No Game No Life - Volume SS - Practical War Game - Chapter 3

THREEFOLD LEVITATION

Take any major incident, and you’ll find that the cause is usually something trivial. This was another one of those cases—many such cases. It started with an exchange of words between everyone’s favorite royal-siblings-who-refuse-to-work and the girl they were forcing all their work onto.

—Steph, you’re such an idiot.

—I don’t want to hear that from a deadbeat like you.

Et voilà! You have yourself a shitshow that will unfold over the next five days.

 ………

Day Three—The Dead of Night

The Kingdom of Elkia, currently transitioning into becoming the Commonwealth of Elkia.

A loud scream inappropriate for such a late hour could be heard throughout the Elkia Royal Castle.

“Why—?! Why can’t I ever wiiiiiin?!”

Crying with her face buried into the rug was the redhead who had just been called an idiot. The poor girl, Stephanie Dola, had just been bestowed the honorable title of chief minister by the two siblings who refused to help with any of the Commonwealth’s never-ending flow of tedious bureaucratic tasks.

“Can’t help ya there…”

“…Nope…”

The king and queen—brother and sister—eyed her disinterestedly: Sora, the black-haired, dark-eyed older brother, who wore his usual “I   PPL” shirt; and Shiro, the white-haired, red-eyed younger sister, who took her usual seat on her brother’s lap. She was wearing a pair of panties on her head.

The one on the floor was Steph, who, in an attempt to prove she was in fact not an idiot, had spent the last three days playing a game against the king and queen—the world’s strongest gaming duo known as “ ”. In case it wasn’t already obvious, she had lost. Not just once, but many times, at different games.

 Well, technically, “ ” hadn’t beaten her; it was Sora, the one who had called her an idiot.

“This doesn’t make any sense! I’ve kept up with your tricks, and I even tried using them against you. Why can’t I win?!”

Steph really wanted to beat him at something. She wanted to make him take back what he said about her being an idiot. She wanted him to help, you know, actually run the country. For the past three days, she would work during the day, then go to Sora and Shiro’s room to challenge them to different games, but she had yet to eke out a single victory.

That brings us to how we got here, with Shiro wearing Steph’s undergarments on her head.

Steph knew she couldn’t beat “ ”, but wouldn’t it be okay if she could at least put up a fight against Sora? Was that too much to ask for?

Evidently, it was—Sora had dominated her in every game they’d played over the past three days. It was just absurd. Sora looked at Steph, who was still sobbing—and, on a whim—

“…Hmm… Well… Maybe I could show you a thing or two… Y’know…so you don’t suck so much…” he offered.

From atop his lap, Shiro looked up at her brother and let out a small sigh.

—You coulda just told her I’ll show you how it’s done! Don’t give up hope yet!

Nonetheless, Steph peered up at Sora from the floor and listened to what he had to say.

“I’m sure you know how important it is to keep a poker face during a game, right?”

She answered his question with a sort of pout. With that question, he really does think I’m an idiot, doesn’t he? Steph went to make a retort, but Sora cut her off before she could.

“Truth is, a good poker face only gets you so far. After that, they’re totally pointless.”

“…Pardon?”

Well, what should I do, then? Steph’s gaze begged, to which Sora responded:

“In the world we came from, there’s this thing called microexpressions. The Immanity, Flügel, and Werebeasts all show them, too.”

“Microexpressions…?”

Steph realized he was introducing her to a new word, a new concept. She immediately got up off the floor and produced a pen and paper, ready to take notes. Sora, who seemed to be enjoying all this—

“In our world, there’s a famous psychologist named Paul Ekman.”

—began to explain this special skill off the top of his head in great detail, no tablet needed.

“According to him, everyone—regardless of how and where they were raised—exhibits brief, involuntary facial expressions that divulge their true emotions. These instances, which last less than 0.25 seconds, are called microexpressions.”

Sora chuckled to himself—he’d already mastered reading people’s faces by the time he could walk and talk. When he first learned about this hotshot scholar’s theory, he thought, Who does this guy think he is?

But Steph, who had no way of knowing what Sora was thinking, was taking note of everything he said. He shook his head and smiled.

“You also see this same thing in races other than the Immanity, for whatever reason. In my old world, people learned how to detect lies by studying other people’s microexpressions. As they say: ‘The eyes are the windows to the soul.’”

