The Female Knight Who Rejected Me But Was Actually Hopelessly Hung Up On Me Was Just Too Cute (Part One)

“Hehehe—never did I imagine I’d become your rival again under circumstances like these, Haru!”

After collecting all my personal belongings from Black Hawk (Karen-san was away at a meeting, by the way), I headed straight to White Cross in accordance with my transfer order, where Mulberry greeted me with an incredibly delighted expression.

“Ah, Mulberry. Hey. I look forward to working with you from now on.”

“Likewise, I look forward to working with you… Wait…?”

Even though I’d simply greeted her normally, Mulberry tilted her head for some reason and peered curiously into my face.

“What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?”

“No, you’re as handsome as ever… but that’s not what I mean… You just don’t seem like yourself.”

“You think so? You’re probably imagining it.”

“Really? Then I suppose that’s fine. Usually, every single time we meet, you’ve forgotten my name—somehow, I feel rather let down.”

Mulberry spoke almost as though she wanted me to forget her name.

Had I treated her so dismissively that she’d awakened some kind of masochistic streak?

“Well, never mind. From now on, whether we like it or not, we’ll be seeing each other constantly at work. I won’t lose to you, Haru!”

Mulberry pointed sharply at me and smiled brightly.

Normally, she was an incredibly annoying presence, but now, it was also true that I found myself being saved by that cheerfulness.

After giving a brief introduction at the morning assembly, I visited the captain’s office to greet Commander Gares once his meeting had ended.

“…You’re here, Haru. Surprisingly enough, our standard equipment suits you rather well.”

“————”

What I was wearing now was White Cross armor, unified entirely in pure white. Despite its heavy appearance, it was extremely durable while weighing far less than I’d imagined.

It was fundamentally different from Black Hawk’s cheap armor, which was basically just iron armor slathered in black paint.

Though personally, I thought the latter suited my body better.

“—Not happy about it?”

“…”

I answered the Commander’s words simply by staring silently into Gares-san’s eyes.

To put it plainly, “not happy” didn’t even begin to describe it.

“Don’t glare at me like that. Just so you don’t misunderstand, Karen was the one who came to me and bowed her head asking for this transfer. She said, ‘Please protect Haru in my place.’”

“! The Captain did…”

Karen-san was probably worried that having to constantly look at the face of someone she’d rejected might interfere with her work. Teamwork was especially important in the knight order, and having people in that sort of relationship serving in the same unit could cause problems—and by the time something actually happened, it might already be too late.

That was probably why Karen-san had gone so far as to bow her head and entrust me to Commander Gares, the person she trusted most.

“To ensure nothing strange happens… Haru, you’ll be working near me for a while.”

It was probably so he could monitor me.

This was still top-secret information known only to a handful of people, such as the Commander and Madeleine-san, but there had been no progress in uncovering the reason behind my unnaturally high abilities.

From the Commander’s perspective, keeping me close at hand probably gave him peace of mind.

And we also still needed to remain wary of Henri-san, who had been quiet for the moment.

“I’ve reassigned your classmate Mulberry and Deputy Commander Sakumika to the squad under my direct command, so rely on the two of them for support from now on.”

“…Understood.”

As long as I worked as a knight, Commander Gares was currently my superior, as well as the person Karen-san trusted most in the entire world.

Karen-san had gone so far as to bow her head and arrange things so I could work comfortably from here on.

I couldn’t disgrace that effort.

So I would obey.

No matter what happened.

“Sakumika, you’re fine with that, correct? And Mulberry as well.”

“”W-Wah!?””

The Commander suddenly addressed the two of them, who had apparently been peeking through a crack in the captain’s office door.

A transfer at such an unusual time of year was highly irregular, so naturally they would be curious. Mulberry had connections to both me and Karen-san, while Sakumika-san was someone who loved Karen-san to an almost alarming degree.

Also, the two of them had actually been using stealth skills.

They were surprisingly good at it.

“Y-Yes, of course. We’ll make sure Haru-kun settles into White Cross as quickly as possible—though our working system is far more properly organized than Black Hawk’s, so I doubt he’ll have any problems there.”

