''Don't do it. You know Koganei doesn't like that.

　Soraki Kyousuke said that behind the school building without fear.

　It just so happened that he was passing by. After class was over, he had gone to the gym warehouse in the corner of the school grounds to put back his equipment, when he found Koganei Yoshiki being dragged by a classmate to the back of the school building.
　At the time, he was still a freshman, having just entered high school. The only friend of Kyousuke's was his childhood friend Ei, and the group in the classroom had yet to take shape. In the midst of all this, Koganei was the first to be noticed by the delinquent students in the class.

　He is short and skinny, with a habit of sleeping with his hair all the time and wearing black-rimmed glasses. In addition to his lackluster appearance, Koganei's voice was also very loud.
　After the opening ceremony, Koganei was the one who introduced herself to the class at the beginning of the class, talking loudly about her favorite anime and female characters. Naturally, the class froze, and from then on, Koganei was completely ignored in the class.
　Being such a Koganei, it's no wonder he was duped by the delinquent students.

　When Kyousuke called out for restraint, Koganei looked as if he had no idea what had happened. He was just about to take out a wallet with an anime character printed on it and hand over a ten thousand bills from inside.

'Koganei, you don't like it.'

　Kyousuke told them once again, clearly.

　The classmates were pouting for a moment, but they quickly grinned and changed their target to Kyousuke. Kyousuke took a Bruce Lee-like Jeet Kune Do stance and tried to fight back against the surrounding classmates, but he was outnumbered, and in the blink of an eye, he was beaten to a pulp. They were beaten to a pulp in the blink of an eye.
　They pulled off Kyousuke's uniform and pulled out his wallet and cell phone from inside. Just as they were about to register the cell phone number with their own, this voice rang out.

'Sir, over here!　Quickly!

　Someone called the teacher. His classmates clicked their tongues and tried to get away. When Kyousuke grabbed one of them by the leg and glared up at him, he clicked his tongue and threw Kyousuke's phone and wallet into the air.
　His classmates flee. However, it wasn't the teacher who rushed in afterwards, it was the only childhood friend.

''Kyousuke!''

　Ei exclaimed.

'Totally, I didn't think it was possible, but here we go again!　You really are...!
"Yeah, sorry Ei. Thanks.
"Well, okay. You owe me this one, Kyosuke.

　It must have been Ei's madness to call the doctor. Kyousuke smiles bitterly as he holds down his aching body.

''I didn't know that such a delinquent was still alive in Japan...''
'That's why I said we should go to a high school with a higher grade.
"Then why didn't you just go?

　Then Kyousuke and Ei looked at Koganei, who was sitting with his back to the wall. He still had a frightened expression on his face.
　Somehow, I have to relieve the tension. Thinking that, Kyousuke stood up and looked at the wallet in Koganei's hand. An anime character's wallet. It was a pretty girl with light blue hair. The wallet itself seems to be much older, but there are traces of the peeling print that have been fixed many times.

''Is that Aina from Dora fans?''

　When Kyousuke asked, Koganei's face lit up with a puff.

''So, yeah!　That's right!　Dragon Fantasy Online!　You know it!　I love it so much!'
'Oh, I see. Oh, umm.... I'm Kyosuke Soraki. And this is Ei Hino.

　Ei sighed lightly and gave a small bow to Koganei.

'Utsurugi and Hino?　The firehouse knows!　'Dora fans, it's great fun!'
'I know, but I just know. I'm not that familiar with it.

　It's a good thing that you're not the only one who's been in the market for a while.

I see. I'll lend you the original work and the Blu-ray at home, so I'll lend it to you next time!　You know, who's your favorite Uzurogi?
'Yeah, yeah?　Oh, I'm........the main character, I guess.......
"Kirihito!　It's good!　When do you like Kirihito!　Every game you play has a different avatar!　I think I'm going to have to...''

　Kyousuke looked at Ei and smiled bitterly. Ei sighs again. After all, since it was behind the school building, some students would be looking down at us from the windows. And judging by the volume of Koganei's voice, they must have heard this otaku talk as well.
　Well, Kyousuke likes anime and games too. He especially likes books, especially children's books, but he doesn't dislike light novels, either. With that in mind, it wouldn't be a bad idea to spend the rest of his high school life with a guy like Koganei. I was beginning to think so.

