kscans

Chapter 490 - The Second Victim

A few days after Ginny and Cynthia met Kazatoki and Lion, the day of Kazatoki's video stream arrived.

In the past few days, Parfait had introduced Kazatoki and Lion to everyone, and today, they had all gathered at the clan base to watch the video together. However, not everyone was there. Only Parfait, Natsu, Chris, and Rick were present.

Among them, Natsu had a puzzled look on her face.

"My friend, is this everyone for today?"

"Wilnel-chan said she can't make it because of some trouble at the Foundation, or rather, they're having daily meetings about when Ronios-san is coming to our place. Abel-kun has work. Ginny-chan isn't here, but she's on site."

"Ah, I heard that my friend Wilnel's situation has involved other Foundations and turned into quite a mess. But to be able to cause that, never mind his influence, is my friend's father a savior, or perhaps a destroyer? My own father was laughing, but I hope to be like that one day... My friend Abel aside, what do you mean Ginny is on site?"

"At the video shoot. Apparently, Cynthia-chan is nearby too, and she's giving some kind of instruction."

"My questions have only increased. What kind of instruction?"

"It seems Kazatoki-chan is going to have an image change for her video starting today, and that's what they're instructing her on."

"Instruction for an image change...? But those two?"

"So it seems. Let's see, what did she call it... Oh right, it's going to be something like, 'Fox Miko Princess ~With Bokukko Trait~'."

Natsu, Chris, and Rick all stared at Parfait as if she were a new species of animal.

Feeling wrongly accused and offended, Parfait denied it.

"It's not me saying it! It's what Ginny-chan is saying! She's preparing the costume for it, and instructing her on how to talk and all sorts of other things!"

After her desperate explanation, Natsu and the others, having understood the situation to some extent, finally nodded.

Then Chris looked at Parfait and said, "So in other words."

"Kazatoki-dono and Lion-dono have fallen prey to Ginny?"

"Prey is... well, you're close to the truth. Oh, but she and her clan leader both agreed to it, so it's not like she was forced. According to Ginny-chan, Cynthia-chan gave an amazing presentation, though."

Apparently, Ginny had said it was the first time she had ever seen Cynthia so animated. In the classroom, she hid her presence so well that even the teachers never called on her, and she called herself a super duper introvert, but Parfait thought that wasn't what an introvert was. Anyway, she had been shining brightly.

As she was recalling this, Rick spoke up.

"So we'll get to see the result of that instruction on Kazatoki-san today?"

"That's right. But it's rare for you to watch with us, Rick-kun?"

Rick was usually out gathering information, but when Parfait had invited him to watch the video with them, not expecting him to agree, he had surprisingly said, "I'll watch with you."

"I've mostly finished gathering information for the Spirit Festival. I just thought I should get to know the main streaming videos to get good results. I think it would be fine if you guys did it, but if necessary, we might need to ask for cooperation from Fight☆Club, the clan Kazatoki-san and Lion-san belong to."

"Oh, so that's it... We were planning on streaming a video?"

"You're well known in this game, Parfait. But Diite-san told me to 'try not to stand out too much,' so I was wondering what to do."

"Diite-oneechan said that?"

"It's not quite about your births, but because of various circumstances, she's trying to keep you from standing out as much as possible. It seems she's using systems like perception jamming and various other protective functions."

"This is the first I'm hearing of this...?"

"It's apparently only within AFO, but it seems that any information related to our real lives is being subtly altered when it reaches others."

Within AFO, Diite was equivalent to a god. She could probably do anything that was technically possible. Parfait was a little impressed as she pictured Diite's face.

According to her father, Hayato, she used to be much cooler, but in Parfait's opinion, there was no AI as expressive as her.

"Hm, it seems to be starting soon."

At Natsu's words, they all looked at the monitor.

On it was a silhouette of a character deformed to about three heads tall, with the words 'New Costume Reveal!' written in cute, rounded characters.

