Chapter 10

“When you’re dealing with an opponent as powerful as a god, you need the numbers if you’re going to snatch victory,” Miranda added. Leshea still didn’t answer, but puffed out her cheeks and pouted. Fay glanced at her and smiled a little. I know that look—she doesn’t like it, but there’s nothing she can say back. If Leshea had a comeback, we definitely would have heard it by now… If someone was trying to foist some twisted logic on Leshea, she would definitely have smashed it with a counterargument—but she couldn’t do that here. Fay understood that Miranda was right, and Leshea had to know it, too. “How many people do we need, then? Me and Fay and how many more?” Leshea twined a vermilion lock around one finger, which seemed to be her tell when she was thinking. She went on: “The actual number doesn’t matter to me that much. But if we’re just going to fill up the ranks with people who don’t love games, then I would rather it be just me and Fay. Is that bad?” “No. I understand completely.” The chief secretary nodded. “As I said, the recommendation is ten people or more, but you don’t have to find them all at once. You can build up, start with a team of three or four, and find more companions as you go. Until you have enough people, I suggest you form alliances with other teams that need to supplement their numbers. Right, Fay?” “I’m sorry?” Fay responded, startled to have the conversation turn to him so suddenly. “You need something from me?” “I’m asking you to help Lady Leshea find some suitable apostles.” “How is that my job?! I thought the point of this whole administrative structure was to find the right people.” “I’m saying you should keep your eyes open. Those who come through our system are untrained beginners. We can only spot apostles who are objectively exceptional—something you can quantify on a report.” In other words, they were critics. In pro sports, it wasn’t unusual for analysts and actual players to be deeply divided on whether a person was any good or not. “And Lady Leshea, you’d trust someone Fay found for you over anyone we just happened to send, wouldn’t you?” Miranda added. “Uh-huh!” “…It stings a bit to hear you agree so quickly, but anyway, there you have it.” Miranda yawned widely as if to say this conversation was over. “All right, I’m going to sleep. Fay, you and Lady Leshea should begin searching for teammates. I hope you’ll find some good candidates!” 2 The busiest floor of the imposingly elegant Arcane Court building was the fifth, which had a dining hall and a café that anyone could use. It would be absolutely packed at lunchtime, but at ten in the morning there weren’t too many people there yet. “So, Fay, how does a team get set up, anyway?” Leshea asked. “You remember the electronic application we did in my room earlier? Anyone at any other terminal will be able to see that we’re looking for team members, and contact us if they want to join up,” Fay said. “Okay… In that case, what are we doing here?” They were seated in a corner of the café. Leshea was resting her chin on her hands and looking bored. She gave Fay a look that clearly said Let’s go back to my room and play a game, but unfortunately for her, Fay had a good reason for coming here. “See the window at the end of the hall with the clerk at it? That’s the Consultation Corner,” he said, pointing to a spot that essentially bookended the hallway outside. It was a simple space, with several sofas and round tables. “Applications for teams are handled electronically, but sometimes there are issues you can’t resolve online. That’s when you come and talk to the clerk at that window.” “And what sorts of issues are those?” Leshea asked. “Say you keep fighting with members of your team and you can’t stand it, or the team isn’t what you thought it would be when you joined and you’d like to leave. When you’ve got something that’s hard to discuss with your allies, but you can’t figure out yourself, it’s best if you can talk to someone, right?” “I think someone just needs to learn to make up their mind.” “Okay, well, anyway… There’s another kind of people who show up at the Consultation Corner pretty regularly: free-agent apostles. Basically, people who are looking for a team.” Apostles who signed on with groups and left them quickly often came to the Corner hoping to find the next team they might join. “I thought if we kept an eye on the place, we might see who came by. But I admit, we just have to hope we’re lucky and someone shows up. While we’re waiting, I’ll try to see if I can think of anyone.” “Hmm…” Leshea leaned her elbows on the table. “You said you just got back here after six months away, right, Fay? You must