Chapter 7

Debut Battle is the seventh chapter of the Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan manga.

Summary
Shizuya Kirihara continues to mock Ikki, calling Ikki a coward, while Stella denies his claims of cowardice. Kirihara then points out that he will face Ikki soon, as Ikki finds out that his first opponent will be Kirihara, much to Ikki's shock. Kirihara then suggests a wager, if Ikki wins against him, he will retract his statement but if he loses Stella becomes his girlfriend. Ikki tries to deny such a wager, but Stella accepts the wager herself. Kirihara then leaves reminding Ikki that preliminary battles are real fights. Stella is confident that Ikki will win against Kirihara, but Ikki is unsure if he could win as Kirihara was possibly the worst opponent for him.

Shizuku is seen, at her first selection match, about to fight against Shigenobu Suga, with Nene Saikyo acting as the commentator. Suga is confident that he will win, because he has the type advantage, however, this proved to be untrue as Shizuku is able to easily get over the type advantage and drown Suga in a small bubble, she had created. Nene had made some dubious comments about Suga, and how disappointing his match was, quickly running off and forgetting who she was talking about. Ikki was seen watching Shizuku's match, and was happy that she had won, expecting her to win with ease. Ikki talks with Stella about his coming match with Kirihara knowing that Kirihara is very deadly. Stella had thought Kirihara had some weakness, as he didn't with the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival, and Ikki said that Kirihara did have a weakness to area effects and refused to fight anyone with that type of ability. Due to this mentality, he had gained the name "Hunter". Stella had become more annoyed by Kirihara, upon hearing that he only fights matches he can win, and is worried about Ikki's chances. Ikki, however, reassures her that he will definitely be relieving Stella of her worries.

Ikki wakes up in his room, during the night, after dreaming about his previous roommate telling him he couldn't be friends with him. Ikki then remembers his time, during freshman year, being terrible as no one would talk to him, the school board was against him, and the only person to approach him was, Kirihara. Kirihara had talked with Ikki and had tried to get Ikki to fight him. Ikki knew that if they fought he would get expelled, as it was against the rules to fight with a teacher's authorization. Ikki declined the offer and tried to walk away, but Kirihara had decided to draw out his device and fired multiple arrows to Ikki's back. Kirihara got off with only a stern warning, giving Ikki a true indication of where he stood in that school.

Ikki is then seen at the sign up booth, later on in the day, and agreed to the stipulated conditions of entering the preliminary round. Nene then appears and states that she started teaching because Kurono and her came from the same generation, as well as she had an interest in meeting Ikki. She then quickly closes the distance between the two of them, and begins to flirt with Ikki. Before however, she is able to continue, Kurono appears asking what Nene was doing. She then drags Nene, so she can get back to commentating, leaving Ikki to ponder how Nene was able to get so close without him even noticing.

Ikki puts it out of his mind for now, and gets back on focusing on the match at hand going into the locker room. Ikki thinks to himself, knowing and understanding how Kirihara fights, but drops his bottle of water, noticing that his hands are shaking, he believes that he is nervous. Ikki then hears his name being called, to participate in the match, and Ikki tries to calm down, and goes out to the ring.

Ikki and Kirihara are then seen in the middle of the ring, as the announcer introduces both of them, the crowd. Ikki and Kirihara then both activate their devices ready to fight each other, as the match begins.

Characters

 * Ikki Kurogane
 * Shizuya Kirihara
 * Stella Vermillion
 * Shizuku Kurogane
 * Nene Saikyo
 * Shigenobu Suga
 * Kurono Shinguuji
 * Ryouma Kurogane