It was Monday morning.

I rested my aching body on top of my desk.

“Morning, Kamiya-kun.”

I raised my head and saw Ohas.h.i.+ standing next to me. I returned the greeting, then retook my position on the desk.

Hm? Where’s Tsurugi?

Leaving Rin aside, Ohas.h.i.+ is always coming to school together with Tsurugi.

It picked my interest and I raised my head again to ask Ohas.h.i.+ about it.

“Where’s Tsurugi?”

“He said he was going to be late today.”

“Hmm, again?”

For some reason, that guy often comes to school late.

When he’s not around, the people from Tsurugi Harem are quite docile.

I looked at Roll in the corner of the cla.s.sroom.

s.h.i.+njou Roll-san was chatting with a newly made friend.

When I looked at her, Roll noticed my glace and turned towards me with a smile.

My heart skipped a beat.

If she can smile as sweetly as that, I’d like her to do it regularly.

I turned away and, again, let my body rest on the desk.

At any rate, yesterday was a terrible day.

I never expected the throwing knives training to be so difficult.

I closed my eyes. Maybe I’ll just stay like this for the rest of the day.

“Oi, wake up, Kamiya.”

I heard someone calling out to me, so I raised my head. Before I realized it, the teacher was already standing on the platform.

The first cla.s.s for the day was about to start.

“Starting today, you have one week left until the tests. I will stick the test schedule on the blackboard. You should seriously study for these tests, okay?”

Is it already that time of the year?

I always kept my test scores high, but this time, it doesn’t seem like I would be able to get good marks.

I sent Roll a glancing look, then let out an affected sigh.

Once the homeroom cla.s.s ended, the teachers changed and the lesson started.

I sank deeper into my desk.

________

Tsurugi arrived at school before the third period started; it was now the lunch break.

As a matter of fact, Tsurugi never carries a bento 1 with him.

That’s because Ohas.h.i.+ and Rin take turns to prepare him his lunch and bring it to school.

I am envious. However, I don’t really mind it that much.

It’s just that, I’d like them to stop gathering at my desk every single lunch break.

But thanks to that, I also have access to his lunch box, even though it feels a bit futile.

“What? You brought a bento today as well, Kazato? That’s rare. Moreover, it’s quite the healthy bento you got there.”

Tsurugi looked at my lunch box.

To tell you the truth, Roll was the one who prepared this for me. She was unable to be indifferent to my poor, daily eating habits, like convenience store lunch boxes or bread, which were bad for my body, so she decided to cook for me. She stealthily hands the bento over in the morning.

However, unlike Ohas.h.i.+ and Rin’s bentos, mine was not made with loving care.

Roll is basically feeding me in order

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to strengthen my body.

Well, I went a little too far. Honestly, I’m kind of happy about this.

Roll was eating her lunch in another group of girls.

Her acting is so all-encompa.s.sing; even when no one is watching, as long as she’s on school grounds, she’s playing that character.

As expected of her, she doesn’t do mistakes. It’s been only a few days since we first met, but I’m witnessing more and more about Roll’s greatness.

I got a bad first impression of her, but it is starting to change.

“Does Roll-chan bother you this much?”

“As I thought, you’re in love.”

“Kamiya-kun finally has a girl he likes now.”

I let these guys selfishly a.s.sume whatever they wanted.

________

It happened after school.

I went straight to the secret base.

Tsurugi asked me to go have fun with them, but I refused him, since I wanted to prioritize my training.

I knew that this was only ruining my friends.h.i.+p, but even so, sometimes you have to do other things than playing around.

Now, I arrived in front of Roll’s room.

When I entered, Roll welcomed me in a bad mood.

“Sit down there for a second.”

She said to me and I sat on the chair in front of the table.

Why is she angry?

I really have no clue.

However, I already knew that Roll didn’t usually get angry unreasonably.

Maybe I made some sort of mistake.

While I searched for a reason, Roll took out a sheet of loose-leaf paper from her student bag and wrote something on it.

Then, she put it on the table, in front of me.

“This is what we’ve learned today. Try to solve it.”

What was written on that piece of loose-leaf paper was a math problem.

Even though we learned about this today, it was only an application problem.

Obviously, since I fell asleep during cla.s.s, I can’t solve it.

