Shinomiya Amane, who’d been known as Amamiya Shion at the time, had awoken to his Blazer powers relatively young, at the age when children were true to their desires and didn’t know self-control. Good things had kept happening to him one after another, and before long, the people around him had realized that he was a Blazer. That had cast a long shadow over his elementary school years. No matter how hard he’d studied or how much effort he’d put into physical activities, everyone had just thought he’d cheated his way to good results.
Everyone, from his fellow students to the teachers, had hated Amane, but at the same time, they’d feared him. Anything he’d truly wanted from the bottom of his heart, Nameless Glory had granted it to him. Even he wasn’t sure whether his achievements had been a result of his own efforts or a boon his unwanted goddess had granted him.
It was precisely because he himself couldn’t be sure that he wanted an impartial third party to recognize him. He wanted someone to tell him that his accomplishments weren’t luck, that he’d earned them through hard work. But he never got the recognition he craved, and even when he’d saved his classmates from a fire, everyone had mistakenly believed he’d caused it in the first place to make himself look good.
Eventually, Amane had stopped going to school and started shutting himself up at home. No matter what he did, though, his mother had never blamed him.
“It’s okay. I know you’re a kind boy, Shion-chan. You’d never do something horrible like set the school on fire,” she’d said, comforting him when he’d come crying home to her. She’d been his one ally while everyone else had shunned him for his power. “I’m not the only one who thinks so. God must too, and that’s why he gave a kind boy like you this power. It’s his way of telling you that you deserve happiness. Find happiness, Shion-chan.”
Amane still vividly remembered the warmth of her embrace. She’d divorced his dad shortly after he’d been born and raised him all on her own. He’d loved his kind, strong mother. That was why he’d always wished for her happiness. As a result, things had gone well for her at work, and the two of them had been able to live a comfortable life.
Back then, Amane had been truly happy. Even if no one at school had respected him, he’d had a warm home to return to and a mother who’d acknowledged his efforts. For a while, he’d believed that was good enough. But then, one day, a certain doubt had wormed its way into his mind.
Would Mom still love me even if I didn’t have this power? Is it me she loves, or just the goddess who’s blessed me?
Once that thought had occurred to him, his life became hell. The thought that his mother’s warm smile might be for his goddess and not him had been so painful that it’d brought him to tears.
At the same time, he’d hated himself for doubting his mother. He’d kept telling himself over and over not to be such a disloyal son, but the doubt had wormed its way so deep into his heart that it’d become unbearable. Thus, to test his mother, he’d decided that he wouldn’t use his power at all for just one day. It was amazing how quickly her attitude had changed.
“Why? I love you so much, Shion-chan, so why won’t you love me back?”
That day, one of America’s biggest banks had failed, sending the whole world into a financial crisis. Amane’s mom had been making most of her money in stocks, and the economic downturn meant she’d lost big and ended up in debt. Enraged, she’d started beating her own son.
As he’d weathered the rain of blows, Amane had come to understand a cruel truth: that it wasn’t just the people at school who didn’t care about him, but even his own mother. The only thing anyone had loved was his power. All they’d wanted was the good luck he could bring them.
Once that had sunk in, things had only gotten worse. Upon realizing that his mother didn’t care about him, he’d found that he couldn’t bring himself to wish for her happiness. Nameless Glory only granted Amane the things he truly desired from the bottom of his heart. Since he hadn’t really wanted his mother to be happy, he couldn’t have asked Nameless Glory to make things better for her. As a result, his mother had gotten angrier, and her abuse had gotten worse. She’d beaten him daily and forced him to go without meals sometimes. At one point, she’d even stripped him naked, forced him into a rabbit cage, and poured boiling water over him.
Amane’s screams had filled the house as he’d been forced to sit there as the water scalded his skin. He’d begged his mother for forgiveness, hoping that his pleas might eventually reach her. But they never had. Her answer had always been the same.
“If you want me to stop, then make me happy. Make me happy. Make me happy. Make me happy, make me happy, make me happy. Make me happy, make me happy, make me happy, make me happy, make me happy. Make me happy, make me happy, make me happy, make me happy, make me happy, make me happy, make me happy, make me happy, make me happy, make me happy.”
Finally, after half a year of unending torture, Amane had grown to hate his mother. And once that had happened, fate had twisted to remove what he hated.
“Shion, are you okay?! Thank goodness I got to you before it was too late!”
One day, a middle-aged man had pulled a half dead Amane out of his cage, his hands stained with Amane’s mother’s blood. He’d been vaguely able to recall the man’s face and knew that it belonged to his father.
“You’re safe now. Your mom can’t hurt you anymore!”
Amane’s father had hugged him, tears of relief streaming from his eyes. But the smile he’d given Amane was the same one his mother had given him once before, when she’d wanted to use his power for herself.
“It’s okay, Daddy’s here for you now. I love you, and you love me, right?”
✦ ✦ ✦
In that moment, Amamiya Shion had learned that no one in the world needed him. At the same time, he’d been able to well and truly give up on himself. He had the power to grant any wish he desired, and yet that power had destroyed his parents’ love. His power was so great, he’d realized, that it was only natural that people would focus on that and ignore him.
Upon giving up, he’d felt better, if only a little. He’d been able to cling to the belief that his power was too great to be overcome. But now, over the course of this match, even that belief had been shattered.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Stop fighting! The winner is Kurogane Ikki!” the referee shouted, seeing that Amane had lost too much blood to continue fighting. He’d been a referee for many years now, and he could tell when someone was out of commission.
There was a second of stunned silence, and then the crowd burst out into cheers.
“Shinomiya’s down, and the ref’s called the match! The winner of the second semifinal match of the Seven Stars Battle Festival is Kurogane Ikki!”
“Wh-Whoa! Ikki-kun really won!”
“Seriously? It’s already over?”
“That was kind of a letdown... It was just a one-sided ass kicking.”
“You can hear some confusion mixed in with the audience’s cheers! Considering we started with Shinomiya announcing he was going to resign and then ended with a match that was so one-sided he might as well have forfeited from the start, I don’t blame them! Kurogane won without getting so much as a scratch on him! But make no mistake! That wasn’t because Shinomiya was weak! Kurogane’s martial skill is just that great! His victory was only inevitable thanks to the immense amount of training he’s put in! He’s now made his way to the finals, and we may just have the first Rank F Seven Stars Sovereign in history!”
“Wow! Just wow! I can’t believe you were able to cinch a perfect victory against such a troublesome opponent!” Alisuin exclaimed, clapping enthusiastically. She’d seen Amane’s power firsthand, so she’d been worried Ikki might struggle. Smiling, she turned to Shizuku and said, “That’s great, isn’t it, Shizuku?”
But to Alisuin’s surprise, Shizuku didn’t look happy. She was staring intently down at the ring, a frown on her face.
“Shizuku?”
Her focus was so great that she didn’t hear Alisuin at all.
What is this?
Honestly, she couldn’t understand why she wasn’t cheering with everyone else. She just knew that something was off somehow. And she wasn’t the only one. Stella, too, was looking worriedly down at the ring. The referee had already called the match, which meant there was nothing that could overturn Ikki’s victory now, not even Amane’s Nameless Glory.
The match should be over, and yet...
Shizuku had a feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
“Watch out!” Ikki suddenly shouted, and Shizuku realized what that premonition had been.