Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 22 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Fallen Angel and the Arch Enemy

Ninth Day of The Tournaments, Gideon, City of Duels

“Nnnh...”

On this day, the Fallen Knight, Juliet—the fourth in Altar’s duel rankings—was faced with an unusual problem.

“There is no sanctuary where I might hone the darkness I wield... (I can’t find an arena to rent...)”

Gideon had a whole thirteen arenas, and they were the very reason the city received its title. However, they weren’t all being used for duels and events all the time. There would always be some that remained unused, and the local duelists would rent them for sparring matches or to test their new gear or skills.

But right now, there were The Tournaments that rewarded the winners with Orbs containing sealed UBMs. Many other powerful Masters had gathered from all over to fight for them and prepare for the fights. With tomorrow being the final day, their numbers were especially high, and because of that, not a single arena was left unreserved.

“My mortal frame has yet to acclimate to my newfound power... (And I still haven’t figured out the MVP rewards yet...)” Juliet had acquired two MVP rewards recently: one from a gacha ticket she’d won during the Anniversary and one from the UBM she’d slain after winning the Tournament she’d participated in. They had no doubt made her more powerful, but she had yet to familiarize herself with their specifics.

The MVP reward she’d gotten from the UBM had been generated with her previous reward in mind. They now formed something of a pair, best used together.

To put it another way: They were awfully unwieldy if used separately. They were, in fact, double-edged swords that would kill her if misused.

Before she could employ them in actual battle, she had to thoroughly test them within the barrier of an arena, where death wasn’t an issue.

Juliet let out a sigh as she spotted a familiar face.

“Oh. Julie! Any luck on your end?” said Chelsea—Juliet’s friend and rival—as she approached. “Goin’ by your face, I’m guessing not, huh?”

“Yeah... You too?”

“Nothin’ on the west, no. With a Mythical reward on the line, they’re all really serious about tomorrow’s Tourney.”

They had split up to the east and west sides of the city to look for any open arenas, but everything was fully booked everywhere.

They usually had Max and Shion with them too, but they weren’t in the city right now.

Max was out making money. There was an auction being held on the same day as the final Tournament, and among the items being sold was one of Tenchi’s Hundred Famed Blades—the exact one she wanted most—so she was out hunting monsters to gather as much wealth as she could before it began.

Shion was currently offline because of a cold. She had come online yesterday and had looked just fine on the Dendro side, but her servants had hastily chased her over there and brought her back.

Juliet had told her to take care of herself, genuinely concerned, while Chelsea had privately thought something rude—along the lines of “So even idiots catch colds, huh?”

“Hrm... Maybe some of our friends have a reservation? We could join them instead...” Chelsea suggested.

“The ones who are participating in the final day are Figaro and Bishmal, right?”

“Yeah. But Figaro probably didn’t rent one, while Bishmal said he wanted to ‘recharge his batteries’ and went to a maid café instead.”

Chelsea’s words made Juliet tilt her head. “Bishmal is one thing, but...Figaro didn’t rent one?”

“I mean, Figaro is a member of Death Period. Their entire base is a— Oh.”

Chelsea stopped mid-sentence. She was looking at something ahead, causing Juliet to do the same.

There, she saw...

“Ray?”

...their friend, Ray Starling.

◇◇◇

Sorcerer, Ray Starling

Today was the ninth day of The Tournaments, but instead of watching it, I was just looking around the bazaar.

The clan member participating today was Kasumi, but she’d been eliminated in the preliminaries and I didn’t know any of the people who made it through, so I just didn’t feel like watching it.

Kasumi wasn’t the type to fight solo, so her loss wasn’t really unexpected, and we’d already held a little consolation party for her during lunch.

I really didn’t know who to bet on this time either, so I just went with a name that caught my eye—someone called “Grimms.” The sum I put down was smaller than any of my previous bets, but the multiplier was only behind Rook’s, so I’d still make some good money if he won.

