kscans

Chapter 693 - Interlude

"""—…"""

The waiting room was filled with silence.

Ten minutes, six hundred seconds. The “match” had colored every last second with the clang of swordplay, captivating not just the venue, but the entire world to which the scene was broadcast.

After witnessing the “supreme” ceremony between the Strongest and the Supreme.

Even I, who had been informed beforehand and was prepared for it, felt this way in my heart. One minute passed, then two, then three, and still my three seniors were speechless, lost in the afterglow. I couldn't even begin to imagine what a state their hearts were in.

"—…Haaah, wow."

And so, it was the white kitten who broke the silence with a faint voice. She murmured, more a cry than a word, in a voice as fluffy as could be, and sank into the sofa.

"Yeah… that was… insane…"

Next to her, Rinne agreed with her junior's sentiment in a dazed voice.

"…Haru-kun. You knew, didn’t you?"

While witnessing her own master’s grand performance, Hina-san, who had managed to maintain at least a semblance of composure, turned a rare, half-lidded gaze on me.

Well, of course.

After three years, the dance of “sword” and “katana,” exchanged between two who were finally giving their all, had surely scrambled their brains…

No, not just the three of them, but everyone in the other waiting rooms who had witnessed that scene,

"—Can’t say ‘let’s just have fun’ anymore…"

"—This isn’t a situation where we can just say ‘let’s just have fun’…"

"—We can’t just say ‘let’s have fun’ anymore, can we…"

Their minds had been thoroughly blown, and the stage they were about to step onto had completely transformed from its traditional “casual, fun event.”

The purpose hadn't changed. No one was so clueless as to disrupt the flow of a major event with their own whims and feelings… well, aside from a few exceptions who would intentionally do so.

So, just as in previous years, they would undoubtedly stick to the main theme of entertaining the audience, pursuing a “fun stage” to the very end.

It was just that. The “casual, fun event” had merely turned into a “serious, fun event.”

That was all. And because that was all.

"—Yes. Well then, we have a little over ten minutes left. Once the matches start, we can focus on watching, but for now… let’s have a proper meeting."

I’m sure that if Hina-san, the most senior among us, hadn’t been the first to suggest it, someone else… perhaps even Nacchan-senpai… would have spoken up without hesitation.

"The stage of those two, where skills, magic, and even stats were likely all restricted… We can't afford to lose to that in terms of excitement."

"We can’t."

"We certainly cannot."

"Haha…—Yeah, we can't, can we?"

Of course, that meant,

To the supreme pair who had captivated the world with nothing more than the pure, unadulterated clash of their blades.

They would not readily admit defeat. The players who had surely reached their own heights and were gathered here, who, without exception, held a more-than-average amount of pride to protect,

With a passion that would surely far surpass that of the audience,

There was not a single reason why their hearts would not be stirred to excitement.