For a moment, even the air seemed to freeze.
"?"
Eiji slowly typed out a question mark in his mind.
Judging by her murderously serious expression, she didn't seem to be joking—she genuinely intended to kill him.
"Why the sudden shift to killing again?"
Eiji couldn't help but complain.
"Aren't you guys tired of this? Just give me a straight answer, will you?"
He looked thoroughly annoyed.
"Is it really okay to be this lacking in tension?"
Aozaki Aoko ignored his question, coldly raising her right hand.
Lines resembling neural patterns glowed beneath her clothes, emitting a dazzling light, while a circular magic circle materialized in front of her wrist.
It was a stance primed for firing a magical blast.
"Even if you say that—"
Eiji spread his hands, looking completely innocent.
"I really don't feel any threat from you!"
Tch!
Aoko felt intensely insulted, her temper flaring instantly. Two crossed veins bulged on her forehead, and her icy demeanor shattered in an instant.
This guy really, really deserved a beating!
"Then let's test whether I'm really no threat or not!"
She shouted with full force.
Then, the patterns on her right arm flared brightly as a mysterious power surged from within her, transforming into a bullet of magical energy through the magic circle at her wrist.
Bang!
A gunshot-like sound rang out.
A cyan magical bullet, about the size of a bowling ball, shot straight toward Eiji!
"Hmm..."
Eiji stared at the incoming projectile, humming thoughtfully as if mildly troubled.
Thud!
The bullet didn't hit him—it grazed past his shoulder.
Instead, it struck the outer wall of a bakery behind him, denting the already rusted metal plate with a dull, bell-like impact.
"You... didn't even dodge?"
Aoko's hand froze mid-air as she stared at Eiji in disbelief.
"Was there a need to?"
Eiji countered.
"Wha—?!"
Aoko's expression darkened, her displeasure visibly deepening.
"If that hit a person, it'd be enough to cripple them. If you keep underestimating me like this, you'll die by my hand!"
Aoko was fully aware of her own capabilities.
She wasn't some master magus—having studied magecraft for less than two years, her skills were at best apprentice-level, and she couldn't even perform many basic spells reliably.
But destruction was her specialty.
Even a simple one-count spell—like a magical bullet—became far more lethal in her hands. Hers could shatter stone and tear through steel.
A direct hit on a human would at least leave them maimed.
In other words, she was a magus built for combat.
"Then why didn't you hit me just now?"
Eiji chuckled, utterly unfazed.
"...That was just a warning!"
Aoko's eyes flickered slightly. Staring into those eerily calm eyes, she felt as if her thoughts were being laid bare.
She shook her head, her resolve hardening.
"I won't hold back anymore. You'd better be prepared!"
The cyan glow intensified, twice as bright as before.
Aoko fully activated her Magic Circuits, channeling even more mana through the small magic circle to form another bullet.
This time, the magical bullets came in rapid succession—four shots in a single second, like machine-gun fire.
She wasn't lying.
This barrage was genuinely aimed at breaking Eiji's limbs.
Yet he still didn't move.
Aoko's eyes narrowed as she watched his complete lack of reaction, her chest tightening slightly.
Clang!
But contrary to her expectations—
The bullets struck his arms and legs, producing metallic clangs as if hitting steel.
"That stung a little."
Eiji frowned, then flicked each bullet away with a finger.
This guy?!
Aoko's eyes widened in shock.
Was he even human?!
How could her bullets—strong enough to smash rock and tear through metal—bounce off him like cotton hitting stainless steel?
Was he really just a rookie magus?!
"Listen up, Aozaki—"
The boy across from her casually brushed off the spots where the bullets had struck, as if dusting himself off.
"This is what a real fight looks like."
In the blink of an eye—
Before Aoko could even react—
He vanished from her sight.
Too fast!
Her heart lurched, her composure crumbling in an instant.
The next moment, all she saw was a blur before a large hand eclipsed her entire vision.
Then—darkness.
A chill ran down her spine. For the first time, she felt the terrifying certainty that her life was no longer in her hands—as if floating in a void of pure black, swallowed by sheer panic.
Thwack!
"Ow!"
A sudden, sharp pain exploded on her forehead.
Aoko yelped, landing ungracefully on her backside. She clutched her forehead, her fingers trembling, tears welling in the corners of her eyes—though she stubbornly refused to let them fall.
This was just a physical reaction! She wasn't actually crying!
Her forehead was definitely red now!
"If you really wanted to kill me, you shouldn't have appeared in front of me so openly. You shouldn't have missed with the first shot, and you shouldn't have aimed only for my limbs with that barrage."
Eiji stood over her, grinning.
"Thanks to that, you just saved your own life."
Aoko shuddered.
Though he was smiling, there was no warmth in it.
If she had done as Eiji said—ambushed him from the start, aiming for vital points—she might already be dead, her neck snapped.
Because she hadn't, she'd only gotten a flick to the forehead.
Judging by the sheer terror of having her life completely at his mercy, this man possessed strength far beyond an ordinary magus—and the lethality of someone who'd survived real battles.
Unlike her.
She'd never fought seriously before. Tonight was her first real taste of combat.
"Now, care to explain why you suddenly changed your mind?"
Eiji crouched down, smiling at the sitting Aoko.
"...I didn't change my mind."
Aoko pouted, begrudgingly accepting her defeat.
Even as she stubbornly insisted, she pulled a letter from her coat pocket and handed it to Eiji.
"The reason's in here."
***
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