Also, I currently didn’t have Nemesis by my side.

Well, actually, I did—but she wasn’t coming out of the crest on my left hand. She’d been meditating like this a lot more ever since our battle against that Overlord.

At first, I thought this was a sign that she was evolving, like what had happened in Torne. It didn’t seem to be a one-day deal this time, but there was no mistaking it: Having already evolved three times, she herself could now sense that her next evolution was drawing close.

There was something else she’d said about it too.

“Ray. This is conjecture, but...my next evolution will likely grant me the you-know-what.”

“Huh?”

“My ultimate skill.”

Ultimate skills. Bearing the Embryo’s own name, they were the greatest, most powerful abilities in any Embryo’s arsenal, and the supreme manifestations of their core traits.

This meant that her next evolution—her fifth form—would set in stone her nature as an Embryo.

Nemesis was currently reflecting on herself in preparation for that, and instead of disturbing her, I decided to just walk around alone.

“Hm?”

But then I noticed a couple of familiar faces. There was Juliet, looking somewhat down, with Chelsea right by her side. They’d noticed me too.

“What’s up, you two?” I asked as I approached them.

“The favors I carry, newly bestowed... They cannot yet be awakened,” said Juliet.

“I wanna test my new MVP rewards, but no arenas are open,” huh? I thought. I get it.

This reminded me that she’d been the one who won the Tournament on the fourth day, as well as beat the UBM to take the MVP reward afterward.

“Because of the Tourney, the arenas are bein’ rented by people who don’t usually use them,” said Chelsea.

“I see...” That made sense—duelists weren’t the only people participating in The Tournaments, and with the arenas being the perfect place to practice one-on-one fights, there were probably hundreds of people trying to rent them.

“And it’s the final day tomorrow,” Chelsea continued. “Not a single arena is open.” With the prize being a Mythical MVP reward, it was no wonder the participants were taking this seriously.

But because of that, these two hadn’t been able to do any training...

“Why not use our place, then?” I asked.

“Huh?”

My clan’s base was the Eighth Arena, and it had the same barrier that all the others did.

I’d even used it myself to test the axe that had blown away my arm.

“Can we?”

“Sure. It’s not like it costs us anything. Someone else might be using it, but the barrier can be separated just like in the other arenas, so won’t be a problem.”

If there was someone using it now, it’d probably be Figaro. He was participating in tomorrow’s Tournament. There was probably enough space for everyone there.

“Thanks! Maaan, there’s nothin’ like a good friend!”

“And so, we descend upon the citadel of the Light- and Dark-Wielding Hero Clad in Violet and Crimson... (We’re visiting Ray’s place...)”

“Hm? Juliet? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. She’s just cute like that.”

“I don’t really get it, but okay...” Well, Juliet was still a middle schooler in real life, so it was probably best not to pry.

Anyway, that’s how it was decided that I would let these duelists into our base.

“The Eighth Arena, huh? I’ve actually never been there,” said Chelsea, prompting a nod from Juliet.

“Really?” I asked. “You two are proper duelists, so I kinda assumed that you’d been to all of them.”

“The ranked battles all happen in the Central Arena, and there’s more convenient places for warm-ups and sparring,” Chelsea said. Well, looking back at it, whenever I joined them for sparring, we never did use the eighth.

“If we go to arenas besides that, it’s usually for their events, but...” Juliet added.

“Ohh...” Right. Since the eighth was in a bad location, it never attracted much of an audience and was operating at a net loss, so it probably wasn’t economically viable for them to do any big events.

That makes our base sound like some rural horse-racing track that was on the verge of shutting down, I thought.

“By the way, can you fill your arena with water?” Chelsea asked.

“I never tried, but I think you can.” Not every arena in Gideon had this feature, but some could be filled with water for aquatic fights, and I was pretty sure ours was among them.

“I’ll pay for the water... Actually, I’ll just provide it myself. Would you mind if I did that?”

