward Kanan deep in my heart for so long.

For Kanan too… maybe I'd been forcing painful things on her in reverse.

The closer we became, the more, in her heart, she must have continually felt sorry to me.

Wasn't that why we hadn't been able to build that final layer of trust?

… Now that I'd lost, it felt like that was being taught to me.

"E-Erm…"

Even as Yuria talked him into it, Haru-kun didn't seem to know what to do.

"Well, fine. So that you'll feel cleared up, I'll command it for you. Right then… Kanan. Because of you, Haru's been hurt. Use that pretty mouth of yours to serve and heal the hurt Haru."

Yuria gave the command in his place.

Before, when Haru-kun had committed the blunder of spilling juice,

"It got dirty because of you, so lick it clean."

Kanan ordered. The lewd sight of a pretty boy licking a pretty girl's foot had probably made great material for the other slaves watching, but for Haru-kun on the receiving end, it must have been quite humiliating.

Whether Yuria knew about that incident, or whether it was just coincidence, the same command was now being given with attacker and defender swapped.

"… Yes. Understood."

Kanan sucked on Haru-kun's foot. Her expression… even held a faint smile.

She somehow looked saved.

… Punishment can sometimes be a salvation. As if proving Yuria's words.

"Mm-chu, lero, lero, chu, ju…"

Kanan first ran her tongue across Haru-kun's foot.

From the sole to the toes, lap, lap. That Kanan, the queen herself… unthinkable in our original world.

But the current Kanan, if anything, was gladly licking Haru-kun's sole.

"… Mm, mmh… t-tickles… a-aah…"

Haru-kun was writhing erotically.

"Haa, haa… mm, ju, juru…"

And then, after Kanan finished licking both feet, she gradually licked upward from the feet. Eventually… toward the center of his hips.

Having had everything from his feet up through his thighs licked, Haru-kun's crotch was completely standing at attention.

When his skirt was lifted up, the women's underwear could barely cover his erect penis at all, and it was completely exposed.

That penis looked outsized for Haru-kun's small frame.

"Fufu… good attitude, Kanan. Now… suck it. With your heart-felt thanks, hmm."

In place of Haru-kun, who had no composure left, Yuria gave the instruction.

"Y-Yes… I am truly sorry. Haru-sama…"

Kanan opened her mouth wide, and…

Chu, kuchu… jupu.

Sucked… on Haru-kun's penis.

"A-Aaah…!"

Haru-kun moaned in pleasure.

Jupujupujupu…

"Haa, haa… aah… K-Kazami-san… a-aah… t-this kind of thing… aaah…"

Haru-kun was panting lewdly, drool dribbling down.

It seemed Kanan's fellatio was so good he'd completely lost himself in it.

Meanwhile, Yuria helped him out of his clothes.

Pop… Wonderfully large breasts spilled out. Even with naturally born breasts, would they be attached so naturally?

That's how perfect a pair of girl's breasts they were. And remarkably large and alluring.

Forced fellatio… by our original world's standards, it was a terrible act.

But he had the right to do it.

Because Haru-kun, when it came to being abused horribly by Kanan, was no less a victim than me, if not more.

No matter how much he resented and punished Kanan, it would be just revenge.

And on top of that, in this world, having your own Garumon give you fellatio was a perfectly natural act.

But… seeing Kanan, who'd been my comrade all along, who'd shared joys and hardships with me…

Seeing her sucking on another man's dick gave me an even more intense shock than seeing Setsuna doing it earlier had.

"U-A-Aaah… f-feels good, feels good, Kanan-san…!"

Throb, throb, throb…

With a lewd ahegao on his face, Haru-kun shook his hips and ejaculated.

When he did, his big breasts bounced, bounce, bounce… it was incredibly erotic.

His climax face was sexy and cute too, alluring.

"A-Aaah…"

Twitch, twitch… Convulsing, he'd steeped in the afterglow of pleasure.

His penis was still erect and looked like it wanted to cum more, but… in the sensitive state right after ejaculation, going right into a second one in a row would probably be impossible.

… With this, is it over? I thought, when…

"Now then, I'll make my request too. It's fine, right? I'm originally the Master after all… After seeing such a wonderful fellatio, there's no way I can hold back."

Yuria said that and thrust out her own erect penis.

… Up to now I'd thought she was talking from genuine concern for Haru, but this was just plain perks.

She's pretty crafty after all.

"Heehee… Yes… understood."

Kanan latched onto Yuria's penis.

"A-Aaah… feels good, feels good～…"

Yuria too, drool dripping, choked on the pleasure.

