Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 17 - Chapter 1.5

Interlude: Outside and Within

Reality, Kurosaki Household

On the evening of April 18th, Juri Kurosaki—Juliet’s real-life counterpart—came back home thoroughly excited to go on a quest with her friends Chelsea and Max.

“Hm-hm-hmm...” Juri silently hummed a tune. In Infinite Dendrogram, she may have been the famous Altarian duelist, the “Black Crow,” but in reality, she was a fairly normal—although perhaps a bit introverted—second-year middle schooler.

Through her avatar in Dendro, she was able to express her eccentric style and worldview to the fullest, and nothing was more fun for her than entering that world and going on adventures with her closest friends.

“I’m baack!” Juri cried in high spirits as she entered her home and rushed to her room.

“Welcome back,” her mother replied. “Juri, I need to tell you something. It’s about your tutor.”

“...My what?”

“You’ll have one starting the day after tomorrow. I think it would be really good for you to learn from someone who passed the UTokyo entrance exams on their first try.”

Hearing those words made Juri’s heart skip a beat.

A full day had passed since that sudden announcement; it was now April 19th. Juri returned from school in a completely different mood than she had the day before.

The cause of her dampened mood was all the things she’d heard from her mother and Ray.

“Ughh...” She let out a sigh as she flopped facedown on her bed.

Her mother had told her a while ago that she would find her a tutor when she entered her second year of middle school. Juri had been able to avoid getting one during her spring break, but it was now over halfway through April. She couldn’t push it back any further.

Her grades were neither particularly good nor particularly bad, but knowing how intense high school exams could be, it was a good idea to start studying now. Juri herself understood that.

She still found it hard to accept, though, because lessons with a tutor would take up time she could otherwise spend having fun with her friends.

Time in Infinite Dendrogram passed three times as quickly as it did in reality, meaning that every hour spent with her tutor would be three fewer hours spent with Chelsea and the others.

If the tutor only took up a small part of her week, that would be okay. But what if the tutor was strict and made her spend most of her free time on studying?

What if they put a limit on her Dendro playtime—and her mother agreed?

What if...she ended up like Ray and had to quit Infinite Dendrogram entirely until her exams were finished?

In that case, the upcoming event might be her last chance to play with the others for a very long time.

“Nhh...” Lying with her face buried in her pillow filled her head with all these negative thoughts...

“Ngh!”

...but after a moment, she roused herself and got up from her bed.

There was nothing Juri could do about the tutor at this point, and there was no telling how things would change tomorrow. So, she gathered her resolve and decided to prepare for whatever might come.

She turned her thoughts towards the event, dedicated to enjoying it to the fullest.

◇◇◇

A Certain Place in New York

It was late at night on the east coast, but Chelsea was wide awake.

Unable to sleep, she was sipping on brandy while sorting her Infinite Dendrogram photo collection.

In it, of course, were photos of the clan she’d recently lost.

“...Haah,” she sighed. Chelsea never would’ve thought that the clan that had lasted since their days in Granvaloa would collapse because of a twenty-fold cheater...who hadn’t even tried to go for her.

“And these were the same people who joined me instead of staying in Granvaloa...” she said, gazing at a photo from her clan’s golden age.

Back then, the clan had been over twice as large as it had been just before it disbanded, and it had been a well-known entity among all Masters of Granvaloa. Chelsea looked through the photos—among them a shot of her standing with a girl bandaged like a mummy—and said to herself, “I can’t even say anything to Leon anymore... I’m just like his Eldridge.”

Those were both the real and in-game names of a friend. When that thought had passed, she resumed organizing her photos chronologically until she came across her first photos from Altar.

I kinda remember having a hard time getting used to Altar’s dueling rules, she thought.

Duels in Granvaloa were different than in other countries. While Altar, Dryfe, and so on had 1v1s, Granvaloa’s duels—if they could be called that—were naval group battles.

Since the victory conditions were so different, as a new Altarian Master, she had a lot of trouble standing out at first. Still, she’d gained a friend and rival in Juliet, so she’d been able to enjoy herself in spite of that.

“...Ah,” she murmured as she noticed a photo showing her and three of her friends after they’d won an event in Gideon called “Water Survival.”