“I’m pretty sure it would take up the whole arena, so if someone else is using it, you’ll have to ask them. If they’re fine with that, then I see no problem.”

“Thanks! That’ll be a big help! I’ve been on a losing streak lately, so I need to do some serious training!”

“That so? Speaking of, what day did you participate in?”

I hadn’t seen her name on any of the public rankings in The Tournaments, so I’d assumed she’d been unlucky and gotten a bad matchup during the preliminaries...

“...Day six. I got matched with Kashimiya in the prelims.”

“Ohhh...” Yeah, that’d do it, I thought. Even the public battles ended in seconds that day.

“The reward didn’t attract much attention, and I’m pretty strong against lightning, so I thought I had a chance,” Chelsea added. “Though, looking back at the whole escape thing, that UBM was probably too much for me.”

The UBM released on day six had broken the barrier and flown off somewhere, escaping not just Kashimiya, but all the Superiors present—Shu included. Thankfully, it seemed like the UBM hadn’t caused any incidents since.

Still, there had been a serious counterplan meeting about it, and both Shu and Figaro had both been called to participate as observers.

“Speaking of Kashimiya, I wonder when he’ll challenge Figaro,” said Chelsea.

“Oh, Figaro himself actually asked him about that,” I said.

“What did Kashimiya say?”

“‘I will challenge you when you can duel me with all your strength.’”

“You mean...?”

“The sharpest fang in the Lion King’s maw? (Figaro’s ult?)”

Chelsea and Juliet instantly understood what Kashimiya had been referring to.

Indeed—while Figaro was the strongest duelist in the kingdom and possessed incredible power, he was actually handicapping himself by never using his Embryo’s ultimate skill.

Figaro had sworn that he’d never use his ultimate skill in a duel until he got another chance to face his close friend and rival, who’d disappeared following some event in the past. Figaro was so serious about this oath that he hadn’t even used his ult against Xunyu during the Clash of the Superiors.

“’Tis not that I do not grasp the desires of the great and powerful, but time flows ever onward toward its ultimate end... (I understand wanting to fight someone when they’re at their strongest... But I wonder when he’ll get to do that.)”

“Well, for Kashimiya, it’s less about his duel ranking and more about overcoming a great obstacle,” said Chelsea. “He just wants to fight someone powerful—becoming duel champion is kind of a bonus.”

Looking back, that was more or less how he’d been with Tom. Even though it was a bad matchup for him, Kashimiya had challenged Tom again and again, until he eventually emerged victorious with the techniques he’d honed throughout it all. He improved himself by overcoming those who were strong—these great obstacles.

For Kashimiya, duels weren’t the goal, but just a means to that end, and that was why he didn’t care about staying second in the rankings.

He would remain there until the day he could fight Figaro at his strongest.

“But if that’s how it is, I say let him keep waiting,” said Chelsea. “I’ll just beat Julie, Tom, and Kashimiya too, then challenge Figaro myself!”

“Our ambitions are equally matched—and yet, only one shall bear fruit. (I was thinking the same thing! I won’t lose to you, though!)”

Those two really were duelists. I was looking forward to their fights as both a friend and as a spectator. If letting them use our arena would help them on their path, then that was all the more reason to do it.

And what of you, as the leader of Figaro’s clan? Nemesis asked telepathically. She must’ve woken up at some point.

Knowing Figaro, he’d just be really happy they got stronger and gladly fight them both, no? I thought back at her.

That is true, came her reply.

As far as Superiors went, Figaro was relatively normal as a person, but when it came to combat power and fighting spirit, he might’ve been the craziest guy around. Who else would keep fighting after literally getting their lung ripped out?

Continuing to gossip, we soon arrived at our base. Thankfully, no one was using the stage, so they could have aquatic fights just like Chelsea had requested.

I actually joined them myself, and sparring with them made me realize that they’d grown stronger too—especially Juliet.

She’d actually died more times than me, though, so I felt like it’d be a while before she mastered her two new MVP rewards—especially the one she’d gotten using the gacha ticket.

