Fully satisfied, she—now Juri Kurosaki—opened her eyes.
“Hm...?” But the moment she logged out, she realized that something was off about her body.
She was obviously sleepy, but it was more than that. Her head was heavy, her breathing difficult, and her joints ached here and there.
“Ah-choo...” A charming sneeze escaped as she woke up.
She then looked at the large mirror in the room...
“...Huhhh?”
...and saw her face, all red.
✦ ✦ ✦
Gideon, City of Duels, Eighth District
The Eighth District was chaotic even by Gideon’s standards. It was home to many legally gray guilds and underground shops.
However, even this area had one place that even the lawless locals wouldn’t dare approach.
It was Gideon’s Eighth Arena—the base of the Death Period clan.
It was home to not only four of Altar’s Superiors, but also the ones who had saved Gideon during Franklin’s Game.
Immense power and a debt of gratitude combined to make the local criminals hesitate to do anything to this particular location.
Because of that, any outlaw who wanted to try anything funny here would almost certainly be a foreigner, not a local.
“So this is his house... So this is Ray Starling’s base.”
Having just split up with Juliet, G looked up at the Eighth Arena with those words.
On a wide thoroughfare, lit only by the streetlights and the moon, G opened her umbrella.
That made a rounded shadow fall next to her feet, which then rippled like the surface of water.
“I...can’t do all of Gideon, obviously. That’s too much. This city has way too many Resources. I guess it’s all the arenas? I can do at least one, though. That’s reasonable. And I guess it’s gotta be this one.”
G was muttering to herself as if confirming something. But then, she looked away from the arena and to the sky diagonally behind her.
“What a shame. I wanted to surprise you, but I guess you found me first.”
There was nothing there.
Actually, no—there was an optically camouflaged orb—a floating drone.
“Well, there’s a big event happening. I sent eyes all over, so of course I’d notice you.”
Following those words, a man wearing a coat like the night sky appeared before G.
In Infinite Dendrogram, this man was known as King of Light, F, but in reality, he was G’s blood brother.
“So this really was your destination, eh?” he asked.
“That’s my brother—such a detective. I’m amazed you could pinpoint where I was headed like that. Maybe you should try writing a mystery next.”
F said nothing, though he seemed to be thinking, It’s worrying that she’s being completely serious...
“So, do you also know what I’m here for? Did you see right through me?”
“Based on the fact that you’re here, I have a guess,” F said as he looked up at the Eighth Arena.
Knowing his sister’s personality and her Embryo’s ult, he could easily imagine what she was planning.
“I don’t think your odds are good, though,” he continued. “Death Period has four Superiors. They obviously can’t fight at full strength in the city, but it will still be a difficult battle. Actually, isn’t Figaro a hard counter to you? I don’t think there’s a Master who is as good at ‘clearing’ as he is.”
“Oh, come now, dear brother of mine. I’m not that careless.”
Silence. Really? F thought, but stopped himself from saying it out loud.
“Tomorrow is the final day of The Tournaments, right? That’ll keep the fabled Figaro busy until probably the final match, and I hear Shu and Hannya are on security duty. It seems like Lei-Lei doesn’t log in much in the first place, so I don’t even have to consider her, while the rest will probably watch the last Tournament.”
“Mm-hmm. So you’ll take care of business while they’re all away?”
“Oh, no no no. That won’t make for a good video.”
“Suppose that’s true.”
“But I won’t fight any Superiors. My only target...is Ray Starling.”
I thought as much, F thought, narrowing his eyes.
“While everyone’s focused on the Tournament in the Central Arena, I’ll summon just Ray Starling. This will be the stage for our battle! The filming location!”
“Mm-hmm... The public part of the final Tournament tomorrow will probably last from noon to about three p.m., JST.”
G’s words made her brother mutter under his breath and begin to calculate something. However, she ignored that and continued talking as though carried by the momentum of her own words.
“I’ll get what I want, and by winning against someone who beat you and some Superiors, I’ll show that I’m stronger than all of you. Those are my main goals this time!”
It almost felt like she was picking a fight with her brother.
“I see. I’ll be looking forward to that.”
However, F was unfazed and replied to her words from the heart.
He really did think it would be interesting.
He knew just how powerful G was, but he still didn’t have a good measure of Ray’s strength.
A conflict between the two would be as exciting as the final Tournament—if not more.
But there was one problem...
“By the way, Ginga.”
“Hey! Not even you can say my real name here, okay?!”
“Oh, sorry. Then, G... I have a question for you...”
His little sister neglected to consider something important, so he chose to point that out.
“Yes?”
“Tomorrow is a weekday, right?”
“Yes! It doesn’t matter much to us, though! People who’ve got day jobs and school sure have it rough, huh?” They were a content creator and an author, respectively. As far as professions went, theirs didn’t have much of a set schedule.
That must’ve been why G hadn’t considered this particular issue, but...
“Do you think our friend Ray will be able to log in on a weekday at noon? Based on the times he comes online and the name of his brother’s avatar, he’s almost certainly Japanese.”
“...Oh.”
The standard Japanese work and school hours—an unlikely obstacle to G’s plans that nonetheless had thrown a huge wrench into her plans.