How was she going to attack? Youko turned her mandibles in Dyaus’ direction, ready for a sudden assault. But it seemed the other Girl was not interested in that.
“Ha ha ha, lower your weapon. I ain’t here to fight you. Other way around. I’m calling a truce! What say you join us?”
“You think I can trust you? You attacked me last time.”
“You don’t believe me? I swear! Look me in the eye.”
“Those compound eyes don’t really tell me anything...”
“That’s fair. Well, if you can’t trust me, I’ll bring in someone to vouch for me.”
The light grew dim. Something huge was passing overhead. Dirt-clouds billowed up right next to where Youko was lurking. Feet. Four feet, each as large as Youko was wide, surrounded her. The feet weren’t keratinized — they were still taut and fleshy, like white rubber. They were cylindrical poles like elephant legs. White claws ripped their way out of the flesh’s surface.
The owner of these legs was a shadow overhead. A big one. At least eight times as big as Youko, like a flying saucer. That was the description that seemed most apt. It looked like something halfway between a shellfish and an octopus, with a disc-shaped shell on its head. Two large eyes bulged out of its sides. Not insect-like compound eyes, but lensed eyes, similar to a human’s. Below the disc was a mass of sensory hair. A number of cilia had grown real thick, forming antennae. The tips of the antennae grew broader, twitching like lures. There were slits in the center. Mouths? These antennae sometimes rubbed against the main mouth.
“Sounds like Dyaus didn’t make a great first impression. She does get a little carried away sometimes. Can I ask you to forgive her? My name is Ganapati. I promise you Dyaus is not a bad Girl.”
Ganapati spoke clearly. A cheery tone, with a gentle warmth. She seemed a thousand times more trustworthy than Dyaus.
“Well? Trust us now?” Dyaus asked.
No, no, she wasn’t trusting anyone here. She’d almost gone trotting after them, lured by the kindness in Ganapati’s tone, but at the last minute, sanity prevailed. A stranger vouching for a stranger meant nothing. She’d just get her head chomped off the second she let her guard down. That’s how society worked.
“Youko, it seems you’re unable to trust us. I don’t blame you. I’m sure you’ve had a rough time of it. But there’s more to Evo Gals than just killing each other. It’s also a game that reminds us how rewarding cooperating can be.”
Really? Her experience made that seem highly dubious.
“Ganapati, showing’s easier than telling.”
“Good point. Youko, I’m going to make a friend request. Please accept it.”
A window opened up inside Youko’s mind. “Friend request from Ganapati. Accept?” it said. Cautiously, Youko clicked, “Yes.”
“Now we’re friends. Next, I’ll send you a Like.”
What was a Like? Before she could ask, a change occurred in Youko’s soul.
Like! Like! Approval cravings fulfilled! She was famous! Everyone accepted her! What a wonderful feeling!
“Well? Amazing, right? This increases your points, too.”
Just as Ganapati said, her points had gone up. Not by a lot, but still.
“See? Now you understand the benefits of joining us.”
Youko asked if the three of them could get points just by sending each other Likes, but this was not the case.
“We gave it a shot, of course. No use. You can only send a friend one Like a day. That’s the rule.”
And so a new daily routine began. Point hunting became a cooperative effort between Youko, Dyaus, and Ganapati. Dyaus was the scout. She used her amazing fins to fly through the water, finding targets. Their strategy was to drive their prey over to where Ganapati and Youko were waiting in ambush. Youko was best suited for living in the mud, and great at hiding. Burying herself in the cold mud, only her eye stalks sticking out, her life was spent waiting for prey to wander into their trap. Before joining the other two, she’d had to actively hunt, but now all she had to do was wait, and the points would come rolling in. This was amazing. How could she even be any happier? This was the same kind of bliss you got playing one of those set-it-and-wait games where the units would go do the grinding for you.
This was the first time she’d been able to relax since reincarnating. The first time she hadn’t lived in fear of the unknown. She had others who’d respond to the question of who she was. Even compared to her previous life, this was a fairly fortuitous situation. Compared to the days she’d done nothing but pull from gachas, Youko felt truly alive.
With all this extra time, Youko was able to think clearly. Not the confused, fractured, incoherent thoughts she’d had up to this point; now she could put her thoughts in order. The first thing she thought about was Dyaus. Why had she come to Youko with a friend request? The simplest answer was because Youko was strong. Youko had earned herself quite a reputation in these parts. When new-born beginners came crawling over to pull from the gacha, it was usually Youko that ate them. It made a lot of sense that Dyaus would admire her talent and seek to party up with her. But she was a proud Girl; it seemed unnatural for her to try and make friends with someone she’d once tried to kill. She might have ulterior motives. Youko had to stay on guard. When she spoke to Dyaus, she would have to remember to play her cards close to her chest.
Next, she thought about this world. What was this place, exactly? Had she been transported to another world? Or was this not real at all, just a long, long illusion created by her dying brain? If she really had been reborn in another world, it seemed likely it would work in a more realistic way. Meanwhile, if this was an illusion, why would she want a world in which she had to get body parts from a gacha and turn herself into some gross creature? Youko didn’t think of herself as someone with that kind of imagination. Or was oxygen-deprivation something that sent the imagination into overdrive? That seemed unlikely.
Either way, mulling it over wasn’t producing any real answers. Some problems couldn’t be solved by thinking about them. If she wanted to know the truth about this world, she needed more information about it. And that meant things had to change. As long as she sat at the bottom of whatever ocean this was, she was the proverbial frog in a well. She had to expand her horizons.
While they ate that day, Youko told Dyaus and Ganapati about her plans to see the outside world.
“Oh? Sounds pretty sweet. Let’s do this,” Dyaus said, totally on board. “This place is comfy enough, but it’s gettin’ kinda old. And everything we eat is made of chitin! Could use some variety, you know?”
“I’m against it,” Ganapati said, gravely. “Why abandon a place of safety, and head out to the unknown? It isn’t logical.”
“Pfft! You’re such a bore, Ganapati. Right, Youko! Guess it’s just the two of us.”