Honestly, I was expecting the Festival to be delayed, if not outright canceled, after what happened yesterday but the Devil King called everyone back the next day. He said "I bust my ass off fixing everything, so if someone doesn't come I will personally hunt them down" so I didn't really have any choice but to go.

I talked about it with everyone and learned a bit about what had happened. Basically there are these things called Disasters that happen in the Human and Devil Worlds every now and again. They're like natural disasters, but simply happen with no discernible reason.

Yeah, yesterday was a big hit for everyone. I have no idea how many were injured or how many died, but there's not much else to be done other than keep going on with our lives.

Of course, Miyabi was also coming to the Festival with me, and so was Miyako. Lizel-senpai and Reina were waiting for us in the car.

Originally, I thought it would be best if only Miyabi and I went, in case something else happened today, but there was a lot of debate from the parent group. In the end, we settled for Miyako accompanying us.

"By the way, Reina, what happened to Swordia?"

"Ah, she said she would look for a way to have a match with Reina and then disappeared desu."

Huh, maybe we'll be seeing more of her around. I don't know why Reina avoided a match with her in the first place. Maybe I'll ask why later.

Not long after, we arrived at Ginsei Academy. We left the car and entered the school.

Looking around, there are still clear traces of what happened yesterday, especially scorch marks just about everywhere, but there's also less damage than I expected. I guess the Devil King really did fix stuff.

"Then, I will go to where my event will be held. Reina as well."

"Yes, Reina's going now desu!"

And so Lizel-senpai and Reina left our group. That left me, Miyabi and Miyako.

Miyabi had lost her competition yesterday, and she didn't enter any others, so she didn't have much to do today. I assumed Miyako planned to accompany her daughter.

"What do you two plan to do?"

"Well, cheering in a competition like a quiz would be more of a bother, so I can't go watch senpai. I could go cheer on Reina, but I feel she would get more nervous if people she knows are paying attention to her. So I guess I have to go with Yuuto."

"I don't mind following Miyabi and Yuuto."

Wow, so I'm the last option. Should I be thankful I'm an option at all?

Well, Miyabi probably said it just to get under my skin. Since they were coming with me anyway, I started heading to the track field, where my event, the obstacle race, was supposed to take place.

Again, if we discount the scorch marks, the place seemed fine. Or rather, I thought an obstacle race was usually short, why is this one going around all of Ginsei Academy?!

No, but, considering Miyabi and Miyako's reaction, or lack of it, maybe this is simply how it usually is with devils? It seems stupidly big to me.

"Ah, there you are!"

I know that voice, I hope I'm not going to get punched in the gut again.

Stella walked towards me. Maybe she wasn't mad anymore? At least, she didn't look like she was coming to kill me.

"Neith's sulking in some corner over there, you go deal with her."

"Huh? B-but-"

"No buts. I'm in a bad mood after the Devil King made me come to school when I was planning to take a day off, so you deal with it."

Stella wouldn't give up no matter how much I protested. She even used Transite to escape.

"… Guess I'll have to go check on Neith."

Miyabi and her mother moved to the spectator stands. I had to go after Neith, since she'll be taking part in the race with me, and also, I can't just leave her alone knowing something is wrong.

That said, Stella's only directions were "some corner over there" so I had some trouble looking for Neith. When I did find her, she really was in a fetal position in a corner. Maybe I even passed by her before.

"Neith, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Ah… Yuuto-kun…"

I wonder what kind of problem Neith might be having. Maybe a different Candidate or someone else is picking on her?

I may not be very strong, but I consider Neith a friend. If possible, I'll lend her my strength if she needs it.

"It's nothing… I'm just thinking I should quit the competition… but then I'd trouble Yuuto-kun and everyone else, so I'm not sure what to do."

"But why would you quit? Is there someone threatening you?"

"No, it's just… earlier I heard someone say they're going to confess to the girl they like if he finishes first place in today's race, since they made it out of yesterday's Disaster, and his friends were cheering him on. But if I try to race, I'll win, so I thought I shouldn't steal someone's happiness like that… that's why I'm thinking of quitting."

That's… a strange problem. At least, I didn't expect it.

Neith is saying that her victory is a sure thing if she participates. Honestly, I have my doubts, but maybe she's right.

Except teleportation, every kind of movement magic is allowed in this competition, and maybe that's her area of expertise. At least, that's the only way I can imagine for her to be so sure of her victory. Actually, teleportation is allowed as long as it is in short distances.

Still, this is the first time I see someone afraid to win. If she was afraid she'd come last, I could just encourage her saying she just had to try her best and stuff like that. But what do you say to someone who's afraid they'll win? Do I tell her I think she'll lose?

Honestly, this is such a strange problem I could see why Stella didn't want to deal with it. I considered just leaving Neith be, but that wouldn't sit right with me.

"Haha, this is such an unexpected thing I don't even know what to say."

"Sorry to trouble Yuuto-kun…"

"Ah, no, I didn't mean it was trouble."

What should I do? Is there some solution to this?

… Actually, I think I have an idea.

"Say, Neith, how about you compete with me?"

"B-but…"

"Here's what we'll do. Once the race starts, we'll let everyone go ahead. Once they're a fair distance ahead, Neith and I go. It'll be a competition just between you and me."

"Won't Yuuto-kun get mad…?"

"Hey, I'm pretty confident in my dash. And even if Neith beats me, I'll just turn that into motivation to get even better rather than resentment against Neith."

I offered my hand to Neith. She hesitated a bit, but eventually grabbed it. I pulled her up to her feet, so we both headed to where the race would begin.

We were a little early, so I used this chance to reconfirm that Neith was fine with my little impromptu competition. We would be basically giving up on the actual competition after all. Once she confirmed it, we started preparing ourselves.

