Liar, Liar - Volume 6 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

An Unexpected Traitor

In the end, Blank Code—Stage Three of SFIA—wrapped up on the third day after it began.

Libra had already published a list of everyone who advanced to Stage Four on its official channel—exactly one hundred people, as announced. Some schools didn’t see any of their students make the cut, while others saw nearly ten people get in. Clearly, the level of cooperation between students from the same ward had made a big difference in the final results.

From Eimei, four people advanced to Stage Four, myself included. Nanase Asamiya and Noa Akizuki, both part of our ASTRAL team, made it through, which is great…but our last member was Mari Minakami, which I wasn’t so excited about. The Five Star upperclassmen were all gone, and instead we had this Three Star first-year from the Hexagram with us, which was a drag. Still, no one should be blaming themselves for failing to make the cut. After all, we’d gone from a quarter-million people to a hundred—0.04 percent.

Even with those odds, though, the big movers and shakers from each ward had proven worthy of the challenge. Saionji, Kugasaki, Kirigaya, Kururugi, and Minami had all advanced, which was expected. And just like Himeji warned me, a lot of first-years were also starting to catch people’s attention. Minakami was far from the only dark horse here—there was also Momo Asuka from Saionji’s school, and Misaki Yumeno, who was still something of a mystery. As for the Hexagram itself, a decent number of members, including Saeki and his two top officials, had made it to Stage Four. With stars at stake from now on, there was no doubting that the battles would quickly heat up in intensity.

“Hmm…”

So that’s how things stood. And on the night Blank Code came to an end, we all gathered in the home theater at the back of the living room of my house to go over the rules of Stage Four, due to start in two days.

There were four of us here. Himeji was serving tea and snacks in her maid outfit, while Kagaya, sporting her usual sweatsuit and unkempt frizzy hair, was sitting cross-legged on the carpet. The final member, Tsumugi Shiina, the gothic-Lolita fantasy girl, was sprawled out on the sofa, snoring contentedly with her head on my lap.

“…Now, don’t you think I have a right to be jealous? Of both of you?”

“Oh, uh… Um…”

Himeji was pouting just a little bit, her silver tray held against her chest…but I wasn’t in this position because I wanted to be. The moment I’d arrived with Kagaya, Shiina had jumped at me, then eventually fallen asleep in my arms.

I was avoiding eye contact with anyone, trying to play it off like an uninvolved bystander, but Kagaya was grinning at me, her gear spread out all across the carpet.

“Aw, chill out, Shirayuki. She can’t help it! That girl’s been working nonstop since the event began. She’s having way too much fun with the Game to sleep at all. It’s so cute, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and I do appreciate that. But her head is in his lap, you see? She was hugging him as if it were completely normal a moment ago, too. I fear she might be starting to get a little too close to Master. And…if I may be completely honest, I would have preferred she hugged me instead of my master. She could have rested her head on my lap, too.”

“Mmm, but she’s already asleep… Oh, then, Shirayuki, why don’t you try touching her cheek real quick?”

“…? Well, all right…”

At Kagaya’s urging, Himeji approached me, not sure what to make of the offer. “Excuse me,” she whispered as she quietly bent down and gently let her gloved hand touch Shiina’s cheek.

“Mmm… Hee-hee-heeee…”

I could feel Shiina shift position slightly in my lap. She probably wasn’t conscious enough to realize it, but she was rubbing her cheek against Himeji’s outstretched hand, and Shiina broke out in a contented grin.

“…! Th-this is…”

“…See? Yeah, it’s real dangerous.”

“It is. Who is this girl? She must’ve put all her points into the ‘cute’ stat. She’s so soft, and smooth, and sparkly… Oh no, she’s going to lead my master away from the path of righteousness!”

“No, she won’t,” I muttered to myself with a sigh. I looked at Himeji, who was still stroking Shiina’s cheek as she said something like that… I have no objections to the claim that Tsumugi Shiina is way too cute, but she’s cute in a way a much younger sister might be. It wasn’t romantic, by any means.

Though, in terms of age, we’re only two years apart… Wait! Ah, no, no, no!

I shook my head to get rid of the impure thoughts that had momentarily flashed through my mind. Perhaps sensing the jostling, Shiina let out a vague “Mmmph?” sound in her sleep and put her arms, covered by the gothic-Lolita dress, around my waist to avoid being shaken off. It was just… I dunno. Hard to keep my mind stable, I suppose.

Regardless, this was everyone joining in today’s strategy meeting. After taking a quick look at the list of participants in Stage Four, I took another look over the rules.

“Stage Four of SFIA is known as Dropout Tamers, or DOT for short. This is a team battle loosely modeled on Werewolf.”

Her silver hair gently swaying, Himeji had approached the large screen in the wall opposite the sofa and begun to lecture in her usual cool tone of voice. Werewolves made it sound rather ominous, but this wasn’t some horror Game we were about to play. Instead, Himeji was talking about a genre of analog games that’s grown popular over the past few years.

Tracing the origins of the game, it first saw commercial release in the US or somewhere similar under the name Are You a Werewolf? The game divides players into a “villager” team and a “werewolf” team, and the werewolves kill one villager per night. To avoid being killed, players use the daytime phase to discuss who the werewolves are, and the player they nominate is then burned at the stake. This cycle repeats, with the villagers trying to find the werewolves as quickly as possible and the werewolves trying to murder as many villagers as they can without being caught.

The keys to this game are making educated guesses and telling convincing lies. If you’re a werewolf, you have to act like you’re not and try to turn suspicion on someone else instead. Of course, you might not be the only person lying, so you also need enough insight to call these lies out when you hear them.

“So does Dropout Tamers play out in the same way?”

“Yes, Master, your understanding is correct. Take a look at this.”

The screen suddenly switched to a stylish title logo, along with the rules presented in bullet points.

“Let’s begin with the premise. DOT, the fourth stage of SFIA, is a Game played by teams of five people. However, unlike ASTRAL, where teams were based on your school, the teams for Stage Four will be picked at random from the remaining players. The groups will be announced tomorrow morning, and apart from no team having multiple members from the same school, the selection will be completely random.”

“…I see. So it’s a team Game where you’re grouped with players from other wards… Sounds tricky.”

“Mmm, maybe,” said Kagaya. “You can’t really trust your teammates at face value. Some people might just want to drag you down instead of trying to beat Stage Four…”

“Indeed. You must remain on high alert at all times. That being said, the players assigned to your team are your friends, according to the rules of DOT. You all work under the same victory conditions, and you’ll be working through the Game together… Which brings us to the main issue.”

Himeji waved her hand at the screen. The rule list suddenly went dark, and what jumped out next was a more familiar sight—a bunch of monsters, the sort of fantasy creatures you see in manga and video games.

“The primary objective of this Game is, in essence, to collect the ‘familiars’ you see here,” Himeji continued coolly next to the grotesque images. “These familiars are scattered across the island, and it’s the players’ job to physically travel to their location to obtain them. Teams win in DOT by collecting all the familiars in the list provided to them.”

“Hmm… So the lineup that you need to win is decided from the start? Like, ‘you need to collect this one, this one, and this one to win’? And if it’s all on a team basis, too, does that mean different teams have different familiars to collect?”

“That’s correct, Master. The victory conditions for DOT—that is, the types of familiars that must be collected—vary from team to team. All familiars are assigned a ‘class’ based off their rarity and strength…”

At a glance from Himeji, text appeared on top of the images of the familiars.

• Class S Familiars: The rarest type. Only one exists in the entire Game.

• Class A Familiars: Extremely powerful. Four types exist in the Game, with only one of each.

• Class B Familiars: Reasonably powerful. Ten types exist in the Game, with three of each.

• Class C Familiars: Found everywhere. Exist in essentially infinite types and numbers.

