Vol 4 Chapter 3 (2/2)

Only Sora had noticed, which hen Miko and shi+ro revealed thin smiles

on their faces

Steph who hadn’t noticed still couldn’t agree

“T-that sort of thing is just too weird –“

- She continued to question them

“They’re the ones that are on the brink of extinction, we’re here to help, so

why do we have to face that kind of risk!?”

Sora replied as relaxed as ever

“Plum did say earlier, to interfere with relationshi+ps and dreams should’ve

been impossible under the 「Ten Oaths」, it was only possible because the

Eame itself”

- Which is to say –

“If we don’t begin the 「Empress’ Game」, allsorts ofspells wouldn’t be able

to be used, so there would be no other way to awaken her, and to obtain the

rights to play a gaainst her, the 「Bet」 she requires is –“

Sora looked over at Plu tone:

“「If you want !」…

soht?”

Steph remained stunned, while everyone else appeared defeated

Only Amira continued to ramble on

“Co~rrect~ an~swer! Ah~ I really don’t want to give you to the Empress,

are you sure you don’t want to be with me instead?”

Ignoring Amira, Sora spoke:

“Anyway since we have ic that will allow the Empress to fall in love with

us, there shouldn’t be a problem”

“Y-yes! I can confir to me!”

“S-soic doesn’t work!?”

Steph still couldn’t lose her sense of apprehension, but –

“Just leave that to Amira~”

Amira spoke clearly:

“Even if you guys can get into the gae of

the bets is still hibernating, so her possessions will be in ic

doesn’t work I’llreturn everything, so there won’t be any risk ♪”

“No, that sort of verbal promise –“

Sora interrupted her mid-sentence

“OK, there’s no probleame“

Steph felt so was amiss

She felt that soh-risk

conditions only be mentioned now?

Steph looked at Sora, why didn’t Sora feel any suspicion about the entire

affair?

This wasn’t like the usual Sora, to accept such a suspicious-sounding game –

Steph once again surveyed her surroundings

Aside from her, everyone else didn’t seem to have any queries, and didn’t

have anything to say

(W-what’s going on…? What’s happening here?)

Pluame

“So – after all of you bet everything you have, please 「Swear on the

Oaths」and touch the block of ice… after which the Dhampirs under the

platform and I will cast a spell and lead all of you into Her Majesty’s

dreaic (cheat)」 I’llfollow you as well…”

Plu at the same

time:

“Since it’s a drea to whatever all of

you want… so – Sora-dono will decide right? I will try and go according to

Sora-dono’s iination and construct Her Majesty’s dream

correspondingly… no matter the situation – the victory condition remains”

Sora helped Plum continue her sentence:

“As long as someone makes the Queen fall in love with him and awaken her it

will be a 「Victory」, but if you get dumped it will be considered a 「Loss」-

while the loser will leave the ga to

the bet – so we just have to swear to the oaths along the lines of this right?”

“Y-yes… b-but…”

Sora interrupted her in understanding:

“I get it, we have Pluic (cheat), and even if we lose we can just

get everything back froht?

Take it easy”

Sora smiled fearlessly

Steph sensed so amiss about that smile, however, while Sora

continued:

“With our current lineup and the conditions provided the possibility of us

losing is zero, so hurry up and start the game already”

“A-alright – so Sora-dono, please iine how you want the dream world to

be like, and then –”

Hearing her words, Sora began i it

As long as dating games were mentioned, he wouldn’t make the normal kind

“Please swear to the oaths!”

“ - 「Aschente」!”

Sora, shi+ro, Steph, Jibril, Miko, Ino, Izuna and Plum

As all of thes turned white

◇◇◇

◆◆◆

◇◇◇

- After which it turned from white to blue instantly

As though just waking up froained their

consciousness

Throughout their lethargic bodies, blood began circulating normally, their

senses returned to them, and –

“Aaaaahhhpfffffftttt!?”

