by Yuu Kamiya
—That was fine. All she had to do was allow herself to lose and then ask him for his damn reassurances. And then—and then—
“…Hmm, can I tell you honestly?”
Sora sighed. In a deep hue of disillusionment, Sora tightened his index finger, pulling the trigger.
“I’m disappointed in you, Izuna.”
!
“—Don’t screw with me, please!”
Then Sora’s muzzle flashed and bullet fired. Izuna lifted her face eyes stained scarlet.
—Bloodbreak. The crimson beast’s movements, faster than the speed of a bullet. Her gun drawn at a speed impossible for an Immanity’s eye—for Sora’s eye—to follow. Powerful enough to shatter the shackles of physics. A draw worthy of being called divine. Though launched after Sora’s, Izuna’s projectile collided with Sora’s near the midpoint between the two, altering the trajectory of each. Izuna’s second round instantaneous. Dead on target—Sora’s forehead. The deed done—the trigger pulled—she wondered:
(—What am I, doing, please?) Why was she trying to win? This was when she should be asking Sora—for the sake of Werebeast, for the sake of the Eastern Union—how he knew no one would die. And yet…how come—
Irrespective of Izuna’s inner turmoil, her bullet barreled on. And as Sora tipped his head to the side slightly…it brushed harmlessly past.
“Huh?”
As if—No. Definitely, just as he’d predicted. But by then…already. Sora’s second round. Even to Izuna’s Werebeast eyes—with the benefit of her bloodbreak—the bullet was so close to her chest that just noticing was the limit.
—A shot made in the knowledge that Izuna would fire a second round. Timed to Izuna’s muzzle flash. In other words, discharged in the fraction of a second during which the Werebeast’s senses were obscured. As Izuna felt the bullet sink into her chest, she was sure she heard Sora’s voice in her ears.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about… That’s the real you.”
Izuna’s vision as she fell was filled with a canopy that stretched out endlessly.
“I’m sure you do care for the other Werebeasts who’d suffer when the Eastern Union loses. But there’s a deeper reason, way down at your core, why you’ve been crying, and it’s simple.”
As Izuna drifted, unable to comprehend that she’d been bested, Sora continued.
“—You were sad to have lost for the first time, right?”
……
“If you’re not sad when you lose, you fail as a gamer. But—
“—that’s exactly why it was finally fun.
“A game you go into knowing you’ll definitely win is just work. There’s no way you can find value in that, and when people’s lives are at stake over something so meaningless, it’s only natural you’d even feel like it’s a pain in the ass—you’ve been right all along.”
But—
“…How does it feel? Knowing there’s someone you can test your whole mind, body, and spirit against and still not beat.”
An image of the little girl he’d met long ago flashed through Sora’s mind.
“To think about how you’re gonna take on this hopelessly OP opponent and bring them down, how you’re gonna win, what you’re gonna do to defeat them.”
The white-haired, red-eyed girl who held within her humanity’s potential, which defied imagination. As if recalling his shock at that time, Sora concluded with a heated smile.
“To put it mildly—sky-high, right?”
—That might be so. That might be the identity of the impulse that had prodded Izuna. He was the one who had beaten her, and that was the very reason…she didn’t want to let him screw with her. She wanted to win next time. That was the very impulse…surely…
“If you understand that, we’re already friends. Welcome, Izuna, to our side.”
Surely, for Izuna, this was the first game she’d played in her life, she thought.
“So, lemme tell you that reason like I promised. Lend me that cute ear of yours.”
What Sora whispered into Izuna’s flattened ear as he knelt, he did so with the manner of a child plotting some mischievous prank. But a prank that, once imagined, made you start getting excited, too. But at the same time, a caper so dubious in its sanity, so improbably grand in its scale—that it sounded like fun. Having heard the reason, Izuna, as if finally relieved, as if satisfied, closed her eyes with a sense of rejuvenation, saying with a smile.