“T-That’s right. He handled Black Hawk’s work without batting an eye, after all—ugh, just remembering that time is giving me chills…”

Incidentally, after desperately surviving her cross-unit training and returning home, Mulberry had apparently spent about a week bedridden with an unexplained illness.

My condolences.

“—I’ll be in your care from now on, Deputy Commander. And you too, Mulberry.”

“Of course. Though considering how talented you are, you may end up teaching me more than I teach you.”

“Haru, let’s see which of us rises through the ranks here first! I’ll teach you firsthand that school grades don’t directly translate into the speed of promotion!”

The sudden transfer made me uneasy, but with a kind and understanding superior and my self-proclaimed close classmate and rival around, there probably wouldn’t be any problems with the work itself.

And if anything serious happened, we also had Gares-san, the strongest member of the Royal Guard.

But what they couldn’t forget was that, to me right now, that was truly all any of it amounted to.

In fact, I would have to make everyone in White Cross understand that very clearly.

Without Karen-san, I really was practically useless now.

My incompetence immediately showed itself during my very first mission after being assigned there.

“Haru, they’re heading your way! Please use attack magic!”

“Got it.”

Mulberry, who had charged into the swarm of monsters as our vanguard, called for me to cast a spell.

Our squad formation placed Mulberry, a knight, at the front; me behind her in the middle, supporting the frontline and handling offensive magic; Sakumika-san farther back as the healer; and finally the Commander at the rear overseeing the entire squad.

Unlike Black Hawk’s attitude of, “Frontline? Rearguard? Who gives a damn! Just do everything yourself!” where solo operations were practically encouraged, everyone here had clearly defined roles.

So there shouldn’t have been any problems as long as I properly did my own job.

But—

“Ah, damn it… the spell’s trajectory shifted—”

“!? Hieek…!”

For some reason, the offensive spell I’d aimed at the monster went straight toward Mulberry, who was supposed to be my ally.

I’d anticipated an enemy agile enough to slip through Mulberry’s speed-focused swordsmanship and used Lightning, an offensive spell that converted my magical power into electricity to incapacitate its target with both high precision and tremendous force.

Fortunately, her armor was high quality, and Mulberry noticed my mistake quickly enough to react, so she avoided a direct hit.

Even so, the lightning grazed her torso and temporarily left her unable to move.

“Haru-kun! You configured the magic circle incorrectly. Even students are taught from the very beginning that friendly fire is the one mistake you absolutely must never make!”

“Damn it—I’m sorry. I’ll take Mulberry’s place at the front—”

I hurriedly reached for the twin swords that made up my personal equipment, but it was already too late.

“Stand back, Haru. I’ll take care of the rest.”

The Commander stepped forward like a wall between us and the monsters swarming in our direction.

“————”

The instant the Commander casually swung his greatsword, the entire group of enemies—easily more than ten of them—was launched high into the air by the whirlwind produced by his swing before crashing headfirst back into the ground.

“Extermination complete. Sakumika, heal Mulberry immediately.”

“! Y-Yes.”

As Sakumika-san hurried past me toward Mulberry to treat her, what hurt even more was that the look she gave me wasn’t accusatory at all.

It was simply gentle and concerned about me.

And similar incidents continued happening again and again afterward—

“Haru, why are you casting weakening magic on me!? You’re supposed to cast strengthening magic!”

“Haru-kun, using a group heal is fine, but if you heal the enemies too, you’re only making the fight take longer, you know?”

—And that was how my first day in White Cross came to an end.

“Haru, what in the world was wrong with you today? You kept making mistakes that you’d normally never make… Are you perhaps hiding some illness?”

After finishing the mission and returning to White Cross’s station, I was preparing to go home when Mulberry, who had also finished getting ready, spoke to me.

“No, I’m perfectly healthy. No problems at all—physically, anyway.”

I answered in a way that implicitly made it clear my mind was completely exhausted, and upon hearing that, Mulberry said,

“—Then something really did happen between you and Captain Karen, didn’t it? I know this is rather difficult to ask.”

“…Yeah.”

At this point, I didn’t feel like hiding it from Mulberry either.

