Interlude: Situation Assessment
♯
The third day of the May Inter-District Tournament《Astral》, night—.
In a slightly spacious meeting room on the second floor of the Shikishima Grand Hotel, opened for event participants, all of us from Eimei Academy were gathered together for the first time in about half a day.
“—Now then, let us briefly review the events so far.”
The girl in a maid outfit sitting next to me, Shirayuki Himeji, said this and quietly stood up. With graceful steps, she walked to the window and projected a screen from her device.
“The large-scale duel《Astral》. This《Duel》selects five participants from each of the twenty school wards on Academy Island and began the morning before last. The venue is the ‘Special Development Zone’ located in Ward Zero… In reality, it’s just a vast empty lot, but by utilizing virtual reality (AR) technology, a field resembling a digital world has been recreated.”
Simultaneously with Himeji’s words, an overview of《Astral》and promotional videos were displayed across multiple screens. …An event where only selected members from every ward participate. And since it’s a《Duel》, naturally, the ‘stars’—the absolute evaluation criteria determining ranks on Academy Island—shift significantly. Simply put, if a team doesn’t rank within the top five overall, all its members lose stars. Thus, it’s a battle no one can afford to lose.
As our understanding reached that point, Himeji continued in a cool, clear voice.
“First, Day One—the event’s starting day, the morning before last. Nothing particularly significant happened that day. We and the other teams were merely exploring and expanding our areas, and no skirmishes occurred at all.”
“Yup, yup.”
The mischievous twin-tailed girl with a fluffy aura, Akizuki Noa, who was swinging her legs under the table since her toes couldn’t reach the floor, nodded in agreement. …《Astral》is, in essence, an area-control strategic simulation game (SLG). You expand your territory to strengthen your forces and eliminate obstructive enemies. That’s why securing bases is the most fundamental action.
Shaking her silver hair lightly, Himeji continued in a calm tone.
“Next, Day Two. Speaking solely of Eimei Academy, we engaged in one skirmish that day. Our opponent was the academy ranked fourteenth last year, from the fifteenth ward.”
Alongside her explanation, a relevant scene sourced from Island Tube began playing on the screen. Contact with Ibara Academy, followed by combat. It was our first battle, triggered by a《Magic Cannon》spell cast by the former model and blonde JK, Nanase Asamiya. Negotiations that were about to conclude peacefully crumbled due to her surprise attack, swiftly escalating into combat.
By the way—spells are like “disposable abilities” in《Astral》. They’re generated periodically from designated “bases” in your team’s area and shared among the team. There are four types of attack spells and four types of support spells, but no means of dealing damage exists in this《Duel》outside of these “spells”. In that sense, the number of spells a team possesses serves as a barometer of its strength.
“Phew…”
Letting out a deep sigh while watching the footage was the stern-faced male student sitting diagonally across from me—Eimei Academy’s student council president, Shinji Enomoto.
“Looking at it like this, you can clearly see that after Ibara Academy’s whoever-it-was moved, Nanase pulled out her device. Far from acting rashly, she moved later and overtook them. And yet, I…”
“Now, now, cheer up, Shinji. It’s just that our reaction speed was a teensy bit faster than yours, right? Plus, we kinda share some responsibility for not explaining—”
“If it weren’t Nanase, I’d have to apologize.”
“No, you’d need to apologize to me too!!”
With a peeved expression, Asamiya leaned forward, snapping at Enomoto beside her. …As always, it’s hard to tell if those two get along or not. Childhood friends, bound by a long, tangled history, and yet somehow at odds. Their personalities clash disastrously, but for some reason, they’re always together—an infamously well-known pair within Eimei.
“…Ahem.”
Himeji interrupted their exchange with a faint cough. At that moment, both of them simultaneously turned away with a “Hmph!”
Watching them with a wry smile, Himeji realigned her hands in front of her and continued.
“In any case, thanks to Asamiya-sama’s quick thinking, the skirmish with Ibara Academy ended in our victory. In《Astral》, defeating a team allows you to absorb all their bases and spells, strengthening Eimei’s forces in every aspect—but an incident occurred afterward.”
“…Yeah.《Chameleon》, right?”
As if picking up Himeji’s explanation, Akizuki muttered that term softly.
“《Chameleon》—a player from the twelfth ward, Seijo Academy. At first, they participated in《Astral》as a fake《Empress》… a《Doppelgänger》. But that was just camouflage to hide their true aim. In reality, they had the ability to transform into anyone. Using that power, they annihilated the eighteenth ward in no time… That’s the story from the latter half of yesterday.”