“Next time… You’re goin’ down, please…”
At the scene playing out on the screen, the floor was enveloped in silence. Not a peep emerging from the crowd, Steph alone muttered:
“How improbable…”
To win against an opponent so vastly superior in response speed, physical ability, and even senses in a one-on-one battle of wits. Reading Izuna’s personality, predicting she’d go for the head shot. Reading the hatred of defeat bottled up under all the responsibility and pressure like magma. Predicting that, after intercepting a bullet, she’d send in a second. And in response, the moment she fired—shooting his own second round…an inescapable bullet. It was proof of what Sora had declared in a speech before.
Chlammy chewed over the words she’d assimilated from Sora’s memory.
“—Immanity, through learning and experience, gets wisdom approaching precognition, does it?”
Murmuring this, she turned and walked off the floor.
[Oh goodness, Chlammy. Why, are you leaving already?]
(I’ve already seen everything necessary. The rest—is their job.)
—Don’t believe in humans, but believe in their potential…how amusing.
“Very well. I suppose I may as well give it a chance.”
Casting off her black veil, Chlammy smiled with her face exposed.
“Fi, after you get your memory altered for us by Sora, we’re going straight back home. There’s much to do.”
Cameras okay, memory check okay, steam okay.
“…Confirmed. Sufficient steam to judge wholesome, confirmed…okay!”
And another day with Sora turning his back and welcoming.
“Verrra well, m’dears, don’t stand on ceremony; come on in.”
“…Why do I have to take a damn bath, please?”
“For my master has determined that it shall be a ceremony to achieve understanding when we welcome new comrades. When my master says, let there be light, there is light. It shall be carried out in the name of honor.”
“Anyway, Shiro, you seem in good humor today. Did you overcome your hatred of baths?”
“…I’m, excited…to, wash…Izzy’s…tail.”
Though noise abounded, no figures were seen—Nay, none could be seen. But through the self-restraint he’d tempered like steel, already the very desire to turn was gone from Sora. Owing to his success upon Chlammy and Fiel’s visit of capturing everything on video perfectly!
“Heh, everything from the camera angles to the potential for lens clouding, from everyone’s entrance to where they’ll stand and sit—I’ve figured out everything using a tablet app, and though I can’t figure like Shiro—I know I have no blind spot here!”
Yes, there was no need to rush, thought Sora. Though he might not seek the Peach Blossom Spring, he could at the least drink of its lees! He imagined Steph washing Shiro’s hair, Shiro meanwhile washing Izuna’s tail…
…Though he could only go by the sound.
“Baths can go to hell, please.”
“…Epic truf… But, right, now…denied.”
“Once we finish this bath, you bitches gotta take me on, please. You better not flake, please.”
“…Don’t, worry; Brother…keeps, his promises…”
“I wonder. We speak of a man more skilled at lying than breathing.”
“Oh, little Dora, do you not know of the holy scripture which says that it’s your fault for falling for it?”
“What sort of fraudulent cult holds such scripture?”
“’Tis scripture
of my very own, compiled in my days of observing my masters. In consideration of its undoubtedly imminent status as holy scripture, I cannot conceive of a reason not to assign it such an appellation from the present time.”
“I can conceive of a reason! Observing those two is just a pervert watch log!”
“……!”
Bear it. Bear it, Sora.
“Incidentally, sir, may I ask what you are doing?”
“Whuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh—aaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhh!!”
Popping up before Sora’s eyes—a—a singularly well-muscled old body clad in only a loincloth—Ino caused Sora to raise his voice.
“Wh-what are you doing defiling the Peach Blossom Spring au naturel! There is no demand for geezer nudity!”
Oh, God… After all, I did calculate the camera placement perfectly, could it be this fart—? Surely he couldn’t have been all big and bold right in front… If something like this was in the picture, any kind of hee-hee-hee clip would turn into a huh-huh-huh clip.
“Hmm, I heard that this was a rite of passage you established for new members of your party.”
“It doesn’t apply to dudes! Much less macho geezers! That’s out of the question! I mean, what the hell are you doing coming in here all in the buff?! Didn’t I say it’s R-18?!”