“Now, it seems that each team will be tasked with collecting three types from Class B, two types from Class A, and that one type from Class S. If you complete the list, then all members of the team advance to SFIA’s Final Stage. The DOT Game continues until at least sixteen people advance.”

“Sixteen out of a hundred, huh? …Wait. Sixteen?”

I’d been going along with Himeji’s explanation so far, but that slight discrepancy made me raise an eyebrow.

“That’s kind of weird, isn’t it? If DOT’s a team Game and each team has five people, shouldn’t the number of player slots be a multiple of five?”

“That would normally be true, yes, but there’s another element to this Game—the part similar to Werewolf, as I mentioned: traitors and elimination votes.”

“Traitors and elimination votes…?”

“Yes… As stated, all five team members are given the same victory conditions, and if they complete them, they all advance to the final round of SFIA. But that’s not the whole story. Each team also has one player assigned the role of ‘traitor,’ who is assigned familiars that only they have to collect in order to win. If the team completes the shared list, then they advance, but the traitor is eliminated from the Game. On the other hand, if the traitor meets their victory conditions before the rest of the team, then the traitor alone advances, and all the other members are eliminated.”

“Ah, I see. Hence the Werewolf connection. We know there’s a traitor on our team, but we don’t know who—and the other four teammates don’t know what familiars the traitor needs to find. So trying to figure that out is a big part of this Game.”

“It certainly is. The other Werewolf-like element is the elimination vote, which is basically just like it sounds. Dropout Tamers is held daily from nine AM to five PM, and after the end of each day, there’s the ‘night’ phase, if you will. During this phase, all players must vote for one person to be eliminated from their team by midnight. The player who receives the most votes will be kicked out of the Game, and any familiars they collected will disappear from the team’s resources.”

“…Oh? So you can’t be eliminated fighting other teams? Just if your teammates think you’re the traitor?”

“Correct, and this strategic element is one of the most vital elements of DOT. One person is eliminated from the team every day, although it seems that if the vote ends up in a tie, then nobody will be eliminated. Therefore, the assumption is that teams won’t have a full set of players by the time they complete their familiar list. Hence why having sixteen people in the Final Stage isn’t particularly strange, after all.”

“Ah right…”

I nodded in agreement with Himeji.

“So how do we collect these familiars…?”

“Well, there are two main ways. One is via quests. When Stage Four begins, there will be people called Quest Guides in various locations across the Academy, and if you complete the quest they assign you, you’ll be rewarded with a familiar. The other way is through either combat or negotiation. You can either ask another team to give you a familiar you need, or you can seize it by force. Those are the main ways.”

“Combat, huh…? And we use familiars to fight?”

“You guessed it, Master. As you said, combat in DOT involves having your familiars fight one another, like a few video games I could name. Each team chooses one familiar to fight for them, and the owner of that familiar becomes the ‘main player’ who controls the battle.”

“Ah.”

“Then all the team members, including the main player, choose a command to use in the fight. This command is, in essence, an order you give the familiar. These come in two types—base and skill commands. Base commands include things like stat buffs and debuffs that are available to everyone, but skill commands are the individual Abilities of the familiars themselves. Because of that, you can only use a skill command if it belongs to a familiar in your possession.”

“Hmm… Okay.”

So the main player deploys the familiar they’ll use in battle, and then the whole team chooses commands to support that familiar. Skill commands are treated as being possessed by individual familiars, so if you want to increase your choice of Abilities, you’ll need to catch a lot of them.

“Once your commands are picked, battle begins. The main players from both teams choose a command from the ones the team chose and apply it to their familiars, then each familiar attacks once. They have four stats: ATK or attack, DEF or defense, SPD or speed, and LP or Life Points. The damage dealt is calculated by subtracting the defense of the defending side from the attack of the attacking side. If either side’s Life Points hit zero, the battle ends, but if not, the main players pick from the remaining commands and the battle goes into the next turn. Once the fight is over, all the familiars used by the losing team in battle—including those whose skill commands were used in battle—are forfeited to the winners. Yet, on the other hand, you won’t lose any of the familiars you put into battle as long as you aren’t defeated.”

“…Mmm. I think I get the main gist. The flow of the battle itself isn’t all that complicated.”

“No, it’s not. And because of that, it’s quite easy for traitors to sabotage their teams if they want. For example, they might deliberately choose a skill command that will put their side at a disadvantage if used, or they might let the enemy seize a familiar they need to win the Game… It’ll be the traitor’s job to do all that and make it look natural.”

I quietly thought this all over, including Himeji’s observations.

There were a few other minor details to work out, but the general rules of Dropout Tamers were something like this: Players from multiple wards form teams that have to collect a given set of familiars to win the Game. However, each team has one traitor with different victory conditions from the other four. This traitor secretly interferes with the team’s progress, since a team win in this stage means a loss for the traitor. It’s the team’s job to eliminate this traitor through the nightly voting. It certainly did seem to combine Werewolf with monster-collecting games.

What we’re doing is pretty simple…but I think it’ll actually be a real big challenge. It’s nothing but high-ranked players here, joining teams and suspecting each other…and being able to vote people off the team, the Hexagram’s accusations are gonna work against me. Even without that, there are people in my own school who’d like me out of the picture. I’ll need to come up with a proper plan…

I unconsciously bit my lip. I’d need to work with the Company to pick my Abilities, of course, but I’d also need to work closely with the other Eimei students who’d made it into Stage Four. If possible, it’d be best to have Enomoto assemble all of us tomorrow.

“Right. That should be a good place to end things today—”

“…Fweh?”

Just as I was about to wrap things up, I suddenly heard a slight mumble. I looked down to see that apparently Shiina had woken up. She rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her dress, scoping out the room as she remained mostly draped over my body. Then, as she grew fully awake, her eyes began to sparkle at me.

“Hiroto, Hiroto! When’s the strategy meeting?!”

“…Sorry, it just ended,” I murmured, giving her a wry smile. But she was up now, so oddly enough, we wound up playing a four-player game of everyone’s favorite console kart racer. It was such a normal, peaceful moment that I won’t go over all the details (though, it goes without saying, it was super fun).

It was now around ten in the morning on August 1. At my summons—or, really, at Enomoto’s—the Eimei School students filed into the council room.

I was more than familiar with most of them by now. In addition to Himeji and me, there was the old ASTRAL team of Enomoto, Asamiya, and Akizuki. Enomoto and Himeji were already out of SFIA this year, though, so this wasn’t strictly a player-only meeting. The biggest change of all, though, was the final person. She walked into the room behaving like the perfect example of what every student should strive for in poise. Her long, flowing black hair, reaching down to around her thighs, swayed gently as she gave us all a dignified bow.

“I’m glad to meet all of you. My name is Mari Minakami, and I’m a first-year student here at Eimei. I know I still have a lot of room to grow and mature, but I’ll do my best for you, so thank you in advance for your help!”

Mari Minakami, the first-year, placed her right hand on her chest as she spoke, like she was giving an oath or something. We’d already known at the end of Blank Code that she’d advanced to Stage Four, so I guess she hadn’t been joking around with that declaration of war, after all. She might be a valuable asset to Eimei, at least, but she clearly hated me, and the Hexagram group she belonged to was starting to make some shady maneuvers, too. I had to be wary of her for a number of reasons.

Regardless, Asamiya was the first to respond to Minakami’s greeting.

“Mari, right? Okay, I memorized it. I’m Nanase Asamiya in third year! I’m pretty immature, too, compared to all these guys, but lemme know if you have any questions, okay?”

“Sure! Thank you very much, Asamiya!”

“Aw, thank you! You’re such a sweetie! Do you think I could call you Marie from now on?”

“Ah… Yes! Of course! It’s an honor having a senior give me a nickname!”

