Chapter 1 — Something like a Time Loop or a Restart at This Point Feels like a Rather Cliché Development!
Within the tour bus in the middle of an expansive grassland, the Sage Sion faced the students in the middle of their school trip.
“Now then, have you all calmed down?” Her previously arrogant, overbearing behavior nowhere to be seen, Sion waited for the class to quiet down before continuing.
“Who the hell are you?!” Once things had grown quiet, their teacher stood up and shouted at her. He had been seized by fear the moment he saw her, but maybe he had written off the memory of being killed by her as being part of a dream or something.
Sion raised her hand towards the teacher. Tomochika distinctly recalled what had happened the last time, how the teacher’s head had been blown clean off. However, unlike last time, the teacher only took his seat again.
“Explaining everything to the people who died at the start would be a pain, so I put him to sleep for now. I would like to put you to sleep as well, driver, but I will need you to drive the bus, so please cooperate.”
Remembering his own death, the driver responded with a vigorous nod. Last time, he had been killed by one of Sion’s outbursts.
“Now then, I am sure you all still harbor some negative feelings. Some of you no doubt recall fighting each other to the death. However, your taste for battle was an effect of the Battlesong client installed on you. So why don’t we let bygones be bygones? It all happened in a dream, so it has no bearing on reality. It would be quite strange of you to be upset with someone because they killed you in a dream.”
Tomochika couldn’t expect everyone to swallow that so quickly, but if they had really just appeared in this world, then technically nothing had happened yet. Even if they had an impression of how things were going to go, they couldn’t afford to doubt each other. Of course, they couldn’t just accept that everything that had happened was a dream, but they needed to hear what Sion had to say, even if they took it with a grain of salt.
“May I ask a question?” Yazaki raised his hand. He was the one who would be given the class of General by the Battlesong system were it to be installed in him.
“Yes? What is it?”
“You said everything that happened was a dream. For now, I’ll accept that explanation. But what comes next, then?”
“I see. I am also quite confused by this whole situation, so I was wondering much the same thing. But I have no intention of making you into Sage candidates again, so please rest easy. I have no intention of harming you at all.”
“You said you summoned us here to make us Sage candidates, right? If you’re not going to do that, can you send us back?”
“My sincerest apologies, but at my power level, sending you back isn’t possible.”
Her response sent a ripple of unease through the bus, but it was something Tomochika already knew. Sion had irresponsibly summoned them to this world without sparing a thought for how they might get back. In short, even if everything else had been a dream, the main problem hadn’t been resolved. They would still need to find a way to survive in this world.
“Then what are we supposed to do? If you’re not going to make us Sage candidates, why did you summon us?”
“That is indeed why I summoned you here, but the moment you arrived, I changed my mind. There is no particularly deep meaning to it; just think of it as a whim.”
“If this is all based on your whims, what’s to say your whims won’t make us all kill each other again?”
“I can guarantee I intend no harm to you. I can also provide you with enough power that you can live comfortably in this world.”
They could hardly trust what she was saying, but they didn’t have much choice under the circumstances. At the very least, the fact that they hadn’t been immediately saddled with a mission as they had been during their “dream” was a small improvement.
“May I ask one more thing?” Yazaki said.
“Of course.”
“It looks like some of our classmates are missing. What happened to them?”
“Ah, that...” Sion tilted her head slightly, looking towards the back of the bus as she decided how to answer.
Huh? Wait, are you saying? Tomochika thought to herself. It seemed Sion thought Yogiri was responsible for the missing students.
“Perhaps they didn’t make it here? The summoning spell I used was quite large in scale, so it is possible it didn’t manage to catch everyone,” she nonchalantly lied. “Now then, I am sure you all still have plenty of questions, but let us head to the city. Answering your questions in an environment like this will be far too tiring for all of us. I am sure you are still quite confused, but we can speak in greater detail once you have had some time to calm down. Driver, please drive straight ahead. You should find a city nearby.”
The driver obediently started up the bus again and began driving. The class was quiet. Their memories of their previous adventure likely gave them a lot more confidence than one would expect from a high school student who had just been transported to another world.
Tomochika looked back at their best defense against Sion: Yogiri Takatou.
“Wait, he’s still asleep?!”
Sitting at the far back of the bus, Yogiri was fast asleep. Tomochika suddenly recalled that he had been asleep up until the moment the dragon had attacked them the first time around.
◇ ◇ ◇
The class arrived in the city and were guided to a hotel. It was the same one where Tomochika and Yogiri had once met an incredibly talented concierge. While it must have been quite difficult to suddenly accommodate thirty new guests all at once, the hotel managed to find each of them a room. It seemed they were quite flexible when it came to accommodating the wishes of a Sage.
“Man, this is starting to feel really familiar,” Tomochika said as she sat down on the bed in her room. As she did, Mokomoko appeared at her side. Tomochika sighed. “Yeah, right, exactly like that.”
Indeed. This was when I first appeared before you, Mokomoko said.
Tomochika couldn’t say whether or not she was in the same room, but it was definitely similar to the one she had stayed in last time. Back then, Mokomoko had just as suddenly appeared in front of her when she had sat down on the bed.
