Liar, Liar - Volume 3 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Storms and Chaos

“…Pretty close.”

It was the morning of the second day of ASTRAL. While my team continued to build our territory, Kagaya spoke to me over my earpiece. Her words were so abrupt that I wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.

“What is?” I asked, tapping my earpiece.

“Oh, um… There’s a member of another team pretty close in the direction you guys are going, Hiro. Based on their color, I’m guessing they’re from the Fifteenth Ward. I think you’ll run into ’em in less than ten minutes if you continue as you are.”

This time, Kagaya took a little more care with her words. Our first contact with another team, huh? We were expanding east. If the other team was pushing west, we were bound to collide eventually. Considering that we were all aiming for the same bases on the game field, it was only natural that we’d run into each other sometime.

“The enemy force,” Kagaya continued after clearing her throat, “consists of five members. They have a stock of seventy-three Spells, and it looks like they control eighty-five hexes at the moment. Eimei’s Spell count is sixty, so they have a little more firepower than you.”

“…”

I chewed over Kagaya’s information. We had the same number of people, but our side was at a resource disadvantage. However, we had three Six Stars on our team, so in terms of pure fighting ability, I think we could still call it fairly even.

In that case, it’s not like we can’t try fighting. I have my concerns about our teamwork, but winning would expand our territory quickly. It’d help with my battle with Enomoto for the Commander job, too.

When considered that way, there were few reasons to avoid battle. We were moving east because it offered the most efficient path to more bases. Change our route now, and we’d slow our growth.

“…Okay, guys, listen up.”

I explained the situation to my teammates, pretending I’d noticed the approaching enemy by myself. The moment I told them they were coming our way, I could see Enomoto’s and Asamiya’s expressions stiffen slightly. Himeji didn’t respond, since she had heard Kagaya as well. Akizuki gave us a devilish grin, like she couldn’t wait to duke it out.

“Eh-heh-heh…   Hey, Hiroto, which team is stupid enough to try picking a fight with the invincible, all-powerful Eimei School team I lead?”

“It’s Ibara School from the Fifteenth Ward,” I replied. “They were ranked fourteenth last year. I doubt they’ve noticed us yet, and we’re not guaranteed a fight when they do, but…”

“Huh? But if we crash into each other, we gotta fight, don’t we?”

“Not necessarily. There’s a Truce command in the app, you know. If we’re both aiming for the same thing, we could let them go or even fight together. In these early stages, we still don’t have a lot of Spells to fight with, after all. We must consider the possibility that both sides will run out of resources before anyone is defeated.”

“Ah yeah, that would suck. So are you lookin’ to get through this without a fight, Shino?” Asamiya asked.

“Hmm…”

Instead of answering, I looked to Enomoto for his thoughts. He just stared back, silently judging me as usual. I didn’t expect him to say anything useful.

“To be honest, I think we’re better off fighting,” I declared. “It’s still early, but combat will get intense soon. Beating a team means taking their territory—double or nothing, basically. Once the fighting starts in earnest, a handful of teams are gonna suddenly have a lot of territory. If we can’t keep up, we’re doomed.”

“Eh-heh-heh! That’s the Hiroto I know!   Let’s give these Fifteenth Ward losers a lesson on what happens when you get in our way.  ”

“Yeah. Let’s not get too hasty, though. We should maintain a wait-and-see approach. I don’t know what Ibara School’s strategy for the Game is yet. There’s still time to try scouting them before opening fire. Of course, we’ll need to prepare to engage them either way.”

“I see. You want us to remain passive at first and then go on a big offensive once the battle starts?” Akizuki asked.

“That’s the idea,” I said with a smile. Basically, we’d let Ibara School’s team make the first move. If they tried to negotiate with us, I’d hear them out, but once Spells started flying, we’d stamp out the enemy with all we had. And since that was the plan, advance planning was critical.

I faced my teammates. “There are a few things we need to take care of, but two are absolute musts. First, we have to get some Traps down. Second, we need to get our Spells in the right slots.”

Himeji nodded beside me. “You’re exactly right, Master. As we saw in yesterday’s testing, the cooldown time after setting a Trap is five times your Action Level per Trap. That’s a long wait, even if we place the weakest one, Spell Trap. Laying Traps during fighting isn’t viable.”

“Right,” I agreed. “Contrary to instant moves like Sword Flash or Gunfire, dropping Traps is meant to be done in advance so enemies set them off later. We could take a pinpoint-placement approach or throw them around at random. Either way, they’ll make a huge difference.”

“Indeed. ASTRAL does have friendly fire, so a player can deal damage to their allies. However, Traps won’t go off unless a member of another team steps on them. That was specified in the rules, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t drop as many as we can. What really matters right now is our Spell organization.”

“Right,” I agreed while Himeji brushed locks of her silver hair back. Then I crossed my arms. “I mentioned this already… But in these early stages, our biggest challenge could be a lack of resources. Our team currently has sixty Spells, but only eight Sword Flashes and seven Gunfires. That doesn’t seem like enough to defeat a team of five, does it?”

“The ASTRAL rules state that all standard Attack Spells cause one LP of damage. A player starts with five LP, so if you do the math, we clearly don’t have enough potential damage. We’ll need to consider which players are best to knock out as we go.” Himeji was providing some helpful backup. Her clear blue eyes on me filled me with encouragement. She was right, too. Three of the jobs in this Game—Soldier, Mage, and Spy—had a rock-paper-scissors triangle of strengths and weaknesses. A Soldier was good at Sword Flashes, dealing twice the damage, but weak against Gunfire, receiving twice the damage from it. Taking advantage of those pluses and minuses was an excellent way to conserve Spells.

