Chapter 310: Shinomiya Amane!
"Ikki, did anything unusual happen after you got lost?"
Luke frowned slightly, as though something had occurred to him, and asked Ikki.
"…If possible, please don't use the word 'lost.' At least call it 'separated.'"
Ikki sighed helplessly.
However, he quickly nodded and confirmed Luke's question.
"I did run into something."
"As for whether it counts as unusual, honestly, I'm not sure."
"After I got separated from you two earlier, I saw a man acting very strangely."
"Just in case, I followed him… and as I expected, that man suddenly pulled a knife from his pocket and tried to attack a passerby in front of him."
"So you came late because you stopped that person?"
Hearing Ikki's explanation, Stella asked curiously.
"Mm… more or less. But that person isn't what I meant by 'unusual.'"
Ikki sounded a little hesitant when he said that, as though even he was not sure whether this counted as unusual.
"When I was about to stop that man, someone else stopped him one step ahead of me."
"That person is what felt special to me… or maybe I should say strange?"
Ikki's words drew everyone's interest, including Luke's.
"In other words, this person had faster reactions and better mobility than you, or perhaps an extraordinary ability to predict what was about to happen?"
Luke looked at Ikki with great interest. He had not expected to run into a powerhouse of that level just by going out for dinner.
After all, Ikki's reaction speed, mobility, and predictive ability were all extremely outstanding.
When it came to reaction speed and mobility, Luke was still confident he could beat Ikki.
But if it was predictive ability, then honestly, Luke did not think he was better than Ikki.
In that kind of on-the-spot judgment, Ikki, with his abnormal observation ability, could even act one step faster than Luke.
And now someone had actually moved ahead of Ikki to stop something from happening.
"Was it a strong person you know? Or a representative from one of the schools?"
"Or was it a complete stranger?"
Faced with Luke's questions, Ikki scratched his head in distress.
"Uh… he is a representative."
"But whether he's strong or not… well, I don't know."
Ikki's answer stunned everyone. None of them had expected him to give that kind of response.
Even Luke admired Ikki's abnormal observation ability. Since he had already seen the other person make a move, there should have been no reason he could not judge even the most basic level of strength.
Ikki also seemed to know how strange his answer sounded, so he continued explaining.
"The reason I said I don't know is because, although he stopped that man from hurting someone, his first reaction after the man fought back was… to hold his head and cry for help."
Even Ikki himself felt speechless saying it, but that really was what had happened.
Luke blankly listened to Ikki's description, then confirmed it with him in confusion.
"You're saying you met a Seven Star Sword Art Festival representative who stopped a criminal one step faster than you."
"And then, the moment the criminal fought back… he held his head and cried for help???"
"Mm… that's exactly it."
Luke looked at Ikki, who nodded obediently, and fell silent.
Not just him. Stella, Shizuku, and Arisuin, who were listening nearby, also fell silent together.
Only Ikki sat there looking completely confused, having no idea what was going on.
After a long while, Luke finally spoke to Ikki.
"You're really not treating us like idiots and messing with us?"
"Huh? W-Why is it turning into that again?!"
Hearing Luke's words, Ikki immediately started explaining in a panic.
"I'm not! I didn't! This really happened to me!"
"Then tell us, which school's representative did you meet?"
"That would be me~!"
Just as everyone was chatting, a strange voice suddenly entered their ears.
This sudden change made Luke immediately turn toward the source of the voice.
A situation where someone approached without him noticing at all was something Luke had only experienced from one person before, and that was Hagun Academy's Student Council Vice President, Misogi Utakata.
So in that instant, Luke directly concluded that the person who had arrived was most likely a Blazer with a causality-interference ability.
When he turned around, a handsome, delicate-looking boy appeared in Luke's eyes.
Calling him delicate was already putting it mildly. If someone did not have sharp observation skills or certain kinds of experience, they would probably mistake him for a girl at first glance.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Shinomiya Amane, a first-year from Kyomon Academy, and just like you all, I'm a representative for the Seven Star Sword Art Festival."
"Please take care of me~"
"Ah, by the way, I'm a huge fan of Another One!"
Without waiting for Luke and the others to ask, the boy quickly finished introducing himself.
Then, without holding back at all, he plopped himself down beside Ikki and hugged him.
Seeing the boy's behavior, along with the excitement and joy spreading across that delicate little face, Luke, Stella, Shizuku, and even Arisuin silently shifted farther away.
"W-W-W-What is this situation?!"
"C-Could he be gay? Has Onii-sama's charm grown so great that even other men are drawn to him?!"
"My, this is my first time seeing this type."
"…"
Luke had originally planned to join in with a comment too, but Arisuin's words made him choke.
At some point, Arisuin had somehow been treated as a girl by default within their circle, and even Luke had gradually ignored the issue of his gender out of habit.
However, now that "same-sex attraction" had appeared right in front of him, Luke could not help remembering Arisuin's true nature as a cross-dressing guy.
For a moment, Luke did not even know where to begin roasting them.
Their reactions instantly made cold sweat run down Ikki's back.
With a burst of strength in his feet, Ikki left his seat at a speed invisible to the naked eye and stared at Shinomiya Amane in horror, like a startled animal.
"…Isn't your reaction a little too much?"
Shinomiya Amane looked at them and spoke with some dissatisfaction.
"I'm not gay!"
"I was just too happy to meet Ikki, so I got a little overexcited for a moment."
"My preferences are completely normal!"
However, even though the boy explained it himself, the way his eyes sparkled whenever he looked at Ikki made it impossible for anyone to believe him.
…
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