Chapter 127: I will lead the charge!

– “Hello, Mika, what is it?”

Hearing the voice from the phone, Mika was slightly surprised.

She had expected the silver-haired loli’s voice to come from the other side, but to her surprise, it was actually Xinghe’s voice.

His voice sounded a bit raspy, but that was normal since he was supposed to be sick.

‘Was my previous guess wrong?’

– “No, it’s nothing. I just heard from Yukina that you’ve fallen ill and are resting at home, right?”

– “Huh? Oh, right! Cough, cough, cough. This illness is quite something. It looks like I won’t be able to make it to school for a while.”

“That’s a real shame.”
Mika sat on the bed, staring at the empty sheets while chatting and laughing with the “Xinghe” on the other end of the line.

– “By the way, have you read the manga I lent you? One of them is an adventure story about a boy who wakes up with a system and levels up alone. How far have you gotten? Do you want me to lend you the sequels? You must be bored staying at home, anyway.”

– “Really? That would be great! I finished that manga a long… wait, Mika, aren’t you remembering wrong? You haven’t lent me I Want to Monopolize the Experience yet. Didn’t you say you hadn’t finished it and would lend it to me once you were done?”

– “Oh? Is that so? My apologies, I forgot.”

– “Honestly, Mika, how are you even more forgetful than me? By the way, where do you live, Mika?”

– “Hmm? Why are you asking that? Did those romance manga get to your head and you want to try something in practice?”

– “What are you thinking? I just wanted to return the manga I’ve already finished reading.”

– “Hey, hey, aren’t you still sick? Just stay at home and recover properly. Don’t go running around outside. As for the manga, just have Yukina bring them to school and give them to me! Alright, I won’t bother you anymore. Get some rest. Bye!”

– “Wait, wait!”

The “Xinghe” on the other side tried to keep her on the line, but it was too late; Mika had already hung up decisively.

Afterward, she looked at the bookshelf filled with manga and fell into deep thought.

‘The other party didn’t take the bait!’

Just as a precaution, she had set a trap.

If the other person hadn’t corrected her mistake, it would have proven that the “Xinghe” on the phone was a fake.

However, “Xinghe” corrected her, which proved that this person at least possessed memories related to her.

Although the voice was very similar to Xinghe’s, with current technology, faking a voice wasn’t a difficult task.

If the “Xinghe” on the phone really was him, why would he lie to her and say he was resting in bed at home?

Where exactly was the person talking to her right now?

‘It seems I need to investigate this properly.’

With that thought, Mika took out her phone and made another call.

– “Shion, it’s me. I have something I need you to look into.”

****

After Mika abruptly hung up the phone, Charlotte and Yukina looked at each other in bewilderment.

“She…”

Hearing that her own voice was still Xinghe’s raspy tone, Charlotte hurriedly pinched her throat and changed her voice back.

“She didn’t say where she lived. What do we do?”

Although there was no convenient magic like a bowtie voice changer in the other world, Charlotte could still use magic to manipulate air density to alter her voice accordingly.

Of course, if used correctly, she could even create a barrier that reflected light to achieve visual invisibility.

However, Charlotte wasn’t skilled in such precise manipulations.

She preferred to dump all her magical power into one spot to cause a massive scene.

Therefore, the voice she produced was quite crude, but fortunately, Mika hadn’t become suspicious.

While she was talking to Mika, Yukina had been leaning in close to the phone, holding her breath and listening to Mika’s voice.

But unlike the previous conversation, the Mika talking to her brother spoke incredibly fluently, as if she weren’t sick at all.

‘Could it be that Aiba Senior isn’t actually sick?’

But even with her doubts, the fact remained that she hadn’t obtained Mika’s address.

Yukina looked dejected, realizing she couldn’t move Aiba Senior to the arena through extraordinary means.

“Forget it. I can’t count on Aiba Senior anymore.”

‘No, to be precise, I can’t keep relying on her. Even without Aiba Senior, I have to give it my all and strive for victory. Even if the opponents are stronger than expected, it won’t stop my will to win!’

Yukina moped for a bit, then muttered to herself and reignited her determination to fight.

She then walked toward her gloomy teammates, spreading her resolve to them, even though their combat power was far below her own.

Charlotte watched Yukina’s strong back, lost in thought.

Only five minutes remained before the match started. Due to Aiba Mika’s absence, the Yōkain Academy Kendo Club had to rearrange their order of appearance.

“How about I go first!” Yukina suggested. “I’ll try to defeat as many opponents as possible!”

The original plan was to have Aiba Mika go first to take out the most troublesome opponents.

The other members arranged in the middle would then be responsible for wearing down the opposition.

That was the plan, but since the vanguard, Aiba Mika, was absent at this crucial moment, the task of clearing out the trash fell to the only heavy hitter left in the team, Yukina.

“I guess that’s the only way. But Yukina, you have to be careful. The first person the other side is fielding is their President. You should remember him; he’s the loud guy from yesterday.”

The Kendo Club President pushed up his glasses and spoke to Yukina.

“I understand. I’ll be careful.”

After arranging the tactics, the group returned to the spectator seats, leaving Yukina alone to put on her protective gear and prepare to step onto the stage for the intense and brutal gauntlet match.

In the spectator seats, Huangquan Ai and Xiaoxi, as nominal members of the Kendo Club, had already taken their seats to wait for the opening.

This match basically had nothing to do with nominal members, but since their friend Yukina was one of the club’s most important combatants, they were here to cheer her on.

Naturally, Charlotte, also a nominal member, should have been sitting with them to cheer for Yukina. But for some reason, Charlotte had been missing for a while.

“Eh? Have you seen Kanon-chan?”

“Wasn’t she just sitting next to us?”

Just as they were feeling perplexed by Charlotte’s disappearance, they suddenly noticed the petite figure they were looking for standing right in the center of the arena, facing the red-haired President of Clover Academy.

“Eh?” Seeing this, everyone was utterly dumbfounded.