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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 51 Part 1

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Pasifista

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Interclub Tournament

　Without anything worthy of note or excited about, the qualifying round of the interclub tournament has ended up coming to its conclusion.

　We, the『Order of the Divine Workman (Adept Orders)』, have successfully advanced to the main tournament.

　At this point, our club rank getting upgraded to『C』 has been set in stone.

　As the benefit of becoming a C rank club, the member slots have increased from 20 to 25, and we’ve been assigned a club room in the prefab club building.

　How should I put it, I don’t really care.

「C’mon, stop sulking. What are you, a kid?」

　The guy who got to enjoy fighting and going kyakya ufufu sure has plenty of composure.

　It seems that the other classmates have formed a number of new clubs of their own too.

　The mood is saying that each of them have successfully passed the qualifying round.

　I get the faint feeling that the air in the classroom is filled with a sense of excitement too.

「Our class is pretty outstanding, huh. Could it be we’re the class of the elite?」

「As if, duh. Well, clubs that make it through the qualifying round with only first year students seem to be unusual, though….」

　As I’m listlessly plopped down on the desk too much, Shizuka-san starts to react, so I get up.

　My heart is pounding at Shizuka-san who reacts with a twitch, perhaps getting beaten to the punch.

「I heard that the main round is in a tournament format.」

　Unlike the qualifying round, which was a battle royal, the battles of the main tournament adopted a knockout system.

　Once you lose, you drop out then and there.

　It’s a scramble for seats of a total of 64 slots, 4 S-ranked slots, 12 A-ranked slots, and 48 B-ranked slots.

　The tournament bracket, with seeded slots arranged ahead of time based on the original club rank and the number of badges obtained, comes to look quite distorted at a glance.

　In our case, we’ll have to crawl up from the lowest rung of the hierarchy, mixed in among the riff raff.

　It’s like the qualifying round of the main tournament.

　Looking at the announced tournament bracket, first of all, B rank will be in the bag if we win three or so matches.

「Well. Let’s lose at the right point, shall we?」

「Just why?」

　When I grab Seiichi’s shoulders tightly, Shizuka’s breathing gets rougher, but it’s just a usual occurrence, so I ignore her.

　For some reason, I get the feeling that the classmate girls are also eyeing us, but it’s probably just my imagination.

「… It’s inevitable if we want to refrain from standing out too much, right? I’ve also talked to Ringo-senpai about it.」

　When Seiichi, who lowers his voice, tells me as such in a whisper into my ear, I feel the pressure of the gazes, which exude some sort of fermenting smell, rise.

　However, for him to talk it through Rinko-senpai, what a dirty way of doing things.

「Up to B is no problem, right?」

「Put up with it.」

「That’s different from what you promised. You told me that if I put up with it, I can do it to my heart’s content, didn’t you?」

　Leaving the onlookers that are abuzz aside, Shizuka-san having a nosebleed as she eyes us up close is truly a horror.

「… Let’s talk about it when we get back, okay. Rather, why are we being eyed at this much?」

 

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「Hmmm. I suppose let’s compromise and go for somewhere within B rank.」

「Gununu.」

　Rinko-senpai, dressed in her lovely pajamas, is criticizing me while flapping her feet on the bed.

　Returning to the dormitory, Seiichi is one slimy bastard for throwing the entire discussion to Rinko-senpai.

　In order to show my sincerity, I sit down on the floor between the beds and switch to direct talk mode.

「Ahaha. But getting told that winning is a no go, I feel sorry for Touma-kun, I think….」

　Mikan-senpai, dressed in her pretty pajamas, is showing me compassion like a goddess.

「Mikan-chan. This is for Touma-kun’s sake, okay. If Touma-kun goes on a rampage with his absurd power running in full throttle, he will be eyed by the High Ranked Clubs and headhunted, or he’ll be marked by the academy and locked up in isolation…. I suppose.」

「No, no good! Touma-kun, winning is a no go, okay.」

　Mikan-senpai leans forward from the bed and grabs me tightly.

