Cultural festival…
Main grounds…
Clyde had ignored a few delayed prompts long enough. They were flashing, which made him a bit nervous. The young man hated the feeling of irresponsibility.
[-Territory- Alert! Level: medium, non-threat for now. Crusader Champion Chizuru Watanabe has entered your city.]
[-Territory- Alert! Level: *EXTREME*. Amaterasu, She Who Dawns Time. Intruder alert! ]
[If you were in possession of a *Heart Core,* all attack, magic and non-magic, defenses and other stats would be halved for any major power/intruders entering your city without permission.]
[-Territory- Alert! Level: Safe. Ally. Selkie, Sacred Entity of Nature. Will you greet her?]
[-Territory- Alert! Level: unknown. Tessa, the Wind. What will you do?]
The prompts almost left Clyde's mouth agape. He knew about Melody's mother already, deeming her unsafe. He still had her marked, watching for her location—the same way he did the fallen angel woman. He pushed her out of his mind, someone he could've purified, but the circumstances got in the way. He hoped she was at least reincarnated.
The fucking crusader champion and her lackies were somewhere in his city, doing who knows what. Why was this Chizuru marked as a non-threat? Fuck, right as he thought this day couldn't get any worse. What a clusterfuck!
As for Selkie…a sacred entity. That didn't matter. She was back in Lot City, which meant the green-haired woman had some news. Probably huge news for her to risk having two protagonists in the same city, despite the rules. Why didn't the system give Dark his own alert?
[Dark has fought in your party and still considers you his ally. He continues to be on the side of the Stone.]
Perhaps the biggest kicker to all of this, not exactly a blow to the balls, was that THE WIND roamed his city as well. Another person from Earth or some other dimension? Unlike he and the Viper, the other interlopers were brought to Satovia, maybe of their own volitions. At least in Dark's case.
So, who the hell was Tessa? He'd have to rely on his senses—the feeling of intrusiveness. He had the ability to detect other players close by, but Dark mentioned no such thing in his last conversation. Then again, he also didn't tell Clyde where he got the potion. Fucking edge lord.
Knowing his luck, the young man figured they all would probably be at this festival. What a clusterfuck indeed.
The crusader champion, Tessa of the Wind, Selkie, and Dark. Oh well, he could only cross that bridge when he got there. His phone was in his locker, secured with his clothes.
Clyde noticed members of Class C gathering together. Alice, Chika, and Harumi were among that group, waving at him to join up. He hurried over.
Class rep Chika was just wrapping up a prep-talk with most of their history class and a few others he didn't recognize. Not all Class C students shared the same first period.
Alice and Harumi were glaring at him.
"Jiiiiiiiii," they seemed to say.
A drop of sweat trickled from the back of Clyde's head. He suddenly found other areas to be quite interesting to marvel upon, like artwork. When he turned back, Harumi was right there, giving him the anime girl pouty face.
"What?" he said, smiling sadly. The pink-haired girl folded her arms and gave him a tsundere harrumph, walking away. Alice poked him in the cheek before following.
He sighed. Women. Whatever he did was sure to come up in some kind of argument. He just knew it.
"All participating contestants, please take your places on the track. The judges will be awaiting you at the finish line," Sazuki announced over the megaphone.
Clyde, a few others from Class C which included Harumi, and from the other classes, he recognized Naomi of B, Class A's rep, and Toru of D.
"Okay, so Toru will be my opponent," he said.
"Jiiiiii."
He turned. Harumi poked him in the chest.
"Did you really just write us off?"
Clyde flinched.
"No, I didn't mean it like that." He continued, because like in every anime, the main character was sure to be cut off, causing the situation to get worse. "Toru's basically the one who trained all of us, from battle formations to whatever. He sped leveled us, so on. So in a way, he feels like an old teacher, maybe rival."
"You totally wrote us off," Harumi said then grinned evilly, giving Clyde a thumbs down. "You're going down, Stone-man."
Clyde gulped as they took their places at the start line. Suddenly the challenge to get that private dinner with Noona, protecting her from the perverts was going to be so much harder.