Unfortunately…

“No, that won’t be enough.” I quietly shook my head. Asamiya, in particular, looked confused. Adopting a serious tone, I explained, “Jobs and Spell compatibilities are important, yeah. But there’s something even bigger—the Commander. We have to beat the enemy Commander before anything else, or we’ll never get anywhere.”

It made perfect sense if you thought about it. With a Commander alive, all their teammates received stat bonuses. A decrease in Action Level and an increase in LP. The presence or lack of a Commander could totally change the number of Spells needed to beat a single enemy. Clearly, the Commander had to go down first.

“But, Shinohara…” Enomoto finally broke his silence. “We don’t know which opposing team member has which job, do we?”

“That’s true. I used my Abilities to look into that, but it seems the data’s kept strictly private. We’ll just have to observe our enemies and infer from there.”

“Hmm… I see. It’ll come down to the Commander’s talents, then.” It felt like Enomoto was egging me on a little, but I just smiled in agreement. We appeared to be evenly matched, and neither of us had all the weaponry we wanted. In a scenario like this, the competency of the team leaders counted for a lot. If I wanted Enomoto to accept me, I couldn’t afford to embarrass myself with a huge mistake.

Seems like there’s one thing I better check on right now. If I want to use that Ability right, I certainly can’t have anything looming over me.

I looked around the field, glancing at the columns spread out here and there. It was time to prepare for our first battle.

“Hello there, Eimei School! Good to make your acquaintance.”

Around ten minutes later, just as Kagaya predicted, we had our first encounter with another team. We weren’t lined up neatly to receive them, though. Himeji and I stood out in front, with Akizuki and Asamiya one hex behind us on the left and right sides. Enomoto brought up the rear. Simply put, it was a four-hex diamond formation.

Our Fifteenth Ward enemies took a different approach. There was a single person out in front, a relaxed male student. The rest of his team was in the two hexes behind him, a boy and a girl pair in each. By the way, I stood on a glowing green hex, and there was a sea of dark-blue spaces ahead of us. We were meeting on the border. I don’t know if it was the positions of our respective bases or what, but there was a single line of neutral hexes in between, twisting its way across the field to demarcate the edges of our territories.

The guy who greeted us flashed a friendly smile. “We’re from Ibara School in the Fifteenth Ward. I’m don’t plan on introducing the whole team, but I’m the leader, Kanade Yuikawa. I certainly didn’t expect to run into Hiroto Shinohara’s team so soon, but maybe this is a stroke of luck, huh?”

“Oh? Why is that?” I replied.

“Well, you know…” Yuikawa shrugged and raised his hands in a classic indication of surrender. “Honestly, we’re not here to fight. Since we share a border, I thought we might come to a friendly agreement.”

“An agreement? How about you cut the nonsense and get to the point?” I shot back.

“Sure thing. Basically, we’re looking to negotiate, or well, to be more direct, we want to sign a truce. We aren’t aiming to win. Landing in the top five would be more than enough for us. If possible, we’d really prefer if we didn’t have to clash with you. Ibara School’s kind of a minor player, fourteenth in last year’s ranking. We’re not in any position to dream big.”

I could sense the melancholy in Yuikawa’s voice as he explained his team’s plight. He spread his arms. “I’m sure you already know this, but this Game has a Truce command. It’s basically like signing a contract with another team, right? You can set any terms you like, but we could say something like ‘The Eimei and Ibara School teams agree not to invade each other’s territory’ or something. We’d also set a penalty if someone breaks the truce, making it more than a spoken agreement. What do you think? I think it’d help a lot if we didn’t have to watch our backs.”

“I see.”

I rolled Yuikawa’s proposal around in my head. It didn’t seem bad to me. As he said, ASTRAL was a sort of battle royale with nothing but enemies in all directions. You had to keep your head on a swivel, so having a bit of safety on a single front was extremely valuable.

So the question becomes whether he’s serious about this…

The Truce command allowed us to forge a temporary armistice or alliance, but it would only hold if we shared a common mission. Trusting that Yuikawa wished to help simply because we shared a border was difficult. No matter how little his team cared about winning, it was odd that they were so keen on reaching an agreement. Taking out a nearby threat before we built our strength seemed better.

“…”

“Hmm… Maybe not? Are we too weak of a team to be worth considering?” Yuikawa scratched his cheek with his right index finger as he asked that self-depreciating question. I looked into his eyes and lightly shook my head.

“I didn’t say that. If I agree, should I take that to mean we’ll go in different directions?”

“That’s the idea, yeah. We won’t mess with each other’s territory, and we definitely won’t attack you.”

“Okay. And how long do you want this to last?”

“How about until the end of the second half tomorrow? We can consider that a test run. If it works well for us, we can talk about extending it until the end. We definitely wouldn’t mind helping you win and ending up in second place.”

Aha. Well, that makes sense…I think?

Reaching that conclusion, I decided to accept Yuikawa’s offer on the condition that our side got to define the penalty for breaking the truce. I quietly stepped toward the neutral hex in front of me, projecting my device screen for everyone to see. I was now within range of a Sword Flash from Yuikawa, but Himeji was there to guard me. I didn’t suspect any surprise attacks.

“Um…”

When I checked my device, it seemed that the Truce had already activated because its conditions were listed on the screen exactly as Yuikawa had given them. There was a box at the bottom for me to customize the penalties, along with a flashing box asking me to agree or disagree to the above agreement. Apparently, both sides had to tap in the affirmative for the truce to take effect.

