The next morning, Sigulf was on his way to class, while trying to cover his yawn.

‘Huh, strange… I thought I had enough sleep? I guess I was overthinking stuff last night…’

“Yo, Sig-kun. Morning!”

“Oh, morning.”

Sigulf noticed him and exchanged greeting with Yuu. The shorter boy then tried to take a better look at his face.

“Still sleepy?”

“Somehow, yeah…”

“You shouldn’t stay up late to watch porn, Sig-kun.”

“…I don’t do that.”

“Ah right, you don’t have to do that anymore, being surrounded by 3 beautiful ladies. Possibly more.”

“…”

“I jest, I jest. So, shall we get going, then?”

“…right, maybe I can steal few minutes of sleep too.”

The boys then resumed walking to the class.

‘…?’

Sigulf could hear running footsteps getting closer, but he dismissed it until—

“Good morning, Siggy!”

“Whoa!?”

Alba jumped Sigulf from behind, making him almost lose his balance.

“And morning, Yuu!”

“Morning! …so I’m an extra huh?”

“What are you doing? That’s dangerous, you know?”

“What, are you saying you gonna fall down from that? Besides, I’m feeling hyper today!”

“Umm, okay…?”

“What’s with the weak reaction? Come on, our rivals are visiting! We gotta show them that we are the best rookie around!”

His expression changed slightly, now looking a bit serious.

“…you’re right. They say defending the crown is harder than reaching the top, and we don’t want to lose that.”

“I know, right?” Alba smiled triumphantly. “So…!”

She suddenly grabbed Sigulf’s hand.

“Eh…?”

“Let’s go to the class already!”

“What does that— Whoa, wait! Don’t pull!”

“Later, Yuu!”

“Take care, Alba-san! …sheesh, that’s ridiculously obvious.” Yuu laughed.

“Oh, Kanzaki? You’re on you own?”

“Ah, Bartram-senpai, Kensington-senpai, good morning!”

“Good morning.”

Yuu turned around to face the approaching Council duo.

“It’s a bit unusual seeing you without Sigulf and Alba.” Celina commented.

“Ah, those two already went to the classroom together.”

“Hmm…”

“I see…”

Both Celina and Chelsea seemed to have something in their minds.

———

Later, at their usual practice session…

“Siggy, spar with me!”

“Oi, Hrimgard! Fight me!”

“”…!?””

“Grrr…!”

“…why are you growling?”

Both Alba and Mei are eager to train with Sigulf.

“Err… Hey, Yuu, you don’t mind sparring with me again?”

“Hm? I don’t mind—“

““Don’t run away like that!””

“Not this again…” he groaned.

“Hold on, I can’t let that slip.” Eurypha suddenly spoke up, catching Mei’s attention.

“What?”

“You keep going on about Hrimgard there. Are you saying the rest of us aren’t up to par?”

Beat.

“Well, Sanada was pretty interesting too.”

“So you do look down on us!”

“I’m not. I just find him the most interesting.”

“Why you…”

“Mei-dono…” Reika sighed in exasperation.

“Uu… If only Sir Houjou is here…” Misha added.

“Alright, that’s enough. Let an adult handle this.” Carmen interrupted.

“Are you taking me for a kid!?”

“Look,” she continued, ignoring Eurypha. “I don’t know what are you thinking, but if you keep taking the rest of us lightly, I promise it’ll hurt later.”

“Hee…”

“And of course, I have to make myself look good in front of Minato~”

“So that’s your true intention!” Eurypha retorted.

“Well, duh. I can’t leave it to you. You are too hot-headed.”

“And you talk too much, you damned cow-tits.” Ilma quipped.

“What was that!? …better than none, I guess.”

“Shut up. I’ll just carve her up and call it a day.”

“Ooh, scary. …are you always on edge like that?” Mei commented.

The tension rises, and both Minato and Walter tried to defuse it with no luck, leaving Sigulf, Yuu, and Alba wondering themselves.

“…we can’t just begin a three-way sparring, can we?”

“Ah-hem.” Anil cleared his throat out of the blue, surprising everyone.

“…what is it?”

The boy said nothing and showed them his Organizer.

“So you’re saying— Wait, it’s already been decided? Since when?” Mei questioned.

Anil simply shrugged.