Minakami’s face lit up with joy seeing Asamiya take a shine to her. I guess she isn’t this totally straitlaced girl, after all, but someone capable of honestly expressing her emotions as well. (Either that, or she just saves all the ’tude for when she’s talking to me… Not that I really mind, though.)

“Hee-hee! Okay, I’m up next!  ”

As soon as Asamiya finished talking, Akizuki spoke up, leaping up off the sofa and nimbly putting her hands together with a smile.

“My name is Noa Akizuki! I’m Hiroto’s…um, I mean, I’m Eimei’s top idol!  ”

“Oh, I-I’ve heard all about you! You have lots of fans in my class, too.”

“Hee-hee-hee! Wowww!   But then, I’m so cute, it’s only natural, ain’t it?  ”

Akizuki gave a brief chuckle and smiled smugly hearing Minakami’s response, then cast a glance in Himeji’s direction… But that exchange lasted for just a moment, and she quickly turned back toward Minakami with a raised eyebrow.

“I was just thinking… You have an older sister, don’t you, Mari? A third-year at Eimei?”

“Oh, yeah, I do!” Minakami immediately replied, nodding emphatically. “Are you a friend of hers, Akizuki?”

“Sure am!   Mayu’s absent from school a lot, so we haven’t gotten to hang very much, but we chat a lot online!   She’s actually told me some stuff about you, too.”

“…! What did she say about me?!”

“Yeah, she’s always talking about how proud she is of her supercute, talented li’l sister!   Head of her class from the start, a potential future candidate for student council president, and a sure winner in the school beauty pageant… I thought she was exaggerating a bit at first, but maybe not, actually! Though, you’re still just a liiittle behind me.  ”

Akizuki accentuated her point by letting out a sly chuckle and poking her cheeks with both hands. Minakami nodded back, her face still quite serious.

“Yes, I know you’re far more popular than I am, Akizuki. But hearing my sister said all that… It makes me a bit happy. She’s such an amazing person, too.”

“She is?”

“Oh, right, you’ve never met her, Shino.”

Asamiya raised an index finger in the air.

“Marie’s sister, Mayu Minakami, is, like, a total genius. She just sees the world differently from all of us, or… I dunno, she finds the answers to things in a totally different way. Anyway, it’s amazing. I think she’s got a one hundred percent winning record in Games, too.”

“…Really? That is amazing.”

That amazing stat made my eyes open wide. Then I remembered that Mayu Minakami was a name I’d heard before. She’d been listed as “one to watch” alongside Enomoto and Asamiya in the Fourth Ward Challenge back in April, and she’d also been picked to serve as our sixth member during the May Interschools. I’d never had any direct contact with her, but she must’ve been one of the Eimei School’s hidden geniuses—and Mari here was her sister.

“Hee-hee…”

Minakami was clearly enjoying all this praise for her older sister, evidenced by her huge smile. But Enomoto was frowning slightly. He was sitting next to Asamiya, a little distance away from Minakami, with his arms folded.

“Hmm,” he began, sullen as ever. “I’d like to say, though… Personally, I wish she would make more of an effort.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Mayu’s performance is a sight to behold, certainly, but that’s only true when she bothers participating to the end. Otherwise, she either forfeits or abandons all her Games. In SFIA this year, too, she was eliminated in Stage One because she didn’t even bother to leave her home. She’s the kind of talent I’d kill to have in this room with us… For that reason, I have to say that her younger sister is far superior.”

He didn’t say it out loud, but Enomoto’s light shake of the head made it clear how much he thought Mayu was wasting her talents. That was how highly he regarded Mayu Minakami, just as we’d seen back during ASTRAL. The lazy, natural-born genius of an older sister—and the serious-minded, honor-student-type younger sister. Their personalities were complete opposites.

Just then…

“Hmm… I’m afraid I can’t let that go unchallenged, Enomoto.”

Minakami had been listening to Akizuki and Asamiya with a big smile so far, but now she looked a little peeved as she approached the table we were sitting around, her shoes clicking on the floor. Placing her hands gently on the table, she leaned forward to confront Enomoto.

“If you compare me to my sister, you’ll find that Mayu is superior in every single category. However, your choice of words almost sounded like you were treating her like a fool just now.”

“…That wasn’t my intention.”

“No, Enomoto, it doesn’t matter what your intention was. What you were doing was berating my sister behind her back, wasn’t it? People call that gossiping, you know, and that’s not a good habit to have. In fact, it’s completely unjust!”

“Ngh… Uh…”

This extended storm of valid arguments—or maybe his own realization that he’d been talking out of line—led Enomoto to mumble “…Sorry” to Minakami. Hearing this, she smiled and bowed.

“Well, if you’re willing to apologize, then there’s no problem, of course. And I apologize for mouthing off to you.”

“Nah, that was totally Shinji’s fault. He’s got, like, no tact at all… But wow, Marie! I don’t think I’ve seen anyone apart from Shino beat Shinji in an argument.”

“Thank you, Asamiya. But that wasn’t really an argument at all. I was simply following my own sense of justice…as a member of the Hexagram!”

If this was a manga, there would be action lines firing out from Minakami’s face right now. Such was the force behind this statement. I thought I saw Enomoto’s face twitch again when she said that magic word, but Minakami kept on going, a look of obvious pride on her face.

“Yes, the Hexagram, the legion of justice officially sanctioned by the Academy! You’re familiar with them, right, Asamiya?!”

“Well, as much as anyone else, sure. They cracked open that whole ‘illegal Ability’ case last year…”

“Right! I was in my last year of junior high back then, and not to get too personal, but I’d been dealing with a lot of grief. It was so painful, I felt like my heart was going to break at any moment…but then I saw the IslandTube coverage about that case, and the Hexagram… And it made such an impact on me! It was just astounding. I thought Wow, there really are awesome people like that out there! This is who I wanna be someday!”

It sounded like she believed that from the bottom of her heart. Minakami lifted her hand to the emblem on her chest as she stated her resolve to us, her voice sincere and resolute. Then, once again—or, really, for the first time since coming into the room—she turned toward me and Himeji.

“So I hope you’re ready to face justice, Shinohara…and you, too, Himeji. I might still be a neophyte in the ways of justice, but my seniors in the Hexagram are the best there are! If you want to apologize for your actions, now’s your chance!”

“You say that, but neither myself nor my master have anything to apologize for. Or should I apologize for my master being too strong in battle?”

“Not likely. You need to come clean about all your lies, your cheating, your villainy, and bow your head to the student body! I’m sure that only then will you find forgiveness. So…? What do you think? Can’t you see how wonderful that would be?!”

“Not really. Or at least, not right now,” replied Himeji.

“Agreed. Also, Minakami, can you stop talking like I’m guilty until proven innocent about all this?”

“I can see you’re both quite stubborn… But fine, if that’s what you want.”

Minakami fell silent and shook her head, her black hair gently flowing behind her. Then, her gaze openly challenging my integrity, she pointed an index finger at me and crowed like some great superhero.

“I’ll say it again: In this Game, I’m going to make you reform your ways!”

“Hmm… I think this is about all of it.”

A few minutes later, having gotten through introducing ourselves to Minakami, we decided to move on to the main topic at hand—namely, our strategy for Dropout Tamers. To kick things off, Enomoto was projecting the list of basic rules he’d compiled on a screen behind our table. I had already looked them over, but put simply, these were:

SFIA Stage 4: Dropout Tamers (DOT)

DOT is a team-based Game, with players randomly split into teams of five. The object is to meet the victory conditions assigned to each team—which, in this Game, means collecting the familiars assigned to them.

Familiars are categorized by rarity—S, A, B, and C. Rarer familiars are stronger but are also more difficult to obtain. There is a single Class S familiar, four types of Class A familiars (one per type), ten types of Class B familiars (three per type), and countless Class C familiars. Teams must collect six familiars in all—one Class S, two Class A, and three Class B.

