My Death Flag Shows No Sign Of Ending

Episode 20

Come to think of it, Erika had an older brother- although it was too late, Harold remembered. If he had to give a reason as to why he had forgotten about him so much, it was because not only had Itsuki not appeared even in an episode not related to the main storyline, even his name wasn't made clear in the game.
But if he thought about it calmly, if Erika were the only child, with her getting married off into another family, the Sumeragi house would most likely become extinct. With such a situation, there was no way they would easily agree to an engagement, so to not realize about the existence of an older brother was Harold's blunder.

Well, that in itself wasn't a huge problem. But Itsuki being the older brother having such a heavy sister complex was completely inconceivable.
Having Itsuki, who had a dark smile on his face, laughing with a 'Fufufufu' as the opponent would be extremely bothersome.

「I've heard about it. Well then, come fight with me」

Those eyes closely resembled a ones of a carnivorous beast eyeing its prey. He was completely receiving unjustified resentment, and Harold also didn't want to take him on looking at his behavior, but still Harold convinced himself that it was for the sake of gaining precious real battle experience.

「Don't touch me acting all familiar, you small fry」

He had wanted to just normally request 「My shoulder is hurting, so could you please remove your hand?」 and he had no intention to pick a fight.
But as long as he had this mouth, he couldn't avoid falling into perilous situations. The mouth is the origin of calamity- Harold could even believe that this proverb was a wise saying written down in the sacred texts.

「You're more than motivated, huh. Then, prepare immediately」

While inwardly drawing away from Itsuki whose smile deepened, thinking that it would certainly be hard to move around with the current attire of a boy from Britain, in accordance to those words, he changed to the garments prepared in the changing room.
On top was a white dougi, and below was a dark blue hakama like an outfit for an archery club member.

Looking at Harold who came out after changing his outfit, Tasuku, Itsuki and many people sitting in the spectator seats of the 2nd floor gasped. Although the boy who was only 140 cm tall was wearing a clean, brand new dougi, no innocence could be felt from his behavior. Harold was emitting an intimidating pressure which pricked one's skin.

「Is this the weapon?」

Similar to the one Itsuki was holding, he took a shinai which was on the wall.
For the sake of grasping the sensation, when he lightly swung it, it was light enough to make him think that there was almost no weight at all. While making 'Hyunhyun' sounds of cutting the air, Harold freely swung the shinai around as he pleased.

It was a flowing sword handling which was so sharp that onlookers could only stare at wonder. Looking at that, Itsuki breathed out a light 「Hee」 in admiration.
Although he had heard about Harold beforehand, actually looking at Harold's sword skill, he renewed his awareness to not be negligent. For Itsuki, though he was a detestable opponent who stole his beloved little sister, looking at how a kid of only 10 years of age had trained to this extent, he was honestly feeling admiration.

Simultaneously the hope that if it were Harold, he might be able to enjoy the fight boiled up.
If talking about swordsmanship, Itsuki was outstanding. He might be a person in the domain of prodigies.
Therefore, even at the present time he wouldn't easily lose to a grown man in a fight, and on the other hand, there was a huge difference in power between him and the other children of his age, so much so that there was no way they could fight him.

If said that he didn't feel any discontent about that at all, then it would be a lie. Somewhere in his heart, he had always wished for a rival who was close to him in both age and strength.
And now, an opponent who might perhaps become that had appeared. If only Harold wasn't Erika's fiance, Itsuki would have even thought of welcoming him with open arms.