That didn't mean he planned to lose. The young man wasn't just an athlete from his home world, but a very competitive one.
[You have entered a Footrace.]
[Flash step disabled for the race.]
"On your mark," Sazuki said. "Get set, go!"
Clyde felt the thrill return to him in full force as he took off ahead of the others.
[Your speed stat:192. Your Ki speed crest: 9. Your endurance: *250*]
He felt the approach of a jelly balloon and dodge to his left.
"Tssk." Harumi was very close behind him with another balloon in hand, followed by Toru, and even Naomi rapidly gaining. Then he saw Class A's rep with flickering shoes. A tiny bit of flame seemed to glide him in the air a bit. Gadgets. So the rich were going to combat the power of money against Team Stone's leader.
"Dammit Harumi," Clyde said as he barely dodged her balloon which seemed to move at a thousand miles per hour. Getting hit by that would suck. She…was a little scary when mad.
Naomi's balloon seemed to come out of nowhere, but Harumi dodged it. Three more balloons lopped toward Clyde and he lost distance, dodging them. That put the pink-haired girl right beside him. And she had a third balloon in her hand.
"We're in the same class," Clyde said, holding up a hand.
Harumi shrugged.
"I'm trying to win, first place."
That wasn't proof enough that she knew about the bet, but based on her attitude, there was a chance. He couldn't ask though, just in case—if he gave it away…The cold jelly coated his chest as he was hit, but instead of stopping, Clyde followed the rule of running to the sideline to avoid getting pelted by more balloons.
"Fuck," he snapped as he picked up three. He couldn't get angry with someone who only wanted first place, but the young man wasn't going to back down.
Harumi, way ahead in first, looked back at him, grinning evilly. She stuck her tongue out.
The thrill erupted in Clyde and he ran hard.
Class A's rep seemed to notice his effort, because as Clyde caught up to him, the man started a balloon attack.
"Fuck off," Clyde said, then launched a precious balloon at one of the rep's shoes. He jumped, giving the young man the chance to leave him in the dust.
Ahead, the pink-haired girl, Toru, and Naomi were already opening their mystery bags. The other students were catching up…But…for Naomi to keep up with them? She couldn't be…Now wasn't the time to worry about that. He dodged the balloons of some of the men that partook in the event, running their hearts out with above-average speed.
He noticed that some of the items in the bags ranged from panties—goddammit Seth, to condoms, Loli Saga near-H Fanart—Tetra was around for that, a bottle of lotion, and other things.
Harumi, Toru, and Naomi were on their way back to start as he made it to the table. Sure, he couldn't expect a challenge to be easy, but he had no intention of just taking the lost. His mystery bag turned out to be…a pair of pink thongs.
He didn't have time to react, however, and set off, fire in his eyes.
The class A rep launched balloons at Clyde. Annoyed, the young man nailed the blonde in the face and took some joy in watching red jelly coat it.
Then he pushed. Toru passed Harumi, only to get nailed in the back by Naomi's balloon. Clyde took aim.
[Noona's blessing: God Accuracy.]
Clyde's eyes widened when his balloon hit Naomi with aimbot precision. She fumed as she rushed to the sidelines, forced to restock. He didn't get the blessing for the attempt at Harumi.
She dodged, laughing. So much for his last balloon. This…was bad. He'd lose for sure.
Then to his surprise, Toru managed to land a hit, right on her ass. That act significantly reduced her lead.
Abruptly, ten of the men who forced themselves into the challenge surrounded Clyde, keeping him in a circle. He dodged balloon after balloon, unable to gain any more speed. And unless he risked losing more time to reload, he couldn't fight back.
"This is bullshit," Clyde snapped, but they laughed. One raised a balloon and launched. The young man ducked, causing him to nail his friend.
[Noona's blessing! Chance.]
Clyde wasn't sure what came over him, but he nearly flashed stepped through the gap they briefly allowed. Then he was ahead of them, dodging balloons, but widening the gap. He could finally focus on those in the lead. But…he would probably lose.
"Go Harumi, GO GO!" many of the women cheered.
