Chapter: 2 Explanations

Chapter: 2

"Should we leave the bus now?" Tomochika asked

"And from there? We don't even know if it's safe." Yogiri said

"Honestly I would have to agree with Yogiri on this one." 

"I appreciate your reasonable words but can you not say them while playing Monster Hunter and reading manga." Tomochika

Shrugging at her statement I leaned back against the seat I was in and continued to read my manga.

"Say Yogiri I have been watching you play for a while and aren't you playing a little you know bad?" Tomochika asked

Looking up from the manga and looking over at Yogiri's hand-held game.

"Oh yeah, she's right your not playing like you normally do."

"Yeah I'm not normally this bad but this delay after the three-hit combo," Yogiri said 

"That's the adept style, right? How about switching to a striker? That doesn't have a delay after the three-hit combo." Tomochika said

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." 

Yogiri switched styles as he was told and indeed, now the weapon handling was much closer to that of the prequels.

"Whoah, nice!"

"Also, you're being way too reckless for a lancer. When playing Lance you stop after two attacks when it looks like you've got time for three, and after one attack when it looks like you've got time for two, always move in a way that lets you transition into either guarding or evading… actually, isn't this the totally wrong time for this?"

"It's like you're the goddess of lances or something."

"Pretty sure that much is common knowledge…"

".... anyway carrying on."

Why do I feel like the third wheel here?

"…Calmed down?" Yogiri asked

"I guess. The fact that people died is still on my mind, but maybe I'm numb from the shock. The smell has become bearable as well."

"Well, that's better than nothing so can you explain what happened?" I asked

Yogiri put his console on sleep mode and turned to her.

"Not like I know you that well, but you sure are the type to stick to his own pace, huh… The events so far then, right? Well, it seems we were transported to a different world, and there are these sages, and everyone became a sage candidate, and Yazaki-kun started taking control of things and-"

"Hold you pause take from the top Tomochika-san."

"Ah, okay."

Flashback

After passing through the tunnel they were in a field.

"Huh?"

Tomochika's absentminded gazing out of the window was interrupted by an idiotic-sounding voice. It was her own.

She was certain it had been night just a few moments ago, yet all of a sudden she and her classmates had found themselves in broad daylight. The snowy mountain scenery disappeared as well, making place for a grass-covered plain.

A moment later the rest of the students took notice of the absurd change in location and soon the whole bus was in uproar.

"Mikochi, any idea where we are?"

Tomochika turned to the girl in the seat next to her, Romiko Jougasaki.

"A grass plain, I guess?"

"I meant, you know, on a larger scale…"

Panic made its way through the confused students and the bus came to a full stop.

A woman in a white dress got on.

'A pitiful person with a thing for cosplaying as a magical girl,' was Tomochika's first impression of the new passenger.

"Greetings, sage candidates. My name is Sion, Grandchild of the Great Sage."

Even Tomochika with her tendency for comic relief one-liners was too bewildered to voice a single word. However, that may have been for the best. One uninvited interruption and things could have ended badly, as her homeroom teacher demonstrated.

"Who do you think you are? Are you responsible for――"

It would have been a good line, full of vigor, but he didn't get to finish it. Sion casually grasped his head and…

pop

With a hushed noise, the teacher's cranium cracked, then burst, splattering the front row seats with blood and gray matter.

"No interruptions, please. The conduct I recommend all of you take is shaking from fear with clattering teeth. Don't act out of line, pay attention."

The bus fell into silence; the students had immediately grasped the danger Sion posed.

"I don't intend to cause direct harm to any sage candidates, but that only goes for as long as you don't get on my nerves. Make sure to take care in that regard, okay? My power level is 530,000."

(Note: A Dragon Ball Z reference.)

No one moved a muscle. Tomochika didn't throw in a quip.

"Aw, you could've laughed there."

Sion spoke as she moved her left hand towards the driver's seat.

Light gathered in her palm and in the next moment the bus driver, along with his whole seat, burned to nothing.

