Volume 2 S1chapter 3 (2/2)

avoid it As such, I decided to intercept his fist—that is, I

sh I fired mine after his, my punch

is speedy, and I easily made it in time So, how about the force? Is

onna break?

“Guhh…

Ah! A-are you fucking crazy!?”

The

result was, neither of our fists broke, but we both sent each other

flying; shi+

at me intensely

That’s not just a compliment or a turn of phrase, it was really

intense; at least, in terms of speed He didn’t seem to be very

dextrous, and looked to have trouble balancing his power and speed I

easily handled the fast rush—I didn’t politely meet his bloith a

blow of le hook

…Oh, by the way, I have trouble balancing power and speed too So

either way, I give everything I have

“Die!”

Nevertheless,

shi+iwa didn’t retreat, and with a cry, he moved to kick me in the

ankle I didn’t knohat the “Die!” thing was about (I hadn’t

been told that in a while, so I had a hard ti it out), but

aiy—since the rule hoever

fell down first loses, all he had to do was play the sickle-weasel

and knock me over(1) In that sense, his low kick really looked like

a sickle Should I field this one too? Should I intercept his kick

with a kick? I could also plant my feet down and endure it, but I

felt like I’d been on the receiving side for a while, and that’s not

likepartner for

this energetic youngster—this isn’t some post-retirement job or

leisure pastied, and before the arch of

shi+iwa’s foot hit my ankle, I landed a direct thrust on his chest

Naturally, since shi+o,

and ere on a slanted roof without decent footholds to begin with,

he was blown backward—his sickle hit eht

fall on his back, but he’s got sorit; he put both hands on the

ground as if preparing to do a backflip, and jumped back like a

spring I couldn’t say it was as deft as a gyed to

land on his feet

“You’re

insane…”

Said

shi+, in

ter, you could say he lost the moment he put his

hands on the ground; well, it’s just a rule I came up with off the

top of

“I

attacked first, but why did yours land before mine? You waited to see

ot the jump on me… it’s not fair”

Not

fair? What are you, a child? Well, you do look like a child as far as

age goes Watch, think,gets really easy—although, you ht to call it unfair

It’s like I’ in a different timeline from everyone else

Alright, alright, I won’t do that anymore

“Nah,

do it as much as you want… I can use unfair techniques, inhuman

skills that stink of foul play too”

Oh?

What, you’ve got soh

evaluating hie… But if that’s the

case, why’d you hold back? I won’t bla, no matter

what kind of techniques you use If you say stuff like that, it makes

the fact that I’est sound unfair in the first place

“Okay,

I hear you Don’t you regret those words, huret,

huh I’d love to try that at least once If you’re going to let me,

then I welco nonchalant (bad habit of mine),

but even though shi+iwa’s next move didn’t

, it definitely sufficed to dumbfound me

“I

aiwa—also known as Campfires”

He

reintroduced hi up his sleeves; the next moment, his

right arht arm—transformed into flames

Transformed into flames I’m sure that sounds like some kind of

metaphor, but I described exactly what it was; there’s no metaphor,

shi+ht arm literally turned into flames—transfired

into flahly sensible conclusion that his body had

caught fire, that he’dto activate some kind of

fire-related device and burned up his own ar—he

used the flaain wind up a punch With

a burning fist I observe, then take action, and I’m still on time,

but even I—no, that’s exactly

why I was at a loss It was dubious whether or not I even had time to

think I can’t look past a bizarre and enigmatic development like

this; however, it was clear I wouldn’t come up with an answer to this

phenos out

Experiment—experiment by comparison Just like I’d done at the

start, I decided to intercept his fist Answer a punch with a punch

If it was a bluff, and he was using using some kind of trick or

illusion, then this kind of direct response ought to be best

However—

“Idiot!

You think you can hit fire with flesh?”

It

was just as shi+ht

through his As if punching the air—no, not just the air My arm

was covered in an outrageous aeously hot

wind; it was just like I’d thrust my hand into a fire There was no

trick or illusion; it was an actual flauy? I’ve

fought a variety of people up ‘til now, and I’ve battled players

with a variety of abilities A them there were considerable

eccentrics, and people who used techniques I could hardly believe

People who use fire, flame-wielders, they aren’t all that uncommon

I’vestyle involved beco

one with flames—but I’d never met someone who turned their own body

into flames What the

hell are you, Matsuri shi+iwa!

“I’ll

blacken you to a crisp, red woman!”

As

he called out to iwa’s rather demonic

fist—his fist of flame—landed a direct hit on my chest No,

strictly speaking, it would be hard to call it a “direct hit”;

it’s not like the flah actually hitthe

high temperature and hot wind My clothes burned; this red jacket

that could be recognized five kilometers away really did blacken and

turn to ash I liked this jacket, you know…

I thought, as I flew into the air Within the waves of hot wind, I

was about to succuht away

His ability… well, I’d be hard-pressed to call it a technique,

but in any case, no matter what the truth about his ability is, we’re

in theto fall

down on the rooftop—in other words, I’ to lose And I don’t

want that I see; for the new generation, shi+iwa’s shown me he’s

on a scale that exceeded ination However, if I were to lose

right here, it’d be a disgrace to the title “huest”

I rotated ht then and there if

possible, but that didn’t work out—I ht’ve been able to land if

I’d wanted to, but unlike shi+ any

old landing; it needs to be cool

If I can’t stick an Ultra C landing,(2) I’d rather fall down

ostentatiously—though, I’d prefer to be the one doing the knocking

down Rotatingbetween

me and the rooftop, I drove my scorched fist doard There was no

grand plan; I sih

“Huh?

… Huuhhhhhh!?”

shi+iwa,

who must have been all but certain of victory, understandably let out

a cry It h he certainly

is young, he’s the type who panics when so unexpected happens

But it’d be harsh to criticize him for that; most adults would

probably shriek like that too if the place they were standing on

suddenly collapsed

“The

whole roof…!?”

Yes,

with a full-strength punch, I destroyed the roof of the public office

building; I destroyed the battlefield itself The rule hoever

fell down first loses… so all I had to do was destroy the place

where I would have fallen

“That’s

allowed!?”

Of

course it is I let it pass when you put your hand on the rooftop

earlier, after all And didn’t you know? When I was about your age,

this is what people would say aboutJun Aikawa sets

foot in collapses, without exception

Footnotes:

(2) In the 1968 Suymnastic feats were

assigned difficulty levels frohest

difficulty The japanese team came up with the term “Ultra C” toabove and beyond the

enerally to refer to an

a or momentous feat