“Alright, let me see…” Eurypha approached, trying to get a better look.

———

After the initial disappointments, they scattered to face each other’s assigned training partners.

‘Let’s see… So I’m facing him.’

Sigulf watched as Anil is finishing his preparation.

“Let’s make this a good one.” Sigulf said.

Anil said nothing, and simply nodded.

‘So silent… Well, at least he seems to be a good guy.’

Besides them, Alba is brandishing her dummy claymore.

“It’s you, huh…”

“I’m looking forward to this practice!” Minato bowed.

“Likewise…! Show me what all those hype is about…!”

On the opposing side, Walter looked a bit dissatisfied with his results.

“Man, when can we freely choose our partner again?” he sighed.

“Now, now, it’s just a week. Try to bear with it.” Yuu suggested.

“A week, huh… You took this unusually well.”

Their exchanges, though, was nothing when compared to Eurypha’s fiery passion.

“I’ll tell this again; you’ll regret looking down on the rest of us!” she exclaimed while pointing her rapier towards Mei.

“…you took this seriously, huh? But that’s good enough. Come, Sanada’s girl!”

“I, I’m not his girl!”

Nearby, Carmen sighed at her Council-mate.

“Talk about lack of elegance. I should be the one facing her…”

She then turned her attention back to Misha.

“And you are…”

“Y, yes…?”

Carmen stared for a while, unnerving Misha.

“…no, forget it. Come on, time to begin.”

“R, right…!”

And finally, Ilma is locked in a staredown with Reika.

“…”

“…”

“Stay away from that offender.”

“…w, what? What are you trying to say?”

“Tch, how troublesome.”

“…honestly, you really need to fix that attitude of yours de gozaru.”

“Shut up, don’t lecture me.”

“Listen, Hiltunen-dono. As fellow girls, I must say that a cute girl such as y—“

“D, don’t call me c, cute!!”

“…wait, why are you stammering at that?”

———

The last bell rings, and everyone left the class to do whatever after school activities they have. Naturally, Sigulf decided to head to the Council room.

“Duty as usual?” Alba stopped him on the way.

“Uh-huh.”

“I see… Well, good luck then.”

“Yeah, you too. And don’t overexert yourself.” Sigulf replied as he resumed walking.

“…! W, wait!”

“Yes?”

“I… I might get much stronger than you are, you know!?”

Sigulf resisted the urge to laugh.

“I know. That’s why I’ll train real hard whenever I got the time.” He said while waving.

Silently, Alba watched his back as he gradually goes farther.

“…idiot.” She finally muttered while smiling.

———

Arriving at his destination, Sigulf then knocked the door a few times.

“Come in.”

‘Ah, it’s her…’

Sigulf entered the room, but then noticed Chelsea is nowhere in sight.

“Oh, it’s you. Good afternoon.” Celina greets him.

“Good afternoon.”

“I see you have decided to help earlier.”

“Um, yeah. Do we have lots of them?”

“Actually, no. And given time, I can do it on my own, but—“

“You’re not allowed to.”

“…precisely.” She laughed wryly. “So, would you?”

“My pleasure.”

“My gratitude then. …I suppose you won’t accept my apology?”

“Well, because you don’t have to. I wanted to do it after all.”

“You are right.” Celina laughed again. “Well then, I’m counting on you.”

“Roger that.”

Sigulf set aside his bag, took some papers, and began working.

“By the way, Chelsea’s not here?”

“Oh, she’s out for the moment, delivering few reports for the Principal.”

“Hmm…”

Sigulf wasn’t sure on how to follow-up, so he focuses back to his paperwork. He wanted to ask few things about Chelsea, but…

‘…I guess it’s better if I ask her directly? Or if she comes up with it, whatever goes first.’

“I’m baaack!” the door suddenly opened, revealing the girl in question. “…oh? I see Sigulf is here too. Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon.”

“Ah, so Celina already handed you the papers. Very good.”

She returned to her desk and resumes her own paperwork.

‘Hmm… Nothing out of the ordinary…’

———

After almost an hour, the cold made Sigulf feel the sudden urge to use the restroom. Excusing himself, he quickly left the room.

‘Toilet, toilet… Hm?’

At the front of the restroom, he recognized a student who, for some reason, keep looking around and stood there anxiously.

‘Isn’t that Smirnov? What happened?’