I chose the standard penalty—the truce breaker had to hand over their territory to the other party. Yuikawa smiled at me.

“I tell you, though, it’s so reassuring that you’ve agreed. We couldn’t ask for a better development. Let’s do our best until the end of tomorrow…or perhaps for the whole Game.”

“Mm? Yeah. I don’t intend on being close friends with you, but hopefully, this will help… Huh?”

The moment I attempted to enact the Truce, I heard something whoosh lightly through the air. I shut my eyes for a moment, unsure what was happening. At the same time, a girl standing behind Yuikawa suddenly yelped. I reflexively turned on Sight Mode as she fell to one knee. Now there was a Life Point display, represented by a row of colorful crystals above her head. One of them shattered.

W-wait, what?! What happened just now…?!

I was already panicking, but I kept it from showing in my expression and whirled around silently. Asamiya looked like she’d cranked up her intensity by three orders. Unlike Enomoto or Akizuki, she had her device ready for battle. She must’ve been the culprit. Mere seconds before we signed a deal with Ibara School, Asamiya had launched a Magic Missile that completely ruined the whole arrangement.

“Ah… That’s too bad. I guess negotiations have broken down.”

Yuikawa wasted no time activating a Sword Flash, still wearing that calm smile. It sounded like he was having the time of his life.

The cooldown system in ASTRAL had a couple of unique quirks. It applied to all actions, the length of its effects depending on your Action Level, and while it affected exploration and territory acquisition, it took on special importance in battle.

Impulsive moves were not rewarded.

That was the issue. A single Spell or Ability cost at least a few seconds of waiting. An unwise attack could leave you immediately exposed. A team had to cover all the bases to address this, planning out backup for players in cooldown mode.

Ultimately, this led to one logical strategy. In ASTRAL, people almost exclusively fought in pairs.

“Ngh…!”

That much was clear from the current battle situation. Himeji and I were facing off against Yuikawa and a petite girl who stood behind him. Asamiya, who’d already charged into the enemy territory, was locked in a fight with another coed pair and the wounded girl. Enomoto was backing up Asamiya from a distance. Akizuki, our Spy, wasn’t suited for combat, so she quickly cast Stealth and went invisible, no doubt providing support for us somewhere nearby.

“…”

Asamiya was the biggest issue. She’d boldly moved into the dark-blue zone with no one following her. Being in enemy territory meant she suffered an Action Level penalty. I knew she’d equipped Lightning Speed for this Game, an Ability that granted her one of the best Action Levels possible, but she still wouldn’t be able to keep up with the barrage of attacks.

Another serious problem was her complete inability to work as a team with Enomoto, her main support.

“Damn it… Don’t just blindly rush in, Nanase! ASTRAL’s got friendly fire! Do you want my attacks to kill you?!”

“Oh, like that’d ever happen, Shinji! Just aim so you don’t hit me, dumbass!”

“I can’t! You keep moving around too damn much!”

As a Mage, Enomoto was suited to long-range strikes, but Asamiya, his alleged ally, was distracting him so much that he couldn’t use any Spells properly. Asamiya, meanwhile, was completely ignoring Enomoto’s pleas to stop, moving even farther into enemy territory.

“No, you don’t…!”

The Ibara School team wasn’t about to let that chance slip by. They attempted a barrage, aiming for Asamiya to send her packing in one unified blow, but she dove and rolled into an adjacent hex, evading and loosing a Sword Flash Spell.

“Hah! You see? I’m doing just fine by myself! You’re just getting in the way, Shinji, so help Shino and Yukirin or something!”

“You’re not doing fine at all! Nanase, you’re—Damn it! That idiot can’t even hear me anymore. Sorry, Shinohara, but I have to go after her. You’ll have to take care of those enemies!”

Enomoto, too flustered to even spare me a glance, hurried into the dark-blue hexes in pursuit of Asamiya. Seeing the rift between them manifest itself in the middle of battle was a bit disheartening. Still, they were Six Star players, among the best on the island. Their jobs made them extremely capable in battle, and overall I felt safe leaving things in their hands. For now, we needed to defeat the opponents before us.

“Whew…” Yuikawa whistled, marveling at Enomoto as he dashed off. “Way to sneak in an attack. Was that your call?”

“I’ll leave that up to you to decide.”

“Sounds like you’re not too worried. No wonder you’re the best on the Academy… But you made one mistake.” Yuikawa smiled a little, brushing back his hair in an attempt to act superior. “I’m sure you know this, but the most vital winning tactic in the early stages is to deduce which jobs the enemy team’s members have. Without that, you could waste valuable Spells. And the most urgent business of all is finding the opposing Commander. Beat them, and the whole team is weakened. However, it’s typically impossible to know who a Commander is.”

“Right, sure.”

“But this is no typical situation. That maid of yours… She’s been constantly focused on you, always on standby, so she can quickly step in. Isn’t that weird? You’re a Seven Star with incredible Abilities—and presumably the best Action Level in the Game. She has no reason to be that protective of you.”

“…”

“And yet she is. That can only mean one thing. You’re the Commander, Hiroto Shinohara. And the maid’s your Guardian, right?”

Great… He got it right.

I clapped at his guess. He’d hit the bull’s-eye.

“And that was your mistake,” Yuikawa declared, grinning. “You can’t go around revealing information that vital just because you’re the greatest Seven Star in history. Finishing you two off now that I know you’re the Commander and Guardian won’t be tough. We better do it fast so we can go deal with your Soldier and Mage over there.”

Yuikawa was in his element now. He and the girl with him approached. I moved backward a bit, and Himeji stepped out in front of me.

