Chapter 32

Yu… Wake up, Yu. A soft, clear voice rang in Yuuma’s ears as a small hand gently shook him. Yuuma lifted his heavy eyelids slowly. Several orange lights floated blearily before him. At first, he thought they were dungeon lamps, but the lights didn’t flicker or waver, meaning they were likely LEDs or CCFLs. Yuuma blinked several times. He realized there was a faint silhouette sitting in front of him, backlit by the dim lights. Yuuma peered up at the person, but his eyes couldn’t seem to focus. Whoever it was had soft, gently wavy hair and wore a headband made of interlocking diamond-shaped rhinestones. She also wore an indigo cardigan over a white blouse. The irises of her large eyes were slightly bluish in color— “Nagi…,” Yuuma rasped. Minagi Sano smiled in relief. The clearness of Nagi’s smile seemed to wash over him. Before Yuuma realized what he was doing, he had reached up with his right hand and grabbed her by her slender shoulder, squeezing softly to make sure she was real. “Don’t worry… It’s really me.” Her voice was nearly inaudible. The voice took a moment to trickle into Yuuma’s brain, at which point his conscious mind caught up to reality and his eyes widened. The smell of grease hung in the air. Yuuma’s throat felt dry and painful. The floor was mercilessly cold and hard beneath him. This was definitely the real world. Which meant that Yuuma and the others had successfully logged out of Actual Magic. And they had brought the missing Nagi back with them. Yuuma took a deep breath. He wanted to pull Nagi in by her shoulder and hug her close. If he hadn’t been able to bring himself to do that while in Actual Magic, however, there was absolutely no way he was going to manage to do it here in the real world. He released his hand awkwardly and exhaled. “I, um…I’m glad you’re okay,” he told her. Yuuma placed his hands on the floor and lifted himself up. He took another look around. This was definitely the real world, but there was something strange about their location. It was a small, round room, about three meters in diameter. The ceiling was incredibly high, and the curved wall was embedded with small lights. Judging from their shape, they looked to be LEDs. There was a sliding door along one section of the wall and zero windows. Even if there had been windows, with Althea in the state that it was in, they would have probably been pitch-black. Directly across from the door sat a desk, which was curved to fit the wall, and a simple office chair. Kenk lay spread-eagle on the floor in front of the desk as Sawa and Tomori sat by his side, peering down into his face— Tomori lifted her head as Yuuma crawled over. “Oh, Ashihara. You’re awake.” “Y-yeah, good morning… How long was I asleep…? “Just a minute or two. Does anything feel strange physically?” Yuuma glanced down at his own body. He patted himself over his clothes, but nothing seemed to hurt. “No, it looks like I’m fine… What about Kenk? Is he up yet?” “We’ve been trying to wake him, but he isn’t responding…,” said Sawa. “…” That made Yuuma worry a little. He sat across from the girls and stared down into Kenk’s face. Kenk didn’t seem to be in any pain, but the LED lights here were like the rest of Althea’s emergency lights, making it difficult to tell if he looked pale or sickly. “Hmm…” Yuuma suspected that if he shook Kenk as hard as he could, then Kenk would wake up, but their bodies had temporarily disappeared from the real world after diving from the Caliculus capsules on the second floor and had rematerialized in this strange room only after an approximately five-and-a-half-hour adventure in the world of AM. They had essentially been teleported. There was no way to know for sure whether they had suffered any negative physical or psychological effects. After a moment’s thought, Yuuma opened his inventory and retrieved one of the sour vinegar konbu snack packs he had acquired from the first-floor break room. Opening the package, he removed a single strip of the konbu and waved it under Kenk’s nose. “Ngh… Mmm… Guh!” Kenk’s eyelids and mouth suddenly sprang open. Yuuma slipped the strip of konbu into Kenk’s waiting mouth before turning to Sawa and Tomori and nodding wordlessly. Once they were sure Kenk was okay, Yuuma and the others formed a circle in the middle of the small room in order to finally celebrate their survival. Naturally, there was no time for a toast. It was already 11:10 PM; they had just fifty minutes left until midnight. Yuuma wanted to throw the sliding door open immediately and head outside, but there was something they needed to do first. Yuuma reopened his menu window and checked his current equipment. Just as expected, the weapons and armor he had equipped while in AM had all disappeared, replaced instead with a flat steel bar and a collarless jacket. Yuuma had a sudden thought. He navigated to his inventory and narrowed down the item list to show just equipment. Once he did so, the Darkiron Shortsword, leather armor, and other items appeared, but they were grayed out and could not be equipped or materialized. “It’s just like we thought. Equippable items seem to be limited to their own world and can’t be traded in and out…,” Yuuma muttered. “Does that mean I’m stuck with that weird pinheaded hammer again?!” Kenk shouted in disappointment. “At least you have a real weapon. All I’ve got is a steel bar,” Yuuma snapped back. That shut Kenk up. Still, the lack of equipment available to them in the real world was a matter of major concern. There were monsters in the real world, too—in fact, creatures like the Conehead Bruiser and the Conehead Demolisher seemed to be much stronger than most of the monsters that resided in AM. Yuuma was still lost in thought when Nagi suddenly had an idea. “Hey, Yu, we can still bring material-type items from the other world, can’t we?” she said. “Um…” Yuuma sorted his inventory again, causing a long list of materials to appear. Unlike the equipment, these items were not grayed out. “Yep, it looks like it.” “So then, why don’t we just use those materials to make equipment?” “That sounds great and all, but…” It’s not like there are lathes and presses just lying around. Even if there were, we wouldn’t know how to use them…, thought Yuuma. “Of course—we can make equipment using the Blacksmithing skill!” Tomori exclaimed. “Ah!” Yuuma’s, Kenk’s, and Sawa’s jaws dropped. Yuuma had forgotten about the many crafting skills in Actual Magic, like Blacksmithing and Tailoring. If they could use magic in the real world, then it followed that they would also be able to use the crafting skills here as well. If Yuuma recalled correctly, using the Blacksmithing skill required an anvil and a blacksmith’s hammer, but they could just bring those over from AM. Any class could conceivably acquire crafting skills, but Merchants were most suited to them. Yuuma was pretty sure Mimi Hariya and Shinta Aida in Sugamo’s shelter were Merchants. Kenk had apparently had the same thought. He scowled. “Man, why didn’t we pick up blacksmithing equipment while we were in Calcina?!” “We’ll need to go back tomorrow anyway to buy more food. We can pick up blacksmithing and tailoring tools then,” Yuuma told him. “Besides, we need to bring Nagi back to Pomegranate Pavilion so she