On the day of the D-rank regional tournament.

The venue is in the city two towns over from where Kurato and the others live.

It is less than an hour away by car.

The plaza of the general sports park there is the venue.

Kurato heads to the venue with Yanagi-san driving.

Now Yanagi-san is the only one still living together with Kurato so she handles all the housework and also takes care of driving Kurato to and from places.

Tagami (old man servant) returned to the main house soon after Kaito was taken away.

Just as Kurato had predicted they seemed to have been servants sent because Kaito had been born.

The other people in the car are Keita and Saito-san who is in the same class as Keita.

She is a girl Kurato is seeing for the first time so when he asked if she was Keita’s girlfriend she said she was his childhood friend who lives nearby.

They went to different kindergartens but their families have been close since they were little.

Keita is not someone to underestimate.

Even so he himself looks as carefree as always.

“Come to think of it, Keita why did you not enter the selection tournament?”

In the car Kurato, who is sitting next to Keita remembers and asks him.

Even if it is a support-type interference ability Kurato thinks someone as skilled as Keita could have become a class representative.

Keita narrows his already narrow eyes, tilts his head slightly and then says.

“I do not know. By the time I noticed it was already over.”

“Huh? Did something happen?”

‘Could it be that he showed consideration to someone in the class?’

While Kurato is suspicious Saito-san next to him chimes in with the details.

“Keita has been obsessed with playing in the mud with Otera-kun lately. When he comes home the house is covered in mud and it is really a problem.”

“That is not it! It is not mud play!”

Keita raises his voice in protest at Saito-san’s report.

But then.

“What is different?”

“It is not mud play. I am making dolls out of soil.”

“And how is that not mud play?”

“It is not mud, it is soil!”

“It is the same.”

Keita is defeated by Saito-san’s words and opens and closes his mouth.

‘You are already under her thumb Keita.’

Watching the two have a lovers’ quarrel Kurato shows a dry smile.

Then Kurato quickly realizes what Keita is doing and his face breaks into a grin.

“Keita. So you were training your ability Geokinesis right?”

If Geokinesis Keita is playing with soil then that line of thinking makes sense.

Soil dolls would mean golems.

Kurato knows that among Geokinesis users there are some who use their ability like that because he has been rewatching past D-rank tournament matches.

“That is it! As expected of Ku-chan!”

Keita happily responds to Kurato’s guess.

‘So it was that after all.’

Kurato’s smile deepens.

“I see. Then it cannot be helped. You will show it to us next year right? That new move. I am looking forward to it.”

“Leave it to me! I will make lots of them!”

Next to the highly motivated Keita, Saito-san lets out a sigh.

“Boys really are children.”

‘Well do not say that. I will not deny that men stay children forever though.’

Kurato’s smile turns into a wry one.

* * *

While they are talking like that the car arrives at the venue.

The parking lot is relatively empty and most of the spectator seats are also empty.

Only a small group of parents have taken the front row.

In Kashiwara it was completely full, it painted quite the contrast.

“Then I will go register.”

“Kurato-sama, we will be cheering over there so please do not push yourself.”

Yanagi-san emphasizes this while pointing toward the cheering seats.

“Thank you Yanagi-san. I will do my best with safety first.”

Kurato separates from them, completes registration and waits for the competition to start in the waiting tent for players.

More and more players gather.

The match list has the names of 312 players.

‘There really are a lot of girls. Boys do not even make up ten percent of the total.’

“Oh! Makishima good morning!”

While Kurato is looking up at the match list a cheerful voice calls out from the side.

Kurato turns and raises his hand.

“Good morning Iizuka-san. You look like you are in good shape.”

Iizuka-san is waving her hand and walking over.

Her complexion looks great.

She seems to be maintaining a good level of tension.

“I ate lots of my dad’s breakfast! You look good too Makishima. Did you eat breakfast?”

“I did. Yanagi-san’s cooking is delicious.”

He says that and points toward someone in the cheering seats who is staring at them.

‘Yes that is Yanagi-san.’

The moment he holds out his hand she waves back energetically.

As expected of a clairvoyant.

Seeing that, Iizuka-san's face stiffens slightly.

“My dad’s cooking is delicious too! His hamburg steaks are so good your cheeks will fall off!”

Iizuka-san looks a little sulky.

It seems she thought Kurato’s comment was him trying to one-up her.

