Gradually, it became a discussion about Hajime’s action. Kaori had already separated from Hajime’s chest and wiped her tears, but there was still the shock she received from a while ago, so she fell silent with a difficult expression while she was thinking of something.
Suddenly, a voice came to douse them with cold water.
“…What foolish people. Hajime, can we leave now?”
“Ah~, yup, let’s go.”
The one calling Kouki and the others “foolish” with tone so cold as if it was in absolute zero was Yue. Although the voice was spoken in small mutter, it clearly resounded even inside the commotion of Kouki and the others. For a moment, silence wrapped their location, then Kouki and the others moved their gazes towards Yue.
To begin with, the reason Hajime came here after hearing Endou’s story was his obligation to Kaori, and it had been accomplished. Thus, he went out of the room following Yue who pulled his hand. Shia followed after them without minding the others.
As such, the action of Hajime’s party made Kouki and the others stop.
“Please stop. Our talk here isn’t over yet. I won’t take Nagumo as my comrade if he doesn’t tell me his real intention. Besides, just who do you think you are? Although I am grateful for your help, to call us foolish at our first meeting… isn’t that rude? Just what is foolish about us?”
“…”
Kouki once again talk about something out of topic. Although what he said was correct in such situations, comparing their circumstances made Yue wanted to say, “Try to think while putting your hand on your chest.” To even go this far, it wouldn’t be strange to say Kouki was cursed by something.
Maybe because Yue had forsaken Kouki already; she didn’t look at him, expressing there’s no value in looking at him. Kouki was slightly irritated and frowned being of Yue’s attitude, but he immediately floated a gentle smile again, thinking she was just an ordinary girl, and he tried to talk to Yue.
Because this wouldn’t end with the way it was going and he felt Yue’s discomfort, Hajime decided to answer a little and sighed with an expression as though saying it was a hassle.
“Amanogawa. I have neither care nor obligation to answer everything to you whose existence is a joke in more ways than one. But, I’ll point it out to you a little because you are being persistent about it.”
“Point it out, you say? Are you saying I am wrong? I, I only say something obvious as a person.”
Because, It’s troublesome, truly!, was what Hajime expression turned to. Kouki irritatedly objected Hajime’s words which was then ignored, and Hajime continued his words.
“You can’t fool me.”
“What’s with that…”
“You, you are not angry because I killed that woman. You are only feeling unpleasant to see a person’s death. However, you knew you are mistaken to blame me to kill the woman who murdered the Knights and tried to kill you. That’s why you’re using “killing a non-resisting person” as your main point, right? Being made to see something you didn’t want to see and for someone to easily do things you couldn’t… those are the cause of your anger. However, you tried to cover it under the name of justice. What worse is you yourself aren’t conscious of it. You never change, huh. You interpret things at your own convenience as natural as breathing.”
“Y-You are wrong! Don’t say something for your own convenience! It is the true you killed a non-resisting person!”
“I killed my enemy, what’s wrong with that?”
“Wh-!? What are you saying? It’s murder! Of course it is wrong!”
“Haa, I don’t want to discuss with you, so can we end it now? ———— I, I won’t give any mercy to my enemy. If someone opposed me, as long as I don’t have any other need for it, I will absolutely kill that person. I don’t care whether they are good or evil, resisting or not. Hatefully, I knew I’d be dead if I show even a moment of weakness. This is my sense of value cultivated inside the abyss, and I won’t force it to other. But, if someone doesn’t like it and tried to block me…”
Hajime instantly closed the distance and pressed the muzzle against Kouki’s forehead. At the same time, Hajime’s “Pressure” activated and the dense killing intent fell into the surrounding like a large, powerful waterfall. Kouki’s party held their breaths. Even Kouki, who was able to chase after Shizuku whose movement was the fastest among his comrades, could not even perceive Hajime’s earlier movement and he trembled in fear.
“I will kill them, even if that person is a former classmate of mine.”
“Y-You…”
“Don’t misunderstand, okay? I never thought of returning to you. Also, I am not your comrade. I only came here to pay my obligation to Shirasaki. It’s a goodbye after we get out of here. I have my own path to take.”
After saying so, he glared at Kouki who couldn’t say anything and was holding his breath. Hajime returned Donner to its holster, and with “Pressure” deactivation, the classmates exhaled greatly while looking at Hajime with complexed gazes. However, Kouki still could not accept it and tried to argue some more. But it was prevented by Yue’s harsh words while she wore a disgusted expression.
“…The one who fought was Hajime. The loser who ran away after being defeated in fear has no qualification to criticize him.”
“Wh—, you say I ran away…”
Actually it was not a coincidence Hajime’s party could pinpointed their location. The truth was, Hajime guessed the explosive torrent of magic power he felt to be coming from Kouki’s party when he was still in upper floor. Then, he used full advantage of his perception type skills to search for people presences downstairs and used transmutation along with pile bunker to pierce through the floors.
The torrent of magic power he felt at that time was Kouki’s “Supreme Break.” Feeling the huge power, Hajime’s party understood that Kouki would be able to defeat the demon race woman in that condition. That’s why they could see through that Kouki hesitated to kill and invited their predicament after coming to their location. It was why Yue said, “he ran away after being defeated in fear.”
Kouki tried to refute Yue, but a deep voice interrupted him.
“Stop it, Kouki.”
“Meld-san!”
Meld’s consciousness had returned a while ago and he heard the conversation between Kouki and the others. Still somewhat in a daze, he stood up and shook his head to clear his mind. Next, he saw his abdomen which surely had been injured, and so he tilt his head in confusion.
Kaori explained to Meld in details about what had happened. Knowing he was miraculously helped with a valuable medicine and hearing the owner was Hajime, Meld was happy from the depth of his heart that Hajime was alive. Moreover, he thanked Hajime for saving him. He grandly prostrated for being unable to save him at that time which made Hajime felt uncomfortable to receive his apology.
Rather than not minding it, Hajime had completely forgotten when Meld said, “I will absolutely save you,” … but he read the mood when Meld was before him, apologizing while bowing deeply.
When his conversation with Hajime ended, Meld turned towards Kouki and apologized just like what he did to Hajime.
“M-Meld-san? Why, why are you apologizing?”
“Of course. I am your trainer… but, I forgot to teach you an important thing during a fight. It’s the resolution to kill a person. When the time comes, I’ve thought of making you experience killing people by setting them up as thieves while making it look like a coincidence… After all, that experience is something necessary if you participate in war against the demon race… However, I’ve spent a lot of time conversing with you which made me think if it was really okay to let you experience that… Thus, I’ve hesitated. If I am thinking of my position as the commander of the Knights, I would have taught you even earlier, but… a little longer, just a little longer, until we cleared this. Things dragged on in this manner and reached this situation… I am just being half-assed. It’s my mistake as your trainer. That’s why, to make you face death… I apologize.”
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.