"… Kanan-san. About you, Onii-chan kept it a secret from me the whole time. I asked Haru-kun, and that was the first time I learned about you. Haru-kun tried to hide it, but his story had a lot of contradictions, so… when I pressed him, he gave it up easily. Honestly, to think you'd done such terrible things to Onii-chan and Haru-kun… I can't forgive you either, Kanan-san, you know?"

Setsuna also reproached Kanan.

"I-I'm sorry, Setsuna-chan. I'll do anything, so please, forgive me…"

Kanan said as she apologized.

Drip. At that moment, a single tear…

It wasn't a tear from her throat being choked by Haru-kun's and Yuria's penises.

… A heartfelt apology. The kind of tear that made you think so.

"… Kanan-san…"

The purity of that tear seemed to reach Setsuna too.

"If you'll keep making Yuria and Haru-kun feel really good like that… I'll forgive you too. Because Haru-kun and Yuria are precious comrades to me, and my Goshujin-sama. If it's as a wonderful fellow slave who can make Goshujin-sama feel good… I'll accept you… Kanan."

Saying that, Setsuna smiled.

"… Aah, thank you, Setsuna-chan…! I'll work hard…!"

Kanan, happily, even more passionately, latched onto Yuria's penis.

"A-Aaah… f-feels good, feels good, Kanan, I-I'm… cumming!"

Throb, throb!

And then Yuria too violently ejaculated.

"Mm, mmh, mmh…"

Gulp, gulp… Kanan drank down all the semen.

And the bitterness of the semen spurting out vigorously, Kanan accepted as her own punishment, taking it in willingly.

The two of them, languid from the ejaculation, slumped down.

"… Kanan-san."

"Y-Yes."

"… Honestly, with just the pleasure you gave me now… You've already paid back my resentment with plenty to spare. Plus, your feelings, Kanan-san… they really came through, and… it's the first time in my life I've been apologized to so genuinely from the heart… Already… not a single shard of resentment is left."

"… Aah, thank you, Haru-sama…"

"So drop the keigo, too… From now on, let's get along. Call me by my first name, like before."

Haru smiled brightly at that.

"… Ahem, yes, got it. Looking forward to it, Haru. You should drop the honorifics with me too."

Kanan also smiled brightly.

"All right, now that you've made up… let's all kiss. As a 'let's get along from now on' greeting!"

Yuria proposed.

"Yes, gladly… thanks, Haru. With your forgiveness… half the weight on my heart vanished."

And then first, Kanan and Haru embraced and brought their lips together.

Smack, kuchu, chu… lero…

The two passionately tangled their tongues.

"Aww, next get along with me too! Kanan."

"Yes, Yuria. Pleased to be working with you anew from here on."

Next, Kanan embraced Yuria and kissed her.

Chu, lero, chu… Again, a passionate kiss.

Hmm, I'd thought it during Haru-kun's turn too, but watching pretty girls kiss each other was kind of arousing somehow.

"I'll forgive you too, since Haru-kun has. As fellow Yuria slaves, let's get along."

"Yes… gladly! Setsuna. Naoto's little sister… it's the first time we're greeting each other properly. I'm Kanan Kazami. Please, let's get along from now on."

And then Setsuna and Kanan kissed.

A passionate kiss, lips and tongues intertwining.

Like that, with Haru-kun, Kanan, Setsuna, and Yuria all joining in, the four of them, taking turns or sometimes simultaneously, passionately kissed chu, chu.

It was erotic and arousing, but…

It was also a friendly, somehow heartwarming sight.

But I mustn't misunderstand.

Right then, beyond a doubt, Kanan was taken from me, lost to me.

And four hours later…

"… All right, my skill count's recovered. Time for a rematch."

At long last, the battle resumed. Once again, a 3v3 battle.

"Now then, leaving out Setsuna, the highest in level…"

Even so, to think a level could rise from just this one match. I got why D-Class Masters had been happily challenging me.

I must've contributed quite a bit to their leveling up.

"With this battle, I'll take Kanan back…!"

Conversely, if I couldn't, I'd just keep getting whittled down.

I mean, Haru-kun was aiming for Maika.

But Lyuka, low-level as she was, already had plenty of combat power. She was by no means out of her league.

Plus, this was Haru-kun's first time using Kanan. There had to be an opening to exploit.

And the battle began.

"Maika, Dance of Frost. Adelia, Boost Power. Lyuka, Light Shield."

"Haru, Green Wall, Kanan, Twin Dragon Whip. I'll go with Dark Curse!"