Each player begins DOT with one familiar, assigned at random and generally Class B or C. The four top finishers in Stage Three will be given an A-class familiar to begin with as their high-ranking bonus. Familiars of Class A or higher have unique moves in addition to the “skills” described below.

Familiars are mainly obtained by completing quests or seizing them from other teams. Many quests are dotted around the island, with the more difficult ones offering higher-rarity rewards. However, it is not possible to obtain a familiar if its maximum allowable population has already been reached. (e.g., There can be only one of each type of Class A familiar, so if someone already has a certain type, it is no longer available as a quest reward.) Furthermore, if a player beats the Game or is eliminated, the familiars they had in their possession will become available as quest rewards.

Battle rules: During battle, both teams select one familiar to use. The owner of that familiar serves as the main player for the fight. After both teams select their familiar, all players on both teams choose a command (see below). Once this is complete, the battle begins. The main players of both teams choose one command from the list available and apply it to their familiars, which then attack once each. If one side’s Life Points (LP) reach zero at this point, the battle ends; otherwise, the battle moves on to the next turn. At the end of battle, the winning team can obtain all the familiars used by the losing team during combat. The main player alone can also invoke preinstalled Abilities that directly affect combat.

There are two types of commands, base and skill commands.

Base commands: commands that all players possess. They cannot be seized from players, and their effects raise or lower a familiar’s stats by 1 point.

Skill commands: commands that invoke the skills of a familiar. These are more powerful than base commands, but since they are linked to a familiar, they may be stolen from you if your team loses.

Every team has one “traitor.” This traitor is given a list of familiars to gather that is different from the rest of their team. If the traitor can gather all of them before the team completes their list, the traitor advances to the Final Stage and the rest of their team is eliminated. If the team completes its list first instead, the traitor is eliminated.

Elimination vote: DOT is divided into two phases—daytime, from nine AM to five PM, and nighttime, the rest of the twenty-four-hour period. The Game is played only during daytime, but each night, players must vote by midnight for the player they want to eliminate from the team. This is called the elimination vote, and the player that receives the most votes within their team is eliminated when the Game begins again the following day. (The eliminated players are announced at six AM.)

Three Abilities may be installed on devices for this stage; however, traitors may install four.

“Wow…”

Mari Minakami, sitting diagonally to my left, let out a sigh of astonishment as she looked at the slide. Despite their argument a moment ago, she was now giving Enomoto a polite, respectful look.

“Very impressive, Enomoto. I can’t believe you put together such a comprehensive slideshow just one day after the rules were announced… No wonder you’re the president of Eimei’s student council. It’s certainly inspiring me to work harder.”

“…Mmm. Well, if you like it, that’s all that matters.”

Enomoto, not altogether displeased by Minakami’s honest praise, replied bluntly with a nod. It elicited a slightly miffed “Hmm?” from Asamiya, who squinted at Enomoto, not liking the friendly attitude he was showing Minakami.

“It’s all about the little details with you, huh, Shinji? How long did it take you to make this anyway?”

“Oh, it didn’t take that much time. I was wrapping it up while I was explaining the rules to you last night, Nanase. If anything, you were occupying all my time.”

“I… Well, that’s because you keep treating me like such an idiot, Shinji! If you prepared this slideshow from the start, I would’ve understood it all just fine! Also, get some damn sleep for a change!”

“Don’t worry. I’m receiving the minimum amount I need… And why do you think I bowed out of SFIA in the first place, Nanase? No matter what you say, I’m going to give you my full support in this Game.”

“…! Come on, Shinji… That’s exactly the thing with you…”

Asamiya turned away to hide her reddened face, using one hand to furiously play with her hair. Enomoto, on the other hand, frowned a bit, as if wondering what he was being accused of. Then, giving up, he shook his head and turned back toward us.

“Now…given this Game, it’s not possible to cooperate with our fellow Eimei students as much as in ASTRAL. It takes the form of a team battle, but in practice, it functions more like a single-player match. Yet you still need to actively share information with each other—quest strategies, rewards, who should be in possession of each familiar, who the traitors might be, and so on.”

“Right, yeah.”

“Hmm. So for this stage, I think we should use this student council office as the Eimei School’s home base for all data processing. We’ll relay news from Libra and analyze what Shinohara and the other players give us, and if we discover anything useful, we’ll report it immediately. To more effectively share this, I’d like to see all of you back here during the night phase, after the Game ends for the day.”

“Understood, Enomoto!” Minakami replied snappily.

Enomoto’s request had mostly been aimed at the four people playing in Stage Four. Considering his suspicion of the Hexagram, he might’ve also meant it as a slight warning, but that didn’t seem to concern Minakami at all. Regardless, Akizuki and Asamiya nodded their agreement as well, so Enomoto’s plan was passed unanimously. Once it was time to get down to business, Himeji was the first to cut in with her cool, reserved voice.

“Now… What are all your teams like? Do you know if you’re the traitor and what kind of players you’re teamed up with? Because that’s going to affect our strategy a great deal.”

“Yeah, true, we need to talk about that, too. You’re always so smart, Yukirin.”

Asamiya was the first to respond, and she pressed a button on her device to project her team information screen.

“So,” she said, twirling a lock of blond hair around one finger, “I’m not a traitor—I’m a proper team member! And I’m on a pretty dangerous team, too, with two Six Stars and three Five Stars. The main one to watch is… Hmm. Probably the Phoenix, huh?”

“The Phoenix… Oh, Kugasaki’s on your team? Wow. I don’t envy you.”

“Yeah, but I probably have it even worse.”

“…? You do, Akizuki?”

“Heh-heh… Yeah, almost certainly. One of ’em I don’t know real well, but the others are all notorious top players. Hell’s Priestess from the Sixteenth Ward. Not to mention Miyabi Akutsu from the Suisei School in the Second Ward. She’s one of the Hexagram’s top people, right?”

“Yes, she is! She’s so strong, and kind, and reliable in a pinch that people call her Kaoru’s right-hand woman… I’m so jealous you get to play a Game on her team!”

“Hmm. Jealous, huh? We’re not really friendly teammates, though. I feel like it’s gonna be trouble with a team full of powerhouses like this…but anyway, the Empress is also on our team!   Your fated rival, huh, Hiroto?  ”

“Rival…? That’s not how I see it.”

In terms of our standings, that’s exactly what she was, but I denied it to stay in character.

Having finished introducing her team, Akizuki glanced at me for a moment. Before I could figure out why, she turned toward Minakami, her voice as sly as always as she put her right index finger to her cheek.

“And also, I’m the traitor!  ”

Huh…?

That was a little surprising. The fact that she was a traitor was one thing…but should she really be telling us? We’d just been talking about how there was a Hexagram official on her team, so if Minakami contacted Akutsu, Akizuki would be found out and eliminated the very first day. But then again, maybe that was why. If Akizuki was kicked off after day one, it’d prove beyond a doubt that Minakami was leaking information. Maybe this was her way of seeing where Minakami’s loyalties lay—with her Eimei classmates or with the Hexagram.

In response, Minakami said, “Oh… You are, huh? Boy, that’s rough. I’ll have to make sure I don’t blab about it…!”

She put her hands to her mouth, a serious expression on her face. I could immediately tell that Akizuki was more relaxed now. She must’ve decided that Minakami was “safe,” so to speak, and I agreed with her. Mari Minakami just didn’t seem like someone capable of lying so brazenly.

But even discounting that, Akizuki’s got Saionji, Kururugi, and a top-ranking Hexagram member on her team—and she drew the traitor card? That’s not gonna be easy for her…

I quietly shook my head as I thought it over. Akizuki’s no pushover, of course, but it’s fair to say she was coming in with a big disadvantage. Being a traitor was enough of a handicap, but she was being asked to trick a team that seemed virtually untrickable to me. I worried that her time in the Game would end before she could really stir the pot at all.