"See? I got irritated because my joke fell flat and here I went killing again."

Confronted with Sion's disregard for life the kids curled up even more.

"This may look terribly unreasonable to you all, but that's just how the world is. Can never know what the future brings. Well then, I'll be allowing myself to explain the current situation. You might have already noticed, but as far as you are concerned this place is a parallel universe. And I am the one that summoned you."

There was no way they could accept an explanation like being transported to a parallel universe just like that, but despite their disbelief, they remained silent, doing as Sion had told them and staying in line.

"The purpose behind your summoning was to have you all take the roles of sage candidates. Sages are the ones managing this world, but a decrease in number every now and then raises a need for the occasional replenishment."

Sion pointed her right hand towards the students and the bus filled with glaring light; Tomochika was prepared for death.

But nothing happened.

Ever so timidly she opened her eyes and saw that Romiko next to her was glowing in a blue light. The classmates on the other side of the aisle were red and yellow.

She stood up to take a look through the bus and saw that everyone was shining in various colors.

――Huh? What's going on? Um, I'm not glowing, hello?

Was it a good sign, or a bad sign?

Tomochika did feel some unease about the idea of undergoing the same phenomenon, but she couldn't help but feel like being left behind.

All the students' glowing and beaming made it feel like a rainbow was running through the bus, giving it the air of a modern-day fairy tale.

"Your powers differ based on color, but for convenience just think of it as the more vivid the glow the stronger the power. Everyone's light will fade in a moment, I recommend you take mental note of who looks powerful before that happens. Getting on the good side of strong companions continues to prove a solid method of survival."

Taking Sion's advice to heart the students began frantically scanning their classmates for promising individuals.

Tomochika wasn't the only one that wasn't sparkling, but they were a drastic minority.

"Version 02.87.05.11 of Battle Song has just been installed in you all. With the install successful you should be seeing all the license holders' logos right about

now. Vexing, I know, but they're only there during boot-up so please bear with it as it finishes setting up."

Tomochika, who had still been standing, sat down again and stared forward. All she could see was the bus seat in front of her.

Whatever Sion was talking about, she couldn't see it.

"Mikochi, are you seeing anything?"

With a rising sense of unease, Tomochika asked Romiko in the neighboring seat.

"Yeah. A bunch of colorful text is floating around, not sure what's going on. 'Status,' it says. Oh, it's in our language. That's strange, right?"

So it was visible to everyone else.

Tomochika was wavering, it seemed to have been a bad sign after all. The feeling of being left out just wouldn't leave her alone.

"With this, you will gain the ability to use various special powers. Use them and work towards becoming a sage. You have one month."

"E-excuse me!"

Tomochika bundled her resolve, rose to her feet, and directly addressed Sion.

"Yes?"

"Ah, is it fine to ask questions?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Sion smiled gently.

"Um, I didn't glow earlier, and I'm not seeing any logos or anything either…"

"My oh my."

Sion's gentle smile quickly turned into one of theatrical pity.

"It's regretful, but occasionally there are incompatible individuals. Nothing to do about that, you'd best give up."

Being told off just like that Tomochika was puzzled for a response. The premonition telling her she was heading towards a hopeless situation was growing more and more intense.

"Moving on. You are all part of the same clan, a community of sorts. From here, please produce a sage from within that clan. You may work together on turning only one of you into a sage, or even split up and become sages by yourselves, on your own. I'll leave your course of action to you."

"One more question! Why us, if I may ask!"

Tomochika's despair gave birth to belligerency.

In response to her question she was stabbed with stares, the same message in all of their eyes: "Don't act out of line!"

"Oh, just a matter of statistics. Calculations suggested that this group has a high probability of producing a sage."

"One more! Please tell me what happens if none of us turn into sages, if I may ask!"

"Hm, what indeed. I suppose I'll have you turned into livestock and wrung of your magical power. You will be shoved and locked into a dark magic tank where you will spend the entirety of your life. Work hard, okay?"

