Liar, Liar - Volume 5 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

DearScript Begins

Monday, May 23.

The new Café du Chocolat, opening in the Academy’s Third Ward, was already a big hit, with a record-breaking line having formed since early in the morning. The real rush, however, wouldn’t be until after four in the afternoon, when most schools let out for the day. #Iwenttocafeduchocolat was easily the top hashtag of the day on STOC, with the girls who had already made their way in eagerly uploading photos from their visit. The Rainbow Pâtisserie event, commemorating the grand opening, wouldn’t be until five p.m. This was a pseudo-Game that would also be used to promote the café (admittedly, that was probably the main point of it), which was also slated to be broadcast on Island Tube live with a short delay.

“Hmm…”

After reciting that brief recap to myself, I returned my thoughts to the present moment. The time was 4:37 PM, and I had just submitted my entry form for the event. Now I was waiting in one corner of the building with the other competitors—of which there were less than a hundred, all high school students. The line in front of the store had several hundred people in it, but I guess they were all just customers looking for sweet treats.

But the more I look around, the more I realize it’s all girls here…

It was hard to ignore. Café du Chocolat was a pretty classy joint, and as you’d expect from a place like this, women made up at least 90 percent of the clientele. Standing there all alone, in such a female-oriented space, I stuck out no matter what I did…but even then, I still wasn’t attracting as much attention as I normally did.

“…You’re looking good so far, Master.”

The familiar voice of Himeji jumped out from my earpiece. She was monitoring the situation outside the café.

“I must hand it to you, Ms. Kagaya,” she calmly continued. “When it comes to crafting outfits that make Master look like a completely average high school teen, there’s nobody better.”

“Hee-hee! Right? You’d have to know Hiro pretty intimately to realize who he is right now. Ain’t I great? …Wait, you did mean that as a compliment, right?”

“Of course. Naturally, I recognized him as soon as I saw him, though.”

“Hey! Quit acting like his lover! Hey, Hiro, don’t forget you’ve got me, too!”

“…”

They were having a lot of fun over the radio, but I figured I’d let them enjoy themselves for now. Just as Himeji had said, Kagaya had given me a disguise. At that moment, I was currently wearing a pair of dark-rimmed glasses (non-prescription lenses) and a plain hoodie. She had also teased my bangs a little bit. All I really had to do was put my hands in my pockets and hunch down a little, and the “sullen male teen you’d see anywhere” look was complete.

The reason I was doing this, of course, was to carry out the order I’d been given—a rather tough one: During the Rainbow Pâtisserie event, your identity as Hiroto Shinohara must not be revealed to anyone besides people involved with DearScript. I could always have chosen not to participate in this Game in the first place, but that had seemed far too risky, so here we were.

It’s not an easy handicap…but if I fail to complete even one of these orders, I’m out of DearScript right then and there. The gamemaster’s orders are absolute.

As I thought to myself, I leaned against a wall with a large, fancy logo printed on it and hid my face under the hood… For the time being, at least, that order wasn’t looking like a problem. Now I just had to win the event and bring home that cheesecake.

“At least there are some nice perks to this job, huh? I’ve always wanted to try Café du Chocolat’s Legendary Cheesecake…but I never thought it’d be Hiro bringing it back for me… Drool…”

“Hmph. Were you going to have some, too, Ms. Kagaya? Because the first bite is for my master, and the second bite’s for me. If there’s any left after that, I suppose we might share it with you.”

Man, all this pressure…

My cheek twitched a bit as the two of them happily chatted on. But then…

“Hmm…?”

Someone went to walk past me as I stood against the wall…then stopped in their tracks. With my hood down low, I could only see a pair of knee-high socks, but for some reason, this person wasn’t moving from in front of me. I had a bad feeling about this. I slowly looked up—and I guess I should have known—but standing there was none other than Sarasa Saionji. Her luxurious red hair swayed in the air as her well-formed eyebrows arched downward and her ruby eyes stared right at me.

“You…”

Uh… Sh-she spotted me? Really?

“…? What’s up, Sarasa?”

My heart was racing…but just as Sarasa opened her lips, another girl appeared from behind her, eyebrows raised. This was Momo Asuka, a first-year from Ohga who’d also participated in ASTRAL. Her eyes darted between me and Saionji, a quizzical look on her face.

“Um, is he a friend of yours? We really need to get our entries in before it’s too late…”

“Oh… Right, yeah.”

Saionji nodded briefly to the hesitant Asuka and turned her ruby eyes away. I internally breathed a sigh of relief…but that relief didn’t last long because a sudden smile spread across Saionji’s face.

“Sorry, Momo, can you go on ahead? I have some business to attend to.”

“…? All right! But don’t be late, okay?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Asuka ran off, cheerfully waving a hand. Saionji saw her go, and I secretly sighed under my hood. She waved at Asuka for a little bit longer, then turned back toward me, a bold smile on her face.

“All right. Mind accompanying me for a bit, Shinohara?”

I couldn’t afford to stand out too much, so I decided to go with her for now.

We were in a kind of break room next to the second-floor escalator, at the far end of the building the Café du Chocolat was in. There were benches, vending machines, and, if you turned the corner where the potted plant was, a bathroom. There were restrooms inside the café as well, though, so few people bothered coming all the way over here. It was the perfect place for a secret meeting like this.

“…So? Why are you disguising yourself, Shinohara?”

She accentuated her point by flicking my hood up with both hands, then crossing her arms and glaring at me like usual. I turned off my earpiece, since I didn’t need Kagaya eavesdropping on us, then shrugged back at Saionji.

“Why? Because it’s in my orders, of course. I’m out of the Game if anybody besides people involved with this DearScript stuff identifies me.”

“Ah. Yeah, I thought it must be something like that,” she declared with a victorious smile. I couldn’t help but frown, but since she was a fellow DearScript player, I wasn’t breaking the order. There was also little to no chance of Saionji tipping off someone else about me.

After all…

“…You know what the deal is, right, Saionji? If you break even one of the orders in a quest, you’re kicked out of DearScript right then and there, and the whole Unique Star competition goes down the toilet. We won’t even be able to complete two quests, so neither of us will win that purple star.”

“I know that much. You don’t have to remind me. It’d be just like before—your opponent loses, but you don’t win, either. We’d be right back to square one, and not just that, either. Like I said yesterday, someone needs to be in possession of that purple star.”

“That’s certainly true, yeah. That star’s not easy to give up for either of us…but it’d be the biggest waste of all if neither of us had it, like how things are now.”

“Exactly. So…I know we’re coconspirators here, Shinohara, but let’s play this fair and square, all right? I want to get a Unique Star again, and you want to get closer to being a real Seven Star. And no matter who wins, no hard feelings, okay?”

“Sure, I’m fine with that.”

After confirming each other’s stances on the matter, Saionji and I locked eyes, competitive smirks on both of our faces. Our business was now settled, and with the event about to start, it was time to return to the waiting area.

But then…

“Hmm hm hmmm.  ”

Suddenly, a woman approached us, humming a tune. She looked old enough to be in college, and she must have wanted something from the vending machines, because she had her device in one hand as she casually walked up to them. Saionji and I hadn’t expected anyone to be here right now, and we both froze up for a moment…not to mention the fact that my hood was off, so my disguise was incomplete. Me and Saionji being involved in a special Game was already public knowledge, so a meeting like this could be explained away well enough, but if I failed my order, I’d be sunk.

“…!”

The moment I had that thought, I reached out, grabbed Saionji’s wrist with all my strength, and hid behind the large potted plant in the break room, holding her in my arms. Covering her mouth with my free left hand, I pulled her close to me, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

“…?! Mm, mmh! Mmmmh!”

Being swept off her feet like this with no warning naturally made Saionji blush from ear to ear, and her legs thrashed against me…but that ended in an instant. Realizing what my motivations were, she relaxed, leaning her body against mine. We stayed in this embrace for about a minute and a half, neither of us saying a word.

“…Phaaah!”

The woman at the vending machine didn’t take any notice of us as she bought some kind of drink and walked off. Making sure the coast was clear, we gently let go of each other. But even afterward, I still felt like there was this warmth all over my body. I peeked at Saionji; she was hugging herself, panting a little—very provocative—and after I’d dragged her into the corner like that, her clothes were revealing some areas they usually didn’t…

“…S-Stop staring at me like that…you idiot!”

