Chapter 8

3 The day after the battle with Titan… The Ruin branch office buzzed with activity starting first thing in the morning. After all, it had been a full thirty-five days since humanity had last claimed victory in one of the gods’ games. Each of the eighteen apostles who had participated in the game gained a rank, and they would be able to use more of their Arise powers in the real world. More than that, though, everyone was simply happy. “It’s fun to win a game! Any reward is second to that. You claimed victory in a battle of wits against a god. Every employee of the Arcane Court felt like they could have jumped for joy. Including me, naturally.” “You jumped for joy?” “Well, you know, I have my position as chief secretary to consider. But anyway, let’s shelve that for now.” Fay was in the chief secretary’s office, the morning sunlight pouring through the windows. Miranda, dressed in a suit, gestured at the monitor behind her. “So much for the compliments. Now, down to business. Shall we discuss the breaking and entering into the Court’s underground Dive Center, the intimidation of the apostles on guard duty, and the theft of a Divine Gate statue, of which there are only five?” “Er…” Fay looked at the ceiling to escape Miranda’s exasperated gaze. So—she’d summoned him bright and early for a dressing-down. “If you’re talking about Leshea borrowing the statue, she did put it back after we were done.” “Yes, she did, but part of the statue was broken when she was hauling it out of there.” Fay couldn’t say anything to that. “For what it’s going to cost to repair that statue, we could train and board fifty new apostles for a year. It’s a lot.” “That wasn’t my fault—” “You were supposed to be keeping an eye on her.” “Yes, ma’am…” Fay said after a beat. “You should have stopped her before any of this started. Am I wrong?” “Check and mate, ma’am.” Fay had no excuses. So what was he supposed to do about it? Did she want him to use his unkillable body as a subject for valuable human experiments until he’d paid them back? Maybe he should run away before she suggested it. Instead, though, Miranda said, “All right, enough lecturing.” Her expression softened, and she removed her glasses. Fay only ever saw her without them when she was very, very pleased. “At least we got to see an exciting game for the first time in a long while. Maybe that’s enough.” She turned on a monitor, which displayed an image of the gigantic Titan smashing a high-rise building as it closed in on Fay. “Global viewership was through the roof yesterday. More than 70 percent in this city alone. The outdoor displays are still showing reruns of the stream.” “It was really that big?” “It was the game heard ’round the world. Look—you can see all the people in the square down there right through the window,” Miranda said. The gods lived in a spiritual world that people couldn’t see—but when apostles were Diving in Elements, recording devices they brought with them also temporarily acquired spiritual power. “Thanks to the equipment you apostles carry, me and those ordinary citizens can see what you get up to in Elements, and cheer you on while you’re fighting. That counts for a lot.” When Diving, apostles always had miniature recording devices with them that broadcast their games in real time back to the mortal world. It was a form of global entertainment that also translated to scads of income for the Arcane Court. “We’re raking it in thanks to you. That money helps support the training of new apostles and the exploration of the outside world.” Take the Divine Gate, for example. The connection they allowed between the physical and spiritual realms couldn’t be replicated with current technology. The only thing humanity could do was explore the ruins left over from the ancient magical civilization and hope to dig this stuff up. But those excavations entailed going out into the wider, wilder world, where a gigantic creature like a Rex might attack you the moment you took one step outside the city. Powerful survey teams had to be assembled to have any hope of success. And that required money. “That’s why we need all our friendly neighborhood apostles to do their best in the gods’ games. If we don’t take victory once in a while, humanity’s future starts to look awfully bleak.” “The future of humanity? Isn’t that kind of, uh, a broad topic?” Fay said. “Let’s talk about you, then,” Miranda said, replacing her glasses on her face. “How was it teaming up with our lady?” “I’m not sure what you mean…” “You two looked perfectly in sync. You