She was behind Toru, but overall, they were not far ahead. In fact, the trio even slowed down a bit, but not much. His monster-fighting friends couldn't be stopped. Hell, Harumi ran every morning, inspired by Clyde himself. Naomi was just fast…Fuck!
"Come on pervy nii! Catch them! Catch them!" Natalia chanted.
"You can do it, Clyde!" Ruri chanted.
"You got it dude! Get 'em Clyde!" Seth chanted.
"KILL THEM CLYDE! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS LOSING!" someone that sounded suspiciously like Yuki yelled.
Clyde laughed, inhaled, exhaled, then pulled strength from deep inside. His coach from earth would probably whack him on the head with a newspaper if he didn't pull it from his ass. Strangely, Natalia's chant was the one that seemingly snapped him out of his self-doubting trance. Well, all of them did. Especially the last voice.
He became a blur, immediately catching Naomi, then passing both Toru and Harumi.
They didn't make it easy for him, but the young man's determination matched the strongest steel. The balloons couldn't even reach his slight-afterimage.
And just like that, Clyde finished in first. Harumi took second, Toru third, Naomi forth. The Class A rep took seventh, which got him a scolding from some of his peers that probably put their faith of money in him. Misaka still looked uneasy, as if the blame would be dumped on her.
The judges, all women except one, were indignant about the "trinkets" they received. The lone man smirked.
[Footrace completed. Victory!]
[This challenge will continue to increase in difficulty. Show your strength! Conquer your foes! Win! If you lose even one event, you could put the entire challenge in jeopardy.]
"We will now go to an intermission until the next physical event starts," Sazuki said. "Once again, congratulations to Clyde Stone for giving us such a spectacular show. Congratulations to the runners-up, who put in tremendous effort to make this the best cultural festival to this date. Don't quote me on that, but I'll proudly claim it! Until the next event, please enjoy our food, shows and concerts, special guests, and contests."
"I'll get you next time, leader," Toru said, knuckle-tapping Clyde's shoulder. He chuckled.
"I don't know about you," Clyde said, "but I'm hungry as fuck. We have at least an hour and a half until the next event. Who wants food?"
"I'm in," Harumi said. "But, let's go take advantage of those free T-shirts over there." He pointed at a young woman passing out clean shirts to participants of the race.
"That sounds like a better idea," Naomi said then sighed. Clyde chuckled.
**
Cultural festival…
Main grounds….
The sky continued to be a clear vessel of beauty with maybe a few tiny clouds here or there. Mild temperatures warmed to upper seventies and with that, a gentle breeze nestled every now and then over the festival site. Many people moved about, getting food or hurrying to their interested event. Ming's autograph line reemerged after an hour, a lunch break even for the hardworking.
Kitome let out a frustrated breath. So close! So goddamn close, but their leader still somehow took the win, even with all of the odds seemingly stacked against him. The blue-haired young woman tried to ignore the feeling deep in her heart. The feeling that she was secretly glad that Clyde won. She would still try to stop the stupid private dinner—but that didn't means she'd enjoy any of his losses. Just why—why that big-boobed blonde of all people. One who wasn't a part of their circle. Noona couldn't be allowed a free pass—dense or not, that meal…would surely turn into…
The young woman stormed off toward the food stands, ready to drown away her troubles with a chocolate banana and taiyaki.
After obtaining her food, she joined Kiko, Melody, and Matsume at a table. They ate in silence first, before Kitome broke the ice.
"Who came up with the events?"
"Seth," Melody said with distaste.
"Why am I not surprised," Kiko said.
Kitome shook her head.
"Natalia too," Matsume said. "She mostly pulled from the normal events, while Seth…well, you saw for yourself."
"Five events," Melody said softly. "We've got four shots left to take him out."
Kitome blinked when she noticed someone familiar walking toward them. She was a green-haired woman with larger than average breasts, a curvy body, and stood maybe five foot, five or six inches tall. Hair done in a single tail, dressed in a dark purple and floral cheongsam, Selkie attracted the eyes of the men around her, which annoyed the hell out of the blue-haired young woman. Life was just unfair.