“Exactly, Akizuki-sama. The shameless《Doppelgänger》—or rather,《Chameleon》—who dared to impersonate the《Empress》began acting in earnest yesterday afternoon. Their first move was an assault on the eighteenth ward, Tokoyo Academy. By impersonating one of their members, they dismantled the team from within… The broadcast of that event sent《Astral》into chaos.”
“…Well, yeah, that makes sense. I mean, you can’t even be sure if the person next to you is real. Even I, Noa, would freak out if I thought Hiroto-kun wasn’t really Hiroto-kun…”
Glancing up at me nervously, Akizuki whispered anxiously, subtly leaning closer. Her large chest nearly pressed against me, making it hard to stay calm.
But, well, that aside…《Chameleon》. That’s the name of the “enemy” who’s picking a fight with me and Saionji during this May Inter-District Tournament. A comrade or associate of Seijo’s former principal, Mikado Kurahashi, who previously interfered in the《Ward Selection Battle》, they inexplicably share the exact same appearance as the fake heiress Sarasa Saionji, with whom I share a “lie”. Moreover, they’re currently engaged in a《Duel》with Saionji herself, with the condition that whoever defeats me in《Astral》is the true《Empress》.
However—as Akizuki said, that wasn’t《Chameleon》’s true aim. Pretending to be Saionji’s fake was just a bluff; by manipulating footage, they could become anyone.
When that was revealed yesterday, the《Duel》transformed in an instant. …And, well, that’s only natural. The mere existence of a single “impostor” somewhere on the field makes it impossible to blindly trust even your own teammates. That’s the real threat of《Chameleon》.
“…Yes, exactly.”
Noticing my thoughts had reached that point, Himeji nodded once and continued.
“In fact, the ripple effects of the《Chameleon》uproar became blatantly apparent—on Day Three, today. In just the first half, three teams were easily wiped out, either by《Chameleon》or by other teams exploiting the chaos. Additionally, our Eimei Academy faced a major crisis.”
“Mya-chan and the president’s huge fight… The《Dark Curtain》ability blocked their vision, making them suspect each other of being《Chameleon》, and in the end, they couldn’t participate in the latter half of the《Duel》. When you trace it back, that was all《Chameleon》’s influence too, right?”
“…No.”
In response to Akizuki’s words, Enomoto, who had been silent for a while, quietly shook his head. Crossing his arms leisurely, he made this declaration.
“I won’t lightly blame them for that. It was entirely my decision, my ego. I hurt Nanase even more while trying to protect her.”
“! …Ugh, ah.”
“Nanase? What’s wrong, groaning all of a sudden?”
“…It’s nothing. …I mean, you’re acting way too cool, idiot Shinji. That’s over and done with. Stop dragging it out, idiot!”
“!? S-Sorry…”
“Ooh~ The president’s getting pushed around by Mya-chan. Ehehe, that’s kinda rare♪”
Alternating glances between Enomoto and Asamiya across from her, Akizuki giggled. She observed them for a while but eventually seemed satisfied and turned back toward me.
“Um, so… anyway, this afternoon we had to play with just the three of us, without Mya-chan or the president. And, as expected, we got surrounded by two teams.”
“The sixteenth ward, Tsuyuri Girls’ Institute, and the ninth ward, Kagurazuki Academy. Kagurazuki just happened to be there, but it was effectively a pincer attack. So we split our team in two—Akizuki-sama handled Kagurazuki, while I and Master dealt with Tsuyuri.”
“Ehehe, Noa got a little serious too♪ I was on the broadcast a ton, so maybe I’ll get more fans… ♡”
“…Well, that might happen.”
Himeji averted her gaze slightly, her words vague. …I understand what she means. It’s true that Akizuki shone in that skirmish, but her strategy—using the green star’s special ability《Action Prediction》for psychological manipulation, full-on taunting, and action inducement—was so ruthless it went beyond mischievous and straight to demonic. She’ll probably gain fans, but not the kind she’s hoping for.
And—speaking of ruthless, the same word applies to Tsuyuri Girls’ leader, Senri Kururugi. With her lethal ability《One Shot, One Kill》, she’s a girl whose mantra in multi-player battles is “run if you see her”. Her event record rivals the《Empress》, and in just one year, she pushed Tsuyuri’s ranking from sixteenth to ninth—the《Demon God Shrine Maiden》.