But anyway…

“Um… Is it my turn?”

Minakami, seeing that Akizuki was done, quietly spoke up. She looked pretty happy with herself, like she was itching to go next.

“Because my team is really awesome! I’ve got two Hexagram members with me, in fact! One is Koto Tsuzuki, an executive member in third year… And as if that wasn’t enough, I’ve got our leader Kaoru with me, too! Being able to play a Game with these people… This alone makes joining SFIA worth it to me!”

“A team with the Hexagram leader and one of his top executives, huh? What do you think of that, Minakami?”

“Huh? I already said: It’s great. It’s not every day a coincidence like this happens, right?”

“A coincidence? …Hmph, okay.”

Enomoto sounded like he wanted to delve into that topic, but Minakami appeared so sincere that he abandoned the idea.

Minakami gave him a questioning look, then turned her gaze on me.

“So what about you, Shinohara? I’m sure you’d make a great traitor, considering what a liar you are…”

“Whether I would or not, I’m a regular member, sadly. Here’s my team lineup.”

I projected the screen on my device. There, the names of all five of us were displayed in the order of our wards:

Keiya Fujishiro—second-year, Ohga School, Third Ward, Six Star

Hiroto Shinohara—second-year, Eimei School, Fourth Ward, Seven Star

Shizuku Minami—second-year, St. Rosalia, Fourteenth Ward, Five Star

Kanade Yuikawa—third-Year, Ibara School, Fifteenth Ward, Five Star

Sana Nitta—first-year, Azuminodai School, Twentieth Ward, One Star

“…Whoa. Looks like Hiroto’s team is full of troublesome people, too!  ”

Akizuki gave me an inscrutable sort of smile as her eyes ran down the list. She was right. People call Keiya Fujishiro the Final Weapon of Ohga, and Kanade Yuikawa is at the top of Ibara, although I don’t remember much about him apart from how breezy he is—and how annoying. Then there’s Shizuku Minami, the lazy genius who DearScript had just awoken. I wouldn’t want to cross any of these players if I could help it.

“But…a One Star? Funny to see someone like that.”

Asamiya was the first to bring up the question on all our minds, leaning forward a bit from her seat as she pointed at that unfamiliar name at the bottom of the screen—Sana Nitta, a first-year student at the Azuminodai School in the Twentieth Ward.

“It certainly is,” said Himeji softly, nodding. “Ms. Sana Nitta. I was curious about her as well, so I did a little research. There is nothing particularly notable about her background, but considering how far she’s advanced here in her first year, chances are she’s got some kind of exceptional talent that’s not reflected by her rank.”

“Yeah. A super-dark horse, maybe.”

Asamiya gulped nervously. And yeah, if a One Star first-year made it to Stage Four among all these seasoned fighters, there’s no way she’s some normal player. I’d need to watch out for her as much as all my other teammates—maybe even more so.

“Anyway, I think that’s all we need to share. We’re now going to work out a strategy taking everything into account… But looking at the DOT rules, we need to focus on not being suspected at all. Whether you’re a traitor or not, that still holds true. No matter what your position is, if you’re voted out, you’ve got no further recourse.”

“No problems here, Shinohara. I’m in the Hexagram, you know, and a defender of justice would never tell lies. And I just know everyone will believe in me, too!”

“I love hearing that confidence from you, Marie. As for me… Well, I kind of get nervous easily. I’m afraid I’ll screw up somewhere, to be honest.”

“Hee-hee! You’re so honest, Miya. Good thing this is exactly the kinda stuff I’m best at!  ”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ll do great, Akizuki. You’re the traitor, so job one for now is to remain hidden, look for chances to sabotage things, and try to cast suspicion on someone else. If you can find someone to attract elimination votes away from you, then perfect. What’d be even better is if the votes are spread out enough that nobody’s eliminated before the next day… But the normal team members have to figure out who the traitor is, and while you’ll have the numerical advantage at first, you could be uncovered in no time if you’re not careful.”

“…He’s right. You know, for a liar, you have some pretty good insights, Shinohara.” Minakami nodded earnestly as she lobbed that bit of casual criticism my way.

After working all that out, we decided to discuss our general strategy. Asamiya planned to install combat-oriented Abilities and try to gather a whole lot of powerful familiars. It was the brute-force approach, but it also made sense here. In this Game, a player’s familiars are lost when the player is eliminated and go back into the general spawning pot for quests, so your teammates will hesitate to kick you out if you have a lot of important familiars.

Akizuki’s strategy as a traitor was very different, of course. Confusing the team was her primary objective. It seemed she had a few sabotage-type Abilities she could potentially tap into—such as Misfire, which would randomly change the votes each night, or Tryst, which let her contact traitors on other teams. As for Mari Minakami, all she said was “I’m going to fight head-on.”

Well, then…

Dropout Tamers—the fourth stage of SFIA—was fast approaching.

“…Hello and welcome, every-nyan! This is Suzuran Kazami from Libra! One week after our brilliant opening ceremony, the Summer Festival on the Academy has finally reached Stage Four, the semifinals! Anyone who’s seen the list of remaining players knows, but we’re seeing a great mix of players for this round, from the kings and queens of each ward to the next generation of aces—and even some up-and-coming dark horses! It’s the best combo you could ask for, and pretty soon, this battle’s gonna burn hotter than the sun in summer! Get ready…and don’t take your eyes off your screens for a single moment!”

It was Tuesday, August 2, shortly before the fourth stage was set to begin.

I was in the First Ward, waiting for my teammates in front of a train station. Dropout Tamers’ daytime phase lasted from nine AM to five PM, just like Stage Three. You were free to spend those eight hours any way you wanted, but each team was assigned a fixed starting point on this first day… And that’s where I was.

And also…

“Testing sound… Can you hear me, Master?”

“Yeah, loud and clear.”

As usual, in my right ear, I had Shirayuki Himeji, who was supporting me instead of playing in Stage Four. Lately, I’ve started to feel lonely without her by my side…or maybe it just feels like something’s missing anyway. I dunno. But even if Himeji was here, the rules of DOT dictated that we were unlikely to share a team, so really, I think Himeji made the right call.

“Thank you, Master,” she continued in my earpiece. “From this point on, the Company will provide you support for DOT. Kagaya will be examining participant information in detail, Tsumugi will be analyzing Game data, and I will move around as needed and listen in… Or should I say, spy on each team. If there is anything you’d like to know, just ask.”

“Okay, thanks. But you know, my teammates—Fujishiro especially—are all really sharp, so I might have to turn off the audio on my earpiece sometimes. If I do, we’ll switch to messaging.”

“Very well. It’s certainly better to be safe than sorry; however, we will need to discuss what to do if you and Ms. Minami disappear somewhere together—”

“…That’s not going to happen.”

I smiled at Himeji’s hesitant concern, unsure whether she was joking or not. But just then…

“Well, well! If it isn’t Hiroto Shinohara, the guy in all the news right now!”

He was already being too dramatic for my tastes. That was enough to identify him, but I still turned my head a bit—and sure enough, a familiar-looking guy was standing there. He was handsome, with a relaxed vibe, an easy smile, and a tall, slender figure. Kanade Yuikawa, a Five Star from the Fifteenth Ward’s Ibara School. With a faint grin, he brushed his bangs back as pretentiously as possible.

“Looks like I’ve been beaten to the punch, huh? I wanted to be here first so I could greet everyone. I’m the only third-year on the team, after all, which makes me the most suitable candidate for leader.”

“Oh? Well, sorry to get in your way.”

“No, no, you don’t have to apologize. I’m much more magnanimous than that, you know. But it’s a strange twist of fate, isn’t it? We were so hostile to each other in the May Interschools, and now we’re joining hands here in SFIA!”

