Liar, Liar - Volume 4 - Chapter Pr

Interlude

Summing Things Up

It was the night after the third day of the May Interschool Competition’s ASTRAL Game. The members of Team Eimei were gathered in a conference room on the second floor of the Shiki Island Grand Hotel. This was the first time we’d assembled in around half a day.

“…Okay. Let’s take a brief look back at everything that’s happened so far.”

Shirayuki Himeji, the girl sitting next to me in a maid outfit, stood quietly. She walked gracefully toward the windows, then projected an image from her device.

“We are competing in ASTRAL, a large-scale Game played by twelve teams, each composed of five students selected to represent their school on the Academy. The Game began in the morning two days ago in the Special Development Zone of Ward Zero…a vast empty space turned into a computerlike world through augmented reality.”

As Himeji spoke, she brought up a few more images showing the basic rules of ASTRAL, some promo videos, and so on. This was a huge event, something that only select students from each ward were allowed to join. It was a Game, too, so of course stars—the units in the absolute ranking system that decided a student’s class—would change hands. Basically, unless a team finished in the top five, each of its members would lose a star. Nobody in this Game could afford to lose.

We were all on the same page when it came to that much, so Himeji continued.

“Now let’s begin with the first day, when the event began. Nothing particularly noteworthy happened for us. We spent it feeling out the Game space with the other teams, and we didn’t run into any combat.”

“Right, right.”

Noa Akizuki, the Little Devil with the bouncy ponytails, kicked her legs idly in her seat beside me. I guess her feet didn’t reach the floor. She nodded along with Himeji’s recounting of events.

ASTRAL was, in essence, a strategy Game wherein teams tried to capture as much territory as possible. Each team also needed to strengthen itself and eliminate enemies in the way. Most of that was achieved by securing bases, which naturally became the focus.

Himeji’s silver hair swayed a bit as she calmly went on.

“Next came the second day. Our team did engage in one battle against Ibara School of the Fifteenth Ward, which was ranked fourteenth in last year’s school rankings.”

Himeji displayed footage of the scene taken off ITube that highlighted our encounter with Ibara School and the subsequent battle. Nanase Asamiya (the blond former model on our team) had instigated that fight by launching a Magic Missile Spell. We’d nearly reached an agreement with the Ibara team, but things devolved into combat after that.

By the way, Spells were the consumable skills used during ASTRAL. A team’s bases generated them, and they were shared across the entire team. There were four Attack Spells and four Support Spells available. Using Spells was the only way to damage enemies. The number of Spells in a team’s stock was one way to gauge its strength.

“Phew…”

Shinji Enomoto, the student council president of Eimei School, sighed deeply from his spot across from me as he watched the video playback.

“From this angle, it’s pretty clear that Nanase took out her device after someone from Ibara took action. She wasn’t being rash at all. She was reacting, but I misread the situation…”

“Aww, cheer up, Shinji. I’m just a little bit quicker on the draw than you, that’s all. Besides, I’m a little at fault for not explaining everything…”

“You’re right. Anyone else would’ve apologized by now.”

“Hey, I think I deserve one of those, too, y’know!”

Asamiya leaned forward, all but snarling as she bickered with Enomoto. I still couldn’t tell if they got along or hated each other. They were undoubtedly childhood friends, or frenemies, but they fought constantly. They couldn’t have been less compatible…yet they were always together. The pair had long been notorious around Eimei.

“…Ah-hem!”

Himeji softly cleared her throat. Nanase and Enomoto looked away from each other, each giving a “Hmph!” Everyone else regarded the scene with exasperation.

“Regardless, Ms. Asamiya’s quick thinking paid off and won the battle against Ibara School. In ASTRAL, the winning team in a battle seizes the losing team’s territory and Spells. This allowed us to enhance our fighting powers in every way…but then we hit some trouble.”

“Ohhh… The Chameleon, huh?”

Akizuki took over from Himeji.

“She’s that one girl playing solo for Seijo School in the Twelfth Ward. She began playing as the Clone, a girl who looked exactly like the Empress, but it looks like that was just a front to conceal her true goal, ’cause it turns out she can transform into anybody she wants to. Then she used that power to utterly destroy the Eighteenth Ward’s team in the blink of an eye. We saw all that unfold yesterday afternoon.”

