Reality, Kurosaki Household
“Your temperature’s 38.5... You’ve got a cold,” Juri’s mother said, giving her a worried look as she checked her temperature.
Juri Kurosaki coughed. It seemed she’d caught a cold right before the final day of The Tournaments.
There seemed to be a minor, out-of-season epidemic in the area. Juri’s classmate, Licorice Saionji, had also missed school due to this illness, and now she’d caught it too.
“I’ll call the school and tell them you’re not coming in today. Miss Natsume too. You can’t be tutored like this,” her mother said.
“O-Okay.”
“Are you feeling all right? Should I take the day off to look after you?”
“I-I’ll be fine by myself...! You should just head to work and not worry about me!”
“Really...? I’ll make you an ice pillow, at least. And some porridge too—you can warm it up for yourself later.”
With those words, Juri’s mother left the room.
Listening to her footsteps, Juri let out a sigh.
“A cold...” She had felt like her head was strangely heavy last night, but it had gotten so much worse since then.
“And we’re supposed to have pudding at lunch today...” While she could have pudding at home too, Juri felt that there was something special and different about the taste of school lunch pudding, so she was a bit sad she wouldn’t get it.
Regardless...this was now a day off.
Juri looked at the headgear next to her bed.
It made her think of her friend who’d logged in despite having a cold, forcing her servants to drag her out.
“I shouldn’t play a game when I’m too sick for school... But...” Juri’s desire to enjoy the event was at war with her own conscience.
And ultimately...
✦ ✦ ✦
Gideon, City of Duels, Eighth District
After her mother did a couple things for her and headed off to work, Juri caved and put on the headgear. She did feel some guilt, but it did not stop her, and her conscience had lost the battle.
Guess I logged in after all... Juliet thought. Weird... I had a headache, but I’m not feeling anything now.
Just like her sleepiness, all the malaise from her illness seemed to have vanished. Unlike Juri, Juliet was the picture of health.
There were several icons advising her about her condition in real life, but there was a setting to hide them, so they didn’t bother her much.
Juliet wasn’t aware of it, but that setting was commonly used by the Masters from The Lunar Society. Given their circumstances, playing without it would be quite inconvenient.
What do I do now...? Juliet wondered. She didn’t actually have any plans. Since it was the final day, the event was at its peak—but assuming that she’d be at school during the actual Tournament on that day, she hadn’t bought a ticket. And knowing the demand, she thought even the scalpers must have been sold out by now.
Maybe I should join Max and take a look at the auction...? she thought, when...
“Huh? Julie?! Why’re you logged in at this hour?”
...she heard her friend Chelsea calling out to her with a face full of surprise.
“I caught a cold... No school for me today.”
“You know you’re bein’ no better than Shion, right?” said Chelsea, casually taking a shot at Shion.
“Ngh... But I...”
“Ugh... Are you at least warm back in the real world?”
“I took some medicine, got an ice pillow, and logged in after covering myself up.”
“Well, I guess a little bit of Dendro should be fine, then. But log out the moment you get a notif that you’re gettin’ worse, got it?”
“Okay...!”
After that exchange where she sounded like Juliet’s mother or older sister, Chelsea seemed to just move on.
“What about you? Why are you here?” Juliet asked.
“I was thinkin’ of borrowing Ray’s arena again, but it just hit me that he’s in college too.”
“Oh...”
“And? Do you got any plans?”
“I thought I wouldn’t get to see the matches, so I didn’t buy any tickets...”
“Same here.”
“Huh? You too?”
“It’s the final day. There’s gonna be lots of videos on the internet anyway. For now, let’s go check out that auction Max went to. We can rent an arena after that. Ray’s not here to let us use his, but there should be another one free today.”
“Okay.” The two then took off toward the hustle and bustle of the Fourth District.