SURPASSING WYRMSPEED
“Isn’t that Laika?”
“Even the way she walks is refined, though ’m not surprised.”
“Her back is so straight.”
I’d quickly grown used to the embarrassment that came with walking down the corridors.
That still did not mean I was happy about any of this, and I wished they’d stop…but I knew it would only get worse if I expressed as much.
I did try, once. “I would appreciate it if you would at least refrain from talking about me where I can hear,” I said.
But my gossiping schoolmate had only been delighted. “Ahhh! It’s such an honor to speak with you, Laika!” she said, although I could not tell you why.
If my telling them to stop spreading rumors made them happy, then I could only expect more. My only choice was to give up.
I heard someone jogging up behind me, and Hialis fell into step at my side. She was cradling her language arts textbook and notebook in her arms.
“Hialis, you mustn’t jog in the halls. The school rules say you either must walk or determine the safety of your surroundings before running at full speed. There is no beauty in a lack of commitment.”
Running at full speed was a beautiful act, so it was permitted. I have heard that humans do not share our values. It’s also possible that non-red dragons also do not share our values, however. Our cultures vary widely.
“I’m sorry, but there were quite a lot of people walking in the halls, so this was the only way I could catch up to you, Sister. It was the result of my meticulous consideration for you.”
“You are clever, Hialis. I sometimes feel I am more awkward and impractical than I should be.”
“That could be it. I heard from my homeroom teacher before that the teachers are trying not to berate students for smaller faults of late. Once the current student council president took over, she suggested they try to bring out the best in us instead of sticking to the hard-and-fast rules.”
Oh… We were talking about my sister again.
She also attended the academy, which meant there was no escape from talk about her.
There were six grades in the academy—I was a first-year, and the oldest were the sixth-years. But despite the name, that did not mean we were only at the academy for six years.
One academic year constituted ten calendar years, so new students only joined the school once every decade.
There were far fewer dragons than there were humans, and dragons were much more long-lived, so it felt a bit silly to have an entrance ceremony every year. And so, new students joined once every ten years. Every grade had a variety of ages.
Additionally, when each dragon takes the entrance exam for the academy depends on the individual. Even when my elder sister reached the age of eligibility, she had spent thirty years traveling the world instead.
I believed that may have been why she was so sophisticated. No, perhaps this was a chicken-and-the-egg dilemma—someone with a stiff personality would not have spent thirty years neglecting their studies to travel.
In truth, she had seen and heard so many things before she progressed in her academics, so she knew well how others saw her; she did a perfect job working as the student council president, and yet she always adopted policies that earned her favor with the students.
Suddenly, I realized Hialis was peering at me.
“Is there something on my face?”
“You always look so gloomy whenever we talk about the student council president. Pardon me for the meddling question, but has your relationship gotten worse?”
I sighed. “Not at all. She is so soft on me. She has bought me clothes and gifts on more than one occasion—and often uses my hair to experiment. She is a good sister, I believe.”
“I see. I suppose that means your sister is too good, and it’s weighing on you.”
Hialis was coaxing the answer out of me, so I obliged.
“I suppose so. I was hoping that no one would compare us, but now I find myself doing it anyway…”
There was no fault at all with my sister; we simply were not compatible.
I had keenly desired to be an outstanding dragon ever since I was young, and so it was painful for me to see her stand in my way like some kind of boss monster.
The soothing yet warm spring breeze of Mount Rokko’s sixth checkpoint filtered in through the window.
The seasons had come round yet again, and it was now time for spring.
This was our fifth spring since entering the academy.
Almost five years had passed in the blink of an eye since the opening ceremony.
Thanks to my own diligence, I was not subject to any teasing that I was simply benefitting from my elder sister’s hard work. I was showing spectacular grades in both the military and literary arts compared to the other first-years, after all. I was even the last one standing in the one-hundred-dragon paired sparring that the first- and second-years did together.
But even when other first-years expressed admiration for me, it always ultimately came with the caveat that I was the president’s successor, the president’s little sister.
How was I to face these labels?
