From the Warlord's Empire Read Online Free PDF Page A

Nagisa sought Yukina’s agreement.
    For a moment, Yukina’s eyes blinked in bewilderment. No doubt she never imagined she’d be made to cheer Kojou on, too.
    To Yukina, who was worried about wearing a cheerleader outfit at all, it had to have been a very troublesome invitation. In the first place, Yukina had been dispatched as the Fourth Primogenitor’s watcher; cheering Kojou on in a sports festival wasn’t exactly part of her mission.
    However, with Nagisa’s radiant face turned toward her, it was no surprise she just couldn’t say no.
    “I suppose you’re right…I’ll cheer, too.”
    Lastly, Yukina made a sigh, as if conveying to Kojou her grudgingsurrender. Seeing the faint, strained smile on her face, Kojou made a pained smile of his own. A moment later, the monorail arrived at the station they were heading to.
    As usual, the three of them got out of the car at the same time, trading the usual formalities.
    It was a common, everyday scene…
    Kojou had not yet noticed, but in Itogami Harbor, visible from the monorail car’s windows, was moored a single, unfamiliar, highly extravagant ship.
3
    Kojou parted ways with Yukina and Nagisa right about when they arrived at the school gates. Yukina and Nagisa turned toward the middle school campus a short distance away while Kojou went straight ahead to the high school building.
    Itogami Island was the Island of Everlasting Summer, floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
    Even halfway into September, there was not even the smallest subatomic hint of autumn whatsoever; the merciless morning rays of the midsummer sun poured down upon the school grounds.
    As Kojou ran into the entrance, feeling much like a slime mold frantically trying to escape ultraviolet light, the preceding visitor was right before him. A schoolgirl was changing her shoes in front of the shoe lockers for Kojou’s class.
    She had a showy hairstyle and refined perfume. With good fashion sense, she wore her school uniform in just the right ways to stand out from her classmates.
    “Good morning, Kojou. To think, you arrived on time for once.”
    She spoke to him in an easygoing tone like she was one of the boys. Though her shapely lips were curled into a grin, it was a mysteriously affable and memorable expression. She took a large sports bag placed right by her loafers and tossed it toward him.
    “What’s all this stuff, Asagi?” Kojou asked casually as he retrieved his own footwear.
    As Kojou did so, Aiba Asagi grinned broadly as she looked up at him.
    “Sorry, you just happened to arrive at the perfect time. It’s heavier than I expected and a real pain.”
    “I haven’t said one word about carrying it for you.”
    “Oh, you’re a big help. If you could just put it in front of the locker…”
    Ignoring Kojou’s meager protests, Asagi issued one-sided commands. Kojou, giving up on any further resistance, reluctantly picked up the bag. Through the gap left by the partially open zipper, he saw a number of old rackets and white birdies—shuttlecocks for badminton.
    “A badminton racket? What’s this for?”
    “It’s for the sports festival practice. I called in a favor and my older sis lent it to me. The school doesn’t have enough equipment, see.”
    “Huh,” murmured Kojou in apparent admiration. “You do sensible things sometimes.”
    “You didn’t have to say ‘sometimes.’ After all, I’m also known as ‘Asagi, the Highly Considerate Beautiful High School Girl.”
    “A highly considerate beautiful high school girl wouldn’t say that about
herself
.”
    “Oh shut up. Well, actually Rin asked me to do this just yesterday.”
    Asagi made her unapologetic admission while they headed up the stairs to class.
    “So, what are you going to be in, Kojou?”
    “Who knows… I asked Tsukishima to make it as fun an event as possible, though,” Kojou replied in an unenthusiastic tone. Once the class representative, Rin Tsukishima, heard everyone say what sports festival event