Chapter 524

Bear-san, Protects The Last Flag

Looking at the activity around me, something seemed to be happening elsewhere.

Both flags of the royal capital and Euphalia were reduced by two.

I looked toward Shia. She still seems to be okay. Were they ignoring her, or did they just not want to fight her? She has no opponent to engage.

 

I looked at the front.

Now, will a stronger girl than the previous one come this time? Or, will there be two girls? Perhaps Cereille will finally face me? There were several possibilities.

In the end, it was a different girl who came. Well, they easily can’t send Cereille or even two students. If they took my flag, they would lose tremendous strength. It’s a standard practice to conserve available fighting strength and find ways to increase it gradually.

A Euphalia student stood in front of me.

 

“I hear you use wind and earth magic.” (GIrl 2)

“I wonder~” (Yuna)

 

I gave the same response as I did to the other girl.

This girl held up her wand, and as she gathered magic power, about six balls of water the size of golf balls materialized in front of the wand. The girl waved her wand, and the water balls shot towards me. Her target was the flag behind me. If I avoid them, they will hit the flag. So, I won’t dodge.

I shot down all the incoming water balls with air bullets. When I looked at the girl, she knew I would counter her offense, and she was already running outside the circle of the white line.

I turned my body and repositioned myself to be in front of the girl. The girl ran and waved her wand sideways, shooting water balls at me. The water was aimed over my head and under my feet.

If the top goes through, it’ll hit the flag, if it goes through the bottom, it’ll hit the pole. So I have to block both.

I shoot down the water balls.

 

“You blocked it. But you know what? You can use water magic like this too.” (Girl 2)

 

When the girl said that, the water from her wand grew thin and moved like a snake. I cut the snake-shaped water with wind magic. But the water sticks to the place where I cut it.

 

“You can cut it, but you can’t completely destroy it.” (Girl 2)

 

The water snake twitched when the girl waved her wand and tried to get behind me.

I shot a barrage of air bullets to destroy the water snake. But the girl kept adding magic power, and the water snake regenerated and stretched even more.

This engagement may be more annoying than it looks to be.

I think about it as I tried to destroy the water snake that stretched out.

 

In that case.

 

I gathered water on my bear puppet. Then, just like the girl, I stretched the water into a thin line.

The girl was surprised.

 

“Even if you could use water magic, you can’t beat me, who specialized in water magic.” (Girl 2)

 

The girl’s water snake moved. I controlled my water like a whip to match her. The water snake and the water whip collided. The girl’s water snake tried to aim at the flag behind me. I struck it down with my water whip.

 

“Ku~, in that case.” (Girl 2)

 

The girl made two water snakes and controlled them.

But the movement of the water snake lost its elegance and became rough.

It was difficult for people to think of two things at the same time. So the movement of water becomes rugged.

I slipped through the girl’s water snake and flicked off the girl’s cane.

 

“Lies……” (Girl 2)

 

The wand dropped and rolled on the ground and the water from her wand disappeared.

 

“What now? Still wanna fight?” (Yuna)

 

She picked up her wand from the ground and shook her head.

 

“It’s frustrating, but I can’t take your flag down.” (Girl 2)

 

The girl said so and moved away.

To me, this game is an interesting thing to do. Quite a feat to be chosen for this exchange.

While I was guarding my flag, the flag capture elsewhere was progressing.

Another two more flags were taken down, with only two remaining for both schools.

Moreover, there was no sign of Shia. Apparently, her flag has been taken. When I looked toward Euphalia’s flags, I saw Shia with two other girls aiming for the flag.

The flag capture continued around me.

 

“It’s almost over.” (Cereille)

 

Cereille finally came.

Here comes the boss.

 

“I really wanted to fight you when you’re not tired, Yuna. But everyone else wouldn’t let me fight you.” (Cereille)

“It can’t be helped, I’m a student who wasn’t originally scheduled to participate.” (Yuna)

“Now I can finally fight you. But if we keep this for too long, people will come running. Let’s settle this before they come, Yuna.” (Cereille)

 

Cereille started running around the white line.

Cereille shot wind magic. I canceled it out with the same wind magic. She was faster than the student who used wind magic earlier. But that doesn’t mean that it was impossible to block. The wind magic from Jubey-san’s sword was faster. And this time, they could not enter the white line, so they could not attack from close range. So, if I watch closely, I can block it.

Cereille created a water ball in front of her. Then she shot it.

Thinking that was all, I sliced it with wind magic. However, the ball of water moved to the side, and the wind blade missed. The water ball passed by me like a curveball.

Controlling water at a distance.

During the mole subjugation, Marina said it when explaining Elle’s water magic. She said it was difficult to manipulate water away from you.

That’s what Cereille was doing. The water ball circumvented and aimed at the flag. I built a wall of earth to block it.

 

“You handled it well. How about this then?” (Cereille)

 

Three water balls float in front of Cereille. She shot them at me at the same time. I also created three water balls and shot them toward the water balls that Cereille made. Cereille controlled the water balls to evade. All three at the same time.

But my water balls chased after Cereille’s water balls.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding!” (Cereille)

 

My water balls hit Cereille’s water balls, and water splashed on the ground.