Yuikawa spread his arms out wide, flashing his unnecessarily refreshing smile at me. He was already starting to grate on me. He’d been busy trying to regain his popularity after it hit rock bottom in the wake of ASTRAL, but judging by his sparkling demeanor, I guess the effort had paid off.

Regardless, he was now smiling and giving me a furtive look.

“And who knows? Maybe that win was all cheating, too… But what’s the truth of it anyway? Was the Hexagram right about you, perhaps?”

“I dunno. Like Saeki said, the results of this Game will prove it one way or the other.”

“Ah yes! Well, I look forward to it. Of course, I’ve been recruited by the Hexagram myself, but naturally, I turned them down. I’m not a peon who’d ever work below someone else, yet I’m still quite impressed they had the foresight to invite someone like me in! By the way, are any of our other teammates here?”

“Hmm? No, you’re the second one. It starts in twenty minutes, so I think they’ll be here any moment— Oh, here we go.”

Before I could even finish answering Yuikawa’s question, I saw a guy come out of the station and turn toward us. This was Keiya Fujishiro, and he looked just as much of a delinquent as ever, with dark-blond hair, a totally worn and rumpled Ohga School uniform, and enough piercings and necklaces to make him literally gleam. One glance at me, and he began speaking in a low voice, perhaps wary of the Hexagram’s vendetta.

“Damn, you guys are early… You two have fought before, but once we’re all here, we oughtta share our names and schools again, huh? I hate talking to someone when I don’t even know their name.”

“Yes, that’s not a bad idea, Fujishiro. But don’t you think it’s bad manners to start bossing people around as soon as you show up? I’m the oldest student here, so I ought to be in charge of this team.”

“Sure, whatever. But if you ask me, someone that intent on playing the big man on this team immediately looks suspicious. I dunno if you’re the traitor or not, but you better start watchin’ your mouth real close.”

“Uh… Aw, come on, Fujishiro. I know I’m strong in a Game, but there’s no need to be that wary of me, is there? I’m just volunteering to lead us because I’m the most suitable person for the job, you see.”

“…”

Fujishiro shot me and Yuikawa a withering look but relented without another word. Those had just been a couple of light jabs, but the hunt for the traitor was already beginning… Or the quest to frame someone else as the traitor, maybe. Any passing gesture or statement ran the chance of making people doubt you.

It’s not like I thought the Hexagram’s video wouldn’t affect people at all…but it said in the rules that the traitor was picked at random. I’ll just have to push my way through whatever doubts people have.

I thought this over as I waited for the rest of our team, but no one else showed up for the next fifteen minutes. The Game was starting soon, and if a team didn’t have all their members assembled in time, they would be penalized with not being able to move for an hour. But just when Yuikawa was starting to look genuinely irritated…

“…Sorry, did I keep you waiting?”

Right before time was up, a girl finally appeared. She had no sense of urgency, and her quiet voice had no intonation at all. She was a second-year student wearing the elegant uniform of the St. Rosalia Girls’ Institute of the Fourteenth Ward, a white hat perched on top of her short blue bob cut. Her long bangs cast a shadow over her face, which was so attractive it would take your breath away if you got a good look at her. Yet her sleepy eyes and generally drowsy vibe detracted from it a little.

“Hmm…”

Shizuku Minami turned her blue eyes on us all, then let out an audible sigh that was almost theatrical in its despair. For some reason, she started walking slowly toward me.

“I can’t believe this,” she said, sounding incredibly disappointed. “There was the name of this girl I don’t know on the list, so I got all excited… But then I show up, and who do I find but a wannabe ladies’ man, a delinquent, and my stalker… This has to be a scam… Can I go home?”

“Of course not. And I can’t vouch for the other two, but I’m definitely not a stalker.”

“That’s a lie… You’ve been following me around for the past month, and you no doubt engineered the hack of the century to land on the same team as me… How could I not feel endangered? I only give my body over to cute girls… That’s it…”

“You don’t have to be so guarded. I swear I won’t attack you.”

“…Hmm? Even though I’m so cute…? Even though I’m in the prime of my life…?”

“Your mood swings are as impossible to follow as ever, aren’t they…?”

Sighing at Minami’s quizzical face, I turned on my device just in time to see the digital readout on top of the screen turn nine o’clock. Flashy fireworks were going off all across the island, signifying the start of Stage Four in spectacular fashion. Looking at Libra’s live feed, Kazami had already begun her mile-a-minute commentary of the proceedings.

“…Well, here we go,” Fujishiro muttered, leaning against a nearby wall.

Dropout Tamers, the semifinal round of SFIA, allowed players to do whatever they wanted after this point. I hoped to get us moving with quests and combat and so on, but—

“Ugh… What’s her deal anyway? Showing up late on the very first day…”

Yuikawa was impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. The four of us had all arrived on time, but our fifth and final member was a no-show, even now that the Game had already begun. She wasn’t any top ranker familiar with events like this—she was a first-year student, and a One Star, no less. None of us knew her, and none of us had her contact information.

I bet I could get it from Kagaya, but I’d hate having to explain to everyone why I had it…

I bit my lip at this unanticipated hurdle. We’d already received our one-hour penalty for not having our entire team together in time, and once that was over, we could leave her behind and finally get started. Beginning this Game one member down was a handicap I wanted to avoid, especially considering DOT’s apparent strength.

“Okay, so since we’re stuck here, why don’t we see which familiars we have and come up with a plan of attack? We can introduce ourselves to each other while we’re at it. If our last teammate doesn’t show up by the time the penalty’s over, well, so be it—it’ll just be us four.”

“…Sounds reasonable to me. I’m cool with it.”

“Mmm, yeah… Honestly, if someone’s gonna mess up the team dynamic this early, I’d just wanna cut her out right now. But if you’re cool with waiting, then so am I.”

“I’m fine with anything…”

But just as Minami was shaking her head, trying to wish all of this away, someone walking down from the main street interrupted her. She was a small girl wearing a baggy summer coat over an unfamiliar-looking uniform and a hood over her light brown hair. I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like she was our elusive fifth teammate.

“…”

She walked up without saying a word, then lifted the edge of her hood a bit and eyed us one by one, as if searching for something. The first impression I got was that she was extremely suspicious of us all. She didn’t seem remotely interested in opening up to any of us, nor frightened.

But then, after examining us, she finally spoke up.

“…Sana Nitta. Good to meet you.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

The curt greeting didn’t exactly impress Yuikawa. He pointed a finger at her, not letting the aura of rejection that surrounded her bother him at all.

“Hey, you’re late on the first day and you’re not even apologizing? How inconsiderate can you get, huh? You’re lucky that everyone here is as forgiving as I am, because if this was any other team, you would’ve been kicked out a long time ago!”

“…So what? If you want to kick me out, do it.”

“Wha…what’s with that insolent attitude?! We’re a team, you know! You don’t think you can win this Game on your own, do you?!”

Yuikawa’s questions were making him sound like a lecturing dad. Nitta, meanwhile, was as curt as ever.

“Nah. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not even interested in this Game.”

…Not interested?

That comment concerned me. It was such a strange thing to say. Any first-year who’d made it this far wasn’t just an average player—people were even calling her a dark horse. So how could she not be interested in this?

“Y-you…”

Yuikawa was still looking to lecture Nitta some more, but then Minami stepped in.

“Don’t be a bully. She’s cute enough that we should give her one or two free passes… I hereby find her not guilty. In fact, the leader (lol) should take full responsibility for this…”

“What are you talking about?! And you didn’t just add lol to the word leader, did you?!”

“…? Wow. Paranoid much…?”

Yuikawa stuck his finger in her face as Minami shook her head without concern. I suppose she found Nitta attractive enough to take her side or something. At least it would help spread Yuikawa’s anger around a little.

…Huh?

