Chapter 7

Yuuma stopped himself before he could finish the thought. He tore his eyes away from his sister and focused instead on Kenk, who was still lying on the ground. Kenk looked like he did before the VR dive—no wings or horns—but his trademark nylon hoodie was torn to shreds, and his face, chest, and forearms, where the sleeves had been rolled up, were covered with numerous scratches. His upper left arm, where he had been struck with the severed limb, was soaked in blood. Kenk’s injuries had all been caused by their class’s foremost dreamgirl, Sumika Watamaki—now a monster. Yuuma stared, mouth agape, as Sawa examined Kenk’s injuries. “He’s still breathing,” she said, her winged back turned toward Yuuma, “and it looks like his internal organs are probably fine. His left arm is broken, though.” “It’s…b-broken…?” “That’s what I just said.” Sawa exhaled sharply. She glanced up and to the left for a moment. Yuuma followed her gaze, but there was nothing there except for the darkness of the playroom ceiling. “…?” Sawa returned her gaze to the ground and then reached her right hand toward Kenk’s face. His mouth was pinched shut in distress. She pried it open slightly and then placed her left index finger near the opening. “S-Sawa, what are you—?” “Just be quiet and watch,” she ordered, cutting Yuuma off. As she drew in a sharp breath— “Sacre…” —the pattern encircling her left hand—her QREST circuitry—flared with a pinkish purple glow. “…Ros…” A subtle pink light gathered at the tip of her finger. The surface of the light rippled softly, like water. “…Casus!” As Sawa spoke the final word, a glowing, pale pink dewdrop hung from her finger and dripped into Kenk’s open mouth. At first nothing happened, but after the second and third drops, Kenk’s lips trembled slightly, and he began to swallow reflexively. Yuuma finally understood: Those were the same bittersweet droplets that he had tasted a few minutes earlier when he, too, had been unconscious. Sawa had just chanted three words of power used for casting magic in the world of Actual Magic. Yuuma even recognized the spell. “Sawa… That’s the Healing Droplet spell… But we’re in the real world now…” “Are you still stuck on that?” said Sawa, exasperated, as she continued to trickle spelldrops into Kenk’s mouth. “You saw me use Flame Arrow earlier, didn’t you? You even used your own Grasping Hand spell to…” Sawa trailed off awkwardly. At the mention of the Grasping Hand spell, Yuuma gasped sharply. Grasping Hand was available only to the Monster Tamer character class. It was used to capture monsters. It had a range of just ten meters, and it wasn’t even autohit. But hitting a monster with Grasping Hand while it was already weakened would transform it into a card, and the monster could then be summoned later as a familiar. It was all coming back to him now. Yuuma had used Grasping Hand right before he lost consciousness. Not against a random monster, but against the creature that had so gravely injured him and Kenk… “Ugh… Urgh…” Someone moaned weakly. Yuuma glanced down at his feet. Kenk was still lying on the walkway. His eyebrows were pinched, and his sluggish mouth sucked desperately at the falling droplets. Yuuma felt embarrassed. That must have been what he had looked like mere moments earlier. Kenk looked like a little kid—or more like a baby. I should film this—I’d have blackmail material on Kenk for life! Speaking of which, I wonder if normal apps still work with the QREST. As Yuuma was musing to himself, Kenk suddenly opened his eyes. “It’s…so…delicious…!” Kenk shouted with such force that Yuuma almost expected to see a laser beam shoot out of his mouth. Sawa hurriedly clamped her left hand over Kenk’s lips. “Shh, be quiet! What if something big hears you?!” she hissed. Kenk blinked once, twice…maybe ten times in total, staring first at Sawa and then at Yuuma. “Mmmphh…? Mmph…?” Kenk tried to speak, but Sawa’s hand was still clamped firmly over his mouth. “Make another noise like that and I’ll hit you with a Silence spell, got it?” she whispered before finally removing her hand. “Sawa…? Yu…?” Kenk said, repeating his muffled words. The twins nodded. Kenk glanced back and forth between the two. He had been friends with both of them for over five years. “But…but you’re…” Kenk’s reaction to Sawa seemed natural enough. After all, there were horns on her head, wings growing out of her back, and she