“That sounds amazing. Let me try it sometime.”

When he says that a smile spreads across her previously clouded face.

“Yeah! Next time I will have my dad make it and bring it to school for you!”

Thanks to that conversation both of their tension loosens in a good way.

* * *

And then at last the regional tournament begins.

The first and second rounds are held at locations other than this venue and from the third round onward they are held here.

No wonder even though there are 300 names, only about 50 players are present here.

The rules follow the official single match rules and are similar to Unlimited Rules except that they are limited to first through third graders whose magical power is D-rank or below.

The time limit is up to ten minutes.

Since they are elementary school students, if the referee judges that the fight cannot continue meaning magical exhaustion or a dangerous condition the match is ended on the spot and goes to a decision.

At Kashiwara they fought until knockout so Kurato should be careful about that difference.

“Next person forward.”

A voice calls out to Kurato who was watching the previous match from the edge of the field.

So it is finally his match.

When Kurato steps forward a small figure also steps out to the center of the field.

A plain-looking girl with light brown hair in braids.

“Begin!”

It is his first official match and his first ability battle in a while.

Kurato plans to warm up while watching what his opponent does.

But one minute after the match starts he revises that plan.

He has to.

“Haa haa haa.”

The opponent has her hands on her knees and is breathing with her shoulders.

At first she took several seconds to create palm-sized fireballs and threw them at Kurato with a loose form.

But the fireballs were so slow that Kurato just walked and dodged them.

Seeing that she approached with a sulky face and challenged him to close combat.

But the result is as you can see.

Swinging her arms around and throwing away any proper close combat form her reckless style only drained her own stamina.

After one minute, a girl looking like she was about to cry was left looking up at him.

‘What am I supposed to do here?’

Kurato looks up at the referee in confusion but she only stares back at him with strict eyes.

‘Do it.’

Her eyes seem to be saying that.

Well maybe not that far but at least attack.

With no choice Kurato covers his hand with an Iron Shield and taps the girl on the neck once.

The girl falls over onto the field.

‘…That was not too much right?’

When Kurato nervously looks at the referee she looks back at him with satisfaction and raises her right hand straight into the air.

“Stop!”

The signal for the end of the match.

Kurato wins the first round.

It is a hollow victory but that is because it is the first round.

That is what Kurato thought but.

* * *

Second round.

“Hiya! Take that!”

An Aerokinesis punch passes right by Kurato’s face.

It is certainly much faster than normal.

But that is only fast for an elementary school girl.

When Kurato easily dodges her she runs out of breath just like in the first round.

This is hard to deal with.

Even so, Kurato strikes her neck once and stacks up another hollow KO victory.

‘So this is the D-rank lower grade division?’

Kurato feels out of place as if he does not belong here.

It feels like a middle-aged man dominating children’s games.

A feeling like he is cheating terribly.

A criminal feeling washes over him.

‘I will stop entering this tournament next year.’

That is what he thinks.

* * *

Even while carrying that guilt Kurato keeps winning.

Believing that this is the best way to fulfill his promise with Kaito.

And then it is the final.

“Let us both do our best.”

“Hm? Ah yes let us.”

Lost in thought Kurato gives a vague reply to his opponent’s heartfelt words.

Standing before him with a fearless smile is Iizuka-san from the same class.

She made it to the finals too.

“What? Are you nervous?”

Iizuka-san peers at Kurato’s face worried by his vague reply.

Then she smiles gently to reassure him.

“It is okay. We have already made it to the prefectural tournament. My dad said this is just a practice match!”

The right to enter the prefectural tournament is given to the top three.

So for the two who made it to the finals avoiding injury is more important than fighting with full power.

Even so, first and second place get placed into different blocks at the prefectural tournament.

First place is more likely to face lower-ranked players from other regions, so it is advantageous.

Whether she knows that or not, Iizuka-san’s kindness toward others is praiseworthy.

“Yeah. Thank you Iizuka-san.”

When Kurato smiles slightly Iizuka-san nods once and returns to her position.

The referee is already standing on the field and looks at Kurato.

‘Hurry and get ready.’

Her eyes say that.

Kurato checks his position and signals that he is ready.

The referee raises her hand high and signals the start of the match.

Then.

“Begin!”

The match starts.

