Chapter 14

I don’t think I’ve ever had this many people staring at me at once in my entire life. But then Yuuma immediately changed his mind. After all, it had been five years and three months since his first day at Yukihana Elementary School, and every year since then, he had to get up in front of the class and talk about what he did over the summer. And every day during afternoon homeroom, everyone had to report on their club and committee activities. There was even a time in the fifth grade when for some reason he’d been chosen to represent his class for a special Voice of the Students event the school was holding, and he’d had to read out loud in front of the entire school. Only about one-tenth that number of students was staring at him now. This should have been easy in comparison—right? Yuuma wiped his sweaty palms on the seat of his pants and gazed at the faces of his classmates. There were twenty of them in total, excluding Sawa and Kenk. Not a single one of them looked relaxed. Yuuma could see a mixture of hesitation, confusion, anger, worry, and fear in their eyes…with just a glimmer of hope. Maybe word had already spread that he and the others had defeated the giant monster. Maybe they hoped Yuuma’s group would solve everything. If so, unfortunately, they were about to be disappointed. Yuuma could only share the truth, uncertain as it might be—that they were trapped inside Althea and that even more monsters could be waiting out there. “Come on, how long are you gonna keep us waiting…? Say something already!” shouted Teruki Sugamo, still sulking in the eat-in corner. He didn’t bother to conceal the irritation in his voice. “Yeah, we haven’t got all day!” added Aria Misono. She was standing next to Sugamo. Kai Kisanuki, for his part, remained silent. His eyes, which were hidden behind his long bangs, were unreadable. Yuuma glanced at them briefly before taking a deep breath. “I’m sure you’ve all noticed by now,” he began, “but something completely out of the ordinary is happening at Althea.” He stared into the faces of his twenty silent classmates and forced his mouth to continue speaking. “Sumika Watamaki turned into a monster, and there are giant creatures roaming around… Somehow we managed to take care of the one that was rampaging outside in the lobby, but there could still be more of them out there. If another one attacks, this barricade won’t be enough to stop it.” “Somehow, yeah, but how?! How were you able to defeat that freak?!” shouted Hokari—one half of the skateboarding duo. His friend, Sera, was about to speak up when a new voice interrupted. “If that’s true, shouldn’t we go outside before another monster shows up?” It was a girl with black-framed glasses and low pigtails that rested on either shoulder. Her name was Tomori Shimizu, student number 6. The student librarian always had her nose buried in a difficult-looking book. She refused to tell anyone why she still wore eyeglasses when QREST eyelenses could also correct vision… At least, that was what Nagi had once told Yuuma. Many of the other students nodded enthusiastically. Several even started to stand up, as if ready to leave immediately. Tomori, however, continued to calmly voice her opinion. “I’m assuming the reason you think there might still be monsters out there is because Fujikawa and the others who fled to the third floor haven’t come back down yet? I’m worried, too, but we’re just children. There’s nothing we can do here. We should go find some adults and get help.” Tomori was the quiet type and barely spoke, even during recess. Her argument, however, was extremely convincing. Not even the control freak, Sugamo, tried to object. Yuuma wished they could take her advice. He really did. “Unfortunately, we can’t do that,” he said. “After defeating that pinhead creature, we scouted out the entrance. The automatic doors won’t open, and the glass has turned completely black. When we tried to break it, it wouldn’t even budge.” “…” Tomori’s eyes narrowed behind her black-rimmed glasses. The other students began to murmur restlessly, until one of them became confrontational. Naturally, it was Sugamo. “Of course a shrimp like you wasn’t able to break the door. It’s reinforced glass. Just give me or Oono a shot at it and—” “It wasn’t me. Kenk hit it with this hammer. It didn’t even crack.” Yuuma glanced over as Kenk stepped forward and held up his Bruising Hammer with both hands. While none of the other students would likely realize this was a “real” weapon, which had been dropped by the Bruiser, its size and weight were more than obvious. Moments earlier, Oono had attempted to pick up the weapon but had been unable to lift it even a centimeter off the floor. He glanced over at Sugamo out of the corner of his eye. “I believe them,” he said. “After all, if we were able to get out through the automatic doors, then the adults…security guards or police…would be able to get inside as well. They would’ve been here by now.” “That makes sense…,” said Tomori. She nodded, even though it had been her suggestion to leave in the first place. Yuuma was a little surprised. Sugamo could learn a thing or two from her about being more flexible. “I don’t think it’s just the