Stella sat there, stalk still on top of Ikki, her eyes glued to the sight of his bare lower chest. She had caught a glimpse of it before when he almost indecently flashed her and while she was initially disgusted, when she got a better look, Ikki’s muscles looked incredibly……manly.

Her heart fluttering at her inner thoughts, Stella looked around to check if anyone was around. Seeing not a person in sight, Stella asked herself.

“Maybe….just one touch? Is this his secret strength?”

Giving Ikki’s abs a poke, Stella felt a somewhat new stimulation run up the tip of her finger. She felt how hard yet jelly soft his lower muscles felt. It was nothing like her father’s, who was more like how she recalled as a child.

Tough as iron and uncomfortable to rest her head on. While the thought of doing such a thing now seemed nice because of how pleasant Ikki’s felt, Stella stopped herself but couldn’t stop her hand as she ran it up and down his full set of abs.

Her palms trembled and a bit of hungry desire crept onto Stella’s hot and embarrassed face.

“So….hard, yet……so soft….and warm…….I feel…….strange…..”

Feeling the pounding in her chest increase to a fever pitch, Stella’s cheeks redden to match the color of her hair and her hips began to move in a somewhat enticing way.

“Just what is happening to me.”

“Ummm? Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

Not expecting a quick reply to her question, Stella eyes gazed up to meet Ikki’s, which were somewhat confused and worried at what was happening to him. Her face already tinged red and her heart racing, Stella felt as the color of her face suddenly turned blue, and her heart sank.

“EKKKKKKKKKK!”

“WAIT DON’T GET UP OR YOU’LL–” But Ikki’s warning went unheard as Stella bashed her head against the roof of the bunk bed.

After a somewhat hectic time getting Stella under control and promising not to say anything about what happened, Ikki tended to her injury since she had actually bruised herself.

“There we go, that should do it.” Ikki said as he applied the last bandage around her forehead.

“T-Thank you, but you know you didn’t have to. This will heal in no time with how much core energy I have.”

“I guess you are right, but it’s best we treat it sooner than later. Core energy shouldn’t be abused in such a way.” Ikki warned.

Stella shortly stewed on what he said but needed to get something off her chest. His back turned to her, Stella fidgeted as Ikki stowed the room’s med kit away.

“I-I’m sorry.” She squeaked, only just about getting the words out as she continued in a growing firmness to her tone.

“I know that I caused you and Itsuki a lot of trouble. I put you both down without getting to really know you. You especially Ikki. I thought you were like those people who disregard the hard work I really put into my training, and I vented my anger on you. But you understood me. You saw the work I put into my swordsmanship, and you praised it, even though you are so much more skilled than me.”

“I…well…Thank you.” Ikki replied modestly. “But you give me too much praise. Between you and me, you can become even stronger than I am now. In fact, I somewhat look up to you.”

Stella thought that Ikki was being too modest and was pandering to her, yet when she asked why he thought this way he explained it in a way that made it clear to her. For him, he had very little paths he could take to develop his skills, unlike Stella who had a wealth of core energy she could draw upon to control and use in ways that out did most, if not all, the improvements Ikki could make with his swordsmanship and few options to improve.

Another revelation at how unfair this world could be and how inaccurate people could be in judgment, Stella thought, yet Ikki still chose to fight with the hand he was dealt.

“And you’re not backing down. Nothing is going to stop you from becoming an Explorer? Even if you must subject yourself to so much pain? Even if you’ve been disowned?”

“Of course.” Ikki said. “Growing up, in my family, I was initially looked upon as the next prodigy. I had some talent with the sword and became somewhat proficient, but when I took my evaluation for my explorer rank, I was then treated differently. My dream of one day becoming like the heroes from the war faded and my family put me down. But, I still felt the drive, the wish to use the few gifts I had gained for others.”

“So you left home and you came here instead?”

“It's more complicated than that, but that’s a good way to summarize it. With a little help from those who still believed in me, I came to the Western Bloc and enrolled here. Day after day, I trained and kept applying for a spot here at the academy. For years I was rejected due to my lack of talent, but when disaster hit the Eastern bloc last year, I recklessly went back home to see what I could do, even if I didn’t have an explorer license. That’s when I met Itsuki.”

Ikki looked as if he were reminiscing about a somewhat troubling yet hopeful memory of a fateful encounter. Stella could tell that Ikki had been through so much and while she had her own story, she and him had many parallels.

They both wanted to use their gifts for others, in the pursuit of power they hoped to refine themselves by sharpening themselves against hardship.

“Well, then I guess I have a lot to learn here.” Stella said, she was looking for something like this. It was why she left home. To find a person she could measure herself up to as an equal or to catch up to.

“Would you be willing to teach me? About what you’ve learned in your time here?”