　From the next day, Koganei naturally started talking to Kyousuke and the others. Koganei is a hubby in the class. Kyousuke and Ei exchange words with him in a friendly manner. It didn't take long before they were lumped into the same group and became the targets of an insidious stigma. It's a relief that Ei, with his excellent grades and good looks, as well as his popularity with the teachers and the girls in other classes, was able to avoid direct bullying by the delinquent group by joining the group.
　Besides, Koganei knew a lot of interesting games and anime, despite his loud voice and inability to read the air. From the beginning, both Kyousuke and Ei were the type of people who didn't find being hacked or stifled that painful. They were immediately hooked on the Blu-ray discs of games and anime that Koganei brought with him, and, for what it's worth, they had an enjoyable high school experience.

　That was in their first year of school.




'........Ha!
Oh, he's up.

　Kyousuke woke up in the cafeteria, as well. The atmosphere had been completely dispelled and there were only a few students there. When he thought that his body was not free, he found that Goshigawara was in the middle of reassembling Kyousuke's bones as hard as he could. Apparently, he was falling apart.
　The others were Rin, Ei, Okumura, and Sakuma and Benii. Sakuma had tears in his eyes, and Benii was consoling her, but didn't seem to be interested in Kyousuke's side of the family, and was trimming his nails.

　Then Kyousuke finally remembered.

　As I recall, he had punched Koganei.

　The fist had hit Koganei correctly in the face. The power would not have been much. But he was caught off guard, and he stumbled and fell to the floor. Sakuma was freed and came around behind Kyousuke.
　At the same time, it was also the gong to start the brawl. Washio, Hakuba, and Tentahara leapt at Kyousuke with such force that he was instantly torn apart. It was no wonder that he was torn apart by the horned rabbit's tackle. Kyousuke's will was cut off around that point, but apparently, looking at the situation, Benii rushed over immediately.

''It was awesome! Benii-san.

　Rin, perhaps reading Kyousuke's consciousness, said so matter-of-factly.

'With a single glance at Koganei-kun and the others. As it was, I stood there to protect Sachi-chan, so everyone couldn't say anything else.
Okay. Thank you, Beni.
It was Sachi that I saved, not you.

　Benii is still looking at her nails, as queen as ever.

'But, well, you saved Sachi's life too, so I'll thank you too.
''Ah, ah.... Is Sakuma alright?
How could it be nothing? I didn't see it firsthand.

　There was a thorn in the Queen's side in her words. Sakuma was shaking and shaking as he held himself up.
　Is it unreasonable? To be touched and treated like that. No wonder a quiet girl like Sakuma was shocked. Rin also expressed her indignation at that point, and at the same time, she seemed to be concerned about Sakuma as the same girl.

'Totally, I didn't think it was possible, but here we go again!　You really are...!

　Ei was floating around in a huff and was swearing as usual. Kyousuke almost gushed because it was the exact same line as the first year he had seen in his dream earlier.

　Nope. A dream.
　That dream was a memory of the first time Kyousuke and Koganei had met. Ever since then, Kyousuke and Ei had started hanging out with Koganei. They were marginalized in class, but that was only up to the first year, and in the second year, that atmosphere seemed to have eased. Maybe it's just that we just didn't care anymore.
　Koganei was a good guy. He had a bit of a tendency to get carried away, but even so, he should have been a good guy.

''Kyousuke,''

　Ei said in a cold voice.

'I know roughly what you're thinking, so I'll say it again. Koganei was that guy from the beginning.''

　Glancing at Ei, Benii asked Rin, ''Why is Hino so concerned about Utsurogi? He asked. Rin replied, 'You know, Hino-kun is a faggot. Not. No, but now is not the time to deny that.

　Ei's, words.

　Koganei was that guy from the beginning. Really?

Sure, he was a nice guy. I'll admit that. He acknowledged me and Kyousuke as friends, and sometimes even gave us a gratuitous companionship. But he's always been loud, thick-skinned, presumptuous, self-centered, and high in self-esteem. Haven't you noticed?
Ei.........how could you do such a bad thing to your friend?
You know what I'm like. I've pointed out to you many times that you are an overweening softie and an idiot.

　Queen Beni said in dismay, ''I see, that's a faggot. I'll tell you it's not.

　Kyousuke ruminated on Ei's words.
　Koganei Yoshiki was that guy from the beginning. Loud, shameless, and assumptive. Indeed, he might as well have been. Self-centered and fiercely self-important. Indeed, it could have been. And if so, there was a good chance that Koganei, who had gained power and was pampered, could have increased in size and become what he is now.

　If so.

　If that's the case.

　Assuming that's the case.

　Kyousuke recalls Koganei's words.