can try the steak!” “All right!” Kenk nodded enthusiastically. A moment later, however, his eyes glazed over. “Tomorrow…” “What’s up?” “Nothing… It’s just, part of me was still holding on to the thought that we might still fix everything by sunset and finally get to go home…” Everyone—Yuuma, Sawa, Nagi, and even Tomori—averted their gazes. Yuuma had been trying his hardest not to think about their parents, but they were probably worried sick by now. They must have raced straight to Althea and were probably outside, desperately waiting for Yuuma and Sawa to be rescued. Any moment now. Yuuma wasn’t sure where in Althea this small room was located, but even if it was located at the very center of the tower, they couldn’t be more than fifty meters away from the parking lot, where his parents were probably waiting. If they could have traveled in a straight line, it would only take about eight seconds to sprint that distance. They were so close, and yet Yuuma couldn’t even see their faces, let along hear their voices… Yuuma felt his eyes start to sting. He was resisting the urge to cry when he suddenly heard a small sniffling noise coming from somewhere nearby. Looking up, he saw that it was Tomori. She had her head hung low as teardrops fell from her eyes and landed on the lenses of her eyeglasses. Yuuma couldn’t blame her—how could he? Tomori was so calm and levelheaded that sometimes it was difficult to believe that she was the same age as the rest of them. Yuuma naturally found himself relying on her composure. But Tomori was also a newcomer to RPGs. Battling vicious monsters must have been particularly terrifying for her. “Shimizu…,” Kenk said as he scooted forward. After all, he was the one who had made Tomori cry in the first place. “I know it’s easy to make promises and all, but I…we are gonna make sure you get out of here. We just need your help…for a little while longer.” “…Okay…,” Tomori answered briefly, her voice still teary. Nagi handed her a white handkerchief. After the five party members had double-checked their equipment and potions, they opened the sliding door and cautiously exited the small room. As they had expected, the room turned out to be located at the center of Playroom 02. In other words, Yuuma and the others had apparated into a small round room located inside the giant shaft that ran vertically through the center of Althea. They ought to have woken up inside the same Caliculus capsules they had used to dive into AM in the first place, just like they had after being logged out following the playtest. So then why had they appeared inside the shaft instead? And more importantly, why hadn’t they been able to log out from their menu windows…? Yuuma was still trying to make sense of the matter when Sawa, now dressed in her windbreaker again instead of Mage robes, poked him in the back to get his attention. “Hey, Yu, why don’t we check out the Caliculus capsules one more time?” “You mean the ones we used to dive in?” “Yeah. Niki said that if he had any messages for us, he’d leave them there.” “Oh, I forgot about that… Let’s do it.” Yuuma nodded, and the five climbed down the south-facing stairway leading to the playroom’s interior walkway. They followed the walkway clockwise, heading toward the playroom’s northwest quadrant. They remained on full alert as they traversed the dim walkway, which was lined on either side with tightly packed Caliculus capsules. They arrived at their destination about half a minute later without encountering any more Conehead Demolishers or similar monsters. The sight that awaited them, however, was entirely unexpected. “Wh-what’s the meaning of this…?” said Kenk, his voice cracking. The four Caliculus capsules that Yuuma, Sawa, Kenk, and Tomori had used to dive into Actual Magic had been utterly destroyed. There hadn’t been a single scratch on the virgin white surface of the capsules five and a half hours earlier; Yuuma was sure of it. Now, however, there were massive gouges in their sides, and shredded cables and exposed circuit boards crackled intermittently with sparks. The hydraulic fluid that dripped onto the ramps, from the cracks in the undersides of the capsules, looked almost like blood. Yuuma stared in shock for at least five seconds before finally coming back to his senses and adjusting his grip on the steel bar that he was using as a weapon. It was hard to believe that damage like this could have been caused by anything other than a sizable monster. Kenk also readied his hammer, while the three girls pressed their backs together and peered around the room cautiously. They looked everywhere, from the darkness beneath the Caliculus capsules and shadows skirting the floor, all the way up to the ceiling above, but there were no signs of any monsters in hiding. Maybe whatever monster had been here had realized there was no longer any prey to be found and had moved on elsewhere. Yuuma relaxed slightly. “Maybe this is why we weren’t able to log out…” “That would make sense…” Sawa nodded. Her face seemed serious. “When we dive into AM, the capsules remain in use even though our bodies disappear from inside them. Apparently…if the capsule gets damaged during that time, we won’t be able to use our menus to log out.” “We can still log out using the system console…but we’ll appear inside that shaft instead…” Yuuma trailed off as something new occurred to him. He glanced at Nagi. “Oh…! That might also explain why you weren’t able to log out on your own. Maybe your Caliculus got damaged.” “But we saw the cryba— I mean, we saw Nagi’s Caliculus, and it looked fine, didn’t it?” Kenk pointed out. Nagi glared at Kenk as if she wanted to say something, but her face eventually softened, and she began murmuring aloud as she searched her memory. “After the dragon boss was defeated during the playtest, the floor started glowing red and then everyone disappeared… I was falling through the light, and I remember seeing some sort of system message appear, but it was just for a split second. I think it said something about a connection or something, so maybe it was a connection error message…” “Nagi, do you…” …remember anything after that? Yuuma wanted to ask, but he swallowed the words. Sawa said that Valac had spoken to her in her head and explained all sorts of things right after being logged out. Maybe the same thing had happened to Nagi… Maybe this new demon that was possessing Nagi, Crocell, was the reason that Nagi seemed to know about all the weird things happening at Althea without Yuuma and the others needing to explain. The demon might have given her that information. Yuuma was interested to know exactly what Crocell might have said, but they didn’t really have time to get bogged down by details at the moment. Nagi stared at Yuuma blankly, waiting for him to finish. “Sorry, it can wait,” Yuuma said, giving his childhood friend a quick once-over. There didn’t seem to be any horns growing out of her head. Due to her loose cardigan, Yuuma couldn’t really tell whether there were any wings on her back, but he obviously wasn’t going to frisk her to find out. He would just have to find a way to float the question later. He took another look at the four damaged Caliculus capsules. There was no sign of any notes. If a monster