Fairy Tail: Igneel's eldest son in Anime Multiverse

The opening ceremony of Pojun Academy was held in the auditorium, and on her first appearance as the new chairman, Hinowa Shinguuji made only one announcement.

That was the abolition of the traditional method of selecting representatives for the Seven Star Sword Art Festival based on ability values, replacing it with a combat trial system instead.

Unexpectedly, there was no significant opposition among the students. At most, a few grumbled about the hassle.

But that actually made things worse—most students at the academy seemed to feel that neither ability values nor combat trials had much to do with them.

To put it bluntly, it was willful self-degradation. It was clear that Hinowa Shinguuji had a long and difficult road ahead if she wanted to change the atmosphere of this academy.

After the ceremony, the students returned to their classrooms for their first homeroom session.

On the large screen in the lecture hall appeared animated confetti graphics like at a birthday party, and a woman holding a microphone stepped onto the podium.

"Welcome, freshmen, to Pojun Academy! I'm your homeroom teacher, Yuri Oreki.

This is my first time being a homeroom teacher, and I'm still a fresh, glossy newcomer, so please call me Little Yuri, okay?

We won't be having classes today, but I'd like to talk about the Seven Star Sword Art Festival..."

Sitting between Ikki Kurogane and Stella, Charles clearly heard Stella's voice.

"She seems like such an unmotivated teacher!"

Stella said that purely because the teacher on the podium looked like she was on her deathbed.

Her complexion was an unhealthy pale, and the dark circles under her eyes were worse than someone who'd pulled all-nighters for a week—she looked like she could collapse at any moment.

Charles nodded in agreement with Stella's assessment. To call her merely unmotivated would be an understatement—Charles could clearly sense that decaying aura, the kind that only comes from someone terminally ill.

However, Charles also knew that this was Yuri Oreki's weapon as a Blazer.

Yuri Oreki, title: "Jolly Roger." Despite having C-rank magic power, magic control, and physical ability—all below C-level—she was still rated as a C-rank Blazer because of her special ability: causal interference-based pain sharing.

All she had to do was activate her ability to make the enemy feel the pain she constantly endured, and they would collapse on their own. And that pain was what she lived with every moment of every day.

So when Ikki Kurogane said she was a good teacher, Charles agreed.

On the podium, Yuri Oreki continued, "So, the in-school tournament will start next week! The match schedule and opponents will be sent to your student handbooks via email, so be sure to check!"

Since it was a topic she cared about, Stella raised her hand to ask a question, "Teacher..."

But Yuri wagged her finger, "Nope nope! If you don't call me Little Yuri, I'm not answering you!"

Charles truly admired Yuri Oreki for being able to stay so optimistic despite being plagued by illness all her life.

But Stella was dumbfounded—her butterfly-shaped hair tie drooped.

"L-Little Yuri," Stella said reluctantly, the endearing nickname clearly not her style.

"Yes, what is it, Stella-chan!"

Stella asked, "How many matches will there be in total?"

Yuri counted on her fingers and said, "Each person will have at least ten matches, which means roughly one match every three days!"

This match frequency actually worked in Ikki Kurogane's favor, since his Itto Shura could only be used once a day.

So while others were complaining about how troublesome the matches would be, Ikki felt rather relieved. It seemed he hadn't even considered the possibility of forfeiting, which Yuri had mentioned.

"Well then, everyone, do your best over the next year! Let's all say it together—Yeah... Yeah... Oh—pffft!"

Right as she was trying to cheer everyone on, Yuri Oreki suddenly spewed a mouthful of blood and collapsed.

Stella stood up in shock, "Little Yuri!"

"Is this a crime scene?!" Charles was stunned.

Only Ikki, already used to this, calmly covered his face and said, "Knew it."

...

Amid the confusion, Charles and Ikki carried Yuri Oreki to the infirmary.

What astonished Charles was that the infirmary actually had blood transfusion packs, and the doctor started treating her like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Even after they left, Charles still felt like his entire worldview had been shaken.

"Seriously, a condition that makes you cough up a liter of blood a day is way too bizarre!" Charles muttered as they walked.

Ikki laughed, "I couldn't believe it at first either. You'll get used to it!"

Since Yuri's collapse had been so sudden, everyone in the classroom had been left unsure of what to do. Charles and Ikki had returned to let everyone know the homeroom session was over.

But as soon as they stepped into the classroom, a group of students swarmed them. Stella, who was about to walk up to them, got pushed aside by a throng of girls.

"Can't believe we're in the same class as you two!"

"Are you two friends?"

"I've been wanting to talk to you guys for ages!"

"Me too. You're both really handsome."

...

Ikki had never experienced this kind of attention before and was clearly overwhelmed. Charles was the same—he had no idea how to deal with the situation.

Off to the side, Stella looked like she was about to explode, her face emotionless as she watched Charles being surrounded.

"I don't get it," Ikki said, confused. "Did I do something that would make me popular?"

While fending off the barrage of questions, Charles suddenly felt a wave of killing intent. But when he turned to look, all he saw was Stella lifting her chin.

Thinking it was just his imagination, Charles said to Ikki, "It's obviously because of that mock battle earlier. Someone must've posted the video online. Looks like quite a few people saw it."

Kagami looked at Stella and suddenly grinned mischievously—she'd found her target.

To Stella's surprise, Kagami pushed through the crowd and latched onto Charles's arm without hesitation.

Charles didn't feel the least bit pleased by the sensation in his arm—because the most troublesome person had shown up.

Stella had already warned him that her roommate was a clingy one, and now he was experiencing it firsthand.

"Nice to meet you, Charles. I'm Kagami Kusakabe, and I plan to start a journalism club. I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time.

From the mysterious Shindouji, with even higher ability values than Stella. You've got to have tons of scoop-worthy material, so please let me interview you."

"Hey! Kagami, you're way too close."

Stella didn't mind staying quiet with girls she didn't know, but with a friend like Kagami, she had no problem speaking up.

Kagami let go and responded with an innocent tone, "Why are you pulling me away, Stella? Don't tell me there's something going on between you and Charles?"

Stella wasn't fooled by Kagami's act—she was clearly enjoying herself. But her words were too embarrassing—no, too misleading.

To make matters worse, the other girls perked up at the mention of romance, their eyes making Stella blush even more.

Meanwhile, Charles had no idea what was going on between the girls.

And just then, an irritating voice cut through the air.

"A mere exchange student and a flunky who repeated a year... Don't you think you're getting a little full of yourselves?"

Charles had long sensed a wave of hostility. He could understand—teenage boys seeing others surrounded by girls might naturally feel jealous.

What he didn't expect was that someone would actually confront them about it. That kind of malice really was boring.

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