Her shame must have reached its peak, so I averted my eyes as fast as possible.

It wasn’t long after leaving Saionji that five o’clock rolled around.

“All right, everyone, the time has come! Café du Chocolat has just opened their first Academy location, and it’s time to celebrate with a special grand-opening event: Rainbow Pâtisserie!”

We had all been gathered in a section of the café, and before us a young girl wearing the company uniform—a chic but cute apron, done up in black and pink—began the show, her gloved hands around the microphone.

This event took the form of a pseudo-Game, but since it was set in a café and baked goods were the only prizes on offer, it seemed pretty informal. I looked around, and once again, nine out of ten participants were girls, most of them joining in with their friend groups.

As I took in the crowd, the emcee smiled and continued.

“First of all, I’d like to give a brief rundown of the rules! I’m sure some of you have already read them on our site, but this’ll be a chance for you to review them, so listen carefully!”

Her voice carried well as she tapped on a device at a nearby table. The next moment, a large projected screen appeared behind her, with the words THE GAME appearing on it in a fancy font.

Against this backdrop, she began to explain the rules.

“The name of the Game is Rainbow Pâtisserie, and this special event is your big chance to win all sorts of yummy Café du Chocolat sweets! I know you all paid 1,000 yen in island currency for your entry fee, but you can earn much, much more than that back in prizes! And even if you completely blow it, we still have a consolation prize worth 1,500 yen for you, so just kick back and have fun!”

“The game itself is super simple! First, I’ll ask you to use your devices to access the Café du Chocolat menu. You’ll select items from this menu to form your first ‘hand,’ and as you’ll see, every item has preset ‘flavor’ and ‘price range’ stats. There are three flavors—strawberry, green tea, and blueberry—and there are also three price ranges: one star, or around 300 yen; two stars, around 600 yen; and three stars, around 900 yen. We offer a lot more flavors than just those three, of course, but for the purposes of this Game, we’re dividing the whole menu into just those three categories!”

“Now, these three flavors have their own strengths and weaknesses against each other! Strawberry beats green tea, green tea beats blueberry, and blueberry beats strawberry…basically a rock-paper-scissors-style setup. It’ll be easier to remember if you just think of the flavors as ‘red,’ ‘green,’ and ‘blue’ instead! And as for price ranges, obviously, the more stars a product has, the stronger it is.”

“So! First we’ll ask you to create your opening hand so that your total number of stars is ten. You can mix and match flavors and price ranges as much as you like, and there’s no upper limit to the number of cards in your hand, so feel free to strategize all you want.”

“Once everybody is set, it’s time to begin the Game! You’ll be going around and challenging another player to a rock-paper-scissors-style match. When a match is decided upon, both players will pick one card and reveal them at the same time. If the cards are of two different flavors, the stronger one wins! Flavors take precedent over price ranges, so—for example—if you play a one-star strawberry against a three-star green tea, the strawberry card still wins!”

“However, if both flavors are the same, the winner will, naturally, be determined by the price range instead. It’s much easier to win with three-star cards than one-star ones, to be sure. Win a match against an opponent, and you can take the card they just played against you! But sticking to high-price items can be risky, too! If both players in a match play cards with the exact same flavor and price range—in other words, if it’s a draw—then they both have to give up those cards to the house! Basically, win and you gain a card; lose or tie, and you’ll lose the card you played!”

“But that’s not all! Rainbow Pâtisserie also features a three-win bonus. For every three matches you win, you’re free to pick one other product from the menu—another great way to build up your hand!”

“The Rainbow Pâtisserie Game will automatically come to an end ninety minutes after play begins…and whatever items you hold at that time, those are the prizes you win! You can trade your in-game items for actual products on the menu, based on the item’s flavor and price range. Also, I should point out that whenever you lose a card, you’re allowed to choose to retire from the game, so if it looks like you’re on the ropes, you can always cut your losses right there!”

“Now, one final thing! …In Rainbow Pâtisserie, there’s also the concept of ‘partners.’ When the Game begins, you’ll see on your device a potential partner candidate from the pool of players, and if you satisfy certain conditions, you’ll be able to form a partnership with that player. Strictly speaking, you and the other player must both have exactly the same number of cards in each flavor—strawberry, green tea, and blueberry. Do that, and you’ll become an official pair!”

“That might sound pretty tricky to pull off, and it is, but forming a partnership is super beneficial! That’s because the two people in a partnership share their total number of wins with each other! When the partnership wins three times, both members will receive an extra item! That doubles your chances of getting the three-win bonus, giving you a real decisive advantage!”

“Oh, and by the way, I know a lot of you have your sights set on the Legendary Cheesecake, one of Café du Chocolat’s trademark treats, but that’s the only item not included on the regular menu for this Game. However, if you manage to get ten bonus items—that is, if you win thirty matches—you’ll be able to earn it from the special limited-edition menu. But you have to be in a partnership to get the cheesecake, and only the first pair to win thirty matches will win it! You’ll have to think fast, or it’ll be gone in a flash!”

“That just about rounds out the rules! Now I’m going to allot ten minutes for all of you to decide on your opening hands. You’re also allowed to bring one Ability into this Game, so make sure you add it to your devices while you’re deciding. Thank you very much for listening to all of that!”

The emcee bowed, smiling broadly all the way to the end, and the surrounding girls gave her an appreciative round of applause. Then I watched as each of them took out their devices.

…I knew it. It’s the exact rule set that was given to me in DearScript.

Until I’d been able to confirm the rules, there had been a doubt in the back of my mind that DearScript had just been making things up…but contrary to my concerns, the emcee’s breakdown of the rules had been exactly the same as what I’d read earlier. Learning the rules in advance allowed us a lot more time to strategize, which was a blessing, but I still couldn’t help but wonder how the gamemaster had known.

…But, hey, better to focus on the event for now. Basically, this Rainbow Pâtisserie thing for the Café du Chocolat launch was a form of rock-paper-scissors with restrictions on what you could play. You took advantage of the strawberry–green tea–blueberry relationships to win matches and take items from your competitors. You also got an item of your choice after every three wins, so as long as you kept winning, your hand could be expanded to infinity.

However, since this was rock-paper-scissors, you couldn’t win forever. You were bound to lose at some point. If you kept on losing, you’d have fewer cards to play, making it even harder to survive—and since the cards in your hand were the actual prizes you’d win, players might start getting greedy or defensive of their hands. Despite its frilly, girly coat of paint, this Game might actually have a pretty deep psychological aspect to it.

What’s more, you needed to win thirty matches to earn the limited-edition item. That’s kind of a tough number. Actually, it’s a really tough one. Since you have just a one-in-three chance of winning a rock-paper-scissors match, thirty wins would statistically require at least ninety matches to reach. It’d be impossible to play that many within the time limit, so you’d need to equip the right Ability to make up for that.

However…

Honestly, that’s the biggest problem this time around. Earning that cheesecake definitely requires a powerful Ability, but if I broke out a Unique Star skill or some kind of Company cheat like usual, my cover would get blown immediately.

That was the thing: I had to remain undercover, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the rule prohibited all my usual methods. No way could I bust out something like †Jet-Black Wings† or Predict Behavior, and any cheats or bluffing was off the table, too. I had to keep a low profile, stay as inconspicuous as possible, and still reach thirty wins before Saionji.

It was an absurd task. And I was pretty sure there was only one way to do it.

I gotta pair up with someone at least as strong as Saionji, then act as support for them. That’ll let me keep winning without me being the one winning. It’s the only way.

I thrust my hands into my pockets as I mentally went over my plan… It was really the only conclusion I could’ve come to—if you’re not allowed to stand out at all, just have your friends do it for you.

In fact, we had already carefully handpicked my partner candidate. Combing through STOC, we’d put together a list of people guaranteed to attend this event, then chosen our favorite out of that list. Partners in Rainbow Pâtisserie were picked at random, of course, so we’d need the Company to intervene on that, no matter what it took. If I got partnered with some rando instead, I was doomed to lose right from the start.

With all that in mind, the candidate we picked was a well-documented powerhouse. She’d put up a dominant performance in ASTRAL during the May Interschool Competition, and as Himeji informed me, she “singlehandedly won a similar event to this” in the past. If I had any chance to beat Saionji under these restricted conditions, she was the way I’d do it.

“But is Kururugi really gonna show up?” I mused to myself, looking around.