was dressed in some weird bathing suit getup. But all that had changed about Yuuma was his QREST, which was currently covered by his sleeve. At least Yuuma thought that was all that had changed. He glanced down at himself. Same shirt, same blue collarless jacket, same navy capri pants—the Yukihana Elementary School uniform. No changes there. “What about you, Kenk? Are you okay?” asked Yuuma, temporarily setting aside his confusion. Kenk patted his chest and face. Yuuma realized that the scratches that had been covering Kenk’s body had now faded—and his left arm, which by all rights should have been broken, was moving normally. Kenk’s hoodie was still in tatters, though. “Mh… Mhmm. My left arm still hurts a little, but the bone seems fine. I coulda sworn I heard it crack when Watamaki…” Kenk trailed off, his eyes suddenly going wide. His face steadily grew paler. “Yu, was that…was that really Watamaki…?” Yuuma could see the terror in his friend’s face. No! he wanted to shout, but he pursed his mouth shut instead. Sumika was the most beautiful girl in school. Kenk probably had a crush on her, just like every other boy in class. Not that Yuuma and Kenk ever talked about girls. But Kenk had to stand next to Sumika for a photo at last year’s school sports festival, and Yuuma knew Kenk still treasured his copy and even kept it saved right on his QREST. However, if Yuuma tried to hide the truth now, it would just be an even greater shock when it came out later. As Kenk’s friend, Yuuma owed him the truth. “Yeah… It was her.” “But…she had no face… And she attacked us with a club…” Kenk’s memory appeared to be a little fuzzy. It wasn’t a club that Sumika had been wielding but rather a human arm that had been ripped clean off the shoulder. Likely the arm of one of their classmates. While Yuuma was still considering whether to mention the severed arm, Kenk began to stand up, cradling his own left arm. Yuuma lent him a hand, pulling Kenk slowly to his feet. “What happened to Watamaki after that, Yu…?” Yuuma stared into his friend’s face, which was topped with a row of spiky bangs. Yuuma had never seen Kenk look so worried. Yuuma knew this wasn’t going to be easy to hear. “She’s not… We didn’t kill her.” “O-oh… So the two of you were able to drive her off? But how did you manage that? She was so powerful, and…” Kenk suddenly trailed off, blinking rapidly as if just noticing the change in Sawa. He began running his tongue along the insides of his mouth, as if to retaste the magic drops that had healed him moments earlier. “Is this…magic? Did you just use recovery magic…? Does that mean we’re still in the virtual world? Did someone use magic to turn Watamaki into a monster…?” “…” That had been Yuuma’s own thought when he first saw the eyeless, noseless monster that Sumika had become. What if he only thought he had exited his Caliculus and was still inside the capsule? Maybe this wasn’t the Althea of the real world but an elaborate virtual reconstruction. Yuuma could still see his name, Yuuma Ashihara, and his blue HP and green MP bars, displayed in the upper-left-hand corner of his field of view. About two-tenths of his HP bar was missing, and more than three-tenths of his MP bar—probably because the blows to his shoulder and back hadn’t healed completely, and because he had used up MP to cast Grasping Hand. Of course…! When Sawa had glanced up and to the left earlier, before casting her healing spell, she hadn’t been looking at the ceiling. She had been checking for own HP/MP bar. In other words, Sawa could see the Actual Magic UI, too, just like Yuuma. “Sawa…,” said Yuuma, glancing over his shoulder. “What?” “Earlier, when I started up AM, you said that this is the real world. And that if we die here, we die for real… Are you sure about that?” “Yeah, I’m sure.” Sawa averted her gaze in a way that seemed uncharacteristic of her. “But how…?” asked Kenk, who was now leaning against the wall. Sawa spoke quickly, still not looking at him or Yuuma. “It’s these…,” she began, gesturing toward the row of capsules to the side above the walkway. “You guys should know this, but the Caliculus capsules only create physical sensations like touch and balance. Sight is handled by the QREST eyelenses and sound by the earpieces. But there’s no support yet for virtual tastes and smells. In other words, if you can taste things and you can smell things, the world isn’t