Encore 46 — Hysteria (II)

The man who approached the two was a new addition to the Ironhide Squad. He was the replacement for Gunma, who got injured when the Ironhide Squad went to Interblade.

Originally, two trainees would replace the empty space made by Gunma. However, Commander Siesta Shiba decided to keep the two trainee spaces and add a new member to the squad.

Just like Gunma, he wielded two large, curved, dirk-like weapons. His name was Yuma Midorihara. He was a trainee in the Secret Force up until a year ago when he joined the Sabbath Squad. (He trained for a mere month.) He requested to join the Ironhide Squad for personal reasons. Others, specifically trainees, knew him as the Prince.

"I don't know what you think you're doing but you need to stop, Aria."

Yuma spoke to Aria.

The reason a member of the Ironhide Squad was here in the trainee area was due to patrols. Those patrolling were to stop situations like this.

"Y-Yuma-senpai..."

(So they know each other...)

Isla rubbed her cheek to see whether the punch left a mark. Suddenly, Aria pointed at Isla.

"She started insulting me and she pushed me so I punched her back."

Yuma shifted his eyes to Isla.

"I never pushed her but I did insult her. She did so first and I merely returned the favour. It's pathetic that she lost at her own game, right, Yuma?"

Isla shrugged.

Aria turned to the white-haired girl. She gritted her teeth and lunged towards Isla. She could not contain her anger any longer.

Yuma skipped to Aria and pulled her back.

"Aria, stop."

"But, Senpai, this bitch—!"

"This bitch? Shut the fuck up. You were the one who came to me and decided to offend me with simple provocation. I'm simply retaliating accordingly. If you can't handle your own game, then I guess you're mentally weak. Just like a prokaryote."

"Senpai! Let me—!"

"Aria! I deduct 10 points from you! If you do anything more, I'll double the deduction!"

She stopped.

Like a wild beast, she growled and glared at Isla with the utmost vexation. Veins seemed to pop out of her skin.

Yuma let go of her and Aria walked away.

"Watch yourself, Isla Chibana..."

"Aria!"

"Yes! I'm going!"

The girls who were with her followed her from behind as she marched away from Isla.

"Were you attempting to start some sort of war between the two of you, Isla?"

Isla stood up and looked at Yuma.

"I can call you, Isla, right? You did call me by my first name."

"Yeah, you can, Yuma-senpai. I called you by your first name to get her mad. By the way, how long have you been on the Ironhide Squad for?"

"Only two weeks. I replaced Gunma, who was kicked out after a mistake."

(After he provoked Kazuya and got hospitalised.)

Isla laughed nervously.

Yuma looked at her blankly. He found Isla slightly interesting.

"Is it your plan to start a war with Aria? You should be able to tell from that interaction that she's the type to come back for revenge."

"A war? Please, Senpai. She got involved with me for god knows what reason. She insulted me and I simply did it back to her. It's her fault for being so easy to incite. Some No.2 she is."

The man saw the change in Isla's eyes. She looked listless as she turned in the direction that Ariya left. Her pink eyes seemed to glisten red.

"I've decided. Aria Shinomiya will be my target. I'll rid her of all of her points and become the No.2 myself."

"You'll fight her? From what I can tell, your physical capabilities are above average but they won't be enough to beat Aria's technique."

Yuma told her.

Isla already knew that. Even so, she still was determined. That first interaction was the first stepping stone to her plan to destroy Aria Shinomiya completely.

"I don't have to fight her to destroy her, do I?"

Yuma suddenly felt a chill rush through his entire body as he looked into Isla's eyes.

(Her eyes... They're just like Morisa-san's when I met her for the first time. Cold, lightless and sharp. I feel bad for Aria for making such an enemy...)

"I will say though, because of how much she's annoyed me, you should be ready to comfort her when the time comes."

Isla walked away from Yuma and proceeded towards her next class.

·———·

"Uhm... Isla-chi?"

After class, Isla went straight to her dorm and threw herself onto her bunk once more. This time, there were three people in the room. Rina, Isla and Sachi. Sachi was in 141st place in the rankings.

(I fucked up so badly. I declared to Yuma-senpai that I would destroy Aria when I have no idea how to do that.)

"Ah! Fuck!"

"Isla-chi, are you okay?"

Sachi asked from the opposite bunk. She was concerned for Isla since she looked troubled by something.

"Yeah, it's just after training stress."

She furrowed her brow at her answer.

"I think it's more than that..."

Isla continued her thinking.

(Aria. I don't know how I'll destroy her but I won't have to worry about that for now, I guess. I'll just wait until the final week.)

"I'm beat once more... I'm swearing a lot, aren't I?"

Isla slept peacefully that night.

The next morning, Isla decided to skip her lesson and completed all of her training. She gained ten more points bringing her up to 99 points and moving her up to 121st place. She only moved up a single place.

"I think I'll go see what type of place the practical battle area is. I remember Sachi calling it... Ranked Battles."