Clois and Ivo had been her friends since middle school, and they had scored first and second place respectively in the previous year’s middle school tournament. Yui and Lyle had also made it to the semifinals back then—Lyle had lost to Clois and placed third. Finally, Yui had lost to Ivo by default, putting her in fourth. This meant that the highest-ranking competitors in the tournament were currently all gathered in her room.
“You have a room all to yourself, Yui? Ahh, that must be nice,” Lyle said wistfully. “All four of us are stuck in a single room in third class. This unequal treatment is so cruel!”
The train had multiple classes of accommodations, from a special carriage all the way down to third class. Anyone part of a family with the rank of count or higher was given first-class accommodations, those below were in second class, and everyone else in commoner families were put into the third-class carriages. The cramped rooms in third class had bunk beds, and you could only move around freely in your own bed, which meant that the room was basically only suitable for sleeping.
On the other hand, in first class, Yui had her own room that was larger than the four-person rooms in third class. She had a soft, fluffy bed, a couch, and a table, which made the long journey a comfortable one. Normally, during school events, ability meant everything and status was unimportant. However, the training camp must’ve been different. Regardless, many of the students who had been assigned to the uncomfortable third-class cars were moving around the train. Her friends had been up and about for that very reason when they decided to go to her room.
“More importantly, what do you mean by ‘overdid it’?” Yui asked.
Her friends had been looking restlessly around her room, and their attention returned to her when she spoke. The slightly younger-looking, annoyed Ivo plopped down in the seat next to Yui, and the others followed after him, each finding a spot to settle down in.
Finney was the first to speak. “Do you remember the student I was matched up against in the recent practical test?”
Yui thought for a moment. “If I remember correctly, he was that class A student you destroyed, right?”
“Yeah. He was set to go to training camp, but apparently, he was so shocked that he was thoroughly defeated by a student from a low-ranking class that he dropped out right before the start, saying that there was no way he could come. The teachers yelled at me and said it was my fault, and I ended up coming in his place. Whoops!” He laughed, delighted.
Yui was exasperated; Lyle and Clois looked at Finney with stiff expressions on their faces.
Unable to keep quiet, Lyle took a verbal jab at Finney. “This isn’t funny! He was pretty depressed after the match, you know, and he was crying that he didn’t deserve to be in class A anymore.”
Clois seemed sympathetic, and he agreed with Lyle. “And you just had to use the same spells as him. He must’ve felt like his pride was being torn to shreds and stomped on when your counterattacks were stronger than his. All the more because he’s in class A.”
“You’ll have to restrain yourself a bit more from now on, Finney,” Yui said. She looked at Ivo. “Now I get why he’s here, but why are you so upset, Ivo?” He hadn’t spoken a word since entering, and he wasn’t making any effort to hide his bad mood—his arms were crossed, and he had a sour look on his face.
“It’s your fault, Yui,” Ivo replied.
Yui’s eyes widened. “Mine?” she asked, pointing to herself. Everyone else besides Ivo nodded in agreement.
“It’s because, during the exam, you fought that guy from class A,” Clois said.
However, Yui didn’t understand what he meant. She tilted her head in confusion, so Lyle continued.
“During the tournament, you didn’t show up to fight Ivo, so you lost by default. But you fought someone else for the test at school, so he’s pouting.”
“I am not pouting!” Ivo loudly rebuked him, seemingly upset by how Lyle had put it. “I just don’t like that you fought with someone else.”
“They call that pouting, Ivo,” Finney said, sounding tired.
Ivo instantly tried to retort, but he knew keenly well that he couldn’t beat Finney in an argument, so he turned his anger toward Yui. “It’s your fault, Yui! You disappeared right before our match without telling anyone where you were going. And when Rouelle finally found you, you were eating cake?! No, you were eating seconds!”
“Did you want some too?” Yui said nonchalantly.
“Of course not!” Ivo was so worked up that his face was a deep red and he was panting. It seemed that at any moment, a vein might burst and cause him to collapse.
“Is it really that big of a deal?” Yui asked. “We can have a match at any time. It doesn’t have to be at a tournament. When camp is over, do you want to borrow a study room at school and fight?”
“It has to be at a tournament, or it’s pointless! Without a large audience, how will I show everyone how powerful you are?”
Having been unable to fight Yui wasn’t the only thing Ivo was upset about—far from it. Even though Yui was the most powerful out of any of them, she was seen as useless by those around her just because she was a Liefe. He had thought that this unpleasant attitude would naturally go away as she continued to win matches, but because her opponents had all dropped out when they’d learned how strong she was, it had only gotten even more pronounced. Ivo couldn’t stand that, precisely because he recognized her strength.
“If we’d fought, you definitely would’ve won, and then everyone would have acknowledged how powerful you are! They would’ve stopped looking down on you,” Ivo said. “But then... Then you... Gaaah!” His anger again reached its boiling point, and he stood up and got up close to Yui so vigorously that it seemed like he was about to grab her.
However, Yui was unfazed. “But either way, if it got out that we’re friends, wouldn’t they have just said that you went easy on me, or that we planned it? I don’t think it would’ve made a difference.”
“Anyone watching would’ve known that wasn’t true!” Ivo exclaimed. “And if they were so incompetent that they still couldn’t figure it out, you could’ve just ignored them.”
“Haaah...” Yui sighed, realizing that it was pointless to try to say anything more to Ivo. Trying to escape from her current situation, she turned to Finney and gave him a look asking for help. Ivo was always left at a loss for words whenever he was up against the smooth-talking Finney, and he always had trouble dealing with him. Whenever Finney stepped in, he suddenly went quiet. So, taming Ivo had become a kind of role for Finney.
When Finney noticed Yui’s look, his smile widened as if to say, “I’ve got this.” Normally, he would have resisted having extra work foisted upon him, but it was very much like him to interpret this as a chance to enjoy himself.
“But you know,” Finney began, and Ivo diverted his attention to him, “I don’t really think you have any right to get angry at Yui.”
“Why not?”
“You got all angry that you couldn’t fight against her, but then after that, you didn’t show up to the final match against Clo.”
“Urk...” Finney had hit a sore spot, and Ivo hesitated.
“Exactly. It was unheard of for the championship match to just not happen,” Lyle said, stabbing Ivo in the back with a smile.
“Ungh,” Ivo grunted.
“When you, the tournament’s prime contender, didn’t show up to the final match after winning the semifinals by default, they thought it was all arranged—they even suspected me of cheating,” Clois said. He unhappily pushed his glasses up his nose with a finger.
“Aaah...”
Finney patted Clois on the shoulder. “Poor Clo.”