Aisaka Noya heard footsteps behind him.
When he turned around, the sound stopped—and the slim figure was already right there. If he had hesitated even a second longer, their foreheads might have bumped together.
Standing before him was a girl around seventeen or eighteen. She had delicate, refined features and waist-length, light blue hair that shimmered faintly under the moonlight. There was a trace of melancholy between her brows, and her misty blue eyes seemed veiled with sadness—like clouds drifting across a quiet lake.
A faint fragrance brushed past his nose, and Noya instinctively stepped back two paces. But even after he pulled away, the girl remained still, gazing at him silently, as if lost in her thoughts.
Unsure what to make of it, he finally broke the silence."Is something wrong, Mia?"
"…"
The girl with long blue hair finally stirred. She lifted her head and met his eyes.
"…Shia."
Her voice was soft, dreamy, as if spoken in her sleep. "My name is Shia. Shia Krongard, from the New World."
Noya blinked, startled. A beat later, he realized his mistake and flushed in embarrassment.
There were so many people in the headquarters' elite training camp that it was already hard enough to remember everyone's names. Although the girl before him was part of his generation, they had never spoken before. Her face was familiar but distant—and for a moment, he had mistaken her for another blue-haired recruit.
"S-sorry!"
He bowed slightly, his apology sincere. They'd been colleagues for nearly a year, and calling her by the wrong name was plain rude—there was no excuse for that.
"It's all right…"
Shia's eyes didn't waver. "If it were someone else, I might be angry. But if it's Aisaka Noya…"
Her tone softened. Then, to Noya's shock, she reached out her slender hand and gently brushed her fingertips along his cheek. "Then everything is forgivable… understandable…" she whispered.
"Pardon me."
Noya took another half step back, avoiding her touch. His expression hardened, and he even switched to a more formal tone.
"Perhaps I wasn't clear before. Miss Shia—did you come here to see me for something?"
Shia blinked, as if trying to process his words. Then, after a few seconds, a sweet smile curved across her lips.
"Of course," she said softly. "I came to confess my feelings to you. I've been holding it in for so long… If I don't say it now, I think I'll break."
Her voice was light and melodic, like a lark singing at dawn.
Noya froze. Before he could even respond, Shia tilted her head and pointed toward a building in the distance. "See that building?"
"Uh…" He glanced that way. "Isn't that the dormitory for female recruits?"
"Mhm."
From somewhere—he had no idea where—Shia produced a small monocular telescope from beneath her short skirt. "For the past year—three hundred nights—rain or shine, I've stood on the third-floor railing of that dorm every night, watching you train."
"…What?"
A chill crept up Noya's spine. His mouth twitched.Was this girl serious?
He trained for hours every night on that field, thinking no one was around—and this girl had been there all along, watching him from the shadows for a year?
"I fell in love with you the moment I first saw you, Aisaka Noya."
Her voice grew dreamy. "At first, it was your looks. Then your bright, sunny attitude. And later, seeing you work so hard toward your dreams, drenched in sweat under the moonlight… it made my heart ache."
She gazed fondly at the telescope in her hand. "You don't know how many nights I wanted to run down and wipe your sweat away myself… to tell you to rest a little. But I was too scared. Until tonight."
As she spoke, she reached out again to touch his face.
Noya calmly stepped aside once more.
He was beginning to question reality. Was this really the pirate world? Or had he wandered into some Friday night Japanese romance drama?
Why else would a supposedly normal evening of push-ups and drills suddenly turn into a midnight confession scene from a school romance?
"Miss Shia," he said firmly, cutting her off before she could continue. "Let me make one thing clear. Before tonight, we've barely spoken. That's why I didn't remember your name correctly. So…"
He took a deep breath. "A confession shouldn't be like the victory song after defeating pirates. It's not the horn that signals a charge before battle. Do you understand what I mean?"
Shia froze mid-motion. She stared at him silently for a long moment, her eyes calm beneath the faint light. Finally, she smiled.
"All right," she said softly.
"…What?"
"I mean," she continued, "if that's how Noya wants to see it, then consider my confession the horn before battle."
She tucked away her telescope, her smile bright and mischievous. "You were startled, weren't you? That's natural. There's always a bombardment before the fight—boom, boom, an unexpected barrage. Anyone would cover their ears."
She stepped closer, eyes gleaming. "But now that I've jumped onto the deck, the real battle begins. I'll fight with everything I have. So, Noya—be prepared."
Oh, for crying out loud.
Noya felt the veins on his forehead twitch. If this girl wasn't a total romantic maniac, then she definitely had a few screws loose. Her brain worked on a completely different wavelength from his.
Who in their right mind would accept a confession like that?
He briefly regretted using the System's Detection function on Gabu earlier. If only he'd saved it, maybe he could've gotten some insight into this situation—like a guide on how to reject someone without triggering a meltdown.
But how could anyone have predicted that he'd end up in this absurd scenario tonight?
"…Let me make this perfectly clear," he said at last. "I reject your confession, Miss Shia."
Her blue eyes widened slightly, but he pressed on, scrambling for an excuse. "I'm sorry, but that's just how I am. I have… higher standards for my partner."
He winced inwardly, already regretting the words as they left his mouth.
"To be specific," he added hastily, "looks and figure don't matter to me—but I can't accept a partner whose strength doesn't at least match my own."
He barely finished speaking before Shia's lips curved into a small, knowing smile.
"Then isn't that perfect?" she said sweetly.
"…Eh?"
"I've watched every single one of your evaluations, Noya," she said, her voice light and melodic again. "Your scores are always between fifty and sixty, right? As for me—ever since I joined the camp, under Instructor Zefa, I've never once fallen out of the top ten."