virtual.” “…” Sawa had barely finished speaking as Yuuma and Kenk each took in a great big whiff of air through their noses. A thick, gloomy smell hung in the shadows. With a breath that deep, it was impossible to miss. The smell of fresh mechanical grease. The chemical scent of plastic and adhesives. And of course—the metallic stench of blood. Sawa was right. Smell was one layer that had been missing from the fields and dungeons of Actual Magic. On the other hand, with all the other strange things going on, was it so far out of left field to think that the Caliculus devices themselves might have been altered? In fact, wasn’t it easier to believe that someone might have patched the Caliculus in secret than it was to believe that all of this could be real? We can’t even trust our own eyes at the moment…, Yuuma thought absentmindedly. Wait a second—eyes. Yuuma suddenly realized there was a simple way of telling what was real from what was fake. “Of course… Why didn’t I think of that earlier…?” he said. “Think of what?” asked Kenk. Yuuma pointed at his own eyes. “Our eyelenses! If everything we’re seeing is digital, then it’ll all disappear as soon as we remove our eyelenses.” “Hey, you’re right!” Yuuma was already tapping the System icon in the upper-left corner of his virtual desktop. QREST multilayer thin-film computers consisted of three components: the QREST itself, which was attached to the skin; the eyelenses, which were worn in each eye; and the earpieces, which were inserted in both ears. The eyelenses were how visual information was displayed. Once a user removed their eyelenses, everything virtual disappeared from sight. QREST lenses were very similar in shape and material to soft contact lenses. Apparently, to remove contact lenses, you had to actually pinch the lens with your fingertips and peel it straight off your eyeball. Or so Yuuma had heard. Removing QREST lenses wasn’t nearly so disgusting. You simply tilted your head downward, cupped your hand under your eye, and then with your other hand, you tapped the Remove Lens button in the System menu. The vacuum seal would break, allowing the lens to pop right out… “Huh…?” Yuuma’s lenses weren’t coming out. He kept tapping REMOVE LENS for his right eye, expecting to feel the tingle that came when the lens released or the weight of the tiny lens hitting the palm of his hand. “Don’t bother,” muttered Sawa, standing next to him. Yuuma was about to ask her what she meant, but he was interrupted by Kenk groaning. Turning around quickly, he saw that Kenk had stepped away from the wall and was now squinting around the room, his open palm held upward. “Did you get your lenses out, Kenk?!” “Yeah, but nothing’s changed. The Caliculuses are all still in pieces. And look at my hoodie! This was my favorite…” In other words, this truly was the real world. Yuuma sighed in resignation. He had already been about 90 percent sure to begin with, but now it was 100. “The reason you can’t take your eyelenses out,” said Sawa, “is because they’re fused with your body, just like your QREST. So have your earpieces, by the way, so don’t try to rip those out, either.” “They what…?!” In a panic, Yuuma began probing his ear with his finger, but the tiny mic and speaker inserted into the upper fold of his ear seemed to have fused entirely with his skin. Yuuma’s jaw dropped. Sawa grabbed Yuuma’s hand and forcefully pulled it away from his ear before turning toward Kenk. “Hurry up and put your eyelens back in, Kenk. Those are one of our only lifelines right now.” “O-okay, yeah…!” Kenk nodded rapidly and stuck the lenses back into his eyes, blinking several times. “So then…this is actually all real?” he said. He held his arm up in the air and flexed it several times. “Well, my arm still hurts. That’s pretty real. Let’s see…” Kenk suddenly grabbed his crotch. “Yep, that’s still there…” Yuuma wasn’t sure what the developers had been thinking, but there was one important piece of “equipment” that had actually been left off the avatars in Actual Magic. Yuuma knew exactly where Kenk was coming from. Sawa, however, scowled and kicked him in the shin. Speaking of which, Yuuma noticed that Sawa wasn’t wearing her normal sneakers anymore. They seemed to have transformed into some kind of taloned boots. “Ouch…!” “If that’s all it took to convince you, you could’ve left your eyelenses in and we could have skipped my whole explanation