The Academy’s Sashimi Sword Master

Returning briefly to the present.

The boss interrupted me with a curious expression.

“…Didn’t you say it was she who confessed to you?”

“Yes.”

Thank goodness.

At least he wasn’t furious because I had broken the academy rule that he himself founded.

Suddenly I wondered if perhaps that rule of “forbidden to fall in love” had been established later.

“Hmm.”

The boss crossed his arms, thoughtful. The muscles of his forearms tensed as if they were about to explode.

It was scary.

“But just from what you’re telling me, it seems like you were the one who took the first step.”

“……”

“Am I wrong?”

This man is devilishly perceptive. No wonder he went bald. Anyway.

“Haa…”

Though, well.

“Don’t you remember what you always used to tell me?”

“What thing?”

Of course.

“…There are so many things you don’t even remember yourself.”

“Where’s the fist of love? Ah, here!”

I pulled back at once.

“You always said that in Korean you have to listen until the end of the sentence before judging.”

“Ah, that.”

“And, as always, it wasn’t even an original phrase of yours, was it?”

“Hahaha. This brat.”

“Stop right there!”

I stretched out my arms to block the violence. In front of the boss, I, the very Heavenly Sword, turned into a meek lamb.

“A-anyway, what I meant is that it wasn’t an official confession.”

“And young people have a distinction between official and unofficial confessions?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“It depends on who’s involved.”

“Hmm.”

He looked intrigued.

‘He’s amused.’

I purposely lifted my gaze toward the night sky.

The lanterns had already risen so high that it was hard to distinguish them from the stars.

***

My relationship with Ryozo caused a huge scandal.

And I underline—a huge scandal.

Thinking we would just get a light punishment and that would be it was way too optimistic on my part.

Was Chloe the problem? No.

Well, it wasn’t that she didn’t influence it.

Chloe was there, and the moment she saw “that scene,” she put her hand to her forehead and fainted. Even when Speedweapon blew on his out-of-tune flute, she wouldn’t wake up.

She ended up hospitalized and disappeared for a while.

So was it the disciplinary punishment? Neither. Yes, we received one, but Media didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.

— The rules are rules, so they couldn’t avoid a punishment. But without the council of elders in function, there was no one to place more obstacles. And besides, the academy was too unsettled in every way.

We were eighteen years old.

It was a time when the tremors of the Second Great Human War still hadn’t completely left the Joaquin Academy.

The place was almost in ruins and was in full reconstruction. The professors had no time to impose strict discipline on the cadets. Hands were so short that they themselves carried building materials. The war had left scars across the entire world, and aid was scarce.

— What a shame. If I had known it would be like this, I would have also disguised myself as a cadet and thrown myself into flirting, like my sister.

Let’s leave Media’s postscript aside.

The fact was that the staff of the Joaquin Academy seemed willing to recognize our relationship. The more conservative professors weren’t happy, but since I was a Seven Stars, the Heavenly Sword, they turned a blind eye.

Of course, to the other cadets they hurled threats. They told them that if they dared to have romances, they would crush their grades. A petty strategy.

‘Sorry, guys.’

Be that as it may, Ryozo and I believed that the internal disciplinary punishment of the academy would end up diluting without consequences.

That was a naïve thought.

Because the true eye of the hurricane was not in the Joaquin Academy, but lurking outside of it.

***

The origin of the incident was an article written by a journalist.

======================

[Exclusive] The Heavenly Sword of the Seven Stars ♥ The daughter of Saki Kojima the Absolute Archer are dating.

In a Starbucks in Wonju, Gangwon Province.

Ryozo and I were reading the article together, leaning our heads.

The Joaquin Academy had imposed on us, as punishment, two weeks of house arrest. Normally we had to stay locked in the dorm looking at the ceiling and reflecting. But thanks to Media’s consideration, we could spend the time outside of the academy, just the two of us.

“It was a time bomb that was bound to explode sooner or later.”

I murmured, and Ryozo soothed me with her words.

“…Yes. But it depends on who takes the first step. Depending on that, the people’s reaction changes. They don’t say in vain that ‘the beginning is half the result.’”

“Well, that’s true…”

Our joint sigh stamped itself against the smartphone screen, fogging it with breath.