“Well, I have been informed, but as of this year I am ninety-eight, which is eighty years older than the age limit.”
“—Eh, uh, hmng? Wait, wha—?”
Hold on—we’ve just found an issue you can’t overlook, Sora, virgin, eighteen. A certain issue, world-changing, yet too hot to touch—
“By the way, the honorable Jibril described to me this ‘moral code’ you seem to adhere to, sir…”
“Uh, yeah…”
Sora, thinking inside, I would really prefer he kept this majestically imposing ripped body at a distance. Just barely managed to squeeze out his answer.
“You see, I heard that you are eighteen years of age.”
“Y-yeah, I guess.”
“Then this would imply that you have the qualification to view materials that would be prohibited to those under eighteen years.”
“Yeah, sure. And?”
Hmm, Ino went, stroking his beard, seeming lost in contemplation.
“Well, it occurred to me, if your concern is that you have Her Majesty Queen Shiro accompanying, would it not be the case that if you merely clothed and blindfolded Queen Shiro, there would be no need for shame were Your Majesty to enter into this scene freely?”
The world stopped turning.
“Ah, aha-ha, aha-ha-ha-ha… Now then, now then, now-now-now wait a moment, lad.”
“Yes, sir, what is it?”
“Th-th-there’s no way I would overlook s-s-s-something so glaring; th-th-th-there’s got to be something wrong, some mistake here.”
“Hmm, that was in fact just the matter of my inquiry… But it puzzles you as well, sir?”
—Tsk. A soft but definite click entered Sora’s ear. No, it couldn’t have, not possibly. But he couldn’t have misheard it, even more not possibly.
“E-excuse me, Ms. Shiro. I heard a click that said, ‘Mind your own business, asshole,’ but would you care to elucidate?”
He couldn’t look at her. But Sora having addressed her based on a definite feeling that she was there, after a moment’s pause:
“……I, didn’t say, anything…”
“I’m sorry, Teacher, but I have absolute confidence that of all people I would not confuse your voice. I mean, come on, that click was totally you! Seriously, please, can I get an explanation—you thought of it?!”
“Hah-hah-hah… Is this what you call an epic fight?”
“Heyhold on, you old fart! I almost missed it as you subjected me to shock after shock, but just whose sister are you looking at naked, you son of a bitch! You wanna have your eyeballs pulled out?”
“Oh, don’t worry. I sympathize deeply with your provision that nude minors shall be banned from view. It is my belief that this is important to the moral education of Izuna as well, and thus I have my eyes tightly shut,” said the old man.
So he could grasp his surroundings just fine with his sense of hearing alone? God damn these mutant assholes!
“…Mm, Izzy, you can’t, look…at the others, either. Okay…?”
“? I don’t get it, but understood, please.”
“Wait, Ms. Shiro, please don’t change the subject, yo—Wha—? I took countless Peach Blossom Springs and flushed them down the drain?!”
Sliding down to kneel by Sora’s side, Jibril spoke.
“Master, I beg you to ease your heart. Surely it is not too late.”
“R-really?”
“Yes, and with this knowledge, the solution is simple.”
Spinning her finger around and around in space, drawing a circle of light, perhaps to perform magic.
“I, your humble slave Jibril, can envelop you and myself in spirits and block the flow of sound. If we but have Lady Shiro refrain from looking this way, considering that this body, to its every extremity, belongs to you, Master, you are free to do with it as you—”
“…Jibril…STF, U.”
At Shiro’s brief command, as she jointly held ownership of the Flügel with Sora, Jibril’s mouth was shut. Right after, Shiro said sadly.
“—Brother, would you…blind…fold me, and…do dirty things…right, there?”
……
“Haaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! As if I’d do something so bad for my sister’s moral education aah-hah-hah-hah-hah God daaaaaamn shiiiiiiiiit buuurn it aaaalll dooowwwn aaaaaaaaaah!”
Sora having finally broken, his voice rang out throughout the bath.
“…By the way, sir.”