had come and destroyed the capsules after a note had been placed there, it might be lying ripped up on the ground somewhere, but searching around for something like that didn’t seem very feasible. Either way, at least they had a theory now as to why they hadn’t been able to log out from their menu windows, and as to why Nagi had been left behind inside AM. The next time they dove in, they would need to find a way to protect the capsules, but that could wait until later. The time now was 11:20 PM. If they hurried, they could probably be back at the shelter by 11:30. Staying cautious, the five retraced their steps, carefully walking over the broken automatic door as they entered the elevator lobby. The way the orange emergency lights reflected weakly off the cold, dark gray floor and walls of Althea reminded Yuuma of the dungeon back on Philos Island. They passed the silent elevators, avoiding scattered fragments of glass and metal, and headed toward the emergency stairwell at the other end of the lobby. Yuuma opened the thick fire door and peered inside. The stairwell was almost entirely dark, and an incessant whooshing sound echoed from within. There were no signs of monsters inside the stairwell, either. “Niki and Haizaki’s group fled just up these stairs, right…?” whispered Kenk. Yuuma glanced up the stairway, which in theory would eventually lead to the fourth floor. According to what Niki had said, during the initial chaos, fifteen students had split up from the rest of the group and fled upstairs, eventually arriving at a staff room located along the exterior perimeter of Althea’s fourth floor. If Yuuma and the others climbed those stairs now, they could probably reach the other group in less than three minutes. But there was a more than 0 percent possibility that monsters were roaming the fourth floor’s elevator lobby or playroom. Niki should have delivered the food for them hours ago. He had probably returned to his shelter by now and let Haizaki and the others know how everyone on the first floor was doing. “We should try and get ourselves better equipped in the real world before trying to make it to the fourth floor,” Yuuma whispered to Kenk. “Good thinking.” Kenk nodded and adjusted the grip on his two-handed hammer. Yuuma was about to ask to borrow Sawa’s LED light, since the stairs here were so dark, when he suddenly remembered he didn’t need it. He opened his own inventory, tapped the item labeled Coldfire Lantern, and then hit the button to remove it from storage. As he did so, a tiny sound effect played, and the lantern appeared above his window. The design, however, had changed significantly from when he had used it inside AM. The casing was minimalist and looked like it was made out of titanium now, and the wind guard seemed to be made of reinforced glass—the light inside, however, was not an LED, as might be expected, but rather the same bluish-white magical flame as in AM. This was like the opposite of what had happened when they had taken the bottles of table salt from the real world into AM, when the plastic lid had turned into cork. Yuuma was curious to see how other items had changed as well, but they definitely didn’t have time for that now. Yuuma held the lantern up high. Kenk didn’t say anything, but his expression made it clear what he was thinking: Thanks, buddy. What a great idea! And that new titanium casing is super cool, too, isn’t it? They began to descend the stairs. Unlike an LED flashlight, which was made to create a focused stream of light, the coldfire lantern cast its glow evenly in a 360-degree radius. As a result, the light wasn’t quite as bright, but it was still more than enough to spot any monsters. As they continued to climb down the stairs, the thought occurred to Yuuma that they should pick up similar lanterns for the shelter, in addition to food and crafting tools, the next time they visited Calcina. They reached the first floor without incident. They opened the first-floor fire door and stepped out into the elevator lobby. It was just as unnervingly quiet here as everywhere else. There was a small café space on the left side of the hall, but as of today’s opening ceremony, the café hadn’t yet been operational, so it was unlikely there would be any drinks, let alone food. That made it a low priority for searching. They skipped it for now, heading instead toward the main lobby to the right. As they rounded the half-destroyed partition and stepped into the lobby, Yuuma almost expected to see a massive rescue squad breaking in through the main doors—of course, that was just wishful thinking. The glass curtain wall to the south was just as dark as it had been earlier. Not a single star was visible through the glass. Yuuma strained to listen for sound, but all he could make out was a low, unidentifiable thrumming coming from somewhere far away. Without a word, the five began moving again. The floor of the wide lobby still bore the residues of their fight with the Conehead Bruiser. They crossed the lobby and entered the waiting area, which featured rows of benches with comfortable backrests, before finally spotting the shopping area that served as Shelter Sugamo. The simple barricade was still in place. At the very least, it didn’t look as if any more monsters of the Conehead variety had shown up. They could see a few small lights flickering from within, but no voices managed to reach their ears. “I guess everyone’s asleep already…,” Tomori whispered. “We’ll have to be careful not to wake them,” Sawa whispered back. Yuuma was suddenly overcome by a powerful sensation of drowsiness. He shook himself briskly to stay awake. Glancing to the side, he could see Kenk blinking as well. His eyelids seemed heavy. If Sugamo was still awake, they would probably have to make a report. If it was up to Yuuma, he would prefer to curl up in a ball in the corner and go straight to sleep. He swallowed back a yawn and returned the lantern to his inventory. They relied on emergency lights as they crossed the waiting area and slipped through a gap between the grated metal shutter and assorted display racks that made up the barricade— “Ashihara, you’re late!!” Yuuma winced as the loud, angry voice invaded his ears. Looking up, he saw another student leaning against the counter with his arms crossed in the back left corner of the room. The student was standing directly underneath an emergency light. As a result, Yuuma could only make out the person’s sharp jawline and heavily waxed, over-styled hair. That was still enough for Yuuma to recognize who it was. It was the shelter’s leader and president of their sixth-grade class, Teruki Sugamo. Not now, Yuuma groaned internally, glancing from side to side. An open space, about seven meters wide and ten meters deep, had been created in the center of the room by pushing the display racks all the way back. Plastic picnic tarps were spread out at intervals along the floor, with students huddled around them in groups of three and four. A few were already sleeping, but most were awake. They turned their uneasy attention toward Yuuma and the others. Yuuma slipped through the barricade, followed by Kenk, Sawa, Tomori, and finally Nagi. As Nagi stepped inside, the faces of most of the students who were