“…Hm?”

A puzzled-sounding voice reached me from over my shoulder, and I turned around to find an all-too-familiar girl. Her long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she looked dignified in the uniform of Tsuyuri Girls’ Institute from the Sixteenth Ward. It was Senri Kururugi, Hell’s Priestess herself.

“Sorry, did you say my name?”

Sh-she heard me!

This sudden encounter made my heart leap…but I didn’t betray any agitation as I pulled my hood down and shook my head.

“No. Maybe you’re just hearing things. I didn’t say anything, at least.”

“Oh? Sorry, then. My mistake.”

The suspicion instantly disappeared from Kururugi’s face. She seemed quite different from when I’d gone up against her in ASTRAL, which threw me a bit. Then she smiled at me.

“But I didn’t think guys like you enjoyed baked goods like this. Café du Chocolat really is amazing. I used to go there a lot when I was on the mainland, but I never dreamed they’d open a location on the Academy… If you don’t mind, would you tell me what items on the menu you like?”

“Uhhh… Sorry to disappoint you, but this is actually the first time I’ve been to a place like this. I don’t really know how to answer that question.”

“Wow! Well, sorry to hear that. But it also makes me happy. Café du Chocolat is truly irresistible… By the way, if this is your first time, I’d recommend the fluffy pancakes. They’re melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Just thinking about that texture fills me with joy…”

Kururugi put both hands on her cheeks and gave me a simpering smile to emphasize her point. Clearly this was a girl who always had room for dessert—and for me, knowing her strictly from ASTRAL, it was honestly a shock to see. Is this really Senri Kururugi? The girl who’s as good as the Empress in team events? Hell’s Priestess, who if you see her on the battlefield, you better drop everything and run? That girl?

“…”

I silently stared at Kururugi with more than a trace of anxiety as she floated around in her own little world. Then I looked around some more, attempting to distract myself—and almost at the same time, a blond-haired man sitting at a table at the far end of the café came into view. His Ohga uniform was all crumpled and bent out of shape, his ears bristled with rings and studs, and the sneer on his face made him look like the classic delinquent. The sheer intimidation made it hard for anyone to come near, creating this sort of empty void around him.

I couldn’t say I’d ever seen him before…but I had heard about someone who looked like that.

“…That would be Keiya Fujishiro,” said the clear voice in my earpiece. “The person Ms. Mano wants to confess her love to. He shouldn’t know anything about this quest… Perhaps he has a sweet tooth?”

I thought over this a bit. Keiya Fujishiro, the “Ace Behind the Curtain” for the Ohga School, looked terribly out of place in a fancy café like this, much like I did. However, if he was here, he must be joining in the event, too. I doubted he would be helping Saionji’s side…but clearly, I had more than a handful of tough foes to deal with.

Ugh…

I silently cursed my bad luck. The way ahead was looking bleak already, but I quickly built my opening hand and set my Ability before I ran out of time.

At 5:30 PM, all of the participants took their starting positions. After we stood by for a few minutes as final adjustments were made, the announcement finally echoed through the building that the Game was underway.

Café du Chocolat was on the first floor of a brand-new building, with more businesses leasing the upper floors, but none of the other spaces were occupied just yet. For that reason, the café’s owner had sought special permission from the other tenants to set up this entire building for the purposes of the Game. A total of ninety-two people had joined the event, which is a lot, but I guess the rumors that the Empress was joining in had spread fast, so the number of people watching the Island Tube feed was well over ten thousand.

“Phew…”

With the Game in progress, I opened up my device again. On the screen was my current hand, along with a rough map of the building. I was on the far left side of the fourth floor, where it looked like a beauty salon was going to open up soon. Luckily, no other players were nearby.

Watching my surroundings carefully, I tapped my earpiece.

“Hello, Himeji. Can you hear me?”

“Yes, Master, I can hear you. It looks like there’s a program restricting communications between inside and outside the building, but it’s nothing the Company can’t bypass.”

“That’s good… They’re shutting out the normal channels, huh?”

“It appears that way. Island Tube is broadcasting this live, so they can’t have outsiders influencing the events of the Game… All phone apps, message apps, and social networks are restricted.”

“I see,” I replied, nodding at Himeji’s velvety voice. That much was a given, I suppose. As long as I could stay in touch with the Company, I didn’t mind one bit.

“Anyway, there’s something important I need to tell you, Master. Just now, when the event started, the system randomly selected partner candidates for everyone. As arranged earlier, your partner will be Ms. Senri Kururugi.”

“Roger that. Thanks.”

“No, we only did what had to be done… Ms. Kururugi is currently a Five Star, one rank above you. Her hand is currently not too dissimilar to yours, Master, so I would recommend partnering up with her as soon as possible.”

“Yeah…or I guess, I have to, or else.”

Opening the door of the beauty salon, I walked down the fourth-floor hallway as I whispered to Himeji. Finding their partner candidate and forming a partnership with them were presumably the first two goals for most of the Rainbow Pâtisserie players. The victories of a pair would be pooled, letting them obtain that three-win bonus at twice the speed. It cut the amount of work required for thirty wins by half, so if you wanted to try for the Legendary Cheesecake, it was all but required.

That meant my first plan of action was set in stone.

I need to form a partnership with Senri Kururugi, Hell’s Priestess, who people say to run from at all costs on the battlefield… Then I’ll have more than a decent chance of fending off Saionji.

I climbed the stairs as I considered my options. In a one-on-one Game, I still thought Saionji had a decisive edge over me. But Rainbow Pâtisserie was a team event—the kind of thing Kururugi excelled at. I wouldn’t need to duel Saionji directly, and that meant I had a good chance of winning. But…

“That was a bit of a surprise, wasn’t it? Ms. Kururugi is usually so intimidating.”

Oof… Yeah, she is.

I scowled a bit at Himeji’s quiet voice. She was right; when I’d exchanged a few words with Senri Kururugi before the Game, she hadn’t felt at all like the girl I knew. She still had some of that same imposing presence as before, but her facial expressions and mannerisms seemed like those of any normal girl. I couldn’t sense any of the aura she needed to take on Saionji.

I mean, really, she’s my only hope here…

The thought began to give me serious concern…but now I was up the stairs and on the fifth floor. I passed by a few players along the way, but most of them must have been trying to find their partner first, because no one showed any signs of wanting a match. I was doing the same, following Himeji’s guide and searching for Kururugi.

Or I was trying to, when suddenly…

“Everyone on this floor, stay where you are!”

…?!

A sharp, deep voice rumbled all the way through me, down to the pit of my stomach, stopping me in my tracks. I knew that voice…and a moment later, I felt a familiar, all-powerful presence. I gingerly turned my head toward the voice…only to find a girl in a ponytail and a Tsuyuri school uniform. She had flashed a cheery, youthful smile to me the last time we met, but now Hell’s Priestess had her bamboo practice sword strapped to her hip (where she’d pulled it out from, I don’t know) as she stalked the hallways, striking fear into the hearts of everyone she glared at.

“Launching the Ability One-Shot Kill, revised version—Sweet Buster. I now challenge all of you to a match!”

Uh… Wait, what? What’s going on?! Sweet Buster?!

Kururugi’s declaration cut through the floor like a knife, and every other player (including me) reacted in shock. Well, I mean…that only made sense, considering she was treating a peaceful event like this with the intensity of all-out war. But that wasn’t all… She was challenging everybody on the floor to a match? Would they even allow that?

“…It’s possible. At least, with Ms. Kururugi’s Ability it is.”

I brought my right hand to my ear at the sound of Himeji’s voice. They must have already finished crunching all the data on their end. Her clear voice continued, not hesitating for a moment.

“This Sweet Buster is likely a modified version of One-Shot Kill, adjusted to work better for this Game. It allows her to challenge everyone within her sight to a rock-paper-scissors match at the same time… A sort of multitarget ranged Ability, if you will. It’s like a teacher standing at their desk playing a game with the whole class at once.”

Oh… Right.

Phrasing it that way made sense to me. That, and I could now tell just how powerful this was. I mean, for one thing, taking on so many players at the same time would save a ton of time, but it also minimized the number of cards you would lose after a defeat. Losing in this Game meant giving up the menu item you just played, so even if Kururugi lost to multiple people with this trick, she’d still only be down that one card. If they kept the rules consistent, I suppose she’d get to keep all the cards she won doing this, too…but we could let the café handle the bookkeeping. Either way, this was clearly a superior Ability.