I was the only one in the academy to be burdened with such a problem, and I had a feeling it would bother me for a while yet.
Then Hialis turned toward the bulletin board.
“What kind of announcements did you find, Hialis? I believe it’s a bit too soon for exams.”
“It’s almost time for the student council elections, Sister.”
On the board was the following announcement, accompanied by an illustration of a dragon on the poster:
“Ahhh… An election for the student council. My sister has been in charge ever since she was a first-year.”
Even without a mirror, I could tell I had an indescribable look on my face, so I spoke up first.
“So you’re…not interested in running, Sister?”
“You know me well. I already know that if I did join, all I would hear about is how my sister handled this or that.”
“I thought you would love to run, at least just for the election. But I know this is the one thing I can’t force you to do. I won’t try.”
Hialis was starting to understand me better and better.
But then, an abnormality occurred within my stomach.
Grrrwwwl…
It rumbled quite loudly, probably all the way to the ends of the corridor…
Hialis whipped out a pastry from her bag. “Here, Sister.”
I graciously accepted it. “Thank you. But this will not be enough, so once our next class is over, we should go straight to the cafeteria.”
“I agree. I could eat three whole portions by myself today.”
Hialis and I faced each other and nodded.
“Then I will get two portions’ worth of ham, sausage, and soup.”
“And I’ll get two portions’ worth of mutton, venison, beef, and pork dishes.”
Teamwork was crucial at the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was lively, as always.
But I did not panic. I had the ham and sausage on my plate.
At the academy, our meals were a part of our education. In order to learn manners, our meals were a singular set of food in an all-you-can-eat buffet course, modeled after those in high-class hotels, and we were not able to order anything extra.
And since dragons ate a lot, it would be less effective to prepare food for each person individually; it was likely much cheaper to cook a big batch of food for a buffet. That was the more realistic reason. It would certainly be inconvenient for both the guest and the cook if one ordered every item on the school lunch menu. Making it a buffet to simplify the accounting side of things was the right strategy.
When I returned to the seats Hialis and I had nabbed, I saw she had already gotten dessert for us.
“Sister, they had new walnut cookies, so I got some ahead of time.”
“Fantastic, Hialis. The sweets tend to go very quickly.”
Now it was time to gingerly dig into this juicy steak.
The proper way to eat this so that none of the juice would get on my clothes was to devour the whole thing with one big chomp. Cutting it into smaller pieces would ultimately allow the juices to escape.
“Laika devoured that big steak in one bite.”
“And yet she doesn’t seem to be choking at all. Stunning.”
“There is so much food on her plate, yet none of it is mixing and contaminating one another. I see she’s thought very carefully about where she puts her food.”
I could hear them talking about me again, but at least they didn’t see me as slovenly.
“It’s just like the saying, Sister: Food over flowers.”
Hialis had also eaten her large steak—although, she swallowed it all before speaking. It was improper to speak with one’s mouth full, after all.
“Indeed. We accomplish nothing by neglecting our meals.”
But that day in homeroom, we received a shocking notification.
“Some of you might be disappointed to hear this, but the buffet will be shutting down.”
That is what our teacher told us that day.
My classmates erupted.
“No!”
“The academy’s in danger!”
“The gods have forsaken the dragons!”
I could not remain silent on the matter, either.
I did not want to stand out, but I raised my hand to get the teacher’s attention.
“Yes, Laika. What is it?”
“Could you tell us why the school is considering removing the buffet? For example, if the costs of the cafeteria are putting pressure on the costs of running the school, then I want to be ready for a tuition hike.”
Some of my other classmates chimed in: “Exactly!” “I’ll take up a part-time job if tuition goes up!”
“This is not an administrative problem,” our teacher replied. “According to certain members of the student council, some have been partaking in obscene amounts of food that push the bounds of decency. Observers from a human academy who visited once before were shocked to see how we ate.”
It was not unusual for us to receive objections in such a manner.
We knew that, from a human perspective, dragons ate a formidable amount of food. But our true forms were massive. We needed that much energy to keep our bodies going.
