“What the hell!” James yelled. The ball rebounded from the crater it had made, bounced off another rock wall, and flew back into Tiffany’s hands.

  “Ah’m just like Captain America, ain’t I?”

  James scrambled to his feet so he could face her and dodge the next shot.

  “You’re crazy!” he shouted. “Basketballs can’t do that!”

  Tiffany laughed. “Been a while since Ah could speak American to someone,” she said. She started bouncing the ball again. “If yer gonna run, Ah won’t stop ya.”

  James tensed. I should draw my sword, like Ema did. Can I hit it? Before it hits me?

  He reached for the hilt, just a little too late. The ball was coming at him, too fast to dodge. All he had time for was the incongruous realisation that he was going to die, from a basketball thrown by an American schoolgirl in the Japanese wilderness.

  He held his arms up in a hopeless attempt at blocking. Maybe the ball would just break his arms, and he’d get to live.

  There was a flash of green light, followed by the impact. To James’s surprise, he didn’t die; he was just forced a step back.

  When he lowered his arms, Tiffany was looking at him, wide-eyed.

  “Ah knew you was sandbagging me!” she said.

  Belatedly, James realised his armour had returned. One of his hands was still clutching the katana, but his other hand was holding his fantastical-looking sword.

  “Well?” Tiffany demanded. “Are you just gonna stand there like a cow stuck in mud?”

  She threw the ball again, but she didn’t aim directly at him this time. James relaxed, thinking she’d missed, but a sudden blow from behind made him realise that she’d meant to hit him on the rebound.

  “Damn it!” he shouted. The ball hadn’t hurt him through his armour, but it had knocked him around a bit. It took three bounces for the ball to make it back to Tiffany. She caught it without having to move a step, and with no apparent effort.

  “That sword ain’t gonna do you no good if you just wave it around,” Tiffany said. “That’s what my mama always said.”

  “Just let me through,” James said. “You can’t hurt me anymore.”

  “Maybe not,” Tiffany said, “But Ah can hammer y’all into the ground like a tentpole if y’all don’t move.”

  She tossed the ball again. Low, at his legs. James awkwardly brought his sword down, but he was too slow. His feet were swept out from under him, and he fell.

  At least this time, I got her ball, James thought. Not from any skill, it had just gotten tangled up in his legs when he’d fallen. At least this time, I can get up without—

  He looked up. Tiffany was grinning at him, another ball in her hands.

  “Didja think I only had the one?” she asked. “I gotta a whole bushel of balls here.”

  James groaned, but only in his head. He didn’t have time to groan aloud, as he had to roll out of the way of another strike.

  It was hard to push himself up. Both his hand were full. James knew he was going to be scolded for getting his katana all dirty.

  Still, he managed to get to his feet during the rebound. When Tiffany threw again, he was ready.

  His green fantasy sword swung easily. James was still pretty clumsy with a katana, but the sword seemed as light as a feather at times. It cleaved the oncoming ball in half.

  Tiffany dashed over to her basket to get another ball.

  “Don’t think we’re done, sugar, I got more Texas thunder coming right up!”

  “Oh, we’re done,” James said. Suiting deeds to words, he charged down the river. It took Tiffany precious seconds to get a new ball, and with the armour, he seemed to be able to move faster than ever.

  “Next time, I’ll bury you so deep, you’ll be seein’ tumbleweeds in your sleep!” she called out after him. James didn’t stop to ask what that was supposed to mean.

  Everything was so much easier in the armour. All the things he was doing right now, anyway. Running, jumping, maintaining his footing on the slippery rocks. He doubted it would make doing his homework easier. The stream split into two. He took the rightmost as Mitsue had suggested.

  He didn’t get a warning this time. Something hit his head with a klonk, and he missed his footing. He tumbled into the gully wall, sending pebbles and dust flying as he came to a stop.

  Good thing I’ve got my armour, James thought. But what was that?

  “You see? You’ve got to lead them when they’re moving like that,” A male voice called.

  “That’s not baseball!” a female voice protested. James thought that they might sound familiar. “You don’t pitch to a moving plate. Now that he’s stopped, though…”

  James had a sudden intimation of what was coming. He dived further down gulley, just as a hard baseball slammed into where he had been lying.

  “That’s dangerous!” he shouted. “Don’t just go throwing baseballs at people!”

  “Eh, you’re wearing armour, it should be fine,” the male voice said. James looked up. Sousuke and Akiko, the co-captains of the Baseball club, were standing on a boulder that made part of the canyon wall.

  “Better get moving,” Akiko said. She wound up for another pitch.

  James knocked it out of the park. Which was to say, he hit it full-on with his sword and sent the two halves spinning in different directions. He was so focused on his swing, though, that he didn’t notice the ball Sousuke had sent right after.

  “Ow!” James yelled. The baseballs were faster and harder than Tiffany’s basketballs. He wasn’t really hurt, just shocked by the impact. “It’s not baseball if there’s two pitchers.”

  “That’s what we were just saying,” Sousuke said. “In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s no diamond here.”