“Sure, Miss Stella.” Ikki replied but then changed his tone to a more serious intonation. “Now! I guess we should get down to business.”

Turning to her, Ikki sat across from Stella at the low table in the room.

“Wait What? What business?”

“Per the agreement we had, the loser of the mock fight will become the servant of the winner for life. With that in mind, that means you will be my servant, right?”

“Wah What! I don’t well..I umm…”

“Don’t tell me you forgot? You’re the one who added the condition, so as of this moment, I am your master, rrrright?” The cheeky tone and smile Ikki had made Stella’s eyes go wide as she realized the cost of her loss in the duel.

“I may have said that but I didn’t really mean it! Even if I did, you can’t just order me around to do whatever, OK? Nothing really bad, alright? Nothing… you know…..”

“Oh? But you said that the winners could order the losers to do anything, or is a noble from Crimsonia going to go back on their word?”

“B-But I, ummm, I, really, don’t….you see, I……ahhhhh!”

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Racking her head to find a way out of this, Ikki chuckled and sarcastically asked.

“Is this really how a Crimsonian Noble behaves after defeat, I’m quite shocked. Does the Crimsonia family have such little honor?”

While not helping the situation and instead making Stella want to pull her hair out at any minute, Stella stood up and pointed down at him haughtily.

“Don’t look down on ME and especially not on my people! FINE! I’ll be your servant! Whatever! PERVERT! IDIOT! BRUTE! Go ahead and make any lewd command you want! I’ll..I’ll..”

Her resolve smothering out as fast as a campfire in the rain, Stella began to stutter as ideas of what Ikki would have her do flashed across her mind, the recollection of his muscular build and what he would do to her on the nearby bed flitted across her teary eyes, making her face flush crimson.

“Heh, Hahahahaha.”

Not expecting laughter as a response, Stella frowned at him.

“What! Why are you laughing! Just hurry up and get it over with!”

“It…it's because.” Ikki coughed, trying to get himself to stop chuckling. “It's because I was only kidding. I am not going to make you do anything in particular.”

“You Jerk!” Feeling the wind taken out of her sails, Stella fell to her knees in relief, releasing the seat cushion she had unintentionally hugged to her chest as if it were armor against indecency.

“But I do have one request.” At Ikki’s addendum, Stella straightened up and felt a bit of fear at what he would say next. She held the seat cushion tight over her large chest, hoping to not let Ikki get any ideas. She would agree to follow his orders since it felt wrong of her to go back on her word.

“Calm down, it’s not that bad. My one request to you is to be my roommate. Are you able to do that?”

“A-Are you…? You don’t…….feel…….” Stella fidgeted, making Ikki think that she was resistant to the idea of sharing a room with him.

Realizing that he might have asked for too much, Ikki placated her.

“I see, it must still be weird for you to share a room with a man, it's fine. I’ll ask Itsuki to find you a room, maybe you can be with Amanda, she seems—”

“Wait! I’m fine with it, okay!”

“Are you sure? You seem like you have a few reservations about it.”

“I’m sure! Now sit down already. As a noble, I always uphold my word, but it's not like I’m doing this to become your friend, I’m only doing this to learn from you. Got it!”

Ikki thought her stubbornness was cute, especially how she was puffing up her cheeks.

“Then, let’s get along.” Ikki offered a smile and held his hand out to Stella. “Welcome to the academy and thank you for becoming my roommate.”

“Hmph! The pleasure is all mine.” Stella haughtily replied as she got up and gave a graceful curtsy while accepting Ikki’s hand like a fair maiden.

It seemed out of place especially in the western bloc where gestures like these were more for plays and live shows. They chuckled at how silly their exchange likely looked and began chatting in a friendly manner with each other. One topic that got brought up was how late it was.

“Wait a minute? What time is it?” Ikki asked as he looked over to the clock. Seeing that it was past 10pm, his heart sank since he missed dinner at the cafeteria, and every convenience store was currently closed.

“Aw man, I can’t believe I slept in so much. I must have really pushed myself.” Rubbing his stomach, he realized how hungry he was.

The last time he ate was in the morning, and after the incident with Stella, he had yet to even take a bite of anything else. Hearing his stomach growl, Stella giggled and moved over to the indoor kitchen.

“Come on, you must have ingredients in the fridge, right? As your servant, I’ll cook you up a meal. Hold on, stay there.”

“Wait, I can help, I—” But as Ikki tried to get up, his legs gave out since the aftereffects of his abilities truly took a toll on him. Caught and supported by Stella, she frowned and flicked him in the head.

“Stay! PUT! Or else you’ll hurt yourself. Just let me handle it.”

