“I love Kyousuke! I’m in love with him! I want to kill him! Kyousuke also— Kyousuke feels that way, too! Despite that, why are you butting in?! You’re getting in the way, Eiriii! I thought you would never doooooo that!”

Screaming and shouting in a frightful display, Renko leaped at the girl again and again, but her hands never got close.

Eiri sighed, still lightly and nimbly avoiding Renko’s savagery. She tilted her head, dodging the fist aimed at her face, and shrugged. “…Didn’t I tell you before? I won’t just give up on my feelings. And so I will crush your feelings. If you don’t want that, how about you try to crush me?”

“Uuuuuuuuu…” Renko groaned at the nonchalant dismissal and then suddenly screamed, “—Kyousukeee!”

Kyousuke—who had been watching this all with gritted teeth from the sidelines as he stood protecting Ayaka (albeit as Eiri protected him)—stiffened upon abruptly hearing his name.

“Put a stop to this intruder!!” Renko continued, wildly swinging at Eiri. “I want to get close to you! I want us to love each other! I want us to kill each other! Didn’t you say to me, Kyousuke—?”

Her blue eyes wavered even as they pierced through him. She looked as if she was going to cry.

“You said you loved me! S-s-so…soooooooooooo!”

Sobbing, Renko spun both arms like a windmill gone wild—or a child having a temper tantrum—keeping Eiri at bay as she howled loudly enough to drive herself hoarse.

“If you feel anything for me, then at least…at least face me yourseeeeeellllllf!! I won’t ask you to stand there and let me kill you, and I don’t think you’ll be open to my feelings—I just want you to acknowledge them! Face me and accept my love, and then with your own words and your own hands you can toss me aside! Kyousukeeeeee!! If you don’t, I’ll—”

“…You’re so noisy.”

Eiri ran the edge of her sword up Renko’s left leg. Blood sprang from her thigh, and Renko fell over with a shout.

“Gyah?!”

“Renko?!”

Kyousuke nearly broke down and rushed to her side, but Eiri shot him a warning glare. “You chose polite society over her, right? In that case, listen up. There’s no need for you to stubbornly stick by her.”

“B-but—”

“No buts!” she quickly rebuked.

Renko shoved back to her feet—“Eiriiiii—augh?!”—and Eiri slashed at her again.

“Mr. Naoki, Ms. Sanae, Maina, Shamaya, Mother, Kagura, Basara…every one of them has risked their life for you so that the two of you could get out of here! Do you want that all to be a waste?! If you get killed or if you get hurt and can’t make it to the goal, then ‘sorry’ isn’t going to be enough!”

That’s why…

Eiri looked down at Renko, who was crouching, bleeding from her right underarm. Likewise, red dripped from the silver of her sword.

“I will simply do my best to get you safely through this exam. I will defeat Renko,” she coldly announced. “I won’t allow her to lay a finger on you or your little sister, so…let’s leave the parting words and final exchanges for after this farce is finished, all right?”

“…………”

“Big brother.”

Ayaka gently covered Kyousuke’s clenched fists with both of her hands. He said nothing. His gaze shifted away from his almost lover, who was lying on the ground covered in wounds, and he groaned bitterly.

“I feel the same way…I think,” Ayaka said to him. “I like Renko a lot, but…of course the most important person is you, big brother. That’s why…see? Give it up, big brother, okay?”

“Ayaka……”

The most important person in the world, his beloved little sister. If it was Ayaka asking, Kyousuke could say nothing more. He would give up on Renko and bring this conflict to an end…

Or he should have.

But despite everything, Kyousuke still—

“Uuu…Kyousuke…Kyousukeee……” Renko, painted all over in her own bright blood, staggered to her feet again. The flood from her wounds had slowed to a trickle, but her face was pallid, her breathing ragged. When she turned her ice-blue eyes toward Kyousuke, he could see that they were somewhat vacant and unfocused.

It was hard to tell whether her unsteady swaying was because she was drunk on bloodlust or whether it was—

“Kyousukeeeeeeeee!”

Mustering her strength, Renko sprang at Eiri.

However, despite Renko’s speed and vigor, her right arm, which was already almost entirely numb, was easily dodged. Eiri took a mere half step back and—

Vwooosh.

—Renko’s fist swung through empty air. And even though Eiri had left her untouched, Renko collapsed.

“Huh?” Eiri scowled. “Somehow you’re suddenly out of energy, huh…? And I thought you were more tenacious than that. Please, now is the time to give it up.”

“……Kyou…suke……”

Renko lay on the ground, unmoving. Turning her back to her, Eiri went to pick up the scabbard for her sword. She wiped the shining blade down and tossed away the bloody tissue.

“Well, shall we go? There are no pursuers left… Assuming, that is, that the rest of our team hasn’t been killed. Regardless, we should not allow their efforts to be in vain. Let’s hurry up and get this exam over with.” She sheathed her sword.

Behind her, Renko let out a quiet groan. “……ait…plea……”

The five fingers of her outstretched right hand dug deeply into the dirt. Lifting her face from the ground, she called out to stop the little assassin as she grew more distant. “……Wait, please…Eiriiiiii…… It’s not…over yet…is it…? I can still…move, so…I’ll kill—”

Eiri paused, turning to look back over her shoulder.

Renko glared at her, baring her teeth. “I’ll kill you…kill Kyousuke, be bound to him…and because he’ll probably be lonely by himself, I’ll kill Ayaka, too…and after that…nothing…will hold me back……!”

“Huh? If you’re able to do something, then give it a try…ah, though…”

Amazed by Renko’s tenacity, Eiri ran a hand through her deep red hair.

“Tch.” She placed a hand on the hilt of her sheathed blade. Turning on her heel, Eiri rushed back to where Renko was lying.

The fallen girl was still baring her fangs, and her lips curved upward in joy. Her right hand, which had been scraping and tearing at the ground, grasped the choker around her neck.

“……?!”

In that moment, Kyousuke recalled Reiko’s words:

“Renko is planning to kill you. Now more than ever, I don’t think there’s any point in trying to persuade her otherwise… Will you accept her feelings or not? Either way, you’d better prepare yourself.”

And then he remembered Renko’s:

“If I unleash my Over Drive just one more time… Well, the next time could be the end of me!”

Memories of the half year that he had spent with Renko, and the feelings that had developed during that time, flickered like a slideshow through Kyousuke’s mind. In the white light, Renko slowly collapsed. He had seen this before…but this time Renko did not get back up. She did not open her eyes again…

“—Ah.”

Deep in Kyousuke’s chest, he thought he could hear the sound of something breaking. And—

“Renko! That’s enough, stop—”

“Stop it.”

Suddenly, a purple-black figure flew into view, blowing right past Kyousuke before he had the chance to run to Renko.

—Crack!

A blue flash of lightning exploded in the air.

“Ngyaaah?!” With a deathly wail, Renko was thrown to the ground. She landed facedown, convulsing weakly.

“……………………”

She stopped. Renko stopped moving, as if death had already taken her.