Thanks to Iizuka-san Kurato’s guilt has eased a little but once the match starts it is completely wiped away.

“Take this!”

Bang!

The space right next to Kurato bursts and the impact sends him rolling.

When her magical power condensed Kurato immediately raised a shield so he did not get burned but it was still quite an impact.

‘So this is Detokinesis.’

The upper form of Pyrokinesis and the highest-tier ability.

“One more!”

A follow-up explosion attacks Kurato as he stands up.

Kurato quickly generates an Iron Shield and braces behind it but the impact dents the shield deeply.

Strong power and fast activation.

“Tch. Haha.”

‘This is fun. Yes this is it.’

“Fuhahaha!”

‘This is what fighting—’

“This is what fighting should be!”

“Not yet!”

As Kurato steps forward two explosions bombard the front.

After blocking the impact with his shield Kurato lays a large thick acrylic board flat on the ground.

“There!”

Iizuka-san points her hands toward Kurato to activate her ability but by then Kurato is already on top of the acrylic board.

The board starts moving.

It slides across the leveled ground.

“Ooo!”

“What is that? Is he riding something?”

Surprised voices reach them from the now sparse spectator seats.

Kurato rides the board like a skateboard and glides freely around the venue.

“Eh what is that!”

Iizuka-san keeps firing explosions trying to hit Kurato but they detonate short.

Her Detokinesis seems to have a range of about three meters.

“Kurato-sama!”

“Ku-chan!”

As Kurato slides he hears cheers from Yanagi-san and the others in the stands.

‘Maybe I will go a bit closer.’

When Kurato approaches and waves they wave back.

“Hey Makishima-kun! Fight properly!”

Then from a group a little away from Yanagi-san he hears a voice like that.

“Running away from Makimaki is unfair!”

It is Takeda-san and the others.

They are pointing and criticizing him.

They came to cheer.

Probably to cheer for Iizuka-san.

“Yes, yes, as you command.”

Kurato waves to Takeda-san and Shimizu-san and steers the skateboard toward Iizuka-san.

When he enters her range the bombardment resumes.

Kurato skillfully maneuvers the skateboard and dodges the explosions.

He circles around Iizuka-san and avoids them all.

“Tch…”

As he does that Iizuka-san starts to show fatigue.

‘Magical exhaustion. Then it is about time.’

Kurato sharply turns the skateboard and charges at Iizuka-san.

He shifts his weight to the back of the board and lifts the front into a big wheelie.

He plans to charge like this and take her consciousness with a Shield Bash.

That is the plan he pictures in his head.

But suddenly his eyes meet Iizuka-san’s.

A fearless smile is on her face.

‘Ah this is bad.’

At the same moment Kurato thinks that.

“Got you!”

Iizuka-san thrusts both hands forward and a massive explosion unlike anything before fills Kurato’s vision.

Kurato instantly generates an Iron Shield.

But the moment it touches the blast it buckles greatly and Kurato is blown away along with it.

He tumbles twice then three times across the ground.

When the momentum stops he props himself up with just his upper body.

He checks his body with his hands but finds no external injuries.

He managed to kill the power with the Iron Shield.

But he was completely outplayed just now.

If he had been a little slower to deploy the shield he would definitely have been sent to the hospital.

To fall into a trap set by a first-grade girl is truly pathetic.

‘…No that is not it. She was simply brilliant.’

Kurato stands up, resets his spirit and sharpens his eyes to rematch the brilliant tactician Iizuka-san.

Now the real fight begins!

That is what he thinks but.

“Stop!”

The referee stops the match.

‘Huh? There should still be more than half the time left.’

Kurato checks the time board.

‘Yes there are still over five minutes remaining.’

Even so the referee has already crossed her arms.

It seems she judged Kurato being blown away as dangerous and ended the match.

After that it goes to a decision.

Kurato did not land a single hit on Iizuka-san so he expected it.

“Momoyama Elementary School Iizuka Maki wins!”

The referee raises her hand and flag for Iizuka-san.

At the award ceremony Kurato gives Iizuka-san a full round of applause.

That last blow was magnificent, so Kurato accepts the result.

Rather he feels ashamed of his own carelessness.

He underestimated his opponent because she was an elementary school student.

Kurato renews his resolve to do his best at the prefectural tournament.

* * *

Memo

Like the protagonist, Keita is also strengthening his ability.