Kouki. Can't you see Nagumo-kun didn't do anything? Please think about it calmly. Though it looks like you didn't notice it, Kaori has thought of him in that way since long ago. I mean, since the time we were still in Japan. Just try to think about what Kaori always talked about."
"Shizuku... what are you saying... that's, that's because Kaori is kind, so she feels sorry for Hajime who was always alone, right? There's neither connection nor motive, so there's no way Kaori would like an otaku like Hajime."
Hearing Kouki and Shizuku's conversation, Hajime unexpectedly became agitated as that was said straight to his face, his cheek twitching.
Noticing the commotion from Kouki and the others, Kaori spoke towards Kouki and the classmates behind him to make herself clear.
"Kouki-kun, everyone, I am sorry. I know it is selfish of me... but I, I want to go with Hajime-kun by any means. That's why, I will leave your party. Truly, I am sorry."
Kaori said so as she bowed deeply, making Suzu, Eri, Ayako, and Mao, the female circle, yell Kyaa— Kyaa—. Nagayama, Endou, and Nomura, the three who had guessed Kaori's feelings were waving their hands to tell her not to worry about it with wry smiles.
However, Kouki, of course, could not accept Kaori's words.
"It's a lie, right? After all, that's weird. Kaori has always been by my side... so shouldn't it be the same from now on too? Kaori is my childhood friend... that's why... it's natural for her to be by my side. Isn't that so, Kaori?"
"Umm... Kouki-kun. It is true that we are childhood friends... but, it doesn't mean we will be always together, you know? I think this is the natural way..."
"That's right, Kouki. It's not like Kaori is yours, and it's Kaori herself that will choose what she does. So, drop it already."
Being told so by his two childhood friends, Kouki was dumbfounded. His gaze immediately moved towards Hajime. Hajime was looking in the distance, expressing that this had nothing to do with him. Beside Hajime were a beautiful woman and beautiful girls in attendance. Seeing that spectacle, Kouki's eyes began to gradually looking up. Inside him, he was thinking about his Kaori, and dark feeling he never felt before sprang up. Thus following his impulse, he fully interpreted things at his own convenience.
"Kaori. You must not go with him. I am saying this for your sake. Just look at that Nagumo. He is attended by several girls, even a small child like that... moreover, he even made a girl from the Rabbitman tribe wear a slave collar. Even that black-haired woman called Hajime "Master" before. Surely, she was compelled to call him that. I am sure Nagumo is collecting women or something along those lines. He is the worst. He easily killed a person and he didn't want to cooperate with us, his comrades, even though he has those powerful weapons. Kaori, you'll only be unhappy if you go along with him. That's why, it is better if you stay here. No, just stay here. Even if you are going to hate me, I am going to stop you for your sake. I will absolutely not let you go with him!"
Kouki's overly erratic objection made Kaori and the others dumbfounded. However, the heated up Kouki couldn't be stopped. His gaze which was looking at Kaori to persuade her turned towards Yue and the girls by Hajime's side as if he thought of something.
"You girls, too. There's no more need for you to be by that man's side. Come with me! I welcome people with abilities like you. Let's save people together. Shia, was it? There's no need to worry, I will immediately release you from slavery if you come with me. Tio too, it's okay for you to not call him Master."
Saying so with a refreshing smile, Kouki outstretched his hand towards Yue and the girls. Shizuku was facepalming and looking at the sky while Kaori was covering her opened mouth.
Yue and the girls who received the invitation along with Kouki's smile were...
""" ..."""
They were speechless. They averted their gazes from Kouki and rubbed both of their own arms. If one looked carefully, Yue and the girls were having goosebumps. In a way, they received considerable damage. Even Tio said, "Somehow, this feels wrong...," as she frowned at the cold feeling she felt.
Seeing their appearances, Kouki who outstretched his hand had his smile cramped. Far from looking at him, the girls were hurriedly hiding behind Hajime while looking disgustedly at him which shocked Kouki.
Then, that shock changed into anger which displayed in his action. He rashly drew the Holy Sword, aiming at Hajime. Kouki could no longer be stopped by words, he thrust the Holy Sword into the ground and pointed his finger at Hajime as he declared,
"Nagumo Hajime! Duel me! Throw away your weapon and fight me barehanded! If I win, don't ever come close to Kaori again! Also, you must release those girls!"
"... Ouch, ouch, ouch. This is bad. It's a more painful hero than I expected. It looks like he couldn't see that he is being a pain though."
"What are you mumbling about! Are you scared?!"
Stabbing the Holy Sword into the ground and declaring a bare-handed duel after drawing the sword was surely because he felt that he'd lose to Hajime if they used weapons. Though it was actually unknown whether he did it intentionally or not... Yue, Shia, Myuu, Tio, Kaori and the others were indeed taken aback by Kouki's speech and behavior.
However, Kouki firmly believed that he was in the right and got worked up on saving his childhood friend and the unhappy girls from Hajime which made him unable to notice the surrounding atmosphere. To begin with, the strong conviction that made him doing such a reckless thing was the "envy" he that he felt for the first time, and he was completely out of control.
Without hearing Hajime's approval, Kouki dashed out. Sighing, Hajime took two, three steps back. Seeing that, Kouki thought Hajime was frightened from fighting without a weapon and put more power into his dash. Just several steps before his fist reached Hajime, Hajime lowered his hands, not reacting to anything in particular. Kouki thought Hajime couldn't react to him and was convinced of his victory.
At that moment,
THUUUMP!
"Kh!?"
Kouki disappeared.
More accurately, at the moment he put maximum power to his last step to put more power into his fist, he fell. He fell into a pitfall. At the beginning, the reason Hajime moved back two, three steps was to create transmutation magic array using his shoes to create a hole with a four meter depth under the surface.
The pitfall was immediately returned into stone pavement after it swallowed Kouki. Next, explosions could be heard from under the surface. At the moment Hajime transmuted the pitfall, he used that opportunity to transfer flash grenade, shock grenade, paralyze grenade, and tear grenade from "Treasure Box" into the hole.
While he was underground, the impact from explosions attacked Kouki who tried to escape, then his vision went dark with the flash, his eyes and nose flooded from the tear grenade, and lastly his body was in agony and stiffening because of the paralysis.
Hajime silently used transmutation again and hardened the ground around Kouki as hard as the two-tailed wolf. And now, because he'd likely to die due to being deprived of fresh air, he created a small hole for ventilation.
During that time, to the onlookers, it looked like Hajime didn't do anything but stood only to take Kouki's resentment, and then Kouki rushed forward, alone which ended with him disappearing down the hole alone; it made him looked terribly... silly.
"Ah~, Yaegashi. He is still alive, so dig him out later."
"... I have a lot of things I want to ask... but, roger that."
Leave the troublesome Kouki to Yaegashi Shizuku!, it was a tacit understanding since the time they were in Japan. Hajime pushing the troublesome thing onto her made Shizuku leak a sigh while covering one of her eyes. Finally, the nuisance was gone.
... Was what he thought, but this time Hiyama's gang made a commotion. As for the reason, the hole left by Kaori was just too great. There was also the previous incident with the demon race woman, and they'd likely to die in the future if Kaori left them. That's why they repeatedly tried to persuade Kaori to remain with them. Especially Hiyama, he intensely objected. His appearance... was in a panic, as though the thing he desired for so long which was about to come into his possession was disappearing.