“H-Hiroto, Hiroto!”

“…Akizuki? What’s up?”

“I think Miya’s in trouble! A Trap caught her in enemy territory, and she’s surrounded by three people… The president’s keeping them distracted for now, but he’s starting to get pushed back!”

“All right, thanks. Go help them out and find a way to buy us some time. Don’t worry about conserving Spells.”

“O-okay… Got it!”

Akizuki sounded more desperate than usual. If she was around, our line wasn’t likely to break too quickly. At least, I hoped not, but everyone except me and Himeji was in enemy territory. That would extend their cooldown time, so they might not be able to hold out for long.

“…”

The worst possible outcome flashed before my eyes, and I nearly fell into complete panic. However, danger also gave me a kind of calm focus. I quietly pondered my options.

Why did Asamiya suddenly attack?

That was the first question that came to mind. We were close to an agreement, but she stormed in and singlehandedly ripped it up. If there was a justifiable reason—in other words, if there was a way for our opponents to shoot at us from their territory—then the girl Asamiya attacked was likely a Mage or a Spy. Both were good with ranged Spells. Asamiya’s Magic Missile had hit for one damage, so that girl definitely wasn’t the Commander.

Next, I had to consider Kanade Yuikawa, my chill opponent. He’d played mediator for his team, but chances were good he wasn’t the Commander. As he’d pointed out, a Commander was the prime target in any fight. Marching up alone to negotiate with me would’ve been daring for someone with such a critical job, even if it was a bluff.

You know, he said that revealing myself as the Commander was a mistake… But I don’t really think that’s the case.

My lips curled into a small grin.

Now, yes, uncovering the enemy Commander was key. Any team that did could alter their tactics to take down a key foe and gain an advantage. However, if an enemy team discovered your Commander, you could use it to your advantage. It made opponents more predictable. In fact, it was almost worth exposing your Commander for that strategic edge.

Yuikawa saw us split into two groups, and then he did the same thing. He already knew at that point that Himeji and I are the Guardian and Commander—two jobs he thinks he can kill off quickly. He sees them as the least dangerous jobs.

That much was clear from his statements. Yuikawa had his eye out for the Soldier and Mage, and both of ours had run off.

Unbeknownst to him, I was fine with Asamiya and Enomoto being decoys. The Guardian and Commander duo’s strength paled against the potential damage of a Soldier, Mage, and Spy combo. If Yuikawa saw his team get split up and had to decide where to position the Commander… Well, the answer is obvious.

Yeah… She’s the Commander.

I locked my gaze on the dark-haired girl hiding in Yuikawa’s shadow. She was our target.

Locating the opposing Commander was all well and good, but the question was how to defeat her. She couldn’t fight very well, but Yuikawa surely had a battle-oriented job—Soldier or Mage, in all likelihood. I’m sure he’d also taken some aggressive Abilities that’d let him defeat Himeji and me in one fell swoop. It’d be tough to tackle him with any standard approach… But I’d known that from the start.

“Casting Defense Wall.”

Himeji protected me while we retreated into our territory. We wanted to lure the enemy in, staying outside Magic Missile range but not going too far away, either. Our destination was a certain spot we’d designated earlier.

Yuikawa just shrugged at our behavior. “Could you be more obvious? It might look like you’re fleeing at random, but I know exactly where you’re headed. You set some Traps over there, didn’t you?”

“We’ll just have to see, huh? Take a step over here, and I bet you’ll find out,” I replied.

“Forget it, Seven Star. We’ve got a talented Spy on our side. Clearsight, level five. I’ve applied that to my entire team. It lets them see all Traps placed on the field.”

“…Huh.”

Being so disastrously outgunned in Abilities made me go pale internally.

Yuikawa smiled, then pressed forward. His steps had a breezy elegance, like he believed he’d won already. The girl with him followed suit. She activated Sight Mode as she tried not to fall behind. This was the moment I’d been waiting for.

“Ah…”

Suddenly, the girl let out a slight groan and stopped cold. Her shoulders trembled, and she stared into what seemed to be empty space. However, she clearly saw something in Sight Mode. The blood gradually drained from her face.

“Hmm?”

Yuikawa took a moment to notice. While keeping a watchful eye on us, he turned to his partner.

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re chickening out now.”

“N-no. No, I’m not. This is just…”

“…Huh?”

The girl’s gesturing made him realize what was up. Instantly, he waved his right hand to access Sight Mode. I didn’t know what was on his display, but I had a good idea.

Trap laid by Eimei School activated.

The two target players will receive a noncancelable thirty-second cooldown time.

It was five Spells’ worth of time. As Yuikawa and his companion stared agape, he clenched his hand into a tight fist.

“H-how…?! Don’t give me that crap! There shouldn’t be any Traps on this hex!”

“Really? I’m not so sure.” I moved to a hex adjacent to theirs, smiling confidently. “It’s not that there shouldn’t be… It just looked like there weren’t. They sound similar, but they’re quite different. I have an Ability that alters displayed information. More precisely, it lets me use visual effects to deceive my opponents.”

“Oh… The Ability you took from the Phoenix! †Jet-Black Wings†!” Yuikawa exclaimed as his eyes shot open. He was right. Just as he’d said, this zone had several Traps, and I’d lured him here to make use of my little minefield. I’d also invoked †Jet-Black Wings† to rewrite the enemy’s Sight Mode data, just in case. Now that they were caught, they couldn’t take any actions.

That sure would’ve been cool.

Sadly, it was all a lie.