still awake lit up. “Sano!” several of the girls cried. Nagi smiled back at them, but Sugamo’s angry voice soon put a damper on everyone’s good mood. “Ashihara, Kondou, do you have any idea what time it is?! It’s been six and a half hours since I sent you to look for food!!” Sugamo grasped his small metal mallet, rapped it on the counter, and then shook it in the air. If Sugamo started another mock trial, Yuuma thought he might lose his mind. He quickly took a few steps forward. As a first step, he decided to apologize. After all, it was true that they had come back late and caused everyone to worry. “Sorry, Sug. We wanted to come back sooner, but a lot happened along the way…” “A lot happened? You mean like searching for your little friend Sano? Don’t tell me you prioritized finding her over your mission, did you?!” Of course not. Well, maybe. But even if they had, there was no reason for Sugamo to get so bent out of shape over it. After all, they had still secured food and arranged for it to be sent back to the shelter. “I’m sorry we’re late, but you got the food we sent, didn’t you…?” “……The what?” Sugamo squinted suspiciously before furrowing his brows even further. “What in the heck are you talking about, Ashihara? We didn’t get any food!” “B-but…what about Niki…?” “Niki?! We don’t even know where he is, so how in the heck would he deliver any food?!” “…” Yuuma instinctively made eye contact with Kenk and Sawa. A lot of unexpected things had happened at Althea today—in fact, pretty much everything had been unexpected. Countless unforeseen events could have happened to prevent Niki from reaching the shelter. Whatever obstacle Niki had encountered, it might have had something to do with their Caliculus capsules being destroyed. What if, worst-case scenario, Niki had tried to protect their capsules from something like a Conehead Demolisher all on his own and been seriously injured…or even… Yuuma stopped himself from finishing that thought. “We met Niki while we were out exploring. He said he’d kill two birds with one stone by delivering the food for us while also sharing information about the other group. But…if he never made it…then—” “Just a second, Ashihara!” shouted Sugamo, interrupting Yuuma. “Are you stupid or something?! Are you really telling me that you handed Niki enough food for twenty people? Obviously he took it and ran!!” “…” Yuuma was once again left speechless. He wanted to yell back just as loud, but the words wouldn’t leave his mouth at first. Kakeru Niki had saved Tomori back when she got bitten by the Barbed Wolf. It was a life-and-death situation. And not just Tomori. Without Niki’s help, they probably would have been killed by the Varanian Axbearer. All five of them owed Niki their lives. Yuuma wanted to shout, Niki is a hero! Where do you get off calling him a thief? What have you ever done for the class?! Before he could, however, someone grabbed his left arm and pulled him back. It was Sawa. She took Yuuma’s place as he stumbled to the side. “Don’t worry,” she calmly told Sugamo. “We still have food.” “Huh?!” Sugamo furrowed his brow as Sawa opened her inventory and materialized a cloth bag packed full of onigiri and packaged baked goods. She set it on the floor and opened the bag wide so that everyone could see. The students, who had been watching anxiously, began to murmur among themselves. “Here, guys. If you haven’t eaten yet…” “No, we’ve eaten. Not much, obviously, but still,” someone said. Yuuma glanced to the left. Haruki Hokari, one half of the skateboarding duo who effectively served as the shelter’s sub-leaders, approached. His hair was shaved up high on the sides. The long-haired half of the duo, Takato Sera, followed. Kenk, who was somewhat friendly with the two, took a step toward them. “You already ate…? Did you go looking for food, too, after we left?” That would have been a reasonable explanation, but Hokari quickly shook his head. “No, it’s just…it’s a little hard to explain.” Yuuma had almost forgotten. Before giving Niki the food, Tomori had mentioned how she had seen a special effect in the eat-in corner. It looked like Sugamo was putting something, possibly food, into his inventory. In response, Yuuma had said that he doubted Sugamo would do anything so risky, and that even if he did, it would be difficult to produce the food again afterward. Perhaps Yuuma had been wrong on both accounts. From what Hokari said, it sounded as if Sugamo really had stolen the food, just to give it straight back. But if so, how did he manage to get away with it? Yuuma waited for Hokari to continue. However. Instead of turning toward Sugamo, who still sat against the counter, Hokari turned to stare at a patch of darkness in front and a little to the side of the counter. Yuuma hadn’t noticed earlier, due to the shadows from the cash register, but a boy was sitting there quietly on both knees. He looked browbeaten. Yuuma couldn’t make out his face, since he was slumped down low, but judging from his small, skinny frame and his curly hair, which was just a little too long, he appeared to be Sugamo’s friend—or maybe “lackey” would be a better description—Kai Kisanuki. What was Kisanuki doing on the floor like that? There were also dark spots all around the collar of his white shirt. They looked like they might be blood. “What did you do to Kisanuki?” asked Tomori, stepping forward to stand next to Sawa. There was a firm edge to her voice. Hokari seemed to hesitate. His friend, Sera, stepped forward and answered in his place. “Kisanuki…stole a bunch of donuts and cakes from the eat-in corner.” “…!!” Tomori and Yuuma both inhaled sharply. Sera didn’t acknowledge their reaction. He continued his explanation in a matter-of-fact tone. “It was about two hours after you all left… Everyone was starting to feel hungry and on edge, when Sugamo discovered Kisanuki hiding out by one of the shelves eating a donut all by himself. Once we dragged him out of there, he admitted that he had gone into the eat-in corner when we first arrived, had hidden all the food, and then had moved it into his inventory later.” “But…!” Tomori started to speak up, but Yuuma grabbed her wrist from behind and squeezed. Even if Tomori came forward now and said it had been Sugamo who had hidden the food, it wasn’t like they had any proof. Since Kisanuki had already confessed, there wasn’t much they could do. And besides, if Tomori wasn’t careful, she might wind up the new scapegoat. Yuuma felt some of the tension leave Tomori’s arm. He released his hand. Sawa spoke in Tomori’s place. Her voice was controlled but as cold as ice. “Why is Kisanuki injured? What happened?” “I…hit him…,” came a low, gravelly voice. It was Youichi Oono. He stepped out from behind Hokari and Sera, then glanced at Kisanuki before averting his eyes and continuing. “I shouldn’t have, I know. I’m a hundred percent in the wrong for that, and if I need to be punished, I’ll accept whatever’s coming. It’s just—everyone was trying not to complain and press on through the hunger, while Kisanuki… He had more than forty donuts and scones and stuff…all for himself…” Oono clenched his fists. Sera patted him on the shoulder. “Anyway,” Sera added, “Sugamo apologized and said he felt like he was partially responsible