"Well, hello, long time, no see," Selkie said to the group. Her eyes seemed to turn to ice at Kiko, Melody, and Matsume: Vampire, trickster demon goddess, and hellhound. But seeing how they looked damned peaceful, even cute while eating, she didn't bug them.
"Selkie, what brings you back to…this side of the world," she said, accepting the hug. The feeling of being outclassed didn't make Kitome happy. In fact, she poked one.
"You suck," she said softly. Selkie smiled sadly as a drop of sweat fell from the back of her head.
"Wait, where's the creepy dork chuuni guy?" Kitome said.
"Somewhere with his…Somewhere out there, doing chuuni things and geeking out," Selkie said. "I'm here to pass on something important to Clyde, both a message and a special object. I can't say, not while I sense a group that calls themselves crusaders, around here."
Kitome's eyes widened.
"So you know about them," Selkie stated. "Good, now I don't have to explain." She cheerfully bit into her crepe. Her face revealed happiness seconds later. "Mmmmm."
"I would ask if you were sure, but after what happened recently, I know you're right," Kitome said softly. "Do you have any idea why the crusaders are such ass fucks?"
Selkie sighed.
"Not only have you met them, but I assume the worst kind. The researchers."
"One," Kitome said. "And he received justice for what he did. That's all I'm saying."
Selkie nodded.
"As long as the researchers continue to pull in their power, we'll always end up dealing with some of the worst shitheads, especially if you're far from civilization."
Kitome could only imagine. The last thing she felt like dealing with, were those fuckers. And Fumi was definitely at the festival—she saw the cute young woman eating with a few other girls earlier. If there was a researcher present, who he or she see through Fumi's human form? And if so, would the crusaders attack a girl right in front of everyone?
"Don't worry," Selkie said. "I'm keeping an eye on them. There's no researcher here. These particular crusaders are nothing more than a bunch of humans, roughly your age."
Kitome allowed herself to relax.
"There's a certain friend of mine that I don't want to see hurt."
Selkie nodded.
"Take me to Clyde after we finish eating, if you don't mind."
"Sure," Kitome said. It still felt a little surreal seeing the entity after all of the things she and her party went through. How much strength they gained…
Cultural festival…
Main grounds…
Clyde had ignored a few delayed prompts long enough. They were flashing, which made him a bit nervous. The young man hated the feeling of irresponsibility.
[-Territory- Alert! Level: medium, non-threat for now. Crusader Champion Chizuru Watanabe has entered your city.]
[-Territory- Alert! Level: *EXTREME*. Amaterasu, She Who Dawns Time. Intruder alert! ]
[If you were in possession of a *Heart Core,* all attack, magic and non-magic, defenses and other stats would be halved for any major power/intruders entering your city without permission.]
[-Territory- Alert! Level: Safe. Ally. Selkie, Sacred Entity of Nature. Will you greet her?]
[-Territory- Alert! Level: unknown. Tessa, the Wind. What will you do?]
The prompts almost left Clyde's mouth agape. He knew about Melody's mother already, deeming her unsafe. He still had her marked, watching for her location—the same way he did the fallen angel woman. He pushed her out of his mind, someone he could've purified, but the circumstances got in the way. He hoped she was at least reincarnated.
The fucking crusader champion and her lackies were somewhere in his city, doing who knows what. Why was this Chizuru marked as a non-threat? Fuck, right as he thought this day couldn't get any worse. What a clusterfuck!
As for Selkie…a sacred entity. That didn't matter. She was back in Lot City, which meant the green-haired woman had some news. Probably huge news for her to risk having two protagonists in the same city, despite the rules. Why didn't the system give Dark his own alert?
[Dark has fought in your party and still considers you his ally. He continues to be on the side of the Stone.]
Perhaps the biggest kicker to all of this, not exactly a blow to the balls, was that THE WIND roamed his city as well. Another person from Earth or some other dimension? Unlike he and the Viper, the other interlopers were brought to Satovia, maybe of their own volitions. At least in Dark's case.
So, who the hell was Tessa? He'd have to rely on his senses—the feeling of intrusiveness. He had the ability to detect other players close by, but Dark mentioned no such thing in his last conversation. Then again, he also didn't tell Clyde where he got the potion. Fucking edge lord.