doors,” Yuuma said, continuing his explanation. “All the glass in the lobby has turned black. We can’t see anything outside, and our QRESTs won’t connect online. Until we figure out what’s causing this, I don’t think we’ll be able to escape Althea.” Tomori pursed her lips tightly in response. Sugamo’s face fell in despair. Looks of shock and alarm appeared on the faces of their other classmates as well. No escape. That was the kind of phrase that got thrown out all the time in manga and games, but it wasn’t an easy pill to swallow now that it was happening for real. Even Yuuma, who had touched the black glass for himself and had seen firsthand how it hadn’t even budged when hit with Kenk’s hammer, found it hard to accept the situation. He knew it would take more than mere words to satisfy his classmates. “If anyone doesn’t believe me…we can make time to go to the entrance later so that you can see for yourself. But right now this evacuation center, this shelter here, is far too important. Our first priority should be keeping it safe. Or ensuring that everyone has the power to keep it safe.” Yuuma was finally getting to the most important part. He took a deep breath. Unfortunately, that was the moment Sugamo chose to interrupt again. “Tch! Quit trying to act all important,” he hissed. The rancor in his voice was obvious. “You can give us the runaround all you like, but at the end of the day, where did you wind up? Here! But who found the shopping area and made it into a shelter? It was me! The class president! So if anyone’s going to decide what we do next, it should obviously be me—” Sugamo suddenly fell silent. He had been interrupted by Yuuma, who raised his right hand in Sugamo’s direction. Yuuma was standing in the middle of the shopping area while Sugamo sat sulking in the eat-in corner. There were five meters separating them, but even at that distance, Sugamo couldn’t help flinching, as if sensing that something was coming. I guess he’s not as dumb as he looks, Yuuma thought before chanting the word of power for the element of wind. “Ventus!” A soft green ball of light appeared at the tip of Yuuma’s open hand, illuminating the dim shopping area. Sugamo flinched again, losing his balance dramatically and falling backward onto the floor, chair and all. However, none of his classmates were paying him any attention. They were all staring wide-eyed at Yuuma. Gasps escaped their lips. Most of them had probably been persuaded already, but Yuuma had to be sure. He didn’t want anybody claiming later that he had used an LED light or that it had all been a trick. “Avis!” Yuuma chanted the spell’s form, and the ball of light turned into a spinning vortex and took on the shape of a small bird. He was casting a wind-based utility spell, Skybird. Its attack power was practically zero, but it could be used to distract and partially blind monsters or even to knock down items from far away. Yuuma glanced around the room before deciding to aim for one of the display racks pushed against the walls. “Ignis!” As Yuuma chanted the activation word, the small, glowing green bird flapped its wings and shot forward energetically. It swooped over Tomori’s head before striking its target—the top shelf of the display rack—and dissolving into a torrent of wind. One of the small, Althea-shaped cushions on display was knocked onto the floor, landing with a dry sound. The twenty students watching Yuuma continued to stare in silence for a moment, even after his demonstration had ended. Eventually, the room broke out into murmurs. “Was that…magic? Like, magic from the game…?” “It was… I used that same spell in Actual Magic…” “But this is the real world… It has to be some kind of trick…” “Maybe it was an AR holo from his QREST…” The students whispered to each other, half in wonder and half in disbelief, but it was Tomori who finally silenced them. She was standing in front of Yuuma. “I felt it. QRESTs don’t support physical sensation on their own, so AR holos can’t create wind,” she said, stroking her cheek, “And even if it was trick, using something like an LED flashlight and a mini fan, that still wouldn’t explain how the light turned into a bird and flew away or why the cushion fell down. It wasn’t a trick… It was real magic.” The lenses of Tomori’s black-framed glasses reflected the light as she spoke. Not a single student tried to argue with her—not even Sugamo, who was still sprawled out on his rear and staring with his mouth agape. His entourage, Aria Misono and Kai Kisanuki, didn’t seem to have anything to say, either. Youichi Oono, from the basketball team, was next to speak. “So then…you used magic to defeat that monster? And to defeat…t-to kill Watamaki?” “No,” Yuuma replied quickly, before the other students could get upset. “It’s true that we killed the monster that was trying to break in here, but we didn’t kill Watamaki. I used magic to…restrain her, so she couldn’t move anymore. I plan to find a way to turn her back to normal.” Yuuma didn’t know how to explain yet that he had used a capture spell to turn her into a card, so he chose the word restrain instead. Fortunately, no one asked any follow-up questions. He had actually used rubbing alcohol, not