Chapter 72

“I’m fully aware my mission could be dangerous.” Anita puffed out her chest, full of self-confidence. “I’ve already been buried twenty centimeters into the concrete after angering my treasured sister Uroboros!” “Wow, you don’t give up, do you?!” “The harder a sister’s route is to clear, the brighter she shall shine on my team!” No sooner had Anita spoken than three voices crackled across the intercom. “Good morning, Fay!” “Fay! It’s morning!” “You must forgive us for being here first thing, Master Fay. We made breakfast. Do you want some?” They could hear three girls on the other side of the door. There was a beat, and then another, very clear voice exclaimed, “Tiny Human! My undefeated self has come to play!” “Treasured sister Uroboros?! And my treasured sisters Pearl, Leshea, and Nel!” Anita burst up from the sofa and made a beeline for the door, flinging it open. “Thank you all so much for coming! Please, please, come in… Huh?” It was then that Anita noticed something. Each of her sweet, lovable “sisters” wore a look of profound intensity. “T…treasured sisters?” Nel was the first to speak. “Well, well. What brings you to Master Fay’s room?” “Funny, you being here even before the rest of us. I wonder why.” “We’d better pluck this intruder out of our midst,” Pearl agreed. “Did you think you could make a move on Tiny Human without a word to me?” Anita backed away quickly, all flustered. “—?! N-no, no, you’ve got it all wrong!” Perhaps sensing her life was in danger, she hid behind Fay. “I don’t have any interest in this…this man! I’m here for one reason—to see my treasured sister Uroboros.” “Hmm? Mineself?” The silver-haired girl looked at her blankly. “Who’re you?” “You don’t remember me?! Er, ahem. No. When I consider that this means you and I, treasured sister, may start our capital-Y Youth from scratch all over again, that’s not such a terrible thing! Treasured sister Uroboros, my name is Anita. It’s my utmost pleasure to meet you.” It makes sense. She is a god. She’s only interested in people who are good at games—I guess she doesn’t bother with anything else. Very godlike behavior. In fact, Fay had to have a certain amount of admiration for Anita’s willingness to approach not just any human, but even a god, and ask them to join her team. “Huh… Then again, I guess it could be the other way. Maybe it’s not that Anita is inviting Uroboros to join her team—it’s that Uroboros has attracted Anita. Like that would happen, I guess.” “That’s it exactly,” Uroboros replied immediately. “Wait, it is?!” Fay said before he could stop himself. “Hey, no, I was just spitballing. Wait… Do you really have that power?” “Mm! I am a god, after all. Hmm… But it is strange.” The silver-haired girl tilted her head. She gave Fay a pointed look, then trotted right up to him and rubbed her shoulder against him, almost like a cat nuzzling a person. “May I, uh, ask what you’re doing?” “Just trying it. Funny… It works on her.” Uroboros pulled on Fay’s sleeve, looking from him to Anita and back. “Do I not make your heart race, Tiny Human?” “Um…in what sense?” “I must inform you, I smell very good. I came here to play games with you, did I not? I was prepared to drag you away if it came to that, so I have been exuding an aroma from close range that should cause you to be attracted and become my captive.” “Hey, don’t go spraying that stuff just anywhere!” “You really don’t feel it?” “Not a bit. Not even now that you’ve explained it to me.” Uroboros tilted her head again, making an adorable face of perplexity. It sounded like the kind of almost comical display of brute force only a god could employ—but if Uroboros hadn’t said something, Fay would never have realized anything was going on. “Is this all a joke?” he asked. “By no means. For though it may not work on you, Tiny Human, it is working on this other human who was near me.” “You mean Anita?” “Hmm? Tiny Human, what is this thing?” Her eyes lit up and, still looking at him, she tugged on his sleeve and brought it up to her nose. “Tiny Human,” she said. “What? What’s gotten into you?” “You are quite beloved of the gods, aren’t you? Though I don’t know which god put it upon you or when.” “Huh?” “Is your Arise the kind of thing that puts up a barrier that protects you? Maybe a blessing from the gods that activates automatically?” “Oh… Kind of, I guess. I don’t completely understand it myself.” Fay possessed