The Absolute Godspeed of Infinite Worlds

"Why?"

Eiji had a confused look all over his face.

"You don't know?"

Utakata helplessly spread her hands. "I've become one of your 'victories,' you know!"

"That happened?"

Eiji turned to Kanata in surprise.

"That might've been the case."

Kanata pretended to think about it, acting like she couldn't remember.

Then, without saying more, she silently turned her head and began brewing tea, acting as if she wasn't familiar with him.

Oh, right. According to the public story, I'm not supposed to be close with Kanata the rich lady!

"Senior, is that true?"

Eiji finally realized something and looked at his senior sister with a confused face.

"That's right. I remember there was a time when Uta-kun faced off against you."

Touka gave her best friend a glance, a bit of doubt flickering in her eyes.

Why did Junior Brother look at Kanata first? Although it was a bit strange, considering Kanata was the student council treasurer, he probably assumed she knew the most.

Touka didn't dwell on it and continued explaining to Eiji.

"And then Uta-kun directly forfeited the match—he didn't even step onto the field."

So he was one of the twelve people because of whom Eiji won by default.

No wonder he said he became one of his "victories."

"But really, with Uta-kun's strength, there's no way he could've beaten you anyway."

Touka covered her mouth and giggled.

"That's… brutally honest."

Utakata gave a bitter smile.

"By the way, what exactly is the vice president's ability?"

Eiji suddenly realized he still didn't know Utakata's ability.

"Just call me Uta-kun, since you and Touka are so close."

Utakata gave the two of them a suggestive look, making Touka's face flush crimson in embarrassment.

"My ability is the same system as yours—causation interference. But instead of calling it that, 'fate manipulation' would be more accurate."

He carefully explained his ability.

He had a Noble Art called 〈Fifty-Fifty〉.

Simply put, within the scope of his power, he could adjust the probabilities of events and interfere with predetermined fate.

In other words, he could force something with only a 1% chance of happening to become a 100% certainty.

"That's an amazing ability!"

Eiji was immediately impressed.

"Being able to interfere with fate like that—isn't that basically invincible?"

"Ahaha, not quite!"

Utakata waved his hands and laughed heartily.

"I can only shift a 1% chance to 100%. If the probability is zero to begin with, there's nothing I can do."

In short, he couldn't make the impossible possible.

For example, if he simply wasn't strong enough to defeat someone, no amount of fate interference would allow him to turn the tide.

And that's exactly why he chose to forfeit against Eiji.

He knew full well that his frail strength couldn't win, so he just gave up the match entirely.

"Here you go."

Kanata the rich girl placed a freshly brewed cup of black tea in front of Eiji.

Eiji gave her a subtle look.

If he remembered correctly, Touka, Kanata, and Utakata had grown up together—they were genuine childhood friends.

And yet here was Kanata, secretly trying to steal her best friend's man and even offering up her childhood friend to him as a free victory.

What kind of childhood friend are you, really?!

Kanata averted her eyes a little guiltily.

Anyway, Uta-kun had no chance of making it into the top six, so she figured it was better to turn him into a victory for his record.

"But hey, if you use your ability before the match even starts and make your opponent forfeit, that should work, right?"

Eiji brought up the thought and asked Utakata.

"That would work, technically, but it would count as cheating."

Utakata shook his hand with an innocent face.

"The selection matches ban underhanded tricks. Plus, Kanata already knows what my ability is. If my opponent suddenly forfeits, she'd immediately suspect me and disqualify me."

In other words, even if he had no bad intentions, he could easily be misunderstood.

Even someone who can manipulate fate… is still at the mercy of fate.

Of course, besides being unable to make the impossible happen, his ability was pretty much all-purpose.

If he wanted to have a fateful encounter with a famous actress, even if he just stayed home playing games all day, that actress might literally fall through her ceiling one day.

If I had that power, man, I'd be unstoppable.

"But cheating, huh…"

Eiji's expression turned a bit serious.

Ever since the selection matches started, he had basically been cheating all the way through.

At first, it was to avoid facing Touka out of sheer bad luck. Then it was hopping through other worlds to avoid being disqualified from the matches… No matter how you looked at it, his motives weren't pure.

To the people who were picked to be his opponents, his methods must've felt extremely unfair. His victories were anything but honorable.

"Oh yeah, Junior! Are you free this weekend?"

Renren escaped Kanata's lecture and cheerfully ran back over, plopping down next to Eiji.

She was about to grab his arm and start shaking it playfully when she caught Touka's sharp-eyed glare. She flinched and awkwardly pulled her hand back.

"I should be free. What's up?"

"Well, you know how our Hagun Academy holds special training for selected participants every year?"

"Actually, no."

"Uh… well, here's the deal."

The Seven Stars Sword Art Festival opens in August, and the academy usually begins summer vacation in July.

Most students head home, but those chosen as competitors undergo a short-term training camp beforehand to boost their strength, cover their weaknesses, study their opponents' characteristics, and develop countermeasures.

That's the purpose of the training camp.

Hagun Academy has always held one every year, and this year is no exception.

After the selection matches end—probably around mid-July—the academy plans to hold a training camp in the mountains around the city to help competitors level up.

"But apparently there's been something weird happening around the training site, so the school wants us in the student council to go investigate. But you know, there's only five of us. We're way too short-handed..."

That mountain is huge. Just traveling back and forth takes hours. There's no way four or five people could finish checking it out in a day.

"So we thought… why not ask for outside help!"

Renren stuck her tongue out playfully.

"You're close with Touka and super strong, so of course you were our first pick!"

In short, he was being conscripted.

"Renren, you know Junior was just attacked the other day. The chairman specifically said he should stay inside the school for now…"

Touka looked displeased and scolded Renren.

"I'm totally fine."

Eiji raised his hand casually, unfazed.

***

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