“—He is truly worthy of respect, that senpai. He really inspires me as someone who similarly hosts a dragon.”
“Ooh — I see! By the way, did you know?”
Millarca said
“—Most of the men who meet the Sekiryuutei become fascinated with him.”
“That’s naturally because he’s such an amazing person.”
“Ah, I see!”
Through this game, Nakiri Ouryuu recognised his own strengths, as well as his own weaknesses and deficiencies—. —Through this tournament, I can become stronger. I can allow the ‘dragon’ within me to become stronger! More than anything, as a warrior who is the host of a ‘dragon’, I can become a part of Hyoudou Issei’s strength. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. As a younger male, I want to catch up to him—. Nakiri Ouryuu said to Millarca
“I have to start over again by running laps. If I don’t, then I won’t have the right to face Hyoudou-senpai, Xenovia-kaichou or Phoenix.”
“You look happy.”
Indeed, that’s because the experience of this tournament is far more precious than anything else—. After the game concluded, journalists from every faction ambushed and encircled Rudiger Rosenkreutz who had just emerged from the entrance for related personnel. The journalists vied for the supervisor’s answers. After Rudiger Rosenkreutz finished giving simple greetings, he said
“A defeat is generally divided into two types. There’s the type of defeat in which people realise the strength of their opponents and hope not to encounter them again out of fear. The other type is one where people walk away with a sense of accomplishment in order to be victorious the next time. Under my command, I originally wanted to give the Sekiryuutei and the others the former. —But in the end, they obtained the latter. —If there is ever another encounter, they will have become powerful opponents far stronger than they were today.”
When evaluating other teams, Rudiger Rosenkreutz was always rather critical and blunt, so it was highly unusual for him to praise others to such an extent, and this caused all of the journalists to be surprised. A particular journalist asked
“I have heard that good players can grow not just their own team, but also their opponent’s team in a game. Supervisor Rosenkreutz, could it be possible that the Angels, as well as the Sekiryuutei team have been able to learn something in this game?”
Upon hearing the journalist’s question, Rudiger smiled happily. “Even you’re giving me too much credit. But, that’s right…it looks like some promising youths have the possibility to causea Giant Killing,and this is something that fans around the world wish to see. Today’s match was nothing more than a prelude, and it’s an honour for me to be a part of it.”
At that time, Rudiger Rosenkreutz’s eyes looked into the distance as he said
“…The Champion Diehauser Belial often speaks of growing teams, unexpectedly strong teams, and teams filled with youth…regardless of whether it’s my team or the Sekiryuutei’s team, all of that applies to both of them.”
Rudiger Rosenkreutz closed his eyes as if he was talking to someone in his mind. “He isn’t just watching this game, but the whole tournament…no, even if he can only hear rumours…. That is just my wishful thinking. He desires a Giant Killing more than anyone else—”
Rudiger left those words behind and left the venue. —Giant Killing. Perhaps the man regarded as a hero among reincarnated Devils foresaw a future trend in the game. After this, Giant Killings would continue to be demonstrated in the tournament—. Kanji was ‘upset’. Part 1
The season for our uniforms to change had come around again, and the Ball Game Tournament had also begun. “Go! Go!”
“There! Go over there!”
The gymnasium and field were filled with cheers and cries of support. All students participated in inter-class competitions or inter-club competitions as they immersed themselves in the atmosphere of a festival. The category for this year’s club tournament was — surprisingly, basketball! It was a surprise that the practice that we had made for this sport could be put into play like this! Our new Occult Research Club participated in the tournament with a line-up that included me, Kiba, Koneko-chan, Irina, and Asia; we defeated various other clubs one after the other. After all, there was a clear difference between the physical abilities of humans and Devils…but this was all for the sake of defeating them! “Our goal is to come in first place! Also, we must defeat the Student Council!”
As the club buchou, Asia was filled with enthusiasm to defeat the Student Council! We also responded to her with
[Yeeaah!] And we followed the lead of Asia-buchou! The Occult Research Club effortlessly won match after match, and we finally arrived at the finals — together with those who had cut their way through the draw like us, the new Student Council that was led by Xenovia. In the centre of gymnasium, the Occult Research Club and Student Council faced each other in basketball uniforms. “Ise, win!”
“Asia-chan, do your best!”
Matsuda and Motohama cheered us on! “Kiba-kyun!! !”
“Kiba-kyun-senpaiii!! !”
The cheers for Kiba were mostly the excited cries of various female students. …So they really do call him ‘Kiba-kyun-senpai’ huh…. “Let’s go, Asia, Xenovia!”
Kiryuu was supporting both teams. The two leaders — Asia-buchou and Xenovia-kaichou stared at each other. “Xenovia-san, I won’t lose to you.”
“Asia, that’s exactly what I wanted to say, because I’ve got no plans to lose to you!”
Their line-up was composed of Xenovia, Saji, Nakiri, Meguri-san, and Nimura-san. They were all members who were not to be underestimated, and Saji stood in front of me as he said
“Since we’re competing, I won’t lose to you. We can treat this as a prelude to the upcoming game.”
“Me neither, Saji.”
Nakiri apologised to me while saying something along the lines of
“This is this, and that is that.”
It’s fine, this is an inter-club competition so it can’t be helped. Before we even realised, the gymnasium had been filled with students who had come to join the crowd. “Everyone, regardless of whether it’s a win or a loss, don’t leave behind any regrets!”
Even Rossweisse-san had come over. After the referee allowed us to bow and salute each other, all players dispersed towards their respective positions, and the whistle to mark the beginning sounded out. As soon as we began, no Devils’, Angels’ or any other kinds of abilities were used, and we competed solely with the innate ability of our bodies. Kiba quickly dribbled as he shifted into offense, but Nakiri marked and chased after him with a speed that didn’t lose to Kiba’s, and Xenovia then snatched the ball that was supposed to have been passed to Irina. When the ball eventually made its way to my hands and just as I was about to shoot, Saji said
“As if I’d let you!”
As he leapt up to block me! As soon as either side scored, the other side would immediately catch up. The match continued in a close fashion, and the score was always comparable.