Once we were done, I told them that they were free to use the arena for practice anytime.

But man, Juliet’s MVP reward... I honestly would’ve loved to have gotten it myself, I thought. The Carriage House of Legend I pulled from the gacha isn’t exactly disappointing, but the thing Juliet got would’ve fit my fighting style so well.

◇◇◇

Gideon, City of Duels

After a few hours of sparring in the Eighth Arena, Chelsea said she had some business to attend to and logged out.

Juliet was thinking of doing the same. While it was evening in Gideon right now, it was almost dawn in real life—and since it was a regular Tuesday, a middle schooler like her had classes to attend.

But in all honesty, her heavy sighs clearly showed that she wanted to stay logged in.

In Dendro time, tomorrow was the final day of The Tournaments. It was the climax of a major dueling event, and yet Juliet had to go to school. Just thinking about that before she’d logged in had made her so disheartened that her head had started to feel strangely heavy.

Thus, she was now walking through the city wearing a rather gloomy expression.

Logging out right away was an option—but knowing that she’d get less than two hours of sleep before her mother came to wake her up, Juliet wanted to enjoy the festivities a bit longer instead.

Additionally, though she’d been logged in for a while now, she didn’t actually feel all that sleepy. She’d taken a nap between day eight and day nine. Converted to real time, it was only about an hour of sleep, but it had spared her from feeling drowsy.

Juliet was actually full of energy and a desire to do something.

It’s right before the final day, so maybe they’re doing something in the first district? she thought. It’s a bit far, though. I’ll just fly there.

She spread Hræsvelgr—her Embryo—wide and prepared to leap into the sky when...

“Hey! You there! You, with those photogenic black wings!”

...someone suddenly called out to her.

Juliet turned around in surprise to see an unfamiliar girl running up to her, eyes glittering.

“Is that cosplay? Or are they the real deal? Oh! They move! Can you fly? That’s amazing!”

“Hm? Huh? What?” Juliet was completely taken aback by the mystery girl’s sudden approach. She didn’t even manage to speak in her usual manner, instead only letting out confused exclamations.

“There’s winged Masters in Legendaria too, but theirs don’t really work! Everything in character creation is just cosmetic! But your wings move! Are they some kind of magic item? Wait, Identification doesn’t show anything... It’s an Embryo!”

“I-It is...”

“Nice! So nice! Wings that can actually fly! A fallen angel! This would get so many views! Tons of likes! Hey! Would you join me for a photo shoot? I feel like we can take some great pictures together!”

“O-Okay... Huh?” Overwhelmed by the girl’s energy, Juliet found herself nodding.

Sh-She’s so pushy... Juliet thought. I feel more pressured than I did with Max.

In their first meeting, Max had challenged Juliet to a duel in the middle of the street—but in a way, this girl was more overwhelming. It was enough to knock the role-playing right out of her.

“Yay! That’s great! We’re like a devil and a fallen angel! This will look great together!”

“A devil...? Oh.” Juliet finally noticed the girl’s devilish horns and tail—though the horns were somewhat rounded, and combined with the hair color that matched her dress and crown, along with the closed parasol she carried, she looked more like...

“A cute devil girl...”

“Yeah! I know, right? Thanks! I’m proud of my avatar too!” Those words, along with the crest on her left hand—showing an image of what almost seemed to be an ancient underwater temple—were more than enough to confirm that she wasn’t a tian, but a Master.

While Infinite Dendrogram’s avatar creation let players assume all sorts of strange appearances, it was often difficult to balance the function and design of features humans didn’t have in reality. However, this devil girl pulled it off really well. The tail even seemed to move based on her emotions, however that worked.

“Oh! Right! Can I have your name? I wanna put ‘Me and Whoever’ as the title for the photo set!”

“Um... I’m Juliet.”

