"... Why ... Such a thing."

"Why? It's because I've decided. It is for Lisa. "

While saying it's for Lisa, Ken keeps his face ugly and distorted,

"Isn't that true? Lisa will surely be a great adventurer. She's a person who will be seen by everyone. Do you think she will need a footwear like you next to her? That's why I sent you away. "

Nozomu's body had solidified as if he were in a frigid place. His mouth is dry and his limbs are quivering.

No matter how much he was prepared in his mind. Nozomu's mind and body were completely solidified by the fact that his best friend was really the cause of everything.

"But you already noticed. So I don't have to pretend anymore."

When Ken says so, he pulls out the longsword that was hung on his waist and casts strengthening magic on himself with a very natural movement.

"I thought you were already giving up, but when I saw you pressing Lisa for an answer at the bar at that time, it seems that you haven't given up yet. It's just right, so I'll just crush you right here."

When he said so to Nozomu, Ken stepped forward in an instant and swung his longsword down to Nozomu.

"Kuh !!"

Nozomu's countless actual combat experiences make Nozomu's judgment to pull out his katana faster and stop Ken's longsword.

Ken quickly pursues Nozomu and swipes his longsword like a whirlwind.

It's no doubt that he has the ability to rise to rank A as a teenager.

There is no waste in his physical strengthening magic, and it is clear that it gives him overwhelming power.

Ken’s slash had water torrent-like momentum and clear stream-like tranquility.

Nozomu's movement against Ken is slower than ever. Nozomu’s posture is lost with a single blow, and his upper body is pushed away.

There is no flexibility that he had until now.

Nozomu's consciousness could not concentrate on the fight at all.

The balance between his consciousness and body has completely collapsed, and only his actual combat experience he had cultivated so far moved Nozomu's body and managed to surpass Ken's sword dance.

"Haha! What's wrong Nozomu! Did you think you could be with her with such a move? Don't make me laugh!"

However, it doesn't seem to last long.

Ken ridiculed the awkward appearance of Nozomu and started chanting while performing a slash. 

Nozomu hurriedly tried to disturb Ken's chanting, but because he couldn't maintain sufficient power, he was easily hit by Ken, exposing a large gap, and at the same time Ken's chanting ended.

A small water mass was held in Ken's hand. In the small water mass, Nozomu felt a sense of crisis as if the hair on his whole body had stood up.

*Piercing Water Fountain*

Attack magic that launches the compressed water mass in one direction and pierces the opponent.

Its appearance is just a small water mass about the size of a fist, but it is magic that can be unimaginably vicious contrary to the outside appearance.

This is a magic that changes its power depending on the amount of compressed water, and if the amount of water is small, it only makes the opponent soaked, but if the amount of water is large, even a steel plate will be penetrated.

The water mass produced by Ken is the latter, and if it hits directly, it will pierce and tear the soft human body like paper scraps.

Ken releases the water mass without hesitation. The water that had been compressed is released at once and approaches Nozomu.

Nozomu twists his body and tries to avoid the water stream, but it is Ken's trap.

"Wha !!"

The approaching water stream diffused in front of Nozomu. It completely blocks Nozomu's vision and hides Ken.

"Ha~ !!"

The longsword breaks through the diffused water stream and approaches Nozomu.

Ken accelerates at once using his strengthened physical ability. He throws a stab at Nozomu.

However, Nozomu manages to deal with it.

Instead of forcibly regain his collapsed position, he collapses it further and avoids the tip of the sword that was thrust into the ground.

At the same time, he puts one hand on the ground to hold his body and pulls one foot to that hand to make one rotation.

He converted the momentum of his fall into the momentum of rotation and tried to strike his katana toward Ken.

However, Nozomu stops his katana at the sight that jumps into his eyes.

"Wha! Li, Lisa !?"

What jumped into Nozomu's eyes was the face of his childhood friend whom he loved the most.

Ken's face changed to Lisa's face before he knew it, and Nozomu, who saw it, forgot that he was on a battlefield, and was stunned.