were so together that no one would have imagined you were a completely impromptu team. Especially that part where you split up in the department store.” Fay looked moderately stricken. “Hm? What’s the matter?” “Honestly… I was really startled, too. I couldn’t help thinking it was…incredible.” No matter how difficult the coordination, no matter how complicated the thing Fay wanted to communicate, Leshea was with him. They didn’t even need to talk—a quick glance and they understood everything. It was amazing to think that there was someone he could communicate with so well. “I’m not trying to dump on my old team or anything; they were great,” Fay said. “But it was like… Wow, I guess she really is a former god.” “I’m not sure I quite agree,” Miranda replied. “Huh?” “I don’t think it’s because she’s a former god. I think it’s specifically because the team was you and Lady Leoleshea. Just personally.” Behind her glasses, Miranda smiled impishly. “Did you know that before you got here, Lady Leoleshea spent all her time playing by herself?” “By herself?” “She was too strong—there was no one who could play with her. Not cards, not Go, not roulette. Sometimes I would try, or one of the other apostles would take a shot. But she crushed us every time.” “Ah…” “That’s why you’re here, Fay.” In one corner, a former god. In the other, an apostle who had won three of the gods’ games, one of the most highly rated rookies in recent memory. It was the perfect pairing. They were like puzzle pieces that had been searching for each other. “I’m sure you’ll make a great team. And it’ll get you one step closer to conquering the gods’ games—and making your dream come true,” Miranda said. “I’ll give it everything I’ve got,” Fay replied. The chief secretary tossed him a golden master key. Fay grabbed it out of the air and said firmly, “That’s why I came back.” The seventeenth floor of the Arcane Court building. One of the special advisor’s rooms up here had been turned into Leshea’s residence. When I actually stop and think about it, we just met yesterday—even though it doesn’t feel like it at all, thanks to Titan’s game, Fay thought. He opened the door to find the shoes Leshea had been wearing yesterday tossed haphazardly on the floor in the entry hallway. “Leshea, are you here?” “Hm? Hold on a second. I’ve just gotten to the good part,” she called from the reception-cum-living-room. She was sitting on the sofa, wearing the same tank top as the day before, her eyes glued to a monitor. She was watching the game of Divinitag with Titan. “See right here? We ran into the department store, but I think we could have taken a left turn and gone into the cul-de-sac in the shopping district, and it would have been all right.” “Doing a debrief?” Fay asked. “Uh-huh. Thinking about what I’d do differently next time. Just imagining it is exciting, don’t you think?” The former dragon god gave him an innocent smile. She was so striking that Fay found himself staring at her without realizing it. But then she said, “Anyway, I’ll stop the playback.” “You sure?” “Yeah. I’ve already watched it four times.” “That many?!” “Well, it’s the first time I’ve ever played in the gods’ games. I was too excited to sleep,” Leshea said, spinning toward him on the sofa. “But I’ll bet you were, too.” She pulled her feet up onto the couch and gave him a teasing look. “How about it? How’d it feel, finally taking on the gods again after so long?” “It was really neat, sure. Got my heart pumping for the first time in a while,” Fay said. How could he not enjoy a battle of wits with the gods? The fact was, yesterday’s game had been more fulfilling than any of the three times he’d played before, because he’d been with someone who enjoyed the game as much as he did—no, probably even more. It’s exactly how she was last night. Just look at how much she loves playing those games. How could Fay not enjoy himself, too? For a long moment, though, he didn’t say anything. “What’s the matter?” Leshea asked. “This is sort of a random question. There were all those other apostles yesterday…but you noticed not one of them was smiling, right? Haggard expressions all night.” “Uh-huh.” “To the apostles, the gods’ games aren’t games. They’re more like work. Sort of like how sports are to a professional athlete,” Fay said. The apostles were like pop idols, heroes who challenged the gods. People cheered for them as they played, and an apostle walking down the street might well get asked for their autograph. But only as long as they were on the job. If you lost three