for not noticing what Kisanuki had done, and then he passed out something to eat for everyone but himself and Kisanuki. So that’s where the food came from. I don’t know if something happened to Niki to prevent him from coming, or if he just swiped your food, but you shouldn’t blame yourselves… We were just worried because you were late.” It was nice of Sera to say that, but Yuuma was still focused on how angry he was at Sugamo. So we’re supposed to buy that Kai Kisanuki had swiped forty donuts or whatever from the eat-in corner without anyone noticing? And that Sugamo just happened to catch him in the act? And he was noble enough to take part of the blame? Seriously…? No way that had happened. Tomori had seen someone in the eat-in corner, yes, but it wasn’t Kisanuki. It was Sugamo. Sugamo had probably used the trade function to transfer food from his own inventory directly into Kisanuki’s and then ordered Kisanuki to hide in a corner and eat a piece of the food. That gave Sugamo the perfect opportunity to make a show of stumbling upon the scene, letting him paint Kisanuki as the sole culprit while also taking fake responsibility, thus setting himself up to look like a fair and just leader. It was like those people who start fires just to get the credit for putting them out. Sugamo probably had plenty of donuts for himself in his inventory. There wasn’t a doubt in Yuuma’s mind. He still had unanswered questions, however. For instance, why would Kisanuki be so willing to do whatever Sugamo said? This went beyond normal lackeyism. Sugamo was treating him almost like a servant… No, worse than that. Servants weren’t disposable. Yuuma turned his gaze toward Kisanuki, who was still kneeling on the floor. Kisanuki remained motionless, his head hung low. Yuuma could only guess what Kisanuki was feeling. Glancing up and to the left, Yuuma spotted Sugamo, who was still sitting against the counter. Sugamo returned Yuuma’s gaze. There was a piercing gleam in his eye… Almost as if he was saying, I know that you know. Sugamo suddenly jumped off the counter and strode toward Yuuma. He glanced down at the food Sawa had materialized and then snorted. “You did your jobs, I’ll give you that. But don’t think this one time clears you of your responsibility for Moro’s death, Ashihara.” “Sug, you sonofa…” Kenk took a step toward Sugamo, but Yuuma grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back. Yuuma stepped forward in Kenk’s place and glared briefly into Sugamo’s eyes, which were located about ten centimeters higher than his own. “Of course…we’ll go get even more food tomorrow. But make sure you protect everyone while we’re gone, Sug. I don’t know what I might do if I find you hiding in a corner again, like you did back when the caterpillars attacked.” “…” Sugamo’s eyes seemed to glow faintly blue. The corners of his lips formed a crooked smile. “Watch it, Ashihara,” he whispered softly in Yuuma’s ear so that only the two of them could hear. “I can have you found guilty again, at any time I feel like it.” Sugamo turned and walked toward the counter again. Once he was standing before it, he faced the crowd. “Everybody, listen up!” Sugamo waited for all the students, except Kisanuki, to turn their eyes toward him, and then he began speaking in a clear but quiet voice. “It’s been a tough day. Miura and Moro are both dead, something terrible has happened to Sumika, and we still don’t know what’s happened to Althea. But as long as we do our best to make this shelter work, help is bound to come. Soon, I believe. Tomorrow, the day after…in three days, at the latest. So let’s not slack off until then!” For a moment, no one said anything. Eventually, pockets of subdued applause broke out across the room. The applause lasted for over ten seconds. The students voted to wait until tomorrow morning to distribute the food that Sawa had materialized, and to entrust Sugamo to guard the food for them until then. They began getting ready for bed, congregating in pockets around the room. They didn’t have any bedding, but the display racks had been lined with multiple souvenirs, including large bath towels and decorative cushions, which they spread out now to create sleeping surfaces. The largest of the boys also began working on blocking off the openings in the barricade at the entrance. Yuuma added bedding to his mental list of things to buy from Calcina, as he watched the other students prepare for sleep. As soon as Sugamo went to the back room area to use the bathroom, Yuuma approached Aria Misono, who was getting a single sleeping space ready for herself in a corner of the shelter. “Misono.” Aria glanced at him briefly before replying bluntly. “What?” “Um, you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to…,” Yuuma began, lowering his voice as much as possible, “but do you really think that Kisanuki stole that food?” “You’re right, I don’t want to answer that,” she said immediately. She began removing the hairpins that secured her bangs, studiously refusing to make eye contact with Yuuma. Yuuma had been expecting to get the cold shoulder. Instead of getting discouraged, however, he asked his next question. “Why do you think Kisanuki is friends with Sugamo?” he asked, putting a peculiar emphasis on the word friends. Aria froze for a moment before sighing in frustration. Yuuma thought she was just going to ignore him again, but eventually she began speaking in a quiet, husky voice. “Kisanuki’s father works at Ruki’s dad’s company… You can probably figure out the rest.” “…” Yuuma hadn’t been expecting that response. It was certainly more convincing than if she had just said something like, “Because they are friends.” Yuuma had been in the same class as Sugamo since first grade, so he knew Sugamo’s dad was the president of some company, but Kisanuki had only transferred to their school in fourth grade. Yuuma had barely spent any time with him, so naturally he didn’t know that Kisanuki’s dad also worked at Sugamo’s dad’s company. Was Kisanuki just going along with whatever the president’s little brat said, in order to protect his dad’s job? Maybe his dad had even told him to. As a kid…that would have to feel pretty unfair. Kisanuki had been allowed to move from his spot by this point and was now spreading out a thin picnic sheet on the other side of the room. Yuuma stared at him silently. “Of course, I’m in more or less the same position,” Aria muttered softly. “Hmm…?” “My dad runs a small company, too… It’s a subcontractor for Ruki’s dad’s company.” “I see… Is that why you’re friends with Sugamo, Mibs? Because of your dad…?” Aria glared at him. Yuuma thought it was because he had called her Mibs, but apparently that hadn’t been the reason. “No. I hang out with Ruki…I mean Teruki…because I want to,” she insisted. She stared at the hairpins she had collected in her hand as she continued. “Really…he’s not such a bad guy. He can even be kind sometimes. But ever since he lost that election for school council, little by little…” Aria trailed off. Yuuma didn’t know what else to say. It was true. Sugamo had run for student council president in February of that year but had received fewer votes than both Shin Haizaki and Kakeru Niki. And he hadn’t come anywhere close to Haizaki. As far