All I could do was sink into silence.

Roll’s huge sigh was extremely audible.

“Why did you sleep during cla.s.s?”

Because I was tired due to yesterday’s difficult training. Of course, that’s not really an excuse.

I cast my eyes down and Roll started to lecture me.

“If you want a recommendation, you need good grades, you know?

In the first place, you don’t understand the value of receiving teachings from people. And, what’s more……..”

Roll’s lecture continued for a little longer.

Finally, after she made me promise that I would enter the school’s top twenty with the results for the upcoming tests, the lecture ended.

And now, she made me study.

Roll seemed to be quite smart, so she explained me all the parts I didn’t understand. Her hand-writing is pretty too; I really must find some sort of fault to her.

I came to the secret base today, very much in the mood for training, but I never thought that I would get stuck with studying.

The sound of the running pencil got mixed with the sound of my sigh.

I sent Roll a glance, seemingly saying that I wanted to train, but she glared at me and I calmed down.

She observed all my progress, so I couldn’t skip anything.

It was then when it happened.

I heard someone knocking on the door.

“Roll, my angel! I came back! Please open the door!”

It was a man’s voice. Who’s that?

I thought and looked at Roll. She frowned, clearly unpleased with that voice.

“Who’s that?”

“It’s Getsuri 2. A really annoying guy has returned home. I honestly hoped he would rot in that branch office…….”

“Won’t you open the door?”

“He’ll enter anyway.”

It happened the moment Roll said that. The door’s lock opened with a clank.

Does he have a key to this room? No, he doesn’t; why would he ask Roll to open the door if he had the key?

He did something.

Roll let out a sigh.

The one who entered the room was a blond man. He wasn’t naturally blond like Roll, he clearly dyed his hair.

He seemed a little older than us. He was also tall and looked exactly like a host.

The man came inside the room and looked straight at Roll.

He then took her hand and knelt down.

“Mademoiselle, have you been well?

I spent my every night thinking about you!”

“………It’s been a long time, Getsuri. I heard from the boss that it would take even longer.”

“For Roll’s sake, I finished the mission with double speed!”

“I didn’t ask for it. Anyway, it’s good you’re safe.

Now, since you’re in the way of s.h.i.+on’s study session, could you just leave?’

In that instant, Getsuri-san fell silent.

He sent me a glance, then hit the table.

It was all too sudden and my heart jumped up and down.

“Why didn’t you choose me!? I’ve worked really hard in order for you to accept me as your partner! This time too, I easily handled a difficult mission all by myself! Yes, just like the sweet and beautiful you always do!

However, your heart remained unlocked!

On the contrary, when I came back this time, I found you opened it to some other guy! Didn’t you say that you will never accept a partner!?”

What’s this all of a sudden…….

All I could do was change my look from Roll to Getsuri-san and back.

“Ah, I apologize for that.

I ended up choosing a partner.”

“…….Until now, no matter how much Hyde-san insisted, or how many other people invited you, you would always stubbornly say that you wouldn’t accept any partner. However, this time you easily approved…….! Why?”

I was quite interested in hearing the answer too. I am being helped by Roll, but I don’t know the reason why she chose me.

Because the boss told her to?

Yet, she refused all the other offers up until now……I wonder why.

I looked at Roll and our eyes met. However, she quickly averted her look.

“This has nothing to do with you, Getsuri. I’m free to group with whoever I want.”

Getsuri-san cast his eyes down.

Maybe it was a bit cruel of her to say that it had nothing to do with him. Well, this was not a situation in which I could intervene.

“…….Was it out of pity………? Maybe it reminded you of your past self……..”

“I’m getting angry, you know.”

Roll spoke with a threatening voice making Getsuri-san to fall silent again.

I don’t really understand what’s happening, but it seems that Getsuri-san said something he shouldn’t have.

Pity?

Well, I am actually aware that I was found in a pitiable situation.

Suddenly, Getsuri-san’s look moved onto me.

“s.h.i.+on, was it?

Why did she choose a potato like you……”

It’s not like I’m here because I really wanted to be.

If I hadn’t manifested my ability, I was supposed to still continue living my happy daily life.

And yet, saying this at such a late hour makes no sense.

It’s not like I’m unhappy with my current situation anyway.