“What do you want, old fart?! If you deepen the crack in my sanity any further—”
“Well, as of now, I belong to you.”
“—Yeah. Not that that’s a line I wanna hear from a macho old guy in a loincloth.”
Having apparently been afflicted by goose bumps for a moment, Sora’s comeback was grim. Ino, nevertheless, gave no indication of breaking his smile.
“And Izuna also belongs to you—having acknowledged these things, may I comment?”
With a sunny grin, his eyes still closed, only his voice lowering, Ino asked.
“—Just what in the hell did you tell Izuna, you hairless monkey?”
…The “way so no one would die” Sora had whispered to Izuna. There was no way there could be anything so convenient. Toward the con artist who had dangled an empty comfort before his granddaughter, more important than his own life, yet as one whose rights had all been forfeit, to whom no resistance was permitted, this was the old man’s one small gesture of defiance. Without even turning, Sora dismissively—
“…Just shut up, suck your thumb, and watch, Gramps. It’s not like you can do anything.”
—picked the perfect response to get the old man’s goat, trolling him. At this, Ino’s already clenched his fists tightened, but at Sora’s subsequent words, instead of anger—
“Relax—there’s still a surprise at the end. Once you see that, you’ll know the answer.”
Sora teased with a bold smile—and it seemed to Ino, an eerie one. At the words of the man hinting at a plot even beyond what had come before, Ino, feeling now more fearful than angry, was left speechless…
CHAPTER 4
RULE NUMBER 10
CONVERGENCE
The Kingdom of Elkia. The capital, Elkia. Elkia Royal Castle. Another day with the monarch siblings sitting on the throne, busy with their games. But, today, there was one new face.
“—Why—why can’t I beat you assholes, please?!”
Thus shouting, tearing at her black hair, sitting in front of the throne, was a young animal-eared girl in traditional Japanese-style clothing: Izuna. In her hands was a DSP, the game system Sora and Shiro had brought from another world.
“Hah-hah-hah, these are games we brought from our world. We’ve even analyz
ed all the variables like a goddamn TASer; we’ve maxed ’em all out, literally. You think you can beat us that easily?”
“…Izzy, if this…discourages you…you’ve got, a long way…”
Sora and Shiro, laughing at her, had one side of their DSP in Shiro’s had as she sat in Sora’s lap, while Sora operated the other side, playing in the manner of a three-legged race. This situation necessitated by the fact that Sora and Shiro had each brought only one system from their old world. Though normally this would have been a handicap, for Sora and Shiro, it allowed them to show their full potential.
“Like hell I’m discouraged, please! Come on, one more time, please!”
“Sure thing. We’ll take you on as many times as you want, right, Shiro?”
“…Izzy…you rely, too much…on your eyes. You, gotta…read ahead…”
“Hey, Shiro, don’t spoil Izuna like that! That’s the kinda thing you gotta learn for yourself!”
Into the boisterous throne room burst a person of ghastly visage.
“So—So-So-So—Sora! They got us!”
—Steph had for the past few days been running around frantically, facilitating the incorporation of the continental domain into Elkia. As Steph flew in short of breath—hff, hff—Sora raised his eyes from his portable game.
“Oh, what is it, Steph?”
“Why are you all relaxed? They got us! The Eastern Union!”
Seeing Steph obviously out of sorts, Sora merely smiled thinly and spoke.
“So before the game, the Eastern Union pulled all their major personnel and technology out of their continental domain—did they?”
“…Uh huh…uh?”
…That was it exactly. Having been told exactly the news she was trying to convey, Steph froze. Yes—the Eastern Union had indeed, per the covenant, delivered to Immanity “everything on the continent.” However, now it had become clear that as of the start of the game, the Eastern Union had already taken the technology and machines that Immanity would need to make use of the land the Eastern Union had developed and utilized and moved them off the continent. Indeed, it did not infringe upon the covenant. Sora was the one who had demanded “everything on the continent,” and as such, anything not on the continent would not be included. But as Sora laughed even this off, Steph whispered.