One of my classmates said, “Yes, but I’m sure the president and the others will dismiss them, right?”
Indeed—a minority opinion would not become policy.
But our teacher shook her head. “The president wants to acknowledge the other officers’ autonomy, so she has said that she will not unilaterally reject them. And since the election is coming up, she wants to respect your self-governance by allowing everyone else to debate these opinions and quash them in the election.”
I knew my sister would say something like that. Though she was the president, she would never rule with an iron fist.
If her subordinates wanted to do something, she would let them do so.
But the ending of the buffet in the cafeteria was a matter of life and death for the academy!
Many of the students’ feelings of discontent would vanish after a big, hearty meal and never manifest.
But without it, animosity would only grow, and discipline at the academy could suffer…
I posed another question to our homeroom teacher.
“If I may… This might be a difficult question, but who proposed the buffet be done away with…?”
“I’m about to hand out a notice from the student council, so give it a read over.”
Ah, so that was why the teacher decided to have this talk during homeroom.
The notice read:
I thought the name Ricuen sounded familiar, and that was when I recalled that she was one whose speed I had been unable to keep up with right after school started. I remembered that she was on the smaller side for a dragon.
There was some truth to her point…
Constant buffets did not contribute to proper manners, yes. Or perhaps it was better said that our manners had evolved to adapt to the academy cafeteria environment, not society at large.
But reasons could be overturned with better arguments!
That evening, I came to the front door when my sister got home.
“Elder Sister, I need to ta—”
“Awww! You’re coming out to greet me? You’re the best little sister ever, Laika!”
She was already squeezing me before I could begin the conversation…
…and whispered something even more shocking into my ear.
“Ricuen the secretary is just as fast, you know.”
That meant she already knew what I was planning on telling her.
“If I were to join the student council, do you think I could save the buffet—or at least make Miss Ricuen reconsider her opinion?”
“If you want your own views to prevail, then make the buffet your platform and win. That’s how the election battle is supposed to happen anyway. Oh, and you’re still super adorable, even after you’ve changed from your uniform into your comfy clothes! I have to thank Mom for giving me such an adorable little sister!”
I wished she did not combine serious and banal topics in such a manner.
But I knew what I had to do now.
I would stand up to the challenge of the election and prove victorious. And that would be growth.
…However, I had a feeling I would win in a landslide if I ran on the platform of keeping the buffet alive…
“I knew it, Sister! You’ll be a well-respected secretary!”
During break the following day, I told Hialis of my intention to enter the election, and she spoke very highly of me.
I was speaking while doing armless push-ups, by the way.
“Thank you. If possible, could you help me with my election campaign?”
“I’ll help, of course; anything for you. But I don’t know if anything I could do would actually help. I don’t believe anyone has ever fallen out of the race due to a lack of votes in the past.”
“What…? My apologies, I do not know how the election battle works here at the academy very well; could you tell me?”
Now that I thought about it, I realized I should have asked for more detailed information from my sister.
“Anyone who wants to join the academy’s student council will be subject to a vote of confidence by the rest of the student body. Receiving at least one vote gives you the right to join the student council, so no one ever fails at that stage.”
“…Hold on. What is the point of the election, then?”
The system sounded so much more foolish than I had been expecting…
“That’s when the real election battle starts, though. The candidates duke it out with their fists until a set number remain. The number of secretaries every year is always four, and since everyone will have passed the vote of confidence…you will need to defeat Wyrmspeed Ricuen in order to be officially involved.”
And so that was where strength was needed… It was very easy to understand, though.
Was my opinion going to survive? Or that of the incumbent upperclassman?
No matter who made it through in the end, I was going to give it my best shot.
Luckily, an opportunity to watch Ricuen battle came soon afterward.
After school, as I was leaving the building to go home, I spotted someone proposing to fight Ricuen in a mock battle.
“Ricuen! I cannot allow you to shut down the buffet! If you lose to me, you have to retract your pledge!”
