Episode Two: Seniors
April 4th, 2045, Reiji Mukudori
It was the second day of college. Classes were over, and I was heading to relax in the café. Fuyuki had ended up not coming to college all of yesterday, but he’d come as normal today.
The four of us — including Kasugai, who had come during second period yesterday, as planned — all scolded Fuyuki, telling him we were worried about him, and then sharing the info we’d gotten from sitting in the classes.
Natsume also told him that he owed us lunch in the expensive cafeteria.
Anyway, I parted ways with them, and it was time for me to build my timetable for Monday and Tuesday. I’d have to consider the balance between all the days, but I knew for sure that I wanted Monday’s first period open, since I’d probably spend most of my weekends logged in to Dendro for long periods. Quartierlatin surely wouldn’t be the last clash between Altar and Dryfe, so I had to dedicate as much time for Dendro as possible.
...That thought made me feel like Dendro had become a really big part of my life, but I was fine with that. I just had to take care of any Dendro trouble while being careful that I didn’t lose control of my life in reality. Of course, it would be best if there was no trouble at all.
Specifically, I would have liked to avoid any more Superior-related trouble, but that seemed unlikely. Anyway, I’d save the thinking about Dendro trouble for when I came online. For now, I was just going to think about my real life, drink this fancy tea, and—
“Heyoo! Hi, Ray! How’re ya?!” a voice came from behind me.
It was akin to the insane ramblings of a cosmic horror, and it was coupled with a slap on my shoulder. It clearly wanted my attention, but I didn’t want to turn around, because I knew exactly what it was.
“Ah. Those cream puffs look great. Don’t mind if I doooo!” The creature reached forward and took one of the 300 yen chou à la crèmes I had.
The slender, beautiful fingers made me picture the tentacles of indescribable eldritch horrors lurking inside the deepest, darkest trenches of the ocean.
“So what kinda tea’s that?” the person went on.
...No good. If I continued to ignore her, she’d probably take more of my snacks.
“...Fuso,” I said as I turned around. “You’re not supposed to take people’s food without permission. What are you, Nemesis?”
“Those words make me wonder about li’l Nemesis’s role,” said the cosmic aberration, AKA the Superior and my upperclassman, Tsukuyo Fuso.
Not even real life could save me from encountering this Superior...
“Hmm? Why’re ya lookin’ at me like I’m a monster?” she asked.
You’re not a monster, but a yokai, I thought, not daring to say it. The Chou à la Crème Kitsune.
“Oh dear, you look upset,” she said. “Sorry ’bout the cream puff. It looked so good that my hand moved on its own. I skipped lunch, so I’m hungry, too. Will you forgive me if I buy you somethin’? I can even get you somethin’ more expensive. A sponge cake? Parfait?”
“Just get me a new chou à la crème,” I said.
“’Kaaay... Didn’t take you for the type who’d be picky about food names.”
“I’m just calling it by its name on the menu.”
She went on to order some tea and snacks, and sat down on the chair in front of me.
Ah! Damn it! We ended up sitting at the same table!
“Boy, is it hard to meet when we’re in different departments,” she said, flopping back across from me.
“Yeah...”
“We had a good time chattin’ in the club room last time, didn’t we?”
“That’s not how I remember it!”
You dragged me in and held me down!
“Details, details... How’re you doing these days?”
“Fine, I guess,” I shrugged. “College is different than high school, so I’m still adjusting to the system. I’m making a timetable right n—”
“I don’t wanna hear that boring stuff,” she cut me off.
She just called everything I was up to “boring”...
“I meant in Dendro,” the aberration continued. “What kinda deadly fights are ya gettin’ into recently?”
“Why are you making it sound like I’m always on the verge of dying?” I demanded, looking back at the dangers I’d faced in Quartierlatin and being unable to deny her implication. “Well, I did go through some stuff after leaving Torne...”
“Ah. Were you caught up in the trouble at Quartierlatin?” she asked, making it clear that unlike Natsume and Akiyama, she hadn’t seen the video.
“No comment...”
“Ahaha! ‘No comment,’ he says!” I had no idea what was so funny, but she burst out laughing and started poking me in the cheek.
Her nails weren’t sharp — probably because she was a medical student — but it kinda annoyed me.
“Tell me if the trouble ends up hurtin’ ya. I’ll treat ya for a special price,” Miss Aberration said.
“...How much are we talking?” I asked.
“One heal and you join the club.”
I could consider that much...
“Two heals and you join The Lunar Society.”
“Not happening!”
I was against getting a death penalty just to fix a bad injury-type status effect, but I sure as hell wouldn’t pick anything worse!
“Oh, that’s sooo mean.”
“At least I’m not going around a university campus inviting people to my cult,” I shot back.
Isn’t that forbidden? I fumed silently.
“Hey, don’t be like that,” Miss Eldritch said. “That was just a joke. Look, the snacks are here, so let’s just have some tea. I need a break right now.”