That was close. She might have hit the flag if I had reacted a little later.

I thought she wasn’t good at water magic?

However, she doesn’t seem to be able to move it 100% the way they want.

After that, the offense and defense with Cereille continued. Not only can she use water magic and wind magic, but she can also use earth magic and fire magic as well. Since there were many variations, it was difficult to deal with them.

Cheers around us gradually got louder as I was defending against Cereille’s attack.

Cereille and I looked around together.

Someone took down the flag of the student of the royal capital.

There was only one remaining, the one that I’m protecting.

The student whose flag was knocked down glanced at me and then ran to join the attackers.

Not only that, but Euphalia was also down to a single flag. Then the student who was guarding the flag came.

 

“It looks like our time is up.” (Cereille)

A student who appeared to have been guarding Euphalia’s flag came to Cereille.

 

“I am very sorry, Cereille-sama.” (Girl 3)

“It’s okay. I really wanted to defeat the flag by myself, but can you help me?” (Cereille)

“Yes!” (Girl 3)

“We’re running out of time, so both of us will take you on.” (Cereille)

 

Two students from the royal capital were also launching an attack on the opponent’s flag.

“Eliza, let’s go as we practiced.” (Cereille)

“Yes!” (Eliza)

 

Cereille and the student named Eliza started running.

The two moved diagonally to the left and right, then launched their attack. Eliza shot a lump of soil. I blocked it with an earth wall while observing the movement of Cereille.

Cereille shot three water balls. Moreover, she’s changing their trajectories.

With my left hand, I’m dealing with Eliza, and my right hand, with Cereille.

I can use magic with both hands, but my head can’t keep up. I can’t keep them both in sight at the same time. They kept a good distance. This was the result of their practice.

 

This is bad. It’s so much fun.

Don’t think. Move your body.

I have been attacked many times back in the game by more than one. I’ve died, and I’ve survived many times from doing so. I’ve been in many battles on the brink like this.

I moved my body and released magic. I did not look at the attacks of Cereille and Eliza with my eyes,but felt them with my whole body’s senses.

It happened sometimes in the game. My body moves before my head thinks, and in these situations, my survival rate goes up.

Right, left, up, move your body, cast magic, protect the flag.

Just when I thought it would go on forever, there was a loud whistle ,and the teacher’s voice said the match was over.

At the same time, the biggest cheer goes up.

 

“It’s over?” (Yuna)

“It looks like it. Unfortunately, it seems we lost. I didn’t think we’d have a hard time taking your flag, even though you’re taking on both of us.” (Cereille)

“If it took a little longer, it would have been dangerous.” (Yuna)

“I feel bad for that girl who was guarding the last flag.” (Cereille)

 

Cereille looked at the girl guarding her school’s last flag.

That girl also kept it until the end. It may have been a slight difference.

But protecting the flag was more tiring than I thought.

 

“But I’m not a student of the royal capital.” (Yuna)

“We agreed to that. Yuna, that was a lot of fun.” (Cereille)

 

Cereille smiled and walked to the place where Euphalia students gathered.

At the same time, students from the royal capital came to me.

 

“Yuna-san!” (Shia)

 

Shia rushed over and hugged me.

“It’s Yuna.” (Yuna)

“Oh right. But we won the match!” (Shia)

 

Shia looks happy.

 

“Thank you, Yuna-san.”

“Yuna-san, that was amazing.”

“I’m glad I could help.” (Yuna)

 

Everyone thanked me.

 

“But why an amazing student like Yuna wasn’t selected for this exchange meet?”

 

That’s because I’m not a student.

Shia and I told them the truth.

“I see. So Yuna is not a student of the royal capital.”

“Then, there is no problem if you enroll.”

“But then again, she’s not a student, so what will happen to this match?”

“I’m glad we won, though.”

 

While everyone was talking, the teacher came.

 

“This is a magical exchange meet. The purpose is to show each other’s strengths and improve them. Superiority and inferiority are important, but we must not forget the basics.” (Shugu)

“But then, what about the match?”

“If we win this match, it will be a draw.” (Shugu)

“A draw?”

“Yes, she’s not a student in the royal capital, but we couldn’t win without her, so this time it’s a draw.” (Shugu)

“Certainly, if it weren’t for Yuna, we would have lost.”

 

I don’t know if a draw was reasonable, but it might be better than a win. And a draw was a lot better than a loss, which might be a safe compromise for both schools.

 

“Now then, girls, let’s do the talking later and move out of the grounds. The boy’s team will play the next match. Please cheer them on as well. That will motivate the boys.” (Shugu)

 

We left the grounds when the teacher said this and cheered for the boys.

 

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Author’s Note:

This marks the end of the exchange meet.

The next post will be delayed. I’m sorry, but please understand.

[Postscript] I will be able to make time from February 4.

 

※ Volume 11.5 is released today. Please check it out.

 

※ Thank you to the reader who reported the typo. I’m sorry I can’t reply to you, so I will just leave it here.

 

[Postscript] PASH!Books editorial department is running a giveaway campaign on Twitter for Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear Vol. 11.5 and the author’s autographed book. The deadline is 23:59 on 1/30. Thank you for your cooperation.