Judging from the color of the student’s tie, she was a third-year. Conversely, Ricuen was a fourth-year. The wind teased her ponytail as she sat on a bench in the garden between the school building and school gates, reading a book.
“How loud can one person be? How boorish are you to interrupt me during my reading time?”
Ricuen slowly placed a bookmark into her book.
She herself was calm, but her two lackeys on either side were growing excited. They likely could not sit still as their big-sister figure was being challenged to battle. They were ready to take on their dragon forms and fly off then and there.
Classes had just ended for the day, so other students started gathering around. I was one of them. I could hear some of the others in the crowd saying, “We should take a stand against the abolition of the buffet.”
The situation made it clear that Ricuen was at a disadvantage.
“You might have a small appetite, but I go hungry every day. I don’t act all high-and-mighty like you, reading poetry in the park.”
“Poetry? I was reading Strategy and Resolution: Revised Edition.”
That sounded quite stiff.
Ricuen stood, pressing her hands to her skirt so it would not flap in the wind.
Now that I had a good look at her, she was truly small and slender. She did not seem like a fourth-year student; she almost looked like she was a prospective student. Was she truly a heavyweight in the student council?
Physique-wise, the third-year student who proposed the challenge had the advantage.
And so her confidence came as no surprise. She flew straight at Ricuen after a nearby student declared herself referee and started the match—
In the next moment…Ricuen closed in on the third-year student.
When did that happen?!
Ricuen shoved her hands into her opponent’s chest.
“Gah! Ghack!”
The third-year student crumpled to the ground, short of breath, and sat there, still.
The girl’s younger lackeys in second year rushed over to help her, and that was when the match came to its conclusion.
Ricuen was victorious.
“Do not mistake great physical power as true strength. You were out of breath before we even began our match. How unbecoming. And I have no intention of taking someone so insignificant under my wing.”
The fight was over so quickly that all the students who had come to watch stood in silence.
That was what the student council was capable of.
They secured victory without allowing their opponents to even blink.
“It would be quite the spectacle if I stayed here, wouldn’t it? I’m going to the council room,” Ricuen told her younger-sister figure and left; when she did, the heavy atmosphere seemed to lighten a bit.
“The student council is terrifying…”
“Did you see just how powerful Secretary Wyrmspeed Ricuen is…?”
“We can say good-bye to our buffet, then.”
The audience dispersed with sadness. Everyone there had gotten a taste of their own powerlessness.
But I had to defeat her.
“The biggest issue in the election battle will be her unusual speed.”
Even when I returned home, I would meditate in my room or in the dining room to engage in visualization training whenever I had free time.
Ricuen was my enemy. Though I only saw it for a brief moment, her fighting style had been burned into my memory. I could battle her in my mind.
But…I could not lay a finger on her, not even in my own meditations.
Whenever I tried to attack her, she would get close and establish her victory over me.
“I can see you’re trying visualization training, but it’s not going to work.”
As I sat quietly in the dining room, my elder sister entered, wearing her loungewear.
“Maybe if you’re going to battle someone who’s on or near the same skill level as you—but not her. You can try all you want, but you’ll never be able to win against a single one of our four secretaries.”
“Indeed… Actually, do you need four secretaries?”
“If there is a student who wants to do it, and the student has the power, we don’t turn them down. We have three treasurers, too—we call them the Three Great Treasurers. It’s the president who decides how many people are at each post, after all. And that’s me.”
I had a feeling she should trim their numbers a bit… And I was surprised to learn that it was the president who decided how many people were at each post. That was a lot of power.
“Well, I hope this proves difficult for you. They say that the sweetest fruits grow in the harshest environments, after all. And I think you could stand to be a bit sweeter!”
She rested her hand on my head.
Oooh! I was going to surpass her one day!
However, it seemed I could not rely on visualization alone.
“I will need another approach…”
“Apologies for having you come out all this way.”
“Oh, it’s fine. It’s an honor that you trust in me, Sister!”
I had called Hialis to meet me at a nearby park for practical training.
I will do whatever it takes to break Wyrmspeed!