It kind of had to be. With my Action Level, if I invoked †Jet-Black Wings† twice, I’d be stuck with nearly a minute of cooldown time.

In other words, suggesting I’d used †Jet-Black Wings† was a bluff. Such a famous Ability was perfect for tricking people, but I’d never used it. I guess that begged the question of how I’d lured Yuikawa and his teammate here.

“You really are a good actor, Hiro… I’m the one who hacked into their devices to put up that false display, but you’re the one keeping them there.”

Exactly.

That was the truth. Essentially, there was no Trap on that hex. The Company had messed with things to black out the Spell and Ability buttons on Yuikawa’s and his teammates’ command lists. That, combined with the fake-out text display, was all there was to this. No genuine cooldown time had been placed on them.

An outside observer could easily tell all this was a farce. It’d be obvious to them. Worse yet, people would suspect me of cheating the system. And that was the actual reason I’d lured my opponents here. Yuikawa had suspected it was because our minefield was nearby. However, the actual reason wasn’t so fair.

It’s because there were no pillars with Libra cameras around.

With a bold grin, I approached the girl and quietly lifted my device. Naturally, I chose the Spell Sword Flash, which had the shortest cooldown time.

“See ya, Commander. If you wanna blame anyone, blame that guy over there.”

“Ah…”

With a burst—no, two bursts of light—my attack combined with Himeji’s delayed Magic Missile instantly removed her remaining four LP. Her body vanished from the AR world without a trace. I heard a slight sigh of relief as Himeji quietly took care of Yuikawa, who was panicking after losing his Commander.

“Hahhh…”

Once I confirmed the victory, I let out a deep breath and had a seat on the ground. Panting a bit to calm down my pulse, I wiped the sweat off my brow with a sleeve. This was proving to be incredibly exhausting. Using this cooldown system instead of a standard turn-based one meant never dropping your guard.

“…”

It was a good thing no cameras were on me as I sighed with a depressed expression. Himeji walked over. “Well done, Master,” she praised gently. “Heh-heh… You looked so cool doing it, too.”

After wrapping up our fight with Yuikawa, Himeji and I returned to the border zone and found things settled over there as well. The Ibara School team was gone, and all our members were fine. The dark-blue mass of land repainted itself a fresh shade of green, marking the end of the fight. This was fine, but when I had a closer look, there was clearly something wrong.

“…!”

Enomoto and Asamiya were by one of the tall blue pillars that rose too high to see the tops. Enomoto had Asamiya crouched down helplessly with her back to the column. It was like a scene from a torrid romance film, but Enomoto clearly wasn’t in the mood for love.

“…Why did you do that, Nanase?” he growled.

Asamiya turned away from him.

“Do you have any idea what you did? This is a team Game, Nanase. You’re not playing by yourself. Rushing in without orders endangered all of us.”

“…”

“I haven’t fully accepted him yet, but Shinohara is the Eimei School team’s current Commander. He’s our leader, and he decided to negotiate with those guys. I don’t think that was a mistake, either. But you decided to act on your own.”

“B-but we won, didn’t we…? Seriously, give me some space…”

“We did, but not because of you, idiot. ASTRAL is a strategy game, all right? It’s not about just beating up the person in front of you. And yes, like you said, we beat Ibara. That is great news for us, but how much of a chance did we have going in? Who was the person who had to chase after you when you ran into enemy territory without any plan at all? And who defeated their Commander to turn the tide for us?”

“Hey, Enomoto, you don’t have to go that far—”

“No, Shinohara, let me have my say. Look, this is exactly what happened last year. During the last May Interschool Competition, we constantly dragged each other down and blew it badly against a team we should have outclassed. I don’t want to repeat that mistake ever again. I can’t. This isn’t a game for me, all right? And when you force us to play along with your stupid crap, we’re the ones who pay for it!”

“…!”

The moment Enomoto finished, Asamiya waved her left hand, slapping his arm away. Then she stared right at him, eyes reddened from holding back tears.

“But…I…tried…to… But…”

“Huh? Speak up for me, Nanase.”

“Shut up! If you’re gonna talk to me like that, you dumbass, then don’t speak to me ever again!” With that, Asamiya turned her back to Enomoto and ran off, never looking back.

“Ah… Um…” Akizuki was the most shaken by this scene, but after a moment, she opted to chase after Asamiya. “I’ll take care of this!  ,” she said with just the right sort of suggestive wink before scurrying off.

“…”

As for Enomoto, he just stood there for a while, not moving at all. Then he shook his head, as if letting out a held breath, and he quietly turned toward me.

“Do you think I was wrong, Shinohara?”

“…”

I could still sense the emotion in his voice. Was he wrong? From an impartial point of view, the answer was clearly no. Things wound up working to our advantage, but Asamiya had directly defied my orders as Commander. I doubt she did it for no reason, but considering this was a team sport, her actions definitely hurt us. Enomoto had lost his temper, but he had good sense on his side.

However…

“I don’t think so, no… But I’m not so sure you were right, either,” I said.

“Oh…,” he replied, voice gravelly. So despite completely dominating our first battle with no team losses, the first half of ASTRAL’s second day ended on a gloomy note.

“Right…”

After time ran out on the first half, and the AR world flicked out of existence, the members of the Eimei School team returned to the Shiki Island Grand Hotel entrance. The hotel offered all the participants a breakfast and dinner buffet every day, but we were free to do what we liked for lunch. The mornings and evenings were meant for rest, but these lunch breaks were more like a halftime for each day of action, a chance for teams to talk strategy, and so on.

