[Enemy] in front of her was on the floor, his body was covered in wounds and bleeding all over. Blood tainted the floor here and there, but she could see the light of a fighter in her enemy's eyes.

 

She could...she could....she could what?

 

A light headache suddenly hit her and she fought the groan that wanted to escape her mouth, she couldn't do that. No, AKIRA didn't like it when she groaned in pain.

 

That wasn't SOMETHING SHE SHOULD DO, no. She was strong, so as such, she should behave as the strong did. "Yield." She said to the [Enemy] who could barely stay conscious.

 

He seemed to say something, but she wasn't sure what. All she heard had been:

 

"4̴̳͗́́K̸͓̺͍̼͎̤͙̱̖͖̦̻̟̐̀̓̄̉̃͂̇͘!̶̞̻̗̠͍͚̇̓̇̑́̀͠R̵̨͔̹̺̳̝̖̻̩̭̠̞̠̀̅̄̔̍̒͠4̴͍̦̣̙̗̝̳̖͛̑̇͝ ̶̛̦͉̳̭̪͔̼̝̿̄̆̽͑̈͜͜|̷̢̨̬͔͚͕̖̱̘̠̬͋̑̏͂͛͗̀͜͠͝ͅ)̸̛̦̮̖̝̖͔͕̣̥͔͉̜̽͒̈́̏͒̊́̿͑̽͗0̵̟͓̱̩̐̈́̄͜3̵̨̟̬̩̯͉̤̹̬̉̂$̶̤̳̃͘͝N̸͙͍͚̩͓̯͂̾̆͋̍̄̂'̴̛̛͓͈̪̥̥̣͂̑̅͗̆̀̇͛̑͜T̸̤͉͓̯̗̫̣̜͔̩̔͐̽̄͒̿̎̿̍ ̴͇̞̠͈̈̀̓̈́͝͝͝|̵̮͇̺̙͎̰̅ͅͅ)̴̘͇̐͐̽̀̄̓̕͠3̴̰͈̰̜͋͜$̸̢̜̝̤̝̳̜͖̟̀3̵̯̘͕̰̓͊́̎̀̄|̵̨̧̄̿͋͂͛́͊̊2̴̞̒͑̒́̇͂̈́̾͂/̸̧̲͂͋̅̌͐̈̑3̷̨̥̪͉̱̼̖̈͒̈́̾ ̶̛͙͉̫̬̖̖͙̗͔̲̦̦̐̈́̉̊̓̌͘7̸̢̣͊̆͆͆̾̎̒̀̋́͝͝͝|̴̫͔̠̲̦̿̏̐͋̉̆͐͌͌͗̌͑ͅͅ-̸̡̩͕̙̥̗͓̬̤̺̼͚̹̈́̉̀̋̍̚̕|̷̧̛̘͓͓̰̹͕̀́͛͊̓͂ͅ4̷͎̠͔̳̹͎̹͇̫̗͈̙̎̾̽͑̂̔̎͊̇̎̿͜͝7̸̫̯̬̥̭̩̅̿̑ ̸̢̻̻̆͋̉̒͋/̷̳̩̹̏̆͑/̸̫͋̽̈̎͐͒̚\̸̧̖̟̪̩̈̽̉̑̈́͗͠4̴̤͕͈̰̥̬̥͎̺͌͆̏̒͋̎̍̾̇̕͝/̸̥͍͚̤̻͓̲͇̗̓̑͆̅̐͑̒̾͑ͅ/̴͙̞̠̼̫̐̓͋͐̅̄̈́̿\̷̧̧͉͇̲͔͙͚̠͇̤͍͔̉͐̓̎͐̕͘͠3̶̛̩͖͖̭̳͖͕̃̽̑̎͆̂̏3̶͇̫̝̊̈́̈͒̀͘͘͘͝"

 

She wasn't sure what that was, the sound made her ears hurt, as if something had been said that SHE SHOULDN'T KNOW, and her mind had PROTECTED her by censoring it.

 

It had started happening more often as of late, she wasn't sure why. Most of the people around her no longer had faces, very few she could recognize by their appearance. It wasn't hard to live like this, she mostly depended on her other senses, hearing and mana detection were useful to identify who was who.

 

"The winner is [The Demon Slaying Sword]!" One of such person who still had a face was that woman.

 

Agatha Moonstone, her teacher on magic and skills. The woman who held some degree of power radiating from her being.

 

"MEDICS! HEALERS!" And whose identity was a mystery to her.

 

She commanded multiple elements of power in her body, her instincts told her that she was someone who she should confide in, but her MIND told her that she should never ever speak to her.