This reminds me that I haven’t shown it to her yet, she thought. Chelsea’s fighting style had changed since she’d moved from Granvaloa to Altar, and since she hadn’t acquired a Superior Job yet, the height of her power was actually in the past now—before the move.

Looking back on the past as she was, Chelsea couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if she were to face her friend using her previous fighting style.

If I get the chance in today’s event, I should probably try that...or maybe I should just try it no matter what, she thought.

“Anyway, that’s it for the photo sortin’. I’ll go get some shut-eye.” On the east coast, the event would start on April 20th, at 11 in the morning. She really ought to get some sleep for now.

The device Chelsea left behind still showed the many photos she’d just been sorting.

Among them was one shot of a vast naval battlefield, with her own pirate ship involved in the fray. Her vessel leisurely floated through a stretch of ocean crowded with wooden debris—the remains of over a hundred other ships.

This had been the result of a certain battle royale event in Granvaloa—a feat Chelsea had achieved in a time when she’d been called by a different nickname.

◇◆◇

Control AI No. 13’s Workspace

“An eveeent, an eveeent! So much to dooo, so little tiiime, but I’ll dooo what I caaan...”

In a space filled with countless floating screens, a number of cats dressed in clothing—all of them Cheshire—were singing as they worked.

Some other Cheshires were visible on the screens, as well. They were someplace far away, burying stone slates with something written on them.

Each cat looked both busy and happy at the same time.

“I see that somebody is hard at work.”

“Wooow! You sure are busy, Cheshy!”

Two other entities entered the space and spoke these words.

Both of them were control AI No. 11—Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

“Yep. After all, this event’s my ideaaa,” said one of the cats.

“I handle miscellaneous chores, so I sometimes take charge of eveeents,” said another.

“Gotta work haaard!” said a third. Perhaps because this multitasking forced him to distribute his processing power, the Cheshires spoke in a manner that was somewhat...slower than usual.

“Well, we will leave most of this event to you. Although...” said Tweedledum.

“Ain’t this event a bit easyyy? And doncha think you’re abusin’ your authorityyy?” continued Tweedledee.

“Ngh,” the Cheshires let out as all of them stopped what they were doing. “I mean...I want this event to be fun...and I got Alice to cooperate...a-and I asked you to give out the tickets, just like you always do...”

While Cheshire was in charge of miscellaneous tasks and chores, the twins were the control AI who handled events. As well, they were also the AIs best suited to selecting the people who would participate in them.

“Yes. Once again, we have focused on Masters with sixth-form Embryos.”

“Yep! The main point of these events is to get more Superiooors!”

The goal of Infinite Dendrogram’s control AIs was to increase the number of Superior Embryos. The means to achieve that were many and varied, ranging from UBMs from Epic to Superior, as well as the presence of powerful dev-side Masters like Tom Cat or Chrono Crown.

This event was another means to that end.

“Well, I knew it’d be like thaaat,” said Cheshire. “But we’ve held a lot of events with pre-Superiors and not many of them evolved, you knooow?”

“Indeed,” said Tweedledum as he adjusted his glasses.

“That’s whyyy, to spice things uuup, we got participants from a wider range of fooorms!” added Tweedledee as she spun around with her eyes closed. Though their actions were very different, both of them had confident smiles on their faces.

“...You mean like Ray? He just recently became high-rank, didn’t he?” Cheshire said, remembering a familiar name that had recently gotten onto the list—one of the Embryos that was on it despite not being in its sixth form. “Or do you mean...?” he added. There was an entry on the list simply called “Top Secret”—a participant not even Cheshire himself knew anything about.

“You will find out when the event begins,” said Tweedledum.

“It’s gonna be sooo exciting!” said Tweedledee.

Cheshire looked at them in silence. While the twins may have seemed like polar opposites, they were actually one single Infinite Embryo. On top of that, they were perhaps the most dedicated of all the control AIs to the cause of creating Superiors, and that was exactly why Cheshire couldn’t help but worry about what they were planning to throw into this event.

...This reminds me of the Love-Duel Festival, he thought. Though I guess it’s not quite as big a deal.

Thanks to the twins causing Hannya to lose it, Gideon had yet again been brought to the verge of destruction.

However, in this event, there was no possibility of tian casualties. After all, it would take place in a special area meant specifically for it.

On an isolated island, far from the continent, the Masters would take part in a battle royale.