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“Haah!”

With a thunderous shout, Anne’s enormous great sword came crashing down towards me.

In a split second, I briefly considered dodging or counterattacking, but quickly settled on a decision and sprang into action.

Ka-kak!

I lightly deflected the side of the great sword and charged at Anne.

However, the weight of the sword and Anne’s terrifying strength made it apparent that even a slight deflection caused considerable backlash.

Boom!

The slightly deflected trajectory of the sword and Anne’s body.

Normally, I would have counterattacked with my sword, but since Anne’s attack was heavier than expected, my sword couldn’t keep up with my body.

Rather than giving her a chance to react by attacking late with my sword, I thought it’d be better to do something with my body.

Thud!

What was supposed to be a shoulder tackle ended up being a mindless slam.

However, it would be normal to stagger backward from such a impact, yet thanks to the weight of the firmly gripped great sword, Anne stood her ground instead of retreating.

But in this close proximity, I was at an advantage.

It was inconvenient to swing my sword, but Anne’s great sword couldn’t be swung at all, given the distance.

My late-swinging sword came straight down at Anne.

She couldn’t block with her great sword, and there absolutely wasn’t enough time to evade.

But that thought turned out to be my miscalculation.

It’s fundamental not to lose hold of your sword, but Anne casually released her grip on the great sword still deeply embedded in the ground and threw a punch at me.

She even skipped the most basic motion of pulling her arm back to put power into her punch.

Even though my sword moved first, it couldn’t be faster than the punch thrown directly at me in close quarters.

Pff!

Anne’s fist landed in my abdomen with remarkable force, without any preparatory motion.

While I had half expected it to be playful given her tendency to throw punches when joking around, the punch ended up being much fiercer than I imagined.

Caught off guard by the unexpected blow, I felt the impact throughout my whole body and flew backward.

Though it wasn’t a long distance, it was enough for Anne to grab her great sword again and prepare herself.

“Why didn’t you use some wrestling moves during our training before?”

I knew her unusual strength from her small frame made her fighting style quite formidable, but since she had never shown it before, I hadn’t considered it and ended up taking the hit.

“Hehe. I have to save my trump card! I was going to keep it hidden for the Celestial Festival’s tournament, but since Elysia can’t attend, there’s no reason to hide it anymore.”

It was just a punch, but with Anne’s immense strength, it was enough to consider it a trump card.

I could tell from just that single punch that her skill wasn’t just from a few days of practice.

“Alright, let’s start the second round!”

With that, Anne charged at me first again.

*

In the end, my duel with Anne ended in my victory.

Her wrestling was certainly powerful, but having had enough duel experience with her already, I only had to be careful to stay close.

“Ugh! I was really looking forward to this time!”

“It was close enough, though.”

It wasn’t a lie. Even though I had won, it had been quite difficult to block the distance where Anne was weakest.

“Well then…”

“Hold on, do you have a moment?”

A male voice interrupted Anne’s words.

Her face crinkled, but it seemed to be more about the owner of that voice than from being interrupted.

“Yeah. What is it, Ian?”

Ian Klein.

He was Anne’s twin brother, standing a head taller than even some adults, while Anne was about a head shorter than her younger male peers.

“I was wondering if you could have a duel with me if you have time.”

Now that I thought about it, Ian was actually closer to me than some of the other boys, yet we had had very few duels.

In fact, we hadn’t dueled even once since the second semester began.

“Hehe. You’re dreaming if you think you can beat me without even being able to beat Elysia!”

“…Even so, I’m only leading 34 wins to 33 losses in our record, you know? Getting cocky just because you’re ahead by one.”

“Weren’t you saying the same thing around this time last year? Didn’t it end up with a difference of about 10 matches in the end?”

“Ugh…”

Being twins, they fought so often that they actually kept track of their duel records year after year.

“Well… since I just finished one with Anne, let’s take a short break and start right away.”

“Ah, should I get you some water?”

“No, it’s fine. Just catching my breath will be enough.”

Since becoming a hero, my stamina has improved quite a bit, so I was being genuine.

“…Why doesn’t our little bro ever ask the sister who’s sweating just as much as he is for water?”

“Shut it, you little squirt.”

Though it seemed like Anne could probably use it more since she was also taking a break beside me, Ian disregarded Anne’s comment lightly, perhaps because of their sibling rivalry.

It was something hard for me to grasp being an only child!

In the end, Ian had to face off not just with me, but with Anne charging at him with a shout of “Kyaah!” for an impromptu duel before I could fight him.

*

“Seriously, Ian has no respect for his sister!”

After all the duels were finished, I went out with Anne alone.

Normally, Selian and Yuli would have joined us, but they had emptied out since they had promised something during the duels, so it was just the two of us.

“Haha… You just have to put up with it as the older sister.”

From my perspective, it seemed like much of a muchness, but I comforted Anne with those words.

For the record, my duel with Ian also ended in my victory.

Ian’s significant strength made it so he could swing a bastard sword with one hand, but he couldn’t match Anne’s bizarre power.

In reality, Anne being able to exert such insane strength from her tiny body was the rare exception.

As a result, while Ian had a basic fighting style aside from being stronger than others, Anne had to change her approach entirely.

And since I had gotten so used to that kind of fighting style from my duels with Selian, I ended up beating Ian more easily than I did with Anne.

“Ugh! I can’t take this! When I’m stressed, I really need something sweet!”

What kind of stress could she have from constantly bickering with me, I wondered.

I knew it was just an excuse to eat sweets, but I didn’t bring it up.

In the end, she led me into a café we frequently visited, ordering sweet drinks and sweet cakes just like usual.

It was hard to imagine a time when Anne hadn’t been out to eat sweet things.

“Ahh! I want an Americano!”

I barely stopped myself from ordering a super sweet drink just like hers.

“Well, for someone like Anne, I’m sure you’ll be in the top tier, right?”

I sat at an outdoor table, feeling the now quite chilly breeze, and started to speak.

“Top tier? I’m going to win!”

As much as I appreciated her confidence, shouldn’t she pay a bit more attention to the surrounding gazes?

After all, since it was a café frequently visited by academy students, I could feel the glances of students in academy uniforms turning towards her confident proclamation.

“But this tournament has seniors participating, and students from other departments as well, so it’s not something you can take for granted.”

While she might not compare to Selian and Yuli, it was clear that Anne ranked among the top of the first years.

However, it was hard to say how she’d fare among the entire academy.

There were other upperclassmen from the Swordsmanship Department who were already well-known, and some students from the Magic Department whose abilities were unknown.

Rumor had it that there was even a crazy paladin aspirant among the Theology Department students. Not that they were actually crazy, but their abilities were just that crazy.

“Honestly, Elysia worries too much. Usually, in competitions like this, the spirit alone carries you through half the way!”

With her chin slightly lifted and arms crossed, Anne spoke confidently.

Given her youthful appearance, it might seem like childish behavior, but her confidence made it feel quite natural.

“Yeah, yeah. Our Anne will definitely win. I believe in you.”

Well, that wasn’t a lie. The both Selian and I recognized Anne’s skills.

I smiled encouragingly at Anne, but instead of becoming happy, she seemed embarrassed by my sudden demeanor.

“O-oh, our Anne…”

In general, though she was confident, dignified, and full of energy, she could still be adorably shy at times.

“Yap!”

And while Anne was busy being embarrassed, the last piece of chocolate cake found its way into my mouth.

“Ahh!”

Seeing the chocolate cake disappear just moments after she was blushing was a dessert all on its own.

 

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