It was a future more miserable than what Tomochika could have imagined.

That was her last question.

"On the other hand, if you do produce a sage the rest of you will turn into that sage's acolytes, a position of quite some influence in this world. Now then, your first mission will begin in an hour. Don't go and die off on me now."

With those words, Sion left the bus. The students she had left behind now released their pent-up hysteria and the bus' inside became chaotic.

"What the heck, I don't get what's going on at all."

Tomochika slumped into her seat.

"Ah, the mission's description came in."

Romiko spoke in her usual manner, not seeming particularly perturbed. According to Romiko, the mission's contents were as follows:

First Mission

Objective: Escape from the Plain of Dragons and reach the city in the north!

Main Enemies: Dragons (Average Level of 1000)

Advice: Dragons' preferred food is humans. As such, being attacked upon leaving the bus is close to certain. Furthermore, defeating a dragon is beyond your current abilities. You have one hour until the mission starts, during that time a barrier around the bus will guarantee your safety. Use that time to come up with a strategy.

"No way, dragons?"

Tomochika looked out of the window.

All she could see was an idyllic plain of grass, it was difficult to imagine a monster like a dragon to suddenly appear. However, what she did spot were castle walls, far off in the distance.

Seemed like the town was over there.

"Everyone, please listen!"

The panic was still ongoing when suddenly someone raised their voice and stepped forward.

A male student, Suguru Yazaki.

After his shout, everyone turned quiet.

"We're in a confusing situation, but for the time being it doesn't look like we've got a choice but to clear that mission, and for that, we'll need everyone's cooperation."

A sudden leader-act.

Tomochika expected someone to voice an objection, but, surprisingly, everyone appeared to go along with it.

"Hey, is it really fine to leave it to Yazaki-kun like that?

She asked Romiko in a hushed voice.

"Well, having someone take the role of mediator sounds reasonable, I guess?"

"I mean, yeah, but…"

There was something about it that gave her a bad feeling.

"First of all, I would like to get a grasp on everyone's abilities. Can everyone write down their name and status on a memo and bring it to me?"

Somehow no one opposed Yazaki's proposal.

With Suguru Yazaki as the leading figure, an escape strategy was being developed at the front end of the bus.

Tomochika, along with the others who had no light, were driven to the back of the bus and completely shut out from the discussion.

Altogether five students hadn't glowed, but Tomochika wasn't very familiar with the other three.

Ayaka Shinozaki. An arrogant girl who wore the fact that she was rich on her nose, making her friendless in the class.

Yuuichirou Kiryuu. A so-called delinquent, his rude behavior caused people to keep a distance.

Yogiri Takatou. Spending most of his school time sleeping there weren't many relations with his classmates to speak of.

Yuki Shizuki. Someone a little more known than Yogiri and is regarded as one of the nicest people in class.

"Are they seriously asleep?"

Kiryuu found it hard to believe, but Yogiri and Yuki had been in the back row this whole time, sleeping through the earlier uproar and continuing to do so.

"Ah, right, Takatou-kun's always asleep, isn't he?"

"Who cares about that right now? Why did I end up in this situation!?"

Tomochika had barely finished her sentence when Ayaka vented her agitation on her.

"I'm not really the one to ask…"

Tomochika looked towards the front of the bus.

The discussion seemed to be advancing steadily, although it was less like a discussion and more like everyone listening to what Yazaki had to say.

A short while later their classmates started getting off the bus. One hour was close to passing and the students were about ready to start their mission.

"Tch. Not even a word to us. Come on, let's go."

Yuuichirou prompted the other powerless individuals to come along.

"Takatou-kun, Suzuki-kun, everyone's going to leave you two behind at this rate. Come on, wake up, hey."

The sound of Ayaka's footsteps was a clear 'leave them, who cares.' Tomochika did feel some guilt, but she didn't want to be rude and shake them awake either, so she started making her way to the front as well.

However, Suguru Yazaki and Asuha Gunzan blocked the exit.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Kiryuu's anger could be heard in his words.

