“You are strong. I lost.” (Cereille)
Cereille admitted defeat and stood up.
There was no face of a sore loser in her expression but rather an honest admission of defeat. It seems she was not a bad character after all.
!!
“You were strong too.” (Yuna)
“You don’t need to be considerate. There was a clear gap between you and me that cannot be bridged. I understand that much.” (Cereille)
“That’s not the case. I couldn’t do anything and was on the defensive side.” (Yuna)
At my words, Cereille looked surprised and then smiled.
“Yuna, you are a funny person.” (Cereille)
“Funny? Even though I’m not dressed as a bear? I can understand why she would say that if I’m a bear, but not when I’m dressed like this.
Noa and Shia came when I was about to refute Cereille’s words.
“Yuna-san, that was cool.” (Noa)
Noa happily hugged me.
“Noire, you have a good escort with you.” (Cereille)
“Yes, Yuna-san is very strong. She always helps me when I am in trouble.” (Noa)
Noa answered with a big smile.
“Yuna-san, to beat Cereille by such a margin, yet still have room to spare, is quite amazing.” (Shia)
“Room?” (Yuna)
I tilted my head to Shia’s words.
Cereille and Shea seemed to have a strange evaluation of me.
Shia knows I am strong, but did it look like I just won the match with so much room to spare? Or did it just look that way in general?
“Normally, when someone gets hit that hard, they would panic, get confused, and be vulnerable to attacks, but Yuna-san, you didn’t change a single expression on your face as you received Cereille’s attack head-on.” (Shia)
“At least I wanted to change her expression even once, but no matter how much I pushed in, I couldn’t do it in the end.” (Cereille)
Was that perhaps how they saw it?
I was on the defensive, I intended to lead Cereille to a come-from-behind victory, but that didn’t look to be how it went.
Thinking back, I certainly don’t remember changing my expression.
Apparently, I have no talent as an actress.
“I did the last thrust, which I thought could be called cowardly in a practice match, but even that didn’t work. I am sorry about that last one, though.” (Cereille)
“Doesn’t anyone use thrust?” (Yuna)
Spears, rapiers, and swords use thrusts. As well as knives. Thrust was a valid attack. Even Jubei-san used it casually.
“We do not use thrust in practice matches because it is dangerous. Of course, regular attacks are also dangerous, but we must wear protective gear when it comes to thrusting. We don’t do it like this because it’s very dangerous.” (Cereille)
Cereille looked at the uniforms.
When you say it like that, it’s certainly dangerous. I didn’t intend to hurt Cereille, and I wasn’t wearing my bear suit, but I felt that even if she hit me with a wooden sword, I wouldn’t be injured. Maybe I still have my game brain on. My life won’t be in danger if I am in a game. And even when I came to this world, I was protected by the absolute protection of the bear equipment. Yeah, I need to be more aware of the dangers.
“That’s why the thrust was not fair. Still, I felt like you could avoid the thrust. So I launched my final attack, but I was still completely defeated.” (Cereille)
So she knew that I was holding back. That’s why she believed that I would dodge, so she gambled on the final attack.
So, when I ducked the thrust, she twisted her body and attacked me as if she had read my action. No wonder she acted so quickly after the thrust. It was the action she had planned from the beginning.
In other words, my performance was as obvious as Shia’s. I’ll have to think a little more next time.
“I’m returning this. Thank you.” (Cereille)
Cereille returned her wooden sword, so I put it in the bear box together with my wooden sword.
“So those gloves not only served as an item bag, but they also protected your hands. Your soft hands also made a little more sense to me now. But how is it that your arms are so soft?” (Cereille)
Cereille grabbed my squishy upper arms.
That’s because I was a hikikomori with no muscle training. Any more rubbing would damage me psychologically, so I ran away from Cereille and moved behind Shia.
“Shia, I’m sorry for interrupting your practice.” (Cereille)
“Me and everyone saw something good, so there’s no problem.” (Shia)
Shia turned her gaze to the right. She looked at the students from the royal capital who were watching us.
I forgot the existence of the other students.
Perhaps the students were aware that I was taking it easy on Cereille?
“Well then, all’s well and ends well. But it’s not magic, so she can’t help you with the exchange.” (Cereille)
“Even if it wasn’t magic, it was a great match.” (Shia)
“I lost that one-sided match, though.” (Cereille)