Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume1 Chapter7 (section)

===Part 3===

"Unbelievable. I never expected you to be the sealed spirit of that sword."

Having left the female dormitory and walking in the academy's courtyard, Kamito took a glance at the girl next to him.

Of course, she was not naked. Currently, she was wearing the school uniform of Areishia Spirit Academy.

The spirits that had a human form were the highest rank in Astral Zero. So it is understandable that Kamito did not immediately discover the girl's true identity.

"I mean, you can reconstruct clothes, so why were you naked?"

"I thought you would be pleased that way. Or do I really have to show you my bare feet?"

It seemed that this spirit would be embarrassed if she exposed her bare feet. Such an obscure type of shyness.

Kamito sighed, and tried to sort out what he had talked about with Est.

— Back then Est resonated to Kamito's strong will, and was summoned in the form of an elemental waffe. However, at the same time when Kamito lost his consciousness, the {{Furigana|Magic Circuit|Path}} was once again closed, and she ended up not being able to return to Astral Zero.

"Why was the {{Furigana|Magic Circuit|Path}} not connected? We did form the contract after all."

"One factor is that my original existence is an overly powerful being, but probably the main cause is from Kamito yourself. Subconsciously, Kamito was ''rejecting the contract with me''."

"......"

Kamito had an idea. His eyes rested on the left hand in the black leather gloves.

Back then to save Claire, Kamito strived to not ponder over it.

But it is undeniable, ''her'' presence still haunts the heart of Kamito.

"...Sorry. It is not that I was unwilling to contract with you. That's not how it was."

Not being able to return to Astral Zero puts an enormous stress on the spirits.

However, most of Est's power was left in Astral Zero, so at the moment she's seemingly unable to display her original strength.

Perhaps because Est took the form of a human girl, Kamito became more distressed.

"It does not matter. Anyway, I'm tired of being sealed inside the sword. It has been hundreds of years since I last came to this world, so I decided to enjoy everything here. Say, Kamito—"

Est pulled the sleeve of Kamito's uniform.

"It feels like I have a good impression of you."

"...A good impression?"

"Meaning that I might like you."

"Ah. So... thank you."

Kamito could not help but blush, and averted his eyes.

Despite being a sealed spirit with extraordinary power, her appearance was that of a lovely girl.

To receive such a straight confession... Kamito did not know how to respond.

"But when you were sealed inside the sword, haven't you rejected contracting with all the other elementalists?"

"Yes, Kamito. So far, I have rejected 53 elementalists."

"Then why has such a high rank spirit like you chosen me?"

"Well, if I had to guess—it might have been an intuition."

Est watched Kamito with the pair of clear violet eyes.

"Because I felt- that the two of us are alike."

"...What do you mean?"

"Kamito."

Est suddenly held out her forefinger and gently pressed it against Kamito's lips.

"Do not pry into a girl's secrets!"

"...!"

A completely unexpected reaction. Kamito's heart raced at the soft touch of her fingertip.

Then, her skirt twirled as Est quickly turned around. She ran forward lightly.

Going a long way from the dormitory, Kamito finally arrived at the school building of the academy.

(Could Claire be here?) After being driven out of Rinslet's room, Kamito immediately went to Claire's room to check on her, but she was not in the room.

Maybe she had already recovered, and went to the class to attend the lectures.

It was good if that's the case- but somehow his heart jittered anxiously.

While walking together with Est in the corridor, Kamito heard whispers constantly coming from all directions.

"Look. Look. There's that male transfer student."

"As expected, he has already laid his hands on a new girl."

"What a pretty girl... did we have such a student in our academy?"

"Hey. Is it true that Ellis' group engaged in a duel with him?"

"He can't be planning on laying his hands on every girl in the academy, can he?"

"What a pervert... or rather, a lewd beast?"

"Definitely a lewd beast."

"Yeah, a lewd beast."

"Public enemy of the girls..."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Twitter twitter*...

...Kamito's heart hurt. The target of this chattering had heard everything.

"Is Kamito really a lewd beast?"

Est dealt a further blow. Well, she meant no harm.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Clink*— the sound of a sword being drawn came from the back at that moment.

"—Kazehaya Kamito, you indecent man!"

"...!"

With no time to turn around, the blade had come to rest on the back of his neck.

Kamito raised both his hands, and timidly moved nothing but his line of sight—

Standing there was the pony-tailed leader of the Knights, emitting a terrifying murderous intent.