“W-wouldn’t that mean you’re basically reading their mind?!” Steph looked up from her notebook and shouted.

That would rival magic—or at least the Werebeasts’ enhanced senses. The techniques running rampant in the siblings’ previous world frightened her. Smirking, Sora shook his head and continued:

“They’re not quite that omnipotent… All you can pick up from a person’s facial expression is what they’re feeling…like, for example—”

He hit Steph with a question—a very sudden question.

“Steph, you like going commando, don’t you?”

“Wh-whaaaat?! Not a chance in hell I do!”

She took a brief pause before denouncing his assertion at the top of her lungs. But Sora noticed something—

“Wait, what? …Seriously?” Sora, surprised by the answer to his own question, continued with a series of ums and uhs. “You pick up on just their emotions… You have to see how they react to certain questions—”

Basically, Sora’s sudden question had been a test to see what kind of microexpressions Steph showed. But maybe it wasn’t a good idea to share his findings. He hesitated for a moment, but pressured by Steph’s inquisitive stare, scratched his head and went on.

“Your first microexpression showed embarrassment. On its own, that would mean you were embarrassed by the question, but when you shouted, instead of your eyebrows lowering and getting closer together—which would show anger—they went up.”

What this means, is…

“You were shocked—as in, How did he know I—?”

“Wrong, wrong, WRONG!!”

Steph, now flushing scarlet, rushed to deny Sora’s claim. Sora watched this reaction as well, let out an “Oof…,” and took a step back before continuing:

“This time, I saw joy and arousal…and not an inkling of anger… Man, Steph, you’re nasty…”

“……So Steph’s, actually…a raging…masochist…?” Shiro wondered softly. She was reading a book and still had Steph’s panties on her head. Steph stopped herself from shrieking once again. She bit down on her lower lip—another telltale sign of embarrassment.

“S-so, basically, on the very off chance—the impossibly off chance—that what Sora says is true…”

She wasn’t going to admit he was right about her, but if what he said about microexpressions was true…

“…then by reading people’s faces, you can tell if someone is lying, the same way the Werebeasts can?!”

If that were the case, she definitely wanted to learn how to do it, too—unfortunately…

“Nah, not possible.”

Steph slumped over, her hopes dashed. Sora plopped Shiro back on his lap.

“Like I said, the only thing you can tell about someone from their microexpressions is how they feel. And microexpressions are involuntary and extremely brief. Sometimes the person making the expressions doesn’t even know why they’re doing it. So it’s important to see what they do after the fact—like with you just now.”

Steph furiously jotted down more notes and said:

“You were wrong about me, though. Definitely wrong about that! So you’re watching how I’m reacting now?”

She asked as if he hadn’t spent the last eight years of his life doing nothing but play games. Shiro wasn’t as adept as her older brother at reading people’s faces, but even she rolled her eyes at how readable Steph was, and whispered:

“…You freaked out…twice… That means, he…hit the nail on the…head…”

“Who cares about that?! Sora, tell me how it’s done!”

“Who cares about that?”—those were the magic words. Steph had ignored Shiro and pressed Sora further.

“Sure, I can show you, but you should know—it’s super hard to do.”

“Hit me with everything you’ve got!”

Steph was committed to jotting all this information down. Sora snickered, then began listing everything he knew while he played a game with his younger sister seated on his lap.

“Let’s start with joy—if their smile lasts longer than four seconds, it’s fake.”

“Huh?”

“On the flip side, even if that smile lasts just an instant—if the outer corners of the eyes don’t lower, that smile ain’t real. You can tell it’s real if their cheeks and lower eyelids lift. But if they do this with only one of their eyes, it’s a sneer—a sign of contempt. You can’t tell who they’re sneering at just with microexpressions, though. The object of their loathing could even be themselves. So ”

“…Want me to keep going?”

“No… No more…”

Sora had noticed Steph had already filled the contents of her notebook just with information about joy. He could see she was down for the count. She’d finally realized that she probably wouldn’t be able to read a person’s expression in under 0.25 seconds in the first place. Nonetheless, Sora could tell she was still highly interested in the technique, and with a chuckle, he continued:

“Sure, reading faces is pretty hard to pull off, but preventing someone from reading your face is easy enough.”

