Crisis In The Chuunibyou Society [Pt 1]

"It's been a while since I've met with you two, privately, but I assume you both know the reason you're here."

Lucy was seated behind her desk—both elbows leaning on the table as her fingers were interlocked with each other, and she sat upright.

She was sternly looking at the two officials in front of her—both of whom nodded at her words.

"Rose. Null. We have much to discuss, but first, let's talk about the newbies that'll be joining your teams."

For Rose, two new members would be joining her team—Voidbringer and Pansy.

For Null—a tall man attired in black, White was his new recruit.

The eye holes on his mask made his striking black eyes contrast with his white mask, and while they had an ominous feel to them, he didn't mean any harm.

"Ah, before that Rose, I haven't asked yet, how was your last mission? I heard it took you days to complete." Lucy asked, her expression unchanged.

"Yes. The Outers in it weren't too tough, but there were a lot of them. The Dungeon landscape was also quite extensive, so it was a bit difficult to locate the boss. It's been a while since I went on a solo mission, so I got a bit carried away."

"Well, I suppose that means more Cores for us, then. I apologize for having to give you a solo mission despite your earlier commitment, but we were understaffed. Surely, you understand." Lucy said kindly, her tone tinged with regret.

"No. It's alright. If there's any irk I had with the arrangement, it's that one of my proteges almost died because I couldn't respond to her messages on time. By the time I came out of the Dungeon, it was almost too late."

Lucy understood what she meant. It had to be the recent Link incident that occurred at Matt and Violet's university.

"Why couldn't any other official handle it, though? Or are we that understaffed?" Rose asked.

She wasn't particularly upset—and she knew it wasn't Lucy's fault. She was, however, still prickly about the fact that one of hers was almost killed due to a Link just lying around somewhere.

They had Link sensors for this sort of thing, didn't they?

"That is one of the problems we're encountering. You're going to be hearing this in the summit anyway, so I might as well tell you." Lucy heaved a sigh, and a deep frown formed on her face.

Her crimson eyes gleamed dangerously, and a fierce aura enveloped her.

"It's the Rogues. They're most likely the ones responsible for this."

For a moment, the room was silent. However, soon after came confusion. On the heels of confusion arrived curiosity.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

Null merely watched, placing both hands in his pockets as he listened attentively.

"We've been encountering more aggressive Rogue behavior lately, and this fits their mode of operation."

Rogues were the Chuunibyous whose ideals were in sharp conflict with the Society's mission. In fact, one of the Chuunibyou Challenge's main objective was to stop them.

Their actions had caused so much harm, and it was only getting worse.

"They have been interfering with our Chuunibyou Operations by getting to Links and plundering the materials before we get there. More recently, we've also discovered something else. They seem to be able to cloak Links from our supervision."

"What?!" Rose's eyes widened in shock..

She had no idea things had gotten this bad. The first things Lucy mentioned were pretty standard Rogue behavior, but it seemed things had evolved from bad to worse.

Still, none of those compared to Lucy's final information.

"They can bypass the Society's supervision? If that's the case, then—"

"Don't fret. I doubt they can do it on a large scale. If so, we wouldn't be able to detect a lot of Links, and the world would be in even graver danger. Fortunately, that is not the case."

There would have been reports of disasters or multiple global threats if the problem was that severe.

"Besides, our supervision still seems to detect the average number of Links, so I presume that they are blocking only one or two at a time." That would explain how the Society remained oblivious to their antics.

'It's also possible that this is the result of someone's Imagi. That would make sense, since they can't be in too many places at once. But, if that's the case, then…'

The malefactor would have had to be close to the Link on Matt's campus, so it would escape their detection. That meant they would have seen Matt and Violet entering the Link.

'Should I tell Rose about this? No, there's no need.'

So far, it was only a theory. Besides, she couldn't afford for Rose to be distracted by such speculation when there were more important things to be concerned about.

'I'll work things out on my end.'

"This is a very serious problem. Now I see why you're always so moody."

"Okay, first of all, I'm not always moody. I smile sometimes." Lucy, still frowning, spoke up, narrowing her eyes on Rose.

"Of course, director." Rose bowed.

They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, but then Lucy heaved a sigh and the tension dissipated.

"If this was the only problem, then perhaps I would be a lot more cheerful. Sadly, this is just one of the two major problems plaguing the Chuunibyou Society."

"Are you talking about the society being understaffed?" Rose asked.

"No. The Society has always been understaffed. Although, that is still a major problem, it's not really the kind that would bother me to such a degree."

Rose and Null stared at each other for a moment, but then returned their attention to Lucy, who had a grim expression on her face.

She looked more serious than ever, as though she was about to deliver an earth shattering news.

"It's about the Irregular Link, the one that's been around for over a year."

This time, both Rose and Null perked up. They hadn't heard Lucy talk about that in some time, and last they heard, it was being contained.

"The barrier around the Link is going to expire soon, and once it does…" Lucy stared grimly.

"The havoc could be catastrophic."