“Did something happen?” I asked slowly.
“I had to hand in some reports. Today was the deadline, but... stuff happened on Saturday, so I had to get ’em done yesterday.”
Reports? I thought. So even she can be a proper student, huh?
She was a Superior in Dendro and the top of a cult both here and there, but now she seemed like a normal university girl. The “stuff on Saturday” must’ve been related to Mr. Shijima.
...Fine. I have her to thank for fixing my arm, so I could at least have some tea with her.
“This all looks sooo good. Wanna feed me? Here! Ahhhh,” she said as she opened her mouth.
This woman...
“Nope,” I replied. “Also, isn’t that something you should ask your boyfriend?”
“Boyfriend?”
“Isn’t that what Tsukikage basically is?”
She blinked a few times, then laughed out loud. “No no no no! We’re not like that.”
“O-Ohh... B? Wh-What’s up...?” asked Miss Aberration. Her smile was looking a bit stiff.
“Your mobile is off, so I went looking for you. Associate Professor Miyano left us a message in the club room.”
“No! I don’t wanna hear it!” the aberration wailed as she closed her ears and shook her head.
B3 ignored this and delivered the death sentence. “‘You need to fix the report. The deadline is 9PM today.’”
The aberration made Tsukikage work so hard, and yet couldn’t even handle the report? I feel for the guy...
“Nooo...! I don’t wanna go through that again! B! Do it for me!”
“Who do you think you’re asking? We’re in different years and departments. Give up and go back to editing the report. And turn your mobile back on.”
She clearly turned it off because she knew this would happen, I thought.
“Nooo...! Help me, Kage!”
You mean the person who collapsed because of you?
Miss Aberration continued to whine for a few moments before finishing her tea and snacks and returning to the club room to fix the report. She’d always been just this indefinable, morally-grey cosmic horror to me, but now I knew that she could be a normal college student, too.
“So... She has bad grades?” I asked B3.
“Not bad or good. They’re normal. It’s just that she is juggling her studies and being the leader of The Lunar Society, so all the lacking bits really stand out.”
That makes Tsukikage seem... really amazing.
“Anyway,” said B3 as she took Miss Aberration’s seat. “Haven’t seen you in four days. In reality, anyway.”
Chasing after Miss Eldritch had worn her out, so she was sitting down to take a breather, and I’d be damned if she didn’t deserve it.
“That’s true. We just met on Friday,” I said. But on the other side, she’d been with me all the way through the events at Torne until returning to the capital. “Still, you get a few more days if you add the time in Infinite Dendrogram.”
“True,” she agreed.
The tripled time never ceased to weird me out.
“How was it at your parents’ place? Did it all work out?” I asked.
“Yes. The tea ceremony went by without a problem.”
Her family back in Kyoto were practitioners of the Way of Tea, and when everyone there had caught a cold, she was called to fill in.
I was glad to hear it had gone well.
“I returned here yesterday, after cleaning up and catching up with my family,” she said. “You seemed to have a hard time, though... I saw the video.”
“Ohh...” So Fujibayashi was more informed than Miss Aberration.
“You really like going head-first into trouble, don’t you?” she commented.
“I’d say that trouble likes coming to me,” I replied. Then again, I’d gone there to get the Prism Rider job. No one had forced me. So maybe you could say I’d jumped into trouble on my own.
“Sorry I couldn’t help you,” Fujibayashi went on. “Are you still in Quartierlatin?”
“Yes. I still have something to do there.”
Quartierlatin now had many quests related to the town’s restoration and the ruins. I was fine with returning to Gideon next weekend, so I’d decided to hang around Quartierlatin for now. Besides, Azurite had said she’d stay there until Thursday, Earth time.
“Then I will go there tomorrow,” Fujibayashi said. “I can’t come online today because I’m also busy with reports for college.”
“Okay. I’ll be waiting.”
We chatted about recent happenings and enjoyed some tea for awhile.
“By the way, this is unrelated, but...” Fujibayashi seemed to have remembered something. “I have something to tell you about Hell General.”
“What about him?” I asked as I remembered the devil-wielder.
“Tonight... or more like tomorrow... he’s going to have a duel for his throne.”
“Well, he is the first in the imperium’s duel rankings. It seems a bit sudden, though.”
“I’m sure he knows the general opinion about him and wants to fix it as soon as possible. Thus, the duel.”
Basically, he’d found out about the video and wanted to restore his reputation where he had the home field advantage — the duel arena.
Since the arenas returned all the items you used, he was absolutely free to summon the Mythical devil he hadn’t been able to summon against me. It was definitely the best place for him to show his power.
“Though, I can’t be sure if he will win this one,” Fujibayashi said after a sip of her tea.
“Why?”
Mythicals were two tiers above the Legendary Gigaknights I’d faced. If he was free to summon them, I was guessing he’d have the win in the bag.
Fujibayashi answered briefly, but told me everything I needed to know in a few simple words: “Because he’s up against another Superior.”
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