Knowing his luck, the young man figured they all would probably be at this festival. What a clusterfuck indeed.
The crusader champion, Tessa of the Wind, Selkie, and Dark. Oh well, he could only cross that bridge when he got there. His phone was in his locker, secured with his clothes.
Clyde noticed members of Class C gathering together. Alice, Chika, and Harumi were among that group, waving at him to join up. He hurried over.
Class rep Chika was just wrapping up a prep-talk with most of their history class and a few others he didn't recognize. Not all Class C students shared the same first period.
Alice and Harumi were glaring at him.
"Jiiiiiiiii," they seemed to say.
A drop of sweat trickled from the back of Clyde's head. He suddenly found other areas to be quite interesting to marvel upon, like artwork. When he turned back, Harumi was right there, giving him the anime girl pouty face.
"What?" he said, smiling sadly. The pink-haired girl folded her arms and gave him a tsundere harrumph, walking away. Alice poked him in the cheek before following.
He sighed. Women. Whatever he did was sure to come up in some kind of argument. He just knew it.
"All participating contestants, please take your places on the track. The judges will be awaiting you at the finish line," Sazuki announced over the megaphone.
Clyde, a few others from Class C which included Harumi, and from the other classes, he recognized Naomi of B, Class A's rep, and Toru of D.
"Okay, so Toru will be my opponent," he said.
"Jiiiiii."
He turned. Harumi poked him in the chest.
"Did you really just write us off?"
Clyde flinched.
"No, I didn't mean it like that." He continued, because like in every anime, the main character was sure to be cut off, causing the situation to get worse. "Toru's basically the one who trained all of us, from battle formations to whatever. He sped leveled us, so on. So in a way, he feels like an old teacher, maybe rival."
"You totally wrote us off," Harumi said then grinned evilly, giving Clyde a thumbs down. "You're going down, Stone-man."
Clyde gulped as they took their places at the start line. Suddenly the challenge to get that private dinner with Noona, protecting her from the perverts was going to be so much harder.
That didn't mean he planned to lose. The young man wasn't just an athlete from his home world, but a very competitive one.
[You have entered a Footrace.]
[Flash step disabled for the race.]
"On your mark," Sazuki said. "Get set, go!"
Clyde felt the thrill return to him in full force as he took off ahead of the others.
[Your speed stat:192. Your Ki speed crest: 9. Your endurance: *250*]
He felt the approach of a jelly balloon and dodge to his left.
"Tssk." Harumi was very close behind him with another balloon in hand, followed by Toru, and even Naomi rapidly gaining. Then he saw Class A's rep with flickering shoes. A tiny bit of flame seemed to glide him in the air a bit. Gadgets. So the rich were going to combat the power of money against Team Stone's leader.
"Dammit Harumi," Clyde said as he barely dodged her balloon which seemed to move at a thousand miles per hour. Getting hit by that would suck. She…was a little scary when mad.
Naomi's balloon seemed to come out of nowhere, but Harumi dodged it. Three more balloons lopped toward Clyde and he lost distance, dodging them. That put the pink-haired girl right beside him. And she had a third balloon in her hand.
"We're in the same class," Clyde said, holding up a hand.
Harumi shrugged.
"I'm trying to win, first place."
That wasn't proof enough that she knew about the bet, but based on her attitude, there was a chance. He couldn't ask though, just in case—if he gave it away…The cold jelly coated his chest as he was hit, but instead of stopping, Clyde followed the rule of running to the sideline to avoid getting pelted by more balloons.
"Fuck," he snapped as he picked up three. He couldn't get angry with someone who only wanted first place, but the young man wasn't going to back down.
Harumi, way ahead in first, looked back at him, grinning evilly. She stuck her tongue out.
The thrill erupted in Clyde and he ran hard.
Class A's rep seemed to notice his effort, because as Clyde caught up to him, the man started a balloon attack.
"Fuck off," Clyde said, then launched a precious balloon at one of the rep's shoes. He jumped, giving the young man the chance to leave him in the dust.