  They started pelting James with balls. He could have swatted some of them, but there were too many to get them all. Realising that the only solution was to get out of range, he ignored the hail of fastballs and started moving again.

  Unlike Tiffany, the pair’s hits couldn’t knock him down as long as his footing was good. He endured the buffetting and forced himself to move carefully down the streambed.

  “Ooow,” James said once he was past the obstacle. He felt like he’d gone ten rounds with a boxer. He glared back the way he came. The sporting clubs were having way too much fun at his expense.

  As he started jogging down the stream, he tried to think of the other clubs that might be taking part. Tiffany was probably part of the Athletic Club; the strange club president had mentioned something about basketball being one of the sports that he had “conquered”. Baseball was a separate club, so was there another club that hadn’t been absorbed?

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  James racked his brains as he ran. He was jerked rudely out of his thoughts when an arrow shrieked right past his nose.

  James jerked to a stop. He looked at the arrow, embedded about halfway into the rock wall. He looked in the other direction and saw a girl.

  She had silver hair that turned to gold at the tips. She was dressed in some kind of traditional Japanese costume, and she was holding an asymmetric Japanese bow. She had ears just like Harue, and James could see a bushy tail—or perhaps tails—poking out from behind her.

  She bowed to him. “Permit me to introduce myself,” she said. “I am Akazuki Chiemi, and I will be honoured to take your life today.”

  “That’s… that’s a joke, right?” James asked. “You can’t kill me; we’re in school! And there are proctors watching, right?”

  He looked desperately at the lip of the canyon and was relieved to see a boy in the PMC uniform standing there.

  “Unfortunately—for you— he sees only what I wish him to see,” Cheimi said. “I could do something similar for you if you wished. Your last moments would be ones of exquisite delight—but I do not think you wish to die that way.”

  “You got that right,” James said. He eyed the distance between them. Too far, really, and she was three yards up besides. “Why me though? Don’t tell me you’ve been killing everyone who comes past.”

  “Of course not,” Chiemi said. She drew an arrow out of nowhere and fitted it to the bow. “One death can be written off as happenstance. I’ve had to choose very carefully which juicy morsel to put on my plate.”

  She drew the bow back. “I do appreciate how you’ve tried to make it harder. That armour looks very sturdy.”

  “You mean—you’re not part of the Black Dragons or something? You just randomly chose to kill me?”

  “There’s nothing random about it,” Chiemi said. “Out of all of the first years, you have the most delicious dreams.”

  She winked at him and loosed the arrow. Everything seemed to slow down for James.

  Sword, please don’t fail me now, James thought. His sword came up in a smooth arc. It was moving so slowly, but so was the arrow.

  The tip of the arrow slipped past the arc of the sword.

  The sword took the arrow in the middle of the shaft, cutting it in half and sending the shards spinning.

  Time sped up again. James looked at Chiemi, who already had another arrow nocked.

  I should run, James thought. But he couldn’t cut an arrow if he wasn’t in the proper stance. He could cut, or he could run.

  “Nicely done,” Chiemi said, “But I wouldn’t recommend doing that for this arrow.”

  Without her saying a word, the arrow burst into blue flames. They didn’t seem to harm the bow or Chiemi’s hand where she held it.

  “Harmless to me, but not to you,” Chiemi said, drawing back the bow.

  She wants me to run, James thought, his eyes fixed on the tip of the arrow. It felt like she was holding the arrow ready, waiting to see which way he would jump. If he moved, she’d lead in that direction. If he didn’t move, he’d get to see what that fire could do.

  The armour would protect him. Probably.

  A small, black dagger flew out of nowhere and hit Chiemi on her forearm. The girl shrieked and let go of the arrow. It flew wide, missing James by yards and exploding into blue flame when it hit the gulley wall.

  “Who!” Chiemi exclaimed.

  Mitsue strode calmly down the stream. His sword was drawn.

  “An archer against two swordsmen is fated to lose,” he said.

  Chiemi snarled and ripped the dagger out of her arm. She ignored the blood that gushed out of the wound.

  “You won’t—” she said, and then she disappeared.

  Mitsue sent another dagger flying through where she had been standing. It flew through the space, hitting nothing. Mitsue stared and then looked at James.

  “Did you know she could do that?” he asked.

  “No, but—” James started before he was interrupted by a call from above.

  “Hey! What are you two doing down there? Where’s Chiemi-chan?” The PMC proctor was looking down at them, a little bit more animated than he had been before.

  “I… don’t know?” James called back. “She just disappeared?”

  “She’s gonna catch hell for this,” the boy muttered. “Well, just keep moving then. The finish line’s not far.”

  James looked at Mitsue and shrugged. He started heading down the stream. Mitsue swarmed up the side of the gulley with a few quick jumps and holds, retrieving his knives before catching up with James. Together, they picked up the pace.

  “Did you have trouble with the challenges?” Mitsue asked.

  “Not once the armour came on,” James replied. “You?”

  “I found the basketballs relatively easy to dodge, though I was caught by surprise by her rebound shots,” Mitsue said. “I had to utilise a smoke bomb to get past the baseball club.”