As I watched them, my eyes suddenly met Sana Nitta’s. She’d been staring at me for a bit, and she must have noticed me looking back, because she swiftly pulled down her hood. Based on that reaction, it didn’t seem like her staring at me had just been an accident. I still had no idea what she was up to, but I gave her a faint smile.

“Anyway… We’re all here now, so how about we start strategizing?”

Half an hour into Dropout Tamers, we were taking advantage of the one-hour shutdown caused by Nitta’s lateness to check on each other’s “starter” familiars.

As stated in the rules, all DOT players were given a free familiar to start off with. The four top winners of Blank Code were each granted a one-of-a-kind Class A familiar, while the rest of us had been randomly assigned a B- or C-class one. In addition to rarity and type, familiars also had individual stats and intrinsic skills, but we agreed not to tell each other about those right now. We had no idea who the traitor was yet, so revealing everything didn’t seem too wise.

Considering that, here’s what we all knew about our current forces:

• Keiya Fujishiro—familiar: Skull Knight (C)

• Hiroto Shinohara—familiar: Fairy (C)

• Shizuku Minami—familiar: Sixth Seduction, Succubus (B)

• Kanade Yuikawa—familiar: First Brimstone, Hellhound (B)

• Sana Nitta—familiar: Mithril Golem (C)

“…Okay. Two Class Bs and three Class Cs?” I mumbled to myself as I compared our five familiars.

We were never going to get a Class A familiar, so as far as initial hands go, it didn’t seem that bad. The draw was random, after all, and we could have been dealt nothing but Cs. Thinking about it like that, I really couldn’t complain.

Yuikawa, looking at his device, gave a satisfied nod.

“Pretty nice. Off to a good start, I’d say.”

“…Huh? Too soon to say that, ain’t it?” Fujishiro growled in a low voice, projecting his team information screen for us. “There ain’t no point just checking our own resources. We can’t determine their value until we figure out our victory conditions—where we’re goin’ and stuff.”

“Huh? Oh right, yeah. That’s exactly what I was about to suggest, actually.”

“What a worthless leader…,” murmured Minami.

“Wha—?!”

But by the time Yuikawa overreacted, Minami had already lost interest in him, so it went nowhere beyond that. As I watched them go at it, I checked the victory conditions for our group—Team VI.

Team VI Victory Conditions

If the following are in the hands of the surviving members, all members of Team VI except for the traitor will complete Stage Four and advance to the final stage.

• Class S: Divine Messenger, Archangel

• Class A: Western Guardian, Byakko; Northern Guardian, Genbu

• Class B: First Brimstone, Hellhound; Third Gale, Hanuman; Ninth Thunderbolt, Anzu

“Okay, one S-class, two A-class, and three B… Whoa! Ha-ha-ha! Look, Shinohara! We’ve already got one of these—my Hellhound! Wow, I really do have it. And what about you, Shinohara? Yours is just a mob—er, I mean, your C-class familiar isn’t too useful, huh?”

“…Guess not.”

I shrugged as I looked over the details of the Fairy I’d been given. I only revealed the rarity to my teammates, but even her stats were pathetic. She had a 1 for ATK, DEF, and LP—the lowest possible value—although it seemed like her SPD was pretty high to compensate. She’d almost certainly land the first attack in a battle, but since damage is the difference between your ATK and your opponent’s DEF, nothing my Fairy unleashed was going to hurt at all.

“Well, it’s random, so there’s nothing I can do about that. But if you got one of the six we need, don’t let anyone take it, okay?”

“Hey, who do you think you’re talking to? I’m the best the Ibara School has to offer. If you think I’m about to make a mistake like that, forget it.” Yuikawa smiled smugly and combed back his bangs.

“Let’s hope so,” I replied, before turning back toward Minami and Fujishiro. “So that’s how it is right now. Like Yuikawa said, we already have Hellhound, so we only need five more familiars… And out of those, it seems like there’s a special way to get the Class S one. It looks like there’s a multistep S-class quest we gotta complete—finish one requirement, and the next one opens up, and eventually we’ll get awarded the Archangel.”

“Yeah,” said Fujishiro. “We gotta keep that in mind at all times… But in these early stages, we’re better just focusing on normal quests.” Arms folded, he cast a sharp gaze at the rest of us. “To collect familiars, we gotta either complete quests or fight people. But we don’t have any great resources right now, like extra familiars we can exploit for their skill commands, so any fight right now would be a coin flip, or even worse if we take on an A-class. That means quests come first. We gotta build our familiar library and power ourselves up for battle.”

“Yeah, I agree. And the first mission we’re given in the S-class quest is to complete one normal quest, actually. The question is: Which one should we pick?”

I looked down at my device.

The main screen of the Dropout Tamers app showed a list of the familiars in your possession, and you could swipe that away to bring up a map of the entire Academy. Tap the screen again, and it showed a close-up of the First Ward with several flag icons on it. I projected it for everyone to see.

“You see the flags on the screen? Those are the locations of the guides who give out quests in DOT. Each quest has a difficulty level, too, and the higher it is, the better the reward… In other words, the stronger the familiar we can get. The exact details aren’t revealed publicly, though. We won’t know the difficulty level or reward until we reach a guide, either.”

“Hmm? So for now…should we wipe them all out?”

“You don’t have to put it so violently, Minami. We could just take all the quests we see here, which would boost our power, but not all these quests will be useful. That wouldn’t be the most efficient way to go about this.”

“…? So what do we do?”

“Easy. We have five teammates, and I have to assume at least one of us has an exploration-type Ability installed.”

With a subtle smile, I looked at Yuikawa, Fujishiro, and Nitta in turn.

“So can whoever has one step up for the team? Because if you’re hiding it, and we find out later, that’s some real traitor behavior, you know.”

“…Tch. Fine,” Fujishiro finally relented. “If you’re gonna insist, I’ll lend you this—Wide-Range Search. It’ll show the difficulty and reward for each quest on the map.”

“Oooh… Perfect. Our true leader comes through…” Minami clapped her hands, her face as expressionless as ever.

Fujishiro clicked his tongue a second time, then used Wide-Range Search. The moment he tapped his device, all the flags on the map turned red, indicating they had been “investigated.” Now, you could just tap any flag to read all the details about that quest. It was a really useful Ability, just what I’d expect a Six Star to have.

Now it was time to split up and start selecting quests.

“This one rewards just a single C-class familiar… So does this one. The whole area here is kind of sparse loot-wise.”

“Hmm. I see a tougher quest here… A chance at a B-class familiar. Wanna go with this…?”

“Nah, no way it’s possible for us yet. With our current strength, we’d get our asses kicked.”

“Oh… Too bad. How about this, then? The reward is C-class familiars for the whole team…”

“…Yeah, that’s better. Pretty smart choice, coming from you.”

Fujishiro nodded quietly at the quest Minami pointed out, and Yuikawa said, “No complaints here!” flashing a breezy smile for no reason. I was okay with it, too… But we had one teammate who gave us no feedback at all.

“What do you think, Nitta?”

“…Sounds good.”

She gave me a curt sort of reply, like I’d expected. Once again, I couldn’t really see what was on her mind, but I didn’t think we had time to worry about that anyway. For now, it was time to get moving with this Game.

“Okay, it’s ten AM now. Let’s get moving.”

Having served our penalty, we decided to head out and tackle some quests.

We’d come to a remote part of the First Ward for our quest.

The quests in Dropout Tamers were generally provided by a “quest guide,” meaning that instead of visiting a certain geographical location to start, it began by talking to the right person. Since the whole Game was being streamed on IslandTube, the quests were periodically shuffled between guides.

Which brought us to…

“Welcome, Team VI. I’m Sigma the quest guide, and this is a combat-style quest. You’ll fight a simulated battle against the familiar I unleash, and if you win, you’ll obtain the reward. Do you accept the challenge?”