And that was his fatal mistake.

Ken's longsword flutters and tries to slash Nozomu diagonally from his shoulder.

Nozomu raised his sword in a hurry, but couldn't prevent the longsword that gained momentum, and his shoulder was torn vigorously and he was blown away.

"Gah!!!"

Nozomu rolls on the ground and lets go of his katana.

Ken smiles distorted when he sees Nozomu lying on the ground.

The sight of Ken, a man with an eerie smile on Lisa's face, looks very unreal to Nozomu.

"Guu~u~u!"

However, no matter how much the scene in front of him does not look real, the burning shoulder pain tells Nozomu that this is real.

And the pain of being exposed to the hot iron makes Nozomu's rigid thoughts moving again, trying to grasp the current situation.

At least it's not magic. Magic requires a rise of magical power when it is activated, but the only rise of magical power that Nozomu could feel from Ken was the *Piercing Water Fountain* and physical strengthening.

Also, when using a Qi technique, it was necessary to raise the Qi inside one's body, which he did not feel from Ken either.

There is only one remaining possibility  ... 

"Is that ... an ability ...?"

"Aah, that's right. My ability is *Reflective Water Surface of the Heart Mask*"

*Reflective Water Surface of the Heart Mask*

Ability to attach a film of water to the surface of the body and change the water to capture the other person's appearance like a mirror.

It's a very rare ability that can completely change one's appearance, unlike something that manipulates presence, and it's an ability that has hardly appeared in history.

Ken could have changed his appearance freely with this ability.

"You made Lisa believe in my affair ..."

"Aah, that was thanks to this ability"

Then Ken told the truth about the rumors.

He transformed into Nozomu's appearance using the Reflective Water Surface of the Heart Mask and showed Lisa while he was with another woman, making her suspicious that Nozomu might be having an affair.

At first, she said, "There is no way", but after she has already seen the fake affair scene. She is gradually swallowed by Ken's words and the doubts that have arisen in her own heart.

And once again, Ken showed Lisa where he was with the same woman in the form of Nozomu, broke her feelings, comforted her in her disappointment, and got her.

Naturally, the girl who was having an affair may be pursued by the students of the school. However, the girl has nothing to do with the school. Ken called out to her on the spot, picked her up, and used her.

The identity of the girl is not clear. Those around him had doubts at first, but after they saw Lisa's threatening attitude toward Nozomu. They became more interested in the betrayal that Nozomu is supposed to have caused than the identity of the woman.

Lisa doesn't know about this ability. Ken manifested the ability at about the same time as Nozomu's manifestation of Ability Suppression. Ken, who was already hatching a plan to deceive Nozomu by that time, didn't tell anyone about this ability.

The deeds spoken from Ken's own mouth are not something he should be doing to his own childhood friend.

The ugly and distorted negative thoughts that he had accumulated up to now, such as jealousy and superiority complex, could be seen in his face, which he proudly talked about.

"Nozomu, I didn't change my attitude towards you, not just for your surveillance. I wanted to show you. Who deserves to be beside her better !! "

Ken slowly approached Nozomu and exposed his muddy heart that had accumulated until now.

"And also, I was the first to meet her. I was the first to like her!"

"Gaha~ !!"

Ken kicks Nozomu's belly when he says so. Nozomu can only bend his body and groan.

Certainly, between Nozomu and Ken, Ken was the first to meet Lisa.

Nozomu met Ken when he was introduced to Ken shortly after Nozomu started talking to Lisa

As far as he can hear about Ken's story, Ken probably had already liked Lisa since that time. 

"Well, it doesn't matter anymore. Anyway, it's been 1 year, if the rumors have been established so far, whatever you did would be impossible to overturn them. See you, Nozomu. Just leave her to me, you can just crawl from there."

After telling Nozomu such a thing, Ken turns his heels back and returns to the city, but Nozomu still can't move.

He was struck in the worst possible way that he didn't want to believe, and his mind was completely frozen.

