Stella popped open both cans and downed them in one big gulp, tears welling up in her eyes. It was too late now to say she’d bought one for Ikki.
“Coward,” Shizuku muttered.
“Shizuku?”
“It’s nothing. By the way, Onii-sama, would you be willing to teach me swordsmanship as well?”
Ikki cocked his head and gave her a quizzical look.
“Hmm, but we have specialized swordsmanship instructors at home, don’t we? Full-length katanas are my forte, and you use a kodachi. I’m sure someone back at the Kurogane estate can teach you more about how to use it.”
Ikki’s family, the Kurogane family, was a famous Blazer family that had produced numerous outstanding Blazers over the generations. Unlike the half-assed Blazers who relied solely on their magical powers, they understood the importance of martial arts as well. All the children of the Kurogane family were taught martial arts that matched their Device from a young age. Shizuku was no exception. She had started learning the Kurogane kodachi sword style around the time Ikki ran away from home. There should have been no need for her to ask him for lessons. But she frowned when Ikki brought up their family instructors.
“I stopped taking their lessons when you left home, Onii-sama. I would never ask the scumbags who drove you out of the house to teach me anything,” she explained.
Ah, I see... Ikki nodded in understanding.
“Our family name would be tarnished if the world knew we’d produced a Blazer like you.” That was what his father had said when he’d locked him away and forbidden him from training with any of the family instructors. It was the reason he’d run away from home four years ago. He didn’t regret his decision, but he did feel bad that his choices had created a rift between Shizuku and the rest of the Kurogane family. But that was all the more reason for him to help his sister with her swordsmanship.
“Got it. I’ve memorized all of the Kurogane-style kodachi techniques too, so I might be able to help you out.”
“Thank you very much,” Shizuku replied, beaming.
Ikki smiled back at her, happy that his cute little sister wanted his help.
“Ikki, if you’re going to teach Shizuku, then you have to teach me too!” Stella said after finishing off the last of her sports drinks.
“Huh? But...” Ikki muttered with a frown.
“Wh-What? Do you...not want to?”
“It’s more like...I don’t think there’s anything I can teach you, Stella.”
“Th-That’s not true! You beat me, so there’s gotta be something!”
“True, but...”
Seeing Ikki’s reluctance, Stella’s eyes started to simmer with anger.
“How come you’re so nice to Shizuku, but when it comes to me...”
“No, that’s not why I—”
“Fine! I can do without your stupid lessons! I didn’t want to learn anything from you anyway! I just said it for the hell of it! Just you wait! Next time we fight, I’ll beat you so bad that you won’t know what hit you! No way I’ll lose to a siscon who’s too busy ogling his sister to train! Go die, you idiot!”
Crying, Stella turned on her heel and ran off.
Uh-oh, I must have stepped on a land mine. Ikki knew this was his fault, even though what he’d said was correct. There was a good reason he couldn’t teach Stella anything, but his attitude had made it seem like he was just trying to exclude her. I need to make sure to apologize to her later.
“Onii-sama.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you really that against teaching Stella-san?”
“Yep,” Ikki confirmed. Now that Stella was gone, he could speak frankly. “Because I can’t be sure my advice will help her.”
“Why not?”
“For everyone else in our class, including you, Shizuku, I can clearly see where you’re lacking from a martial arts perspective. I know exactly what kind of training will help you. But with Stella, it’s different. She’s well past the point where an amateur who never received any formal training like me can give helpful advice. Besides, her swordsmanship is fundamentally different from mine.”
“In what way?”
“My swordsmanship relies on technique. The strength of my cuts comes from dexterity and mobility. But Stella’s swordsmanship is about pure power. She fights with absolute confidence in her strength, and she can do that because she has an enormous amount of it. She doesn’t need fancy tricks or special techniques when she can overwhelm her opponents with brute force. All of the martial arts she’s learned have been in service of helping her maximize that destructive force of hers. That’s why she doesn’t need any of the techniques I’ve developed. In fact, it might hurt her growth to teach her the kinds of moves I use. It’s because I’m worried that might happen that I don’t want to teach her. Besides, even if my lessons did make her stronger, that’d be boring in its own right.”
If Stella grew stronger with Ikki’s help, it would mean she’d gotten stronger in a way that he understood. But Ikki didn’t want that. Stella was a prodigy among prodigies. She had more potential than Ikki could possibly imagine. And he wanted her to stay that way. He wanted her to keep being a Blazer who surpassed his imagination time and time again.
“Because she’s my one and only rival.”
Ikki loved her more than anything, but she was also his goal, the hurdle he was constantly striving to overcome. He wanted her to stay that way forever, which was why he was so reluctant to train her.
“I guess we’re the ones being left out, then, not her,” Shizuku muttered with a frown.
“Hmm? Did you say something, Shizuku?”
“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking that pigs really do get everything.”
“Huh?”