by Yuu Kamiya
And as if opening her fan and tumbling…whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa…to the side.
“It’s been eight hundred years since the current queen entered crybernation. The old queen’s already passed, and it will still be hundreds of years before the current queen awakes naturally… As a result—the male Dhampirs, one after the other, are being devoured—”
And then Jibril took a deep bow.
“I hope you’ve enjoyed this true historical farce, stupidest in the world, enough to sweep over the seven continents—because it looks as if it’s time for the next act.”
“…Welll, I don’t know about that, but…yeah, I get it.”
No wonder everyone figured Dhampir must have been wiped out long ago.
—But there was one thing.
“If they devour the last male Dhampir, then Siren’s gonna be next to perish, right?”
“…If the Sirens were clever enough to understand that…we wouldn’t have this probleeem…”
“…What, you mean—they still don’t get it…?”
At Plum, who was staring into space with lifeless eyes, Sora involuntarily winced. So, what was it?
“—We are actually down to our last maaale…and he’s still a child…”
…So they were five seconds away from perishing for real. That much he understood—but…
“But what do you expect us to do about it? From what you’ve told me, you’re totally screwed.”
“Oh, there is more to the story the good Flügel begaaan!”
Plum’s face lit up at finally being able to get to the main point.
“The queen is crybernating, but she’s consciouuus! And soo, we wove a rite to meddle in her consciousness—her dreams—so that it’s possible to make her fall in love in her dreams—a romance game!”
…Huhh—they’d brought out a romance simulation game. Sora laughed.
“Jibril, doesn’t it violate the Ten Covenants to mess with people’s dreams?”
“Not as long as you do so with no ill intent and no damage, direct or indirect. In fact, in this case, as the queen is waiting for the prince to make her fall in love, has she not effectively given her permission?”
With a nod, Plum took it upon herself to lay out her request.
“—Please make our queen fall in love! I’ve brought a plan so that you can achieve thiis!”
Sora and Shiro looked at each other—their answer was already there. For Sora and Shiro, whose goal was to conquer all the Ixseeds—there was no choice but to save them all. But even so, there was one thing that had to be confirmed.
“And what do we get if we win this game?”
Plum took out her notes again. “Um…We’ll guarantee you ‘thirty percent of Oceand’s marine resources and friendly relations for perpetuityyy’!” Plum sighed. “…Even just this took us a whole week to explain to the Sirens and get them to understand…hff…”
Huh, those were decent conditions. Not bad. But it still didn’t quite…
Sora frowned, but Plum continued. “…A-and also…uhh…”
Embarrassedly twiddling her fingers, Plum glanced away. She looked down at the pile of suitcases she’d brought and with a red face—said it.
“Y-you can do anything you want with meee… Th-that’s why I brought all my—”
“Let us tarry not, ladies! There is not a second to lose! We must go to save those on the brink of destruction!!”
—Sora finished his preparations and was set to fly out of the house immediately. And to Plum, with eyes full of compassion, he continued:
“Fear not, young lady. Romance simulation games are my specialty among specialties.”
So. Come on, let’s hear the details. And then we shall go to claim the legal loli—! Plum’s face lit up as she intuited these words that Sora’s eyes communicated so powerfully.
“Th-thank youu! Umm, since we’re working with dreaaams, we have the freedom to set the scene as we see fiiit, but basically—the goal is to make the queen fall in love and confess her devotion to youuu!”
What flashed though Sora’s mind was Tok*meki Memorial. The granddaddy of romance simulation games. This confirmed in his estimation—it would be no sweat. Nodding in his head that there was no character he could not conquer, he heard:
“It’s a romance game where the conditions for affection are indeterminate and the conversations and actions all happen in real tiiime!”
……Once more, Sora and Shiro exchanged glances. They nodded with smiles—taking the forgone conclusion. And overturning it.
“That’s a different story. We refuse. Have a safe trip home.”