  James snorted. “That’s not proper baseball,” he said.

  “I am not aware of the rules of that sport,” Mitsue agreed. “There was some commentary from them about that point. Do you think Akazuki-san will attack us again?”

  “She said that she could get one death written off as an accident,” James said. “It might be that as soon as she’d have to kill two people, she gave up. Though, leaving us alive to tell everybody about her doesn’t seem smart.”

  “I don’t think she has anything to worry about on that front,” Mitsue said thoughtfully. “Our senpai on the cliff saw nothing, and we do not even have any injuries to report.”

  “Oh, I’m injured,” James said with feeling. “Just not by arrows.”

  “Exactly,” Mitsue said. “I fear that this will be written off by the Council as merely youthful high spirits.”

  “She said she was going to kill me.”

  “A very common intimidation tactic,” Mitsue countered. “She will say, of course, that she only meant to scare you.”

  “She’s living in the same dorms as us,” James said. “Just downstairs from Suki. A killer.”

  “She’s not the only one in that dorm that has killed people,” Mitsue said. “I think that she is too careful to murder in the dorms. It was only the specific circumstances of this race that made her think she could get away with murder.”

  “So we just let it slide?” James asked. “What if she goes after someone else?”

  “I don’t think she will,” Mitsue said. “It would be harder to get a death written off if two people were claiming she was an attempted murderer. There would be more investigation.”

  “I don’t like that she gets off scot-free,” James said.

  “We could challenge her to a duel,” Mitsue said. “Though a fair duel, with her archery skills and ensorcellment… I’m not sure that either of us could win.”

  “That’s—Oh, there’s the finish line.”

  Mitsue graciously allowed James to cross the line first.

  “Nice time!” Shimoyanagi Yoshiki said gruffly, handing him his completion certificate. “Completely eclipsed by Mitsue here, but the important part is that you made it.”

  James nodded his thanks to Midoriko’s younger brother. He had barely finished when Suki glomped onto him.

  “Congratulations!” she said, kissing him on the cheek. James didn’t really hear what she said next. He only came back to his senses when she started to lead him back to the dorms.

  “Oh, wait!” he said. “Is Midoriko-senpai all right?” he called back to Yoshiki.

  “She will be fine,” Yoshiki assured him. From the worry that flashed across his face, he wasn’t certain of that. “She just had to… deal with something that came up.”

  James was sceptical, but let it go. He didn’t know if Midoriko had filled in her brother about what she was doing, but if she had, Yoshiki certainly wasn’t going to tell him. He would ask the next time he saw her.

  James blinked in surprise when Yoshiki turned away to greet the next competitor. There was an Idol Club poster stuck to the older boy’s back. Yoshiki strode away before James could open his mouth to tell him.

  “What was that about?” Suki asked, still hanging onto his arm.

  “You mean the poster?” James asked.

  “Oh no, I know exactly what that’s about,” Suki said disapprovingly. “Harue came up with me, but I haven’t seen her in a bit.”

  “That checks out. I was asking about Midoriko because…”

  James looked around to make sure that they wouldn’t be overheard. The only one close by was Mitsue. “You won’t believe me,” he said, “But while Midoriko was proctoring, she got a call and then she… sliced through space and time to go somewhere else.”

  “Neat!” Harue said, popping out from behind him. “Her sword did that?”

  James sighed. He’d just looked behind him, and Harue hadn’t been there.

  “She used her sword,” he confirmed. “I don’t know if it did it or she did.”

  “Probably the sword,” Harue said. “It’s super magical.”

  “It does sound very improbable,” Suki said.

  “I’ll ask her about it when she gets back,” James said. “Until then, it’s not any of our business. How did the Idol Club meeting go?”

  “It was so annoying!” Harue said. “I had to fight Junko on every little thing!”

  “I thought it went well, in the end,” Suki said. “We covered most of the items on the agenda and ended up with agreement.”

  “Junko and Harue not getting along?” James asked.

  “She’s gonna make me pull out my tail!” Harue said. “She doesn’t understand anything about what makes an idol!”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” Suki said. “They clashed on many issues, but you got your way most of the time.”

  “Because I was right, and everyone knew it!” Harue exclaimed. “She’s just gotta find a way to throw her money at a problem so that everyone can love her for being rich!”

  “It wouldn’t be that bad to have professionally designed costumes,” Suki said.

  “They’d be made with money, not love!” Harue insisted. She skipped a few steps ahead of the pair so that she could twirl and wave her arms expansively. James could see Mitsue, further ahead, look back warily to make sure he didn’t get whacked by Harue’s dramatics.

  “Idols are about love, friendship and feelings!” Harue declared. “Emotion, not cashflow. If we let Junko bring her budget into this, it will kill everything that makes the club special.”

  “Are you going to get her kicked out of the club then?” James asked.

  “No. No! That wouldn’t be friendship and love!” Harue said. “We have to fix her.”

  She took another step forward and twirled around dramatically. “I’ll fill her heart with love and magic no matter what it takes! Even if I have to rip her chest open!”