“Yes, Ms. Akizuki, exactly. The shameless Clone, or Chameleon, who took advantage of the Empress’s good name, went on the offensive. She disguised herself as a member of a rival team, destroying it from the inside. When that incident went public, all of ASTRAL went into chaos.”

“…Yeah,” Akizuki muttered with a nervous expression. “And I get why. There’s no telling if the person next to you is real or not. The idea of Hiroto no longer being the Hiroto I know… That’s just…”

The way Akizuki nonchalantly pushed closer to me made me worry she was about to smother me with her chest.

Anyway, let’s focus on the Chameleon. She was our true enemy, the one using the May Interschool Competition to cause trouble for Saionji and me specifically. I figured she had to be one of Mikado Kurahashi’s accomplices. The former provost of Seijo had been ousted for meddling during the Fourth Ward Challenge and had it out for me. He must have sent the Chameleon, who’d chosen to impersonate Sarasa Saionji, the fake rich girl I shared lies with. The Chameleon had challenged Saionji, declaring that whoever beat me was the true Empress and the other was an imposter.

However, as Akizuki said, that wasn’t even the Chameleon’s true goal. Pretending to be Saionji was just a bluff. She could mess with ASTRAL’s displays to make herself appear like anyone she desired. That added a new wrinkle to the Game. A single faker’s presence made it hard to trust anyone. That was the real threat of the Chameleon.

“Yes, exactly.” Himeji nodded in agreement with Akizuki.

“The trouble caused by the Chameleon is quite apparent now that ASTRAL’s third day is over. This morning, three teams were defeated, either by the Chameleon directly or by another team seizing on the confusion she caused. Our team is still in the running, but we’re in a difficult spot.”

“Yeah. The big fight between Miya and the president… After that, the Blackout skill knocked out our vision, and each started suspecting the other was the Chameleon. They wound up leaving for the afternoon. I guess you can chalk all that up to the Chameleon, too, huh?”

“…Not necessarily.” Enomoto quietly shook his head at Akizuki. He folded his arms, relaxing in his chair. “I don’t want to just sit here and place all the blame for it on her. Everything I did was my choice…the result of my ego. My intention was to protect Nanase, but instead, I wound up hurting her.”

“…! Oh… Ah…”

“What’s wrong, Nanase?”

“! Um, nothing. But, like, Shinji, why are you trying to act all cool about it now, you dumbass? We’re past that, okay? You don’t have to keep bringing it up, idiot!”

“?! S-sorry…”

“Oooh, Miya’s pushing the president hard. Eh-heh-heh! That’s kind of rare.  ”

Akizuki watched Enomoto and Nanase for a bit and turned to me once she was apparently satisfied.

“Um, so…anyway, with Miya and the president out, it was just the three of us. I guess it was no surprise we got surrounded by two teams.”

“Yes,” Himeji replied. “Tsuyuri Girls’ Institute from the Sixteenth Ward and the Kagurazuki School from the Ninth caught us. Kagurazuki just happened to be nearby and jumped on a chance, trapping us in a pincer strike. Our team split up, with Ms. Akizuki handling Kagurazuki and my master facing Tsuyuri.”

“Eh-heh-heh! I got kinda serious.   I showed up a lot in the coverage, too. Maybe I have a bunch of new fans now.  ”

“I suppose that’s possible,” Himeji said quietly, averting her eyes. She seemed to want to say more, and I could guess what.

Akizuki had certainly given a stellar performance, but she hadn’t played in the conventional sense. She’d relied on Predict Behavior, the green star’s special Ability, along with a whole bunch of mind games and behavior prompting. She was more like a true monster than a Little Devil. It would attract fans, yes, but maybe not the sort Akizuki would like.

Speaking of hideous behavior, Senri Kururugi, leader of the Tsuyuri Girls’ Institute team, nearly rivaled Akizuki. She had an Ability called One-Shot Kill that could take out a player on the spot. Everyone agreed you needed to run from her immediately. Hell’s Priestess was closing in on the Empress’s record for Games on the Academy, and she’d single-handedly raised the Tsuyuri Girls’ Institute’s ranking from sixteenth to ninth in the course of a year.