as Yuuma could tell, Sugamo’s personality hadn’t particularly changed afterward. Yes, he had started acting full of himself once he was appointed class president, but he had still done his job well. No one was closer to Sugamo than Aria was, though. If she said something had changed, then there had to be something that Yuuma was missing… “Hey, Yu…,” Aria said suddenly. She hadn’t called him Yu in years, not since they were little. Yuuma straightened up. “Y-yeah?” Aria didn’t seem to notice that she had just called him Yu. She clutched the hairpins firmly in her hand and lifted her face toward him. Unfortunately, Yuuma didn’t hear the words that came out of Aria’s mouth. Bwaaam! Just then, a giant explosion rang out, and the barricade at the entrance suddenly collapsed—no, flew—inward. “Urrkk!” “Arghh!” Two deep-voiced screams filled the air. It was Oono and Sera. They had been in the process of lifting up the barrier and were now pinned underneath the parts that had fallen over. Both of their HP bars visibly decreased, although the damage wasn’t enough to be life-threatening. Aria let go of her hairpins. Yuuma caught them in midair, placed them back into her hand, and began shouting. “Mibs, get everyone to the back room! Kenk, come with me!” Aria nodded, without a word, and started ushering the girls who were sitting on the floor onto their feet. The students who could still move screamed as they raced toward the back of the shelter, but most of the students had apparently already started to drift off and didn’t immediately understand what was happening. Standing at the center of the shelter, Yuuma drew the iron bar thrust into his belt and gripped it firmly in his fingerless gloves. The only explanation Yuuma could think of was that they were under attack by another monster like the Conehead Bruiser. When Yuuma and the others had passed through the lobby earlier, however, there had been no signs of any living creatures. Maybe another monster had suddenly been created from fused adults, just like the Conehead Demolisher. Yuuma hadn’t spotted any survivors, though… Kenk raced to Yuuma’s side, silently readying his Bruising Hammer. The other students hadn’t finished evacuating. Oono and Sera had been knocked clear across the room and were struggling to free themselves from underneath the debris from the barricade, and the largest of the girls, Shouko Ezato, had apparently collapsed in a panic. Aria was desperately trying to pull her to her feet. They had no choice. They would have to head outside and fight the creature in the waiting area, even though the bigger space would give a larger monster the advantage. Yuuma was about to tell Kenk his plan—when suddenly, two humanoid-shaped shadows slipped in silently through a gap in the remnants of the barricade. This wasn’t the large monster that Yuuma had been expecting. Their enemies were human, or possibly demi-human. They also weren’t much taller than Yuuma. If they were humans, they would have to be children. If they were demi-humans, something like halflings. The reason that Yuuma couldn’t tell which was because both figures were wearing outfits that concealed them from head to toe. A black, military-style jacket and black, military-style pants, with metallic armor covering their shoulders, chests, and legs from the knees downward. Their heads were also covered in full-faced helmets, which also looked to be made of metal and featured a design reminiscent of wolves’ heads. As Yuuma stared at the two, HP bars appeared above their heads. For some reason, however, their names were garbled and unreadable. One thing he did understand after looking at their HP bars was that they were under the effect of some sort of potion-based buff. The two turned their eyes toward Yuuma and Kenk, raising the swords in their right hands aloft. The points of their swords were flat, and the blades were fairly thick. At a glance, they were actually similar to Yuuma’s own steel bar. Unlike his makeshift weapon, however, their two swords had been affixed with proper hilts. As a small blessing, neither of the two looked to be a magic user. Yuuma glanced briefly to the side, making eye contact with Sawa, who stood next to Nagi, a little farther back and to the right. If they attack, don’t hesitate, he willed, relying on their special bond as twins to deliver the message. Yuuma turned his full attention back to the two figures in black. To his left, Aria had finally managed to get Shouko to her feet and was lending her a shoulder as she attempted to usher her away. Oono and Sera had also crawled out from underneath the barricade and were wielding metal pipes, which had probably originally been support props for the racks. Only four of the students present—Yuuma, Sawa, Tomori, and Kenk—had experienced real combat thus far, but everyone had upgraded their class. Even if these two enemies rivaled the Varanians in power, there was no way they would be tough enough to take on all twenty students in the shelter. “Who—?” Yuuma began to ask, when suddenly… Another shadowy figure slipped through the barricade. This one was also about the height of a child. Their equipment looked mostly the same, but instead of a jacket, they wore a collared short coat, and their wolf mask was also a size larger. Just like the others, the HP bar above this enemy’s head was garbled. This figure did not carry a sword, but they did wear a pair of thick gloves. The backs of them were embedded with green gemstones that glimmered beneath the emergency lights. Now they were in trouble. Those gloves were magical amplifiers, like a wand or a staff. “Kenk, that one’s a Mage!” Yuuma shouted, racing forward. Instantly, the third wolf-head figure raised their left hand into the air. “Ventus!!” The voice was metallic and warped, as if a digital filter had been applied. A ball of yellowish green light appeared before the person’s hand. As Yuuma swung downward with his steel bar, the black-clad figure standing to the left blocked with their flat sword. Yuuma’s steel bar crimped backward with a sad clang, bending nearly twenty degrees. If only I had my Darkiron Shortsword! Unfortunately, the sword was stuck inside his inventory. Their only hope now was Kenk’s Bruising Hammer. “Hyargh!” Kenk swung his hammer downward. The black-clad figure to the right, however, assumed a full guard stance and intercepted the blow with the tip of their sword. Kenk was level 12—no, level 13 now that they had defeated Constable Oeben—and he had swung with all his might. There was a booming crash, and sparks flew…but the enemy’s sword somehow managed to withstand the blow. “Tempestas!!” Still protected by the two swordfighters, the Mage chanted the form word of power. He appeared to be casting a mid-level, wind-element attack spell. Sawa was already chanting her own spell from behind, and Tomori and Nagi had also started chanting defense spells. Oono and Sera approached on the left, brandishing their pipes. But it didn’t look like they would make it in time. Yuuma and Kenk struggled, their weapons crossed with the enemies’. The Mage in the wolf mask seemed to almost sneer at them as he chanted the final word of activation. “Detergeo!!” The two guards instantly crouched down without telegraphing the