I got a little insecure about my future now though.

I didn’t know what answer I was supposed to give to Getsuri-san.

I couldn’t bear his look so I turned away, when I heard Getsuri-san mutter.

“…….I have no choice but to kill you.

Yes, I’ll just kill you.”

His attack was too sudden.

The knife that drew near to me was kicked aside by Roll; before I became aware of it, a battle unfolded right in front of my eyes.

Getsuri-san danced in midair, releasing kicks aimed at Roll’s face.

Roll countered those kicks with her arms.

She then twined her arms around his leg and invited him to meet the ground, as she knocked him down.

But Roll’s attack didn’t end there.

She silently ripped off both his arms and legs, leaving Getsuri-san unable to fight in the blink of an eye.

I was dumbfounded by her bloodl.u.s.t and energy.

Getsuri-san’s shrieks resounded in the room, as Roll collected his limbs and dragged him out, asking some nearby members to deal with him, then returned to the room, closed the door and walked towards me.

“That was dangerous.

I never thought he would lose his head like that because I chose a partner.”

“It surprised me……”

It was mostly Roll’s movements that surprised me however.

Still, with that guy around, I can’t let my guard down even inside the secret base.

“When he’s calm, Getsuri can be quite decent. And he’s fairly strong too.

This can’t happen again, so I’ll have to inform the old man.”

She’s such a reliable partner.

However, as long as I’m standing in the range of her hands, it could be said that she has a grasp on my life.

In a close-range fight, Roll’s ability is too overpowered.

“Now, continue with your studying.”

“Roger.”

The learning session restarted.

She allowed me to train after I finished studying; it was already past eleven when I returned home.

I told my parents that I was working part-time, but, even so, I should maybe avoid leaving the house every day.

_________

The next day, after school. Today, as well, I came to the secret base.

I was now walking the corridors together with Roll.

I heard about Getsuri-san’s ability from Roll.

His ability is called ‘Perfect Key’.

It seems that he can freely lock and unlock all sorts of things.

His range of attack changes according to his mood.

It’s not like he can alter the range of his attack, it just changes by itself.

Even though I said he can lock and unlock things, it’s more like he can open and shut them freely, like making someone close their eyes or force them open their fist or such.

However, because Getsuri-san doesn’t want to use his ability on Roll, she always beats him.

The reason why he doesn’t want to use it on her is because he wants Roll to unlock her heart to him by herself.

The best use of Getsuri-san’s ability is the fact that he can temporarily lock his opponent’s ability.

Using this technique called ‘Skill Lock’ together with unlocking the restrictions in his own brain, he can basically bring down his opponent quite easily.

In this case, how can I even defeat Getsuri-san?

I have to finish him off before he gets near me.

“Listen. You have to finish him in one blow, all right? If he gets close to you, it’s all over. Fight him with the intent to kill.”

“…….Can I even win?”

“You can, if you seriously want to. Or, maybe I should say it more clearly. Go there and win!”

Well now, as for why we had this kind of conversation, that’s because I was challenged to a duel by Getsuri-san some time ago.

Yes, Roll was the bet.

Obviously, I refused. But Getsuri-san asked the boss to intermediate the duel, and the boss ordered me to fight.

It seems that all the quarrels inside the organization are solved in this way.

Not even Roll’s opposing opinion changed anything this time.

“……..I’m nervous.”

“I should be the one who feels nervous. Is it really true that he won’t kill me?”

“If he intends to kill you, I’ll jump in right away to stop him.”

We talked about it some more, as we arrived in front of the training room.

Several people from the organization gathered inside the observation room, with Kuroinu-san and Hakunetsu-san among them.

There were many people there I’ve never met before.

“You came.”

Getsuri-san said and showed up in front of me.

“……h.e.l.lo.”

I felt overwhelmed by his aura, which announced an attack at any time.

Getsuri-san enter the training room first and stopped in a predetermined position.

He then turned his head and glared at me.

………To be honest, I was quite scared.

“……s.h.i.+on, I’m relying on you.”

Roll grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly.

Getsuri-san kept on starring at me, so this whole scene was a little troubling.

I panicked and rejected her grasp.

“…….I’ll be going now.”

I said, then entered the training room.