Our fierce battle with her had concluded only a few hours ago. Kururugi was a second-year, just like me, and she was so cute, too, despite her vicious personality. Just thinking about her was enough to make me sense that domineering pressure emanating from her.

“Thanks to my master and Ms. Akizuki, we made it through a situation that seemed hopeless. However, our standing in the Game has barely improved, if at all. Ms. Kururugi fled on us, so we couldn’t steal her team’s territory. And for some reason, I suspect it’s related to the Chameleon that we couldn’t take the Kagurazuki School team’s hexes, either. In fact, we had a great deal of territory stolen from us during the fighting. Here’s what the latest data tells us.”

Himeji flipped her hand up and changed one of the projected images to a chart of assorted stats following the third day of ASTRAL. Eimei currently possessed six bases, 174 hexes, and 275 Spells. According to a live poll, only a little more than 7 percent of all students on the Academy expected us to win.

“Hmm… So we’re the weakest out of the eleven surviving teams?”

Remorse colored Enomoto’s tone. He was right, though. According to Libra’s figures, Eimei was fourth from last in territory size. Bases supplied Spells, and we were last on that front. The gap between us and the Chameleon was so enormous that I almost wanted to laugh.

What’s more, I—Hiroto Shinohara—had already bowed out of this Game.

“Master, just before this afternoon’s gameplay ended, you took all of your own Life Points and left ASTRAL. However, you had several reasons for doing so. The first was your disagreement with Mr. Enomoto over the Commander role.”

“Yeah.” I nodded lightly.

ASTRAL ran on a job-based system, sort of like the classes you’d see in RPGs. Jobs granted certain effects and had strengths and weaknesses against particular Spells. Out of all of them, the Commander had the worst Action Level, an important stat that decided the cooldown time between actions. In exchange, the Commander was the only job with access to info-gathering skills. Enomoto and I had argued over who would take the role.

“We had an agreement that if I couldn’t beat three Commanders by the end of the third day, I had to give up the Commander job. I took down the ones from Ibara and Tsuyuri, but Kagurazuki didn’t have a Commander. So I decided to defeat myself instead.”

“Yes. But that wasn’t the main reason you eliminated yourself, was it, Master?”

Himeji’s clear blue eyes peered right at me. I answered her gaze with a nod.

“Yeah, enough recap. It’s time to get to business. Asamiya, have you noticed anything odd in how the Chameleon acted on the first day compared to now?”

“Odd? Hmm, I’m not sure how to answer that… Sorry. Did you see something?”

“Geez, Nanase, at least try to think a little,” Enomoto chided. I didn’t mind Asamiya’s response at all, though.

“Well, by ‘odd,’ I’m talking about two different things. One, why didn’t the Chameleon make any moves until the second half of the second day? Her transformation power has to be an Ability, and with such an incredible skill, she should have taken action immediately. However, she didn’t make any plays until yesterday, and only truly got involved today. What was she doing in the meantime?”

Asamiya frowned. “…Napping?”

“Come on, Nanase,” Enomoto said. “She was obviously gathering data.”

“That’s right.” I grinned at Enomoto. “The Empress is famous. There’s enough public video out there for the Chameleon to gather and create a disguise. That’s not true for the other players, though. I think she pretended not to do anything initially, but she was actually gathering image data of all the other participants.”

“Ahh… Yeah, that might be the case,” Asamiya agreed. “Actually, that’s got to be it. Geni-Shino!”

“Geni-Shino?”

“Yeah, it’s short for the Super Genius Shinohara Strikes Again!”

“…”

She seemed perplexed that I hadn’t grasped the meaning immediately. I decided not to question her on that.

“Anyway, assuming that’s true, it explains the Chameleon’s actions so far. She’s got a super-powerful Ability, and she gathered image data to make the most of it. It’s a pretty standard way to set herself up for victory. However, that leads to something else odd about her. Enomoto, do you remember Libra’s broadcast from yesterday?”

“Of course. I recall everything perfectly. For example, I know the precise number of times I’ve reminded you to call me ‘Mr. Enomoto.’ I have the number branded on my brain.”