 

And since AKIRA told her to listen to her MIND over something silly as instincts, she trusted him, he WANTED WHAT IS BEST FOR HER after all.

 

She understood why as of late, since she seemed to look at her with some weird look, it seemed that she held anger/pity at her for some reason. She wasn't going to dwell on that either, she didn't have the strength to deal with her yet.

 

AKIRA had been clear about what to do when someone was antagonizing THE TRUE HERO of this world, and while she WASN'T UP TO STRENGTH like AKIRA, she was still someone who was in the HERO PARTY.

 

She would have her vengeance against Agatha soon enough.

 

"Good job DARLING," Akira said to her as she returned to her seat next to HIM.

 

He had saved the BEST SPOT for her, and even offered her FLOWERS AND STUFFED BEARS for her to care for while they saw the matches, really. He was just a HOPELESS ROMANTIC sometimes, it made her blush with all THE CARE AND LOVE he showed to her.

 

Then...she felt it once more.

 

That [gaze], she tried to not think too much about it, since the consequences of acting on it were something she wasn't sure how to deal with.

 

She had found a few people whose faces weren't clouded with time, and AKIRA always said one of a few things about how to deal with them.

 

It was usually something like:

-If they were older people honestly speak with them and ask them what they wanted like normal members of society / KILL THEM

-If they were females, speak to them girl-to-girl about what they wanted / OFFER THEM TO AKIRA

-If they were males, ask them politely to mind their own business / KILL THEM

-In doubt, ask AKIRA.

 

Really, she hadn't needed to do much, since usually she would just directly ask AKIRA what to do, since he was SMARTER and STRONGER, so it was THE MOST OBVIOUS THING TO DO in those situations.

 

The first time she had found someone like that had been when the blue-haired mage bumped into her at the start of the second year when most of the fog had started to become harder to deal with.

 

He stared at her with a thoughtful expression and asked her if she was okay, it was such a silly thing to ask her, she was stronger than him, and even without using her [Identify], she was sure that it wouldn't be a fight if they found themselves at odds.

 

So she answered, "Mind your own business."

 

She was FINE, of course, she was OKAY.

 

Why would he think she wasn't? Wasn't it obvious that SHE DIDN'T NEED HELP. He was weird, and she tried her best to avoid him for the rest of that month.

 

She even told AKIRA about that encounter and he SOOTHED HER with SWEET WORDS and CARE, they even HELD HANDS! And it was all night too!

 

Really AKIRA knew WHAT WAS BEST! She knew he didn't like it when she was NAGGY about GIRL STUFF, but he CARED ABOUT HER FEELINGS enough to deal with her.

 

The next time someone like that showed up it was a student of another class, a female one at that. AKIRA showed interest in this and went ahead to speak with the girl FOR HER SAKE, it seemed that the girl HAD TROUBLES AT HOME, so AKIRA had to spend the night HELPING HER deal with them.

 

Such a WORRYWART was AKIRA sometimes, but she LOVED HIM FOR THAT part of him.

 

So she spent time going around campus SEARCHING FOR PEOPLE IN NEED for AKIRA to HELP.

 

That was how she came across the second person whose face wasn't fogged, Rossaline Singh.

 

That girl left early on so she hadn't time for AKIRA TO HELP HER with her problems, and the next time AKIRA TRIED TO HELP HER, she responded by hurting him, she felt PURE HATRED at the sight of AKIRA HURT.

 

It was only because SHE NEEDED TO GET HELP FOR AKIRA that she hadn't been able to GET THAT GIRL TO APOLOGIZE TO AKIRA.

 

In the end, when she told AKIRA that Rossaline didn't have her face fogged he just said that HE WOULD HELP HER when he was stronger, and that she didn't need to WORRY ABOUT ROSSALINE too much.

 

Really, even when someone hurt him, he would still CARE ABOUT THEM, if anyone DESERVED to be called a HERO, it was AKIRA.

 

Then, after months on end without seeing anyone whose face was clear, she found...a ray of light. She wasn't sure what it was that made her look at her, but something with Elizabeth Starbright made her try to get close to her.

 

It was as if something within her soul told her to go to her, and when she told AKIRA about this, he nodded at her and ENCOURAGED HER, to make sure Elizabeth WOULD GET AKIRA'S HELP.

 

...And for the first time in her life...she didn't want AKIRA to help someone. The thought made her head HURT, it made her heart ACHE, it...it WASN'T RIGHT. She had asked AKIRA if...if Elizabeth really NEEDED HIS HELP, the girl seemed okay.

 

And she was friends with Rossaline, if anything shouldn't she get help from her friend?