Nozomu mutters in his heart like a broken mechanical doll, saying, "It's a lie, it's a lie," and keeps refusing, but his tingling and aching shoulders ruthlessly brought him back to reality.

Eventually, the darkness of the night arrived, covered the field, and completely enveloped the figure of Nozomu.

***

When Ken returned to the city, he met Lisa at the central park.

His face was clearer than ever, which after he completely defeated his love enemy, Nozomu.

(I did it! I finally did it !! This will make him leave !!)

His heart was full of joy, and he seemed to jump and rejoice at any moment.

He has been watching and acting to keep Nozomu unaware of the truth, but he no longer needs to do it anymore.

The figure of Nozomu who continues to recognize Ken as a friend without noticing that Ken was hatching a plan to deceive him. That figure satisfied Ken's jealousy of Nozomu.

Recently, the atmosphere of Nozomu is returning to the old days.

When he thought it was about time to make a move, Nozomu started talking to him, so he was able to smash everything and completely beat Nozomu.

“………. Ken, did something happened?”

"Hmm. It's nothing."

Lisa, who was walking next to him, asked Ken with a little reluctance, but he answered with a smile as if nothing were happening.

While hiding his heart, He had a smile on his face before he knew it.

His smile has been deceiving the two for many years, but perhaps because of his feeling of superiority which is "winning against Nozomu", his smile has begun to give off a slightly different atmosphere.

"... Is that so"

(......... I wonder if something happened?)

Lisa feels a little uncomfortable with his smile, but she thinks it's not a big deal because Ken looks happy, and she doesn't care and keeps walking together.

The two walk side by side on the main street, but Lisa is still a woman with attractive crimson hair, and the passersby looked back at her.

Just thinking that he has a monopoly on such an attractive woman raises the feeling that he has won against Nozomu, and Ken's heart is filled with a sense of superiority.

In the old days, Ken and Nozomu were certainly on good terms.

They were playing together and stayed at each other's house.

Even if they liked the same girl, when they were kids, they didn't understand the feelings of love yet, because they were still young and didn't realize that it was a feeling of love.

It was at that time, the days when Lisa was a tomboy. She was abusing her power every day together with Nozomu. She had a big quarrel with the leader of juvenile delinquents and his entourage.

By the way, Lisa was against the leader, while Nozomu and Ken were in charge of the entourages.

Lisa, who go against the leader of juvenile delinquents single-handedly, was amazing, but Ken and Nozomu were showing a breathtaking combination against the surrounding opponents who outnumbered them.

Sometimes they were overdoing it and the adults got angry, but the three enjoyed running around together every day.

However, as his feelings grew stronger, Nozomu became an obstacle to Ken.

When Nozomu and Lisa started dating, jealousy started to arise in his heart. He hated it so much that he wanted to kill Nozomu.

However, as long as Lisa needed Nozomu, he couldn't do anything about it, and every day he continued to suppress his impure and corrupted jealousy.

That changed after they entered Solminati Academy.

While Ken and Lisa were steadily improving their grades, Nozomu wasn't able to improve at all. In addition, his ability was suppressed, and he fell to the bottom of the grade.

And when Ken's ability appeared, his corrupted jealousy finally overflowed.

(I should be the one who stands next to Lisa, not Nozomu without ability.)

When he thought so, he couldn't hold himself back anymore.

He thoroughly eliminated Nozomu and got Lisa. On top of that, he was monitoring Nozomu and made him feel the same way as he did.

He carried out his plan at will, got Lisa, and today put an end to Nozomu.

(This is it! This is really the end for him!! Ahahaha !!!)

He laughs with joy. However, he who is so mad with jealousy does not realize. He never really stood on the same stage as Nozomu.

***

Nozomu's POV

In the forest dominated by darkness, a figure is walking toward the depths of the forest while the animals are holding their breath. There were no other moving shadows, and only a small amount of moonlight shined through the gaps between the trees.

Nozomu Bountis, arrived in the forest before he knew it.