"Ready, set. Go!"

The judge gave the starting signal and everyone dashed off. Everyone but me and Neith, obviously.

People looked at us curiously, but we paid them no mind. After about a minute had passed, I told Neith:

"Shall we begin?"

"Y-yes."

We got into position, then dashed off. I already began using Stride, since I knew everyone else was using it as well.

Neith was right beside me, we were tied. That said, I don't feel any mana coming from her, was she not using magic?

"Yuuto-kun's fast. Have you trained with Stride before?"

"Y-yeah. Is Neith not using magic?"

"If it's only on this level, I don't need it."

Devil King Candidates really are something else. I know I'm also one, but I'm also human, so it doesn't count.

But still, an obstacle race is only half about who's faster. The other half is about who can clear the obstacles better.

We approached the first obstacle, it was basically a giant swamp. There were no rules other than not leaving the area, so we basically had to figure out how to clear the obstacles on our own.

There was not a soul here anymore, everyone else was already far ahead. So we couldn't see how others would deal with the obstacle.

"In that case-!"

I put a lot of strength on my legs, even using Maximize, and jumped. It was by far the biggest jump of my life. It left any thinkable world record to shame, but it was just barely enough to get me across.

But, while I was in the air, I saw Neith. She also jumped, but hers was only a light skip. When she touched the surface, she jumped again, and again, and again. It was almost like she was running straight through with how fast she was.

Truth be told, Neith made it across a second or 2 faster, but she waited for me to land. Once my feet touched the ground, we once again went off.

"This is fun, Yuuto-kun!"

I can see why Neith was so confident in herself. I have no doubt she would win the normal competition if she tried. That being said, I'm not willing to give up just yet.

We quickly approached the next obstacle. This one seemed more normal. It was a series of barriers.

How it would normally be cleared is either jumping over or ducking under. But I have a different idea.

"Transite!"

A second before I ran into the first barrier, I teleported to a centimeter after the last barrier. Honestly, I wasn't planning to use a teleport, since it costs a lot of mana, but it couldn't be helped. Any advantage I could get against Neith wouldn't be enough.

I would have waited for her, like she did for me, but again, no advantage would be enough.

So I went on a mad dash, not even paying any mind to where Neith was. I was almost out of air by the time I reached the next obstacle. This time, it was a wall we had to climb.

I could also see some people not too far ahead. I guess Neith and I really had been going pretty fast. At this rate, it wouldn't be impossible to catch up to everyone else.

Anyway, I started my climb. I regretted not having learned flying magic, but there was nothing to be done about it now. I used the usual Maximize, Stride and Armored combo to make my way up.

And what was waiting for me at the top was…

"Yoo, Lovers."

"Take this!"

"A gift from Ibiza!"

Some guys were standing there, as if waiting for me. They had a few spells prepared and threw them my way before I could even process things.

Figa, Iza, and whatever else they had. Shit, I'd forgotten about Ibiza and his friends. I didn't mean to, but I ended up making the perfect scenario for them to set up traps. I ended up being thrown back down.

"Gaah!"

Again, I don't know flight magic, so all I can do is brace for impact. Hopefully, Armored and Barricade will-

"Yuuto-kun!"

Before I noticed, Neith had come flying, literally. She stopped my fall and took us both back to the top.

It was our turn to take Ibiza's friends by surprise. Or I wanted to say, but I myself was barely following what was going on.

Ibiza's friends were slow to react, and disorganized. Some wanted to run away, others wanted to attack me again, and there were also those unsure.

But while they were confused, Neith seemed to have figured things out.

"Are they Devil's…?"

They seemed to have reached a consensus and tried attacking us, but Neith was faster.

"In that case, I don't have to hold back. Top Runner!"

Next thing I knew, Neith and I were in a chariot. It had beautiful shining armor around it that protected us from the attacks. Instead of horses, there were 2 sphinxes pulling the chariot.

Is this… her Characteristic Magic? It's a chariot alright, but not quite what I would have expected. It's pretty cool though! Even Neith seems to have changed her personality.

"Trample!"

With that single order from Neith, the sphinxes stomped some of Ibiza's friends. Some others started to run, but Neith wasn't done yet.

"Hold on, Yuuto-kun."

Before I could even ask "hold on to what?" the sphinxes started moving. I quickly noticed things would turn bad if I didn't do as Neith had said, so I had to grab on to something.

That said, there was nothing to hold on to but Neith herself, so that's what I did. I wrapped my arms around her waist and held on for dear life.

Neith flinched a bit, but kept going. I suppose this is embarrassing for both of us, but it really couldn't be helped. Things would end uglier than any car accident if I let go now.

By the way, it's amazing how fast people can run when they think they're going to be run over by something. After the first few of Ibiza's friends, the rest were very hard to catch. But that might also be because Neith was trying to minimize the secondary damage, with questionable success at that.

We were quickly catching up to the other competitors just by going after them. It seems such an ability is not exclusive to those under Ibiza as well, since everyone started going much faster as Neith approached.

Before long, Neith had successfully run over all of Ibiza's lackeys, and a few other people as well, but let's not comment on that. Once the race finished, Neith was in second last place, and I was in last place. But, considering the number of dropouts, that seemed like a good result.

By the way, that guy who said he would confess if he reached 1st place, he not only made it, but actually broke a new world record. The things you can achieve with the right incentive.

"Neith Carnac, please come to the judge's stand."

Yeah, I guess they weren't going to let something like that slide so easily. Neith had to go see what they wanted from her, which left me alone.

I figured I would go after Miyabi and Miyako, but I couldn't find them where I had seen them previously.

Where had they gone? I suppose I should try cal-

[Warning. Princess under grave danger.]

What? Arcana, can you guide me to her?

[Affirmative.]