“…Bye-bye…don’t go extinct…good luck.”
All smiles, such was their decision.
“—Why’d you do that? ’Twas a fine proposal, if I may say so.”
The Shrine Maiden, who had been listening to the story silently, briefly offered her thoughts.
“Even I’d always thought the Sirens and all their marine resources would be nice to have. What’s there to lose by helping them? And that talk of friendly relations for perpetuity—isn’t that just what you lot desire?”
That was the Shrine Maiden for you—she grasped the heart of the matter with a thin smile. This was what Plum had been talking about when she said they had no one to turn to but Sora and Shiro. Dhampir and Siren had nothing to put on the table. The mere offer of friendly relations and modest resources wouldn’t be enough reason to save them. If one wanted the territory and resources they had, one could just leave them alone and wait for them to perish. And in any case, there was nothing to gain from lording it over a race that couldn’t live without harming others.
—But. As those whose ultimate objective was conquest of the Ixseeds—and beyond—Sora and Shiro alone represented an exception. Allowing even one race to perish was a problem for them. The resources coveted by the Eastern Union could also serve to fill the gap in power between Elkia and the Eastern Union. And—if things went well—two more races would be added to the Commonwealth of Elkia. It was a fine proposal, one beyond reproach.
—But Sora shook his head with a pained expression and glared at Plum.
“…It’s not going to work, Miss Shrine Maiden… Weren’t you listening? The friggin’ ‘game’ Plum proposed.”
“Mm, a ‘romance game,’ aye? What’s this? You don’t like it?” asked the Shrine Maiden warily, still not gleaning Sora’s objection.
Tearing his hair, Sora hurled a correction at the Shrine Maiden.
“—No. It’s a ‘romance game where the conditions for affection are indeterminate and the conversations and actions are real-time.’”
“…Is that different?”
“Hell yes, it’s different! That’s not even a romance game! It’s a ‘real-life romance game!’” Waving his hands around dramatically, Sora finally shouted, “I mean, a real-life romance game…is that even a real game?! If so—then what, pray tell, is love?!”
It was a philosophical question.
—But given the assertion that it was a game and therefore having pondered it very seriously, Sora continued.
“If we’re talking about a normal romance game, that’s simple. Basically, you just raise flags and earn affection points. But look at this. She just said outright, without batting an eye, that the conditions for affection are indeterminate and the conversations and actions are not multiple-choice, but real-time! I’ll ask again: Is this a game?!”
The philosophers and orators of ancient Greece must have looked like this as they expounded their arguments. Sora, with a grandness that recalled such times, raised his fists and his voice as he continued his argument.
“What does romantic love mean in the real world? Can a game involving the exchange of concepts whose very foundations are unclear truly be called a game? Is poker played without deciding the card values or hands or what to exchange a game?!”
—What, after all, was romantic love? Romantic love—was composed of romance and love.
�
��Two terms. First of all, they differed in spelling. If they differed in spelling, it followed that they should be pronounced differently as well. And if they were pronounced differently, then of course that should necessitate some difference in their meaning. Romance and love. Then what were they to begin with? Certainly when that ancient holy guy said, “Love thy neighbor,” he couldn’t have meant, “Sleep with the wife next door.”
Yet the Shrine Maiden responded dismissively with cool eyes to Sora’s passionate expounding.
“—Can you not just blow your usual load of malarkey at her to make her fall for you? Isn’t that precisely what you frauds are good at?”
But to this, shaking their heads with grave looks, Sora and Shiro answered:
“…No, way…”
“Yeah, looks like there’s one thing we gotta let you in on, Shrine Maiden.”
The two sharpened their gazes further and said:
“—We are Blank, who boasts a no-loss record in all kinds of games, but there are games we have never beaten—no, never even seriously tried to play—because we couldn’t understand their rules…just two.”
They were—
“—The game of real life and the game of real romance—!”