Faced with the cruel truth by Ken, he entered the forest with disappointment and was walking with a tottering and unconscious gait. He probably didn't notice that his feet were finally facing Shino's hut.

"Ha ha, Why...."

By now, I realized where I was going, a faint voice leaks from my mouth. I'm heading to the place where I was together with Shishō, not to my current friends, Iris and the others.

(... Really, what should I do ...)

I was told by Shishō that I was "running away".

Nozomu ridiculed himself, thinking, "I'm trying to escape to a place of my memory with Shishō and about to trample it", even though Shishō was thinking about me until she gave her life away.

"You and I are similar. We were betrayed and ran away."

Shino's words come back to life. Thinking back, she probably knew long ago that it was Ken who deceiving Nozomu.

"………… Shishō. Everything is too similar ... " 

Betrayed by people who they believed and robbed of their loved ones. Then both Shino and Nozomu ran away.

She fled to a distant foreign country, and Nozomu turned away from the reality in front of him and believed only what he wanted to believe.

Although their methods are different from each other, the fact that they "run away" remains the same.

Nozomu thought he was just running away from facing Lisa, but that wasn't the only thing. There were still many things where Nozomu had escaped unconsciously.

(I don't care anymore…………)

Nozomu's heart now is on the verge of collapse.

His head abandoned any thoughts. Nozomu couldn't think about anything, and he didn't want to think about anything. About Lisa, Ken, and the future. Anxiety about Tiamat, who nestled within himself.

Suppressing and holding everything down unconsciously until now.

The thread that was taut is finally broken. His heart is just empty. 

(Shishō, so that's why you told me not to look away from running away ...)

The last words Shino left in Nozomu's mind are revived once again.

"Even if you run away, even if you stop, don't look away from the fact that you're running away, the fact that you've escaped."

If he thinks about it now, she probably knew everything and sent that word to Nozomu.

If Nozomu started to move forward, he would eventually realize that the person who betrayed him was Ken. And between Ken and Nozomu, Ken is mentally more advantageous than Nozomu. Nozomu who kept looking away from the discomfort he should have felt and Ken who was trying to make him do so.

Shino didn't want Nozomu to keep looking away like her.

That's why the words were given to him. That is why he was entrusted with it.

However, Shino's words were too heavy for the current Nozomu, who has lost his spirit.

He sits on the ground and puts his back on a tree.

Nozomu holds his knees and buries his face.

(………… I don't want to think about anything anymore ……)

Nozomu has abandoned all thoughts. His mind and body couldn't do anything and were swallowed by the darkness.

***

He wondered how long he sat already. Nozomu raised his face that was buried in his knees as something approached.

Something is approaching from the depths of the forest. It's not one or two.

Nozomu stood up slowly, and when he stared at the sign, a pair of lights emerged in the darkness.

Eventually, four-legged beasts covered with black hair appeared one after another. The number is about 15.

Demon beasts that Nozomu knows well. It was Wild Dogs. The four-legged demons growl "Grrrrr" when they surround Nozomu. Looks like they are going to attack Nozomu.

"Ku, hahaha …………"

Suddenly, while being surrounded by demon beasts, Nozomu began to leak a hollow voice.

While being exposed to their bloodlust that pierced his whole body, something dark was beginning to spring up inside him.

It swallowed his previously wilted spirit in a blink of an eye and began to burn his heart as if it were a dead tree.

A fire that began to burn after being betrayed by his best friend. The flame, which once began to burn, dyes his heart with a chaotic flame, at the expense of the emotions he has accumulated so far.

Nozomu glares at the Wild Dogs. The atmosphere he wore was changing drastically. His eyes carried the swirling fire inside his chest.

(If you don't kill them, you'll be killed. Then, let's just kill them.)

Nozomu confronts the Wild Dogs with such a desperate thought.

(For now ... I just want to rampage! Everything should be erased!!!)

Nozomu is no longer understands his own confused heart.

Hatred, anger, or sadness.

Not even knowing that, Nozomu rushed out with his own impulse.