Ahead, the pink-haired girl, Toru, and Naomi were already opening their mystery bags. The other students were catching up…But…for Naomi to keep up with them? She couldn't be…Now wasn't the time to worry about that. He dodged the balloons of some of the men that partook in the event, running their hearts out with above-average speed.
He noticed that some of the items in the bags ranged from panties—goddammit Seth, to condoms, Loli Saga near-H Fanart—Tetra was around for that, a bottle of lotion, and other things.
Harumi, Toru, and Naomi were on their way back to start as he made it to the table. Sure, he couldn't expect a challenge to be easy, but he had no intention of just taking the lost. His mystery bag turned out to be…a pair of pink thongs.
He didn't have time to react, however, and set off, fire in his eyes.
The class A rep launched balloons at Clyde. Annoyed, the young man nailed the blonde in the face and took some joy in watching red jelly coat it.
Then he pushed. Toru passed Harumi, only to get nailed in the back by Naomi's balloon. Clyde took aim.
[Noona's blessing: God Accuracy.]
Clyde's eyes widened when his balloon hit Naomi with aimbot precision. She fumed as she rushed to the sidelines, forced to restock. He didn't get the blessing for the attempt at Harumi.
She dodged, laughing. So much for his last balloon. This…was bad. He'd lose for sure.
Then to his surprise, Toru managed to land a hit, right on her ass. That act significantly reduced her lead.
Abruptly, ten of the men who forced themselves into the challenge surrounded Clyde, keeping him in a circle. He dodged balloon after balloon, unable to gain any more speed. And unless he risked losing more time to reload, he couldn't fight back.
"This is bullshit," Clyde snapped, but they laughed. One raised a balloon and launched. The young man ducked, causing him to nail his friend.
[Noona's blessing! Chance.]
Clyde wasn't sure what came over him, but he nearly flashed stepped through the gap they briefly allowed. Then he was ahead of them, dodging balloons, but widening the gap. He could finally focus on those in the lead. But…he would probably lose.
"Go Harumi, GO GO!" many of the women cheered.
She was behind Toru, but overall, they were not far ahead. In fact, the trio even slowed down a bit, but not much. His monster-fighting friends couldn't be stopped. Hell, Harumi ran every morning, inspired by Clyde himself. Naomi was just fast…Fuck!
"Come on pervy nii! Catch them! Catch them!" Natalia chanted.
"You can do it, Clyde!" Ruri chanted.
"You got it dude! Get 'em Clyde!" Seth chanted.
"KILL THEM CLYDE! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS LOSING!" someone that sounded suspiciously like Yuki yelled.
Clyde laughed, inhaled, exhaled, then pulled strength from deep inside. His coach from earth would probably whack him on the head with a newspaper if he didn't pull it from his ass. Strangely, Natalia's chant was the one that seemingly snapped him out of his self-doubting trance. Well, all of them did. Especially the last voice.
He became a blur, immediately catching Naomi, then passing both Toru and Harumi.
They didn't make it easy for him, but the young man's determination matched the strongest steel. The balloons couldn't even reach his slight-afterimage.
And just like that, Clyde finished in first. Harumi took second, Toru third, Naomi forth. The Class A rep took seventh, which got him a scolding from some of his peers that probably put their faith of money in him. Misaka still looked uneasy, as if the blame would be dumped on her.
The judges, all women except one, were indignant about the "trinkets" they received. The lone man smirked.
[Footrace completed. Victory!]
[This challenge will continue to increase in difficulty. Show your strength! Conquer your foes! Win! If you lose even one event, you could put the entire challenge in jeopardy.]
"We will now go to an intermission until the next physical event starts," Sazuki said. "Once again, congratulations to Clyde Stone for giving us such a spectacular show. Congratulations to the runners-up, who put in tremendous effort to make this the best cultural festival to this date. Don't quote me on that, but I'll proudly claim it! Until the next event, please enjoy our food, shows and concerts, special guests, and contests."
"I'll get you next time, leader," Toru said, knuckle-tapping Clyde's shoulder. He chuckled.
"I don't know about you," Clyde said, "but I'm hungry as fuck. We have at least an hour and a half until the next event. Who wants food?"
