Ephemeral Ability Reflects the Heart

「Ah, Yuse... that flat girl (Pettanko). Yeah, she is rather troublesome」

「So, you know this girl, Riko?」

「Well, she is rather noticeable」

That's what Maria and Riko said when I asked them after I got home.

Apparently, the girl named Yuse Shuka is quite famous, but Chihiro doesn't remember much about her.

「Izu... you're pretty absent-minded at school, aren't you?」

「Is that so?」

He tilted his head, but it seemed true. Although he was in the classroom, he didn't pay much attention to others in the corridor or on the way to school. And since nobody talks to him, he often ignores any information.

Maria tilted her head and asked Riko. 

「By the way, what do you mean by troublesome?」

「Well, she's always eyeing Kamishiro, so if she sees his face, she'll probably come at him. And she'll probably keep bothering him until one of them gets beaten up」

（...It sounded like a story I'd heard somewhere）

Chihiro, who hears that, feels sorry for Kamishiro, but this time he should not worry about it. After all, last time it was Chihiro who was targeted.

「Chihiro」

「Hmm?」

「Do your best」

Riko said with a big smile on her face.

She’s so cute that Chihiro can't help but looked at her, but he's definitely amused by this situation.

*exhale*

Chihiro exhale. In any case, he has no choice but to do it. Fortunately, it's not a real battle, just a cavalry battle.

「Anyway. About the mark last night」

「Ah, right」

Chihiro nodded at Maria's voice. He wants to check it out as soon as possible.

「Mark?」

「Yes. Last night, all of a sudden, a mark appeared on my body. Look, it's still there」

「Don't just take it off! Or better yet, remove that scribble!」

Maria's navel is exposed, and Riko stares at it intently.

「What are these, a letters?」

「It's probably a collection of letters. The meaning, I kind of figured out after living with it last night...」

「Really?」

「Yeah」

Maria nodded, but tilted her head and looked at Riko.

「Before I tell you my guess, could Nishizaki-san help me verify it? Two samples are better than one, right?」

「Sure, what do you want?」

「It's easy」

The method Maria explained to her is certainly not a difficult procedure.

The three of them, including Riko, verified the new ability and found that Chihiro had indeed awakened a new ability, but...

「...Umm. Congratulations, is it?」

「Fufu. I didn't expect it, but I think it's an interesting ability」

The contents of the letter caused a slightly skewed reaction in the group.

☆　　　☆　　　☆

Shibahou Academy is a private school with a rather large space for its less than two hundred students. This is because, due to the nature of the academy, most of the classes are physical, and it requires a large area and a variety of facilities to nurture the abilities of the [Lost Items].

For these reasons, the school's grounds are large enough to accommodate all 200 students, their parents and guests, as well as various tools and equipment.

「So, let's get started」

After the opening ceremony by the principal, they returned to the student booth.

As Chihiro took a break, Maisaka, who sits to his left, talked to him.

「You look like you're having fun, Maisaka-kun」

「Sort of. That's why Izumi is going to be my entertainment」

Really, he's more interested in watching the game than competing in his own events. And――

「Well, that's just the way he is」

A refreshing voice said from right next to them.

He looks at Maisaka with a sideways glance and smiles, his tall frame making it easy to watch the game. As Chihiro thought at yesterday's PE, the two of them are unexpectedly close.

「Are you guys close?」

「Yeah, maybe we are. I was surprised that Maisaka suddenly spoke to me at the entrance ceremony, but before I knew it, this had become the norm. You'd better be careful, Izumi-kun」

「Haha. Then it's too late. Because Izumi was listening and I spit on him」

「...Haha」

Chihiro chuckled, partly pleased, partly annoyed.

And with a subtle smile on his face, he looked at the girl's seat nearby. Riko is talking with her friends as usual, and Maria is talking with Aika.

...And Hana.

He tried to look in the opposite direction, across from the B group, but the crowd made it almost impossible to see what happened.

「Look, Mishuku-san is there」

Chihiro gulped.

Then, Maisaka looked at Chihiro with a smirk on his face.

「I wonder if she'll try something, or if Yuse will go on a rampage, or if the B class will play a modest game and turn the tables on us before we know it. But I guess that's the point of the event」

*stare*

The girls of B class, who seemed to have heard the word "modest", stared at Maisaka, but he didn't seem to care. 

☆　　　☆　　　☆

The first half of the festival consisted of a close battle, with each class gaining small points.

It all went as Maisaka had predicted, but Chihiro finally noticed something that Maisaka, the class president, hadn't mentioned at all. The second and third year students, the senior class, who are playing an active role.

The reason for this is immediately clear.

They are on a different level. Both in terms of their simple physical abilities and their abilities as [Lost Item]. Their simple age-based growth, their amount of experience, and their amount of training. All of these are things that first-year students don't have, so they are difficult to measure and impossible to discuss lightly. For example――

There are those who manipulate the flow of air to obtain a tailwind.

There are those who run at high speed by suppressing their body shaking and recoil with telekinesis.

There are those who accelerate by rolling forward at the same time as the start of the race and throwing themselves with their hands on the ground.

There are those who do not use any ability, but only try to catch up with the speed they have trained.

But usually, in individual events such as running, students of the same grade are matched against each other, so there are not many opportunities for senior students to dominate them.