It seemed a number of viewers were already watching, and their voices were displayed as text on the screen, with things like "For real?" "Isn't martial artist good enough?" and "A reboot?" being displayed.

"Last time I saw her, she was wearing a white kimono and a black hakama, wasn't she? I think she had bandages on her hands and feet too."

Parfait nodded at Chris's words.

"Yeah, yeah. I don't know what the costume will be like either... but from what Ginny-chan said, I have a pretty good idea..."

"I feel like she recommended a similar cosplay to Simon-sensei a long time ago. The teacher ran away, though."

Ginny-chan is invincible, Parfait thought as she watched the monitor. Suddenly, the screen changed.

It was a wide grassy plain, with mountains visible in the distance. But Kazatoki was nowhere to be seen. Only the scenery was displayed.

The video comments were also confused, but then a pair of animal ears popped up from the bottom of the monitor.

"Oh, fox ears."

"My friend, perhaps you should pursue a career related to animals?"

"That's a good idea, but I think I'd still prefer a coffee shop. A coffee shop full of cats."

It was unclear how the ability to identify a fox just by its ears could be useful, but it didn't seem like a bad idea. But for now, her number one dream was a cat cafe.

While they were talking, the camera slowly zoomed out from a close up of the fox ears, revealing Kazatoki's full figure.

The design of her outfit hadn't changed much, but her hakama was now red, and the sleeves of her kimono were gone. The bandages on her arms and legs were still there, giving her the feel of a martial artist shrine maiden. As accessories, she had fox ears on her head and a fox tail attached to her waist.

"N, noja!"

Kazatoki said with a very nervous smile.

Parfait, Natsu, and the others, as well as the viewers, were confused. The comments were flooded with things like "Noja?" "No noja?" and "What?"

"Huh? Is 'noja' a sentence ender? Not a greeting? Oh, ah, you're right! Um, add 'noja' to the end of my sentences...? Oh, ah, right... noja!"

Kazatoki was flustered, her gaze darting off screen.

As they wondered what was going on, Rick said, "Ah."

"Are Ginny and the others giving Kazatoki-san cue cards?"

"Cue cards? Like cheating papers? Oh, maybe."

Most likely, Ginny and the others were helping Kazatoki from off screen.

Parfait thought that Kazatoki's personality made her a bad actor. She didn't have the versatility of someone like Lion, who could play any role if she just committed to it.

"U, um, noja... Right! To tell you the truth, I was a fox goddess... noja! Huh? 'Boku'? Oh, right. Um, Boku was a fox goddess, noja!"

For a moment, the comments stopped. In the silence, Natsu spoke up.

"This is a little embarrassing to watch."

"Nacchan, I think you should be more embarrassed of your usual self."

Natsu looked at Parfait, offended, but Parfait was staring intently at Kazatoki on the monitor. Chris, who was also staring, opened his mouth.

"But it seems to be well received. There are more supportive comments."

The flowing comments included things like "You can do it!" "Foxes are the best!" "Noja!" "Bokukko!" "The Three Sacred Treasures!" "Isn't that too much?" and "But that's what's good about it." And some included "It's her partner's fault" and "The second victim."

"I see. The groundwork was already laid."

"Rick-kun? Groundwork?"

"The feeling that she's being forced to do this is there, but Ginny and Cynthia-san probably took that into account. If I didn't know about Lion-san, I would have been thinking, what is this, but as the second person, it's easier to understand the situation."

"Lion-chan? The second person...? Oh, right. So they're setting it up so that Kazatoki-san, like Lion-chan, is being forced by her clan to do this... even though she definitely is being forced."

Rick nodded with a serious face.

"S, so, I'm the Fox Miko Bokukko Noja Princess, Kazatoki! I look forward to your continued support... Oh, by the way, I like bean sprouts and fried tofu... noja!"

Kazatoki looked like she had given it her all. A flood of positive comments like "Hang in there," "Don't give up," "This is good too," and "The clan is sinful" flowed by.

Seeing that, Parfait let the tension leave her shoulders and let out a big sigh.