magic, to defeat the Conehead Bruiser, but that was probably too much information right now. At the moment, the important thing to do was to prepare everyone for their awakening. A flurry of emotions colored Oono’s face. When he spoke again, his voice almost sounded pleading. “Back to normal…? You can turn Watamaki back to normal…?” “I can’t promise for sure. But there must be a way. I still have faith.” Yuuma meant what he said. Oono let out a long, drawn-out sigh and then nodded slowly, as if sensing Yuuma’s conviction. “Okay… I trust you, Ashihara. I’ll do whatever you say.” “Thank you, Oono,” said Yuuma, trying to hide his embarrassment. He glanced around at the other students. Hokari, Sera, and Tomori all seemed convinced. As much as he hated to put it this way, with Oono and the three of them taken care of, the rest of his classmates were mostly in the bag. Tomori was hardly the leader on the girls’ side, but the two students most likely to fill that role—Ren Fujikawa and Kyouka Teragami—weren’t present at the moment. They were among the fifteen students who had gone up to the third floor. Naturally, Yuuma was still a little worried about Sugamo’s group, but in light of the situation, Sugamo’s selfish attitude and behavior seemed to have already earned him the ill will of the rest of the class. And even though the superficial girly-girl, Aria Misono, was considered to be toward the top of their class hierarchy, she didn’t quite mesh with the other girls. Yuuma had never really cared about popularity contests before, but now that everyone was about to upgrade their character class, it was time to start taking those matters more seriously. Pretty soon the students would be able to do things like command magic or possess superhuman strength, and it would be pretty easy for them to get carried away trying out their new powers. Yuuma didn’t want their makeshift shelter to get destroyed. So until the other students understood just how serious the situation was, and learned to act that way, it was of vital importance that Yuuma, Sawa, and Kenk remain in charge. Yuuma glanced around at his classmates’ faces once more before speaking. “Okay, everyone, listen up. I’m going to explain how to use magic.” Even the two injured boys lying on the blankets, Tomonori Tada and Shinta Aida, stared in rapt attention. The silence was almost deafening. Yuuma began to feel strangely uneasy, as if he was overlooking something very important. But there was no more time to stall. Balling his hands up into fists, he shook off his nerves and delivered one last warning. “We call it a class upgrade, but once you do it, the QREST on your left hand will grow larger, until it reaches up to your elbow. It will feel hot, but you’ll just have to push through it. It won’t actually burn you… Is everyone ready? Then tap on the Actual Magic icon on your virtual desktops.” Hokari’s eyes went wide. “The Actual Magic icon…? But Actual Magic only runs inside the Caliculus capsules!” “Just try it. What do you have to lose?” said Yuuma. The students glanced at each other apprehensively. No one moved. Sugamo was clearly waiting to see what everyone else would do. Not even Oono seemed to want to go first. It was the student librarian, Tomori Shimizu, who finally broke the stalemate. She lifted the slender index finger of her right hand into the air, in front of her glasses, and then swiped left. Her finger stopped for a moment, and then she raised her left hand as well. The hand hovered in the air for a moment before finally tapping the invisible icon. Dazzling emerald green light suddenly flared up from the QREST on Tomori’s left hand. A strangled scream escaped her lips. “Ng… Ahh…!” Seeing this, the faces of the other students grew even more concerned. Many of them, however, began tapping their own icons, not wanting to be the last to do so. That included Oono, who groaned as his own left hand was enveloped in red light. However, he quickly began shouting to the other students, his voice carrying through the room. “It’s…it’s all right! It burns, but it’s not too much to handle!” The remaining students who were still waiting to see how things turned out began tapping their own icons, one after another. Brilliant wellsprings of light illuminated the dim room as the screams of the girls and the shouts of the boys reverberated off the high ceiling. Even the three students sulking in the eat-in corner eventually tapped their icons. Sugamo and Aria writhed and moaned dramatically while Kai Kisanuki, standing next to them, simply stared at the blazing gray light being emitted from his own left hand. It took about three minutes for everyone’s QRESTs, including those who were injured, to finish transforming. Once the light had disappeared from the arm of the last student, silence descended upon the shopping area once more. Yuuma stared out at the still-dazed faces of the twenty students. He began to speak. “Now that that’s done, you are all no longer ordinary elementary school students… You’ve upgraded to whatever class you were during the Actual Magic playtest. If you look toward the upper left, you should see your own HP bar.” Everyone did as instructed before turning back toward