Our fierce battle with her ended just a few hours ago. Despite being in the same grade as me and having the appearance of a cute female student, the overwhelming pressure she exuded still lingers on my skin.
But… well, that aside.
“Thanks to Master and Akizuki-sama’s efforts, we managed to overcome what seemed like a hopeless situation. …However, the situation hasn’t improved much. We couldn’t seize Tsuyuri’s area because their leader, Kururugi-sama, escaped, and for some reason—likely related to《Chameleon》—we couldn’t absorb Kagurazuki’s forces either. On top of that, our areas were eroded from multiple fronts during the skirmish, drastically weakening Eimei’s influence. …According to the latest data, this is our current state.”
As Himeji raised her hand, one of the projected screens displayed various data for《Astral》at the end of Day Three. According to it, Eimei currently holds 6 bases and 174 tiles, with 275 spells in possession. Our approval rating—the vote percentage in the “champion prediction” that all ward students can participate in and which affects players’ action stats—is currently at 7.3%.
“Hmm… So, among the eleven surviving teams, we’re the weakest?”
Enomoto muttered in a tone still laced with self-reproach. …Well, he’s right. According to《Libra》’s tally, Eimei’s area possession is fourth from the bottom. Our base count, which determines spell generation speed, is dead last. The gap with《Chameleon》is almost laughably large.
And on top of that, I—Hiroto Shinohara—have already been eliminated from this《Duel》.
“Yes. Just before the latter half of today’s match ended, Master deliberately depleted all his LP, leaving the stage of《Astral》. But there are several ‘reasons’ for this—first, the dispute with Enomoto-sama over the【Commander】role.”
“Yeah.”
I nodded slightly at Himeji’s words.
This《Duel》—《Astral》—has a concept of roles, similar to jobs or classes in an RPG. Depending on the role, the abilities you can equip or your proficiency with spells vary. The【Commander】role, in particular, has the lowest action stat—which determines the cooldown time for each action—but is the only role that can equip information-gathering abilities. Enomoto and I were vying for this role.
“The deal was, ‘If you don’t defeat three【Commanders】by Day Three, you hand over the role.’ Ibara Academy and Tsuyuri Girls made two, but there was no【Commander】among Kagurazuki’s remnants, so I couldn’t get the third. So I chose to defeat myself—that’s one reason.”
“Yes. But that’s merely a secondary reason. …Up to this point, this has been the public overview—Master.”
Finishing her explanation, Himeji shifted slightly, her clear blue-green eyes turning toward me. Nodding back faintly, I opened my mouth.
“Yeah. Let’s wrap up the recap and get to the main point. First, a question. Asamiya, from Day One to today, have you noticed anything off about《Chameleon》?”
“Huh, something off? Umm, if you ask me out of the blue like that… Sorry, can you give me a hint?”
“Oi, think a little, Nanase.”
Enomoto shot her a bitter look, but it’s fine if she doesn’t know.
“The ‘off’ things I’m talking about are two points. First—why didn’t they make a move until the latter half of Day Two? That ‘transformation’ is probably some kind of ability, but with such a game-breaking ability, they could’ve acted much earlier, right? Yet《Chameleon》only started moving yesterday, and in earnest, today. So what were they doing in the meantime?”
“…Napping?”
“Tch, this is why Nanase… Data, data. They were gathering data.”
Grinning at Enomoto’s answer, I nodded. “Exactly.”
“For someone as famous as the《Empress》, there’s probably enough footage to ‘mimic’ her perfectly. But not every player has that much material available. In other words, while it looked like they were doing nothing, they spent the first two days collecting footage data on all participants.”
“Ohh… Yeah, that makes sense. No, that’s totally it! Sasu-Shino!”
“Sasu-Shino?”
“Short for ‘Sasuga Shino, super genius!’”
“…”
I’m not sure why she thinks I didn’t get it, but I’ll let it slide.
“Anyway, if you think about it that way,《Chameleon》’s actions so far don’t seem strange. Adopting an insanely strong ability and gathering info to make the most of it is actually a pretty straightforward strategy. …But if that’s the case, there’s one thing that doesn’t add up. Enomoto, you remember yesterday’s《Libra》broadcast, right?”
“Of course. I don’t forget anything. I could even tell you how many times you’ve spoken to me informally without counting.”
“That’s reassuring. Then tell me—yesterday afternoon, the scene where《Chameleon》attacked the eighteenth ward. What was the exact sequence?”
