小嫂子的味道

I went down the stairs that led to an open hallway, along with me many other people were also gathered there. Some were buying snacks and drinks from the nearby stalls, some had come here just for a change of mood or for a walk.

As for me, well, I had come here to meet with Anya before the final match. I want to make sure that she won't have a doubt about anything and understood my plan well.

I can't leave any blind spots after all.

Making my way through the crowd I walked forward and soon I saw her waiting for me. She stood near a pillar, away from everyone else.

I had told her to meet here beforehand but I didn't really think that she would be right on the clock. Could it be that she also had something to discuss? Or was it something else? I don't really want her to be nervous at this point.

I know the thing I'm going to do can be a bit too much for her but it's unavoidable. No, if I gave it a bit more thought then maybe I could have come up with another plan…then why didn't I?

Maybe because it is more fun this way.

"Yo!" I said, patting Anya on her back when I reached near her.

I wanted to scare her a bit but it looks like it didn't work as she turned toward me, totally unfazed.

"You said you want to talk about something important but you yourself are coming late. How should I take this now?" she accused in a slightly angry tone.

"Ah…I was stuck in the crowd."

"Sigh! You're aware that you aren't good at telling a lie?" she said, her words carried sarcasm with them…probably.

"Thank you for your concern, I'm well aware of that. But leaving that aside, let me get straight to the point. You know what you need to do right?" I queried, narrowing my eyes.

Her role was as important as the princess, no, maybe even more than her because Anya was the main character in this whole situation. I was doing all this to save her from marrying that Walric bastard.

"Yes, I know. I have to...…right?" she said, asking for a confirmation.

"Exactly, if you do things that way then it'll be over by tomorrow. Now, there's one more thing I wanted to say. I don't if you've seen him or not but the opponent you're going to fight against in the finals is a pretty rough guy."

I had watched him in the finals and he looked like someone who can fight on even grounds with Anya. Moreover, he used a katana, this was my first time seeing one in real life and it's as dangerous as I saw in anime or novels.

Also, I don't know who will have the advantage in a katana vs sword fight. The match was unpredictable if I'd say.

"No, our rooms were different so I haven't seen him yet but if you say he's someone to worry about then I'll keep that in mind," she affirmed.

"I see, that's good."

So she said but I'm with her for 5 years, I was more or less able to tell that something was still worrying her. Anya wasn't talking about it herself and it didn't seem like a good idea to keep that hanging.

"Something's in your mind?" I asked.

"No."

"It looks like it. See, if there's something then it's better to come out and say it. I *am* your brother, after all, I won't mind taking off the load for you," I said, leaning back on a pillar near us.

She had an unpleasant expression on her face, seems like she was struggling inside over if to tell me about that something or not, but after a while, she decided as she said.

"There is something actually. I didn't want to ask since you're doing all this for me but…are you really going to be okay? I mean, what if you are found out? You will be executed on the spot! And if you're going to do something this dangerous just for me then it's better to not do it…I won't be able to take on the load if something like that happened."

So this was it huh?

Sigh!

'What a caring big sister I have! I was going through all the possibilities over what could be troubling her but who would have thought that this was the reason,' I sighed internally.

"Don't worry, I've said this before also but as long as you do your part properly nothing will go wrong," I replied with a smile.

"Come on now, it looks like the break will be over soon. You should go back."

People were going back inside, probably indicating that the final was about to start.

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

"Well then," I said as I began to walk back.

"The thing you said about the final guy. That isn't really a thing to worry about right?" she asked, stopping me in my tracks.

I didn't reply to her directly instead I waved my hands without turning back and kept walking.

After that maybe Anya also left as I didn't hear anything from her. I went through the same hallway and sat back in my seat.

It was the same seat as before, the one beside the princess's platform. I took a glance at her and saw that she was still sitting there on her throne.

She didn't go to buy snacks I guess.

***

"Now my dear audience, the last and final match of this tournament is about to being," said the announcer.

Soon after, both the contestants entered the arena and made their way through the center.

"For the final contestants, on one side we have Anya Blanks. Till now she has ended her every match almost just after it began, let's see how will she perform this time," the announcer paused after Anya's introduction before he continued.

"And on the other side we have Ren Fuse, he had overwhelmed their opponents in the previous matches with his katana. It looks like Ren's fighting style is also based on speed just like Anya, I am looking forward to seeing where this battle goes."

Before the match started Anya was staring at the man in front of her, Ren Fuse. He was a man of fair skin tone, had jet black hair, and held a katana in his hand.

'So this is who Zero warned me about,' she thought as looked at Ren while narrowing her eyes.

"What? I'm not a bad guy or something. Don't stare like that, you're scaring me," said Ren as he chuckled.

Despite his appearance, he was a pretty chill guy.

"No, it's nothing like that. I was just seeing you as my opponent."

"Oh ho! Well, to be honest, I was also looking forward to fighting with you. Your sword art is pretty interesting."

"Is that so, then I hope that I won't disappoint you," a smirk appeared on her face.

"Now then, let the final battle begin," said the announcer, declaring the start of the match.

The moment when the match started, both Anya and Ren disappeared from their places as they dashed toward each other at an insane speed.

The sound of metal clashing echoed in the whole arena. The audience was only able to see two trails of lights clash with each other.

In the small period of time when Ren and Anya were in front of each other, their blades clashed with each other almost an infinite number of times.

Their sword movements were impossible to track, yet they were able to defend themselves from each other.

After a few minutes of exchanging continuous blows, they both stopped and backed off away from each other.

"You're not bad," said Ren, gasping.

"I could say the same for you," Anya replied, she was also out of breath.

They both were equal in terms of speed and both Anya and Ren knew this. Anya didn't know what Ren's status was but at this point, she was sure that if nothing, he had the same E rank as her.

But at that very moment, Anya wasn't looking at Ren, instead, she was looking at the princess who was sitting on her throne. She was straight in Anya's line of sight so Anya was able to see her easily.

Then she shifted her gaze at a person who was sitting beside the platform the princess's throne was on; that person was Zero, her little brother.

Both Anya and Ren had stabilized their breathing by now and were ready to go again. The same happened; small craters appeared beneath their feet as they both dashed toward each other.

For a matter of seconds, Anya's eyes met Zero's. It looked as though she wanted to ask something and Zero understood what it was as he nodded in response while he placed his hand on the wall beside him.

It was the wall of the platform princess was on.

Ren reached close to Anya and swung his katana, he held onto his katana's handle tightly as he knew it was going to clash with Anya's sword.

But his eyes widened in shock when that didn't happen. Instead of trading blows with him, Anya passed beside him, she was headed somewhere else.

Ren quickly stopped in his tracks and looked behind. He saw that Anya was dashing at full speed; she was headed toward where the princess was sitting.

Suddenly he heard a rumbling sound.

The platform the princess's throne was on, where she was sitting. The whole platform started shaking before it broke and crumbled into pieces.