Very easy.

“All you need to do is hide your face.”

Steph rushed to her feet, practically glowing. “I see! That’s something I can practice straight away!!”

All I need to do is hide my face! Steph thought. The wide, unwavering smile plastered across Sora’s face only made what he was about to say sound even more like a slight against Steph.

“You sure can. Then, all you’ll have to worry about is your tone and gestures.  ”

“……Right… I almost forgot you were this kind of person…”

It was the same old show—Sora would pick you up, then drop you flat on your face. Is it really that fun to toy with people? Steph wondered. She knew his answer, too: Yes. It is.

Steph glared at Sora, who actually went on to continue his explanation in impressive detail.

“Tone and gestures aren’t as instantaneous as microexpressions. Werebeasts can hear your pulse and blood flow, but otherwise, it’s pretty easy to trick a race like the Immanity.”

I see, Steph thought with a secret grin. She could use this against Sora—who acted as if he actually was reading her mind. He was indeed reading her expressions this entire time, just like he said he could. With a sarcastic chortle, he went on:

“Just so ya know—these techniques will do jack shit against me.”

“U-ugggh…”

Steph fell silent after picking up that Sora had been reading her this entire time. He was the one who was telling her all this information in the first place. It was a bad idea to play against him at his own game when he had pretty much spent his entire life doing this. Steph sighed before she realized something.

“Also…” Sora’s expression grew dark, and with something of a self-deprecating tone—he gave Steph a warning. “…I wouldn’t try to pick this up if I were you. It’s not as nifty a trick as you’d think.”

“…………”

Shiro slumped over without a word—she knew exactly what her brother was getting at. It was possible to be able to read people too much.

“…Huh? Why is that…?” Steph asked.

Steph was the quintessential good girl. Meanwhile, the young man she was looking at had an air of self-loathing to him as he patted his sister on the head—a hint of jealousy could be heard in his quick laugh.

“…Nah, you’ve got nothing to worry about, Steph. So what do you want to play next?”

Sora’s smile was brazen; he and Steph played a series of games until the sun had risen, with Steph eventually reduced to covering her naked body with a single bedsheet…

Day Four—The Dead of Night, Yet Again

Usually, Steph would make her entrance by practically kicking down Sora and Shiro’s door, but today, she was much calmer and more collected. She knocked on the door, then entered the room slowly. It was as if she had already won the game they were about to play.

“It’s time to get my revenge. Are you ready, Sora?”

Sora and Shiro stared at Steph, who was being much more brazen than usual.

“I’m…probably the last person who should be asking this question, but…”

“…Steph…have you, been…sleeping…?”

“You two are certainly the last people I want to hear that from! Now get up!”

Sora and Shiro were used to staying up late at night. They were pretty much nocturnal from the start. Steph, on the other hand, had spent the past few days completing her work as Elkia’s chief minister, while her nights had been spent…playing games with Sora. The bags under her eyes had grown darker since the previous day, but in a way, her vitality was almost commendable.

Alas, her efforts would be all for naught. Why, you ask?

“Today’s game is simple,” she said.

Unbeknownst to Steph, Sora and Shiro had seen the game she was going to propose from a mile away.

“I’ve hidden a certain something somewhere in the castle. If you can find it, Sora, you win!”

Steph loudly proclaimed the rules of her challenge. Shiro moved to put an end to it the moment it started, but Sora shot her a look, which stopped her.

“Oh-ho—? A ‘certain something,’ you say…? Can we at least get a hint?” he asked.

“I left a note saying ‘found it’ on the thing I hid. That way, no one can cheat and claim otherwise! Heh-heh.”

Steph was brimming with confidence. Sora lowered his head so that only Shiro—in her usual spot on his lap—could see his face. After all, anyone would be able to tell from his expression how much he was dying to say:

—Yeah, I already know exaaaactly what and where it is!!

But his nerves of steel helped him restrain himself—and he asked what he imagined would make the game much more interesting.

“…Do you care how I find the whatever I’m looking for?”

After many years of being together, it wasn’t hard for Shiro figure out that her brother knew how Steph was going to respond.

“No, no! We can’t have you bringing Izuna or Jibril to sniff out the item with their enhanced senses or magic. You need to do this game on your own!”

