kscans

Chapter 556 - Escape Girl(s)

【Sora】: Hello.

【Sora】: If you have time

【Sora】: Only if you're truly free, I would be happy if you could contact me.

【Haru】: Sorry for the late reply. Just saw this

【Haru】: I'm totally free. No plans at all for the rest of the day

【Sora】: qui

【Haru】: I'll be waiting for your reply, so whenever you're

【Haru】: qui???

【Sora】: no thats not

【Sora】: That's not it. Please, don't worry about it.

【Sora】: Thank you for your hard work yesterday. Congratulations on your successful conquest.

【Haru】: Why, thank you very much

【Haru】: Sorry, I didn't message you yesterday

【Sora】: I thought you were probably exhausted and fell asleep.

【Sora】: Please don't worry about it.

【Haru】: Haha, exactly

【Sora】: So, um.

【Haru】: Totally okay. I'll log in now

【Sora】: I know you're tired, so you don't have to push yourse

【Sora】: I haven't said anything yet.

【Haru】: Oh, was I wrong?

【Sora】: You weren't wrong.

【Sora】: Then, um

【Sora】: I'll be waiting.

◇◆◇◆◇

In the game of Arcadia, you need to be registered as friends to know if a specific player is logged in.

To put it another way, even if you are friends, the only information you can get is their 'login status'. Their location isn't displayed on the list, so you need to exchange messages to meet up with a friend.

Of course, it's a different story if you have a partner contract. For example, if you're in the same general 'stage', like the [Garden of Divine Creation] field, your respective directions will be shown on the radar… but that's about it.

In any case, finding a specific person's current location on your own, pinpointing it, is basically impossible in this game—

—or so it was supposed to be.

"—Go, Sora, you're pulling away! Keep it up, you can do it!"

"Be quiet and stay still, please!"

It was a scene that was the exact opposite of our usual selves.

In the safe area district of the [Garden of Divine Creation], my partner, Sora, dashed across the rooftops like a seasoned light warrior, and in her arms, a helpless young girl (a boy).

We were both wearing our incognito gear, the [Hidden Rat's Cloak]. Sora was further enhanced by the [Mana Clad] skill. The one we were fleeing from at top speed was—

"—Hey! C'mon! Why are you running away?!"

—my self-proclaimed fan (Rinne-chan), who, by some unknown means, had instantly located me after I logged in, met up with Sora, and transferred from the Istia district to the all-faction shared field.

"U-um! I just started running on impulse, but! Rinne-san is asking, why are we really running?!"

"Hey, you two! Stop, please stop, I won't do anything!"

"See! She says she won't do anything!"

Even as she shouted, seventy percent confused and thirty percent bewildered, her legs didn't stop moving, a sign of her mental growth—but you're still naive, Sora.

'I won't do anything, so stop'?

Haha, Rinne-chan. How about you get rid of that crazed expression, like a hardcore otaku on the verge of ecstasy, before you say that! That's a face that's only barely acceptable because you're a beautiful girl!

"Don't listen, think of that as the voice of something no longer human…!"

"Isn't that a little too rude…?!"

"Who cares! If that thing in its excited state catches me in this form, you can consider me gone for the rest of the day!"

"W-wha, n-no, th… That would be, a problem…!"

"Then full throttle! Lose her!"

"I can hear every single word you're saying!"

As expected of a professional of 'sound'. She's seriously terrifying—but.

"Tch…—Hah!"

"Ah… Noooo! That's not fair…!"

Sora, determined to make a clean getaway, ran up a path of magic swords she had laid out in the sky. At the same time, the voice of the pursuer, sounding truly frustrated, reached my ears from behind.

Even the great [Bell-Mail] can't walk on air; I know that for a fact from her own words. It was a piece of information I'd gotten when she was teaching me some martial arts recently.

And the reason we're so desperately fleeing now also stems from that time. For some reason, my transformed appearance seems to have struck a chord with her, or rather, her chord exploded. In any case, she keeps trying to rough me up, and it's a pain to deal with.

No, seriously, in my current state, if I get caught, I can't resist one bit—

"…Tch… U-um! Haru! I can't keep this up for much longer…!"

"Oh, crap, my bad! Sorry, could you use the scales, please!"

She was doing it so naturally that I let my guard down, but Sora can only maintain her mid-air maneuverability with magic swords for about ten seconds at most.

As she shot up into the sky with great momentum, she let out a genuinely pained voice. I hastily apologized and made my request—[Scareless] activated. A transfer of thirty levels' worth of stats.

What was added to my current weakest state of Lv.1 was… yup, as expected of Sora, our minds are in sync. We don't need to plan for something like this.

"Sapphire!"

The great wings of stardust emerged from the shadows, scooping up Sora's body, along with me in her arms. With the MID: 300 she had entrusted to me, plus my equipment bonus, I could secure some summoning time—

"Uwaah…!"

"Wha—?!"

From the girl who had run up the path of magic swords, the dragon inherited her momentum and soared above the clouds. And now, with our usual roles reversed,

"N-no…!—Haru! Do something, please!"

"I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry, there's nothing I can do, forgive me, I'm sorry!"

—the blessing of my super-evolved transport skill, [Luna Nobody, Guardian of the Shimmering Moon], did not activate.

Sora, bearing the 'raw' weight of two people, screamed in the raging blast of wind, and I, having lost both stats and skills, could do nothing but shout apologies and my own powerlessness—

And so, after some twists and turns, a few minutes later.

Having somehow escaped the danger, Sapphire switched to low-altitude, safe flight. On her back, buffeted by winds that were just barely tolerable…

"Haru."

"Yes."

"Prepare yourself."

"Yes, ma'am."

I had no right to complain about the massive debt I had just incurred. It goes without saying that I spent the rest of the time groveling and doing everything I could to get back into my partner's good graces.

---

—A helpful explanation (?)—
The chance encounter was a complete coincidence (her stealth effect was pierced by Rinne-chan's super-strong perception skill), and at first, she just wanted to approach them to congratulate them on their success. However, upon realizing the protagonist was in his transformed state, her switch flipped. Seeing the look on his face, on the verge of going full otaku, the idiot made the split-second decision to flee, and the sight of Sora princess-carrying him away was the ultimate perfect combo, causing his switch to explode and him to evolve from human to otaku.

Rinne-chan, after calming down, sent a dejected apology message.

The idiot and Sora went on a very long walk after this.

And a bewildered crowd of passersby was left wondering, "What in the world was that all about…"