kscans

Chapter 422 - Still Far Away

I have to be her support—so I had resolved, but…

"Well, she's operating as usual…"

"? I'm not sure what you mean… but personally, I think you're the strange one, Haru, for already getting used to this appearance."

"Well, at the end of the day, it's just an avatar."

Meeting my partner in the virtual world for the first time in a day, I found that she was… not just better than I'd expected. It was as if she didn't care one bit about the public's attention; she greeted me with her usual, quintessential Sora smile.

Hmm… was I worried for nothing? Though she's an unknown figure to the public, she is, after all, a Yotsuya. Perhaps she's developed a certain resilience to this sort of thing.

Well, as long as she seems alright for now, all's well—

"Speaking of appearances, what were you up to with those tails?"

I threw the question to Sora, who was watching me with a look of half fascination and half exasperation as I continued my magical training in my Trance form.

In response, looking far less accustomed to it than I, who had begun to resign myself to it, she shyly tucked the four tails swaying behind her back—whether intentionally or not.

By the way, even if she hides those, the magnificent fluffy ears on her head are still twitching away. I wonder if they, too, twitch in response to her emotions.

"P-Practice. My body's senses have changed quite a bit, you see."

This ‘disguise,’ which couldn't be anything but cute, came complete with a chiding look for my teasing tone—this was none other than Sora's Trance form, her appearance while using [Trance].

Not a nine-tailed, but a four-tailed fox. Both her ears and tails were a dazzling, pure white. Her golden hair, too, was streaked with white starting from the base of her fox ears, creating a beautiful gradient in this form.

I'm not an expert, but I heard from Lux, who displayed a surprising breadth of knowledge, that her form might be modeled on a divine fox spirit known as a ‘Tenko.’

"I see. And you were flying around inside the house?"

"I-I wasn't flying! Besides, it's precisely because we're inside!"

Apparently, she's still too shy to show off this form outside. On a side note, the difference in the cuteness index when Sora and I say ‘our house’ is so vast it's laughable.

Thanks to my Trance form, my voice is also a cute girl's voice (lol), but I suppose that's what you get when the person inside is a guy.

"Besides, I can't really fly around in this form…"

"Well, yeah, not when your AGI gets wiped out."

And so, the stat nullified by Sora's [Trance] is Agility (AGI). Whether that's something to celebrate is debatable, but it's not a bad roll.

Just like my Trance form, her MID, including equipment bonuses, has broken the 1,000 mark. If you think of it as enhancing her flavor as a stationary cannon, on par with a generic Mi-naRi-na, then it's a definite plus.

Moreover, even with her AGI at zero, she's not immobile like the ‘Eastern Wings,’ and if she cancels her Trance, she instantly transforms back into a front-line fighter—or rather, an all-rounder—who can keep up with me.

My partner's versatility knows absolutely no bounds.

Of course, both versions of [Trance] share a one-hour cooldown for activation and deactivation, so it's not like she can frequently switch between them depending on the situation.

—Now then,

"Since we happened to meet up, want to go somewhere? Oh, but… maybe it's better to wait until you can deactivate that Trance?"

"Oh, no, it's fine!"

Going somewhere would mean walking around outside. So, more than her shyness, the fact that she'd stand out like crazy is… a bit of a problem, given the current attention on ‘the Acrobat's partner.’

Realizing this, I began to retract my suggestion, but Sora shook her head, and a magic circle immediately enveloped her avatar. After a flash of light, her familiar form reappeared, her hair color back to normal.

Ah, farewell, fluffiness.

"Okay. You got this from Nia the day before yesterday, right?"

"Yes, I did."

I demonstrated by pulling down the hood of my [Hidden Rat Cloak], and Sora nodded, taking a single gray garment out of her inventory. It was a matching set of stealth gear.

It wasn't completely identical; hers seemed to have some details adjusted to match her [Dress of El-Clelia]. The fine craftsmanship was nothing short of impressive.

"Alright, let's go. Somewhere!"

"Um, and where might ‘somewhere’ be?"

"The plan is no plan!"

"Ah, haha…"

Going with the flow is fine, just fine.

As always, as long as it's the two of us, even just taking a walk is fun.