I’d caused her far too much trouble over the course of a single day, so I needed to explain things properly—

Though telling a female classmate about getting rejected by a woman wasn’t exactly something I was eager to do.

“—I see. So that’s why you were distracted the entire time and couldn’t perform properly.”

After I explained everything that had happened between Karen-san and me, Mulberry nodded repeatedly as though it all made sense now.

“Nothing like this ever happened when we were at knight school, but now that I’m not in Black Hawk, I just can’t seem to find any motivation.”

“You can’t use your strength without Captain Karen around?”

I nodded at Mulberry’s question.

Lately, it has become especially obvious.

In the past, I could bring out my full strength simply by psyching myself up a little, but now, unless something involved Karen-san, I couldn’t bring out that power at all.

Nothing like this had ever happened before in my life.

I had probably fallen that deeply in love with Karen-san.

And after she’d officially rejected me, it seemed to have become even more pronounced.

“Still, I’m surprised. When those rumors started spreading, I was absolutely certain you and Captain Karen were already together.”

“The fact that it wasn’t that simple is why I’ve ended up like this.”

If feelings alone could solve everything between two people, Karen-san and I might already have made it all the way to marriage by now.

But rather than accepting what I’d said, Mulberry instead gave me a look that seemed to say, “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Is something wrong with what I said?”

“No. Of course it’s normal to worry about family background, social standing, occupation, financial circumstances, and things like that when entering a relationship. I come from that kind of family myself, and Father and Mother have both warned me, ‘Don’t get yourself caught by some strange man in the knight order.’”

But, Mulberry continued.

“Well… if I may speak frankly—I am disappointed in you, Haru.”

“What…?”

Disappointed?

Even though she’d just judged the reasoning behind it to be perfectly valid according to her own standards?

“…What do you mean? I can’t tell whether you’re agreeing with me or disagreeing.”

“What I said was merely about society’s general values. It has nothing whatsoever to do with this particular situation. What I want to ask about is you, Haru—what you truly feel.”

“! What I… truly feel…”

The instant I heard Mulberry’s words, I realized that I had made a mistake.

“Certainly, there are plenty of reasons why you might have to give up on pursuing a relationship. Family background, birth, occupation, finances—but none of those things can simply put a lid on someone’s feelings. Haru, what do you want to become with Captain Karen?”

“What do I want? Obviously—”

“You want to be with her, don’t you?”

I nodded.

At the same time, I felt the corners of my eyes growing slightly hot.

“Of course I do. Karen-san is mine. Even if I’m some nobody who doesn’t even know where he came from, I want to make Karen-san happy—even if I have to use whatever means it takes.”

“—I see.”

It felt like the first time I’d truly spoken my feelings aloud, and Mulberry lightly tapped my chest with her fist.

“Now that’s the Haru I know—my eternal rival. Smart, strong, and occasionally cunning, ever since the first day we met, my—”

“…Huh? Mulberry, did you say something?”

“—Nothing at all. Now, come on, there’s no time like the present. Before those feelings cool down, hurry and tell Captain Karen exactly how you feel… Go!”

Mulberry gave me a strong push in the back, and I silently mouthed “thank you” toward her before rushing out of the station.

For some reason, I thought I saw a single glistening streak running down from her eye as we parted, but I immediately made sure to erase that image from my memory.

(Karen-san, wait for me—this time, it’s my turn to throw my feelings straight at you.)

Having made up my mind, I hurried toward the underground staircase leading to Black Hawk’s station.

But just as I reached the entrance to the stairs—

“Haru, you’ve come at exactly the right time.”

Gares-san, who had been standing motionless in front of the underground staircase, immediately approached me the moment he spotted me.

Judging by his expression, he looked extremely anxious.

“Commander—what happened? Why do you look so worried?”

“…Karen has been taken hostage by that female mage from the previous incident. Apparently, she infiltrated from somewhere.”

“Henri-san…?”

Ignoring the fact that I couldn’t process the sudden news, the Commander continued.

“The culprit has made only one demand in exchange for guaranteeing Karen’s safety… Haru, she wants you.”