“Water under the bridge! Let’s get along nicer next time we get to play together, okay? That’ll be even more fun!” Emily replied with just a clear, sunny smile.
“Yeah. I can’t wait!”
“Take care of Ren. But we’re still gonna beat you to the bottom! We’re putting our all into winning this thing!”
“We’ll see about that. You know I want that Rainbow Guard!”
Akira and Emily exchanged smiles.
What beautiful friendship! I think!
✦ ✦ ✦
With Emily having returned to her party with Lucas, we decided to stop running Aswarth’s Undersea Ruins for the day. We’d already gone four times anyway, so it was only a loss of one run. If Kokoru, Akabane, or Kataoka showed up, then I was fine with trying again.
That said, we only had one Special Warp Stone and one Super Special Warp Stone now. Using these recklessly wouldn’t do anything about the Hadean Rose problem, making it a waste of valuable resources. We would have to try new and different ways of fighting to find a way to defeat the Hadean Rose. I would have liked to have multiple attempts at honing our tactics, but it would be incredibly difficult to reach it without throwing Special Warp Stones into the void.
In that case, the most efficient way of doing things might be to speed up our runs over time—enough to reach the Hadean Rose with a normal Warp Stone—while simultaneously looking for Special Warp Stones. Emily had been giving us stable results along the way, after all.
If we wanted to go faster, maybe the easiest way to do that would be for me to change classes. My Elemental Circle, of all things, wouldn’t be able to match up to her contributions as an armor knight. Even so, I absolutely refused to change classes! As Emperor of the Underpowered, I would die if I didn’t stick to my tier.
I’ll find a way, I’ll find a way, I’ll find a way! I thought to myself, putting my heart and soul into my research.
Specifically, I was researching the probability of the Elemental Circle’s output. If I didn’t do more and more attempts, my results could be swayed by luck.
Maeda and Yano, meanwhile, had changed into their swimsuits again and were riding the jet ski all around the cottage. Shizuku was lying down, relaxing in a beach chair, and Akira was sitting on the couch next to me in the living room, where I was doing my research work. A guilty expression was clouding her usually cheery face.
“Here we go, Draco! Elemental Circle! Elemental Circle! Elemental Circle! Elemental Circle! Elemental Circle!”
“Chirp! Blue, white, yellow, green, dark blue!”
“Hmm. Ice, light, earth, wind, water. One instance of light, huh?”
The black and white circles—dark and light, respectively—were somewhere between two and five percent likely to appear, making them rarer than other circles. It felt nice to get light.
Beside me, Akira heaved a heavy sigh.
“Hey, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting weird.”
“Yeah... Ugh, I just feel so bad for being all mean because of a misunderstanding. I’m really sorry.”
“Hey, no worries. Anyway, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle!”
“Chichirp! Purple, red, green, yellow, green!”
“Lightning, fire, wind, earth, wind.”
“I’m embarrassed about it, though. I never knew I could be like that. Eww, Ren, what are you doing?! What’s with the weird getup?!”
Presently, I was wearing the robe that had dropped when we’d defeated the Death Chariot. I wanted to test whether or not changing equipment would lead to a change in circle-activation rates. The blood-splattered feel and ghastly effects made it feel like something straight out of a horror movie!
“Oh, so basically, this boss called Death Chariot felt bad that Ryuutarou was naked and gave it to him.”
“Ahahahaha, what the heck? That can happen?!”
Thought she might like that joke. Yep, making Akira smile is of the utmost importance.
“I can’t imagine what else it could’ve been. When it died, it was like, ‘Dude, put some clothes on!’ and disappeared. Not a bad guy altogether.” Then, I went on, “Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle!”
“Chirp! Black, blue, black, green, black!”
“Dark, ice, dark, wind, dark. But yeah, if I were you, I’d feel the same. ‘Grr, you’re stealing my best friend?!’ Don’t worry about it, okay? Let’s enjoy summer vacation!”
“Thanks, Ren. Um, here’s the thing, though. I, um... Well, I...”
Akira seemed to want to say something. Her cheeks turned just a shade pinker. I’d never seen her this nervous before. It was honestly adorable.
At that moment, something suddenly dawned on me. Something very, very important!
“What?! Holy crap!”
“Huh? What? Did you read my mind?! M-Maybe I’m a little too much of an open book—”
“Out of five circles, three were dark! That’s almost impossible to be a coincidence, because it’s like a five percent chance at best! Okay, let’s do this again! Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle!”
“Chirp! Dark blue, green, red, purple, black!”
“Water, wind, fire, lightning, dark! Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle, Elemental Circle!”
“Chichichirp! Red, blue, black, green, black!”
“Fire, ice, dark, wind, dark! That’s it! Finally, I’ve got it! It’s increasing the dark circle rates!”
This meant that the Blood-Dead Robe came with a hidden effect that increased the likelihood of dark circles! Or rather, maybe that meant that each Elemental Circle’s probability could be boosted based on the user’s equipment at the time.
The dark circle came with a temporary HP-boosting effect. Meanwhile, Quickdraw, a hidden weapon art that worked as the basis of my ultimates, increased in damage the lower the user’s HP was. The higher one’s maximum HP, the more potent its power at 1 HP. In short, HP-boosting effects were a direct damage boost to my ultimates, putting the “drama” in “drama cannon”!
If I could specifically whip out dark circles, then with the newly dramatized drama cannon, perhaps we could defeat the Hadean Rose!
“Woo-hoo! Hey, Akira! Let’s do our last run of Aswarth’s for the day! I wanna go see the Death Chariot!”
In contrast to my sparkly-eyed demeanor, my best friend wore an unusually icy glare.
“Err, Akira? What’s the matter?”
She sighed. “You’re always like this, Ren. Okay.”
“Uh... Sorry, I think?”
“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Sure, I’ll come with you! Let’s go!” Akira replied with the smile I was so used to seeing.