have been on a team before that. Couldn’t we join with them?” “I’m afraid that’s…physically impossible,” Fay replied. Leshea gave him a quizzical look. “The team broke up for, uh, reasons. A lot of reasons…” He debated whether to tell Leshea exactly what had happened. He’d just been thinking about the same thing. “Did you have a fight?” Leshea asked. “No, nothing like that. Everyone got along great.” After taking in a newcomer, Fay, they’d suddenly won three games back-to-back. The team had grown by leaps and bounds. Finally, Fay explained, “It was very sudden. I went to the team room one day and was told they’d decided to split up…” “And they didn’t even tell you?” “Nope. That’s why I was so lost about what to do next. That was right when Chief Secretary Miranda told me they’d found the person I was looking for—I figured a bit of searching would be the perfect excuse for a change of scenery.” So he’d all but fled the city. That had been six months ago. “Anyway, unfortunately, my old group doesn’t exist anymore. If we’re going to go knocking on any doors, it would have to be some other team I was familiar with…” Fay pulled out a communications device. He had contact information for maybe ten apostles he knew here at the Arcane Court. “I’ve got some acquaintances, people I did the gods’ games with a couple of times, like Asta,” he said. “First, let’s try…” Fay decided on Tempest Cruiser (motto: “At the eye of the world’s storm”), a team he’d worked with a couple of times as a rookie. He had a passing acquaintance with a couple of the members, not to mention his record to recommend him. “Oh, hey. Hi. I know it’s been a while, Captain Ashlan, but do you remember—” “Fay, is that you?!” shouted a voice on the other end of the line, so loudly Fay thought his eardrums might burst. Ashlan Highrols was the captain of Tempest Cruiser, a twenty-six-year-old veteran with a rank of III, meaning he’d won the gods’ games three times. He could be a little absentminded, but he’d offered Fay advice even during his hiatus, and Fay owed him a lot. “Whoa, hey, all right! Finally thought you’d get in touch, huh?” “What?” “Your stream, man! I saw it! Here I was wondering where you were and what you were up to these days, and then, bam! You’re right in the middle of one of the gods’ games. And as a free agent, no less!” Ashlan always had been adept at gathering information—no sooner had he seen yesterday’s stream than he’d ascertained whether Fay was available. I wonder if he knew I’d get in touch, Fay thought. He’s still always prepared, or, at least, highly motivated. This seemed promising. Fay could sense the goodwill right through the phone. “So you know what’s going on? That’s great. I’ll get right to the point: Would it be possible to join your team?” “Hell yeah, man, we’d love to have you! Say the word; I’ll do the paperwork today. Nothing stopping me.” “I’d like to bring a former god named Leoleshea with me.” “Buzz! Your call cannot be completed at this time. Please make sure you have the correct number…” “Hey, Captain?!” “Fay, listen to yourself! You want the Dragon God with you? I mean, I know you beat Titan together; I saw it. It’s just…” There was an audible gulp. Ashlan’s anxiety was palpable. “The Dragon God Leoleshea…” “What’s wrong, Captain? You were gung-ho until a second ago…” “Maybe you haven’t heard, Fay. That god went berserk on some humans once.” “Huh? Why would she do that?” As Fay spoke, his gaze drifted toward Leshea, sitting across the table from him. With her ears, he was sure she heard every word of their conversation. “Hey, Leshea? Is that true, what Captain Ashlan said?” “I’m sure I don’t know what he means,” Leshea responded diffidently. “Care to fill me in, Captain?” “Everyone in the Arcane Court knows she’s usually sweet and gentle, but she’s still a former god. She used to run the gods’ games herself. She still has all kinds of respect for them, and if anyone says a word against them, she refuses to let it go.” “Uh-huh. And…?” “And there was this one team in the hallway. They’d just been thrashed in one of the games. They’d been drowning their loss with a stiff drink, and somebody said, ‘The gods’ games can kiss my ass!’ Then all of a sudden…” “Let me guess. Leshea was walking by, overheard them, and got angry?” “Angry? She sent twenty apostles to the hospital. People started calling it the Day of the Blood-Soaked God.” “Geez! Leshea, did you do that?!” “Heek!” She jumped back. Her hair fluttered, and she wore a look of shock that all but said Oh crap! “Guilt lieth not with me!” she exclaimed. “Sure sounds like it does! Why are you talking so funny?” “I m-merely gave them a slight tap on the shoulder. Not one was even injured!” She was trying desperately to deny any responsibility, but her panic seemed to be making her talk a little “old.” “You heard her, Captain,” Fay said. “Word is, eight people had compound fractures. They had to carry them out of here on stretchers.” “Seriously, Leshea?!” “Yoips!” Leshea backed away even farther. After a moment, though, with Fay staring at her, she seemed to give up. Her head drooped. “It wasn’t intentional. I just forgot it wasn’t like when we’re in Elements.” “An accident-prone god. Great…” She accidentally went to sleep and got stuck for 3,000 years in a wall of ice, accidentally lost the ability to return to being a god, and now she had accidentally gotten into a bloody fight. So disrespecting the gods’ games enrages her, huh? Knowing Leshea, I can just picture it… Nobody died in the gods’ games—but the real world was another story. If you ticked Leshea off when you weren’t in Elements, you weren’t guaranteed to survive the experience. Had things gone even slightly differently, the incident they were talking about could have been a huge tragedy. “I’m starting to understand why Chief Secretary Miranda wanted to pair me with you,” Fay said. “Hey, Fay, I’m sorry. She sure is nice to look at, and under other circumstances I probably would’ve loved to have her. ’Course, I guess a guy could wish for her chest to be just a little bit bigg—” Ashlan was interrupted by an audible crack as a fracture spidered down the side of the cup in Leshea’s hand. That stuff was reinforced ceramic—it wasn’t supposed to break. “Leshea?” Fay said. “Chests come in all different sizes,” she said, smiling brightly. “When I picked this body, I didn’t know about the tastes of human males. When you’re incarnating yourself, it’s easiest to copy a simple body type, anyway. I thought maybe this would do. But guys like big boobs, don’t they?” “Uh… I wouldn’t, uh, know.” “Even back during the time of the ancient magical civilization, there were rumors about me. Why’d she go with such a small chest when she’s a god and could make it any size she wanted, they asked. Ooh, I was so mad I almost burned up the whole entire world.” “You almost annihilated humanity?!” “Fay…” Leshea’s smile was so sweet. She crossed her arms, pushing her two “hills” up as far as she could. “You don’t care about a girl’s chest size, do you? I mean…I think I’m reasonably well-endowed, don’t you?” Fay didn’t say anything. “Well?” “Y… Yeah, sure. Of course you are.” This didn’t make any sense. Fay thought he’d come here to find some more teammates, so what was he doing sweating bullets as he was interrogated about a girl’s bustline? “Excellent answer,” Leshea responded, nodding in satisfaction. Incidentally, the person who had touched off this tense line of questioning had already hung up the phone. Stupid Captain Ashlan. He knew trouble when he heard it and bailed. I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind… “Okay, Fay, back to getting ourselves some new team members. I have one condition: their chests have to be smaller than mine.” “I don’t think we can say that!” Fay glanced at the contact info stored in his communications device. He was considering the size of each team, how well it was run, and especially his own opinion of the group. At length he said, “Okay, Leshea. The captain of the next team I’m going to contact is a girl. That okay?” “Is her chest smaller than mine?” “Seriously, I have no idea!” Fay exclaimed. Meanwhile, he got through to the girl in question. “Ah, hi, Captain Yuki? How are you? It’s me, Fay. Do you have a moment?” “Fay! It’s been, like, a million years!” answered a voice on the other end. To Fay, she sounded profoundly adult. Sexy. “Finally decided to take me up on that date, huh?” “Yeah, no.” “Aw, ouch! Well, okay, so I figured you’d say that. Hey, I saw the stream of your battle with Titan. My team and I were cheering our heads off watching you.” “Even you, Captain?” “It’s my job, isn’t it?” She giggled, but it was a grown-up’s laughter, an alluring sound. “There are no guaranteed wins in the gods’ games, but there are things you can do to help. Figuring out the hottest strats, that’s pure gold. And I’ve got the best game analysts in the business, so I just let them worry about it while I sat back and enjoyed the show.” “Sounds like you and your team are all pretty tight,” Fay said. Yuki’s team, Black Rose (motto: “The wild rose that blooms beautiful and black”), had thirty-six people. Fourteen active apostles, four retired ones who served as advisors, four game analysts, and, this year, ten rookies who were training with the team. Plus two managers to round the whole thing out, and