She came here with this intense focus on winning… No, but that’s not all.

My thoughts raced as I watched the proceedings before me with bated breath. If this was normal rock-paper-scissors, Kururugi’s chances of winning would still be one in three, no matter how many opponents she played against at once. She was not liable to win that many more cards using Sweet Buster…but this game also had the “price range” factor built into it. Even if two cards tied in flavor type, whichever one had more stars would win.

That led to an important question: Here at the start of the game, being faced with the absurd situation of Hell’s Priestess taking you on from the get-go, how many players would be shaken enough to use their high-price items against her? I was sure some opponents would use Abilities to guarantee a win for themselves, but was anyone else that serious about winning the Game? This development was almost like bringing a machine gun to a knife fight. Wouldn’t it be better to play a one-star menu item to minimize the damage?

If everyone’s thinking along those lines…and Kururugi plays a three-star item…that boosts her chance of winning to two out of three, right? Rock-paper-scissors or not.

I had just reached that conclusion when all of Sweet Buster’s data processing finally finished. There were nine players visible to Kururugi in all—I wasn’t counted, since I was her partner candidate—and once the results were tabulated, it resulted in six wins, three losses for her, following the probabilities exactly. The losses cost her one card, but she’d won six in return, plus two more thanks to the three-win bonus…so seven cards in total.

“Heh! When it comes to sweets, no one can beat me!”

Kururugi removed her hand from the bamboo sword at her side and sat down on a nearby bench, presumably waiting out the cooldown time for her Ability. This was set for each Ability brought into Rainbow Pâtisserie, so once you activated it, you couldn’t use it again for a little while. With an Ability as powerful as Kururugi’s, I’m sure the cooldown time would be on the longer side.

The players blindsided by this sudden attack were left dazed for a bit, but they soon regained control of their senses and went their separate ways. Meanwhile, I quietly looked up at the ceiling, hands in the pockets of my hoodie. That attack hadn’t damaged me at all—as her potential partner, I wasn’t even affected by it—but still…

How the hell did Kururugi gain seven cards before she even formed a partnership with me…?!

That was the thing. Don’t get me wrong—I was glad Hell’s Priestess was using her fierce bloodlust and top-class Ability to exercise her full potential, but I wish she’d considered the best timing for it. In this Game, after all, players had to have the same number of cards in each flavor in order to form a partnership. Now, after that devastating blow, Kururugi’s hand was vastly different from mine.

I scratched my head, wondering what my next move was, as I approached her on the bench.

“Um…Kururugi? Got a moment?”

“Hmm? …Oh, you’re the café newbie from earlier.”

She looked up at me, her voice notably softened despite her sharp, threatening gaze. “What’s wrong?” she asked, running a hand through her flowing hair. “If you want a match against me, I’m game anytime, but…”

“No, not that, sadly. I mean, I can’t, even. I’m actually your partner candidate. Our hands don’t match up yet, but we still can’t duel each other.”

“Ohhh. You are? Well, no wonder you didn’t get caught up in that just now.”

Kururugi nodded as she folded her arms over her chest. She didn’t seem openly hostile, at least, so I figured I’d press on.

“So, um, if I could make a suggestion… Could you maybe throw out a few of the items you just won? Because we can’t form a pair like this.”

“…Mm?”

Kururugi’s displeasure at my suggestion was quite obvious. She ran her fingertips along the bamboo sword resting on her lap, her ponytail quietly bobbing in the air as she fired back at me.

“You should have brought up something that important earlier. I could never just throw away good desserts.”

“I tried to tell you, but you busted out that game-breaking skill before I could.”

“Oh? Well, I’m not just playing around, you know. Hmm… A partnership, huh?” She appeared torn on the issue for a moment or two, eyes slightly turned away from me. “Honestly, the thought of playing with someone besides my usual teammates didn’t even occur to me. That’s why I fine-tuned this Ability, after all—so I could win by myself. I’m not just reusing some old skill for this Game, the way everyone else is. I tweaked it specially for today.”

“…I know. You’re probably the only person who’d go that far, I think.”

“I’m sure you’re right. I’m a dessert buff, remember. But if you’re claiming that you’re worth my time, young man, you need to get in line with me first, all right? …So what kind of Ability do you have?”

“Control Choices, just a general-purpose Ability. It restricts the flavor choices available to a single target, preventing them from picking one of the three—strawberry, green tea, or blueberry.”

“…Oh? Taking one flavor off the table? Combine that with a three-star item, and you’re guaranteed a win… That works well with Sweet Buster, yeah. Not a bad Ability to have if I’m gunning for that cheesecake.”

Kururugi’s eyebrows twitched a few times; I clearly had her interest. Then, after a few more moments of thought, she turned her piercing eyes up to me.

“Let’s do this, then. It’ll take about twenty-five more minutes until I’m able to use my Sweet Buster skill again. How about we make that your time limit? I won’t play anyone until then, and you can use that time to try to meet the partnership conditions. If you can build the same hand as mine before the twenty-five minutes are up, we’ll automatically pair up, of course. But if you can’t, it’s not going to be a good use of my remaining time to wait any longer for you. Not to sound too harsh, young man, but if it comes to it, I’ll shut you out right then and there… So, what do you say?”

She wasn’t mincing her words at all as she showed me the items in her hand. Looking at them, I smiled slightly and nodded to her.

“All right. You’re on.”

It was 5:47 PM, a bit past fifteen minutes into the event.

“The number one player right now…although I don’t know if that’s the right way of putting it in this Game…but anyway, the person making the smoothest progress so far is Rina. She’s already paired up with her partner to record eight wins.”

Idly listening to Himeji’s soothing voice, I went down to the restaurant on the third floor, at a spot the Island Tube cameras weren’t covering, as I pondered my next move.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected something like this to trip me up. It was logical to think that the first thing any participant in Rainbow Pâtisserie would want to do was form a partnership, and I figured everything would go smoothly enough until then. But Senri Kururugi turned out to be even stronger than I’d imagined, and we now had this odd situation where she could win perfectly well without pairing up.

However…

It’s not all bad, either… Clearly, her Ability is the most efficient approach to this Game. And my own Ability’s a good match for hers, too. As long as we can form a partnership, she can pretty much take care of the rest.

I remained firm on that point. Sweet Buster wasn’t the most original of Abilities, but in a game like Rainbow Pâtisserie, where resource management and the number of wins mattered a lot more than each individual match, I really couldn’t think of a more effective Ability to have.

Team up with her, and I can win… So the only problem is, how am I gonna make that happen?

Thinking along those lines, I looked down at the device I was holding. It displayed my hand, which hadn’t changed at all yet, and a notepad window with Kururugi’s hand jotted down in it. Comparing them, I saw that she had six more cards than me overall—one more strawberry, three more green teas, and two more blueberries. It was up to me to figure out how to catch up to her.

“…Well, there’s no way I’ll be able to get them playing normally. If I wanted to add six cards to my hand without any tricks, that would mean winning five times in a row with no real strategy. If I could do that, I wouldn’t need a partner, either.”

“Very true. And without access to your usual cheating and bluffing, that’s not going to be too realistic.”

“Right. So we shouldn’t think about that too much…”

But just as I was about to kick off this strategy meeting:

“Ahhhhh!”

From outside the restaurant I was holed up in, I suddenly heard a scream. I reflexively lifted my head, looking through the window to see what was going on. There, in the hallway, was Momo Asuka, the Ohga first-year I’d seen not long ago. She was crouched down in a corner of the hallway, shaking.

“I-I’m sorry!” she said in a quivering voice. “P-please forgive me! I—I taste terrible, I promise!”

This uninterrupted stream of words was incoherent at best; I had no idea what was going on with her. Still, it didn’t feel right to leave her in such a distressed state, so I pushed the door open and left the restaurant.

“…Huuuh?”

The next moment, a man who’d had his back to me slowly turned around, noticing my presence. The blond-haired guy who had Asuka cowering in the corner was Keiya Fujishiro—the Six Star from Ohga who’d had such an overwhelming presence in the Game’s waiting room earlier.

“Tch… What’s your problem? This ain’t some sideshow.”

Scaaaaaaaaary…!!