“Um, yeah, that’s great. Would you tell us how the Chameleon’s attack on the Eighteenth Ward’s team went down?”

“Well…the Chameleon transformed into a guy who called his teammates over and suggested they switch up their Spells. Everyone unequipped their Spells, leaving them defenseless, and then the Chameleon launched a surprise attack, defeating all four of them. Then, in the blink of an eye, she went right back into her Empress disguise…”

“Yup. That’s exactly what happened. And what about Libra’s announcer?”

“Hmm? Oh… Yes, you’re right, that was a bit strange.” Enomoto frowned and crossed his arms.

“When we first saw the video, there wasn’t any commentary at all,” I explained. “There were only muffled, excited voices in the far background. All of that was cut out during the evening recap broadcast, however. Instead, the announcer made an effort to hype up the Chameleon as a big dark horse in the Game.”

“Right.” Akizuki nodded. “They reedited that whole thing in such a short time.”

I found that suspicious. Watching the live feed made it clear that Kazami had been surprised by developments in the Game. The broadcast hadn’t looked right at all. It seemed more like a blooper reel. Yet that was all cleaned up by the evening. What’s more, the media’s stance on the Chameleon had shifted quickly and dramatically.

“Isn’t that incredibly strange? I suspect that the Chameleon is cheating in a way that’s even throwing Libra for a loop. Her transformation skill might not be an Ability at all, but something more illicit. She’s been using it to mess up ASTRAL, and it seems like Libra is trying to cover for her now.”

“Hm? But wait…” Akizuki evidently understood what I was getting at and voiced a concern. “Maybe you don’t know this since you’re still new to the island, Hiroto, but…Libra’s got a strict neutrality policy. People call it the fairest organization on the whole Academy.”

“Yeah, I know that much. Libra wouldn’t have been chosen to run such a large event if it wasn’t trustworthy. Still, there’s something weird going on. Libra changed that footage for a reason. A serious one. It wants to keep this evening rolling as though nothing were wrong. Until we can figure out why, nobody will be able to stop the Chameleon’s rampage.”

“You’re right,” Himeji said as she took the reins of the conversation. “And that presents an issue. Since Libra is also helping to run this large-scale event, it’s not allowed to make contact with any of its participants. I’m sure Libra must have an office somewhere nearby, but I haven’t seen anyone from the organization in the past three days. Active participants in ASTRAL can’t interact directly with Libra members.”

“Yep. And that’s why I decided to leave the Game for now.” I gave my teammates a grin. “Now that I’m not in the Game, I can reach out to Libra and ask directly what’s happening. Hopefully, I’ll be able to use an unconventional method to take back the Game for us, too.”

“Take it back?” Nanase Asamiya repeated. “But you’re already dead, Shino.”

“Yeah, kind of…but don’t forget about MTCG, the secondary event for all non-ASTRAL contestants. Its top prize is a wild card entry spot in ASTRAL. I’m sure the intended purpose is to encourage talented students from each ward to join and become a sixth player for their school team. However, it’s also a chance for me to come back.”

I spoke as boldly as I could. Basically, that wild card was my ticket back into ASTRAL. I’d asked my classmate Tsuji, who was participating in MTCG, and he’d told me that Mayu Minakami, our best shot at an extra player, had already bowed out. It seemed like as good a chance for me as any.

“Wait. Isn’t that a little overly optimistic? I know you’re my darling Hiroto, but do you think you’ll win it that easily?” Akizuki said.

“Calling it easy is definitely wrong. I don’t think it’s impossible, though. Libra runs MTCG, remember? It oversees the rules, the gameplay—everything. If I can get in touch with some Libra members, maybe we can work together. Arrangements like that are always a possibility.”

“Wow…” Akizuki stared at me, mouth half-open, like she couldn’t believe what she’d heard.

Enomoto, meanwhile, offered his thoughts. “You took yourself out of ASTRAL so you could contact Libra, get its support, win MTCG, and then return to ASTRAL? You saw that the Chameleon upset the Game and planned all of that out? Truly?”

His voice trembled slightly.

I smirked, maintaining my Seven Star facade all the while.

“How about it? Still think I’m not cut out to be the leader?”