move. Yuuma and Kenk each stumbled forward a step, suddenly caught off balance, only to be confronted by a whirling vortex of green light—the whirlwind transformed into a powerful gust of air and accelerated forward. The spell exploded with incredible force. It was like a bomb had gone off inside the shelter. This was Yuuma’s first time seeing it, but he was pretty sure this was the AoE wind spell, Air Blast. Kenk, Oono, Sera, Aria, and Shouko were blasted in different directions. “Argghh!!” Yuuma screamed pathetically as he was lifted helplessly into the air. He spun sideways, like a boomerang, before hitting the ceiling, bouncing off, and crashing into one of the display racks. His HP bar staggered downward. The range of the spell was incredibly wide, knocking over every display rack in the shelter and even reaching behind the back counter. Out of the corner of his eye, Yuuma could see that even Sawa, Tomori, and Nagi, who were all the way back by the counter, had been knocked off their feet. A moment later, Yuuma landed on the floor on his right shoulder. His HP depleted by another notch, and a spinning star symbol appeared underneath his HP bar. He was Stunned. That single spell had knocked out not only Yuuma but every other student in the shelter. The Air Blast spell focused less on direct damage and more on immobilizing targets within its AoE. There were probably no casualties from the spell—at least, Yuuma hoped not. But they were going to be forced to skip a turn, and the enemy was hardly going to stand by and do nothing during that time. Just as Yuuma thought, the Mage stepped forward as his two guards stepped back. He raised both hands into the air. “Ventus!” He chanted the element word for wind again. A ball of green light appeared before his left hand. “Terra!” That was the element word for earth. A ball of brown light appeared before his right hand. No way. Magic was supposed to be cast in order. You chanted the element word of power, followed by the form, followed by activation. Otherwise, your casting resulted in spell failure, and the magic sputtered out in a wisp of smoke. Casting two elements at once was only supposed to be possible for high-level Mages who had acquired the advanced magic skill Doublecast. There was no way any player in Actual Magic had reached that level yet. The playtest had started only twelve hours ago. And yet the Mage in the wolf mask kept on calmly chanting. “Flatus!” The green ball of light transformed into a gently spinning orb of wind. “Nubes!” The brown ball of light turned into an orb of mist. It frothed, as if alive. Instinctively, Yuuma realized what the Mage was planning to do. Crap. Crap, crap, crap! This is bad! “Every…body…run…” Yuuma tried to warn the others, but he was too stunned to speak properly. They were probably all stunned as well. He only had to move his left hand and his mouth a tiny amount in order to summon his trump card, Sumika Watamaki, but there were reasons he couldn’t do that right now. Meanwhile, it was only 11:58 PM. They still had a hundred and eighty seconds left until Sawa could summon Valac once more. That may as well have been an eternity under the circumstances. “Anhelo!” The Mage had just finished casting the Billowing Breeze spell. All the spell did was create a gentle, fanning breeze, with zero attack power. When used in combination with other spells, however, it could create devastating effects. The Mage chanted his second word of activation. “Petrifica!” The mist changed from brown to dark gray—the Petrify spell. The petrifying gray mist began to waft throughout the room, carried by the magical green breeze. This was the power of Doublecast. Usually, the Petrify spell could only create a small cloud of petrifying mist immediately in front of the caster’s own hand. It had practically zero range. By combining it with the Billowing Breeze spell, however, the Mage in the wolf mask had increased both Petrify’s range and area of effect exponentially. Oono and Sera, who were currently closest to the Mage, were first to be hit by the spell’s effect. “Nr…agghh!” “St-stop! Don’t…!” Too stunned to move, the pair protested weakly. There was a terrible, stiff cracking noise as their bodies began to turn to stone, starting from their extremities. Aria and Shouko were hit by the mist next. “N-no…!” Shouko let out a scream and tried to bat the mist away, but her legs were already beginning to turn. Aria, meanwhile, turned toward Yuuma, reaching out to him silently with her right hand. Yuuma wished he could take it, but she was nearly five meters away. The gray mist hung low to the ground as it billowed across the room, swallowing up one student after the next. The air was full of weak cries and the ruthless sound of flesh turning to stone. At last, the mist reached Yuuma. He stared in bewilderment as the mist billowed at his toes. “Why…?” he muttered. Not, why were they attacking? Or, why was this Mage able to use the Doublecast skill? Yuuma’s confusion lay elsewhere. According to the guidebook, the chance of Petrify successfully turning someone to stone varied greatly depending on the density of the mist and the skill level of the caster. Yuuma doubted the caster could have reached mastery level in earth magic in just twelve hours, and the density of the mist should have been fairly low by now since it had already been spread thin by the Billowing Breeze spell. The chance of success should have been something like less than 30 percent for Sera and Oono, less than 10 for Aria and Shouko—and less than 1 percent for himself. But each and every student began to turn to stone the instant the mist touched them. The idea of a Petrify spell that was 100 percent effective and that reached over ten meters away was so busted that the word cheat didn’t even do it justice. This was totally OP. OP… Yuuma remembered having a similar thought earlier. He could hear someone speaking. The memory tugged at the back of his mind. “To put it in terms from these games you children so love, you can think of it as a buff to her magic skill.” Valac had said that. Yuuma remembered thinking at the time that something like that would be “ridiculously OP.” Crocell, the demon possessing Nagi, could fire off spells without verbal components or cooldowns. That was also massively OP. Rapid-fire spells must have been Crocell’s power. And the Mage in the wolf mask? He was able to cast the Petrify spell, something that ought to have had about a 1 percent chance of success, with 100 percent guaranteed success instead. If this was another vires, another power—that meant there was probably another demon inside that Mage. What was it that Tomori had said, about Solomon’s demons? That there were seventy-two of them? If that was true…Yuuma doubted that Sawa, Nagi, and the Mage in the wolf mask were the only ones under demon possession. All of them had probably been possessed. Every single surviving student in their class. Sugamo, Kenk, Tomori—even Yuuma himself. Yuuma could hear that cracking noise as his body began to turn to stone. At some point, a gray, humanoid-shaped symbol had appeared beneath his HP bar. He heard Tomori desperately chanting the Holy Purification spell behind him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to