For a moment, his low, threatening voice and glaring eyes intimidated me. But as freaked out as I was on the inside, I wasn’t the type to show it on my face. Acting calm as usual, I put my hands in my pockets and stood a distance away from Fujishiro, facing him.

Keiya Fujishiro was a second-year, just like me, yet his size alone made it difficult to call him a “boy.” His height was easily at or above six feet, and his hair was a mix of black and dyed blond, making him look even more ominous. His ears were loaded with piercings, and while he had an Ohga School uniform on, the flashy red shirt he wore under his blazer made it hard to notice at first. To be as frank as possible, he looked like your stereotypical teen delinquent.

“Hnh…?”

In front of us, Asuka, finally noticing the change in her situation, stopped shaking. She turned around, her tear-stained eyes sizing me up. My hood was down low enough that she couldn’t have known who I was, but she must have realized I was on her side. She ran up to me, keeping a prudent distance away from Fujishiro, and hid behind my back.

“H-h-help me, please!” she shouted, clinging tightly to my hoodie. “I really would’ve preferred it if Sarasa were here to rescue me, but even a rando like you will do right now! I’ll put up with it!”

“…You really didn’t need to go that far, but fine. What happened to frighten you so much?”

“I—I—I saw him! I saw Fujishiro take a bunch of cards from the girl who was here… He was shaking her down! Bringing violence into a fun little Game like this… It’s just awful! It’s scary! And I don’t think it’s right!”

“…”

“Eeeeeeek! Don’t try and stare at me… Wait! No! I-I’m sorry! Forgive me!!”

Asuka had taken advantage of her position behind me to lob all kinds of hate at Fujishiro, but one drilling glare from him was enough to make her cower again. I didn’t know what had happened before I showed up, but the hands clinging to my sleeves really were shaking, so I suppose her terror was real.

Not that it was why I was helping her out, though.

“Um… Fujishiro, right?” I said casually, pulling the edge of my hood down. “Could you explain what’s going on here for me? If you don’t wanna, I’ll go away, but if there’s some sort of conflict, it might be easier to resolve it with a third party intervening.”

Fujishiro greeted this with a suspicious leer. He stayed silent for a while longer, but then he wearily shook his head.

“It’s nothing,” he said, his voice low. “Nothing’s goin’ on. I just came ’cause I wanted to talk to my partner candidate here, but she wound up getting challenged to a match by another player. I figured it’d be bad for us if she got dragged into that, so I took the challenge for her. And now look, huh? I didn’t even get to talk to her yet.”

“Y-your partner candidate? You and I are a pair, Fujishiro?”

“I told you we were, man. Don’t you even look at your device?”

“S-sorry! I kind of lost interest in all that once I saw I wasn’t partnered with Sarasa, so… Oh! B-but…!”

Asuka’s head slumped for a moment, but the next thing I knew, she was looking right at us, bracing herself for the worst. Boldly—or as boldly as she could still hidden behind me—she asked Fujishiro a question.

“What do you mean, it’d be bad for us if someone played me? I’ve got at least five cards of every flavor. Losing isn’t any big deal to me.”

“Yeah, assuming your opponent doesn’t try anything funny. But that girl just now used an Ability called Winning Streak. It’s an annoying skill that latches on to you and woulda kept the rock-paper-scissors games going until she lost, draining you of all your resources. No matter how big your hand was, you coulda lost it all just now.”

“Winning Streak…? B-but if that’s all it was…”

“It wasn’t. I dunno if you realize it or not, but you’ve got the absolute worst poker face. Anyone with a pair of eyes could figure out what you’re playing, easy.”

“Wh-whaaaa?! Is that true?! I had no idea!”

“Well, now you do… I got better hearing than most people, so when I was downstairs, I heard her say that she was gonna bleed you dry. That’s why I stepped in. Unlike you, I can hide my emotions some, and I knew what her strategy was, too. With those weapons, I was pretty much guaranteed to beat her, y’know?”

Fujishiro shook his head slightly. One hand came up to rustle his hair, as his vicious glare drilled into me and Asuka.

“…And I wanted to explain all that to you, but I’m not too good at talkin’ usually, so…sorry about that.”

“…I’m not sure if not being good at talking was the only reason…but all right.”

Clearly his terrifying looks were the main culprit, but I was too scared to say that to his face.

Asuka, still hiding behind my back, gingerly poked her face out and looked at Fujishiro. “S-so,” she began hesitantly, “you were trying to help me, Fujishiro?”

“Not really, no… But it’d be a pain in the ass if my partner candidate dropped out on me.”

“Wooow…! Y-you’re a god! A total god! That’s so cool of you, Fujishiro!”

Her emotions did an instant 180 as she ran up to Fujishiro at full speed. She set her gleaming eyes, full of respect and admiration, on the man. Fujishiro turned his back in disgust…but, yeah, I figured the crisis was over, at least. I hadn’t expected to encounter him here, but there was no point staying with them, so—

…Well, hang on.

As I had that thought, I brought my right hand to my lips. I could feel an idea coming. Was there really no benefit to staying with them? Was I sure about that? I mean, yeah, sticking with these two people wasn’t going to help my hand any. However…

Think about it. Asuka just said that Fujishiro took multiple cards from that girl, like he was shaking her down for them. That must have been his Ability. If he’s got some kind of seizing-type Ability that lets him take multiple items after winning… And it’s not just Fujishiro, either. I’ve got a real good idea of what Asuka’s Ability is, too. And with a combination like that, then just maybe…

“…Yo. You listenin’ to me?”

“Huh? Oh… Sorry. Just spaced out a bit.”

I looked up at Fujishiro, who had interrupted my train of thought. He rolled his ill-natured eyes at me. “I said, sorry to bother you. We gotta get goin’.”

“Yeah, thanks a lot, random hoodie guy! You were a big help!”

Fujishiro gave a very unexpected apology, and Asuka followed behind him waving wildly at me. I pulled my hood down and quietly shook my head, smiling a little in a way I knew they’d notice.

“No, you don’t need to thank me. But before you go, I wanted to ask you something. Do you mind?”

““…?””

I grinned at them. Fujishiro and Asuka clearly weren’t sure what to make of that.

“…Hmm?”

I had less than five minutes before the time limit set by Kururugi was up, and I’d just stormed my way back up the stairs to her location in the fifth-floor hallway. Her eyes were closed—I don’t know if she was napping or meditating or something—but she lifted her head when she spotted me. She flashed a wary look at first but quickly softened her demeanor.

“Oh, you’re back, young man? Glad to see you’re a stickler for punctuality.”

“Yeah, thanks. But I still haven’t got the right hand to partner with you.”

“No? Honesty may be a virtue, but now’s no time for a chat with me, is it? Get me started talking about desserts, and I can go on for at least two hours.”

“I’m actually a little curious about that…but maybe some other time. I’ve got other things to worry about right now.”

I sneaked a glance behind me. I was sure Kururugi was observant enough to notice them before now, but two other players were standing there—Keiya Fujishiro and Momo Asuka. The former was glaring at Kururugi, completely still, while the latter was hiding once again, this time behind Fujishiro.

“…Who’re they?”

“A couple of players I met just now on another floor. They’re both famous enough that you might know them, but, well, where they come from doesn’t matter. So listen, Kururugi…would you mind playing a match against Fujishiro there for me? We can forget that rule about you not playing other people.”

“A match…? Hmm… Well, if I’m part of Rainbow Pâtisserie, I have no reason to turn one down…but what do you think, over there?”

“We’re on the same page. Let’s just keep the amount of time I’m wasting on this to a minimum, okay?”

“Yes, that makes sense to me, too,” Kururugi said, turning her sharp gaze on Fujishiro. “…Well then, let’s begin.”

Kururugi got up off the bench, then removed her device from her side, as if drawing a sword. Bringing it up to eye level, she sized up Fujishiro, who also had his device in hand. And with that, the match was set.

Next was the part when they’d select which Ability to use…but Kururugi’s Sweet Buster was still in the middle of its cooldown period, so she couldn’t choose it. The only option available to her was to pick an item from her deck—that was all.

Not so for Keiya Fujishiro.

“Launching the general-purpose Ability Legal Collection. If I win this match, I’m taking three items from your hand, not just one.”

Fujishiro’s voice was low and deep, giving him just as much of a dominant presence as Kururugi. Just as I’d thought, his Ability was the “seize” type. Normally, when you beat someone in a rock-paper-scissors match here, you’d earn just one card from it—but with Legal Collection, you could take two more cards on top of that. It was a simple Ability, but a powerful one, and its cooldown time was just twelve minutes. Unlike Kururugi’s Sweet Buster, Fujishiro’s was already available to him again.