Just as he’d expected. The smile on Sora’s face made that clearer than anything. He was leading her on.

“On my own, eh…? Also, I’m assuming I can’t win by just telling you where it is, right?”

“That goes without saying! You can search anywhere you like, but I’ll be watching you to make sure you don’t get anyone’s help!”

It goes without saying?

It certainly did. He’d be able to just say a handful of random places to fish out the answer; it also made sense that she would follow him around. It was so obvious, it was almost silly. Sora, a wicked smile on his face, gently lowered Shiro from his lap.

“Okay, I think I get it… Man, I really don’t wanna do this…”

Shiro watched her brother poorly feign reluctance as he stood up, and whispered:

“Brother…you’re…such an, asshole…”

“Shirooo! Don’t say something so cruel! Otherwise I’m gonna hang myself!” Sora screeched, on the verge of tears.

“…My bad… That was…way harsh…”

Shiro was genuinely sorry about what she had said, but knowing what her brother was about to do to Steph, she still meant it.

“Shiro! Steph is the one who decided on this game and its rules! My hands are tied! Or what, are you saying it’s okay for me to lose?! Oompf—?!”

Shiro was used to his antics after their eight straight years of gaming together.

“…Brother… No, funny business… Denied…”

That was all she needed to say to keep him from pulling anything sleazy. Sora visibly stiffened, his despair palpable. Even with the wind taken out of his sails somewhat, he managed to activate the pervy parts of his brain to come up with a new, although not quite as interesting, idea.

“Aw, fine… All right, Steph, gimme your hand.”

“Hmm? Huh? Pardon?”

Puzzled, Steph placed a hand on Sora’s outstretched palm.

“I’m gonna show you something fun. You ready?” He lightly gripped her hand and grinned from ear to ear.

“Steph—tell me where the thing you hid is.”

“…Wh-what?”

Why would I tell you? Steph almost said aloud, but Sora was ignoring her. He didn’t actually intend for her to tell him anything. Instead, he started moving her hand around gently. Up, down. Left, right. He appeared to be checking something—then, after throwing a few feints in there—

“Whoa?!”

He led Steph’s hand under her skirt.

“While it’s painfully unfortunate that Shiro isn’t gonna let me fish it out of there myself…”

Sora heaved a deep, chagrined sigh. But he knew he was right.

“Take out whatever it is you’re hiding in your panties.”

“ ”

The only emotion on Steph’s face was shock. She did as she was told and removed a note with the words “found it” written on it. Sora looked at the note, then at Steph, and grinned.

“Looks like I found it. Chalk up another win for—”

A shell-shocked Steph loudly interjected before he could finish his sentence. “How—?! How did you know where I hid it?!”

She even wondered if he’d used some kind of magic.

“Steph, what would you do if someone asked you to show them your underwear drawer?”

“I—I would say no… Isn’t it obvi—? Oh…”

Steph picked up on something, just like Sora knew she would. Steph was by no means an idiot. On the contrary, she was quite smart. That was what made her so easy to read. A real doofus is unpredictable; you can’t rely on them to make logical decisions.

“Yup. When I brought your hand somewhere you didn’t want me to put it, I felt some resistance. No matter how much you try—actually, the more you try to stay away from the spot you don’t want me to find, the stronger you resist. Basically, if I ask you to show me where the secret spot is, it’ll be wherever your hand shows resistance. It’s a cheap kind of psychology trick.”

Steph’s eyes went wide, but Shiro interjected:

“…He’s, lying…” She stared at her brother; she knew he wasn’t telling the whole truth. Why, you ask? “…He knew what the game was…and where the card was, the entire time…”

“Wh-what?!” Steph shouted. She couldn’t believe her ears.

Sora simply nodded. “Yeah… You normally come bursting into our room, but today, you just sauntered in… It was pretty obvious you were trying hard not to drop something.”

Steph opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Sora ignored her and sat back in his usual spot, which was in his chair with Shiro on his knee. He went on:

“Plus, it was only yesterday I told you about microexpressions. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know you’d try to figure out a work-around. You looked so confident—you weren’t even hiding your facial expression. That means you knew you wouldn’t give any signals no matter where I searched.”

It’s a simple enough explanation. Sora would’ve picked up on any work-around Steph came up with, and that would’ve led her to lose by default. If she was so confident that her expression wouldn’t give away what trick she was using, then she just didn’t have to use a trick. What’s the point of a trick if you aren’t going to use it?