 

That didn't end well, she still remembered how SAD AKIRA had been that night, how she had needed to HOLD HIS HAND ALL NIGHT and THE NEXT DAY, to calm him down. He obviously wanted to HELP Elizabeth with ALL HIS MIGHT, why he was so SAD about this that he wasn't in the right state of mind to ALLOW HER to SLEEP in peace.

 

He was A TRUE HERO OF JUSTICE, he couldn't leave someone who NEEDED HELP wait. She wasn't sure what had gotten over her during those days, but THANKS TO AKIRA she had gotten over it, and HOLDING HIS HAND had solved it, it made her understand how much AKIRA CARED FOR HER and how he only WANTED WHAT WAS BEST FOR ELIZABETH TOO.

 

So she would HELP HIM like always...at some point. She did her best to...Try and speak with Elizabeth, she wanted to be like AKIRA and help those in need, but she couldn't keep making AKIRA to do everything.

 

So she tried to help Elizabeth, trying to ask around about what she needed or wanted, what problems she had...

 

And found nothing, the girl was a mystery, she was an orphan with no history, apparently, she had been hit hard by the [Advent], and so no one remembered her... Besides Rossaline that is.

 

Somehow that girl remembered her, searching around she found that Michael (the blue-haired mage) had said that he felt like he knew Elizabeth.

 

But she couldn't remember her, she couldn't remember Elizabeth, no matter what, she didn't have any feeling of knowing her, if anything she felt... Something, something within her seemed to want to go towards Elizabeth.

 

It wasn't love, she was sure it wasn't, it wasn't the same kind of LOVE that she had for AKIRA either. But something within her told her that Elizabeth could help her.

 

But why would she need help? She was FINE.

 

"What are you thinking LOVE?" AKIRA was speaking to her!

 

She needed to focus on WHAT WAS IMPORTANT, "Nothing, the fight was OKAY, my opponent was A BRAVE WARRIOR OR JUSTICE. Wish it MADE JUSTICE TO WHAT HE WANTED."

 

She wasn't sure why she was feeling hostility after she said so, did they want her to humiliate him? She wouldn't do that, she also was a HERO so of course she would FIGHT FAIRLY. Really, this school while saying that they trained [Heroes] and [Villains], so far she had seen more [Villains] than [Heroes]. Really only AKIRA seemed to act like a HERO.

 

"Thought as much, really he was A FITTING HERO TRAINEE." AKIRA said, he even SMILED at her!

 

For some reason, Elizabeth seemed troubled, and Rossaline didn't seem to be interested in anything and was mostly giving Elizabeth snacks here and there. So nice.

 

Maybe she could give AKIRA some snacks too? But she didn't have any snacks, she only had HER FLOWERS AND TEDDY BEARS right now...

 

AKIRA didn't seem to want snacks either since he hadn't bought anything... Maybe he was taking care of his diet?

 

Such a classical AKIRA move, to be such a WORRYWART.

 

"With some luck, we will not have many matches like that one. Both combatants fought as best as possible so take the best of this as a teaching lesson. You can't win all of them, if the fight isn't winnable there is no shame in admitting defeat." Agatha started speaking.

 

What was she on about? It had been a HONORABLE match, she was speaking as if her opponent had been abused or something!

 

She hadn't done such a thing!

 

"Next match...It will be...Rossaline Singh, please select your opponent." Agatha said and sure enough, Rossaline stood.

 

She walked to the arena and turned to look around, most tried to not match her gaze, she didn't look at AKIRA or at her, she instead turned to Elizabeth.

 

Who shook her head. What was that about?

 

"I will fight against...[The Lost Healer]." Rossaline said and then a girl with pink-grayed hair rose from the stands.

 

She walked to the arena and when she stood in front of Rossaline both girls released their magic and [Shifted]. Then there stood [Sylphie Starheart] and [The Lost Healer]. On one side stood a girl in pastel pink colors with heart motifs surrounding her.

 

And yet...She wasn't alone. Somehow within her seemed to be more presences around her, dangerous presences lurking in the back, she couldn't pinpoint them, but her [Instinct] told her that fighting her would be dangerous.

 

Had she got more power again?

 

On the other side, she saw...A girl that she recognized before the [Shift], it was one of the girls that AKIRA HAD HELPED, but she seemed...Worse?

 

Why? Had she found more problems?

 

"Tch...she wasn't supposed to come back," AKIRA mumbled under his breath.

 

See? AKIRA was also worried for her.

 

"It's okay, maybe she is back to get HELP from you again AKIRA." She said and everyone seemed to get very quiet at it.