And they weren’t done there.

“That’s not all, either! I’ll add my Ability Variable Control to his! Just three cards is barely anything, Fujishiro! Let’s make it six! We’ll take a whopping six cards at once!!”

“…Tch. Do you have to scream everything you say, man?”

“You want me to talk softer?! Okay! I’ll work on that!!!”

Asuka’s overly chirpy response made Fujishiro bring a hand to his forehead. He looked a bit worn out…but with his Legal Collection and Asuka’s Variable Control, we’d just seen the birth of a malicious weapon that could swipe six items in a single attack.

By the way, I realized that Asuka was likely sporting a Variable Control–style Ability when I noticed something weird was up with her hand. Just as Fujishiro had pointed out, she always wore her emotions on her sleeve, which would seemingly make it tough for her to win any matches here…but she had five cards or more of every flavor, at least fifteen in total. That was even more than Kururugi had after her opening stunt. So how could this obvious contradiction be explained? The only way I could think of was her using Variable Control to up the star count on every card in her opening hand.

“Mm…”

But in the end, this was still rock-paper-scissors; even with things set up to our advantage like this, neither side really had a decisive advantage or disadvantage just yet. Both Fujishiro and Kururugi had pretty big hands, and now we’d see these two top players wage a fierce psychological battle…or at least that’s what would normally happen.

“Launching Control Choices. Kururugi, you are no longer able to select a blueberry-type item for this match.”

Stepping between their glares, I smiled a bit under my hood as I declared my move. Kururugi looked back at me, frowning slightly.

“Hmm…? You mean on me? Not the bleached blond over there?”

“That’s right. I’m putting that restriction on you, Kururugi. You can’t play any blueberry cards, which leaves you with strawberry or green tea. And since I know you shouldn’t have any three-star strawberry items in your hand right now, Fujishiro can just select one of those and you’ll have no way of beating him.”

“…Huh. And just when I’d started thinking of you as my ally.”

“Oh, I still am…once this match goes the way I planned it, that is.”

My lips curled upward as Kururugi made herself even more intimidating. Then, comfortable enough to reveal my plan by now, I kept talking.

“Legal Collection and Variable Control… If Fujishiro wins with those two Abilities in effect, you’ll have to give up six items. And six items just happens to be the difference between your hand and mine, right? This way, we’ll be carrying identical hands within the time limit—which will make us partners.”

“Wha…?!”

That was the thing: I’d hemmed and hawed over what to do, but frankly, trying to gather six cards in such a short amount of time was nearly impossible. Doing the opposite, however, wasn’t anywhere near as difficult. If I spread word to other players about what items Kururugi was holding, having her lose six matches in a row seemed reasonably doable to me. And if her opponents added an Ability to their attack, we could whittle down her card collection even faster. That was why the Fujishiro-Asuka pair had caught my attention. If they combined their Abilities, we could pare Kururugi’s hand down to the size of mine in one shot. Plus, with Asuka building up a big hand so quickly, Fujishiro was gonna need a whole lot of cards to pair up with her. It was a win-win for everyone. Well…everyone except for Kururugi.

Earning the Legendary Cheesecake is all about the number of wins, not your number of cards, so it’s not like Kururugi is losing that much. Still, I guess she kind of loses her cool when desserts get involved, so this might piss her off enough that she decides to ditch me, maybe…

I kept a calm smile on my face, but inside, I was watching every move she made, praying to myself. Kururugi silently kept her head down for a while, but then—

“Heh… Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”

?!

The tense atmosphere, as palpable as if someone had been shot, was shattered as she began to laugh loudly. I was taken aback as well, and Kururugi gave me a sidelong glance, then nodded as if she was enjoying herself.

“Ahh… Yes, you’re right. It doesn’t look to me like your hand has changed at all from before, but if I lose this match, we will indeed have the same items within the time limit. I have nothing to complain about.”

“Y-yeah… Um, are you mad about that, or…?”

“Why would I be? I set my conditions, and you fulfilled them. I should be praising you! Being angry wouldn’t be right of me at all. Besides…I thought at first that I could breeze through this by myself, but it looks like the Empress of Ohga is stronger than I thought. I’m not sure I can launch a comeback against her without your help, young man.”

Senri Kururugi kept the smile on her face as she worked her device. Once her defeat against Fujishiro had been confirmed, she offered up six cards, leaving her with the exact same hand as mine. The next instant, our devices beeped out a little melody to indicate that we were now partners.

“Let’s go, young man,” said Hell’s Priestess, a faint smile on her face. “No mercy from here on out.”

We were now about forty minutes into the event.

Sarasa Saionji, the Empress of Ohga, had had a smooth run so far as the top performer in Rainbow Pâtisserie. According to Himeji, Saionji was apparently using a Cancel Interference–style Ability, giving her a 27-0 record so far. That sounded pretty weird to me. Canceling your opponent’s extra skills wouldn’t guarantee twenty-seven wins in a row like that, would it?

And another thing… We were restricted from accessing Island Tube in here, along with all other social media—but for some reason, we could still see the comments posted on the livestream. It was running on a five-minute delay, so those comments were naturally lagging behind a fair bit, but it was still an endless high-speed stream of text. Saionji was analyzing all of it in real time, apparently, to gain a full grasp of every player’s hand, Abilities, and current location. It was an almost breathtakingly frontal attack, one running off her astounding natural talents. She truly was several levels above the pack.

This time, though—thanks to desserts being the topic on hand, I suppose—there was an even bigger menace than Saionji among the players.

“Don’t move! Everybody who’s within my field of vision is now challenged to a match against me!”

The moment Saionji recorded her twenty-eighth victory, Senri Kururugi’s ponytail spun as her voice whipped through the air. They called her Hell’s Priestess for a reason—over thirty players, Saionji included, were now facing down the bamboo sword in Kururugi’s hand.

This whole proceeding worked much the same as when she first broke it out…with one difference.

“Sorry to intrude. Launching Control Choices—everyone in a match against her can no longer select a green tea item… It’d be best to just give up and treat this like one of those unfortunate accidents, okay?”

I stood next to Kururugi as I made this bold pronouncement, hood pulled low over my head.

Really, it was a surefire strategy. Not that it’d be a guaranteed win for every match, of course. It wouldn’t mean very much, but you could still tie against Kururugi if you played the exact same item as her, and it was possible to thwart her with the right Ability, too. But that was just quibbling. Against such massive, drastic moves, everything else was simply plowed right over.

Once the dust settled…out of the thirty-six opponents ensnared in our net, two played a three-star blueberry to tie with Kururugi (in a vain attempt to keep her win count down, I guess), one used Emergency Withdraw to escape the match entirely, and one other—the Empress—invoked Cancel Interference to block my ability and beat Kururugi with a one-star green tea item. That meant thirty-two wins, one loss, and two ties—enough victories to earn ten bonus cards in one go.

And so…

“…Hee-hee! It’s exhilarating how one-sided that was.”

Despite having twenty-nine wins and being just one away from that all-important cheesecake, Saionji had been caught flat-footed at the very end. Coming from way behind, it was me and Kururugi who reached the thirty-win mark first.

“Ahhh, the famous Café du Chocolat cheesecake…!”

A little time had passed since the end of Rainbow Pâtisserie. Even after securing the limited-edition cheesecake, Kururugi continued her rampage unabated, while I exhausted myself trying to keep up with her. Now, though, we were down at the first-floor register, where I had been presented with a fancy-looking cheesecake box.

“Eh-heh-heh! Great work, Hiro! I’ll get some tea ready while I wait for you to bring that home!”

“No, Ms. Kagaya. You’d blow up the kitchen if you stepped inside. Allow me to prepare the tea.”

I could tell through my earpiece that Kagaya and Himeji were bubbling with excitement. I wasn’t sure what the big deal was all about with this Legendary Cheesecake, but I guessed it must really taste that good.

“Young man… Young man!”

Feeling a pat on my shoulder, I turned to look beside me. Kururugi was there, beaming proudly, carrying both her schoolbag and a cheesecake box of her own.

“I owe you for this, too!” she exclaimed with all the innocence of a child. “Thanks so much for today!”

