“That’s my Uni-Uni. You managed to doooodge that one? I thought I was attacking from totally outside your field of view, thoooough,” a small girl-type avatar drawled lazily as she readjusted her grip on her hammer.
Armor in the style of a flared dress with ribbons all over. Large ribbons on her pigtail-style hair parts, too. A super-sized pendant in the shape of a comet shone on her chest, and some kind of small animal accessory was glued to her left shoulder. The duel avatar could only be described as a magical girl.
Her name was Comet Squeaker, a member of the enormous Legion Great Wall, which controlled Setagaya Area No. 1, in addition to all areas in Shibuya, Meguro, and Shinagawa. She looked adorable, but she brought more than cuteness to a fight.
“That squeaker of yours flashes when you start swinging it, Comecchi,” Risa replied, still on guard as she faced this comet-blue magical girl. “Which is good and bad. It looks cool, but in a dark stage like this, it’s too obvious. Not good for surprise attacks.”
“Aaannh, true. But I’ll never compromise! The glittering star is who I am!” Comet raised her left hand and ended this declaration with a sideways peace sign in front of her face, sending tiny stars scattering with just this small gesture.
In addition to her magical girl appearance and cute behavior, her sweet voice was breathy and high-pitched, like an anime voice actor’s. She would also refer to herself with masculine pronouns, and all of this was assumed to add up to a lot of fans among boy Linkers and some pretty hostile treatment by girl Linkers. Or at least, there were more than a few people with these kinds of prejudices, who hated her in advance. But for some reason, Risa had always gotten along with her.
“I answered your question, so now you tell me,” she said. “How’d you know when I was getting close to the roof when you couldn’t see me?”
Comet groaned before glancing around and then nodding. “There’s no Gallery and all. Sure, why not! Truth is, I fiiiiinally took my level-six bonus!”
“What?! N-now?!” Risa shouted reflexively. Comet had gone up to level six around the same time as Risa nearly three months ago.
Deciding on one of the four options displayed as a bonus when you leveled up was indeed rough, but normally, it was a matter of a week, at most, no matter how undecided you were. If you dragged it out any longer than that, you’d end up fighting with a disadvantage against opponents of the same level who had taken their bonuses, and you’d be slower to learn those new abilities—there was nothing good about it.
Risa had decided on her level-six bonus without the slightest hesitation. Except for the time she took Shape Change at level four, she had not so much as glanced at the special attacks or Enhanced Armament she was offered, and instead had diligently selected enhancements to her movement abilities. Her sole desire was to jump ever higher, and Nitride Uncia had been born to fulfill this dream.
Meanwhile, the unequivocal magical girl nature of her duel avatar was so obviously coming from Comet Squeaker’s real-life personality that Risa assumed she wouldn’t be the type to get stuck on what to select for her bonus.
“What was so hard to decide on that it took you three whole months?” she asked, cocking her head to one side.
“Well, the thing iiiis…” Comet stammered for a moment but then turned to her left shoulder and whispered, “Come on, you say hello, too.”
The small animal that looked like a squirrel or maybe a monkey—or was it a rabbit?—and that Risa had believed all this time was merely a decorative part, blinked its large, round eyes and waved its hand adorably.
“Hallooo!” it said. “I’m Comet’s pal, Borrelly! Nice to meecha, Rooo!”
“…”
Risa’s brain shut down for a full two seconds. Shaking off this stupor somehow, she shifted her gaze back to Comet’s face. “H-has it always been the talking kind?”
“Naaah.” Comet shook her head, a somewhat complicated look on her face. “It used to be the kind that was stuck to my shoulder and sorta got in the way. For my level-six bonus, though, there was this ‘option evolution one.’ And I just knew it had to be this thing, right? I went back and forth on it for, like, ever, but my curiosity got the better of me, so I picked it, and—”
“Roopy! Borrelly’s not an option, Roo! I’m a fun, cute, reliable friend!” The option got mad and kicked and flailed its short limbs.
“…Sorry, Comecchi. That’s kind of annoying.” Risa unthinkingly gave her honest opinion, and Comet nodded.
“It’s okay. I get it.”
“Aah! You’re so mean, Roo! And after Borrelly went and told you the enemy was coming before!”
Listening to the option’s violent protest, Risa finally understood why Comet had been able to so accurately target her while hiding in her blind spot. “Oh, so that’s it, huh?” she said. “That option hid somewhere and told you I was climbing the wall?”
“Pretty much,” Comet agreed.
“I told you, Roo, I’m not an option!!”
As the option kicked and flailed yet again, Comet grabbed its round head tightly with three fingers of her left hand. “Borrelly, shut up a second?”
“…R-roopy… Fine, Roo…,” the option agreed, sounding scared, and it stopped moving once more, as though its power had been cut.
Comet sighed at length before picking up her hammer from the ground and spinning it like a top. “So there you have it,” she said. “What do you wanna do? Keep dueling?”
“Ummm…” Risa blinked her eye lenses a number of times before responding. “It’s, like, I’m surprised, I guess. That really cleared my head. So maybe I’m good for today. I know I challenged you, though. Sorry?”
“We’re good, no worries. Pretty much anyone who sees this thing talk for the first time has that reaction. N’kay then. We’ll make it a draw.” Comet was about to open her Instruct menu when Risa abruptly stopped her.
“Oh, hang on, Comecchi.”
“Hmm? What? You do wanna go?”
“It’s not that,” Risa said slowly. “Can we talk a minute?” It wasn’t like they weren’t friendly, but this was the first time she’d invited a Burst Linker other than Mimosa Bongo to chat in a duel stage.
The blue magical girl blinked her cute, round eye lenses in surprise before breaking out into a grin. “Yeah, of course! Let’s go somewhere quiet, then.”