　The eye of reversal is now gone.

「… Yup. As expected, I suppose the only way to persuade Touma-kun is to have Mikan-chan asks him to.」

　If there is anyone who can shake off Mikan-senpai who is clinging to them with teary eyes, I sure would like to meet them.

　The next instant, I will give such an inhumane person an iron fist punishment, though.

「Rather, speaking of the root of the matter. I believe you Senpais have some misunderstandings about me.」

「What do you mean by that I wonder?」

　Alright, I should use this opportunity to make them have the right perception.

　The same goes for Seiichi too, but it seems that everyone thinks of me as if I’m a monster or a Tatarigami.

　The current me is still no more than one of the many countless others, an existence that can’t even reach the foot of the really powerful ones.

　Therefore, I should challenge the struggle, which is a chance to temper myself, to the best of my ability.

「Alright. NG.」

　I am immediately subjected to a shoot down.

　Rinko-senpai is truly one ruthless queen of the night.

「True enough, I suppose there are those who are stronger than you, Touma-kun. Among those of the top rankers, there are also students who seem to have really stopped being human and all. But you see? What’s wrong with your self-evaluation is that you are indifferent to that idiosyncrasies, Touma-kun.」

「What do you mean?」

「Err, you see. It means that your brethren are as expected those with screw loose in their head, Touma-kun.」

　The way she puts it sounds as if I have screw loose in my head.

「The world seen by those who have obtained inhuman power and changed is different, or rather… Hmm, I suppose that’s not it, huh. Even if they’re looking at the same thing, I think the way they see it ends up being different. I don’t know if their true nature has come out or if they have awakened to something new, though.」

　I put Mikan-senpai, who is still squeezing me tightly, on my lap and hug her.

「What do you think would happen if such people bump into each other?」

「I think it’ll turn into a fight.」

「For you to immediately answer as such without hesitation, I think as expected you’re also one of them, Touma-kun. But well, you’re correct, I suppose. Just once, I’ve seen it turning into such a fight at the academy festival’s martial arts competition, you see. Crushing each other brutally, they were totally intending to kill each other…. It was subjected to a referee stop midway, but one of them was half dead while the other was beyond the hope of recovery.」

　Yeah, I get it.

　I totally get it.

　The Arcadia (Battle Nirvana) of perpetually brewing struggle, where you seriously crush and are seriously crushed.

　That’s definitely something that makes your blood boil.

　Rinko-senpai, who seems to have been observing my state fixedly, lets out a sigh.

「… As expected, no good. Absolutely no good. Aa~ aa~, yup, emergency meeting, for the place, and the equipment, yes.」

　Rinko-senpai, closing her eyes, is for some reason knocking on her own chest with a thump, thump, thump.

　I by no means don’t have a bad feeling about this, but Mikan-senpai, who is hugging me tightly, is licking me with moist eyes.

「Mikan-chan is a girl who doesn’t make mistakes by instinct, even if it’s something she doesn’t understand, after all. I suppose she’s telling you that you mustn’t go over to that side. Yup, I suppose I’d like you to stay being a human, Touma-kun.」

　*Knock, knock* I can hear the sound of the door, which has been left closed, getting knocked.

　The lock should have been set, but with a creak, the door is opened without waiting for our response.

　With Kurumi-senpai, who is dressed in her pajamas, in the lead, all the Senpais of the club are the intruders, with pillows in their hands.

「Ringo. What kind of turn of events is going on?」

「It’s properly transmitted, huh. Dear me, Touma-kun is turning into an unreasonable willful boy, so I think we have to persuade him together with everyone, or something.」

　The Senpais sirs come in one after another, but don’t you think the population density is a little too high?

「Now then. It seems that he has gotten backed up quite a bit today too, anyway. I suppose we shouldn’t let Touma-kun go out of the room until he becomes a good boy, or something.」

 

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