The fact that the devil girl had to ask her name made it clear that she was new to Gideon. Juliet was fourth in the duel rankings—the duelist who showed up in more matches than any others near the top. Nobody from the area who cared even slightly about duels would fail to recognize Juliet’s face or name.

Oh yeah, she did say something about Legendaria... Juliet thought.

“Juliet. Julie it is then! I hope we can be friends!” The devil girl grasped Juliet’s hands and shook them up and down.

It was an awfully blatant expression of familiarity, but it obviously came from the heart.

“And, so... You are...?”

“Huh...? Oh. Right. Riiight...”

Juliet’s question made the devil girl freeze mid-handshake. However, she quickly rebooted and gave Juliet a smile.

“I’m G! A streamer and content creator! Search for ‘G Channel’ and you’ll find me!”

“Oh. A streamer...” Juliet mostly watched fashion and occult videos, so she didn’t know much about streamers, but based on G’s reaction to her lack of recognition, Juliet figured she must’ve been pretty famous.

“I-I’ll have a look...”

“Please do! Check me out! Anyway, on to the photo shoot!” G said with a smile plastered across her face, making Juliet nod.

◇◆

“I saw a good photo spot! The moonlight really spices up the scene! Let’s go there!” G said, pulling Juliet’s hand.

The sight made them stand out, and some of those they passed by talked about them.

“Oh. Look at that devil girl. Pretty cute, huh?”

“Devil...? Which one do you mean?”

“C’mon. The one holding hands with the Black Crow, obviously.”

“She doesn’t seem all that devil-like to me.” This made Juliet feel somewhat bashful, while G didn’t seem to care.

But as they walked, the amount of people around them gradually dwindled.

“We’re here! We’ve arrived!”

Eventually, they ended up inside some stone ruins—a property that had been destroyed during Franklin’s act of terror. Unfortunately, its rebuilding plans had been delayed, if not completely lost in the legal process, because it didn’t have any inhabitants or owners to begin with.

“I think devils and fallen angels are best paired with the scenery of destruction! The absolute end! Not scenes of everyday life, but the desolation left after it’s over!”

“Our minds are as one... (I totally get it...)” G’s assertion was something that really touched Juliet’s teenage tastes.

They had chatted a bit on the way here, and though Juliet had found G a bit much at first, she eventually decided G was actually very easy to talk to despite her unique tone and overwhelming personality.

“Let’s get ready now! I’ll set everything up!” G said as she reached into her Inventory and took out various photography equipment. There were floating orbs and mirrors that shone to function as lighting, as well as crystal balls with wings that functioned as cameras—all of them Legendarian magic items.

Appropriately for a content creator, G seemed very serious about her setup.

“Let’s get started, then. It’s photo time! We’ll do each of us individually first, then pair up for the rest!”

“O-Okay.” And so, the photo shoot commenced, beginning with Juliet.

G left the poses and expressions up to Juliet at first, but then began telling her where and how to stand, and what faces to make.

Juliet checked the photos on the spot, and seeing them was quite surprising to her.

G’s photography skills were just incredible—even more than one might expect out of a content creator. Juliet was into fashion and taking selfies, so she could easily tell that G’s photos did a good job of highlighting her charm. Juliet was already Juri Kurosaki’s ideal avatar, yet these photos seemed to somehow make her look even better.

“Pretty...” said Juliet, so overcome by emotion and excitement that she could only manage the most basic statements.

“Well, I gotta be good at it for my job. I gotta know how to captivate people. Not that I don’t like the praise, though!”

“You made me look so gorgeous... Can I have these too?”

“Of course! I’ll give them to you along with the pay!”

I’ll definitely send them to the other side and put them in an album, Juliet decided.

“Oh. I forgot to ask... Would it be okay if I use my photos with you for video thumbnails or post them on social media? Would you be against that?”

“Not at all.” Juliet was a high-ranking duelist, so there were already plenty of videos and photos of her duels. Agreeing to this wouldn’t change a thing.