Yuria, was she the type who tried out skills she hadn't seen before just to see what they did?

She picked skills I hadn't really been using.

Twin Dragon Whip is a physical medium-damage two-hit, a fairly powerful skill.

But Kanan was already generally being run as a Defender, so I hadn't been using it much.

Maika dodged the one shot with Shadow Step.

Yuria's Dark Curse hit Adelia.

"Funya…"

Boost Power got cancelled. Plus a speed debuff…

Damn, I knew it, a buff-centric strategy is impossible with Yuria around.

Maika's dance. With that, in two turns, the opponent's movements would mostly get locked, but Kanan was still wearing Adelia's Spirit Garb, so she was freeze-immune.

… Fighting Kanan as an enemy felt strongly off-kilter.

Next turn.

In any case, as long as Earth Barrier was up, I couldn't get past Haru-kun to attack. Which meant I'd have to take him down with a quick strike.

Fortunately, with Adelia's and Maika's super-effective bonuses, taking Haru-kun out fast wasn't impossible.

Next turn.

"Lyuka, Light Shield on Maika. Adelia, Flame Claw on Haru-kun. Maika, Blizzard!"

"Earth Barrier!"

"Haaaaa!"

The two clashed head-on. Well, the effect was as I'd confirmed yesterday.

Since it was one Boost Power short of yesterday, it was about 1/4 the damage, but it couldn't be helped.

There…

"Blizzard!"

I supported it with cold air.

Haru-kun's HP dropped below half in one shot.

"Oh, an all-target attack magic, no less. Have you forgotten? That I have probabilistic magic reflection. It activates this time too."

"I haven't forgotten. That's what… Lyuka is for!"

"Light Shield, activate! Optional activation, blocking any attack for one turn."

"What did you say…! Which means my Dark Sphere I sent at the same time too…! Argh, it's a fine skill with damage plus a status debuff, but when is the effect ever going to land!"

Kanan was using Wind's Blessing.

Once her speed started climbing, her usefulness as an evasion wall would become a real problem.

I knew that strength better than anyone.

Kanan wasn't pulling her punches at all just because I was the opponent; she was challenging me seriously.

… Of course, that's how it should be. Only by beating her at full strength did I have the right to take her back.

Now, next turn.

"Adelia, Flame Claw on Haru-kun. Maika, Blizzard, Lyuka, Shining!"

"… Earth Barrier!"

"Bind Whip!"

"Land already, please… Dark Sphere!"

Whap! Kanan's whip damaged Maika and wrapped around her, locking down her movement.

That's erotic…

No, no, without Blizzard I couldn't take Haru-kun down. The math was getting thrown off.

Bashu!

The darkness hit Maika directly.

"Aah!"

Her speed dropped. Plus a stat debuff…

"Finally landed…"

Yuria, even though her attack landed, looked a bit fed up.

She'd been getting blocked over and over up till then, after all.

"Here I go, nya! Flame Claw!"

"… Too slow!"

But Kanan cut in. Tch, having my Flame Claw blocked by her Wind Shield would be the worst.

"Adelia, Awakening!"

"Nyaaaaaa!"

Bang!

"W-What…!"

In one go, the debuff was cleared, and with rapid movement, she dodged around Kanan and struck Haru-kun.

"Guuuuuh!"

With her stats raised by Awakening, the damage spiked.

… But she couldn't finish him. I was supposed to land Blizzard too and take him out, but…

"I'll deliver the finisher. Shining!"

Lyuka's strongest magic activated there.

Light is normal-effective against most attributes and quadruple-effective against dark, a fairly powerful element. Well, since it's halved against the Normal attribute, at low levels it's actually treated as weak.

Lyuka's good matchup against Yuria was one of the keys to this fight.

Haru-kun's magic defense isn't that high. If we got lucky, we should be able to take him down…!

… That was too convenient. Plainly insufficient. With her at LV18…

"Plus, my magic reflection…! is nullified by Light Shield… But really, taking the strongest light magic head-on, even accounting for the level gap, would be one-shot lethal for me, you know…"

Lyuka had Light Shield on her.

It was a shame it got reflected that time, but the super-effective bonus against Yuria could also be expected.

… But to think we couldn't finish Haru-kun even after burning Awakening.

Still, the next turn wasn't bad.

"… Uuh…"

Crack, crack…

"Ngh…"

Haru-kun and Yuria, frozen by the cold, couldn't move.

All right, with that opening, let's push hard.

"Adelia, Mad Slash, Lyuka, Shining, Maika, Accel Mirage!"