“We’ll have to read it, right?”

“…So we can respond. To know the enemy is to win a hundred battles.”

“…Mm.”

A murmur slipped out on its own. Something—something was bothering me.

Ryozo guessed what I was thinking.

“My name sounds Japanese, but in reality, I’m Korean. So I also have the right to use the words of the great heroes of Korea’s history.”

“Yes. You’re absolutely right.”

I immediately turned my eyes to the smartphone.

======================

(Kaito, reporter of Young Sports News)

On the 5th, the relationship between the Heavenly Sword of the Seven Stars and Saki Ryozo, daughter of Saki Kojima, was revealed and became news. An impactful step that broke the Joaquin Academy’s 700-year-old rule of “prohibition of romances.”

Public opinion is divided. Some say: “We support them,” “They give us dopamine in hard times,” “It’s a flexible response, something hard to see in Joaquin’s rigid tradition.”

But! More than half show a negative reaction toward the romance of Kang Geom-Ma, the Heavenly Sword, and Saki Ryozo.

“What nonsense, really!”

Ryozo frowned.

“More than half? Is there really that many people who have a problem with us dating?!”

…Mm.

Before answering, just with my eyes I glanced around the café. Several customers’ eyes were fixed on Ryozo.

“The daughter of Saki Kojima dares with the Heavenly Sword?”

“Ridiculous. More ridiculous than us ourselves.”

A few guys muttered among themselves, barely audible.

“I think I’m more handsome.”

“…I don’t think so. That girl, even if you know nothing else, has a face that could slap an idol a hundred times.”

“Hey, enough already!”

Indeed, there were plenty of comments.

‘Ryozo’s the only one who doesn’t care.’

Beyond the article, since the relationship became public, Ryozo showed a surprising serenity. There was even a day she was so happy she jumped with joy.

Seeing her like that, so out of the ordinary for her, was like watching a dam break. A woman always apathetic, and now, for the first time, she tasted joy. The barrier to expressing emotions had lowered.

That new side of Ryozo seemed truly adorable to me.

Maybe she felt my gaze, because she suddenly turned her head back to the smartphone.

“What else does it say at the end?!”

As she said that, under the table she timidly moved her fingers. With her hands full of bandages, she was trying to intertwine them with mine.

“…Hey.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

I kept reading the article.

======================

Especially in Japan, the home country of Saki Ryozo, public opinion is much more negative.

Saki Kojima was considered a national hero and prime minister. A year is far too little for the wave of mourning to fade, and still, they criticize that his daughter is playing at romance. (Fragment omitted).

“…They’re crazy.”

I turned off the phone.

In the black screen, Ryozo’s face reflected. Her expression was neutral. I glanced at her sideways. She looked, as always, expressionless.

That’s why some pointed to her as someone devoid of emotions, even rumored her to be a psychopath.

But they knew nothing. Ryozo wasn’t someone without emotions. Never.

What happened was that, in her adolescence, she was clumsy at expressing them.

‘Because she had never received affection.’

Saki Kojima treated her only as a successor. And since Ryozo had such exceptional talent, she served to fill Saki Kojima’s inferiority complex.

Ryozo was good at everything from the beginning. And since she always excelled, she never received praise for her achievements.

She was already designated as heir, and Kojima always demanded more, more. But a broken pitcher never fills, no matter how much water you pour.

There was a time when Ryozo tried to be recognized by Kojima.

But the only thing she ever received from her father were cold looks.

‘…Ryozo or me, Kim XX…’

The circumstances and origins of my past life and hers were completely different.

However, I think the nature of our deficiencies was very similar.

We both lacked the experience of having received love from our families. That’s why we also didn’t really know how to give it. And even if we tried, in the eyes of others it would surely look insufficient.

‘But I understand.’

Because I grew up as Kim XX.

Noticing my compassionate gaze, Ryozo looked into my eyes.

“You wrote well.”

Ryozo gave a faint smile.

“Do you mean it?”

“Yes. He wrote it in a way that really irritates. The name Kaito? It sounded familiar…”

“Then you know him.”

“He’s someone who contacted me several times by DM on Beolstar. At first he wrote to me for interviews, but after that the tone of his messages changed a bit.”