 

*slap*

 

Then that came, first, it was the PAIN hitting her all at once, the first had come from a slap, someone had slapped her, and her head started hurting once more, the world was bathed in fog and she could barely see.

 

Then it was the cacophony of sounds, people screaming and running away followed by the sound of metal hitting metal, had the fight started? But both fighters were [Magical Girls], shouldn't they fight with magic or something?

 

"Wow...I know you want to go at it, but you need to wait till we are in the bedroom for me to HELP YOU." Was someone trying to get HELP from AKIRA?

 

And why did it hurt so much to think?

 

Or to see?

 

"ELIZABETH STARBRIGHT!" A wave of sound hit her all at once and for a second she could see again. The fog was no longer around, her head didn't hurt.

 

SHE COULD THINK!

 

And before she could even utter a word she noticed the situation. Her hands were holding her twin katanas and she was blocking shadowy spears from attacking Akira?

 

And a few meters away from them stood...Stood...[The Stardust Weaver] hovering surrounded by shadow spears blooming behind her as if wings at the ready.

 

"You heard what she said..." Elizabeth snarled while pointing with a sword at Akira and her.

 

What did she say? What did she say again?

 

Oh right...Akira had HEL- no, Akira didn't help anyone...What did he do?

 

"Yes, but that is one-sided and she isn't the victim here, is she? We are [Heroes] we don't act on impulse, lest we become [Tyrants]." The other person said, it was the old man who was the trainer for them in the first year.

 

"I don't mind going at it you know...A true [Hero] defends his [Honor] when it is tainted, that is why I slapped Rena for insulting me like that. And see? She is defending me, she obviously understands that I didn't mean anything by it." Akira said, he slapped me? Why? What?

 

Something...SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT!

 

"Do you mind me slapping you? Of course not, she likes it, right? Rena?" Akira said something, she liked being slapped? Why would she?

 

And her name...There wasn't love in that? Why? Didn't Akira...love her? Then why did it feel like he was using her name as an insult?

 

"Rena?" Then she felt it, something was crushing her heart, something...wasn't...right....she...she...couldn't breathe....what? Why was the world spinning?

 

Elizabeth?

 

H...e...l....p...

 

She....s...h....e....

 

"help" It was but a whisper what left her mouth.

 

"...I DON'T CONSENT TO THE USE OF ANY TYPE OF SKILL ON ME OR THOSE UNDER MY LEGAL PROTECTION!" And then the feeling left as the world turned foggy once more.

 

The last thing she heard clearly before this was a "tch..." from the bearded man who served as a trainer for their skills.

 

"RENA are you OKAY?" Then came the LOVILING voice of AKIRA asking for her well-being.

 

"OF COURSE I'm FINE." She answered, really. AKIRA WAS SUCH A WORRYWART. She was only feeling UNDER THE WEATHER as most WOMEN felt sometimes.

 

Really, what would she do WITHOUT AKIRA? She was a MESS at best, but AKIRA CARED FOR HER even like this.

 

What was she saying? Oh right, why was AKIRA surrounded by bouquets? Was someone a FAN of him?

 

Where did they come from?

 

"So? Are you taking these BOUQUETS Elizabeth?" AKIRA said, and sure enough, Elizabeth was floating with some bouquets at her back.

 

So she did want AKIRA to HELP HER then?

 

All the more reason to get AKIRA to HELP HER.

 

"We will deal with this later Akira..." Elizabeth said while the bouquets disappeared into the shadows. So Elizabeth really LIKED AKIRA too?

 

Would she need to SHARE AKIRA'S LOVE with Elizabeth? That didn't seem like a bad thing, it was normal after all. AKIRA was an IMPORTANT MAN, the kind that the world needed more of, she was WAITING PATIENTLY for the moment she could HELP HIM SPREAD HIS GREATNESS in the only way a WOMAN COULD.

 

So maybe it would be best if more people like Elizabeth helped her? There was only so much A SINGLE WOMAN could do after all.

 

Then Elizabeth pointed at her as her [Shift] disappeared and her normal blonde form returned, she walked towards them and ignored Akira.

 

That was OKAY, somehow that was for the BETTER what was different was that Elizabeth placed a hand on her shoulder and said "...I heard you." Then her head started hurting all over again.

 

Something....wasn't....right...what..."thank you." Huh?

 

Did she say something?

 

AKIRA's face turned into an ugly scowl and then she felt her head throb as her heart ached, and afterward, she lost consciousness. Was she more tired than expected?

 

She...needed....to.....make....sure....to....not....hurt....nor....dirty....AKIRA...with...her....body...