That was how we’d spent our lunch yesterday… But Asamiya was upset, so that wasn’t likely to happen now. When we reached the entrance, she put her hands together, said “Sorry!” then ran back to her room in the girls’ section of the hotel. Akizuki chased after her like before, and then Enomoto disappeared at some point as well, leaving Himeji and me milling around in the lobby.

I knew going in that they didn’t get along well, but…

I stopped myself before I sighed. Extremely talented individual players who were difficult to work with. Tsuji and Tatara had warned me, and now I understood perfectly. This morning, even, we found ourselves at a disadvantage chiefly because of their poor teamwork. They had no interest in working together, which brought us all down. Someone watching the Libra coverage would think we were being overwhelmed by our opponents, despite them being all Four or Five Stars.

Our teamwork sucks… But I guess we’ve managed so far.

I reflected on our encounter with the Ibara School, my feelings teetering between relief and a certain anxiety for the future.

“Oh?”

I heard an all-too-familiar voice come from behind. I promptly frowned, dreading what was coming. Still, I retained my above-it-all confident facade and turned around. Himeji did the same. A girl with dazzling red hair was approaching us. I made eye contact with her for an instant. Sarasa Saionji spoke up first.

“Heh-heh! Well, this is certainly amusing, Shinohara. You don’t seem to have your team with you right now. Having some communication problems, maybe?”

“Yeah, good afternoon to you, too, Saionji. Sorry, but unlike you, I don’t think of myself as such an exalted, fearless leader that I demand my teammates follow me at all hours.”

“Oh? I don’t force anyone to do anything. It’s more about whether your team’s loyal to you, isn’t it? Heh-heh! I suppose that’s a lot to expect from a new transfer like you.”

“Sure, sure. Isn’t your team nothing but girls? They call you the Empress, but your fandom’s pretty much devoid of guys, isn’t it?”

“Ohga’s team was selected by our automatic system. There are standards, of course, but nobody’s personal opinions interfered. Anyway, look at all the women you’ve been associating with during the event, Shinohara. You’re quite dangerous to be around, aren’t you?”

Saionji crossed her arms and gave me a little snicker. I, meanwhile, had one hand in my pocket and sneered back. We were in the middle of the lobby, and I sensed a few curious stares, but I was well accustomed to that level of attention.

“Mmm…” After that little exchange, I changed the subject. “How’re you doing in the Game, little lady? Figured out a way to beat us yet?” I asked.

“Huh? What, you think I’m just going to tell you? That’s classified information. We’re making a serious bid for the championship, you know… You seem to be doing well so far, huh?”

“Yeah. Although I could’ve done without the little sub-Game you dragged me into. The one where the Clone will take over for you if you lose… Your fans are gonna kill me unless I take that seriously, I bet.”

“Well… It’s not like I don’t feel guilty about that…” Saionji brought her fingers to her chin, her red eyes fixed on me as she considered her words while making sure to maintain a calm public face. “But honestly, this has been pretty anticlimactic so far.”

“Anticlimactic? What, too insignificant a challenge for the Empress?”

“Will you stop treating me as some kind of dominatrix? I’m really kind to most people who aren’t you, okay? What I mean is that the Clone has been a disappointment. After all that threatening before the event, she hasn’t done anything since the Game started. She’s kept quiet and expanded her territory, and she’s been doing it alone, so you can imagine how inefficient her play’s been. That’s why I called it anticlimactic.”

Saionji shrugged a bit, arms crossed lightly underneath her chest. I understood her point. By this time during the Fourth Ward Challenge, Mikado Kurahashi and Noa Akizuki were making all kinds of moves against me. The Clone, on the other hand, had shown us nothing. It was almost eerie.

“…”

“Heh-heh!” Saionji chuckled elegantly at my stern silence. “Sounds like a lucky break for you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “A lucky break?”

“If I knew that the Clone was really tough, I would’ve taken the most efficient approach and just stormed your territory to kick your ass immediately. Isn’t that wonderful for you, that I don’t have to do that?”

“You know, I’m starting to have a sneaking suspicion that the Clone’s the real you, after all,” I said.

Saionji scowled. “Well, that’s mean. I would have thought you’d know the real me better than anyone else. Anyway, that’s all I have to say about the Clone. Keep expanding your ASTRAL territory for me, okay? That way, my team will get to seize more turf when we finally absorb you. And if you let someone else beat you, I’ll never let you hear the end of it, all right?”

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to tell me twice. But don’t come crying to me if my team claims all your red hexes.”

“Funny joke.”

“Laugh all you want. I’m serious.”

We were griping at each other from point-blank range. Then, as if on cue, we turned away and concluded our conversation. Encounters like this with Saionji had become something of a tradition by now. Himeji, who was quite used to this, didn’t bother trying to interrupt during the argument. I’d grown so comfortable with it that I could devote my mind to other things as Saionji and I yelled at each other. For example, I’d never noticed before how long her eyelashes were.

So the fake still hasn’t taken any significant action… That bothers me a little, but there’s not much I can do about it right now…

I was all smiles and bluster on the surface, but internally, I worried a bit. There’d been no one seated at Seijo School’s table in the restaurant last night or this morning. And we still didn’t know what the Clone looked like in person, making it impossible to search for her. I didn’t like how we had no choice but to react to events as they came. Until the Clone took action, there was nothing we could do.

And of course, I didn’t have any idea at the time that such a move was coming much sooner than I expected.

The second half of ASTRAL’s second day had begun. The two-hour break had given Asamiya time to compose herself somewhat. She still wasn’t talking to Enomoto, but she was willing to take Game-related orders.