"… I won't let you!"

Kanan stepped out in front of Adelia and Maika.

But ga, ga, ga, ga! Adelia's four-hit combo plus Maika's attack tore through five layers of shield in one go.

Kanan's weakness was well-known.

There…

"Shining!"

Lyuka's strongest magic.

Haru-kun's HP was also low. Before Shining's strike…

"A-Aaaah…!"

All right, we could finish him off…

Bashun! But somehow a sound effect went off, and I couldn't take him down.

"Eh…? Why…?"

Was it a trait of Haru-kun's?

"… I'm sorry, you know. Right now I'm Yuria's comrade… so I gave it everything."

"Hauu…"

With all the various skills up till then, Haru-kun's clothes had been getting tattered, and now with Shining they were completely blown off.

What appeared from beneath was…

"Maika's Spirit Garb!? The spare we'd given Kanan…!"

For attribute countermeasures, we'd made everyone's Spirit Garb for everyone. So Kanan, in addition to wearing Adelia's Spirit Garb as underwear, had also possessed Maika's Spirit Garb.

To think she'd given it to Haru-kun…

Wait, doesn't it not activate if you wear regular clothes over it? Sometimes the system reads the room in weird ways, which is annoying.

I'd thought a string bikini like that wouldn't be able to cover the crotch, but the crotch was apparently being hidden by an ordinary cloth pareo.

Apparently, exposure at that level still qualified as a Spirit Garb.

… Well, without it the dick would be out completely, making it a Lewd Garb, so I guess it couldn't be helped.

"A-Amazing, this gear… ice attribute enchantment, plus Endure activates too… and it feels great to wear…"

"… Tch…"

So I still couldn't finish him off.

What's more…

"… Lucky! Take it, Dark Mirror!"

"… Aaah…!"

Shining got reflected back, eating into Lyuka.

Lyuka's magic defense was on the higher side, but her HP itself wasn't high, so it really hurt.

… At this rate, having attacks reflected back was going to become unbearable. Even though it's probabilistic, isn't her activation rate too high?

Next turn.

"Adelia, Mad Slash on Kanan, Maika, Accel Mirage on Kanan, Lyuka, Shining!"

"Wood Golem, summon!"

Guaaaaa!

A golem appeared.

"Bind Whip!"

Kanan locked down Maika's movement.

Maika should be the faster one, but Dark Sphere from earlier had slowed her down that much.

Adelia's Mad Slash chipped four shield layers off Kanan, but… the math was off.

"Shining!"

… All-target magic. However…

"Elemental Shield!"

For Kanan's defense, the last single layer turned into Elemental Shield, which blocks all attacks.

Of course, I hadn't forgotten. That's exactly what Accel Mirage was supposed to be for, but…

Still, Haru-kun should be defeatable…

But the Wood Golem drew the attack instead.

"W-What…"

I knew it, I should've taken him out fast…

To think Haru-kun would survive for so long.

But I finally got an attack to stick on Yuria. Super-effective, double damage.

"Aaah… gah! This isn't damage I should be taking from a Garumon at half my level…!"

… Still, there's no way I'd take her down.

There was the level gap, and Yuria probably had high magic defense.

But…

"Tch… no good…!"

Not even getting halfway. Whether we could take her down in two shots made a huge difference. Levels really weren't enough…

For quite a long stretch of turns, both sides had been fighting without a single one going down. Both of us had been getting whittled down little by little, but in terms of overall depletion, we still had the upper hand.

Their Haru-kun's HP had been barely hanging on. Kanan was below half HP from Shining and Blizzard damage.

Yuria still had over half.

On our side, Kanan's and Yuria's attacks had been chipping away, but everyone still had more than half left.

That said, there's no way we could be optimistic. When you get whittled down, it happens in an instant.

Next turn…

"This time, we'll take him down. Adelia, Flame Claw on the golem. Maika, Blizzard, Lyuka, Shining!"

"Nyaaaa!"

Adelia's attack pierced into the golem.

Last time, with Boost Power, it was a one-shot. Without Boost Power, but adding Blizzard's damage too…

But she couldn't finish it. A sliver of HP remained.

"W-What…!"

Last time, Blizzard had looked like it dealt fairly massive damage, but its magic defense was higher than expected, huh?

"Goaaaaa!"

Right then, the golem swung its vine arms.

Bish, bish, bish, bish!

Physical four-hit damage! That's pretty bad!

The worst part was that the attack focused on Lyuka. Her HP dropped below 1/4 in one go.

If she took an attack here…

"Flower Drain!"