“I’m a lot stronger than I used to be, too. I am confident I will not put my name of Bodybreaker Hialis to shame.”
“Are you better at tearing others’ muscles now?”
“I can cause my opponents a terrible onset of muscle pain the day after the match.”
Was there any use to that in battle, then…? I had a slight feeling that was not much more than a nuisance…
No, now was not the time to find fault with these things. I had a wall to surmount!
Indeed, Hialis’s moves were much more decisive than they were in the past.
I believe she might have been able to claim easy victory over me if she were at this level in our first battle. In the academy, we learned the quintessential dragon tactics in battle before soaring into society.
But I had also grown since then!
I swiftly kicked her legs away.
“Ah! Cra—”
Hialis’s lower half was easy to hit. She fell faceup onto the ground.
I quickly straddled her and struck my hand onto the spot beside her head.
“Match.”
Now closer, I looked into her eyes.
“Oh… Ah—”
She did not acknowledge her defeat and instead firmly shut her eyes.
Did she mean to keep going…? But I already was straddling her; how could she possibly turn this around—?
Wait.
This was odd.
Her body seemed…completely ready for me.
What was going on…?
It was like…she was telling me there was no going back if I chose to continue…
Fear crept throughout my body.
But she simply lay beneath my hips, her eyes closed, cheeks flushed…
Why did I hesitate? She couldn’t suddenly gain the upper hand from this position…could she?
Regardless, I decided to step back from Hialis.
I sensed that continuing this battle could lead somewhere I did not want to go. And a dragon must trust her instincts. That is what we learned in class.
Hialis sat up. “Oh… I was shocked when I saw you so close to me, Sister… My heart is still pounding…”
“I’m sorry; I believe I’d gotten much too invested into it.”
Hialis placed a hand to her chest, looking at me reproachfully. “I was holding my breath, waiting, but you stepped back anyway…”
Then—
A light snapped on in my head.
“…What? What did you say…?”
“Y-you’re making me say it again? I was holding my breath. I was waiting for you! You are utterly helpless when it comes to anything besides fighting and studying!”
Yes, but I did have mastery over the literary and military arts, which was perfectly fine and acceptable. But now was not the time for that.
“Thank you for assisting me in my training, Hialis.”
“Oh, are we done already?”
“Yes.” I nodded slowly. “I believe I may be able to defeat Wyrmspeed.”
Voting day for the student council elections finally arrived. Whether the day ended in tears or in joy, this was it.
I passed the first screening, the vote of confidence, with flying colors, and earned the position as eligible candidate for the student council secretaryship.
All I needed to do next was defeat Ricuen during the election battle. This, as well as the vote, would take place in the gymnasium.
Ricuen was already there, waiting for me with her arms folded.
“If I win as the provisional secretary, then you must rescind your declaration that the buffet will be eliminated,” I said.
“Of course. If you win, then that means you have stronger feelings on the matter. I will stand down right away.”
We stared hard at each other.
There were many people here to watch, but they all seemed to be expecting the same outcome.
Considering the situation logically, it was hard to imagine that a first-year student would win against a member of the student council.
The one who stepped out to referee was my very own sister.
She ended up remaining at the seat of student council president again this year. No one considered themselves tough enough to defeat her and take that place from her.
“This battle will decide who gets to remain as secretary. Is that all right with both of you?”
We both nodded.
“Then, begin. Show us a battle worthy of the student council!”
The president lowered her arms, signaling a start …
But I remained still, glaring at Ricuen.
Ricuen was also on guard, but she did not move.
We both stood still, allowing time to rush past us.
I noticed her expression twitch slightly.
“This first-year… Does she know the wyrmspeed secret…?”
Yes, I have seen through you.
Wyrmspeed was a technique that subdued an enemy with overwhelming speed. At its essence…
…it was an attack that struck as the opponent inhaled!
When animals breathed, they unknowingly opened themselves up for attack.
And breathing was an unavoidable activity, if one wanted to stay alive.
The greatest heroes and even the demon king himself were no exceptions to this rule.
Wyrmspeed, the technique she created, involved seizing on that minuscule window…and cutting her opponent down!