“What is going on? Are we honestly supposed to believe that everything up until now has been a dream?”
We cannot simply accept what Sion says as the truth. We are quite likely still caught within a trap. It is precisely like that situation where one shouts, “This must be the work of an enemy stand!”
“It’s not like Sion did anything, though, right?”
Who knows? I have no idea what actually happened. I cannot imagine it happened randomly, so there is no doubt someone responsible. But judging from Sion’s reaction, she seems quite confused by the situation as well.
“I kind of want to talk about this. Where’s Takatou?” Though he had been fast asleep on the bus, he had of course woken up when they disembarked. He had still seemed a bit groggy at the time, but once his head was clear, he would understand their situation, so she wanted to talk to him about it.
Yes, I have already called him, so he should be here momentarily.
As Mokomoko spoke, a knock came at the door. Tomochika stood up and opened it.
“Hello.” Standing on the other side was Sion.
“Gah.”
“That is not a very polite way of greeting someone. I must admit to feeling quite hurt.”
“What do you want?”
“I think we have a lot to discuss. Ah, do not worry, Takatou is with me.” True to her word, Yogiri was standing right behind her. “I have prepared a conference room for us, so let us talk there.”
“A conference room?” Tomochika was a bit confused. If they wanted the conversation to remain private, they could have just spoken inside her room. She felt like a whole conference room was overdoing it.
“Let us go.” With that, Sion turned and left.
“What’s going on?” Tomochika asked Yogiri.
“No idea. I met her on the way to your room. But there are a few of us who know more about all this than the others, so she probably wants to talk to us all at once.”
Tomochika and Yogiri followed the Sage through the hotel.
“Were you surprised when you woke up, Takatou?”
“Sure. One minute we were floating in the sky and the next, I was sitting on a bus. What’s going on?”
“Apparently, the floating in the sky part was all a dream.” Since he had been asleep, he hadn’t heard Sion’s explanation, so Tomochika gave him a brief summary.
“And everyone’s dreams match?”
“Yeah. Kind of weird, isn’t it?”
“Doesn’t that mean this is probably a dream too?”
“Ahh...now that you mention it, if you pull that card once, it kind of makes you doubt that anything that happens in the future is real, doesn’t it?”
“Hopefully Sion will explain that to us,” Yogiri said. “Looks like we’re here.”
After walking for a while, Sion stepped into a room.
“Umm! I have absolutely nothing to do with this, so could I perhaps request that you release me?!”
As they followed her in, they were immediately met with the sight of Hanakawa desperately pleading. There was a large table in the center of the room with a number of their classmates sitting around it.
“He probably just wants to get out of here because he still has his Gift from before, so he wants to be set free to do whatever he likes,” Yogiri explained. “Can you turn off his powers for now, Sion?”
“Oh, yeah! This isn’t Hanakawa’s first time in this world, so he still has his powers as a Healer and that collar that turns people into slaves!”
“Thank you, Tomochika, but I believe that explanation is unnecessary!” Hanakawa complained.
“There is no need for concern. For those who have been to this world before, the backup data of their previous Gift will only be restored if Battlesong is installed in them once again. At this point, Hanakawa still doesn’t possess the Gift.”
“Ahh! As you say, it appears I am yet unable to do anything!” Hanakawa quickly took a seat.
As Tomochika and Yogiri followed suit, Sion sat with them. Tomochika looked around the table. Daimon Hanakawa, Carol S. Lane, Ryouko Ninomiya, Haruto Ootori, Shigeto Mitadera, the Sage Sion, Yogiri, and Tomochika. Eight people in all. Of all of them, Shigeto seemed particularly uncomfortable. After obtaining the Omega Blade, he had acted incredibly arrogant in front of them, so it seemed he was ashamed to face them.
“I kind of get why you called most of these people, but why Ootori?” Tomochika asked. Everyone else seemed to have been picked because they knew about Yogiri’s power.
“Ah, I once requested that he kill Takatou for me,” Sion answered. “The event where Takatou fell off a cliff was his doing.”
“Oh, that was you?” Yogiri frowned. Though he had been able to kill any obstacles that blocked his path, that had been a real pinch for him.
“Sorry about that, but it was all a dream, right?” Haruto seemed more than happy to write it all off as such.
“That’s right. Can we agree not to complain about all the things that happened, then?” Sion looked over everyone sitting at the table. It seemed she wasn’t interested in rehashing their old grudges either.
“We’ll never get anywhere if we keep bringing up stuff like that, so I’m fine with it,” Yogiri agreed.
“Speaking of which! Can we then say that everything I have done previously does not count?!” Hanakawa pleaded, leaning forward over the table.
“I don’t know if I like that, but I guess I don’t have a choice.”
No one objected, so they decided to let everything that had happened between them go.
“So!” Hanakawa continued. “That being the case! Something like a time loop or a restart at this point feels like a rather cliché development! Could you perhaps explain what is going on?!”
“I cannot say my understanding is complete either. That is why I thought to discuss this with all of you. The reason I called you here, and in particular you, Takatou, is that I believe there are merits to taking Takatou’s side.”
“Me?” Yogiri was all questions.
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