“Huh? What’re you talking about, Kururugi? You could’ve won without me.”

“Oh, no way. Without your Ability, my second Sweet Buster blast wouldn’t have earned me as many wins…and if I hadn’t reached the target, the Empress would’ve gotten there instead.”

“Yeah, maybe…”

“No ‘maybe’! It’s the truth. You’re like my dessert guardian angel, swooping in at my time of greatest need!”

“Thanks,” I muttered, smiling a bit as Kururugi kept heaping on the praise. Here she was, carrying a cheesecake box like her life depended on it, when not too long ago she’d been the rampaging Hell’s Priestess… The two sides to her personality were just way too different, but I suppose they were both part of who she was at heart. In a way, learning about that made the whole day worth it.

“…Congratulations. Looks like you win this round, Shinohara.”

Just then, a red-haired girl came down the stairs, sounding a little miffed. It was, of course, Saionji, who stared at me with her arms crossed.

“But you didn’t win a single match yourself, did you? Ugh. This does not sit well with me, I’ll have you know.”

“Wow, the invincible Empress is making excuses? That’s not like you, Saionji.”

“I’m not making excuses, though, am I? I just admitted defeat to you,” she said as she turned her back to me. If I had to guess, DearScript probably gave her an order along the lines of “never lose a single match” or something. That meant she’d had to put thoroughness ahead of efficiency, which had given Kururugi the window of opportunity she’d needed to pull ahead. When I thought about it like that, I suppose it made sense she was willing to accept the results well enough.

“…? Wait.”

As I thought things over, Kururugi suddenly gave me a strange look.

“Did I hear her say ‘Shinohara’?” she furtively asked. “Young man, are you Hiroto Shinohara?”

“Hmm? Mm…”

I returned her gaze and gave a little nod. The event was over and I didn’t need to hide my identity any longer, so I went ahead and flipped my hood back, removing my glasses.

“Sorry I hid that from you, Kururugi. Yes, as you figured out, I’m Hiroto Shinohara. I needed to go incognito for this event because it’s part of the rules of the Game I have going against Saionji.”

“Oh my… I honestly had no idea. I suppose Seven Stars are required to become masters of disguise, too, are they?”

“…Well, um, I don’t think it’s a requirement or anything, no…”

It pretty much was a must-have skill for Saionji and me by this point, but I think we were special exceptions to the rule.

Either way, we were all about ready to head out when another pair came down the stairs after Saionji. Fujishiro was there, all cool with his head down and one hand in his pocket, and Momo Asuka was clinging to him from behind. They—or she, really—were too loud for anyone to miss.

“I’m sorry! I apologize! I-it’s because I was too weak…!”

“…No. I keep telling you, you did fine—”

“I don’t need your mercy! You praising me just makes me feel even more useless!”

“It’s not mercy! How many times do I have to tell you? It’s just a matter of compatibility—”

“I’ll gladly commit seppuku to make up for this!!”

“Listen to me.”

Asuka was sobbing and carrying on, while Fujishiro just sighed and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. They were so loud that the whole café was giving them looks now…but then Saionji stepped forward, her flowing, gorgeous red hair snapping everyone’s eyes upon her instead.

“…What’s going on, Momo? You look pretty upset.”

“S-Sarasa! Sarasa, listen to me, I—”

“Hold it… Hey, you ain’t gonna tell her, are you?”

“Oh, just keep quiet for a second, Fujishiro!”

Being admonished by Fujishiro would normally turn anyone into a quivering heap, but in the moment, Asuka just pushed him aside as she marched up to Saionji. She heatedly explained that today was the birthday of Fujishiro’s younger sister, who had wheedled him into buying a Legendary Cheesecake for the occasion. Fujishiro had been flustered at first when he found the café full of women, and he hadn’t known about the event today, so he’d entered having done zero prep work for it. Even so, he’d figured that he might as well do his best to win.

“…!! Amazing! You’re the most amazing big brother ever, Fujishiro! But I was just so weak… I wasn’t able to get a cheesecake for your sister!!”

“…Shut your mouth right now.”

“Whuh?!”

Asuka hadn’t been shy about revealing all of this to the entire café…until Fujishiro grabbed her shoulder from behind and gave her the scariest look he could. He still looked pretty awkward about it, though—this whole experience must’ve embarrassed him a lot.

Saionji, who I thought I remembered being in the same class as him at Ohga, seemed just as dumbfounded. “Wow… That’s a surprise. I didn’t realize you had that side to you, too. Why don’t you show off your softer side a little more? It’ll make people like you.”

“Leave me alone, Empress. I’m not in this to win friends. Maybe you’re this island-wide celebrity, but I’m different. I’m feared—not just among the other wards, but by the people at Ohga. Every single one of ’em.”

“Hee-hee! You think so? Because I’m not so sure myself.”

“Huh…?”

There was a chiding tone to Saionji’s voice as she dropped a hint about the client for our first quest, Yuuka Mano. This was lost on Fujishiro, of course, but Saionji wasn’t about to give him any more clues. Turning around, she fixed her ruby-red eyes upon me, even as I heard Himeji whisper through the earpiece. “I don’t mind either way.”

So…

“Hey, Fujishiro.”

“Huh? …Oh. The hoodie guy? I thought your voice sounded familiar, but I didn’t think the strongest person in the Academy would be playing undercover. No wonder you didn’t have any problems negotiating with me.”

“Well, I didn’t have any reason to be scared… But anyway, I wanted to ask: Is all of that true? It’s not just her spouting a bunch of nonsense?”

“…Tch. Yeah, it’s true. What, you wanna pick on me, too?”

“Why would I do that? I don’t gain anything at all from antagonizing you. No, I just thought I could give you this.”

“…Huh?”

“Eh? …Whaaaaaaaat?!”

I turned off the screaming in my right ear as I handed out the box in my hands. Fujishiro gave me a quizzical…or more like a hostile look. Next, I took out the small silver plate from my pocket and showed it to him. It had May this day never be forgotten by either of you written on it in an ornate design.

“To tell the truth, I wasn’t here to get my hands on the cheesecake, but this silver plate that comes with it. As you know, me and Saionji are in the middle of a really important Game, and this plate is part of it.”

“…So what? What does your crap have to do with me? I’m not into takin’ charity from someone I barely even know.”

“I understand why you feel like that, but I’m not meaning for this to be charity. You did help me out in the Game, remember. Without you, I doubt I would’ve beaten Saionji, so I owe you this much. And also, I’m giving this to your sister, not to you. I don’t care about what you’re into.”

“…! Are you serious, man?”

“You think I’d lie about this for some reason?”

I cut off the conversation there, all but thrusting the box into Fujishiro’s hands. Turning around, I could see Saionji smile, as if to say “attaboy” or whatever, but I wasn’t about to reward that with a reaction.

Just when I thought I might have to give up if he kept being stubborn—

“…All right. I owe you one.”

Hearing him say those words behind me, I figured Fujishiro might not be so slow on the uptake after all.

Soon after, he was marching out of the café with the box, Asuka alongside him. It seemed like the day’s events were over, and I saw Saionji stretch herself out, shaking off the accumulated fatigue.

“Ahhh, today was rough. I lost the event, Shinohara ended up stealing the show… It almost makes me want to take my stress out on this food.”

“Well, why not? You had twenty-nine victories, so I’m sure you’re gonna have a dining room table full of desserts coming your way. It’s pretty much all-you-can-eat for you except for that cheesecake, huh?”

“You always have to have the last word, huh, Shinohara? Thinking you’re sooo much better than me just because you got that plate…”

Saionji sullenly stared at me, hands folded over her chest.

Kururugi must’ve been listening to our conversation, because just then she raised her head, a look of sheer bliss on her face as she held her box close.

“…Hm? What was that? You were after the plate, Ms. Saionji? Not the cake?”

“…? Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I wouldn’t have minded a taste, but it’s the plate that I needed. It’s kind of a request I got…sort of thing.”

“Hmm. Well, do you want mine?”

“Huh? …Huuuh?!”

“Don’t be so surprised… I love desserts. That’s why I wanted to get the Café du Chocolat cheesecake at all costs, but I don’t care one bit about that silver plate. There’re stories about how it helps you with love and stuff, right? That means nothing to me at the moment. I’m curious about why you need it, Ms. Saionji, but I wouldn’t hesitate to help with that, of course.”