a Superhuman Arise called May Your God, meaning, one who had received the divine love of the gods. It gave him the power of regeneration and revival, neutralizing the effects of everything from a scratch to a fatal wound, as well as spiritual malice, curses, destiny, and every kind of divine intervention. To put it in Uroboros’s terms, it might well be described as “a blessing from the gods that activates automatically.” “This is it!” Uroboros gave a great clap of her hands. “Your Arise is what’s getting in the way of my power. The reason your heart doesn’t flutter at me, the reason you don’t become my captive, it’s all—” “Hmm?” came a voice from behind Uroboros. It was Leshea, and while Uroboros was discoursing eagerly, the former god’s eyes glinted. “So our newcomer admits to quietly emanating the sweet aroma in a continual attempt to attract Fay. That’s a naughty little trick.” “Hngh?!” Uroboros trembled. She whipped her head around to look at Leshea, her silver hair getting disheveled in the process—but her sweet face was already tense beyond her ability to hide it. “N-no, nothing of the sort! This is my factory setting… It is the way of gods to cherish humans, to become friends with them! Of course one emanates a pleasant aroma or two!” “Yet this aroma has been in effect only around Fay, and only at point-blank range. Am I getting that right?” “W-well, that…” Uroboros found herself backed into a corner of the room. Indeed, she was trapped, for Nel had moved in from one side and Pearl from the other. Which was precisely when Fay’s communications device, which had been sitting on the desk, began to ring. “H’lo!” said a voice on the other end. “Sorry to bother you so early in the morning, Fay.” “Good morning, Chief Secretary. I don’t usually hear from you on a day off. Or does the admin staff have to work today?” “Both. I’m working on my day off. Well, technically, I’m still doing overtime from last night…” There was a dramatic sigh on the other end of the line, as if to say, Listen to how loudly I’m sighing! “So I’m sorry to bother you first thing on a day off, but do you think I could ask you to share my pain today? Just a bit? I’ll get right to the point.” “You heard the Chief Secretary. You all okay with this?” Fay said with a glance at his teammates. They all nodded. He turned back to the communications device and said, “Fine by us. Perfect timing, too. Everyone just got here.” “There’s been an inquiry from headquarters,” Miranda said. “That sounds ominous. What kind of inquiry?” “A request. The Divine Gates have been closed since the labyrinth game. Headquarters has confirmed they’re safe again, and they want someone to do a test dive. Specifically, you.” “Huh? Why do a test if they’ve already confirmed it’s safe?” “Fair question. Basically, headquarters has only been able to confirm their own gates are safe. That thing with the labyrinth affected everyone in the world, and they want to check the other gates, too.” So they’d been personally chosen for this job. And it wasn’t like Fay couldn’t imagine why. “If it turns out the gates aren’t fixed and they still go to the labyrinth, we’ve already cleared it anyway, so there’s no problem.” “I love a quick learner.” “Not that I’d be eager to have to clear that maze all over again,” Fay said. He could almost hear Miranda’s pained smile. “By the way, is it going to be just us involved in this test run? If we go through there and end up in one of the gods’ games the way we’re supposed to, I’m not sure the four of us alone are going to be enough.” “Yes, right. That’s why they’ve drawn on other teams with experience in the labyrinth as well.” “You mean Captain Ashlan?” “You got it. Admittedly, he went, ‘Who, me?!’ and wasn’t very eager about it, but he did agree in the end. They’re also putting out a call for volunteers, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that score.” “All right, I hear you. Get in touch again later and you can give me the details.” Fay was just about to end the call when Anita screamed at the top of her lungs, “Hold it right there! Don’t move a muscle, Fay! Don’t end that call!” “Oops. The, uh, Chief Secretary already hung up. Sorry.” “Chief Secretary?! Er… Well, that’s fine. I don’t mind. I’ll just throw my name in the hat when they put out the call for volunteers.” Anita coughed delicately. “If my treasured sisters are going to participate in a