“The trick was the treasure in your treasure hunting game—as long as the note was on your person, you wouldn’t make any microexpressions no matter where I looked.”

Had Steph hidden the note somewhere in the castle, she knew her facial expression would give its location away if Sora got close. This was even more evident since she’d just learned about microexpressions yesterday. She needed to stay with him to make sure he didn’t cheat, and she had to maintain the same facial expression no matter where he searched. There wasn’t a better spot than on her own person—furthermore…

“Steph, I genuinely think you really outdid yourself this time. You had the note on you, but you didn’t stop there! You knew a virgin like me wouldn’t just straight up violate you, especially with Shiro present… So you chose a spot that was hard for me to search! Man, you were this close…but—”

Sora was truly impressed, but 

“—it wasn’t enough.”

Steph had lost the game the moment she entered the siblings’ room. The realization brought her to her knees. Shiro took one look at Sora’s smug expression and whispered, “…Brother…you’re still, lying…”

“Hwha…?” Steph felt her soul leaving her body. How deep do the lies go?!

“…That’s…not even, the real point…”

“Right, something changed halfway through. Steph—wanted me to find it.”

“Huh? What are you even talking about—?”

Both Sora and Shiro knew she had hidden the treasure on her person the moment they saw her first thing that morning. They just didn’t know where on her person she’d hidden it. Sora used this as an excuse to conduct a wholesome cavity search—at least, that was what he’d originally meant to do.

But he was thwarted by Shiro and forced to begrudgingly make a quick change in plans.

“Steph, remember that little psychology trick I just mentioned? The one where the closer I get to the treasure, the more you resist?”

“Y-yes…?”

“You didn’t resist no matter where I moved your hand.”

“ Huh?”

“It kinda threw me off for a second. You didn’t resist even when I moved toward your lower half.”

Now, how best to explain this?

“I was faced with two possibilities!” With utmost fervor, Sora enthusiastically held up two fingers high above his head. “One! I wanted to find a place where you could have hidden the note so confidently after using microexpressions to your advantage.”

Sora lowered one finger and continued:

“Normally you’d flip out at me if I tried to grab your panties. But this time you didn’t, so—”

Shiro interjected from atop Sora’s lap and gave it to her straight:

“…Steph…now you’re just…too self-aware…”

 .

 .

“N-no… NOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Steph screamed as she ran red-faced out of the room.

………Meanwhile, Shiro mused:

“…Brother… Steph actually…put up, a good fight…today…”

“Agreed. She even took our relationship into account—she’s getting better.”

Sora seemed proud of Steph as he chuckled to himself, to which Shiro responded with a somewhat miffed expression, “…But I’m…way, better…”

“Yes, my sister. I know. Still…if she can outdo me without getting as messed up as I am, then—”

He stopped there and just watched the direction Steph had run off to with a grin on his face.

Day Five—Evening

A ghostly figure roamed the corridors of Elkia Royal Castle.

“…Maybe I really am a pervert…”

It was Stephanie Dola—Shiro’s words had really taken a toll on her.

She’d gone five whole days without any sleep, and she had just been called a pervert by an eleven-year-old. She deemed Sora and Shiro as weirdos and losers when she herself was possibly the biggest pervert of them all. The uncertainty was even affecting how she walked.

“Kinda lookin’ like a goddamn ghost there, aren’cha Stuch? Please?”

She heard the voice of the Eastern Union’s former ambassador: Izuna Hatsuse, a young Werebeast girl—she looked like she was still in the single digits age-wise—with black hair and fennec fox ears.

Steph looked at Izuna with lifeless eyes, like she was witnessing an illusion.

“Is that…Izuna…? Heh-heh-heh…it is, isn’t it? Perfect timing…”

If what Sora said was true—that you could tell the difference between conscious and subconscious by looking at someone’s face—maybe she could use this Werebeast’s enhanced senses to figure out where she stood on the pervert spectrum. Sora must have been teasing; there was no way Steph was actually a pervert. A smart, and pure, young girl like Izuna should be able to tell her the truth!

“Izuna…could you tell me whether what I’m about to say to you is the truth?”

Izuna must have picked up on Steph’s condition from her expressionless eyes.