"E...Ellis...?"

"I misjudged you, you sex maniac! How could you lay your hands on such an innocent girl!"

"...Listen."

Kamito sighed, and said with half squinted eyes: "You have just made a very rude misunderstanding about others. She's my contracted spirit."

"......What?"

Ellis raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You are saying this girl is that sword spirit that slayed the demon spirit with one blow?"

Ellis skeptically stared at Est for a moment, then turned back to Kamito again.

"Stop making lame excuses, Kazehaya Kamito!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Clang*- the blade came to rest on his neck again.

But the next second, Ellis's startled eyes widened.

The blade that was stabbed towards the back of his neck turned soft and bent down.

"What is going on?"

"{{Furigana|Property Resonance|Howling}}- as a sword spirit, I can freely interfere with various blades. Are you willing to believe us now?"

"...!"

Ellis, with her eyes wide open, examined the bent sword.

Spirit magic could bring about similar phenomenon, but Est bent the sword without even lifting a finger.

"I see. ...Sorry for having doubted you."

Ellis put away the sword, and apologized seriously with a bow.

"No. Originally, even I did not think she was a spirit."

Kamito shrugged and shook his head.

Although there were times where she was overly stubborn, but this candor was also endearing.

"By the way, how are the other two? Hm, from the Knight Brigade—"

"You mean Rakka and Reishia? They regained consciousness this morning. They were beaten pretty badly by you guys. They need to rest for a while before they can control spirits again."

"Sorry... Once I use an elemental waffe, it is difficult to calibrate my strength."

"It was a duel. Please do not mind it. For them it was a good lesson."

Ellis deliberately coughed, and then—

"...I'm sorry."

"Hmm?"

"I said, I'm sorry. I disliked you for no other reason except that you are a boy. So I feel compelled to apologize."

With her cheeks blushing red, she stared into the eyes of Kamito.

"When you stood up to the demon spirit to save Claire Rouge, you looked really... really cool. To be honest I was petrified with fear."

"I had to deal with frenzied spirits several times before. It was just experience."

Kamito, scratched the back of his head, like he was feeling a bit shy.

"Kamito, I dislike being ignored." Est said, puffing out her cheeks.

"Oh, sorry..."

Then, Kamito suddenly recalled his purpose here.

"Ellis, do you know where Claire is?"

"Isn't Claire Rouge still locking herself in her room? Losing the contracted spirit seemed to be a very big blow to her."

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"But she doesn't seem to be in her room. Do you have a clue?"

"Well..."

Ellis raised her hand to her chin and pondered a bit.

"Come to think of it, the militarized spirit contract ceremony will be held in the academic town this afternoon."

"Contract ceremony?"

"Ah, volunteers are recruited among the students of the academy to form a contract with militarized spirits."

In short, it is scouting from the military—Ellis explained.

In return for the powerful militarized spirit provided by the Ordesia Knights brigade, the academy presents the students. Once the student forged a contract with the militarized spirit, he or she becomes part of the army, and as a cost for the powerful militarized spirit, he must obey the orders and be dispatched immediately whenever requested by the brigade.

"Although there are a lot of troubles in becoming a military personnel, there are many voluntary participants seeking to form contracts with powerful spirits. From the very beginning, there are many students who entered the academy aiming to become Spirit Knights."

"With so many participants, how do they pick candidates?"

"Of course—with a blade dance."

The format of the competition was a free for all battle royal.

Serving also as a demonstration from the Ordesia Knight Brigade to the public, the blade dance would be held in the arena of the academy town, rather than in Astral Zero.

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"Having lost her contracted spirit, it is possible that she will volunteer to participate in the ceremony."

"However, without her contracted spirit, to enter a blade dance is—" Kamito stopped in mid-sentence and swallowed the remaining words.

Impossible—but he was not sure.

To perform blade dance without the contracted spirit, that kind of action amounts to nothing but suicide.

Without the power of spirits, there was absolutely no way to beat other elementalists. Such a no-brainer simple truth.

But Claire now—

Kamito recalled how she looked like that day when she stood in the rain.

"...Ellis, where is the ceremony going to take place?"

"If I remember correctly, just go straight along the Olivier Avenue- Kamito?"

"—Got it. Ellis, thank you!"

Kamito took Est's hand and started to run.

(Do not try to shoulder everything by yourself. Idiot!)