chapter 23

SHIZUKU YAEGASHI'S POV

"Was that really Graysen-kun?"

I was walking down the stage hall towards the exit to go outside. Due to the fact that I didn't have any scratches during the preliminaries I was released from the medical examination much earlier than most of the participants.

As I walked down the hall I was thinking about the boy I saw in the stage room earlier.

At that time I was looking around looking for my grandfather to see if he was among the participants, during my search I noticed a boy with brown hair and eyes that I recognized him and I was surprised that he was here in this tournament.

Allan Graysen is one of my classmates although we've never spoken to each other before. The reason I know about him is for two reasons.

The first is because of my best friend Kaori Shirasaki. Kaori is in love with Hajime Nagumo who is Graysen-kun's best friend, the two are always together at school.

Kaori wanted to know what Nagumo-kun likes so she asked for my help, after some time we started studying the anime and manga that Nagumo-kun likes, while watching Nagumo-kun we also saw Graysen-kun who liked the same ones as Nagumo-kun and always stayed by his side at school.

The other reason I know about Graysen-kun is because of the confusion caused by two girls, and those girls are Akino Himejima and Tamamo Mizukume.

Before high school Akino Himejima was one of the most popular girls in school, she often received many love confessions and rejected them all without exception. At that time no one knew why she rejected all of them but over time some girls including me realized the real reason for so many rejections.

Akino Himejima was already in love with someone.

And that someone is her childhood friend Allan Graysen.

Honestly nobody knows why Himejima-san fell in love with Graysen-kun.

There were some boys who came to bully Graysen-kun out of jealousy but after Himejima-san intervened those boys asked for a transfer.

Himejima-san always remained by Graysen-kun's side making it obvious to everyone she was in love with.

If it was just that then it would just be a normal situation, but a lot has changed with the arrival of Tamamo Mizukume.

The very first day she transferred to our school she... She called Graysen-kun her husband in front of everyone in the room including Himejima-san. It was practically like dropping a bomb in the classroom.

Himejima-san was furious about that and it's very surprising that Himejima-san didn't turn the classroom into a carnage zone that day.

When the girls in the class asked Mizukume-san why she called Graysen-kun her husband, she told us the following.

She said that during her vacation before high school, when she was still living in Kyoto, she had been bitten by a venomous snake while walking in a forest near her house, she tried to go back home to ask for help but unfortunately her strength ran out. and she had fallen to the ground, when she thought it was the end of her, Graysen-kun appeared and helped her taking Mizukume-san to the nearest hospital.

Mizukume-san said that because of that she fell in love with Graysen-kun and aims to make Graysen-kun fall in love with her so the two get married.

When the girls in the room heard the story they were delighted, after all this is the story of a prince charming saving a damsel in distress in real life. Many girls when they heard it decided to support Mizukume-san in her efforts to win Graysen-kun's heart.

The relationship between Himejima-san and Mizukume-san is very delicate. The two are able to exchange polite words although they call each other slutty fox and roast chicken all the time, strangely there have been no physical fights between the two this whole time.

The two disagree on almost everything, but hear only once in which they agreed on something.

Last month a third year senpai created a doujinshi yuri about the two of them. When they found out about it it was just too scary, the next day senpai asked to transfer to another school.

Besides these two girls there is one more girl who is always close to Graysen-kun.

Transfer student from Italy, Letícia Fernandes.

As Graysen-kun also moved from abroad to Japan a few years ago, sensei asked Graysen-kun to help Leticia-san get used to Japanese customs. Because of that Leticia-san is almost always close to the Graysen-kun, it didn't take long for the two to become friends and then Graysen-kun started to present manga and anime to Letícia-san and she really liked it, from that day on the otaku duo became the otaku trio, which was composed by Nagumo-kun, Graysen-kun and Letícia-san.

Letícia-san is also very social and got along with everyone in the class very easily, making her very popular at school.

Because of this, Graysen-kun has attracted a lot of attention from the school, and the students' opinion of him is quite divided.

For the boys' side it's quite simple, the boys have extreme jealousy and hatred towards Graysen-kun. Akino Himejima, Tamamo Mizukume and Letícia Fernandes, these three girls have a level of beauty that practically no human girl should have, obviously because of this very young people confessed to the three and all of them were rejected without exception. While the other boys are only able to hold a short conversation with these three, the three girls always talk to Graysen-kun in a light-hearted and informal way, the complete opposite of how they do with boys, because of this the boys have developed a lot. jealousy and killing intent towards Graysen-kun.

For the girls' side, it's quite complicated to explain. Although the girls' opinion of Graysen-kun is good due to the story Mizukume-san told, the girls split into three different factions. The reason for this split is that each of the factions is shipping Graysen-kun with one of the three girls.

