Black Iron Magician

No matter how much effort she put in, she was still only slightly better than others and could never reach the level of a true genius in her studies. That being the case, she then wants to help people who might have great talents to bloom safely. She wants to share the hardships. Although the hardships she has to bear would be more than others, she would be happy if she could make them happy and the talents that bloomed could be useful for others. Therefore, acting like that is preferable for her. Since she was little, Chinatsu had unconsciously come to think this way. It can be said that her result of actively helping people led to her current reputation.

Some were disregarding it as meddlesome, but with her elegant figure and the fact that she was helping with genuine feelings, no one disregarded her kindness in the end. Chinatsu simply keeps helping others. By the time she was in the upper grades of elementary school, the people around her trusted her almost as much as they do now.

It was around this time that she met Katsuragi Haruna. The first time they spoke to each other was when there was a class change at the beginning of the school year. The homeroom teacher decided to have the seating order decided by lottery and they happened to be seated close to each other.

『Nice to meet you! I’m Katsuragi Haruna! What is your name?』

Chinatsu’s first impression of Haruna was that she’s cheerful and very energetic. She likes to move her body and can’t keep quiet even when she’s sitting down. She looks cute each time her long ponytail moves. Chinatsu thought that she’s a girl she would never get tired of watching.

Chinatsu’s guess was mostly right. Haruna loves exercise so much to an astonishing degree, and on the contrary, she’s not very good at studying. However, even though she doesn’t like it, she never skipped her study and she’s second to none when it comes to the determination to study. She does her best at everything, it’s just that she’s a little bad at studying.

There was no way that Chinatsu’s sensor for helping people wouldn’t react to such Haruna. Watching Haruna study made Chinatsu itchy to help, and then Chinatsu began to help her study frequently. Chinatsu’s efforts and Haruna’s motivation meshed well that Haruna’s grades, which had been close to the failing mark, skyrocketed. She somehow managed to keep her grades average. Whenever the graded test papers were returned, Haruna would show them to Chinatsu with a smile and thanked her. Probably because Chinatsu spent a lot of her time together with Haruna, struggling (?) to help her study, the two of them became good friends.

Although Haruna can’t study, she has outstanding reflexes that her results in PE classes surpassed the boys. Whether it’s track-and-field events, swimming, baseball, soccer, and many other things, Haruna’s results made the teachers opened their eyes wide each time she showed her abilities. Even if it was the first time she competed in a sport, she would be the best in the class within that period, outperforming all of her classmates.

Even though Chinatsu could do well in her physical training, she was no match for Haruna no matter what she did. No, far from a match, Haruna wasn’t in the realm that can be compared with others.

(Amazing, she is amazing!)

Chinatsu admired Haruna’s talent from the bottom of her heart, and she began to respect Haruna in that aspect. She felt a little proud that she was helping the study of her friend with such great talent. Chinatsu taught Haruna in studies and Haruna taught Chinatsu in physical training. The two deepened their relationship like that and then enrolled in junior high school. There, they had a smooth school life as well. Or, it was supposed to be like that.

One day, Chinatsu invited Haruna to join the kendo club. Even though Haruna has such a great talent, she didn’t belong to any sports club after she enrolled. Being unable to just watch, Chinatsu tried to invite Haruna to the kendo club she was belonged to.

『If Chinatsu-chan says so!』

Haruna accepted instantly. After school that day, Chinatsu took Haruna to her club as a trial first.

(I would never win in sports against Haruna, but I’ve been doing kendo since I was little so I might be able to win in this. Fufu, I’m happy. Not only being taught, but I can face each other with Haruna from the same standpoint!)

Chinatsu had such a faint feeling. However, that was a foolish idea and Chinatsu realized it after a while.

Haruna, who joined the kendo club as a trial, was very welcomed by the upperclassmen. That was because she defeated all of the first-year students who joined earlier than her, except Chinatsu. She couldn’t win against the upperclassmen that day, but she was strongly recommended to join because of her great talent. With her personality, Haruna was eager to join so that she could take revenge.

…… At this time, the members had not yet noticed the unpleasant sweat that flowed on everyone’s back. No, they would soon realize that Haruna was abnormal.

After Haruna joined the kendo club, the atmosphere surrounding the dojo was completely changed. Unlike when studying, Haruna has a tremendous amount of practice and concentration. Whenever she faces against someone, she will release her bloodlust and her sharp gaze won’t allow her opponent to look away. The dojo was dominated by the heavy and tense atmosphere as if it was a stage of a match. Chinatsu couldn’t hide her disturbance when she saw Haruna’s different state. She had never seen Haruna like this before, not even in the PE class in elementary school.