games, you lost your status as an apostle and the right to play in the gods’ games. You wouldn’t be an idol anymore or anyone’s hero. Every apostle felt the terrifying prospect of that loss. “They can’t lose. Everyone works really hard, but there’s this huge pressure weighing on them. And the flipside of it is that when you lose, everyone wants to know who screwed up, whose fault it was. It can turn into some ugly arguments. That always made me a little uncomfortable.” Fay didn’t want to be like that. The young woman who had taught him everything he knew about games had instilled in him the exact opposite belief. “You and I have just one real rule, Fay—whether you win or lose, you want to be able to say, ‘Good game! Let’s play again!’” It was okay to lose, wasn’t it? Sometimes someone made a mistake, or luck wasn’t with you. Wasn’t that just how games operated? That was what Fay had been taught. “Getting to play against the gods is great! Having a mountain of such strong opponents gets my pulse racing just thinking about it,” he said. “But, well…I’m in the minority at the Arcane Court.” Did they play against the gods to have fun, or to win? Fay had always believed that was the decisive difference between him and the other apostles. Until he’d met Leshea. “Still…” Suddenly his shoulders slackened, and he couldn’t suppress a little smile. “Yesterday was fun. With a certain somebody clowning around so much, it didn’t feel heavy at all.” The other apostles had probably been as tense as ever, but Leshea had been by Fay’s side the whole time, genuinely enjoying herself. It was almost blinding, how much fun she was having. “How’s that for an answer?” he asked. “Very satisfying.” Leshea stretched her legs out again and looked at him. “Say, Fay. Do you have any…desires?” “I’m sorry?” “Oh! I guess I mean wishes. Like me—I wish I could go back to being a god. But you strike me as the type that doesn’t ask for much.” “Sure, there’s something I wish for,” Fay said. “Huh, really? Color me surprised.” Leshea blinked. “What is it? Tell me, tell me!” “It’s not anything impressive…” “Huh?! Wait… You want to wish for something pervy, don’t you?!” “Where’d you get that idea?!” “Because every guy your age does! I read those magazines the secretary gave me; they said so!” “It would be so weak to ask the gods for anything like that. Really, though, it’s seriously nothing much… Um…” Fay couldn’t quite bring himself to look at the Dragon God Leoleshea—the former god who happened to look and act exactly like the person he was searching for. After a moment he said, “I’m looking for someone.” “Who?” “The person who always played games with me when I was a kid. I didn’t know her name, so I just called her Sis all the time.” She’d taught him everything about games, and when he was young, he’d never been able to beat her no matter how many times they played together. Morning and evening he would challenge her, and she would always accept with a smile. “Let’s play again sometime, Fay.” Then one day, she suddenly disappeared, leaving only a promise that she would see him again. “I guess you could call her my mentor. I just want to see her and say thanks—I am who I am today because of her, no question.” Even his first three wins in the gods’ games were thanks to her. They weren’t because Fay was a genius—he owed those victories to learning after failing against Sis thousands, probably tens of thousands, of times. “If it’s true that you get a special reward when you conquer the gods’ games, then I have just one wish: I want to find the person I played all those games with so long ago.” “Huh… That’s a pretty interesting wish, actually,” Leshea replied, her arms crossed in contemplation. “But, Fay? You don’t have any other clues about this person, do you? Other than that she likes games?” “No… I didn’t know her name, and I only have a hazy memory of her face and voice. There’s only one thing I know for certain—” He broke off. That she looked exactly like Leshea. The vermilion hair. The words made it to his throat, but for some reason, he couldn’t say them. “You really don’t remember? Well, that’s all right. You can just ask the gods to restore your memories, too.” Leshea jumped up from the sofa, the vermilion-haired girl fixing him with a beaming smile and reaching out a hand. “So I want to go back to being a god, and you want to find your friend. Let’s team up and make it happen!” “Sounds great.” Fay reached out, too, and high-fived her. “I promise I’ll play with all my strength—so we can clear those ten games,” he said.