Chapter 222: Real Strong

Author's Preface
Interlude: The 3rd Stage Tome of Truth "The Abyss" has been added. Please take note.

Before I knew it, summer was nearing its end, and the cicadas, having spent all their savings from several years of hibernation, were beginning to fall to the earth.

"Assignments, check. Student ID, check... Alright, everything looks good."

Putting on my freshly cleaned summer uniform and making absolutely sure I had no bedhead, I opened the front door.

"I'm heading out!"

"Alright, have a safe trip."

Sent off by my mother's voice, I stepped outside. The season was September, which meant that I, as a high school student, was obligated to attend school.

Walking down the dangerous route to school laden with semi-final cicada landmines, I cast my thoughts toward the busy days awaiting me now that my long vacation was over.

For starters, I probably won't be able to just game all day long like before. I'll fundamentally have to switch to a night-owl schedule, but I'm pretty used to that anyway.
The real problem is that ShanFro is linked to real-world time. The monster spawn tables sometimes change between day and night, so I'll have to take that into consideration as well.

Although I had successfully defeated the Unique Monster "Ctarrnid of the Abyss" and conquered my second Unique Scenario, as if in direct proportion, the amount of troublesome baggage I had to deal with skyrocketed.

What welcomed me upon returning to Fifticia was a massive flock of chirping falcons, each carrying a letter strapped to them, multiplying at a terrifying rate.
The sender was The Professor... the pseudo-magical girl who was the leader of that lore-investigation clan.

By the time the number of falcons delivering messages that essentially read "I absolutely want to have a chat (Summary)" reached twenty—practically rivaling a spam bot—I genuinely started to feel fear.
Since I had no other choice, I grabbed one of the falcons that looked vaguely familiar and sent it back with a reply reading, "I'll message you eventually so stop spamming me, you idiot (Summary)." That resolved the issue for the time being, but I realized that if I mismanaged this, I might literally be unable to walk around town anymore.

The Blue Chalice is definitely useful, but the process of actually using it is a pain in the ass. Maybe I should just seek asylum in Rabituza... Actually, maybe I should just permanently immigrate there at this point...

"MMOs never just go the way you want them to..."

It's fun precisely because a massive number of people are playing it, but that's exactly what makes it so troublesome. It's just like real life... Which means reality is an MMO, and games are life.

"Anyway, what should I do today... Probably weapon maintenance."

I was so exhausted after all that that I just immediately logged out and went to sleep. Even now, I still don't really feel like playing games for a while...

In the spring, this path would be lined with cherry blossoms. By passing a few traffic lights and turning a few corners, I'd reach the school. If I made a slight detour here, I could drop by Rock Roll.

I don't have any particular plans to buy anything, but maybe I'll stop by on the way home.
Since that person is a hardcore Otome Game enthusiast, she probably has a far more brutal and dense schedule than I do.
She's a woman of absolute valor who casually brushes off that 'Love Clock' with a simple 'Well, it gets a little busy.' In terms of pure chart 'execution' ability alone, she probably surpasses even me, Katzo, or Pencilgon. She claims it's an absolute necessity if you're aiming for the Harem Route. The Galge industry is terrifying.

Ah, speaking of which, I need to test if I can craft anything using that massive pile of seafood monster materials I got. Since my financial problems have been completely resolved, let's just recklessly waste a ton of them.

"............"

Now then.

To change the subject completely, it is said that the 'presence' of a human is actually the electromagnetic waves emitted by the human body.
Because those waves linger, phenomena like 'feeling someone's presence even when no one is there'—which often happens after watching a horror movie—occur.
Basically, because you've become hyper-sensitive to presences, you end up catching lingering electromagnetic waves.

In other words, what I'm trying to say is.

(Am I... being tailed?)

No, no 'am I.'
Electromagnetic waves aside, I've clearly been hearing a distinctly different set of footsteps for a while now.
A stalker? No, no, there's no way that's the case. Let's calm down and think this through.

The most probable possibility is that we share the same destination... Meaning, it's highly likely it's a student from the same school.
Well, we're almost at the school anyway, so that's definitely the most likely answer... But man, they're awfully close.

