The signal to start the match echoed through the dojo.

At the same time, Aoi-chan raised her voice too.

“If you lose, go home, peasant!”

“What kind of after-the-fact rock-paper-scissors is that!?”

Kurato couldn’t help but argue back at the victory demand that came after the match had already started.

But she didn’t stop.

Closing the distance to about five meters, she floated several pellets of water and fired them at Kurato.

Each water sphere was slightly smaller than a baseball. If he remembered correctly, that size was D-rank level but maybe it had some special effect.

Just in case, Kurato knocked them away with a crystal shield.

As expected, even when the water spheres burst, the crystal shield didn’t so much as flinch.

‘Was that overkill?’

“Not done yet!”

Aoi-chan conjured even more water spheres.

One two three… over ten formed around her and came rushing in from every direction all at once.

A wide-area attack.

‘One shield wouldn’t be enough.’

Kurato generated four more crystal shields and blocked every water sphere.

He knew it was overkill but if she had mixed in stronger spheres than before, there was a risk they could punch through so he blocked everything with crystal shields.

But…

“What!?”

“No way!”

“H-how!?”

The room stirred.

The women stared at Kurato in shock and the little girls had gone pale.

What, was he not supposed to block it?

Even Aoi-chan, wary now, took a step back.

“Four crystal shields!? You’re C-rank!?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. I’m C-rank.”

Hadn’t he already said he was C-rank? Kurato tried to recall…

He hadn’t.

By the way, the number of shields you can produce changes depending on your rank.

D-rank can make up to one crystal shield. Two or more require C-rank and C-rank can make up to one mithril shield.

He had read somewhere that this was a rule training couldn’t overturn.

That was why Aoi-chan had judged Kurato as C-rank when she saw him create four crystal shields.

“C-rank… why didn’t you say… damn it!”

Spitting the dirty words, Aoi-chan glared at Kurato.

“Then I’ve got no choice!”

That wasn’t directed at Kurato. It sounded more like she was scolding herself.

She charged straight in.

Her words were sloppy but her footwork was sharp without a hint of wavering.

Kurato guessed she was originally strong at close range and he was exactly right.

When she got within less than a meter, she fired twin columns of water from both hands at Kurato.

“Got you!”

The two pillars aimed at Kurato’s face struck cleanly, trapping him inside the water columns.

He’d immediately be lifted by the water pressure and blown away.

Or so they thought.

The water columns changed flow at the center.

It was Kurato. His crystal shield had been angled to split the water pillars left and right.

“W-what, you make them way too fast!”

Aoi-chan twisted her face in frustration.

Kurato didn’t really feel it himself but the average time a normal shielder needs to generate a crystal shield is just under three seconds and that’s the average for first-year middle schoolers like Aoi-chan. For someone Kurato’s age, a fourth grader, it should take even longer.

But Kurato’s shield-generation speed just now was under one second.

That was the technique Kurato had built by repeatedly training his ability day after day. You could call it proficiency. Since Aoi-chan didn’t know that, all she could do was be shocked.

And then the water columns split completely.

The water pillars that had been hitting Kurato were pushed aside.

Because Kurato angled his shield to redirect the water, his fist advanced as if cutting through the water pillars.

Just as his punch was about to connect, Aoi-chan sprang backward.

His fist had slowed from cutting through the water.

Having gained distance, Aoi-chan floated water spheres again like before.

But the number this time was on a completely different level.

Water, water, water—enough to fill Kurato’s entire field of view.

Not power but numbers.

Rational.

Countless bullets came flying.

With not a shred of mercy in that rain of shots, Kurato…

Kurato also generated countless shields.

Dozens of iron shields formed instantly.

“Anti-air intercept, Iron Dome!”

At the center of the match area, water spheres and iron shields collided.

A single iron shield took two water spheres, crumpled and vanished.

Looking only at the center, it seemed even. But once Aoi-chan had fired every last sphere, the outcome became clear.

Having spent everything, Aoi-chan braced her hands on her knees and looked up at Kurato.

Meanwhile around Kurato, about a third of the iron shields he’d started with were still floating around him.

Kurato fused them into many small crystal shields and attached them to both fists and his back.

With the shields supporting him, Kurato took a step forward.

And lunged at Aoi-chan.

Aoi-chan tried to raise her guard again but her movement was sluggish.

‘What, tired already? Match over?’

Kurato thought that but the punch he would normally stop short of was caught sooner than he expected.

A large hand covered Kurato’s fist.

It was the referee, the older girl.