“Nice! Thanks a bunch!” G said with a bright smile.

The photo shoot continued, and they ended up taking dozens of pictures.

The ones where they posed together as a devil and a fallen angel were especially beautiful—breathtaking, even. The background shadows and lighting worked splendidly to create scenes that looked simply magical.

“Wow... I don’t even feel like I’m looking at myself here...” said Juliet.

“Well, it’s your avatar. It’s important to make it look even better than it does normally,” G replied as she sorted the photos. Some would be used in videos, some in streams, and some posted on social media. Her eyes as she did this were nothing if not serious.

“You content creator types are really amazing...”

“We’re not all like this. There’s a bunch of areas we can fall into. For example, the lip feti— I mean, someone I know gets viewers not through photography or recording skills, but just by showing interesting and funny occurrences. I don’t have whatever weird predisposition makes that kind of thing happen to me on its own, so I set up my events myself and make some eye-catching screenshots and pictures to go with it.”

“You’re so good at this, though. You’d be a great photographer...”

“Oh, that’s not happening. Not a chance. No way.”

“Huh?” G’s strong denial made Juliet’s eyes go wide.

G, however, maintained a smile as she said, “I mean, the thing I wanna photograph the most is me. I want people to look at me. I wanna shine brighter than anything else in the world! That’s not the usual outlook for a photographer, right?”

“Umm... That makes you sound more like...a princess?” That was the first word that came to Juliet’s mind when she thought of “someone who shines brighter than anyone else in the world.”

That might’ve been kind of a childish answer, though, Juliet said, regretting her choice of words when...

“AHA! Yeah! You might be right!” Apparently finding humor in Juliet’s words, G let out a laugh. “You really don’t know me, huh? So this is what it’s like to leave Legendaria.”

“Hm?”

“Ah ha ha! Don’t worry about it. Thanks for helping me out today. Here’s your pay,” G said as she handed Juliet a sizable sum of money and the copies of the photos she’d made on the spot.

“Thanks...”

“Oh! Right! Can I add you as a friend? You know, to celebrate those great photos we just took?”

“Okay!” Juliet said with a nod. She was happy to have a new friend on top of all the wonderful pictures she’d received.

After adding each other to their friend lists, the pair were ready to part ways.

G seemed to have somewhere else to be, while it was about time for Juliet to log out and prepare to go to school.

“I’ll go check out your videos, um... Miss G?”

“Just ‘G’ is fine. ‘Miss G’ sounds like the name of a rapper or something, so just ‘G’ is fine. Anyway, Julie, whether here or on stream, let’s meet again sometime!”

“Okay!” Her heart lifted by the wonderful photos and her new friend, Juliet logged out.

◇

Fully satisfied, she—now Juri Kurosaki—opened her eyes.

“Hm...?” But the moment she logged out, she realized that something was off about her body.

She was obviously sleepy, but it was more than that. Her head was heavy, her breathing difficult, and her joints ached here and there.

“Ah-choo...” A charming sneeze escaped as she woke up.

She then looked at the large mirror in the room...

“...Huhhh?”

...and saw her face, all red.

◆◆◆

Gideon, City of Duels, Eighth District

The Eighth District was chaotic even by Gideon’s standards. It was home to many legally gray guilds and underground shops.

However, even this area had one place that even the lawless locals wouldn’t dare approach.

It was Gideon’s Eighth Arena—the base of the Death Period clan.

It was home to not only four of Altar’s Superiors, but also the ones who had saved Gideon during Franklin’s Game.

Immense power and a debt of gratitude combined to make the local criminals hesitate to do anything to this particular location.

Because of that, any outlaw who wanted to try anything funny here would almost certainly be a foreigner, not a local.

“So this is his house... So this is Ray Starling’s base.”

Having just split up with Juliet, G looked up at the Eighth Arena with those words.

On a wide thoroughfare, lit only by the streetlights and the moon, G opened her umbrella.