“…Stuch, you seem really outta it, please. Just say the word and I’ll do what I can for ya, please.”

Izuna was ready to help Steph with whatever she needed. She was so hyper-focused on listening to Steph’s next words—just short of activating her bloodbreak ability.

Steph straightened herself up and finally spoke:

“ I’m not a pervert.”

……

…………

Izuna didn’t know what the word “pervert” meant, but she knew it probably wasn’t something Steph wanted to be. She paused for a moment, wondering if she should tell the truth, but Steph had asked her to say whether or not she was lying, so—

“…Sounds like a damn lie, please.”

Izuna answered her honestly, which caused Steph’s body to go limp.

 …………Heh-heh.

 Heh. Heh-heh-heh. Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.

“……Yup, that’s right. It’s true. I knew it would be… Thank you, Izuna.   I feel like a load has been taken off my shoulders.  ”

“Are ya sure, please? Seems more like a load of bullshit, ple—”

Izuna’s words were lost on Steph. Her head was somewhere else, and she began dancing.

“I owe you one!   I know! I’ll make you allll the fish you want later as a thanks.  ”

Izuna didn’t know why, but something seemed off. All the fish she wanted? Normally, she’d be over the moon at the idea, but—maybe it was her Werebeast instincts—Steph sounded like she was reading out her last will and testament.

“…Uh, S-Stuch! Never mind, please! You’re no damn perv, pl—”

Izuna’s eyes began to tear up. She knew that whatever a pervert was, it had really upset Steph. She tried to take it back, even going so far as to tell a lie—something she hated doing—but it never reached Steph’s ears. She skipped through the castle before eventually disappearing into one of its many corridors…

Day Five—Late That Night

“HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

As always, the gamer siblings gamed into the deepest depths of the night—so late that even nocturnal animals would be concerned. Someone had kicked down their door with a mighty shriek.

 It was, well…a pervert.

No, not a perversion. A real-live pervert.

She wore a pair of panties stretched over her face in a fashion reminiscent of one friendly neighborhood pervert—Hentai K*men. Her clothes—well, lack thereof—were limited to extremely skimpy underwear, and her eyes were hidden behind colored sunglasses. She had gone full hentai.

“…Uh? Wait…is that—Steph…anie?”

Sora was so shocked by what he saw, he accidently used her full name. He and Shiro froze stiff as a board.

But Steph (?) paid them no mind. She responded with impossibly high energy:

“I have finally awakened to my inner self!”

“Uh… I mean, you’re probably just running on too little sleep—”

Judging by her voice, Sora was able to determine that the woman was probably Steph. The woman (likely to be Steph) continued to ignore him.

“Sora you are a pervert!!”

“Yeah, can’t argue with you there.”

“And Shiro !!”

With enough fervor in her voice to cut through steel, the woman (possibly Steph?) spoke even louder.

“Like brother, like sister! You—are also a pervert!!”

“…I can, live with that…”

Shiro didn’t have any reason to object, so she probably was in fact a pervert. The woman (we believe to be Steph) grew more and more enthusiastic with her (seemingly random) claims.

“Then it stands to reason that the secret to being a good gamer lies in…being a pervert!!”

I’ve figured it all out that was what her expression probably showed. The panties and sunglasses on her face made it hard to tell.

“Steph…you’re clearly exhausted. We know what we did was bad. We’ll start doing our fair share of the workload, so please get some—”

“I’M CHALLENGING YOU TO OOONE LAAAST GAAAAAAME !!!”

Nothing they said could ever hope to reach her. Images of everything Sora, that awful pervert, had done to her flashed through her mind. She was going to bet her everything, and she wanted only one thing in return !

“For our wager ! If I win, Sora—you need to fall in love with me!”

She added a loud snap of her fingers, which echoed pitifully before eventually settling into a deep silence. A profound sense of mercy overcame the two siblings as they watched Steph.

“Steph… You should really just go to sleep. Look, we’re sorry. We didn’t mean to push you this far.”

“…Steph…get some…well-deserved…rest… You’ll be, back to normal…in no time…”

They were begging her. Sora sounded like he was at a confessional, and Shiro was in tears, but their words were lost on Steph.

“And if I lose—you two can do whatever you want to me!!”