The first faction that has most of the girls in the school as members is the Mizukume-san faction. From the first day she attended our school she got a lot of support from the girls. And many girls are shipping Graysen-kun with Mizukume-san

The second faction and the one with the fewest members and also the most hated among the girls, the faction of Himejima-san. The exact number and identity of the members of this faction is unknown, the only thing that is known about this faction is that it exists and that this faction is shipping Graysen-kun with Himejima-san.

And finally the third faction, Leticia-san's faction. Letícia-san's faction is the most recent to be created with few members who are shipping Graysen-kun with Letícia-san.

"Seriously after all, who is Graysen-kun anyway?" I asked in my thoughts about my classmate.

Talking about appearance, Graysen-kun is average. Talking about personality he can be described as normal and good, Graysen-kun like everyone else has a hobby and his hobby is reading and watching manga and anime. In the school tests the grades of the subjects are average being enough to not fail, with the exception of math and chemistry which are almost always in 80 or 90 points. About the physical education class, Graysen-kun never stood out and always had an average performance. Graysen-kun doesn't participate in any of the school's clubs either.

"Could it be that I was wrong? Maybe that boy I saw at that time is just like Graysen-kun." I thought about the possibility that that boy was someone else, but in that one I heard a familiar voice.

"Shizuku-chan, we're here."

I turned towards the voice and saw three people waiting for me.

The first person is my best friend, Kaori Shirasaki.

The second person is my childhood friend Kouki Amanogawa.

And the last person is my respectable grandfather, Shuuzou Yaegashi.

"Guys, I'm sorry for making you wait." I said to the three.

"No problem Shizuku-chan, Kouki-kun and I just arrived. So you don't need to apologize." Kaori spoke.

"That's right Shizuku, the moment we got here you appeared from the stage exit. And congratulations on making it through the qualifiers, Shizuku." Kouki spoke congratulating me.

"Congratulations on getting Shizuku. You must be a little hungry, right? How about we go to a nearby diner to celebrate your ranking in the tournament?" my grandfather then suggested the four of us go to a diner nearby.

During our time at the cafeteria we all chatted.

So I asked my grandfather.

"Grandpa, you didn't pass the tryouts?" I asked my grandfather, as I didn't see him in the room where the other ranked participants were at that moment.

"Haha well it's like you said Shizuku, I didn't pass the tryouts." my grandfather spoke while hand behind his own head.

"Does that mean someone beat you, Shuuzou-san?" Kouki asked surprised.

"No Kouki, no one beat me. Actually I was the one who gave up in the middle of my seventh fight." my grandfather spoke.

"He? But why did you give up Shuuzou-san?" Kouki asked.

"So, during my seventh fight I fought an interesting young man, he came to this one to get experience in fencing, because of that I decided to give up and let the young man advance." my grandfather spoke.

"And Shizuku, one of the reasons I let that boy go was so he could fight you." my grandfather spoke.

"With me?" I asked.

"Shizuku, I don't know what the other participants who were ranked in the tournament are like but I can assure you that this guy will be a great challenge for you. Remember Shizuku, it is through great fights that there will be great growth, I want you to fight in this tournament to gain experience fighting different types of swordsmen and this boy may have the best fight in this tournament." my grandfather spoke.

"I understand grandpa, I will try to learn a lot from this tournament." I replied to my grandfather.

"By the way grandpa, what's the name of the guy you talk about so much? I was really curious about him." I told my grandfather.

"Ha ha ha you are quite surprised when I heard his name. Let me give you a hint, you go to the same school and are in the same classroom." my grandfather spoke.

"It's not possible, right?" I wondered in my thoughts when I remembered a certain brown haired boy.

"It wouldn't happen to be…Allan Graysen, would it?" I asked.

"What? Is Graysen-kun around?" Kaori asked in surprise. And Kouki was silent.

"Exactly, young Graysen is participating in this tournament, and he is quite strong, I think a fight between the two of you would be a great experience for both of you." my grandfather spoke.

After that we left the cafeteria, Kaori and Kouki went back to the hotels where their families were staying while my grandfather and I went to the hotel that the tournament provided for us.

"Grandpa, what floor is our room on?" I asked my grandfather.

"The room assigned to us is on the fortieth floor." my grandfather spoke as he pressed the elevator button.

We got off the elevator and got to the fortieth and went straight to the room we were assigned, when I touched the door handle I heard it.

"HUSBAND! BECAUSE YOU WENT TO TAKE A BATH WITH THAT ROASTED CHICKEN AND THAT THROWING CAT WHILE YOU HAVE ME!" I heard an angry, familiar scream coming from the next room.

"Mizukume-san..." I muttered the name of the owner of the furious voice.