Saying so, Meld once again bowed which made the classmates try and comfort him in hurry. Apparently, Meld had been considerably worried about Kouki's party. He was likely being pulled apart by his mission as the commander and him as a person.
Meld is a citizen of the Kingdom and a believer of Church of the Saints. Therefore, it wasn't weird that he felt it was natural and an honor for Kouki and the others, the "God's Apostles," to fight the demon race. However, he doubted as he fought along with Kouki's party which meant he was a good or maybe a gentle person, and at the level of a man of character just as Hajime said.
Hearing what was in Meld's mind, Kouki fell silent. After knowing that he must kill people in due time, he recalled his fear when he was about to kill the demon race woman. At the same time, he received shock from Meld's words saying they would kill people masked as thieves for the sake of training. If it's thieves, then we have power to overwhelm them. But to purposely killed them... he thought.
On the other side, Kaori was also silent. But it was not because she heard Meld's words. For a long time, she had been thinking about Hajime's words.
The sense of value cultivated inside the abyss where enemy would be killed without hesitation even if it was his classmate... were impossible words coming from Hajime of the past. However, he proved he was serious with the previous killing intent. The Hajime who was gentle and acted by putting the sake of others before him had unhesitatingly turned his killing intent towards them. Kaori was perplexed and shaken by the differences between Hajime she knew and Hajime before her. Thinking of the Hajime who was worried about her from a little ago was an illusion, Kaori was uneasy.
While she was thinking, Kaori suddenly felt someone's gaze. Before Kaori was the blond-haired, red-eyed beautiful girl. A beautiful girl that made even Kaori instinctively charmed. She was quietly observing Kaori with eyes where no feeling could be felt.
Kaori recalled the girl had been fairly intimate with Hajime which made Kaori interested and turned to look at Yue. For a while, the two watched each other.
"...Fu."
"Kh..."
However, Yue was the first to avert her gaze while sneering.
Kaori inadvertently held her breath. It was because she noticed the meaning behind her sneer. It was, "If you are shaken by this, just forget about Hajime," something like that.
Yue had of course guessed how Kaori feels about Hajime from her attitude. Thus, hearing she believed of Hajime's survival even though he fell into the abyss, a strong rival in love might show up, I must stand tall!, was what she thought.
However, when she saw Kaori comparing the past and current Hajime, and it resulted in her being shaken and perplexed while being taken aback by the differences. Although that reaction was as natural as possible for a person... it made Yue see her as insignificant.
You can't even become an enemy. From now on, Hajime is only mine. Hajime's "special" person is me! The implied declaration made Kaori's face red; red from shame and anger. However, Kaori could not refute since she had lost sight of the human called Hajime. The first encounter between Yue and Kaori resulted in Yue as the victor.
Leering at Kouki and the others whose mood became subtle, Hajime took Yue and Shia along, collected the pile bunker's stake, and tried to go through the opened hole. Noticing what he was doing, Kouki and the others began to follow Hajime's party. Endou had proposed for everyone to take advantage of Hajime's party until they reached the surface, and Meld was being carried by Hajime after they pleaded him.
On the way to the surface, the demonic beasts that tried to obstruct them were instantly killed by Hajime which made them once again amazed by his strength. The classmates wore various expressions thinking whether he was the same person who was once called "incompetent."
Hiyama was glaring at Hajime with paled complexion, Kondou's gang were sending him begrudging gazes, and Nagayama's party were looking at him admiringly as they wore complex expressions due to Hajime clearly saying he was not their comrade.