Yes—Steph was thinking clearly (one would assume) now. She finally knew what she needed to defeat Sora—no, “ ”. The very thing she had been lacking.

It was the resolution she needed to win !

She needed to play on their level !

Was it crazy? Perhaps! Was she indeed a pervert? If that’s what it took, then so be it!

She didn’t need her sanity; it would only prevent her from beating these two siblings. What she did need was borderline insane amounts of concentration and willpower—any other emotions were superfluous. Sora realized this as he watched Steph, and covered his face with his hands.

“Hey, Shiro…” he mumbled. “What should we do? She’s reached her truth through the most screwed-up methods possible.”

“…I think she’s…broken… Is this…all, my fault…?”

Shiro, likely having felt responsible for all this, clung to her brother with tears in her eyes. He stroked her hair as he responded:

“No, Shiro. This is all my fault. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

Sora then gazed at the (perverted version of) Steph, who stood before him.

“Heh-heh-heh… What’s wrong? Are you afraid? I’m not the same girl I once was! I’m a new version of myself—I’m neo-Stephanie Dola! I feel like flying—flying my foot into your face, that is! Heh-heh! If you’d like my autograph, you should ask for it while you still can!”

They could tell that Steph (what was left of her) was losing more and more of her marbles by the minute. Sora secretly face-palmed and thought:

She’s so close.

Steph was on the right track. The perfect track. This tinge of crazy was exactly what she needed to get on his level, but…

It was all for naught if it led to a mental breakdown.

“…Fine. Challenge accepted. I’ll take responsibility for pushing you over the edge.”

Sora got up, but not before Shiro pulled him aside for a moment. “…Brother… Steph is, way stronger…than usual… Eight times, stronger… So, eight normal Stephs…”

“I have no idea how you got those numbers, but one thing’s for sure—this is gonna be tough…”

Sora knew it was what needed to be done. He turned and faced the hentai. He didn’t have his usual air of boundless confidence about him this time—instead, it was the same intensity he would show whenever he went up against Shiro. You could tell from this aura he was giving off that he was going to play her with everything he had.

“Steph. Steeeph—can you hear me…?”

“Oh-ho-ho? Are you looking for an autograph? Or perhaps a game? Or maaaybe you’re after something a little more intimate—”

“A game. No objections to the wagers. So…what game do you want to play?”

 The time has come, Sora, virgin, eighteen years old. Steph knows your little tricks and strategies. She’s going to get on your level this time. Let’s see how well you do against someone smarter than you.

One thing’s for sure 

“Very well—let the game begin!”

Steph locked eyes with Sora, and he could tell 

Steph’s gonna give Shiro a run for her money as the best opponent ever.

Sora licked his lips, and a bead of cold sweat ran down his spine—but he was still smirking with glee.

 ………………

“………………………H-huh? I…”

“Hey, you’re finally awake.”

“…Welcome…back…Steph…”

Steph woke up to Sora and Shiro staring at her. She looked around and realized she was on the bed—er, futon—in their room.

“S-Sora? Shiro? Huh…? Why am I sleeping here…?”

 Sleeping…? Was I asleep?!

“—?! How long was I asleep for?!”

Steph kicked her blanket off her as she tried to get up, but Sora calmly, gently reassured her:

“You weren’t asleep—you passed out. From overwork. Don’t worry, you were only out for one day.”

 One day?

Steph turned white as a sheet. “Don’t worry,” he says? That meant she’d skipped out on several meetings and other work-related tasks.

“You don’t need to worry about work, either… We took care of everything for you… Actually, we just finished up.”

“…Nod, nod.”

“ Come again?”

Did Sora and Shiro actually work for once? Not just any work—but Steph’s work?! What could be more preposterous than leaving these two to govern a country, even for a minute ?

“I know what you’re probably thinking. Everything’s all right, though. Shiro and I couldn’t make a dent in your daily workload alone… We ended up needing help from Gramps, Izuna, Jibril, and the Shrine Maiden just to get through it all.”

“……………………”

For some reason, this made Steph a little depressed.

“So you’re free for the next couple of days. Get some more sleep, will ya?”

“B-but—”

Steph realized something she probably should have a long time ago: Politics were her specialty.