"I'm in," Harumi said. "But, let's go take advantage of those free T-shirts over there." He pointed at a young woman passing out clean shirts to participants of the race.
"That sounds like a better idea," Naomi said then sighed. Clyde chuckled.
**
Cultural festival…
Main grounds….
The sky continued to be a clear vessel of beauty with maybe a few tiny clouds here or there. Mild temperatures warmed to upper seventies and with that, a gentle breeze nestled every now and then over the festival site. Many people moved about, getting food or hurrying to their interested event. Ming's autograph line reemerged after an hour, a lunch break even for the hardworking.
Kitome let out a frustrated breath. So close! So goddamn close, but their leader still somehow took the win, even with all of the odds seemingly stacked against him. The blue-haired young woman tried to ignore the feeling deep in her heart. The feeling that she was secretly glad that Clyde won. She would still try to stop the stupid private dinner—but that didn't means she'd enjoy any of his losses. Just why—why that big-boobed blonde of all people. One who wasn't a part of their circle. Noona couldn't be allowed a free pass—dense or not, that meal…would surely turn into…
The young woman stormed off toward the food stands, ready to drown away her troubles with a chocolate banana and taiyaki.
After obtaining her food, she joined Kiko, Melody, and Matsume at a table. They ate in silence first, before Kitome broke the ice.
"Who came up with the events?"
"Seth," Melody said with distaste.
"Why am I not surprised," Kiko said.
Kitome shook her head.
"Natalia too," Matsume said. "She mostly pulled from the normal events, while Seth…well, you saw for yourself."
"Five events," Melody said softly. "We've got four shots left to take him out."
Kitome blinked when she noticed someone familiar walking toward them. She was a green-haired woman with larger than average breasts, a curvy body, and stood maybe five foot, five or six inches tall. Hair done in a single tail, dressed in a dark purple and floral cheongsam, Selkie attracted the eyes of the men around her, which annoyed the hell out of the blue-haired young woman. Life was just unfair.
"Well, hello, long time, no see," Selkie said to the group. Her eyes seemed to turn to ice at Kiko, Melody, and Matsume: Vampire, trickster demon goddess, and hellhound. But seeing how they looked damned peaceful, even cute while eating, she didn't bug them.
"Selkie, what brings you back to…this side of the world," she said, accepting the hug. The feeling of being outclassed didn't make Kitome happy. In fact, she poked one.
"You suck," she said softly. Selkie smiled sadly as a drop of sweat fell from the back of her head.
"Wait, where's the creepy dork chuuni guy?" Kitome said.
"Somewhere with his…Somewhere out there, doing chuuni things and geeking out," Selkie said. "I'm here to pass on something important to Clyde, both a message and a special object. I can't say, not while I sense a group that calls themselves crusaders, around here."
Kitome's eyes widened.
"So you know about them," Selkie stated. "Good, now I don't have to explain." She cheerfully bit into her crepe. Her face revealed happiness seconds later. "Mmmmm."
"I would ask if you were sure, but after what happened recently, I know you're right," Kitome said softly. "Do you have any idea why the crusaders are such ass fucks?"
Selkie sighed.
"Not only have you met them, but I assume the worst kind. The researchers."
"One," Kitome said. "And he received justice for what he did. That's all I'm saying."
Selkie nodded.
"As long as the researchers continue to pull in their power, we'll always end up dealing with some of the worst shitheads, especially if you're far from civilization."
Kitome could only imagine. The last thing she felt like dealing with, were those fuckers. And Fumi was definitely at the festival—she saw the cute young woman eating with a few other girls earlier. If there was a researcher present, who he or she see through Fumi's human form? And if so, would the crusaders attack a girl right in front of everyone?
"Don't worry," Selkie said. "I'm keeping an eye on them. There's no researcher here. These particular crusaders are nothing more than a bunch of humans, roughly your age."
Kitome allowed herself to relax.
"There's a certain friend of mine that I don't want to see hurt."
Selkie nodded.
"Take me to Clyde after we finish eating, if you don't mind."
"Sure," Kitome said. It still felt a little surreal seeing the entity after all of the things she and her party went through. How much strength they gained…