“Yes, thank you, my lady,” Yuikawa replied for us.

The quest guide, Sigma, was a woman sitting on a park bench reading a book. She quietly nodded with a meek smile.

“Very well. Then allow me to go over the details. In this quest, you are tasked with defeating my C-class Great Eagle. Your main player will be selected at random, and that person will then choose a familiar from their inventory to use in battle. Once everyone selects their commands, the battle will begin.”

“Huh. So this is kind of like a combat tutorial?”

“That’s right. The main player is chosen at random, and I am choosing the five commands myself… But otherwise, it’s no different from a normal battle. Keep in mind that if I beat you, you’ll lose any of the familiars you used.”

“Okay, I got you. I’m a quick learner, you know.”

Yuikawa nodded, looking satisfied with himself as he brushed back his hair.

The next moment, Sigma—still sitting on the bench—held out her right hand. As she did, a colorful wheel projected above her palm and began to noisily spin around. It soon slowed down, and once it stopped, the needle was pointing at the space labeled Sana Nitta.

Minami sighed and turned her blue eyes toward the other girl.

“Too bad… I wanted to try it, just a little. Good luck, Nitta.”

“…Yeah.”

With a quiet sigh of her own, Nitta stepped forward. The next step was to choose a familiar, but since she had only her initial one, that phase ended automatically. The real choice to make was with the commands. Dropout Tamers offered two main types of commands: base commands available to everyone that strengthen or weaken their target—and skill commands that tap into the skills of the other familiars you have. These are more powerful, but we risked losing more familiars if we were defeated, and that was too big a risk to take for now. Better to just play it safe and use the base commands.

“…All right. Everyone has entered their commands, so now we will begin combat.”

Like a symphony conductor, Sigma raised her right hand—and at once, a Great Eagle, larger than a grown man, appeared above her head. A high-pitched screech rang out, and the wind from its huge wings swept across our faces. We all knew it was an augmented-reality theater piece, but it was still quite impressive.

“…”

Nitta, on the other hand, was standing with her hood up, not at all intimidated by the ferocious-looking eagle. She was using the Mithril Golem, which was currently poised in front of her, as if protecting her. It was at least ten times larger than the Great Eagle—in fact, it very well might have been taller than the length of the park we were in.

Behind Sigma and Nitta was a floating display showing their familiars’ stats and commands.

Quest Guide: Sigma Familiar Used: Great Eagle (C)

Familiar Stats: ATK 4, DEF 2, SPD 3, LP 3

Set Commands: Speed Up / Life Up / Attack Up / Defense Up / Defense Down

Team VI: Sana Nitta Familiar Used: Mithril Golem (C)

Familiar Stats: ATK 3, DEF 4, SPD 2, LP 4

Set Commands: Attack Up / Defense Up / Defense Up / Defense Up / Speed Down

“Combat will now proceed as follows,” Sigma said gracefully, gesturing at the Great Eagle behind her to stay in place. “First is the Order Phase. Both tamers will select a command from their set list and apply that effect to a familiar. Next is the Battle Phase. The familiar with the higher speed attacks first, followed by the other. Simple. However, the hit rate of an attack is based on your respective speeds—to be exact, it’s your speed divided by the opponent’s speed. If an attack hits, the damage is calculated by subtracting the opponent’s defense from your attack. LP represents the life force of a familiar, so the battle ends if either runs out.”

“…Wait, one quick question. I can see that commands like Attack Up and Defense Down correspond to strengthening and weakening a familiar, but how long do their effects last? Do they only work for the Battle Phase that comes right after?”

“Good question, Hiroto Shinohara. The answer is no. Unlike skill commands, which are single-use and last for just one turn, all base commands are permanent. That’s the first advantage those commands have.”

“Wow, I see…”

I nodded, satisfied by Sigma’s response. If the base commands’ effects continue into the next turn, that’s one more thing we have to think about. We’ll have to carefully build up our strength considering the stats and set commands on both sides of the battle, while making sure we don’t sabotage ourselves.

“But it looks like we’re in the clear this time,” Himeji, who must have been watching on her device, whispered through my earpiece. “Nitta’s Mithril Golem has 4 defense, and Sigma’s Great Eagle has 4 attack. She has Attack Up and Defense Down in her set commands, but Nitta can use her pair of Defense Up commands to cancel them out. If you do that in the first two turns, the Great Eagle will have no way to damage the Mithril Golem.”

Right, yeah… That shouldn’t be a problem.

I internally agreed with the calm voice in my ear. In a normal battle, Abilities would be on the table as well, but we were dealing with a quest guide this time. There was no need to factor in the unexpected, so this should end pretty quickly.

“Now, let’s move on to the Order Phase of turn one. I will use this.”

All the commands displayed behind Sigma turned dark for a moment, then one of them floated forward face down. I figured both commands must be revealed at the same time, but Nitta hadn’t chosen one of her own yet.

“…Dude, don’t just stand there like an idiot! If you don’t know, then—”

“It’s not like that.”

Fujishiro, unable to bear it any longer, tried to speak up…but Nitta, hood pulled down over her face, shook her head and cut him off. She fell silent for a moment, hesitant, but then selected a command. Her menu animated the same way as Sigma’s, her chosen command floating out in front of her window.

“All right. Let’s begin the Battle Phase, then.”

Sigma snapped her fingers. At that moment, the two chosen commands simultaneously flipped over, revealing themselves.

For starters, Sigma had chosen the Attack + command. A red effect shimmered over the Great Eagle’s body, and a +1 was added to the ATK stat displayed behind her. Counting the base stat, her familiar’s ATK was now 5.

On our side, Nitta had chosen the Defense + command, sticking to a textbook strategy. She’d come up with the correct answer in the end, and in front of her, a defense-boosting blue effect shimmered over the Mithril Golem…

““…Huh?””

…or it should have, but instead it was absorbed by the Great Eagle.

Then, before any of us could react, the attack- and defense-boosted Great Eagle let out a cry and soared into the air, swooping right into the Mithril Golem. The damage was only 1, but the Golem was driven one step backward. It tried to fight back with a haymaker punch, but since its ATK was equal to the eagle’s DEF, it didn’t do any damage.

“Nitta…? What the hell are you thinking…?”

After a moment of stunned silence, Fujishiro was the one to finally comment on her abnormal behavior, but Nitta had already chosen her next command. Both sides opted for Defense Down in turn two, but now both debuffs were applied to the Mithril Golem, cutting its DEF down by two. Then the Great Eagle struck again—and the blow to the golem’s now-fragile frame did three whole points of damage. That took its LP exactly down to zero, and the mithril sloughed off the golem’s body, reducing it to a mere pile of rubble.

Which meant…

“…That is the end of battle. The quest guide team is the winner, so I will now confiscate the Mithril Golem you used in combat. Um… You can challenge this quest as many times as you like, so let me know if you want to try again, all right?”

Sigma, looking a little flustered at this unusual ending, bowed and sat back down. Her Great Eagle, doing lazy circles in the sky, quickly disappeared.

“…Ha-ha!”

Nitta, looking back at her stunned team, gave us a supremely vague smile. It was hard to gauge the meaning behind it. Was she looking down on us? Had she given up? Was she trying to act tough? She walked back to us, her footsteps weak as she held her left arm tightly with her right hand. Then she said in her gravelly voice:

“Yes… That’s right. I’m the traitor on this team.”

“…?!”

I unconsciously clenched my fists. That’s about all the outward emotion I expressed, but my mind was bursting with questions. My thoughts ran in circles, unable to accept the reality in front of me.

The traitor… The traitor?! What’s she talking about? I was wondering what kind of hidden talent this dark horse might have, but…what the hell’s going on?!

So from the very first day, Dropout Tamers got off to a pretty rocky start.