--- shorter and scrawnier than Utsurogi and more skinny than Hino, and even Utsurogi looked down on me anyway, right?
---The bunions are weak.
--- when that happens, it's our job to be strong.

　Why couldn't I just notice and do it?

Well, whatever.

　Beni muttered disinterestedly and blew his own nails in a breeze.

'When I can't watch, I'll make sure Sachi has Harui or Snake Mound. I don't want any strange insects to catch on.
Yeah, and Kenzaki. He's looking out for Sakuma too.
Kenzaki, huh.... I'm terrible at him.

　Dullahan Kenzaki is an uptight customs officer. He's probably the worst match for the free-spirited queen of the class, Benii.
　Nevertheless, when Benai reluctantly agrees to cooperate with you, you can see that she is quite fond of Sakuma.

''Alright, it's fixed!

　The goblin gobbler, who had been silently working on a three-dimensional puzzle with Kyousuke's bones, popped Kyousuke on the head, not a single part left over, perfectly assembled without a single millimeter of deviation. Kyousuke squeezed and opened his hand to check the feel of it.

'Thank you, Gokugawara.'
''It's good. Oh, I've got most of the parts for the armor from today's search, so I'll get them all together tomorrow.

　Gebunga said cheerfully and waved to Kyousuke and the others to leave the dining room. Oak Okumura followed him.

''Ah, I wonder what's going to happen to my class from now on...''

　Rin muttered after waving to Gokugawara and Okumura.

"We are completely leaderless. Koganei-kun is popular, but he doesn't feel like he can hold the current class together.
"Koganei is only taking a few students who are friendly to him and forming the largest faction. He doesn't even think about following up with stragglers like us, Gokugawara and the others, and Inugami, who don't belong to a faction.

　At Rin's words, Ei analyzes and agrees with her.

　Kyousuke still can't say anything bad about Koganei, but he still agrees with this. Koganei is not a leader. It's not about a vessel that you can or cannot be a leader, but rather, he's not a class leader to begin with. He is simply the leader of a major faction, the Koganei Faction.
　Sakuma, who had been silent until then, glanced at Benii.

''Asuka-chan...?　Can't Asuka put it all together or something?

　That probably seemed to be the most practical idea, if it could be put into action. Benai was the only person who could give Koganei a glare right now. With her at the top, the Koganei faction would remain intact and the class would be stable. But Benii waved her head in a slack-jawed manner.

It's not that kind of character. You know it's Sachi.
'Yeah...'

　But, well, it's also what Beni said. I'm not that kind of character.

I have an idea.

　As Kyosuke said this, all eyes turned to him.

　It was not a thought, but rather a "belief," something closer to a "belief entrusted to me.
　The day before Goubayashi left his base, he asked Kyousuke about it, and this is what he answered. That's why Goubayash was able to leave without any worries. Kyousuke had been thinking about putting this idea into action ever since.

''What, what!　What idea!　I want to hear this!

　Rin bounces with a pitter-patter.

'It's probably another rogue thing anyway, Kyousuke.

　Ei said coldly.

　Beni and Sakuma also tilted their heads, either languidly or curiously listening.
　If it's everyone here, well, there's nothing wrong with talking about it. Kyousuke spoke his thoughts seriously, word by word.

''For that, I need the armor I asked Gotohara to give me. Himemizu, Ei, I need your help.




Stream!

　The shout was a signal for them to breathe together and shake their fists. In the next moment, Kyousuke and Rin's breathing coincided with each other.

''BROUGH!!!''

　The weight of the gauntlet doesn't matter, the iron fist is literally unleashed in a straight line. The blow, named Streamblow, smashed the large reddish-brown rock standing in front of him into pieces from the front.

''Yes!　Strong!　We're strong!

　Rin was overjoyed to see her blue body twitching in and out of the cracks in her armor.
　Right now, Kyousuke and the others were going through a new special training. It was a real battle practice with the full body armor (full plate mail) brought by Goshigawara. The shiny black armor was so solid that it was hard to believe it had been resting in this abandoned catacombs, and the appearance of Kyousuke and Rin wearing it was just like a black knight.

　This armor has two meanings.

　One is to reduce Rin's burden. When fighting without armor, Rin has to constantly manipulate density and mass in order to increase the power of her punches and kicks. But by covering it with a hard exoskeleton from the start, she can focus entirely on her movements as a muscle.
　And the other is to hide her true identity and act in a way that hides her true identity. As much as possible, Kyousuke intended to respect Ei's will to keep the fact that Kyousuke, Rin, and Ei could combine as a secret as much as possible. Nevertheless, in order for Kyousuke to put his "ideas" into action, the combined combat action would be essential. The buffer zone for that, so to speak, was this armor.