(Judging by the footsteps, are they even a meter away from me...?)

Based on the clack-clack of the footsteps, it feels like if I were to suddenly stop, whoever is behind me would crash right into me.

(Are they walking while staring at a mobile terminal or something...?)

That's a strong possibility. It would explain this distance since they wouldn't be looking at me, and they're so close because our walking speeds are similar.

If that's the case, the solution is simple. If I just speed up my pace slightly...

(.........They matched my pace.)

Wait, is the stalker theory suddenly gaining traction? No, no, surely not.
Then is it someone I know? No, my house is in a pretty weird location within the school district, so I don't have any friends living nearby. That means, setting aside the trip home where people might make detours, there's no way I'd bump into someone I know on the way to school.

Wait, what is this? I'm genuinely starting to get scared. I know I could just turn around and check, but the awkwardness if it turns out to be a complete stranger would be agonizing.
We'd both be hit with the awkwardness of 'Uh, why is this guy following a complete stranger?' and 'Uh, why did this guy suddenly turn around to stare at a complete stranger?' I absolutely do not want to deal with that kind of awkwardness bright and early on the first day back from summer vacation.

What should I do... Should I just sprint and shake them off? No, if I suddenly start running when I'm not even late, they'll realize I noticed them without even looking back.
And even if it looks like I won by running away, I'd still be stuck with this lingering anxiety, so it's actually a loss by running away. Gah... Such high difficulty right out of the gate in September. So reality truly was a game where all of humanity participates...!

"...U-Umm!"

"!!?"

They spoke! No, they talked to me!? What is it? What's their goal!?
Why make contact at this specific phase? Wait, was something stuck to my back? No, if that's the case, the mature response is to reply courteously and laugh off my own carelessness!

"YESWHATISIT"

"Um, well... You're Hizutome-kun, right?"

Turning around, instead of the assassin-like 'Imaginary: Person Behind Me' that my brain had conjured up, there stood a single girl around my age.

"Ah, um, Saiga-san?"

"Y-Yes! Hizutome-kun, um, well... It's been since summer vacation!"

"Summer... Ah, now that you mention it, yeah."

I see. The reason she was tailing me was probably because she couldn't confirm it was me just from my back.
Wearing our high school's summer uniform for girls—which was quite different from the refreshing sundress she wore that summer day—Saiga-san smiled happily, her face slightly flushed, perhaps due to the lingering summer heat.

Hmm. As expected of Saiga-san, who was granted top-tier specs in both academics and athletics, alongside excellent looks and a great personality. When you put it into text, she sounds like a straight-up Galge heroine, yet she actually exists in real life.

"Wait, did you live in this direction, Saiga-san?"

"E-Eh, um, well... I thought I'd change things up for a change of pace, and while taking a different route, I coincidentally... Yes, I coincidentally spotted you!"

"I see..."

Well, considering I bumped into her at the nearby convenience store, the fact that she lives somewhat close by makes sense.
That said, Saiga-san's house is probably as irrelevant to me as a game I have absolutely no interest in, so it doesn't really matter.
Now then, simply cutting the conversation off here with a 'Right, okay, bye' would be questionable behavior as a human being. Should I attempt some 'idle chitchat'?

"Still, with summer vacation over, school is starting again, huh."

"Y-Yeah... Since it's school from now on, yeah."

It's not that I wouldn't love for the vacation to just continue forever, but if that happened, life would lose its rhythm.
Reality and games are both fun precisely because things don't always go your way. Though, there certainly are people out there who live their lives doing nothing but exactly what they want... Namely, those two fiends and Natsume-shi. Oh, and the monster from the US, Sylvia Goldberg, is probably the prime example of that.

"............"

"............"

Guh, so you desire the Pitcher-Batter style of conversation rather than the Game of Catch style.
A supreme normie with a high Normie Level could probably fire off conversation topics like a Gatling gun, but unfortunately, as someone whose real life is fulfilling in an entirely different direction, my absolute limit is a six-shooter revolver. Please hold out, my conversational skills...!