Yuuma. “People who chose Mage or Priest should be able to use their class spells now, Warriors should be much stronger, and classes like Thief or Ranger should be able to move much faster. But remember, as far magic goes, MP can’t be restored as easily in game. If you want to test your magic out, you should stick to just the element word for now.” In response, several students began chanting the words of power for elements such as fire (Flamma), ice (Glacies), and light (Lumen). Colorful balls of light appeared and illuminated their faces for about ten seconds before fizzling out with a hiss. “This is unbelievable…,” croaked Oono. Apparently he had chosen the Warrior class—strength, not magic—and wanted to test his new abilities. He took several steps forward and extended his right arm out toward Kenk. “Let me hold that hammer again.” “Sure. Just don’t drop it.” With zero signs of hesitation, Kenk thrust the handle of his Bruising Hammer toward Oono. He grabbed it firmly in both hands and lifted it carefully—up, and then down, and then back up again—pumping it in the air several times with a look of amazement on his face. A few moments ago, he hadn’t even been able to lift the hammer off the ground, and now it felt light enough to swing around with relatively little effort. “No way…,” Oono whispered before handing the hammer back to Kenk and turning toward Yuuma. “Ashihara…I’m sorry I called you a monster earlier…,” he said bashfully. “Don’t worry… It was a normal reaction.” Oono nodded slightly and returned to his original position. Though no less surprised than before, the other students, likewise, no longer suspected that Yuuma was just playing a trick. That was one major task out of the way, getting all the other students to upgrade their class. The next task was to get everyone to use their new powers to fortify the shelter’s defenses. The number of students capable of fighting had just increased drastically, but if another monster as powerful as the Conehead Bruiser appeared, they would still be hard-pressed to defeat it without anyone getting injured. Their top priority had to be on strengthening the barricade to ensure that no monsters could get in too easily… No, there was one other thing that needed to be handled first. “Everyone, listen!” Yuuma shouted in a loud voice. The students, who were murmuring excitedly among themselves, turned suddenly to stare at full attention. Yuuma was going to have to start getting used to this sooner rather than later. “Has anyone here chosen Priest as their class? Raise your hands!” The first to do so was Tomori Shimizu. Next was a girl with short hair who had been tending to the injuries of the two boys—though under the circumstances, she hadn’t been able to do much more than dab their wounds with a wet handkerchief. And finally, a stout, heavyset boy raised his hand. Yuuma had been hoping for five or six Priests, but there were just seven character classes in Actual Magic, after all—Warrior, Mage, Priest, Thief, Ranger, Merchant, and Monster Tamer. Twenty divided by seven was actually less than three, so he could hardly complain. The girl with the short hair was Aoi Soga, student number 8. The heavyset boy was Takeshi Moro, student number 39. Together with Tomori, that made three Priests. They were the shelter’s lifeline. If another monster attacked, protecting them would be priority number one, but if Yuuma just came out and said that, it might seem unfair to the other students. First he needed them to understand for themselves just how important those three now were. “Okay then… Shimizu, Soga, and Moro. You three should all be able to use recovery magic, right? I want you to heal the injured students.” Tomori blinked several times behind her black-framed glasses. “Oh… That’s right. We can use magic to heal them now…” She rushed toward the two injured boys, who were lying in front of the cash registers, her skirt fluttering as she moved. Yuuma could tell at a glance that Shinta Aida, student number 22, was gravely injured. The left arm of his T-shirt had been tattered to ribbons, as if it had been savagely slashed by Sumika’s claws, and there were several lacerations running from his shoulder to his upper arm. Someone had tied a white towel tightly around the arm, but the bleeding still hadn’t stopped. Aida had also changed his character class, so his VIT should have increased as well. But unlike their avatars in Actual Magic, their bodies here suffered actual injuries and so probably weren’t as quick to heal. Aida was a bit of a class clown, like Yukihisa Miura, the student who had died—though not quite at Miura’s level. Yuuma was pretty sure Aida had been a member of the school’s broadcasting club. Tomori flinched for a moment as she spotted the blood-drenched towel, but she continued toward Aida with determination, crouching down at his side. She extended both hands toward his injured left shoulder and began casting a spell, her lips moving somewhat awkwardly. “Sacre!” The circuitry pattern that extended from the back of her left hand to just below her elbow pulsated with emerald green energy as a ball of white light appeared before her extended hands. Strange, thought Yuuma, staring