That made a rounded shadow fall next to her feet, which then rippled like the surface of water.

“I...can’t do all of Gideon, obviously. That’s too much. This city has way too many Resources. I guess it’s all the arenas? I can do at least one, though. That’s reasonable. And I guess it’s gotta be this one.”

G was muttering to herself as if confirming something. But then, she looked away from the arena and to the sky diagonally behind her.

“What a shame. I wanted to surprise you, but I guess you found me first.”

There was nothing there.

Actually, no—there was an optically camouflaged orb—a floating drone.

“Well, there’s a big event happening. I sent eyes all over, so of course I’d notice you.”

Following those words, a man wearing a coat like the night sky appeared before G.

In Infinite Dendrogram, this man was known as King of Light, F, but in reality, he was G’s blood brother.

“So this really was your destination, eh?” he asked.

“That’s my brother—such a detective. I’m amazed you could pinpoint where I was headed like that. Maybe you should try writing a mystery next.”

F said nothing, though he seemed to be thinking, It’s worrying that she’s being completely serious...

“So, do you also know what I’m here for? Did you see right through me?”

“Based on the fact that you’re here, I have a guess,” F said as he looked up at the Eighth Arena.

Knowing his sister’s personality and her Embryo’s ult, he could easily imagine what she was planning.

“I don’t think your odds are good, though,” he continued. “Death Period has four Superiors. They obviously can’t fight at full strength in the city, but it will still be a difficult battle. Actually, isn’t Figaro a hard counter to you? I don’t think there’s a Master who is as good at ‘clearing’ as he is.”

“Oh, come now, dear brother of mine. I’m not that careless.”

Silence. Really? F thought, but stopped himself from saying it out loud.

“Tomorrow is the final day of The Tournaments, right? That’ll keep the fabled Figaro busy until probably the final match, and I hear Shu and Hannya are on security duty. It seems like Lei-Lei doesn’t log in much in the first place, so I don’t even have to consider her, while the rest will probably watch the last Tournament.”

“Mm-hmm. So you’ll take care of business while they’re all away?”

“Oh, no no no. That won’t make for a good video.”

“Suppose that’s true.”

“But I won’t fight any Superiors. My only target...is Ray Starling.”

I thought as much, F thought, narrowing his eyes.

“While everyone’s focused on the Tournament in the Central Arena, I’ll summon just Ray Starling. This will be the stage for our battle! The filming location!”

“Mm-hmm... The public part of the final Tournament tomorrow will probably last from noon to about three p.m., JST.”

G’s words made her brother mutter under his breath and begin to calculate something. However, she ignored that and continued talking as though carried by the momentum of her own words.

“I’ll get what I want, and by winning against someone who beat you and some Superiors, I’ll show that I’m stronger than all of you. Those are my main goals this time!”

It almost felt like she was picking a fight with her brother.

“I see. I’ll be looking forward to that.”

However, F was unfazed and replied to her words from the heart.

He really did think it would be interesting.

He knew just how powerful G was, but he still didn’t have a good measure of Ray’s strength.

A conflict between the two would be as exciting as the final Tournament—if not more.

But there was one problem...

“By the way, Ginga.”

“Hey! Not even you can say my real name here, okay?!”

“Oh, sorry. Then, G... I have a question for you...”

His little sister neglected to consider something important, so he chose to point that out.

“Yes?”

“Tomorrow is a weekday, right?”

“Yes! It doesn’t matter much to us, though! People who’ve got day jobs and school sure have it rough, huh?” They were a content creator and an author, respectively. As far as professions went, theirs didn’t have much of a set schedule.

That must’ve been why G hadn’t considered this particular issue, but...

“Do you think our friend Ray will be able to log in on a weekday at noon? Based on the times he comes online and the name of his brother’s avatar, he’s almost certainly Japanese.”

“...Oh.”

The standard Japanese work and school hours—an unlikely obstacle to G’s plans that nonetheless had thrown a huge wrench into her plans.