"Ah... Oh, right. Come to think of it, you play ShanFro too, right, Saiga-san?"

"Fwea."

"Fwea?"

"N-No, no, it's nothing!? Yes, yes! I play ShanFro!"

Come to think of it, I had to cut the conversation short back then because those two fiends were rushing me, but I'm pretty sure we talked about that.
Perhaps startled because the topic suddenly shifted to games, Saiga-san's shoulders twitched. What was it called again? Her hair, which had a name that sounded like Beverly Hills, fluttered softly.

"So you play too. Are you a Healer or something?"

"N-No, um... I play a Warrior class."

Surprising... Actually, no. I'm pretty sure I heard a rumor that she's amazing at Kendo or something. Wethermon and the like are just completely insane; against normal monsters, real-life martial arts experience is probably a massive weapon.

"I see... Have you played it a lot?"

"Yes, well, um... Yes. I'm also affiliated with a... Clan, and things like that..."

"Oh, an inner-circle clan?"

"Um, well..."

Inner-circle clans carry the risk that if drama breaks out, it bleeds directly into real life, but the merit is that the bonds are far stronger than partying up with complete strangers.
Me, Katzo, and Pencilgon migrated over from other games, so while we are an inner-circle clan, we're more on the locust side of things.
Though, since we had a new member join after a tragic incident, it's hard to call us a pure inner-circle clan anymore. It really taught me that 'vegetable sticks' and 'fresh' don't necessarily go hand in hand.

Regardless, this is a good flow. Even without recklessly changing the subject, I can hold the line using ShanFro topics.

"The New Continent was unlocked, but do you think you'll be able to challenge it, Saiga-san?"

"I-I wonder about that... I'm sure a lot of, players want to go, so..."

It's true that they seem to be building a massive number of ships, and even though the current situation is that almost all new players are still using Thirdrema as their base, there's no way the number of players holding off on going to the New Continent is anywhere near a mere hundred.
Plus, I heard that top clans like Rei-shi's "Black Wolf" even reduced their member count for the first voyage to the New Continent out of consideration for other players.

"True. Well, the current continent hasn't been completely explored either, so I doubt you'll get bored."

After all, the Unique Monsters have been practically left untouched.

"Yes, that's true. Fufufu..."

Perhaps even my level of conversational skill was enough to kill some time for Saiga-san, as she laughed happily.
But then, a small shadow suddenly plummeted down. It was a single cicada, having exhausted its stock of life without even managing to leave behind offspring, yet falling with a strangely satisfied air.

Tracing a downward parabola, it plummeted straight toward Saiga-san.
If this were inside the game, I might have been able to react. But the real-life me didn't possess a body capable of instantly reacting to my thoughts.
The only reason I even noticed the falling cicada was purely because it happened to enter my field of vision. Before my vocal cords could even vibrate to yell 'Look out!' or my body could move, the cicada crashed right into Saiga-san's hea—

"Hya!"

Bishii!!

"Obua!"

"He? A-Aaaa!?"

Despite noticing it later than I did, Saiga-san moved faster than me, flicking the cicada away with a strike resembling a karate chop.
The cicada, spinning round and round through the air, crash-landed directly onto my cheek.

Not expecting a stray bullet to come flying my way, I lost my balance and tumbled backward. As if intending to launch a follow-up attack, the cicada—shock-resuscitated by Saiga-san's chop—transformed into a semi-final landmine and went completely berserk.

Jijijijijijijijijijijijiji!!

"Idadadadada!?"

Ah, its legs! Its legs are hooked on me! The wings are wildly slapping my face, this is bad!

"I-I'm so sorry! I-I'll help right n—kyaa!?"

I, Hizutome Rakuro, acquired the incredibly rare experience of getting slapped across the face alongside a cicada as my very first memory returning from summer vacation.

Saiga-san is strong.

Author's Afterword
Q: Just how strong is Saiga-san?
A: She can perform a precise strike to the back of the neck to knock someone out. By the way, the three Saiga sisters all practice ancient martial arts for self-defense, alongside Kyudo for the eldest, Judo for the second, and Kendo for the third.