at the ball of light. It was the word of power for the holy element. But when Sawa had chanted that same word in order to heal Yuuma, after he had been injured during his fight with Sumika, the light that appeared in her hands had been rosy pink. Of course, holy energy was usually white in the game, which would mean this was actually the normal color. Tomori narrowed her eyes in concentration and chanted the form. “Premis!” As she spoke, the white light in her hands began flowing, forming a vortex of sorts. Yuuma guessed she was casting Holy Healing, a spell available only to the Priest class. The spell that Sawa had used, Healing Droplet, created dewdrops that dripped from the caster’s fingers and needed to be drunk directly by the target of the spell. Holy Healing, however, had a fairly long range and could be cast directly on a player. It wasn’t autohit, so Tomori still had to be careful when aiming the spell, but at this distance, there was no need to worry. “Fusione!” Once Tomori had chanted the word of activation, the flowing light extended from her hands and landed on Aida’s left shoulder. Aida’s body shook as if in surprise, and then his face suddenly relaxed. A small sigh escaped his lips. After several seconds, the light disappeared. The portion of the wound that extended from beneath the towel had closed up almost entirely, with just a brownish scab remaining. Aida raised his arm gingerly and moved it back and forth several times before blinking repeatedly. “It doesn’t hurt!” he cried, but then immediately flinched and winced. “Okay, maybe it hurts a little.” “…Does it hurt, or does it not?” asked Tomori, her face absolutely serious. Several students giggled softly. Aida wore his hair in a faux-hawk; he scratched at the side of his shaved head and smiled bashfully. “No, no, I’m fine! Earlier my arm was, like, wham, bam, but now it’s just a little boo-boo. Thanks, Shimizu. I owe you one. Boy, magic sure is something…” It sure was. Yuuma had also been healed by magic, so he knew how Aida felt. The other students had also just witnessed a miracle. Aida’s wound, which had been so deep that the tendons and muscle underneath were exposed, had closed up before their very eyes. Another reminder of just how strange the situation was. The giggles soon faded off into silence. It was Tomonori Tada, the other injured boy lying next to Aida, who finally broke that silence. He wasn’t bleeding like Aida had been, but his right arm was wrapped in a splint using magazine paper instead of tape. It looked like he’d broken a bone. “Isn’t anyone gonna heal me?” he cried out plaintively, cradling his injured arm. The other students burst into laughter again. Tada’s eyebrows, which were droopy to begin with, tilted down into an exaggerated frown. That made the students laugh even harder. Yuuma couldn’t help breaking out into a grin, too. Even Tomori seemed a little amused. She began casting Holy Healing once more, using it to heal Tomonori Tada’s arm. After she was done, Tada spun his healed arm around in circles like a windmill. “It really doesn’t hurt!” he shouted. For the third, and loudest, time yet, the students all burst out into laughter. The tension in the shelter finally seemed to dissipate— Just then. “Yuumy!” Sawa was standing toward the back, trying to go unnoticed. She shouted suddenly, a hint of panic in her voice. At almost the exact same moment, several of the vents covering the ducts in the ceiling burst free of their hinges. Multiple dark shapes plopped down into the room. Thump. Thump. They made a heavy sound as they hit the floor one after another. The twenty-plus students stared at the shapes in surprise. Whatever the things were, they were oblong shaped, dark gray in color, and about fifty centimeters long and ten centimeters wide. Their bodies looked soft and spongy overall, with a segmented surface and multiple leglike protuberances along the bottom. There was a row of four eyes on one end, and underneath them was a mouth that sported six sharp fangs. They were insects—giant caterpillars. And there were at least ten of them. Yuuma broke out into goose bumps. These creatures were hideous. Between the vague undulations of their segmented bodies, and the way they glistened wetly in the dim light, they seemed so real. But no caterpillar in the real world could get this big. In other words, they were supernatural creatures, just like the Conehead Bruiser from before. They were monsters. Yuuma froze. Even though he knew they were monsters, he didn’t immediately know what to do. One of the bugs, which was writhing on the ground just a meter from where he stood, suddenly pointed its four gross eyes in Yuuma’s direction— Like a spring, it coiled up tight and launched itself into the air, moving at a speed far faster than its sluglike body suggested it could move. “Aughh…!” With a shout, Yuuma thrust both hands out reflexively and caught the bug in midair. It felt heavy, spongy, and far too real beneath his fingers. Like a giant version of the rhino beetles some kids kept as pets. The captured insect writhed in his grasp, its segmented body stretching out as its six-fanged mouth chomped wildly, mere centimeters from Yuuma’s face.