game, then I absolutely must be part of it! Once you see my skills, I know you’ll want to join my team!” “““Whaaat?””” the others all responded at once. “Why do you sound so unhappy?! J-just a second! Treasured sisters?! Please, let me join you! I’m begging! I’ll carry your stuff! I’ll do anything!” Anita’s participation in the game was confirmed, but only after she begged, pleaded, and kowtowed for a solid hour. 2 Several days later, nearly twenty apostles stood in the Arcane Court building’s underground Dive Center, the Divine Gates looming before them. There were the twelve members of Captain Ashlan’s team, Blaze. Then there were Fay, Leshea, Pearl, and Nel. Headquarters had asked for these sixteen by name, but in addition, Anita, leader of Empress, had volunteered as a test player. And she wasn’t the only one… “Be joyful, Tiny Human, for my undefeated self joins you!” Uroboros came bounding out of the elevator. She had followed Fay all the way down here. “Good morning, Lady Leshea,” said Chief Secretary Miranda, who was already standing in the room. She gave the former god a bow. Then she pointed to the Divine Gates, which gave off a glow. “As you can see, everything is ready. The point of this test is to determine whether the Divine Gates’ connections are functioning normally, and to do that, we’re going to have you dive in like a normal game. If one of the gods’ games begins, then it’s working. If you drop back into that labyrinth, then there’s still a problem. Pretty simple distinction.” Miranda reached into a bag and plucked out a tiny video recording device. “By headquarters’s request, since this is a test session, there will be no worldwide stream. Therefore, I’m informed, the Godeye lens will not be necessary.” “I never wear one anyway!” “And believe me, I wish you would. But anyway, Fay. Captain Ashlan.” Miranda half turned to them. “There’s no cameras, there’s no broadcast, so you can get started when you’re good and ready.” “Yeah, I hear you. You got it.” Captain Ashlan took a deep breath. “Still, we usually get a couple of weeks between gods’ games. Diving back in just a few days after getting out of that maze? Who ever heard of a schedule so packed?” “Still feeling tired, Captain?” Fay asked. “No, no. I slept like the dead for the last two days!” Captain Ashlan exclaimed, giving himself a good smack on the cheeks. “All right! Let’s do this, Fay!” He let the momentum carry him forward, toward the Divine Gate. The statue’s dragon jaws opened wide, a doorway of light glimmering beyond them. “Come on, guys! In we go!” Then they were diving—first Captain Ashlan, then the members of Team Blaze. They flung themselves into the statue and disappeared. “All right! Let’s go!” “Wah?! D-d-don’t push me, Leshea!” “P-Pearl?! Let go of my hand! You think you can take me down with you?!” Leshea was next, along with Pearl (whom she was shoving) and Nel (whom she was clinging to). They all went tumbling through the statue gate and disappeared. “Oh! Treasured sisters?! Wait for me!” Anita called, jumping through after them. That left Fay, Uroboros pulling him along by the sleeve. “That reminds me, Uroboros,” Fay said. “It’s like I told you yesterday—this is a test run, so we’ll have to put off your game until next time.” “I heard you, Tiny Human! So let’s hurry up and clear this game!” Uroboros pointed to the statue. She was practically skipping as she ran along, and then they were diving into the dragon’s jaws… Shwmmm. At that moment, bluish-white sparks flew from the gate. Uroboros was thrown bodily backward. “Awww, again?!” “Uroboros?!” Fay continued to fly through the gate even as Uroboros was blown backward. Their hands nearly touched, their fingers missing each other by a matter of centimeters. Uroboros was tossed out again?! Wait… Then this isn’t what we signed up for! This was supposed to be a test play to see if the statue was working—but if the Divine Gate was in normal functioning order, then Uroboros would never have been pushed back. It had been the same in the maze—Uroboros had been booted out only after something irregular had occurred. All of which meant… “The Divine Gates were never fixed to begin with?!” This was bad. A most unexpected malfunction was occurring—again. Even as the thought went through his mind, though, Fay was already slipping through the gate. There was nothing Uroboros and the Chief Secretary could do but watch.