She stepped between them and stopped Kurato’s fist with sheer strength.

“That’s enough! Match over. You win, Kurato-kun!”

At that, Kurato pulled back his fist and bowed to Aoi-chan and the referee.

Aoi-chan sank to the floor weakly on the spot.

The referee, rubbing the palm she’d used to stop Kurato, stared at him like she wanted to bore a hole through him.

The Special Zone’s match flow had been calmer than Kurato had imagined, leaving him conflicted as he returned to the edge of the dojo.

After that match, the little girls stopped treating Kurato like dirt.

They still didn’t come close but he heard no more whispering.

Seeing Kurato’s strength as he pushed aside their boss, Aoi-chan, they seemed to have corrected the attitude they’d had from underestimating him.

In that respect, inside and outside the Special Zone were the same.

* * *

Thanks to that, Kurato was able to enjoy the camp together with Raito.

That night, they even slipped out in secret and went to a shrine together, just the two of them.

Because…

“You’re not fair, taking big brother for yourselves!”

Apparently, what she meant by “not fair” was last year’s Unlimited tournament.

He wanted to do it too—the Unison magic Kurato, Keita and Hinata had used together.

Unison was an advanced technique that only those with matching wavelengths could finally reach after spending long years training. It wasn’t something anyone could do easily.

Kurato started by telling Raito that, to reason with him.

“But, but!”

Even so, Raito wouldn’t back down.

Since everyone else could do it, he thought he could too if he was with Kurato.

And honestly…

“Raito. You and I can do it. Probably.”

Kurato thought the same.

Unison was extremely similar to the magic power circulation Kurato and Raito had practiced since they were little.

He’d done it with Keita since kindergarten, which was why they could pull it off even in the last-minute pressure of the tournament day. It was distorted and incomplete but it still transformed into that massive dragon.

So if it was Raito—Raito who had trained since he was a baby—wouldn’t it be refined into something closer to a complete form?

Kurato believed that.

“Let’s do it, Raito. Remember how it used to be.”

“O-okay.”

Raito was tense at first but as they started the nostalgic magic power circulation, he gradually relaxed.

Raito’s magic power really was closer to Kurato’s. Compared to Hinata or Keita, it had lower viscosity and was easier to control.

Their magic naturally melted together and bound into one.

And then it was completed.

“Big brother! This is amazing! We’re flying!”

“Hey, Raito! Don’t go too far!”

Raito, controlling the huge body, looked so happy and so excited that Kurato ended up indulging him and that massive body like a white dragon swam through the night sky for a while.

Without realizing that plenty of people were seeing it.

* * *

Late at night. Somewhere.

“I got something incredible on camera.”

In a hotel room, the girl murmured.

The camera in her hand trembled slightly.

“What did you film, Wakachan?”

At the girl’s murmur, another woman hugged her from behind, worried.

Then she took the camera from her.

“You didn’t film some cheating scene, did you? Stop playing reporter already.”

“Huh!? Sis, give it back! It’s not like that!”

The girl jumped desperately but the camera held high by her sister, five years older, was completely out of reach.

Watching her little sister bounce in front of her, the older sister sighed softly.

“You say that but don’t go getting it put in the kids’ newspaper again and getting chewed out by the school, okay? What was it last time, ‘A moving human model spotted’? It turned into a funny story because the principal let it slide but depending on the situation, you could get hurt.”

“It really was moving! And anyway, this is totally different!”

“Oh, it is. Pretty pattern. What is this, lightning? And this long white thing is coming down from the sky?”

The older sister replayed the digital camera and peered at the image.

Seeing her reaction, the younger sister replied excitedly.

“It’s not lightning, sis. It’s a dragon! A white dragon! It was swimming through the sky!”

“Oh wow. That’s really well done. Maybe I’ll use it in one of my videos next.”

“It’s not edited! Just give it back already!”

After finally getting the camera back, the girl relaxed that the photos hadn’t been deleted and looked again toward the mountain summit.

But there was nothing there now except a starry sky swallowed by night.

“The truth this world hides… is that you?”

Her words were carried off by the summer night breeze.

But the color in her eyes didn’t fade. It shone brightly.

* * *

On day three, there was training only in the morning and in the afternoon they had river play under the name of recreation.

Even the training was outdoors at the riverbed, running in zigzags and practicing swimming in the river.

The girls kept sneaking glances at Kurato but none made any move to talk to him. Still, just having no hostility in those looks made it much easier to move around.