"Eh?"

At that moment, Haru-kun chanted something, and from beneath Lyuka's feet, thorns sprouted up and entwined her body.

Haru-kun, you had attack skills too!?

"A-Aaaah…!"

The thorns wrapped around Lyuka sucked something up…

Whoosh, and Haru-kun's HP gauge recovered. And Lyuka's HP… was gone.

"Aah…"

Thump…

"Lyuka…!"

Endure didn't activate either… well, it's not like the probability is really worth expecting…

"Bind Whip!"

A movement-locking skill on Maika. Damn it…! Even though it doesn't always work!

Maika's HP had been gradually getting whittled down too.

"Dark Sphere!"

This time on Adelia. Her speed dropped again…

The golem was still left, Haru-kun had recovered too… at this rate, we might not win.

Like Haru-kun's Endure, our luck wasn't with us either… but that's not an excuse.

If our luck had been good, the tide of battle would've shifted in our favor in one go.

"… Not yet…! We're…"

"W-We won't lose, nya…!"

… No good. Adelia and Maika still hadn't been giving up. Me giving up first, what kind of leader did that make me?

"Let's go. Adelia, Mad Slash on the golem. Maika, Accel Mirage on Kanan!"

The freeze from Dance of Frost activated. But because Haru-kun had the ice attribute on him now, freeze didn't work. What a troublesome piece of gear.

But the golem became immobilized.

After that, if Yuria became immobilized too…

"For protecting comrades, I'll do everything I can. You taught me that."

But Kanan from the front and Haru from the back sandwiched Yuria, guarding her tightly.

"… Phew, t-that was a save."

The freeze… blocked?

"Earth Barrier!"

The attacks focused on Haru-kun.

… Even after a bit of recovery, there was no way he could withstand five attacks, and Haru-kun finally fell.

Maika dodged nicely with Shadow Step.

Adelia, with her high defense, didn't take that much damage.

"Bind Whip!"

"Shadow Step!"

Maika dodged again.

… We could do this. From here, I'd turn this around!

"Is that what you think? I'm sorry, you know… The strongest dark magic… I'll show you. Darkness!"

At that moment, a darkness that swallowed everything activated.

… Maika and Adelia, the two of them, just barely held on.

But they were practically dying.

"Haa, haa… I-I won't lose… if I lose… I'll…"

"Funya, nyaaa…"

Adelia… Maika…

This was too much…

It was completely hopeless. We might be able to take down one of either Kanan or Yuria.

But should I just give up…?

But…

Giving up would mean giving up on Maika.

"Let's do this. We can win, even from here. If it's us, we'll absolutely win…!"

"Yes!"

"Nya! For Goshujin-sama…!"

And then…

"Adelia, Mad Slash on the golem! Maika, Accel Mirage!"

We brought down the golem and chipped Yuria's HP down to almost nothing.

"Bind Whip!"

"Maika!"

It was aimed at Adelia, and Maika cut in,

"Eii… haa!"

then with Shadow Step she dodged it. An evasion-shield play.

"That never-give-up guts… wonderful! I'm so glad it was you all…! We're going all-out too. Darkness!"

Once again, a fierce darkness was unleashed.

Even so…!

"I won't lose…!"

Adelia fell, but Maika's Endure activated.

"I'll… keep being the slave of Naoto-kun, who I always loved… I'll prove it!"

… This was the last one. I knew Kanan's HP. Yuria's HP was also barely there.

With Blizzard, I could take her down in one hit.

But the problem was striking last in the turn.

If the two picked Tornado or Darkness, that was a bad move.

If both went last as the slowest action, by the speed difference Kanan would go ahead.

Kanan's Twin Dragon Whip, Yuria's Dark Sphere. That was their best move.

The probability of dodging three attacks with Shadow Step was… 1/8.

… Not impossible!

"Maika, Blizzard!"

"Kanan, Twin Dragon Whip! Dark Sphere!"

The final showdown…!

"… I'm Maika Yukishiro. From now on… please look after me, Yuria-sama…"

"Ahaha. You can drop the -sama and keigo. Pleased to be working with you from here, Maika. Heehee… Maika's pretty too, so I'm looking forward to it!"

"I'll be in your care too."

"Maika-san, please look after me."

"… Yes, understood. Take care of me. Haru-kun, Setsuna-chan."

But the result was… cruel. Maika wasn't able to dodge to the end, and lost. That was all.

And then I was made to pay the loss penalty.

I… lost Maika too.

I could only watch over them as they greeted each other with such warmth.