Ephemeral Ability Reflects the Heart

A high-speed straight right hit him from the front, and he was hit before he had time to avoid it.

The impact blasted him back about one meter. Although he managed to catch the blow, his voice naturally came out from his mouth.

「Ouch...!」

Chihiro lifted his right hand and placed it on his cheek where a fist had just dug into it.

It hurt.

Then his opponent walked up to Chihiro, who was still lying on the ground, and quickly extended his hand to him.

He takes his hand and stands up.

「Thank you, Kamishiro-kun」

「No, no. More importantly, are you all right? I think the last one was pretty well done」

「Yes. This much is fine. I heal fast」

Chihiro has [Sleep Enhancement]. Although it does not have an immediate effect like Maria's [Self-Healing], Chihiro recovers about three times faster while he sleeps.

Sleeping for six hours gives him exactly 12 hours of rest, which is more than a person can get.

As Chihiro looked around, he smiled lightly at Kamishiro.

「Besides, this is the end of the class」

「Yeah, I guess so」

The training area that is not a private room.

In the surrounding spaces, their classmates are playing matches in pairs. Some of the pairs have already finished, but most of them are still playing.

There are only a few minutes left until the end of the class.

And coincidentally, Chihiro had a run-in with Kamishiro at the end of the class, and got knocked out early.

Well, Kamishiro, who had improved his athletic ability through [Physical Strengthening], made Chihiro unable to keep up with his speed.

「By the way, you didn't use that ability today, did you?」

「Uh...ah, yes」

Chihiro made a wry smile and replied.

「You see, that ability has a condition. I couldn't use it in this match」

「Oh, I see」

Kamishiro nodded easily, not knowing the specific effect of the ability.

As a matter of fact, there is a reason why the ability that Kamishiro mentioned ―― [Stimulus Sharing] ―― cannot be used in this match.

Of the members who can share damage, Aika, Maria, Riko, and Hana are in the midst of training, and Yotsuba is in the middle of a class. Even Suzu must still be working.

And in this kind of game, there is no point in pushing too hard too.

Anyway, it is a pity that Chihiro can't do anything against Kamishiro without such ability.

「But Izumi-kun has become a tough fighter」

「Is that so?」

「Oh. Don't you realize it? Sometimes your attack patterns change subtly. It made it hard for me to find the right timing」

Chihiro had an idea of what he was talking about.

（I see. Chisato, you helped me out a lot）

（...haha. I'm glad if it helped a little）

The sister, Chisato, is a presence.

Using this, Chihiro was challenging Kamishiro with two people, so to speak.

Of course, Chisato did not materialize in the presence of so many people. However, there are many things she can do even in Chihiro's body.

For example, the moment she completes a big attack.

For example, the moment she evades Kamishiro's attack.

Chisato takes control of the body when Chihiro has passed the peak of his concentration and is momentarily distracted. The other personality fills in the gap between thoughts that inevitably occurs in the human world, and the next move is made just a moment earlier.

In addition, there is a subtle difference in "habits" between Chihiro and Chisato due to the difference between gender.

By switching locally, Kamishiro's rhythm is off, and this seems to have made it difficult for him to play.

「This made it hard for me to play the speed game. I learned a lot this time」

「Thank you. Kamishiro-kun is still great」

While they were saying to each other such things, more and more students seemed to be finishing their games little by little.

But there is one male student who is walking toward us, leaving his opponent behind. He is a boy whom it is hard to decide whether he should be described as handsome or not - Maisaka Shuu.

「Damn, I guess I missed the showdown...」

「Maisaka. You, your game...」

「Oh, I lost. I'm not very good at physical labor」

He walked up to them and pulled them close by the shoulders.

He said something somewhat out of the ordinary.

「Have you guys decided who you want to make a campaign speech?」

* * *

Chihiro is elected vice president of the student council.

Kamishiro is a committee member of the public morals committee.

The vote for the public morals committee is a vote of credibility unless there are too many candidates, and the same for the vice-president unless there are no other candidates.

In addition to the speeches by the candidates themselves, there is a time for their supporters to speak at the speeches.

In general, there is only one supporter.

It is customary to have at most two supporters.

「Well, I think Izumi should ask Takatsuki for help」

After the class, Maisaka says while changing in the locker room.

On the other side of the room, Kamishiro is changing in the same way. As they work with their hands, they continue the conversation they had just had.

Well, training makes you sweat.

It's better that it's past the summer season, but still, the men's locker room is filled with a lot of heat, so it's nice to be able to distract with a conversation.

「Hmm」

「Huh, am I wrong?」

「No. Come to think of it, I wasn't thinking about the campaign speech」

The pressure of running for the vice-presidency had been weighing on Chihiro's mind.

Of course, he could ask Aika now but she is busy helping in the medical office. It would be too much to ask her to do more than she has to do.

Anyway, he could ask Maria, Riko, or Hana instead.

By the way, he hasn't heard anything from Aika or any of the other members of the apartment about the campaign speech. Hopefully, they are not too much interested in it, or they would refuse to do it.

「Ah. It seems you don't know anything about it, huh?」

「Heh, what do you mean?」

「The other candidates」

「I saw it posted yesterday」

When checked, there were no candidates other than Lucille, Chihiro, and Ayase.

Moreover, the current student council is in charge of the election of the student council officers, so it is not surprising to have received the information if there has been any movement since then.

Well, after changing the clothes, Chihiro checked the bulletin board in the corridor again. And――

『Candidate for Secretary: Class 1C, Fukami Maria』

『Candidate for Accountant: Class 1A, Mishuku Hana』

Two names were added to the bulletin board.

Perhaps it was an imagination, but both names looked familiar to Chihiro.

「...eh?」

「Haha. You didn't know that」

Seeing Chihiro stiffen, for some reason Maisaka's chest heaved.

For the time being, he ignored him and called out to his brain.

（Chisato, did you know? ）

（No, I had never heard of it either）