The Eimei School team’s current territory totaled 184 hexes. We now enjoyed control over eleven bases, and our total Spell count was 147. Absorbing Ibara School’s area in today’s first half gave us far more resources compared to before, and taking down a Commander also did a lot for my side competition with Enomoto. I honestly wanted to keep on the offensive, especially before any other team grew more powerful, but sadly, the Company’s radar didn’t show any enemies near our position.

“Hey, Hiroto?” Akizuki turned around and looked up at me. “I was thinking… We have a pretty big territory now. Don’t you think we should start defending our bases a little?”

“Hmm? Ah… Yeah, you’re right.”

I nodded a bit. Any claimed base could be made neutral again by casting Neutralize, a Support Spell. A team’s territory was defined by its bases. If one was neutralized, the team would lose a section of its territory.

There were several ways to prevent this, but the most basic approach was for a Guardian to use Defense Wall. Establishing a barrier on a hex with a base would deflect any Neutralize attempts. Of course, a single Defense Wall would only block a single Neutralize, so an attacker could still take a base with multiple attempts. However, attempting to use Neutralize incurred a lengthy cooldown. In the meantime, the defending team could travel to the contested base and fight off the invasion.

“We’re in the second half of day two, so we’re likely to face a string of battles pretty soon. Other teams will try to pick at our sides while we’re occupied. We do have a few Traps in place, but it’ll be hard to devote time to our bases during battle. Shoring up our defenses before things intensify is a good idea,” I said.

Asamiya’s eyes lit up at my comment. “Right? Also, why don’t we add a whole ton of Traps while we’re at it? If enemies step on our turf, they shouldn’t come out alive!”

“Eh-heh-heh! That’s the spirit, Miya!   I’m gonna bash some heads this afternoon!  ” Akizuki broke into a cloying smile. The two girls were using some pretty violent phrases, but their reasoning was sound. Protecting a base was a better use of resources than trying to steal one. It was better than simply attacking all the time.

“…”

Enomoto, who presumably still felt bad about Asamiya, stood at a prudent distance behind us, but I don’t think he disagreed. He offered no complaint, at least.

So I turned my attention back to the Game.

“Wait a minute, Master.” Himeji stopped me, a certain rigidity to her voice. She was rooted to where she stood, eyes on her device. It was clearly unusual behavior, enough to give everyone else pause. When Himeji looked up from her device, her clear blue eyes were pointed right at me.

“I just received a notice… It looks like something a little strange is happening.”

Himeji was watching the Libra feed of the event.

ASTRAL had a viewer voting system running alongside the Game feed on Libra’s official ITube channel. It wasn’t a live feed. There were some video and audio adjustments to ensure teams weren’t disadvantaged by being recorded. However, the editing job still created a suitably “live” effect. This Game featured the top players from every ward, so the potential audience was huge.

I checked the stream regularly for reference purposes. Apparently, the channel viewership had skyrocketed abruptly. It had been stuck at around thirty thousand until this morning, which was already pretty large. Now it was well over one hundred thousand. The chat stream moved at such an explosive pace that I couldn’t follow it. Something had definitely happened.

“…”

Keeping it cool despite the intensely bad feeling I had, I gave Himeji a reassuring nod. The sudden viewer uptick began around twenty minutes ago. Himeji pulled the progress bar back a little, projecting the screen so everyone could watch.

“Okay, I’m hitting play,” she said.

“All right. If something’s happened, I guess we should know,” Asamiya replied, swallowing nervously.

“Eh-heh-heh! This is sooooo exciting…  ” Akizuki took advantage of the tenseness to wrap her fingers around my hand. I glared at her while Himeji tapped on her device’s screen.

A section of the Game field appeared on the projection. I couldn’t be sure where our team was in relation to this area, but Kagaya hadn’t mentioned anything about it on her radar, so it couldn’t have been close. A group of five students stood in the middle of the scene, their school uniforms on the chic, stylish side.

“That’s the Tokoyo School team from the Academy’s Eighteenth Ward. Their school took thirteenth in last year’s ranking,” Himeji whispered to me the moment she spotted the seal on their hexes.

Given that she didn’t say more, I figured the Eighteenth Ward had no famous players. Judging by the video, the Tokoyo School team was making steady progress. They were keeping an eye on their surroundings, aiming for the nearest bases, and slowly expanding their lavender-colored territory—the basic approach most teams were taking.

“Hey! Hey, guys!” one of the people on-screen turned around and shouted. He had a carefree smile as he gestured to the others. “Our bases just generated more Spells, right? Our team slots are pretty full, so how about we redistribute our Spells a little?”

“Yeah… Good idea.”

“Right? I’m the Mage, so I want more Magic Missiles handy.”

“Hmm…?” I raised an eyebrow, confused by the footage. This was a snippet from the Libra stream, but the audio wasn’t censored. Broadcasting this kind of info hurt the team. Normally, nothing like this would be allowed.

Barring some kind of broadcast glitch, this implied that the broadcast wouldn’t hurt the Tokoyo School team. In other words, its members had already been wiped out by the time this part was shown.

But it’s only been a few minutes since…

“Okay, for now, let’s put all the Spells in our possession back into our team slots.”

The team, ignorant of my trepidation, began working their devices. We couldn’t see the Spell types and quantities involved, but I imagined all the team members were emptying out their slots, replacing them with Spells better suited to their jobs and play styles.

“We have nearly twenty Stealth Spells, right? I’d like to stock up if that’s okay.”

“Sure, take all you want. As long as I can get some Cancel Spells, I’m fine with anything.”

