“I’m really not worth all that effort.”

**

I was back in my room.

There were definitely preparations I’d need to make if I was going to duel a caste one student. Despite the fact that Kamura seemed to be rather weak, he was more likely than not the outlier—the school’s ‘matchmaking’ was supposed to be fair for the special exam, after all.

Sigh.

I opened up my ability slots.

ABILITIES

Personal Ability: [Mind Breaker]

Ability One: [Overclock]

Ability Two: [Perfect Diary]

Passive Ability: [Nullify]

That was a decent enough line-up. I guess I wouldn’t really be able to know until the battle starts, but most things should be covered.

Just guessing from Kai’s bluffs earlier, he’s likely not as strong as Stella, which means he’d try to use some sort of sneaky tactics with me. Otherwise, he could’ve simply rejected my offer—it wasn’t like Stella’s messages to me were that profound.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

If anything, it almost seemed like he was trying to goad me into duelling him the entire time.

That was fine.

Time ticked away as I waited on my bed.

The duel would be starting soon enough.

His surveillance of me seemed to have stopped.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

[Kai POV]

Everything seems to be going to plan. Normally, it’s not so easy to control Stella, but it seemed that she listened to my order in the end. Even someone like Akira would be fooled by her ingenuity.

I looked over at Stella.

She smiled a little before swaying her hair. I didn’t really know how to describe it, but the way she moved was almost—hypnotic. She was different to all of my other girls.

The first time I saw her, she was like a helpless girl, sitting out the front of my lounge, with a cold, solemn expression. But as soon as I talked to her, I could tell that she was different, just as I could tell that Akira was different.

“Stella, what ability do you think would work well against Akira?”

She raised her [Gun of Gluttony] and pointed it at me.

—Bang.

“This is one I got from one of my other colleagues, not your girls.”

ABILITIES

Personal Ability: [Scanner]

Ability One: [Conjure Forest]

Ability Two: [Invisibility Cloak]

Passive Ability: [Tit for Tat]

(Extra) Feed of Gluttony: [Sneak Attack]

It was pretty obvious what I needed to do.

It would be bad to underestimate Akira’s ability.

Stella made her way toward me and leaned against the side of my chair. She ran her fingers across my table, sliding them over the sheets of paper.

I decided to ask her something.

“Stella.”

“Yes~?”

“You were the only one of my girls to come to me. Why is that?”

She brought her finger to her mouth, touching the corner of her lips.

“Because, Kai, you’re a useful tool.”

Huh?

“I guess we both have our needs then.”

“Of course.”

She sighed and began to walk away.

“Before you go, what do you think are the odds of me winning this?”

She laughed a little.

“That all depends on Akira, doesn’t it?”

He was certainly someone who was impossible to read.

*

I began to make my way over to the arena.

[Kai POV END]