Chapter 252: Purple-Haired Girl!
"Well... if I had to say, it's just pure physical training."
"What, are you guys interested?"
Hearing his question in return, Stella and the other three nodded in unison.
"After all, it's Nene-sensei's personal training that you voluntarily applied for, right, Luke?"
"To make you specifically apply for it means that Nene-sensei's training regimen in some aspects can allow you to improve... I should be right in understanding it this way, right?"
Stella expressed her thoughts to the boy, and after seeing him nod, she said with rather high spirits:
"I'm really curious, super curious, a training that can make you become stronger again, Luke..."
"If we could also participate, wouldn't we be able to improve a lot in a short period of time?"
"Hmm... there's nothing wrong with you thinking that way."
Luke rubbed his forehead in some distress.
"However, I feel that it would probably be very difficult for you guys to train together with me."
"It's not a secret anyway. You'll know once you come over and take a look later when I train with Nene-sensei."
After saying this, Luke paused for a moment and then changed the subject, looking at Ikki.
"However, before that, shouldn't we deal with certain issues first?"
"Ah... as expected, you noticed too, Luke... Alice probably discovered it long ago as well."
Seeing Luke's gesture, Ikki scratched his head mindlessly.
Originally, he planned to leave it alone and see if it would disappear on its own, but up to today it had already been about a week. Now, there was truly no way to continue ignoring it.
"Notice? Discover? Brother, what topic are you guys talking about?"
Seeing that Luke, Ikki, and Arisuin all had a 'knowing' look, Shizuku, who didn't understand a single thing they were saying, opened her mouth and asked.
And Stella, who similarly hadn't noticed anything, also looked at Ikki with a face full of confusion.
"Uh... it's just that recently it seems like someone has been stalking me..."
"Hah?!?!!" x2
Ikki's words instantly shocked Stella and Shizuku.
For the two girls who had always been well-protected by their families, this was their first time truly experiencing this kind of situation.
"S-s-s-stalking, it's that, right?! The kind of stalking where they tail someone all day, trespass into someone's room without permission, and stuff razors into letters to send to others?!"
"...Stella-san, if they were to send it, it should be razor blades, right... What's the point of sending a whole razor over..."
"Could it be out of concern for the target's appearance? That's really a kind stalker then..."
"Ugh… m-maybe t-they just forgot to break it down, and besides, this kind of thing isn't important at all right now!"
"That's true... Brother, could I trouble you to explain?"
"Uh... about a week ago, I suddenly noticed a gaze staring at me, and it hasn't stopped since then..."
Ikki looked at the highly nervous Shizuku and the unusually excited Stella, and said somewhat awkwardly:
"I originally thought it would naturally disappear if I just left it alone, but the other party doesn't seem to have any intention of giving up..."
"So it must definitely be an admirer of Ikki's, right."
At this time, Luke suddenly interjected.
Subsequently, Arisuin beside him also agreed and added.
"It's highly possible~ Usually, stalking someone is mostly because they like the other party, right?"
The words of the two of them stimulated the 'brother-obsessed' Shizuku all at once.
"Brother is a highly anticipated rising star right now, and I heard he is especially popular with women."
"If a female fan locked eyes with Brother from afar and mistakenly thought Brother was interested in her, or if Brother's polite replies instead caused the other party to misunderstand, or something like that..."
"I see, the possibility is quite high..."
Although Luke and Arisuin were fanning the flames, it wasn't completely unreasonable.
Their popularity right now could be said to be very high; the number of fans each of them possessed was not small.
And since Ikki was the type who wasn't good at dealing with others, a misunderstanding arising wasn't impossible.
For example, when Stella and Shizuku faced fans coming to strike up a conversation, they basically rejected or dispersed them without hesitation.
Arisuin, on the other hand, would give fans some perks while perfectly controlling the distance.
And Luke, at most, would just give them a smile.
In contrast, Ikki neither had Stella and Shizuku's decisiveness, nor Arisuin's mature techniques, and was even more incapable than Luke in this regard.
As long as someone came up to talk, he would immediately stop in his tracks.
If someone wanted a photo, signature, handshake, and so on, Ikki would also respond to them one by one.
He could almost be considered completely accommodating to every request.
"Simple idol-chasing is one thing; after all, Onii-sama is so perfect, it's inevitable that he would attract some shameless vixens."
"However, if they dare to lay a hand on Onii-sama, then they must be properly interrogated."
Shizuku, with a darkened face, pulled out two feathers from who-knows-where and held them in her hands.
Stella beside her saw this scene and asked somewhat curiously, "Shizuku, what are you going to do with those two feathers?"
"Do you even need to ask? I'm going to catch this stalker, and then subject her to the punishment of tickling."
"..."
"That's really quite a cute punishment... not your style at all..."
"I'm going to tickle her eyeballs!"
'So scary!!!'
Frightened by her words, Stella subconsciously took a step back, almost losing her footing and falling to the ground.
"Just hypothesizing won't let us know the truth. How about you just call her out and ask, Ikki?"
Luke naturally knew who the person stalking Ikki was, and he similarly knew the ins and outs of this matter.
However, he didn't actually plan to interfere in this matter.
Hearing his suggestion, Ikki nodded.
He still wanted to go and observe Luke and Nene-sensei's training, so it was better to deal with the stalker swiftly.
Thus, having made his decision, Ikki walked towards a certain tree by the roadside, simultaneously saying:
"You're hiding there, right? Is there something you need, following behind me all this time?"
Ikki's sudden question seemed to have frightened the person behind the tree.
"Waaaaah!?!"
Accompanied by a cry of alarm, a beautiful girl with long, purple-black hair tumbled out with a face full of panic.
"Ah! N-No! I didn't mean it like that... I just... just... Uwaaa!!!"
The girl, who believed she was hidden perfectly, was frightened into having her mind go completely blank the moment she was caught.
After she incoherently said something, she immediately turned around and bolted away.
However, behind the girl was a pond.
The panic-stricken girl crashed directly into the railing and plunged headfirst into the water.
Subsequently, she quietly floated on the surface of the water, completely motionless...
The girl's smooth and continuous 'suicidal behavior' directly left Ikki, who had gone up to talk to her, dumbfounded.
...
Ultimately, because the girl they fished out had already fainted, Ikki and the others decided to send her to the infirmary first.
After dealing with this girl's problem, they would go and rendezvous with Luke.
And Luke, who had an appointment with Nene, left the group on his own and headed to the designated training grounds.