“Hold on, we need to talk this over before we commit to anyth—”

“…Huh?” I blinked, trying to understand the inexplicable shift that happened on the ITube stream. “‘Start of Battle’?”

A START OF BATTLE graphic was slapped on top of the Tokoyo School members on-screen. It was probably part of Libra’s production, but it was clearly out of place here. As though to prove that point, garbled noise came through Himeji’s device, along with a bit of Kazami saying “What’s…?” or the like. If a stream admin like her was confused, I could only imagine how baffling this was for the Tokoyo School team.

“Huh? Wait, what happened?”

“It says we’re in battle… But that can’t happen unless someone attacks us or we attack them, right?”

“That shouldn’t be possible. There’re no enemy teams around us. And nobody’s even made an—”

“‘Nobody’s made an attack yet,’ right?”

One of the people on-screen—the first guy who spoke in this clip—interrupted his teammate. His carefree smile was a little creepy. He seemed so innocent yet inscrutable. Holding both hands behind his head, he casually strode toward his four teammates.

“Boy, this is no fun at all, you know? Even after revealing myself, you guys are barely worth hunting down. Can you at least open Sight Mode to see what’s going on?”

“H-hey, what’s up with you…? What are you talking—?”

“Just open it!”

“…”

At the smiling boy’s insistence, the rest of the team waved their right hands to trigger Sight Mode, still clearly unsure what was going on. Immediately, all their faces went rigid—and for a good reason. All four of them had the words CANNOT MOVE projected in front of their eyes.

“‘C-cannot move?!’” one guy, presumably the leader, shouted in a shaky voice. “Did we hit a Trap…?! When did you do that?!”

“Well, when you guys were too busy chatting about something completely pointless, of course. That’s the strength of this Trap. It doesn’t have an immediate effect, but since it goes off long after the fact, it doesn’t come with a cooldown. And in this Game, Traps are counted as Attack Spells. The moment you get caught in one, that counts as entering battle mode.”

“Y-you… You’re betraying us?!”

The team leader took a step toward the apparent turncoat. He thrust out his device, attempting to cast a Spell.

“Sorry, you don’t have any. Not a single one. Did you forget? You just put them all back in the team slots.”

“Wh…? You thought that far ahead? Y-you’re kidding! I had no idea you were that cunning…”

“You think I’m kidding? Just look around. As long as you’re in battle mode, you don’t have access to your team slots. You guys can’t use a single Spell.”

“…”

The traitor flashed a twisted smile at his quiet teammates. He strolled toward them as someone might while walking on the beach and activated a Sword Flash. The other four were quickly wiped out by the flurry of slashes. Once he was done, the traitor looked directly at the Libra camera.

“Okay… Time to reveal the trick.”

Another anomaly occurred. Just as the traitor raised his arms, static covered the screen like a sandstorm, obscuring him. The camera went inactive, as though something was jamming it.

By the time the static subsided, the traitor boy had become someone completely different.

“Heh-heh!”

“What?!” I exclaimed.

That long, dazzling hair. Those strong, arrogant ruby eyes. It was Sarasa Saionji—the rich little ex–Seven Star who went undefeated last year.

She spent a few moments smiling at the camera. Then, out of nowhere, she tapped on the ground with her right hand, as if to say “Hey, look at this.” Honestly, it was unnecessary. After all, the moment the Eighteenth Ward team was defeated, the color of its territory changed. It went from Tokoyo School’s lavender to Seijo School’s jet-black. It was such a dazzling, awe-inspiring, one-sided defeat. An act of pure domination. And it had all been done by one person.

The girl snickered, looking comfortable in her new domain. “Hey,” she called to the camera. “Why don’t we get the real competition started?” Then the screen faded out.

An almost-painful silence hung over my team. I stared intently at the Libra feed, unable to speak. I remained still for a while, even after the playback concluded. Video had cut out on the Libra stream, but the sound was still going. We heard a commotion in the background and someone shouting “Wh-what’s happening?!” Apparently, the broadcast team was terribly confused.

That’s how shocking, unexpected, and utterly mind-blowing this development was. Someone had transformed into another person before our eyes. It defied reason. I had absolutely no idea what had happened. At least, I wished I didn’t. Unfortunately, I did, and that made this worse. Clearly, this was the Clone’s work. Someone who’d made herself look exactly like Sarasa Saionji could’ve managed this easily.

But why didn’t anyone notice?

The Tokoyo School team should’ve caught on. The Clone knew how to take Sarasa Saionji’s appearance. More specifically, she altered how she was perceived to seem like she was Sarasa Saionji. Whoever the Clone was in real life, she showed up as a totally different person on-screen. Undoubtedly, she could pose as many more people than just Saionji. She could become anyone she liked within a video feed or an AR world.

Once I came to that conclusion, I quietly lifted my head, hiding my astonishment. “Hey, Enomoto. I’m sure you memorized the names and faces of all the players in this Game, right? When do you think the Clone switched in for that guy?”

“I’m…not sure,” Enomoto admitted. “I certainly couldn’t tell the difference visually. I can promise you that my eyes and memory tell me that the person we saw wasn’t different appearance-wise from yesterday.”

If even Enomoto couldn’t tell the difference, it was fair to conclude there was no way anyone would spot the impostor based on visuals alone.

“…”

This duplicate of Sarasa Saionji was proving to be much more than that. She was an unknown, someone who could become whoever she wanted, like some kind of virus destroying the Game from within.

Damn it. I never thought Kurahashi would go this far…

He had to be involved. That devil had hurled this Game into chaos out of nowhere. It made me grit my teeth in disgust. My hands clenched into tight fists.