“Ah…um, wait a minute. I’m really glad you’re willing to give me that, but I think you might have the wrong idea about something here. You see, I’m not the one who wants to use it—”

“Don’t worry, Ms. Saionji! I promise that I won’t tell anyone about this…and I definitely won’t pry any further, either. This’ll be our little secret.”

I was half-expecting Kururugi to give her a wink as she removed the plate fastened to her box and pushed it into Saionji’s hands. With a few satisfied nods, she said, “See you on the battlefield next time!” and gave an aloof sort of smile, and then her ponytail swished through the air as she briskly walked away.

““…””

Saionji and I, left behind, stood there silently as we looked at the plate in her hands. Finally, I spoke up, wanting to confirm something.

“…So, um, what does this mean for the quest, Saionji?”

“Good question. My victory conditions are to obtain a plate and give it to the client, so strictly speaking, whoever won the event doesn’t actually matter. And if the plate’s here in my hands, that means I won…doesn’t it?”

“Guess so…”

I leaned back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. I really hadn’t thought it’d turn out like this… It was one thing for Kururugi to have no interest in the plate…but did she really have to give it to Saionji? Still, Saionji seemed more disappointed than elated about it.

“It’s kind of hard to accept, though. A win’s a win, but this pretty much means I could’ve won without even trying at all. And I’m sure Kururugi’s got the wrong idea about me now…”

“Ahh, it’ll work itself out. If you ask me, she’s not the type to gossip about her friends all over STOC… I mean, really, it’s harder for me to accept this.”

“Perhaps, yes… Well, Mano doesn’t have it yet. You could still try to block me from giving it to her. Wanna try taking it from me? I mean, it’s within arm’s reach.”

“An angry mob would kill me if I physically attacked the Empress in public.”

I’m sure Saionji knew that already, but I still turned her down, shrugging and sighing a little. Our first quest in the Unique Star competition—helping Yuuka Mano confess to the guy she liked—had ended with a win in the Rainbow Pâtisserie event for me (or, really, Kururugi). And yet, certain unexpected events afterward meant that Saionji was going to satisfy her victory conditions. I’d really wanted to score the first win in this best-of-three Game, but my hands were tied here. I’d just have to move on and do my best in the next quest.

And speaking of moving on…

“…Good thing I have all those extra cards.”

Searching for something to fill the hole that had been left behind giving away the cheesecake, I began combing the shelves for baked goods to placate Himeji and Kagaya.

The next Saturday afternoon, a few days after Rainbow Pâtisserie, Saionji and I were visiting a café in the Third Ward to hear from Yuuka Mano, our client.

To be exact, Mano had only invited Saionji, the “target” of this quest. I wasn’t part of the invite, being the “villain” and all, so I was just sitting at a nearby table, listening in on their conversation. It wasn’t the greatest look for me, but it’s not like we could sit together, either. Today, after all, was the pep rally for Mano’s big confession.

“I think, like, you saw it at the event earlier,” Mano began, drinking some orange juice as she sat across from Saionji, “but Fujishiro is actually, like, really kind. People avoid him because he looks super scary at first, but, like, he works really hard, he’s serious about stuff, he cares a ton for his sister…and, like, he’s not violating the school dress code or anything, either. Ohga’s got different rules depending on your rank, so once you’re up there with, like, you or Fujishiro, you could pretty much come to school naked and nobody would bat an eye. Right, Saionji?”

“Right. Not that I would ever do that, though…”

“Ha-ha! Yeah, really. So getting back to Fujishiro… I actually went to the same middle school as him. This was back on mainland Japan, and, like, pretty rural Japan, too, so I don’t think anyone else in Ohga was there. So back then, you know…Fujishiro wasn’t like that at all. He was just…normal, really. Though he did still have a bit of a mean look…”

“He was? So that bad-boy persona only really started in high school?”

“Pretty much. But…do you know why he did that?”

Mano chose this moment to lower her voice. I sure didn’t know, being relatively new to the Academy, but Saionji didn’t seem to have any idea, either.

“…There was a reason for it?”

“Oh, yeah. Um…I think it was, like, last June? There was this period when some rough dudes from the Fifth Ward started hanging around near Ohga. They didn’t try fighting with anyone or whatever, but they’d show up on the roads people take to school, yelling at guys, trying to start trouble… The girls in the younger grades were all scared of them, so they asked the student council to stage patrols and stuff, but, like, it just kinda dragged on with no resolution.”

“Hmm… Now you mention it, I do remember something like that.”

“Ha-ha! I guess not even delinquents wanna come near someone like you, huh, Saionji?”

“Not quite. I’ve got my own problem people to deal with…”

An inscrutable look flashed across Saionji’s face. I didn’t need to think too hard about it to know she was talking about Kugasaki and his Self-Styled Holy Knights. Being monitored by a gang like that around the clock, there wouldn’t be a free moment for any street punk to mess with her.

“So,” Mano continued, whether she was aware of that or not. “I think you probably see where I’m going with this, but Fujishiro was the guy who stood up against them. Like, he started dressing as a delinquent, just to keep the other wards in check. He dyed his hair blond, got all those piercings…and, like, he always had that deep voice and mean look, too; plus, he’s pretty built. But just looking the part worked, like, super well. Just having him walk around town kept the other gang at bay…and then they completely disappeared.”

“Wow… So that’s what happened? He really is amazing.”

“Yeah! Totally amazing! But now Fujishiro’s been pegged as, like, the ultimate delinquent, and the girls of Ohga are basically like, ‘Yeah, whatever,’ when it comes to him. But I think just having him around keeps the weirdos away from Ohga. He’s not like that at all personality-wise, but…like, I just think he’s lonely, being the only guy like that where he is. I kinda wanna be with him.”

“…”

“So…thanks a whole bunch, Saionji! This is, like, such a shot of courage for me. Even if he turns me down, I’m ready to try again, like, right away!”

Topping off that declaration with a bright smile, Mano tapped her device to the reader on the edge of the table to pay and stood up. Giving Saionji one final polite bow, she bashfully walked away. In her hands, held tightly like her life depended on it, was what I assumed to be that silver plate from Café du Chocolat.

Once Mano was gone, Saionji sat down on a nearby sofa. She seemed pretty content with how she had handled that, or satisfied with herself anyway. Her red hair rustled a bit as she looked around the café, and then she turned toward my table and spoke up.

“…I hope it works out with Mano.”

“Yeah… I kinda do, too.”

“Hee-hee! Do you really think that? After working so hard to block me?”

“Those were the conditions I was given, that’s all. You know that. Whether this works or not doesn’t have anything to do with the Game, so of course I’m rooting for her.”

“Ohhh?”

Her tone made it sound like she was teasing me, and she let out a quiet chuckle. Saionji’s ruby eyes quietly settled on me as she folded her arms over her lower chest.

“By the way…Mano’s gone, you know. Why don’t you come over to this table already? It looks weird, us talking across tables like this.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

At Saionji’s request, I stood up, paid for the iced coffee I was drinking, and sat across from her. Normally, it wasn’t good for us to be seen together, no matter what our positions were, but fortunately, we were in the middle of a Unique Star competition, and that was a good enough excuse for anyone who saw us.

Still, I didn’t want to be stuck here for too long…

“…Oh! Hey, Shinohara, look at this one moment. It’s a new DearScript page… I guess the next quest has already been released.”

“Huh?”

I hurriedly picked out my device. Checking the screen projection, there was indeed a new DearScript notification—and given the timing, it must be to inform us about the second quest.

The client for the first quest was Mano from Ohga, and the person it was assigned to and the guy Mano was interested in are both from Ohga as well. In that case, will it be Eimei’s turn next or something?

I let my imagination wander as I tapped the notification, holding back my nerves. I couldn’t afford to give up another round, so the next set of rules was extremely important to me.

Then, as if responding to my impatience, the quest outline came up.

Unique Star Competition – Second Quest

Client: Nanase Asamiya Assigned to: Hiroto Shinohara

Quest: “I want to get as close emotionally to Shinji Enomoto as possible.”

Victory Conditions (Hiroto Shinohara): Go on a date with a member of the opposite sex to serve as a “dating guide” for the client.

Victory Conditions (Sarasa Saionji): Prevent Hiroto Shinohara from achieving his victory conditions.

There, inside this mostly empty café, the best response my befuddled brain could come up with was:

“…What’s up with this?”