a coach, the team’s former captain. All of them plus Yuki made thirty-six. She believed having great analysts was the most important thing, because it allowed her to tease out strategies from past games. His match with Titan was no different: people all over the world had been watching the stream, and Fay was sure that “the best analysts” were already arguing about the most effective way to approach a game of Divinitag. The other members of the staff, too—those excellent coaches and advisors had been lured away from other teams with the promise of lucrative rewards. “Your group received an A grade from the Arcane Court this year, didn’t it?” Fay asked. “Of course we did. What’s this, Fay? Starting to take an interest in Black Rose? I’m warning you, lots of apostles want to join our team and never get anywhere close.” “What about me?” “We’d find a place for you the moment you wanted to start,” Yuki said without missing a beat. “I got the shivers watching you fight Titan. I haven’t felt that way in a long time. I mean, you know Titan always does battle games, right? And then all of a sudden it’s ‘Divinitag’? You should have seen our analysts—they were white as sheets! A new game means there are no known strategies, after all. So to clear it first time out…” “I didn’t do it alone.” “You’re being modest. But anyway, if you want to join, Fay, we’d gladly have you. Excuse me, Manager? Order up an extra desk and locker for the room, please. Right away.” “Er… Hold on, Captain Yuki. You’ll need more than one.” Fay looked across the table at Leshea, who was listening keenly to the conversation. “Because I’m not coming alone.” “A recommendation, from you? Sure. Who’ve you got?” “She’s a former god named Leoleshea. She’s sitting right across from me here. I guess you’d probably know her by her bright red hair.” There was a long silence on the other end of the line. “Hey, Captain Yuki? Captain? Hello?” It wasn’t just Yuki—the cheerful chatter Fay had heard in the background was gone. “Captain Yuki?” Finally Yuki exclaimed, “Did you say the Dragon God Leoleshea?! No! Nooooooooooooo!” And then she hung up. The communicator sat silently in Fay’s hand. “Huh? Where’d you go, Captain?” he asked. Then he turned to Leshea. “Leshea, Captain Yuki lost it the moment she heard your name. She screamed and hung up.” Leshea didn’t say anything. “Why won’t you look at me?” The pretty young girl developed a twitch in one eye, but still wouldn’t meet Fay’s gaze. Finally she responded, “………I didn’t do anything.” “What did you do?!” “’T-t-tis all a big misunderstanding! I did nothing at all!” “Now I know you’re lying!” Fay circled around so she had to look at him. “I know when you’re upset—you start talking in your sketchiest I’m-a-god tone of voice whenever you’re in trouble!” “I do no such thing, mortal!” “You totally do! Captain Yuki obviously knew your name. I’m asking you to tell me what in the world you did to her!” “Er… urgh…” Leshea’s eyes darted around and she made a couple inarticulate noises before she said, “Once upon a time, there was this girl…” “What is this, a fairy tale?! Next, you’re going to try to tell me everyone lived happily ever after!” “Okay, okay. Fine.” Leshea let out a sigh of resignation. She still wouldn’t look Fay in the eye; she was obviously feeling guilty. “So, uh… I’ve had the last six months to kill, right? I decided to get some of the best apostles I could find and play with them in an underground coliseum. Perfect practice for battle games, right?” “Passing the time with a fight club? All right. And what happened?” Fay questioned. “I guess maybe the first person I fought was named Yuki. I still didn’t know my own strength back then, so she sort of…kind of almost died…” “You traumatized Captain Yuki?!” The captain probably deserved some kind of award just for surviving a blow from a god who didn’t know how to control herself. Although Captain Yuki’s wounds had healed, the damage to her mind was still raw. “I w-went to visit her in the hospital and everything! I brought candy!” “Oh, did you? And?” “She screamed and passed out.” “So all you did was re-traumatize her!” This would never work. The Dragon God Leshea was like a lion at the zoo—fun to look at, but you wouldn’t want to get close to it without bars between you. People seemed to see Leshea a lot like a wild animal. “I’m starting to get the picture. I don’t think we’ll have much luck getting a current team to take us,” Fay said. They saw Leshea as out of control—but from Fay’s perspective, that was only half true. Leshea, the former god, just wanted to play with humans. She was making an effort to understand them, as the piles and piles of books