We who, in our old world, have carved our blank name at the top of over 280 games. We, two in one, whispered of as an urban legend—we are Immanity’s greatest gamer.
—Yet, lest you forget. In the real world, we are but a pair of virginal, friendless, socially incompetent shut-in losers—!! Sora and Shiro’s eyes declared this—their stately stance, their position verging on pride. They turned conviction to truth, to spirit. And that truth in turn they transformed into an apparition…shaking the air—
“M-my masters, indeed—what force of spirit!”
“I don’t get it, but you both kinda kick ass, please.”
Jibril and Izuna audibly gulped.
Meanwhile, the Shrine Maiden and Plum offered more objective opinions.
“Is this what happens when you take your known weaknesses and proudly hold them aloft…? Somehow it’s impressive.”
“…It-it’s a kind of confidence that’s quite inconvenient for me, thoughhh…”
“Well, that’s how it went down, so we had her chill for a bit on the condition we’d discuss it with you.”
“…Hff, is that so…?”
“And with that, Shrine Maiden, tell us what love is.”
“…Tell, us…Shrine Maiden…”
To the two inquiring with faces earnest with purity, the Shrine Maiden let out a sigh. Sitting back deep in her chair and playing with her tails as if grooming herself, she mused, “—My, my, now what is it, after all…?”
Her voice was soft and without ceremony.
“As far back as I remember, all I thought of was Werebeast—the Eastern Union… Now that I think of it, what is love, indeed? At some point, I forgot to even give it any thought…”
The sight of the Shrine Maiden, whispering with distant eyes as if reminiscing on the distant past.
—Strange. Sora and Shiro somehow felt a kinship they’d never felt before.
“I see…”
“…Well, I guess, that’s…that.”
So they sighed together and then turned back to Plum.
“Sorry, Plum, you’re out of luck for now. Don’t go extinct?”
“…Stay, strong?”
Plum, casually forsaken for the third time, screamed with an expression as if about to erupt in tears. “Were you even listening to me? I said I brought a plan so that you can do iiit!”
Her voice trembling on the verge of a breakdown, Plum pointed to her notes.
“It-it’s not as if we Dhampirs have just been quietly letting ourselves be devoured all this tiiime… We’ve analyzed the queen—the ‘game’—over a period of many years, and at looong last, we’ve come up with a foolproof plaaan!”
But it seemed both Sora and Shiro had by now completely lost interest. Taking the Shrine Maiden’s lead, they searched for split ends in their hair as they responded absently, “…If you’ve, solved the, game…you, go for it…”
Whining, Nghhhhh, Plum shrieked, “I-I’ll show it to you! King Sora!” And she thrust a finger at him and screamed, “Name a person you think would never fall in love with you!”
“Anyone.”
“…Huh?”
Plum froze at Sora’s immediate, straight-faced answer, given while prodding at his nails. Sora, with distant eyes—with the serene face of a monk who had seen the light—continued:
“The heavens will fall and the Earth be overturned before the day anyone falls in love with me without being forced to do so by the Covenants.”
He continued as if elucidating a state of enlightenment—the truth of this ephemeral world.
“—U-ummm…Th-that’s really saaad!”
Her momentum blunted by Sora’s bodhisattva-like smile, Plum just barely managed to get her words out. Then, to somehow supply an alternate proposal—“I-in that case, is it all right if I use it on you…?”
“Hmm?”
“A spell—to force the queen to fall in love with you!”
—Hrmm, Sora spontaneously said out loud. Indeed, if making her fall in love was the condition to wake her, then if they had a spell like that, it really would be a certain victory. If that were the case, it would change the picture in many ways. But casting eyes of doubt upon the claim was Jibril.
“—Forcible manipulation of emotions, you say? The Ten Covenants ought to nullify—”
But Plum replied as if she’d been waiting for those words. “Yes, normally that would be the caaase! However, the queen asked to fall in love before she slept—which means we have permissiooon. That’s the thing! We can take advantage of that!”