As for Haruna, she was just trying to do the same in everything. There was no change in the fact that she was doing her best. However, the point where Haruna’s full effort was directed was fundamentally different. For example, in the case of studying, the target would be herself, her textbooks, and her test papers. It would be meaningless and a waste of effort to release bloodlust against such things. At this time, Haruna was devoting her seriousness to understanding and concentrating on what Chinatsu was saying. Physical education also has different meanings. Haruna considered that the essence of physical education is interaction with friends, moderate exercise, and does not place much importance on winning or losing. She focused on enjoying sports with her friends while giving her all. The outcome was according to that.

――However, club activities are different. The essence of most club activities, including kendo, is to win. She should spare no effort to win the match, and it would be rude to her opponent if she’s not giving her all. Haruna categorized kendo in that way and gave her all in training. Win, win, win, and win in the competition to determine the winner! That was Haruna’s joy and pleasure in kendo.

A month later, Chinatsu was completely defeated by Haruna. With that as the start, the upperclassmen regulars began to lose to Haruna. Not long after that, it was the captain… It was the moment of a beginner, who didn’t even know anything about kendo, stood at the top of the club in a month and a half.

Even so, Haruna didn’t stop her training. While maintaining that

atmosphere, she was simply craving for victory. For Haruna, training until late at night was common sense. She keeps training more than anyone else and keeps improving. She keeps moving forward. Instead of getting inspired by Haruna’s efforts, the members, including Chinatsu, became more afraid of her menacing atmosphere and they began to think that they couldn’t keep up with her. …… Their hearts were beginning to break.

Shortly after her defeat by Haruna, Chinatsu took a day off from school by feigning illness, which was the first time in her life. She regretted it. She regretted that she asked her best friend to join her in kendo and ended up like that. What she thought was good was backfired. She spent the whole day in bed, half day savoring the frustration and the other half trying to figure out why she had made the mistake. Then, she realized something.

(――Perhaps, just like her study, the problem is at the way she does it?)

This is the first time Haruna participated in a club activity that involved a match. Perhaps, she’s just not used to being fixated on winning and needs to be shown the right path. Chinatsu then jumped out of her bed and wrote the problems in her notebook. She wrote anything she could think of.

The problems now are that Haruna is only thinking about winning and doesn’t care about the people around her. Or rather, she is so focused on training that she doesn’t have time to care about others. And then, there’s the bloodlust she released in order to intimidate her opponents in the match, and the abnormal amount of training that made the members of the club drew back. Starting with these big things, Chinatsu wants to do something about them.

(… How about I become the middleman?)

Chinatsu then thinks about it. If she, as a model, shows that she can keep up with Haruna even if a step behind, it might be able to make everyone thinks that it’s not impossible. If they don’t get inspired by Haruna, Chinatsu thinks that she will be the one who inspires them instead. She will do her best to patch things up even if there’s a problem. She will establish mutual understanding with Haruna just like in her study――

(Yes, it will be okay, I can do it. I’m sure I can be a middleman between Haruna and everyone!)

From the next day, Chinatsu began to accompany Haruna in her training. Even when facing each other, she didn’t show her fear and kept fighting. Even if she lost, she would immediately get up and greet Haruna with a smile. She used the little time she had at school to warn Haruna, and covering for all the problems she heard from the club members. Little by little and steadily. With the power of helping others she had cultivated, she did her best.

Within half a year, the atmosphere of the club had changed completely thanks to her efforts. Haruna, who was once feared by everyone, was recognized as the strongest ace that the club members could rely on, and Haruna also learned the proper way to use her seriousness. In the match, she didn’t scare her friends, but the opponents from the other schools. Haruna stopped training on her own, and instead, she shared opinions with everyone and adopted the way to train that she thought thoroughly with everyone. She also used her remaining stamina to study various things. In the tournament, Haruna won not only in the individual match, but also in the team competition with her as the senpou and Chinatsu as the chuuken. Chinatsu’s efforts were able to change Haruna’s attitude toward club activities and everyone for the better.

(TLn: You can search ‘kendo team positions’.)

…… Since Chinatsu thought only about Haruna, there were times when she became dependent on Haruna, but she dismissed it as a trivial thing. As long as it ended well, she didn’t care about trivial things. Chinatsu is the key figure who supported Haruna and made her talent bloomed in the right direction. In the past, in the present time, and probably even in the future, her position will never change.

「I thought so, but…」

At the foundation of Chinatsu was the premise that she would be no match for Haruna. She was keeping up with Haruna one step behind. That was her stance as an ordinary person. However, Haruna told her to fight without holding back. In order words, Haruna is seeing Chinatsu as an equal――

「… Me, win against Haruna? Haruna is, seeing me as an equal?」

As she said those words, she felt a chill ran through her body. She was trembling, but that wasn’t because she was scared. That was something only the strong ones can have, she was trembling with excitement.