It was the one thing I could do better than anyone else, and yet, these two 

Sora picked up on her train of thought and interjected:

“Shiro and I asked Jibril for her help, and even then, the three of us couldn’t manage. I don’t think we’d have gotten a single thing done without Gramps lending a hand. We suck at politics.”

 Sora wondered: If he and Shiro were any good at it, maybe they wouldn’t have had as many problems in their original world. Shiro continued where her brother left off.

“…But…we managed…somehow… So, Steph…please get some more…sleep…”

Unbeknownst to Steph, Shiro’s eyes showed a tinge of fear. Perhaps it was because of how frightening Steph (in her super-hentai mode) had been during her game with Sora. At this point, Shiro wanted nothing more than for her to sleep. Sora, meanwhile, looked away and began scratching his cheek.

“I, uh…guess it was wrong for us to push all the work onto you. But, to be honest…Steph, you’re the only one who can do this kind of work—who can run a country full of different races. I originally thought that between me, Shiro, Jibril, Gramps, Izuna, and the Shrine Maiden, we’d be able to finish up about a week’s worth of work for you…but three days was the max we could do. So, uh…”

Steph could tell from the siblings’ tired faces that they’d been working nonstop the entire day she was asleep.

“ Nice going, Steph. Get some rest. Can’t have you passing out on us again.”

“…Steph…major props…to you…”

……

Steph, now fully wrapped up in a blanket, looked at Sora with some hesitation.

“S-Sora…”

“Hmm?”

“Y-you don’t actually think I’m an idiot, do you?

“Nah, you absolutely are.”

“ I—I…see…”

“Yeah. You’re a massive idiot—so much so that I respect you for it. I mean, you’ve gotta be an idiot in order to handle that kinda workload.”

“…Oh…”

“Anyway, get the rest you need, and when you’re back on your feet…how about you bake up some sweets? You haven’t done that in a while.”

“…Steph…you make…the best…sweets…”

“…I think I’ll do just that…”

An exhausted Steph covered her face with the blanket. She had a lingering feeling as if she’d just been through a literal nightmare—but it quickly dissipated, and she fell back asleep.

 Once the two siblings made sure Steph was fast asleep:

“…Phew, looks like everything worked out somehow.”

“…Mm… That was…a close one…”

Sora had just barely managed to eke out a victory against Steph (with her unleashed inner hentai), which meant that he now owned her, body and soul. His orders had been simple:

 “Forget everything that happened today until you can figure out how to do the same thing without forgoing sleep or going batshit crazy.”

Then he returned her bodily and mental autonomy so that she could get more sleep. That was it.

And yet 

“…I still…can’t believe, you won…Brother…”

It was a really close match, enough to make Shiro admit it. Steph’s tactics were completely different from Shiro’s, and they were definitely new to Sora. Both siblings acknowledged her prowess.

“I’m just lucky she was running on no sleep. I don’t think I would’ve been able to put up a fight against her like that if she were in tip-top shape.”

The tone of Sora’s voice suggested he’d enjoyed his match with Steph. Shiro puffed out her cheeks, slightly miffed. But she couldn’t disagree with him. The Steph he played against had…snapped, to say the least. Under the normal rules of the Ten Covenants, Steph wouldn’t have gotten to choose the game she challenged Sora to, and yet, Sora accepted her terms. Even if she ignored this small handicap, it wasn’t hard for Shiro to tell that Steph and her brother were playing at pretty much the same level.

“If she can trigger whatever she did last night without losing her marbles again…things are gonna get real interesting.”

Shiro could see how much her brother was enjoying himself.

“…Then, we’ll…have to play, against her…as Blank…”

“I’d rather play Steph one-on-one. If she can beat me at my own game—”

Sora looked straight into his sister’s eyes and brandished a lethal smile.

“—I’ll just have to beat her back. Maybe then I’ll be ready to finally take you down, eh?”

Another smirk surfaced on Shiro’s face at Sora’s provocation.

Just when everything appeared to be said and done, Steph began talking in her sleep.

“…Zzz…zzz… Oh… You want to take me for walk…naked…? Oh no… Ha-ha…those darn…Covenants… Well, off we…go, then…zzz…zzz… Ohhh, everybody’s watching…”

“…………”

“…………”

They both couldn’t help but wonder: Is this the real Steph?

For Steph’s sake, they pretended not to hear what she’d just said.