"Apologies, but we can't take you guys along. You'll be staying here."

He didn't appear very apologetic at all, but so he spoke.

"The hell? This guy thinks he can settle things like he wants just because we weren't part of the discussion! Who do you think you are!?"

"The General."

Yazaki grabbed the handrail mounted to the wall next to the bus' entrance and casually pulled on it, making what should have been metal bend its shape like rubber.

"This is the power of the General. Even at level 1, that's how much the System strengthens one's body after having received its favor. Taking along regular humans like you would only drag us down, do me a favor and understand."

Kiryuu's body turned stiff after witnessing Yazaki's inhuman strength.

"But, if you're that powerful you should be able to handle protecting us, right?"

Ayaka pleaded as if she was trying to hang on to him.

"And where is the benefit in that? We need to become sages whatever it takes, we can't afford to look after you."

"Fine, so don't look after us or protect us, but can't you at least let us tag along?"

Tomochika chimed in. If they were to be left behind now they would almost certainly die.

"That won't do either. Having you all stay here is part of our plan."

"Okay, anyway, time to make all of you a little more attractive. Charm Up!"

Asuha made a move before they could ask what Yazaki meant by plan, raising her arm and making her palm face Tomochika.

Whatever she did, it made Tomochika begin to emit light.

"Huh, what? Asu, what'd you do?"

The light faded without leaving any visible change behind, but surely making her glow for a moment wasn't all there was to it.

"It's her class, Beauty Coordinator. Her class focuses on buffs and while going over everyone's abilities we noticed that she should be able to control monster aggro. We decided that you guys will be the bait."

"Bait?"

Tomochika needed a moment to grasp what he was saying.

"Tomochi~, you see,「Charm Up」 is a skill that makes you popular!"

"I've had someone with an enemy detection skill scan the area and there's only one dragon in the sky above us right now. Meaning, as long as it's targeting you guys we can safely reach we city."

"And you're trying to tell me everyone agreed to a plan like that!? Ah, Mikochi wouldn't! No way Mikochi would go along with this!"

"Mikochi? Ahh, you mean Jougasaki. Naturally, she agreed."

"But hey, it's not like we're telling you to die, okay? We just need you to attract the dragon for a while."

Asuha got off the bus with a casual laugh, appearing as though she was telling those words to herself rather than them. Yazaki followed her after shutting the door by force.

Kiryuu rushed to the door in a panic.

"Damn it, it's not opening! He's wrecked it with that ridiculous strength!"

"What should we do?"

"Like I'd know! Why is this happening !? Why did I get caught up in something like this!"

VRAAAaAAAaaAAAAAA

As the three classmates were panicking an air-shaking scream ran through the bus.

"Was that… the dragon?"

It hadn't shown itself yet, but Tomochika understood immediately. That was the roar of a being of absolute power.

"The window! Let's get out through that!"

Tomochika heard Kiryuu's idea and took a look herself.

However, the windows were fixed to the frame.

She could see her classmates running away from the bus as quickly as they could, their hurry speaking volumes of the imminent danger.

――I need to do something!

Tomochika struck the pane in an attempt to break it open, but it had no effect.

"Aa!"

The bus suddenly shook with enough force to nearly tip over and Tomochika was thrown through the air.

"Is everyone safe!?"

She landed flat on the floor but quickly got back on her feet.

"AAHHhh!"

Kiryuu, who had been hurled towards the exit, screamed for his life while staring at his blood-covered classmate who lay on the ground between him and Tomochika.

Something sharp had pierced the bus through the ceiling and impaled Ayaka Shinozaki's torso

Flashback end

"Yeah, so Ayaka got attacked first, and when I ran to the back of the bus here to get away from that thing I saw you two still sleeping like a log."

"Huh" 

"A parallel universe, huh… Ah! How am I going to recharge my console…"

"Crap I didn't bring any more mangas with me."

"That's the first thing you worry about after hearing that story!?"

Chapter 2: End