"I was worried about a lot of things, but I guess this will be okay?"

The comments were mostly positive, and the viewer count was still climbing. It had already surpassed ten thousand, and on top of that, her fox miko persona seemed to be well received. Parfait was happy, thinking that this would improve Kazatoki's food situation.

As she felt a sense of relief, Lion appeared on the screen.

"Oh, right, she said today was a battle video with Lion-chan."

No sooner had she thought that than Lion struck the same pose she had shown Parfait before. The tehepero, sideways peace sign, one leg bent pose.

"A magical kiss for your heart! I'm the isekai reincarnation magical girl, Lion-chan! If you don't cheer for me, I'll punch you out!"

Lion said this and blew a kiss, and the screen erupted with positive comments. The most common comment was "You can do it," but there were also a few "The original," "The first victim," "The poor student," and "The pitiful beautiful girl."

This was the second time Parfait had seen this introduction, so she was immune, but the others were not. They had heard the story, but this was the first time they had seen it, and the three of them were silent, staring at the monitor.

Parfait noticed and was about to offer some support, but before she could, the three of them spoke up.

"A magical girl who has fallen to darkness might be good! I shall bring her to the dark side!"

"No trace of embarrassment... no, she doesn't let you feel it. I think her movements and expression are wonderful."

"A pro. An actor on par with Abel."

"I think you guys are amazing for staying so calm."

Parfait had frozen up the first time she saw that.

Afterward, Lion didn't say, "Kill... me..." but she reached out a hand to a nearby tree and leaned against it, supporting her body with just one hand as she hung her head. Her sorrowful figure drew more comments of "You can do it," "Don't give up," and "You're cute!"

"Y, you're okay! Lion-chan, you're cute! Noja!"

Kazatoki rushed over to comfort her, but Parfait thought it wasn't about whether she was cute or not, but that the situation of having to do such things was what was tough.

That aside, Parfait was happy to see the viewer count increasing. She thought that this way, Lion would also be able to receive a sufficient reward.

After somehow recovering, Lion began a PvP match with Kazatoki.

This time, the PvP was Virtual, not Real. It was a PvP match using the game system.

Watching the fight, Parfait and the others were amazed.

They should have started AFO around the same time, but their fighting styles were that of seasoned veterans, and the battle they had been enjoying for fun gradually shifted to a question of whether they could win themselves.

Kazatoki was supposed to be skilled at fighting based on real movements, but when the game system's combat power was added to that, it was like something out of a manga.

Shockwaves came from her fists, she teleported, and her swift kicks were so fast they produced flames.

And Lion was not losing either, launching magic attacks with a blown kiss motion. That alone would have been normal, but Parfait and the others were surprised that she was constantly flying.

According to Rick's explanation, the staff Lion was holding could use an infinite amount of wind jet magic, and that was how she was flying.

Hearing that explanation, Parfait tilted her head.

"But she's hovering in midair, right? If she keeps jetting, won't she just fly away?"

"She's constantly adjusting the power of the jets. You might be able to do it by feel with practice, but I don't think it's something you can master without practicing with proper calculations."

From what she could see, Lion was flying around the domed space of the PvP match as if she were truly in zero gravity. She could control her speed at will, and she was even dodging the numerous shockwaves from Kazatoki's fists while flying.

The viewers' comments were also excited, and it was clear that this was a skill few people could perform.

Parfait had seen Kazatoki's past videos, but she hadn't seen much of Lion's videos due to time constraints, so she was a little excited to learn about this new technique.

She knew about using wind magic for high speed movement and to offset fall damage, but it was the first time she had learned that you could fly indefinitely with a staff that didn't run out of MP. It made her want to borrow the staff from Lion and try it herself.

The flashy and enjoyable battle ended in a draw.

Even so, the battle, which made full use of AFO's combat system, captured the hearts of the viewers, and the screen was flooded with comments asking when the next match would be.

The final viewer count was a record high of over thirty thousand, and the video ended with Kazatoki's words, "N, noja!"