in her room attested. “I’m sorry, Fay. I mean it.” Leshea was uncharacteristically depressed. Fay shook his head and stood up. “Hey, it’s fine. We just have to be patient. If we can’t get onto a current team, we can start one of our own.” “You mean those free agents you were talking about?” “Yeah, that’s right. Lots of apostles out there are looking for new groups to call home.” There was somewhere around 1,200 apostles in the Ruin branch of the Arcane Court. Someone announced their free agency on a nearly daily basis, and teams traded personnel all the time. “If anyone’s looking for a new place, they’ll come to that window,” Fay explained. “We just have to watch and see who shows up.” “Hmm…” Leshea gazed idly down the hallway. “I just want to say, Fay, I don’t want team members who are just making up the numbers. They have to love games.” “We’re on the same page—I definitely want somebody who appreciates games,” Fay said. He was set on finding someone who adored games, absolutely loved them. Somebody who could sink into a game and forget the passing time, forget everything. A person who would spend every free moment thinking up new strategies if they could. That was the single most important thing to Fay in a new teammate. Then he added, “There’s something else. I’m afraid this might sound a little calculating…” “What is it?” “I’d like them to have some ability that’ll be useful in the gods’ games. For example, Leshea, say you had two mages, one who could use fire magic and one who used ice magic. All other things being equal, which one would you choose?” “Fire, of course!” “Why’s that?” “Because I’m the god of fire!” she replied. It was exactly as Fay had expected. Leshea was the fire-dragon god, and she felt some affinity for fellow fire-users. “Buzz. Wrong. The answer is ice,” Fay said. “What? Why?!” Leshea puffed out her cheeks like a stubborn child. “It’s obviously fire! Just look how strong I am!” “Fire is energy. Ice is stable. That’s the difference,” Fay stated. “What?” “In the gods’ games, fire mages are only really useful in battle games. In other words, they may be powerful, but they’re limited to direct confrontations.” “So what makes ice so much better?” “You could use it to make an ice wall or a staircase or something, right? Because it has solid form.” Ice magic wasn’t limited to battle games; it had many uses. If there had been an ice mage on Fay’s side in the game against Titan, for example, they could have created a road of ice from building to building to allow the apostles to escape. “I guess you could say I’m looking for something versatile. The gods’ games can take a million different forms, so it would be great if we could find somebody with a useful ability,” Fay said. “Hrm… I guess that makes sense.” Leshea crossed her arms and sighed. “I’ve pretty much got battle games covered for us, anyway. So you want apostles who can help us with other kinds of games, right?” “Yeah. We’ll have to scramble to pick them up before another team does, though.” “Huh. Say, Fay, what kind of powers are you hoping to find?” “I guess the first thing that comes to mind would be telepor—” At precisely that moment, the air above their heads rippled with a sort of whmm sound. A rainbow-colored ring appeared, and they could hear someone’s footsteps on the other side. It was exactly what Fay had been talking about. “Teleportation?!” Fay exclaimed. “Fay, look out!” Leshea shoved him away, and he stumbled back a couple of steps. In front of him appeared a pretty young woman who landed with a light footfall, straight out of the shimmering ring. A Teleporter! Fay realized. I didn’t see her at all—she must have come down from another floor! This Teleporter was a girl with pale golden hair. She was a good deal shorter than Leshea, but even in her Arcane Court uniform, the womanliness of her body was evident. Her lovely, demure face only added to her charm. At the moment, though, she wore a look of utter dejection. “Do you know her, Fay?” Leshea asked. “Never met her. I don’t think she even knows we’re here.” The golden-haired girl was clutching an envelope, so intent on whatever she was doing that she didn’t notice Fay and Leshea right behind her. She made a beeline for the Consultation Corner. “Well, now…” Leshea, watching her, crossed her arms in surprise. “Fay, I think that girl just teleported from the ground floor.” “That would be a pretty good trick. It’s a long jump.” “You think she’s a free agent?” “It’d be unusual. Teleportation’s a really useful skill that fits all kinds of games, so Teleporters usually get snapped up by one team or another before they can even declare their free agency.” Teleport was the