“Hey, good to see you, Kenya. And then… Kaguya and Reina.”

Right then, Kenya and Kaguya dropped to their knees.

Reina bowed her head as if offering a polite greeting.

“I told you it wasn’t necessary inside the school, didn’t I?”

At those words, all three of them looked up.

With expressions of shock still frozen on their faces, Reina asked,

“Lord Road, why are you here?”

Even Reina, who usually showed no emotional fluctuations, was visibly shaken this time.

After all, even though they were inside the school, for Road to appear alone without any guards was downright abnormal.

“I heard there were students practicing after hours, so I came to check it out. Don’t mind me—keep going.”

“…But.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just a little curious, that’s all. I’m not one to discriminate or make distinctions just because you’re second-class citizens. If something’s useful, I use it—that’s my philosophy.”

“Hah!?”

Kaguya let out a startled cry at his words.

It wasn’t that Kaguya failed to grasp their meaning.

She knew there were even Earthguard citizens who advocated against discrimination.

They called it inhumane, but all such voices were regulated and suppressed.

Yet the one standing before them now was at the very top of the Empire.

And he was saying he wouldn’t discriminate against second-class citizens if they proved useful.

“A royal… criticizing the Emperor?”

“You gonna believe those words of mine?”

Road stepped closer to Kenya.

He casually extended his right hand.

“In your culture, it’s the right hand, right?”

He was asking for a handshake.

Kenya understood that much.

Kenya knew who this Road guy was.

He held views opposing discrimination—something unbecoming of royalty.

Yet he faithfully fulfilled his royal duties and racked up impressive war records.

From the game’s lore alone, Kenya couldn’t quite pin down what kind of person he was.

He had no idea what Road’s true aims were.

All he knew was that the man was a strategist of terrifying caliber.

“Will I regret shaking your hand?”

“That’s for you to decide someday. Though I can say for sure it’s a bloodstained hand.”

Road flashed a fearless grin.

Kenya could tell there was more behind that bold smile.

But still, he took the hand.

He had no clue where grasping it might lead.

Yet Road didn’t strike him as a bad guy.

In the game, he remained shrouded in mystery as some enigmatic boy, his true character unknown.

But…

“I don’t know you yet, but I feel like I have to take this hand.”

Instinct drove Kenya forward.

Their hands clasped—royalty and a second-class citizen, ruler and slave.

Only the two of them knew the meaning behind that handshake, which never should have happened.

But at that moment, their fates were already sealed.

The fate of a war that would engulf the world.

“Well then, now that introductions are out of the way, mind if I watch?”

“Of course. Please, make yourself at home.”

Road observed their practice for a good while.

“Hey, Kenya. This is awkward as hell!”

“C-Can’t be helped! It’s not like I can tell him to leave!”

Kaguya and Kenya whispered just loud enough for each other to hear.

But after a bit, Road stood up.

“I’ll take my leave for today. Sorry for interrupting.”

“Ah, sure.”

“Did he… hear us? He heard, didn’t he? We’re not getting purged or anything, right?!”

Kaguya muttered under her breath while bowing.

Road seemed to crack a slight smile at the sight.

Then he left the simulator room.

(So he was holding back back then, huh. Skills surpassing even the Ice Princess. If it’s him, then that plan might just…)

Road smirked defiantly.

The ruler—one of the world’s peaks—walked lightly down the empty hallway alone.

No one was around to hear the words of destruction whispered by that hidden figure at the top.

“To claim this world for myself.”

…

“What was that all about?”

“Beats me. Anyway, let’s call it a day.”

“……In the end, we didn’t even cut it down by ten percent.”

Reina deflated right in front of him.

She hung her head, looking so forlorn that his hand moved on its own.

Pon.

Kenya patted Reina’s head.

Because, well, it just looked so perfectly pat-able.

“You’re plenty strong already. It’s only been two years since you started, right? That’s insane.”

Reina peered up at him through the gaps between her fingers.

Kenya had nearly six years under his belt in KOG, counting his past life.

Honestly, he was shocked at how strong she’d gotten in just two.

But only he knew that.

“Really?”

“Ugh!”

Her eyes were innocently childlike, that upward gaze surely unintentional.

Caught off guard, Kenya clutched his chest as his heart nearly gave out from the cuteness overload. People died from this stuff.

Otaku mode full throttle, he stared at Reina with a dopey grin.

Kaguya watched the scene.

(What the hell, flirting like that! He said he liked me!)

Kaguya was starting to get pissed at Kenya for getting handsy with other girls.

Not just Reina—the other Japanese girls in class were fawning over him too, and he was eating it up.

(What’s with this irritation?)

Seeing him get chummy with other girls made her blood boil.

It was almost like…

(No way… Am I… jealous!?)

She realized it as Kenya kept grinning dopily at Reina.

This was jealousy.

“Kaguya? What’s up?”

“Hah!? No way! Idiot!”

“Ehh…”

He called out to Kaguya, who was trembling and acting weird.

But she hurled abuse at him out of nowhere, completely unprovoked.

He was used to her insults by now, but they’d been getting along lately—he thought she was warming up to him.

“W-Well, whatever. Let’s head out, Reina.”

And so they wrapped up simulator practice that day, with Kenya and Reina heading to the Silfield estate.

Walking side by side, the two of them—Kaguya trailed behind, watching.

Before she knew it…

“Kaguya? What’s wrong?”

“Heh!?”

She was clutching the sleeve of Kenya’s uniform.

As if to say, don’t go.

By the time Kenya noticed and called out to her, she’d realized what she was doing and turned beet red.

“I-It’s not like that! D-Die!”

“Gwah!”

Kaguya had caught on to her own feelings.

In a fluster, she lashed out, shoved him, and bolted from the scene.

(What the hell is this? I hate it. What even is this?)

Just thinking about Kenya made her chest ache.

Desperate not to let him see her flushed face, she ran.

Tears even welled up a little, and at this point, even Kaguya could tell.

(This can’t be happening. No way am I falling for that pervert…)

Was it pride holding her back from admitting it?

“I could never like him!!”

Even as her own will rebelled, she couldn’t stop thinking about Kenya—no matter what.