help. Holy Purification didn’t work on petrification; she would need the much more powerful Exorcism spell or the specialized Remove Petrification spell, neither of which she had yet. Petrification could also be healed with a special item, but Yuuma doubted he would just happen to have one on hand. Even if he did, by the time he opened his inventory, materialized the item, and tried to use it on himself, it would already be too late. If he could at least remember the item’s name, though, he might be able to tell the others about it. If just one of them got away and managed to find it, they might be able to use it on Yuuma and the others later. Yuuma was pretty sure it was some kind of needle. Not a Gold Needle, which showed up in so many other RPGs. It was something with a more gemstone-like name. It’s no good; the petrification is almost at my chest. In a few seconds, I won’t even be able to speak anymore… Just then, he remembered an item name he had seen recently. The memory hit him like a bolt of lightning. Yes, some sort of needle. He had picked it up recently. Not during the fight with the Conehead Bruiser or with the Varanian Axbearer… It had been with Oeben. Constable Oeben. The villain who said he was going to cook and eat Nagi, the one Yuuma couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for in the end. He had dropped his hat, his belt—and something else. Something called the Tenderizing Needle of Human Transformation. That definitely didn’t sound like any sort of gemstone. It must have been what the Varanian had used to transform into human shape. If you stuck other monsters with it, they would probably transform into people, too. Yuuma was already human, though, and turning into a human didn’t seem to have anything to do with petrification… No, wait. Oeben’s transformation hadn’t been a simple status effect; it had been plot-based. In RPGs, the plot was some of the strongest magic available. It could bring characters back to life under impossible situations or even prevent other characters from returning despite having revives conveniently on hand. It was the power of a cutscene. What if, just maybe, Oeben’s “human transformation” was an overriding status effect, which canceled out other status effects? Agh, even if it is, it’s too late to—! ………Yuuma. ………Have you forgotten? Yuuma could have sworn he suddenly heard someone speaking. Of course—this was what had happened before. He knew he was out of time. He had been stuck in a desperate situation, trapped up to his waist in the Conehead Bruiser’s mouth and seconds away from being bitten in two, when he had somehow managed to carry out two actions at once—readjusting the bar in the monster’s teeth and summoning Sumika. This had to be Yuuma’s—or rather, the demon inside Yuuma’s—vires. Quick Action. “Ah…!” Yuuma gritted his teeth and opened his menu with his right hand. The petrification had already reached to just below his armpit; he had only three seconds to make this work. He scrolled through his storage faster than ever before, tapping on the Tenderizing Needle of Human Transformation. He selected Materialize from the submenu. The needle, hideous in design, appeared, and he grabbed it between his fingers. It was too late. He could feel the Mage’s eyes upon him. “Ah… Ahhhhh!” Somehow, Yuuma’s mouth was still able to move, and he screamed. The world turned pale blue. Everything stopped. Even the petrification creeping up his right arm stalled, just above the elbow. A low din, like infinitely frozen interlocking gears, filled the air. Within that stillness, Yuuma summoned every ounce of will, managing to move his right hand just far enough to stick himself in the left arm with the needle. A strange sensation filled Yuuma, like his muscles and even his bones were turning into jelly. His body, which should have been stone, began to tremble like slime. The petrification symbol beneath Yuuma’s HP bar was overwritten with the double-silhouette transformation symbol he had seen earlier. A moment later, the jelly-like sensation disappeared as if it had never happened. The needle must have momentarily transformed Yuuma’s body into jelly and then re-created him as human, consuming the petrification status in the process. Either way, he could move again—now was his chance! Yuuma had been knocked down earlier and was now lying face up. He leaped to his feet and dashed forward. As he ran, Yuuma materialized another object from his inventory. It was a four-centimeter-thick, fifty-centimeter-long silver chain—the fragment of the cleansing steel chain that had sealed the door to the dungeon underneath Philos Island. Since it wasn’t a weapon, Yuuma could still materialize it here in the real world. Despite not being a weapon, however, it was still harder and more durable than the weapons the enemies wielded. The duo in black noticed Yuuma’s approach. They raised their blocky swords. “Hyarggh!” With a scream of rage, Yuuma swung his chain at the guard on the left. The guard’s thick sword, which had managed to rebuff even Kenk’s hammer, crumbled against the cleansing steel chain like plywood. The chain carried through, striking the guard on their left shoulder. The black-clad guard on the right raced forward to swing at Yuuma, not even sparing a second glance for his friend who had been knocked to the ground. Yuuma was wide open; it was too late to defend or dodge. However… Creeaaak. There was a noise, like gears grinding to a stop, as the world came to a halt again. The only one still moving in the blue space was Yuuma. He turned to the right and raised his chain into the air again. As Yuuma swung his chain, the world returned. His opponent, who likely had no idea what had just happened, was unable to avoid the chain as it swept down directly from overhead, striking him in the side of the neck and knocking him head over heels. Behind him, the Mage in the wolf mask extended his left hand. He was probably planning on canceling his wind spell and intercepting Yuuma with a different spell… Wait, no. That left hand had been a bluff. The Mage’s right hand flashed like lightning as he drew a longsword from inside his coat. “Hyah!” With a spirited cry, the Mage thrust straight forward with his sword. The point was sharp enough to pierce Yuuma’s heart. Under normal circumstances, Yuuma wouldn’t have been able to avoid an attack like that. However, Yuuma twisted his body to the right while activating his vires. While the world was still stopped, he dodged to the right once more, using Quick Action to evade twice in a row. The wolf Mage, or rather magic knight, had put all his strength into the thrust, since missing seemed impossible. When Yuuma somehow managed to dodge instead, the Mage lost his balance. Yuuma swung with his right fist, gripping the chain tightly and aiming for the magic knight’s head, which was still hidden entirely beneath the wolf mask. The left half of the mask broke, and the magic knight was sent flying backward more than three meters, landing face up on the ground. All was silent. The chain wrapped around Yuuma’s hand made a slinking noise as he let it go slack. Yuuma straightened up slowly as he stared into the magic knight’s now half-exposed face. “How could you…Niki?!” (TO BE CONTINUED)