But I would fight without breathing!
That was the answer I found when I had the training session with Hialis.
Hialis should have been defenseless, but I hesitated in my attack against her.
That was because she lacked the natural opening all creatures had.
“—So what? So you can wait without breathing, but you can’t engage in intense activity. Your body will want air when it moves to attack me. I’m too far away for you to hold your breath.”
Ricuen stared deeper into my eyes, a dubious look on her face.
“The moment you move to attack, taking advantage of you will be child’s play. That is when Wyrmspeed strikes!” she declared loudly.
Yes, she was likely correct.
I did not think I would be able to fight against a member of the student council for an extended period without breathing.
On top of that, my concentration would slip as I gasped for breath. At best, I would be simply staving off my defeat for as long as I could just as the battle began.
But could she wait?
Could she wait as I stood still and inhaled?
That is right—I breathed while I was not attacking.
In that moment…
…I felt a sudden gush of wind overcome me.
Ricuen was approaching me at wyrmspeed!
She’d made her move!
And so, all I had to do was respond in kind!
“Haaaaaaaaa!”
I thrust out the palm of my hand with all my strength!
My attack was purely instinctive; my mind was clear and empty!
The palm of my hand struck Ricuen’s chest.
“Once I knew when you would come, I could train through visualization.”
I had thoroughly trained in my counterattack to her, at least.
“M-my…impatience…was the end…of me…” Ricuen crumpled to the ground on the spot.
Indeed—impatience. Had she absolute faith in her wyrmspeed, then she simply needed to wait. Had I attacked first, then she would have had plenty of opportunity to counter me. I would have no way to block it.
However, she was terrified that an enemy who knew the principles of wyrmspeed would attack first. That was why she panicked and took the initiative.
I had decided to end the match before I even moved.
Once I knew when she would attack, I could make an attack of my own, even if I could not visually follow her.
“Once the fight begins, you must continue to believe in your own abilities. You doubted yourself, and so you lose.”
In that moment, my arm was lifted into the air.
My sister, the referee, was raising it up high.
“Laika, first-year, is the winner! You will be our secretary.”
A thunderous cheer broke out around me. I heard people saying, “The buffet is saved!”
But my elder sister always went overboard, and she immediately pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Congrats, Laika. Welcome to the student council!”
“U-um… Why are you…?”
I heard cheers and some cries again, but they sounded different than last time…
“This is my own personal heaven.”
“Stop this at once!” I cried.
“Whyyy? I hug you at home sometimes, too!”
“Yes, but this is school!”
And she humiliated me in front of quite a lot of people…
O-oh, it’s no bother… So long as the buffet remains safe…
Incidentally, after her defeat to me, Ricuen remained in the student council.
Leila created a new post, subsecretary, and offered Ricuen the position on the condition that she would not again propose that the buffet be abolished. In practice, there were five secretaries now. The council president’s power was quite fearsome, considering she could even establish new posts…
When I first entered the student council room after the match, Ricuen appeared just inches away from the tip of my nose.
“Y-you’re quite close…”
“I will be doing my best to support you as subsecretary, newbie. And be ready, because I will be teaching you all I know about your secretary duties.”
She was certainly a hard worker.
“I understand, but…please, could you step back a bit?”
“But this way, you must concentrate on what I’m saying, whether you like it or not.”
No, there was an acceptable range for all things. I could smell her, and it was making me anxious…
But then, an idea came to me.
I seem to recall that I had closed in at a similar distance when I was training with Hialis…
I see. It is difficult to remain calm when another person is within a certain proximity.
I will be more careful to practice restraint, I promised myself.
“Here, the secretary’s guidebook. Read this first.”
A booklet covered my view.
“I will make sure you do your job well. I will not allow you to quit simply because you saved the buffet. How unbecoming would that be?”
I stared at Ricuen’s unsmiling face, and a thought occurred to me.
Was I being forced to work in the student council just for our all-you-can-eat buffet?
I suppose winning the battle didn’t guarantee that all would end well…
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