4-6: We can win

“I think it’s ready.”

An hour had passed since the night arrived. I was in my room with Cloe and Fran, making something.

“Here, this one is for Cloe.”

“Your sewing skills always surprise me.”

“Well, in my previous world I helped a lot of times when some clothes ended up damaged.”

Cloe put on a black jacket I thought would combine with her magic. While she practiced moving with that, I started with the thing I wanted to do for Fran.

“By the way, are you both sure you want to do this?”

“Are you really asking that now?”

“Well, a lot of people will be seeing us.”

“I’m used to crowds.”

Fran responded with an unusual optimistic tone, I guess he was happy to be helpful.

“Yeah, for you this could be easy, but the problem here is Cloe.”

“I just need to calm down during the fight and my image will be safe.”

“You can do that?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“That you have a unique personality.”

“...I’m not punching you just because you’re holding a needle.”

I laughed with that response and Fran just smiled.

“So, do you have any plans to defeat Leonard?”

“A vague idea. The good thing about him being the strongest is that everyone knows most of his techniques.”

“You got information?”

“Not a lot, but I got enough to make a plan.”

“I think it’s something.”

“How did you get that information?”

“I have a lot of costumes.”

My closet was full of all kinds of clothes. If I wanted to, I could sell them to make money if my reputation is ruined and I have to start from scratch. But I didn't want to get to that point.

“I was also investigating possible teammates.”

“That girl will be on his team, right?”

“That’s the obvious part, the third one is the complicated one.”

“Right…”

“If you both were in a fight three vs three, who would you pick for your team?”

They both thought about their answer for a moment, and Chloe answered first.

“Someone who can totally defeat one of my opponents.”

“Same, I would choose someone who can give me a guaranteed victory.”

“Thank god I put a little trap in the poster I made.”

Below my face I put a little text that said “Leonard’s team will always be the first ones to choose their fighter”. I trust in Cloe’s strength, but we both know that the one who fights against Leonard has a big chance to lose, so it was better if we could choose the matches.

“Who is going to fight against who?”

Fran asked that question while writing something. I didn’t wonder what he was doing and only responded.

“I want to go against Leonard, Cloe is strong so we’re gonna make sure that she fights against the girl…You will fight against whatever their third teammate is.”

“It's gonna be a hard fight…”

“Exactly, we’re gonna do everything we can to win our fights so you can stop yours if you need it.”

“...”

The atmosphere became somewhat negative when I said that, so I tried to cheer everyone up.

“After we win, I could cook something for us to celebrate.”

“You know how to cook?”

“One of my tasks in my previous world was making food for the people from my work. I know a lot of dessert recipes.”

Cloe’s eyes opened a little when I said the word “dessert”, so she’s motivated now.

“You should tell us more about that world of yours.”

“I already said a lot of things.”

“We want to know more”

We may be the same age, but when they said that I felt like the adult in the room. True, I was one in my previous world...But I wasn’t even that old…

“Something interesting…I guess we had interesting shows.”

“Is it true that those shows didn't have magic?”

“Yeah, we didn’t have that facility, so we used a lot of things to make those shows memorable. We were even able to do them for people around the world.”

“Yeah, you said you were in the “Digital Age” or something like that.”

“It was amazing. I admit I miss having a rectangle in my pocket that allows me to see the whole world. But that only means I need to put my biggest efforts in this world.”

“It will be a lot more difficult if your reputation is ruined.”

“Yeah.”

Our possibilities of winning weren’t high, but weren’t zero, so we had hope.

“Hey Kazu.”

Suddenly, Fran looked at me worried.

“About your curses.”

“I don’t wanna use them, but if it’s necessary I will try.”

“...Please don’t use them. We both know you can win without suffering that way.”

“Yeah, you already did too much. You can win and have fun.”

“I will.”

“...By the way, at the end you learned some spells?”

“Just a fire spell and a wind spell.”

“At least you tried.”

“It was too much content…”

Maybe I could burn things faster and stay in the air longer, but I highly doubt the spells I learned would be really useful in this context.

“You both should teach me how to use some spells.”

“You already know how to use firearms.”

“At least you know how to play instruments in the middle of a fight?”

They had a point, so I just handed Fran the thing I made for him.

“I like it!”

“Great.”

“Now we look better than our enemies!”

“But among us, who looks better?”

I thought Cloe would say she had the best style, but surprisingly, they both pointed at me.

“Really?”

“The hat and colors look great.”

“You clearly put more effort into your own clothes.”

“Hehe, I guess I wanted to make a good impression on the public.”

It was weird. Even when we’re risking our futures, I wasn’t scared. I don’t know if I ever felt this comfortable before…

With a simple thought in mind, I spoke with motivation.

“Guys…Well, guy and girl.”

“You ruined the punchline.”

“Just say it.”

“...Are you both ready to rumble?”

“Totally.”

“Let’s do this.”

We’re at a disadvantage, we’re not even sure about how we could even win, but, at the same time…

We’re ready.