about the Caliculus, you doofus.” “I was just checking. I still need to know, though…,” said Kenk, rubbing his shin and sizing Sawa up and down. “Know what…?” “Well…if this is the real you, even looking like that, then that must mean…that was the real Watamaki earlier, right?” Kenk turned his eyes toward Yuuma. “What happened to Watamaki, Yu? Where is she…?” “…” Yuuma bit his lip quietly for a moment before reaching into his left jacket pocket and withdrawing a card. It was a semitransparent purple card, with fine silver etching that displayed the figure of a young girl. The girl was standing face forward. Only her upper half was visible. The figure was slim, with long hair. But her face lacked both eyes and a nose, and her mouth was unusually large. The image was extremely detailed; she was even wearing a blood-spattered Yukihana Elementary School uniform. Two words were written underneath that image, in clear bold letters: SUMIKA WATAMAKI. Yuuma silently held the card up for Kenk to see. Kenk furrowed his brow tightly and then opened his eyes wide. His lips began trembling violently, and he shook his head over and over again as if to deny what he was seeing. “Kenk. I thought I was going to have to use my magic to kill Sumika in order to stop her,” Sawa explained quietly. Kenk turned toward her, his face pale. “But Yuuma refused to let that happen. He could barely even stand, but he used his Grasping Hand spell to capture her. He risked his life. He did it to save her. Isn’t that right, Yu?” Yuuma nodded slowly. He pressed the card to his chest. “Yeah… I figured if I managed to capture her, we’d be safe for now, and then we could look for a way to turn her back to normal while she’s still a card. I just want to find a way to turn her back. Will you help me, Kenk? Please?” That finally seemed to shake Kenk out of his stupor. The blood returned to his face, and a glint of determination appeared in his eyes. There’s the Kenk I know. Always ready to go the extra mile, not for himself but for his friends. Yuuma stared into Kenk’s face. He wasn’t sure he could say the same about himself, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Kenk took a deep breath and then smacked himself vigorously on both cheeks. He winced slightly—maybe his arm still hurt—but his voice sounded calmer now. “All right, then. Yu. Sawa. Let’s do this. I don’t really understand what’s going on…but we’re alive, our legs still work, and we’ve got our wits about us. We can’t just sit around forever!” he said, thrusting his fist out toward Yuuma. “That’s the spirit!” said Yuuma, fist-bumping Kenk in return. Yuuma was pretty sure he didn’t hit Kenk’s fist any harder than usual, but for some reason… “Oww!!” …Kenk’s face bunched up in pain. “This is no time for jokes, Kenk…” “It’s not a joke! That really hurt… What are you hiding in there, brass knuckles?!” “Of course not!” said Yuuma, thrusting his open hand under Kenk’s nose for inspection. “Of course it hurt,” said Sawa, standing next to them. “Kenk is just a normal person right now, but you’re a Monster Tamer, Yu.” “A normal what…? Are you telling me…?” Kenk trailed off. He stared at Yu then back at Sawa. “You mean…that’s not cosplay?” “Cosplay?! Do you really think I’d be playing dress-up at a time like this?!” Sawa kicked Kenk in the leg before turning back toward Yuuma. “It’s about time I knocked some sense into this moron. I’ll take care of his awakening—his class upgrade. You go wake up Nagi. She should still be inside her Caliculus capsule. I doubt there’s any more monsters around, but be careful just in case.” “Yeah. Okay…” Yuuma nodded as he started down the walkway. “What do you mean by ‘class upgrade’?” he heard Kenk cry in fear from behind him. Now it made sense why Yuuma’s fist bump had hurt him so bad. After starting up Actual Magic like Sawa had told him to, Yuuma’s QREST had grown larger and extended up his arm. He could now see his own HP/MP bar in the upper-left corner of his vision, and he had also been able to see Sumika’s HP during their fight. If he’d injured Kenk with the fist bump—in other words, reduced Kenk’s hit points—Yuuma suspected he would have seen Kenk’s HP bar appear over his head, too. After his awakening, or class upgrade, or whatever Sawa had called it, he had also been able to swing around that heavy steel bar like it weighed nothing. It was all adding up. At the time, Sawa said that his “stats” had increased. What she meant was that Yuuma was no longer just some sixth-grade boy with two left feet. He now had the skills and abilities of a level 7 Monster Tamer. It wasn’t just his Grasping Hand spell, either. He was stronger now. Strong enough even to face off against monsters. Since Sawa could now use spells like Flame Arrow and Healing Droplet, she’d probably undergone her own awakening as a level 7 Mage. Yuuma wasn’t sure why Sawa’s clothes had also changed or why she had horns and wings now. None of that had happened to him. But since Sawa didn’t seem particularly bothered by it, Yuuma figured Sawa herself must have some idea as to what had caused it. Yuuma walked about ten meters as he continued to think. Finally he arrived in front the Caliculus capsule containing his friend, Nagi—Minagi Sano. He heard a strangled cry from behind him. “Aughhh!!” Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a pulsating orange light flare up toward the other end of the curving walkway. Kenk must have started up Actual Magic; his QREST was probably snaking up his arm at that very moment. That would mean Kenk was experiencing his own class upgrade—from sixth-grade boy to level 7 Warrior. He wouldn’t be able to use magic like Sawa and Yuuma, but his STR would be a lot higher than Yuuma’s. The next time they fist-bumped, Yuuma would be the one to feel it. Now all they had to do was awaken Nagi as a level 7 Priest, and they would have their party from Actual Magic back together in the real world. Physical hitter, magic damage dealer, healer, and pet class. A balanced four-person party. As Yuuma’s classmates had moved up in grades, the boy and girls had tended to grow apart and spend less time together. Yuuma, Sawa, Nagi, and Kenk, however, remained inseparable. As long as the four of them stayed together, Yuuma knew they would get to the bottom of whatever was happening and find a way to change Sumika back. Yuuma stared at the card in his left hand. Don’t worry. I’ll find a way to change you back, he whispered in his head before returning the card to his left jacket pocket. He wished he still had a card holster, like in Actual Magic, but he doubted he would find anything like that out here in the real world. Yuuma bounded up the short flight of stairs and circled around the platform, coming to a stop in front of the lid to Nagi’s capsule. Kenk, Yuuma, and Sawa had all escaped their capsules on their own. Yuuma wasn’t sure why Nagi hadn’t made it out yet, but he wouldn’t be surprised if she was sleeping in there. Nagi loved to spend as much time asleep as she could. Sometimes, when they were playing, Yuuma would think, Gosh, Nagi’s being awfully quiet, only to realize a moment later that she had actually dozed off. She was bright and intelligent, however—in fact, her grades were as good as Sawa’s—so she was always quick to catch on to what was happening once you woke her up. Yuuma decided to tap on the capsule first. He tried calling her name. “Nagi…? Wake up, Nagi!” No answer. She was probably out cold. He could try pounding on the capsule instead. Yuuma was pretty sure that would wake her up. But the playroom was massive; they hadn’t explored every nook and cranny yet. Something dangerous might be out there—something like the transformed Sumika. Something that might come looking if Yuuma made too much noise. It was better to be quiet. Yuuma was going to have to open Nagi’s capsule for her. He and Nagi lived next door to each other—they had even been bathed together sometimes when they were very young—but he still cringed at the idea of opening a girl’s capsule without permission when she might be sleeping inside. However, these were extraordinary circumstances. Hoping she would forgive him, Yuuma crouched down and gripped the emergency release lever toward the bottom of the capsule. He pressed the button on the tip of the lever to release the lock and pulled. With a thud, the lid of the capsule opened and rose into the air by about five centimeters. Yuuma placed his fingers into the opening and lifted the lid ever so slowly. “Nagi…,” he called. Yuuma’s heart skipped a beat, and his voice died in his throat. His body broke out into a cold sweat as he glanced from one end of the capsule to the next. But no matter how many times he looked, it was still the same. The Caliculus capsule was empty. Minagi Sano had disappeared without a trace.