“The sequence? Let’s see… The guy《Chameleon》transformed into stopped the other members, suggesting a spell swap. When everyone was defenseless, they suddenly turned hostile, taking out all four with a fluid surprise attack. Then, they quickly transformed into the《Empress》… Something like that.”
“Yeah, that’s about right. …And? What about《Libra》’s commentary?”
“Hm? …Now that you mention it, that’s odd.”
At my rapid-fire question, Enomoto furrowed his brow and crossed his arms.
“When we watched that footage during yesterday’s《Duel》, there was no commentary at all. In fact, you could hear frantic, almost panicky voices in the background. But in the evening, at the restaurant, all that agitation was edited out, replaced with exaggerated commentary hyping《Chameleon》as a dark horse.”
“Yup, exactly. It was re-edited in that short time, right?”
Akizuki nodded in agreement with Enomoto. …Yeah, that footage definitely felt off. When we watched it almost in real-time, you could hear Kazami’s agitation, like it was half a broadcast accident. But by night, it was cleaned up perfectly, and the treatment of《Chameleon》was drastically different between the initial broadcast and the highlight reel.
“No matter how you look at it, that’s weird. Judging by Kazami and the others’ reactions,《Chameleon》did something that even rattled《Libra》… In other words, they might be cheating. That ‘transformation’ might not even be an ability but some kind of rule violation. They’re tearing《Astral》apart… Yet now,《Libra》is acting like they’re covering for《Chameleon》.”
“W-Wait, but…”
Realizing what I was getting at, Akizuki hesitantly spoke up.
“Hiroto-kun, you just arrived on this island, so you might not know, but…《Libra》is known as the most impartial organization on Academy Island, prioritizing ‘neutrality’ above all.”
“Yeah, I know. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be chosen to assist with an event this big. …That’s why something’s up. There’s a reason《Libra》is doing this. A reason they have to keep hyping the event like nothing’s wrong despite being rattled. Until we figure out what that is, we can’t stop《Chameleon》’s rampage.”
“Yes. …However, there’s one problem.”
Himeji seamlessly picked up my words with her refined voice.
“Since《Libra》is assisting with the operation of the large-scale duel《Astral》, they’re completely cut off from contact with participants. They’re likely staying nearby, but in these three days, we haven’t seen a single《Libra》member. As long as you have《Astral》participation rights, you can’t interact with《Libra》.”
“Yeah. —That’s why I decided to temporarily drop out of this《Duel》.”
Scanning the members’ expressions one by one, I flashed a grin and said so.
“If I’m no longer an《Astral》participant, I can make contact with《Libra》. I can ask them directly what’s going on. I might be able to flip this《Duel》upside down in an unconventional way… Maybe.”
“Flip it…?”
Asamiya Nanase muttered softly, averting her gaze with a hint of guilt.
“But Shino, you’re already dead.”
“Yeah, true. …But you know, right? The other highlight of this May Inter-District Tournament is the open game《MTCG》—unlike《Astral》, it’s a festival-like event anyone can join. Its top prize, the ‘Wildcard,’ grants entry to《Astral》. It’s meant for wards to send strong players as a ‘sixth member’ to《Astral》, but… if I use it, I can come back here.”
I declared with a bold tone. …In short, I’d use the Wildcard as a “loser’s revival” ticket. I checked with a classmate participating in《MTCG》, and according to them, Enomoto’s “sixth member candidate,” Mayu Minakami, has already dropped out of《MTCG》, so there’s no issue if I take it.
“B-But, isn’t that a bit too convenient…? I mean, even for Noa’s Hiroto-kun, can it really go that smoothly?”
“I don’t think it’ll be easy, but I don’t think it’s impossible either. After all,《MTCG》is managed by《Libra》, right? They make the rules, the specs, everything. So if I can contact them and strike a good deal… I can make things as convenient as I need.”
“Whoa…”
Akizuki’s mouth hung half-open, as if she hadn’t even considered that. As if speaking for her shock, Enomoto slowly opened his mouth from across the table.
“So… what? You chose to ‘self-destruct’ there to temporarily leave《Astral》, contact《Libra》, secure their cooperation, win《MTCG》, and return? Not just to beat me in our bet, but to turn this《Duel》, thrown into chaos by《Chameleon》, upside down from outside the board… You calculated that far ahead?”
His voice trembled slightly as he stared straight at me.
Meeting his “expectations,” I smirked and raised the corner of my mouth.
“…So, you finally ready to acknowledge me?”
