Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 21 - Chapter 2.5

Interlude: Lunchtime

Reiji Mukudori

It was Monday afternoon. I was in the college cafeteria, having lunch with my fellow freshmen—Soprano Natsume and Dragon Kasugai.

Kasugai was wearing sunglasses and sporting a mohawk, and Natsume had a spot of face paint on her, so we stood out pretty hard. I could feel the passersby looking at us, probably wondering, “What kinda group is this?”

We’re just talking about our lessons and Dendro, though...

“Hey, Mukudori, I heard about some big gamblin’ goin’ on in Altar. Izzat true?” Kasugai asked.

“People gamble on it, sure, but it’s a dueling event at its core. It’s gonna go for ten Dendro days straight.”

“Shiiit, man, that sounds fire!”

“I’m sure it’s very intense. If only she went to an event like that too...”

Kasugai’s eyes gleamed at the prospect, but Natsume seemed kinda tired.

“Did something happen to you in Dendro?” I asked.

“I guess you could say an asura forced me to play a game of tag.”

Is that some kinda horror-themed event? I wondered. “Are those the kind of things you do in Tenchi?”

“Well, the place is pretty wild even at the best of times,” said Kasugai.

“Oh, don’t mind it too much,” said Natsume. “I can consult you if I need to, right?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Roger!”

They were in Tenchi, though, so I didn’t think that I could get involved in whatever they were talking about. If only events like The Anniversary happened more often. It’d make it easier to meet up with them.

“But back to the duels... Why’s Altar holdin’ the event, anyway?” Kasugai asked.

“Oh, well, basically...” I went on to explain Altar’s current situation and that they needed to strengthen their forces and prevent further terrorism.

“Izzat so? That reminds me that the daimyos in Tenchi did somethin’ similar.”

“Really?”

“Uhh...you’re talking about how when the power of Masters started getting recognition, the daimyos began gathering anyone thought they was hot stuff, right?” said Natsume.

“Yeah, that. They held a whole buncha fights they watched personally, and the big shots who won got hired with some good terms. That’s how most people working for the big four houses got their place.”

My impression of Tenchi was that it was a lot like Sengoku Period Japan, but this seemed closer to what you would’ve seen in the Edo Period.

Hold on, I thought. “Wait. From what I heard, Tenchi doesn’t even have that many arenas.” This was something Xunyu had told me, but Gideon in Altar was a huge exception when it came to how many arenas a country had available. Other countries had around three at most. “Not everyone had a place to hold these matches in their own territory, right?”

Most daimyos must not have had an arena, and I doubted that those who did would lend theirs out so their enemies could grow in power. In response to my question...

“They do them without them,” the two girls said, nearly in unison.

“Huh?” They’d said it loud and clear, but I still thought I must not have heard correctly.

“They just went at it without any arenas.”

“Oh... Well, dead Masters only get the death penalty and come back in three days, so...” It was a reckless solution, but if they had no arenas, it made sense to resort to that.

“Tians do it too, though,” said Natsume.

“Hell, these matches have been part of their culture since before we Masters came floodin’ in,” said Kasugai.

“I get that it’s the ‘land of strife,’ but man...” The value of life in Tenchi was even lower than I’d imagined...

Then again, the country had produced people like Kashimiya, Rosa, and Jubei, so it felt like...yeah, that situation made a whole lot of sense. Tenchi’s asuras were something else.

There was also Juliet and Chelsea’s friend, Max, though. As far as Tenchi people went, she was pretty reasonable. I also felt kinda sympathetic toward her as the rational one of the group.

“Well, guess ya can say that everyone in power is crazy ’bout buildin’ up their forces,” said Kasugai.

“That’s true in both Altar and Tenchi,” Natsume added.

“Well...I guess you’re right.” It would be hard to argue that the only difference between the two countries was simply that Altar had an ample amount of arenas, though, enabling them to do this kind of thing without loss of life. After all, the arena count must’ve been one of the circumstances that influenced the character of the land.

“Speakin’ of buildin’ forces, that Dryfe place you’re up against must be doin’ that too, doncha think?”

Kasugai’s words made me think a bit. She was more than likely correct—actually, it’d be weird if they weren’t doing that. Even at the time the peace talks were being held, Dryfe already counted King of Thieves and King of Chariots among their Superior roster. And with the next war just around the corner, it wouldn’t be unusual if they were trying to get more of them.

There was something else I was curious about, though.

“I was reborn! I’m now so powerful that I’m nothing like what I was before.” That was what a certain Superior told me right before the peace talks.

Hell General Logan Goddhart—a man I once fought and defeated.

During the peace talks, after he spoke about how much stronger he’d become, he went on to instantly die to Fuso’s Fatal Field combo.

But that left me with a question...

“What, exactly, was this power-up that he got?” I mused. We still didn’t know the details of his newfound strength or how much trouble it could give us.