That bastard.

“Do you want me to go see him in person?”

“One problem just covers another bigger one. It moves me that you’d want to sacrifice yourself for me… but there’s no need to actually die. And there are tons of people like him.”

“Still.”

“It’s fine. Vixbig is already tracking him, hacking his personal data and any suspicious circumstances.”

Wow.

Then I really don’t have to worry.

“On the contrary, I feel relieved.”

Ryozo stretched like a cat, with a supple movement.

“They say in my home country that negative opinion toward me is the mainstream? Better. Because of Saki Kojima’s last steps I had some remorse, but now I think I can shake it all off.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm…”

Ryozo moved her lips, avoiding an answer.

“You’ll know in about a week.”

“You could just tell me now.”

“It’s just that I’m afraid you’d feel too overwhelmed.”

What could it be?

I’m scared.

“Come on, Kang Geom-Ma.”

“If it’s because of people’s stares, I don’t care.”

“No, it’s that I’m hungry. They insulted me so much all day that now I’m hungrier.”

“Then let’s eat something good.”

“Kimchi jjigae.”

“I prefer onigiri.”

Ryozo pinched my cheek.

“…You.”

When she tried to lift the tray and empty cups, I took them from her hands. Seeing the bandages with rabbit drawings on them, my chest ached.

“It was the most intense meal of my life.”

I said it while sorting the trash.

“In the end you never say it was tasty.”

Ryozo made a little sound of complaint, but still helped me.

People around us looked on in surprise.

The daughter of Saki Kojima.

None other than Saki Ryozo, considered the future prime minister of Japan, was sorting trash for recycling.

Impact.

But that impact was nothing compared to what happened a few days later, which shook both the people and myself.

About five days passed.

I received a call from Saki Hina, Ryozo’s older sister. Her voice sounded so agitated it seemed she might run out of breath.

— Heavenly Sword-nim.

“Ah, I was just thinking of calling you.”

— It’s not that.

“Then?”

— It’s not about the relationship.

Saki Hina was breathing in gasps.

— Ryozo.

“Ryozo?”

— An hour ago, Ryozo sent an official statement to all Japanese government agencies announcing that she will not accept being prime minister. To the Parliament, to the Executive, to the Imperial Agency, to all prefectures…!

“What?!”

— Surely her computer was hacked, right?!

Hack it, maybe.

But Ryozo wasn’t someone to be swayed.

“…Calm down first.”

— How? If this goes on, I’m going to end up being prime minister!

Saki Hina had long since given up on the ambition of being Saki Kojima’s heir.

In fact, she was planning to move to Korea. But suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, this fell on her.

— Please! Convince Ryozo.

“I don’t know about convincing, but I will talk to her.”

— I beg you!

As soon as I hung up, I ran to the café where Ryozo was most likely to be.

It was a place in the mountains, with the ridge visible in the distance. As expected, there she was, typing on her laptop.

“Did you see it?”

That was the first thing she said to me, while I arrived panting.

“You… what were you thinking?”

“Just.”

Her tone sounded as if it didn’t matter.

“I want to make sure that even if I abandon the world, the world won’t abandon me.”

It was such a Ryozo answer.

***

“That girl is anything but ordinary.”

That was the boss’s conclusion.

He looked at me with his stubborn eyes and asked.

“That confession you were talking about. You know it, right?”

“Yes.”

Of course.

Ryozo had firmly declared that she was rejecting the position of prime minister. And she received a brutal barrage of criticism. They even accused her of insulting the memory of Saki Kojima.

But she didn’t back down.

“By doing that, she also swallowed all the negative opinion that was aimed at you.”

“That’s right.”

“Well, well… what did that woman see in you, that she even gives up an entire country?”

The boss let out an incredulous sigh.

I asked again.

“So, do you admit that it was a confession?”

“Yes, damn it. I admit it.”

“Now you understand why I’m so attached to her.”

“Of course you should be, you good-for-nothing freeloader!”

That one hurt.

“You’d better treat her better.”

“Yes. I will.”

I will, no matter what.

Because after my father, she is the first person who doesn’t ask me for anything and gives me everything.