Amidst the tsunami of commotion that was breaking out, a small teacher zipped towards Lutiya, her arms spread wide. Properly catching her was impossible— he stumbled and fell onto his backside.

“W- wait, Jill-sensei, what are you—”

“You won, you won, you woooooon!!”

“Gogeeee—!!”

“Kyuu kyuu kyuu kyuu!!”

Just as Lutiya was thinking it would only be Jill, Sauté and Rho came flying in. They clung to every student of the Blue Dragon Class that crossed their eyes.  Sauté got so excited, he started swinging around a teddy bear. Things became so dangerous that the students forgot their victory excitement and began shrieking all at once.

“Wait, Sauté-sensei! Please put Kuna-sensei down, we’re begging you!”

“Rho-kun, stop crying!! Whenever you cry, dragons always show up for some reason!”

“Jill-sensei, stop Sauté-sensei!  We won, I don’t want to die—!”

“Great going, Lutiya!”

The small teacher’s face was a mess of tears and mucus. It was far from anything that could be called beautiful, not even as flattery.  Yet, Lutiya found himself lost for words.

“Really, you… you were great… Your command, properly… You won, I’m so happy…!”

With her face all scrunched up, the small teacher clung to Lutiya’s neck. Was he having trouble breathing because of how tight she was squeezing him, or was it something else?

“—What’s with that way of saying it?  Are you saying you didn’t believe we’d win?”

Speaking bitterly, Lutiya only now realized it.  Their teacher had been anxious the entire time.  Of course she was. She entrusted something as important as victory to us… And yet, with such a small and slender back, she bore the weight of it all.

“I believed in you! I did believe, but still…!”

As Lutiya hesitated to wrap his arms around her, a hand was placed down on his head. Lips were then pressed against his forehead.

“You did well!  I’m proud of you.”

Against that dazzling smile, Lutiya’s breath and heart stopped for a moment.

Satisfied, the small teacher went off to cling to another nearby student.  By the time Lutiya remembered how to breath, she was showering victory kisses upon all her students regardless of whether they were male or female.

It was nothing more than a simple social gesture.  Lutiya placed a hand on his forehead, taking deep breaths to calm down. That was when a shadow fell over him.

Noin.

“—You have a good teacher. I’m jealous.”

At first, Lutiya thought he was being sarcastic. Yet the way his lips trembled, contrary to his calm tone, made him hold his tongue.

“How frustrating. I never thought we’d lose… I almost want to laugh at my own stupidity. What’ll happen to the Gold Dragon Class now?”

Like I care. After all those times you looked down on us— Is what Lutiya wanted to say. He wanted to, except, he knew. Noin had never once called them sewer rats.  He didn’t despite the students of the Gold Dargon Class and Purple Dragon Class doing so.

In the end, we’re all powerless.

“——The match just now is invalid! The Blue Dragon Class cheated!”

The principal’s voice rang out from the loudspeakers in the spectator seats.

A murmur spread through the crowd, but with so many spectators, such a claim was impossible to justify. Lutiya nearly laughed, thinking the principal had finally let anger cloud his judgement, until he saw Noin’s pale face.

Then, suddenly, he was yanked up.

Lutiya was going to tell him off, but he stopped as razor-sharp claws slashed through where he had been sitting— A green dragon, one without a rider.

“Wha… Why is a dragon…?”

Impossible. Lutiya looked up at the adults seated in the audience. The roaring energy of their hard won victory had dwindled down into a faint tune, one he was only now able to hear.

He knew this sound.

No… Didn’t Mainard-ani-ue say it was incomplete without the cry of the Black Dragon?

His doubts were swallowed by the roars of dragons and the thunderous beating of their wings. As the dragon before him slowly righted itself, Lutiya instinctively stepped back.

Noin turned to the students.

“Run! The dragons are attacking!”

“Wh- why!? What’s going on!?”

“It’s Prince Lutiya!! He’s commanding the dragons to attack us so he can claim victory!”

Lutiya’s feet stopped. Yet before he could refute the principal’s declaration, his body froze in fear at a terrifying aura of magical power that turned even the dragons into a faint presence.

Then, almost as if his fear had taken a physical form, part of the venue was blown away by magic.

All the dragons simultaneously took flight and began to attack the spectators. They breathed fire and crushed the stands beneath them. Some even attacked the students. Screams and cries filled the air as the forces of the Rave Empire surged in, blades targeted at both the audience and the students.

“The Imperial Rave Army!? Why are they attacking us!?”

“Prince Rutiya’s orders!? So this is how the homeland sees us!”

“This is the military academy of the Leyca Grand Duchy! The tyranny of the homeland, their pointing swords at our children, will never be tolerated! Not even if they have dragons!”

The principal cried out at the top of his lungs, as if to deliver the final blow.

“Rise up, people of Leyca! Capture the ringleader, Lutiya! Protect the students!”

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