It was the same logic by which they could meddle in her dreams, Plum explained, putting her hand on her hip. The Dhampir’s face oozed with misfortune but was now touched with a bit of confidence as she stuck out her chest.
Seeing her thus, Sora figured it seemed she actually did have confidence in this plan. Glancing over at Jibril, he nodded. “Okay, then. If it’s gonna work on me when I don’t really understand the feeling of romantic love, then I guess it’s gotta be a sure thing.”
With these words, Sora stepped forward.
“All right, use it on me. Shiro will determine whether it—”
—But then.
“…No…”
Grabbing the hem of Sora’s shirt as he stepped forward, Shiro stopped him short.
“Mm? ’Sup, Shiro?”
“…No.”
“Mm, uh, why not?”
“……”
Shiro’s eyes for a moment—really just for a moment—wandered. The reason was undetectable to Sora, and so she thrust her brain now into full gear to come up with an explanation…an excuse, something. And finally coming up with something, Shiro mumbled, “…We don’t, know…what you’ll do…if you, fall in love…with, someone.”
“Sh-Shiro—do you yet doubt your brother’s iron will?!”
Sora tragically pleaded that by now his self-restraint should be worthy of praise. But—the Shrine Maiden, with Werebeast’s unlikely abilities to read the subtleties of the heart, apparently understood the workings of feelings at least a bit better than Sora and laughed pleasantly.
“—Ah, if it be so, you may test it on me, aye.”
“Shrine Maiden?”
The Shrine Maiden continued as if watching something heartwarming.
“’Tis true of me as well that I lack understanding of those feelings of romance. What complaint have you?”
But Shiro, apparently still wary, asked Plum, “…Can, you…un—do it?”
“Uh? Oh, y-yes! Of course I caaan!”
“Ah-ha-ha, set your heart at ease. He’s no type of mine,” reassured the Shrine Maiden.
Shiro and the Shrine Maiden had somehow seemingly achieved a common understanding, yet Sora remained unable to follow.
“�
�Hey, what’s this about?”
“I’m afraid, Master, that it escapes me as well.”
“…? Sorry, wasn’t listening, please.”
There was no way Jibril understood, giving her likewise quizzical look—or Izuna, who had already been snoring. Ignoring these three, the Shrine Maiden stood up—and took a step. Silently, she came to stand before Plum.
“Come, then, will you try it on me?”
“Y-yes. All right, King Sora, and everyone else…”
Plum, faltering for a moment at the Shrine Maiden’s behavior, recomposed herself and spread her wings.
“It’s not a spell I can use any number of times without blood supply, so make sure you watch, okay?!”
At the same time a complex pattern emerged in Plum’s eyes, a breeze blew through the room. On Plum’s wings, black as if woven of night, there ran—utterly different from the geometric nature of Jibril’s halo—countless scarlet lines, wavering, irregular, imbued with crimson. These irregular lines, red as if woven of blood, came to permeate Plum’s right arm as well. Her hand—coolly yet complexly—began to move. At the presence of the spirits being woven—the rite, forming the spell—the ears of Izuna and the Shrine Maiden reacted finely. But Immanity being unable to detect magic whatsoever, Sora and Shiro were not even cognizant of this. The only one who could be expected to perceive magic accurately and even see the meaning of the rite being compiled was Jibril.
“—Dear me…could it be, genuinely?”
This she mumbled as if genuinely surprised. After an interval of a few seconds, Plum slowly gestured with her hand toward the Shrine Maiden.
—In a flash, with the sound of something splitting, a maelstrom of red light whirled around the Shrine Maiden.
……Mm?
“…What’s this? Is the spell cast now?” asked the Shrine Maiden, apparently not having felt any obvious change.
Plum, a bit of fatigue seeping through her smile, replied. “Yes! And nowww—King Sora, please approach the Holy Shrine Maiden—!