quintessential movement skill, the ability to cross space. In Divinitag, as an example, someone with this ability would have been able to pop in and out of buildings to try to escape. “Oh! Fay! She’s going to the window!” “You’re right. If she’s looking for a team, then we’re both in the right place at the right time.” He decided to try getting a little closer. He was still behind the golden-haired girl, and she still hadn’t noticed him or Leshea. Instead, she produced three folded pieces of paper from her envelope and held them out to the clerk at the window. Fay could see one word at the top of each page: Resignation. They were applications to withdraw. “I’m Pearl Diamond,” the girl said to the clerk, “and I hereby submit my resignation, effective immediately!” “Not right now, you don’t!” A flame came bursting from Leshea’s palm and incinerated the pages the girl was holding. Poof! In the blink of an eye, they were reduced to ash. “Phew! Not bad work, if I do say so myself,” Leshea said. “Wh-wh-wh-what’s not bad about it?! Your fire singed my bangs!” Pearl cried. “And my resignation… My notice… W-wait… What?” She blinked in confusion, then stared at Leshea and Fay so hard it felt like her gaze might drill a hole right through them. “You two look startlingly similar to the Dragon God and last year’s most celebrated rookie, Fay.” “It’s more than a resemblance. That’s us,” Fay responded. “Heek!” Pearl yelped and jumped back. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know I was talking to such famous people! I apologize for being so rude!” “Uh… I don’t think you were being rude.” “To apologize, I’ll withdraw right now!” “Don’t get ahead of yourself! H-hey, hold on! Please!” Fay exclaimed. He took Pearl by the shoulders; she looked like this was the end of the world. “Calm down. We’re actually here to stop you from retiring.” Maybe Fay, with his six-month hiatus, wasn’t one to talk—but he didn’t believe that apostles should ever retire of their own accord. You only got to be an apostle until you lost three times in the gods’ games, usually just a matter of two or three years for most people. People might treat you like a pop star, but if you don’t beat the gods, you’re out. Some people even compare the apostles to fireworks, beautiful but only lasting a moment. That was part of why the citizenry cheered them on so enthusiastically. “Apostles who have lost three games are treated as retired, but you mentioned withdrawing. That means you haven’t lost three games yet, right?” Pearl didn’t answer. “I was just wondering, why would you want to quit being an apostle while you still have the right to challenge the gods?” After a long moment, Pearl replied, “I can’t tell you.” She stared at the ground. So she didn’t want to talk—but Fay and Leshea were looking for teammates. They weren’t going to give up that easily. “Listen, the thing is, my friend and I are looking for free agents,” Fay said. “No, I can’t!” Pearl exclaimed. “At least hear us out,” Fay said. “I’m so sorry!” “Hrn… O-Okay, let’s do this. I’ll get you a parfait at the café! Let’s eat and talk. When you’re finished, you don’t have to hear another word. Yeah?” “Okay!” “You mean it?!” The girl named Pearl still looked like the world was ending, but her answer was startlingly enthusiastic. 3 Pearl Diamond, sixteen years old. Rank I in the gods’ games (one win, one loss). Hobbies: nutrition-packed creative cuisine. Arise: Magical type (Teleporter). But that sounded boring, so Pearl referred to her ability as “The Wandering.” The fact was, though, she was quite strong. Rank I apostles could normally manifest only a very modest version of their Arise in the real world—for example, by teleporting a few feet. Frankly, it would be faster to walk. But Pearl, she’s different—she’s only Rank I, yet she jumped across at least one floor of a building. Fay was suitably impressed. And also perplexed: Why would such a desirable apostle want to withdraw? “I think I’m starting to get it,” he said. Once Pearl had calmed down a bit, they’d been able to coax the story out of her over a parfait. This was the situation as Fay understood it: “Your team was annihilated because of your mistake, and they won’t let you live it down.” “That’s right… I’m just the worst. I’m a total coward, and I only ever screw things up— Oh, do you mind if I order another of these strawberry parfaits?” Pearl pointed to the menu. “Uh, go ahead…” It bore out her alleged interest in cooking—no matter how depressed she was, she got talkative while she was eating. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Fay began. “You were in a game against a gigantic god. It was about to step on you, and out of sheer terror your abilities activated instinctively. And not just normal teleportation, but—” “A Shift Change!” Pearl cried. “Yeah, one of those. I’ve heard it’s a really versatile ability.” “Well, it’s completely wasted on me!” Pearl Diamond had two teleportation abilities. One was the basic Teleport, the ability to connect one space to another via a warp portal, as Fay had witnessed. The other was the Shift Change. This was the ability to swap the locations of Person A and Person B. “So you activated Shift Change just before the god’s foot came down on you, and unfortunately, the person you changed places with was the captain of your team, who got squashed and was retired from the game,” Fay summarized. “Yes, that’s right. I thought, I’m gonna get smooshed! and I was just so scared… I didn’t know I was activating my power!” Pearl had survived. Unfortunately for her and the rest of her team, one of the rules of that match had been “protect your leader,” and so she lost the game for all of them. More than a few apostles for whom this was their third defeat found themselves retired. Pearl, now branded a team-killer, felt so guilty that she left the team. Which brought them to this moment. “I’m such a scaredy-cat and a total klutz, and the fact that I even have one win is all thanks to my team, and I’m walking trouble with nowhere to go…” Pearl put her chin in her hands. “One win, huh,” Leshea mused. She was studying Pearl from across the table, her eyes sharp, almost like a glare. “Don’t you think you’re taking us gods a little lightly?” “C-come again?!” “If a team really was weighed down by a klutzy ball and chain of an apostle, there is no way they would’ve ever beaten one of the gods. We aren’t just pushovers. The fact that you have a single win undermines everything you said.” “Huh?” “I mean, you weren’t solely a drag on your teammates. That’s my take, anyway.” “W-well…!” The golden-haired girl looked up suddenly as what the Dragon God was trying to say dawned on her. “You said your name was Pearl?” Leshea said. “Th-that’s right, Lady Leoleshea…” Pearl’s shoulders stiffened, and she sat up straighter when the god called her by name. “Okay, well, I don’t actually mind if you’re only baggage. Let me and Fay handle the gods’ games. We only need the numbers. You can jump into a game and then drop right out again for all I care.” “Th-there’s honest and then there’s…maybe a little too honest!” Pearl wailed. “I can’t stand lying,” Leshea said. “You could at least be a little nicer about it!” “Here’s the deal, though: even if we lose, we won’t blame you. I won’t, and Fay won’t.” Pearl didn’t say anything. “How’s that sound?” Leshea, smiling again, held out her hand. “Just say you’ll try it. First one’s free, y’know. It’s easy. Give it a shot, and I promise you won’t be able to quit!” “You sound like you’re trying to sell me drugs or something!” Pearl said. “Geez! You humans sure are sensitive about your invitations.” “W-well, anyway,” Pearl said, jumping to her feet. “I’ve already made up my mind. I’m going to wash my hands of being an apostle and start a new life! So I’m sorry, but goodbye!” She turned and ran toward the wall. And as everyone in the café wondered, Hey, is she gonna hit that wall?, a glowing warp portal appeared and she made her exit from the eatery. “Wonder if we should go after her. Oops, there goes the warp portal,” Leshea said. She looked at the now blank wall with a sigh. “Hrm. I guess that’s that. Better find someone else, huh, Fay?” But Fay didn’t say a word. “Uh, Fay?” He stared at the thin air into which Pearl had vanished, then turned to Leshea. “Let’s do some investigating,” he said. “And what would we be hoping to discover?” Leshea asked. “Pearl’s room number in the girls’ dorm. If she plans on leaving, then she must be cleaning out her room. We’ve got to stop her, and quick.” “Uh?” Leshea gave him a blank look. She had already given up on the Teleporter and was thinking about finding someone else, so Fay’s response took her by surprise. “I just feel like it would be a waste to let it end this way,” he said. “What—you mean because her Teleport ability would be so useful?” “Because if she stops now, she’ll be afraid of games for the rest of her life! And wouldn’t that be sad?” “Oh…” Leshea’s eyes widened, and then the slightest of grins played across her lips. “All right. That’s a reason I can get behind.” “Thought so! She’s welcome to make her own choice. But I want to ask her one more time.” Fay nodded at Leshea, then set off at a quick jog. 4 The next day, on the grounds of the Arcane Court… “Hey, Fay, you think this is the right hallway?” “If the layout is like the boys’ dorm, then this is probably it. We’d better hurry, though—it ended up taking me all day to find out which room was Pearl’s.” Leshea was walking in front, Fay following behind her. There were two dorms for the apostles. Fay and Leshea were trekking through the girls’ building. It was late morning, so there weren’t many people around, but a man like Fay was still conspicuous tramping around the girls’ dorm. The women who were there kept giving him funny looks. “Glad I’m with you, Leshea. If I was by myself, they might think I was a criminal,” Fay said. Leshea turned around. “I keep meaning to ask you, Fay—why are the apostles’ dorms separated into boys and girls?” She walked expertly, keeping up her pace even though she was going backward. “You do it with your baths and toilets, too. I got mixed up once and went in one that was supposed to be for male apostles, and they totally freaked out. But why?” “Well, it would be, y’know, bad for everyone to be together.” “Bad how?” Fay wasn’t sure how to start answering that question. Fundamentally, the gods had no concept of gender—Leshea appeared like a gorgeous young woman, but human ideas about sex and gender were foreign to her. No, you know what? I’m sure she understands perfectly well. She’s just trying to get a rise out of me. What made Fay think that? The huge grin on Leshea’s face, which was framed by her vermilion hair. She was enjoying watching him squirm at her question. “What’s the matter? Can’t you tell me? I’m dying to know!” she said. “Oh, you know! I know you know! You shameless gods… Hey, face forward, already. You’re gonna bump into—” “I’m not gonna bump into anybody,” Leshea interjected, deftly avoiding an apostle coming down the hall without ever turning around. “Hm? Hmm?” “This is no time to gloat; we have to hurry. We need to stop Pearl!” Fay said. They went up the stairs to the second floor and found Pearl’s room, which was near the staircase. They pressed the intercom button, then waited…and waited…but there was no answer. Was she out? Or… “Hey, Fay—the door’s open.” “What? It’s not locked?” Leshea pushed the door gently, and with an audible click, it opened right up. Fay thought back to Pearl’s attempt to withdraw the day before. “Don’t tell me she’d already cleaned out her room! Pearl! Hey, Pearl!” Had she left yesterday? Were they too late? “Pearl! It’s me—are you here?!” Fay burst through the door, charging down a cramped hallway and toward the living room, kicking open the door to the main area. As they entered, a golden-haired girl was just turning toward them. “Oh. So you are here,” Fay remarked. “Wait… uh?” “Wh-wh-wh-wha—” Pearl stuttered. She was there, all right. But she’d been right in the middle of changing, and she was standing in her underwear. And wouldn’t you know it? Her clothes had been concealing her figure. Her chest, the swell of which had been just an alluring suggestion in her uniform, turned out to be so large that she could barely cover it with her hands; it threatened to spill out of her fingers. She looked like she was holding ripe fruit. “What is this?!” Leshea finally managed. Her eyes were wide from the sheer mass! She’d pondered the size yesterday, when Pearl was wearing her Arcane Court uniform, but this level of development went beyond anything Leshea had expected of the timid, retiring young woman. Leshea fell to her knees. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” But no. Leshea kept looking back and forth between her own chest and Pearl’s overwhelmingly voluptuous body. “It… It’s so big. It’s too big! This is a catastrophe! Why, that cleavage will swallow everything in its path!” “How can you describe my bust that way?!” Pearl exclaimed. “Share with me! Give me half of what you’ve got!” “Eeeeeeek!” Pearl screamed as Leshea, her eyes crazed, grabbed the other girl’s chest in a death grip. Several minutes later… “I don’t normally ever open my door. I just use a warp portal to get in and out,” Pearl said. They were in her living room and Pearl, who had changed into civilian clothes, was trying to explain herself. “I never checked—I just assumed it was locked. I can’t believe it’s been open all this time…” “You’re telling me that door has been hanging open until we got here?” Fay asked. “Probably six months now…” Pearl said. Six months with the door to your room hanging open—it was amazing nothing had happened before this. “B-but I guess it worked out for you. Since you, I mean, got a look. At my…at me.” “That’s, uh, well…” Fay said, feeling his face flush at the thought. In her personal outfit, Pearl looked quiet and reserved—to think, she was hiding something so stimulating under there. “I’m sorry.”