As Ikki tried to offer his help in lieu of Stella’s words, meanwhile at the door, a blue pane of refractive icy glass was held in Amanda’s hand as she set the door to their room just slightly ajar enough to get a peek inside. Amused and giddy for her friend’s happy times, Amanda clenched her fist as if in victory.

To her, she had seen the budding embers of passion Stella held within for Ikki, and while she had her misgivings, that was mostly due to Itsuki’s meddling in Ikki’s life, but she felt that Stella and Ikki were quite a match.

But at that thought, Amanda realized something.

“Wait? The agreement was made for all of us, so does that mean I’m Itsuki’s servant?”

A bit of sweat pooled on Amanda’s forehead and she quickly tried to make her way out of the dormitory, hoping to return to her hospital room since she knew that Itsuki couldn’t barge into her patient room since visiting hours were over.

She also didn’t have to worry about him being able to move much since his injuries would keep him down for a few months. But just as she stepped out of the reception area, Amanda found a rope being lassoed around her.

“Where do you think you’re going? Curfew ended half an hour ago.” Hearing Itsuki's voice, Amanda was shocked when she turned to see him and saw that he was fully healed and out of his cast and bandages so soon.

“How the heck are you healed already? Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“I took a dip in the regeneration pod and had to pump my stomach full of medical gunk to speed up the process. It is amazing what technology can do nowadays but it felt disgusting.”

He sighed and slightly shivered in expressionless anguish as he recalled the sensation his stomach felt.

“It did the job though. Now come on, you heard Ikki, you’ve got to listen to my orders from now on or are you going to be shameless and go back on your word. You might not be a noble, but a deal is a deal.”

“Wait? You heard all that? How long were you eavesdropping on them? And where were you hiding?” Amanda had seen and sensed no one else nearby, so how did he slip past her notice?

“It was around the time you were listening in as well, but I was in the next room over.”

Itsuki tapped the side of his head, bringing Amanda’s attention to the large headphones he was wearing.

“I needed to start cleaning up the place and get the dorm rooms in order. Neat trick with the ice by the way, I instead used enhanced headphones that increased my hearing so I could listen in on what was going on, but your method was quite old school.”

He then tugged the rope.

“Now, hurry up! We have work to do.”

Before she could say anything, Itsuki tugged the lasso again and began to try to drag Amanda along with him, but she resisted. Freezing the rope, Amanda thought she could shatter it after weakening her bindings but found her efforts wasted since they were left unaffected by her frosting aura.

“These ropes are made of core material, they don’t freeze easily, and they are strong enough to hold down powerful monsters in the stardepths.” Itsuki tugged on the ropes once more and this revelation of how strong the rope was painted a look of dismay on Amanda.

“Just how many weapons and tools do you have!” She shouted, her complaint so loud. Itsuki just shrugged.

“A lot.” He said curtly. “Now hurry up! You’re going to be my assistant from now on, we’ve got a lot of paperwork to go through, so I hope you know how to fill out digital forms.”

“I do not agree to this! And why me of all people, why not Ikki?”

“He’s too focused on becoming an explorer and I need someone who gets along with people better than me, you seem like a good pick, seeing that you befriended Stella so soon and you can hold up in a fight. I would have teamed up with the granny supervisor of the girl’s dorm, but I found out that she retired and should be enjoying her retirement with her lewd husband right about now. So, suck it up and accept your role.”

“Thank you very much, but No THANK YOU, so I’ll just–”

But before Amanda could slip out of the ropes and take her leave, Itsuki tugged and began wrapping Amanda into a cocoon of more ropes that he materialized from his storage rings. Hefting her up on his shoulder as she kicked and screamed, Itsuki carried her away like luggage as he made his way back into the dormitory.

“Stop resisting and take your punishment. It's the least you can do after bashing my head in with a baseball bat.”

“OK WAIT! That was one time, you can’t expect me to work for you over just a single small incident!”

Itsuki raised a brow in frustration at her attitude but then continued to ignore her. Left kicking and screaming, Amanda continued to attempt her escape but every time she got a bit looser from the ropes, Itsuki brought out another tool to restrain her, as if he had already had to deal with troubling children and explorers before.

“This is a crime! Help! Someone, I’m being kidnapped! HELP!” Amanda shouted and Itsuki laughed, but not outwardly. Not letting it show in his expression.

On one side of this day, a budding friendship blossomed between two like minded young students, while on the other hand, a thorny partnership was brewing between two polar opposites.

Only time would tell how these four and many other students’ stories would come to be.

Yet, from a place far away and so close in perspective, entities watched on as the show played out. Either by looking down from the heavens or up from the depths, they thought and thought, reasoning what to do next.

[Itsuki Homura (Work Mode)]

image [https://i.postimg.cc/kg7qMXrb/1688672541725.jpg]