Yuika, who had been standing near the entrance to the training grounds, walked over to us.
"Frank, Cedric, what are you doing?" she asked, her face completely expressionless.
"Just a little training exercise... More importantly, are you okay? How's your cold?" Frank asked.
"I was worried since you were out for a whole week," Cedric added.
"It got a bit bad... but Noelle took care of me, so I’m fine now."
Noelle seemed like the kind-hearted type, so that made sense.
"Wait, were you in the dorms the whole time?" I asked.
"You should have gone home. Or at least to a hospital," Frank said.
"The hospital...?" Yuika tilted her head, her expression remaining blank.
"You didn't go, did you?"
"I felt sluggish, and I hate being kept waiting..."
Seriously, she should have just gone.
"Well, as long as you're better now," Cedric sighed.
"Yes, I'm better. And so, it's been proven that I'm not an idiot, despite catching a cold."
"That’s just a superstition," Frank countered. "Besides, how did you catch it in the first place?"
"During Golden Week, I shut myself in the mountains to perform waterfall meditation. It was cold."
"You really are an idiot."
I couldn't exactly disagree with him, but since I’d gone to my grandpa’s mountain to do something similar, I kept my mouth shut.
"I'm not an idiot... Hey, who is he?" Yuika asked, turning her gaze toward me.
"Ah, he’s a new student who arrived after Golden Week. He’s Japanese, just like you," Frank explained.
"This is Tsukasa Nagase-kun," Cedric added.
As the two introduced me, Yuika silently stepped into my personal space and stared intently at me. I stared right back.
Yuika was petite, standing a bit shorter than Toko. Probably around 150 centimeters. Her features were cute, but her face was a total mask. Her black hair was cut into a short bob. More importantly, she possessed a massive amount of magic power—roughly on par with Toko’s.
"...Why are these two staring each other down?" Frank muttered.
"Maybe they're on the same wavelength?" Cedric suggested, both of them tilting their heads in confusion.
"Nagase... Tsukasa. I feel like I've heard the name Nagase somewhere before," Yuika said.
"I heard the name Akabane from my father, too," I replied. He’d mentioned that our family didn't have any dealings with theirs, though.
"Hmm... Hey, have we met somewhere?"
"I don’t think so. At least, I don’t remember meeting you."
"Hmm... Your face looks so familiar... Where was it?"
It was probably Toko she was thinking of. If you looked closely, we had the exact same face.
"Maybe we just passed each other in the street back in Japan," I suggested.
"I guess that’s possible... Frank, you’re holding a sword. Is the training exercise between you and Tsukasa?"
"Yeah."
"There's no way I'd be the one fighting," Cedric chimed in. He definitely didn't seem like the type who enjoyed conflict.
"Hmm... That works out perfectly. I came here to get some exercise now that I'm over my illness."
Yuika pulled out a pair of short swords from seemingly nowhere. They were dual blades, each only about 50 centimeters long.
"Which one of us?" Cedric asked, point-blank excluding himself as he pointed back and forth between me and Frank.
"Frank’s defense-oriented style is boring, so I'll go with Tsukasa."
"Oho, looks like you're the 'boring man' now," I teased. I was actually a little happy to be picked.
"There's nothing wrong with being boring," Frank retorted. "It's all over if you die, so focusing on defense is the only right answer."
He had a point.
"See? Frank is boring. Let's do this." Yuika locked eyes with me.
"I don't hit girls," I said. Except for Toko, of course.
"It's fine. You won't hit me anyway."
Since she put it that way, I reached for her face. I grabbed her arm with my right hand and went for a leg sweep. Yuika was swept off her feet, but in an instant, she vanished from right in front of me.
"Oh?"
Looking up, I saw Yuika—who had escaped my grasp before I’d even realized it—flying through the air. She performed a graceful mid-air somersault, landed behind me, and pressed a blade against the side of my neck. Her movements were worlds apart from a certain beauty I knew.
"I saw your underwear."
"They're safety shorts."
Same thing.
"Hmm. Try pulling the trigger then," I said, grabbing her arm while she still had the sword to my throat.
"Huh? When did you... I can't move..."
The moment Yuika spoke, I sensed a presence from my left. I released her arm and ducked instantly. Another blade whistled through the air, passing exactly where my head had been a second ago.
"That's dangerous." I hurriedly leaped back to create some distance.
"Frank, what's with this guy? He's reading all my movements," Yuika asked, looking frustrated.
"He's a muscle-head just like you," Frank replied. "Says he specializes in martial arts."
"I see..."
Damn that Frank, siding with her just like that.
"Cedric, what's her deal?" I asked.
"Exactly what you see. She's a Reinforcement Magic user, just like you. She’s one of the students who tore an automaton to pieces and made Professor Jenny cry."
What a delinquent, making her teacher cry.
"Hmph. Sounds like she needs a punishment."
"Wait... I'm getting a massive sense of déjà vu from that line... I feel like I've heard someone say that to me before," Yuika muttered.
Was it Toko?
"It's just your imagination."
"Hmm? Come to think of it, you smell the same... Wait, what?"
Is she a dog or something?
"I won't punch you, but I'll be your sparring partner," I said.
Yuika, who had been deep in thought with her arms crossed, dropped her stance. She stared blankly at me, her face as expressionless as ever.
"Don't go too far, now," Frank warned.
"She's already in combat mode... She really is a berserker," Cedric said. "I thought Japanese people were supposed to be the reserved ones."
The second Cedric finished his sentence, Yuika vanished.
"Low this time?"
Yuika had dropped into an extremely low crouch and swung her blade upward. I shifted to the side to evade.
"If I jump, you just stare at my underwear," she said, swinging her free sword in a horizontal arc. I took a backstep to clear the range.
"They're safety shorts, right?"
"Your face says you think they're the same thing. Pervert."
I did think that, but still.