　This armor can reduce the burden on Rin, while maintaining destructive and defensive power, and it also looks cool, but of course it has its drawbacks.

　After all, it sacrifices some of Rin's greatest feature, flexibility, to a certain extent, which is probably the most important thing. There are gaps and slits in the armor, which allows Rin to fight with a part of her body, but even so, it has its limits. In addition, she couldn't reconfigure her bone structure to perform inverted joint jumps, for example. This is because they interfere with the joints of the armor and each other.
　Overall, this armor was a very straightforward power-up item that increased power and defense but reduced agility and flexibility.

''Good........''

　And it was Sakuma who looked at it and muttered.

''I wish I could merge too...''
'Sachi, are you done with the trauma of Koganei?

　Beside her, Benii was trimming her nails.

''That's not what I'm talking about, but........ Well, um.........
''Kyousuke has a special effect that amplifies the combined opponent's power. If you're constantly attached to him, Sakuma might be able to get a similar benefit.
'What?　We're fine!　Stick to it!

　Ei tells him calmly, and Sakuma's face turns red and distraught.

'But that's the thing, isn't it? I'm sure you'll be able to find it. I'm sure it will get on your ribs and tear your clothes.
'Yes. And it's going to sting and hurt you.
Uh-oh...

　The calm combination attack of Beni and Ei caused Sakuma to just sit there.

　Now, there was no deep meaning to this beautiful girl duo being present at the special training session. Sakuma didn't want to see Koganei, and he said that Kyousuke and the others' training would take place outside the labyrinth. Then he wanted to observe and there was no reason to refuse, so I allowed him to do so. Beni is its escort.
　However, since you have come all this way. It is Kyousuke's defense to ask him to help with special training.

''Beni, I'm counting on you!
Hmm.

　Beni didn't even look at him and slashed his own left index finger with the sharp toe of his left hand. As he continued to point his finger towards Kyousuke, the dripping blood fell to the earth and eventually transformed into a large mass. In the blink of an eye, the Red Soldiers, created by the blood of Beni, were born there.
　The Blood Corps (Bloody Corps). It was her ability, named by Ei and dismissed by Beni as lame, that she was able to use.

　The Bloodline Corps uniformly readied their weapons and charged at Kyousuke and Rin (Black Knight).

''Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!''

　The Black Knight leaps lightly and dumps a rolling sobat at the soldier who has rushed into the lead. With a snap, it popped like a balloon and the soldier disappeared. After landing, he didn't show any gaps at all, and uppercut to the second body. With a bang of his empty right arm, a blue whip flew out of the slit in the intentionally vacated basket hand. The whip knocked out the Blood Soldiers with a sideways swipe and then returned to the Black Knight's basket hand with a buzzing motion.
　The Blood Soldiers' fighting ability was intentionally lowered. However, their quickness and reaction speed are still intact. How do you react and defeat a large number of enemies? This is a practice.

　The soldiers dwindled in numbers, and at the end, there was a slightly larger and more powerful looking individual left.

''Kyousuke!　Princess Water!　It's Grandio Spike!

　Ei shouted, and the Black Knight lightly jumped backwards to get a certain distance. In order to close the distance, the red soldier charged at him, swinging his great sword.

''Grandiooh!''

　With their fists drawn wide and bowed, Kyousuke and Rin took up an interception stance. The victory is a moment. At Kyousuke's signal, their breathing overlapped.

''Spaaaaaaikkk!''

　A powerful straight punch exploded, aiming at the soldier's throat. But the attack didn't end even as the iron fist slammed into his stomach.
　A beat later, blue spikes shot out all at once from the slit of the caged hand that was plunged into it. The spikes literally skewered the soldier's body, and the last one also completed the destruction.

''This is........the Grandio Spike.......!

　Sakuma said in a strong voice.

'Wassa,'

　Beni said in a dumbfounded voice.

　Apparently, the combat training in armor is going well. So, should we move on to the next stage? It could be said that the next stage of training is the key to this special training. A new tactic invented by Kyousuke and said by Ei that it was not impossible in theory.
　There were dangers involved in it, but Ei finally agreed to it. Because it's much better than being forced to do it in battle in a crash course.

　Naturally, Ei gave that tactic a name as well.

''Then next, let's do the 《Trinity Full Cross》!
I was...

　Beni mumbled again, spitting.