In the afternoon, the adults went rafting in eight-person rubber boats.

That was what you called rafting.

The river wasn’t very wide, so they kept smacking into rocks sticking out here and there, squealing and laughing.

The older girls who had acted mature during training were still young by age, so they were probably letting loose and blowing off daily stress.

‘Youth,’ Kurato thought with an internal nod.

Then…

“H-hey. Kurato-kun.”

Aoi-chan spoke to him.

Her voice was high and she looked extremely tense.

‘What was this? Was she still shaken from yesterday’s match?’

“What is it, Aoi…-san.”

That was close. Calling her “-chan” would have been bad. Kurato was younger, so he had to show respect at least on the surface.

“Um… the boat. Get on with us. We’re short on people.”

Aoi lowered her face partway through, embarrassed as she said it.

It looked like she felt shy inviting a boy, even if he was younger. Still, the way she gathered her courage was kind of endearing.

Kurato felt warmed inside as he answered.

“Thank you for inviting me. Can Raito come too?”

“Y-yeah. Sure. Of course! Bring him!”

Aoi answered with a huge smile.

The way she bounced off almost looked like she was expressing her happiness physically.

She must have been glad she could clear things up with Kurato.

The raft she invited them onto was a pretty unbalanced lineup—seven kids and one older sister.

Kurato and Raito sat near the middle with paddles, scooping water near the bottom of the boat.

With only kids providing power, they had little propulsion and shaky steering.

Sure enough, they hit a big rock and the boat lurched.

The girls were having a blast yelling, “We’re sinking!” and “We’re stranded!”

‘We’re not sinking. It’s a rubber boat.’

But the older sister seated at the very back didn’t say a word.

Were the kids’ weak paddling making her annoyed?

Worried, Kurato turned back…

She was already gone.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t talking, she’d fallen into the river and disappeared.

This was bad.

“The pilot fell out!”

At Kurato’s shout, the girls all whipped around.

The person at the very back steered the raft, everyone else just provided propulsion.

Meaning the raft had no driver now.

Kurato hurried to the back, shoved the paddle hard outside the boat and rowed. The raft jerked and changed direction leaving behind the pilot in the water to swim herself out.

“Now! Paddle! Full speed ahead!”

“O-okay!”

“Yeah!”

The girls hesitated for a second but when Aoi started paddling first, the others stabbed their paddles forward and began rowing too. Raito was red-faced and desperate.

They managed to avoid the big-rock zone and the raft began moving straight for the goal.

‘Once we’re this far, we’re safe.’

Just as Kurato thought that and drove his paddle deep, it slammed into something.

A rock. The paddle hit a submerged boulder and Kurato lost his balance.

Splash—water and bubbles churned in front of him, then he saw the surface, the green riverbank and the raft’s red body heading ahead.

He’d fallen in.

But Kurato and everyone else were wearing PFDs—what you’d call life jackets—so there was no danger of drowning.

No danger, but this made Kurato out of commission too.

The raft he’d been on kept going ahead, moving steadily toward the goal without him.

On the raft, the girls and Raito looked panicked. They were freaking out because Kurato had fallen.

‘Not good.’

Holding his paddle overhead, Kurato raised his voice.

“Don’t look back! Keep going!”

A wave surged, so he turned his face aside to ride it out and then looked forward again.

“Don’t worry about me, go on ahead! I entrust my will to you!”

It seemed his voice reached them. On the raft, Aoi—who had been about to jump in—waved and bid Kurato farewell.

Though the goal was right there, so they would see each other again immediately.

Sure enough, the raft reached the goal first and the older sisters welcomed them there.

Kurato swam in with the older sister who had fallen out earlier, reaching the goal too.

When Kurato climbed out of the river, the girls rushed him in tears.

“Sorry we couldn’t save you,” they made it to the goal and some even apologized for the nasty things they’d said up until yesterday.

It really wasn’t a big deal but he could feel their sincerity, so Kurato told them it was fine and forgave them.

That fun time passed in a flash and soon it was time to disband.

Unlike when they arrived, everyone greeted Kurato as they left.

“Hey! Kurato-kun!”

Aoi ran up, grabbed Kurato’s hand and shook it up and down hard.

“We’re doing the camp next year too, so come again!”

“Thank you. I’ll definitely participate.”

Kurato squeezed her hand back and nodded firmly.

On the ride home, Kurato kept waving until everyone disappeared from view.

‘Girls really do flip fast, huh… Just because their leader got beaten, do they really switch sides this quickly? Or maybe…’