- They were drowning

In the middle of the sea, Sora and shi+ro, Izuna, Ino and even Miko were

being tossed around by the waves

They could only s odor of the tides, and pain assaulted the

deepest parts of their nostrils

As their calan

playing within their subconscious

“-With every end there is a beginning-“

There were overly flashy special effects, and sound effects that sounded like

stars collapsing

A narrator that sounded like it was reading off a script continued blandly

“There are s and there are separations –“

“THIS ISN’T THE TIME TO BE PLAYING THE OPENING CREDITS,

RIGHT!?”

Sora struggled to raise his head above the water level, and roared angrily

“Which bloody universe’s version of 「Toki〇 Memorial」 starts with the

protagonist drowning? My heart isn’t exactly beating hard right now!”

[15]

No, their hearts were beating violently

But Sora didn’t want to use the ter

throes of one’s heart when faced with a life-threatening situation

“Ah, s-sorry… I confused Sora-dono and Her Majesty’s iinations of

what the dream world should be like, it takes time to create the scene…

please wait a while more…”

Thinking closely, this was rather unavoidable

Since they were able to interfere with the Empress’ dreams, this world

couldn’t have a 「Schoolyard setting」 like in Sora’s world

Of course, Sora’s iination needed to be combined with the Empress’

knowledge, and –

“…Nii…I lived…a good life…”

“Plu up on survival, so hurry up already~~!”

shi+ro closed her eyes with a blissful expression on her face, while Sora

hugged her and yelled loudly

“- Ah, ah, the spell is co now!”

- In an instant

The original 「Setting (scene)」 of the in the ocean was removed,

and changed ies of a book

The 「Stage」 switched from the ocean itself to the sea floor, and unnecessary

「Settings」 like breathing were removed

Like flipping over poker cards face down one by one, various changes to

ame run smoothly were implemented, and the dream world was

able to accept 「Unreasonable」 settings

“- Master, are you alright?”

Hearing Jibril’s loud cries, Sora returned to his senses – not realizing that he

was now on solid ground

“…T-that was…horrifying…”

In the clear blue ocean, Sora spat out 「a single breath」, and wiped off 「the

sweat on his brow」

shi+ro was shi+vering in fear due to nearly drowning early, and Sora hugged her

while co dissatisfiedly

“The ga a death end, can

you please not use that sort of weird plot settings here?”

“…I still…hate the ocean…”

“The 「Sea」 that caused the Masters harm… it appears there is a need to

remove it completely”

“Wouldn’t it be fine if you were to just learn to swim…”

At this point, Steph who appeared to be the only relaxed one spoke with her

eyes half open

But Miko and others beside her – all the Werebeasts in frustration – agreed

with Jibril’s words

“…Yeah, who cares about the ocean, who created these weird puddles

anyway?”

“I have to agree with Jibril-san for once, just let the sea dry off already”

“Also the sea is so stinky… if only the sea could just disappear and leave

behind all the fish”

Everyone had coh they were

cursing, they were gradually returning to their usual calm selves

- Sora, shi+ro, Steph, Jibril, Miko, Ino and Izuna

They stepped on the floor individually, and the 「Setting (scene)」 in front of

them constructed slowly

Even though they were at the bottom of the sea the sky could be seen, and

clouds wereabout on the water’s surface

The uneven terrain was re-flattened, and 「School buildings」 appeared on the

sea floor originally filled with rocks and corals

The schools of tropicalfish swiradually transformed into

nameless normalstudents (NPC)

In the blink of an eye a virtualstage known as the 「Underwater school」 was

built

That was a 「High school」 built in the sas around

Oceande –

Glancing at their surroundings, beside Sora –

“What shocks me is that Her Majesty actually knows about 「Schools」… did

she read about them in books?”

Pluame (dream) successfully,

spoke

Understanding the lance, Plum smiled wearily, and

explained bitterly

“Haha… Oceande doesn’t have anything like schools… ould those

people need to learn anyway”

As the scene around the

changes instead

First – countless signs lit up, entering their field of vision

“…? What is this?”

Steph wanted to touch the signs that appeared, but grabbed air instead, and

Sora explained:

“That’s the UI (User Interface)… the 「Command Selection Screen」”

- It was exactly like a status screen in a standard dating simulator

It brought back memories, like the title screen of 「Toki〇 Memorial」, but

Sora complained instead:

“…Since you could generate so like this this perfectly, then you

shouldn’t have let us drown in the first place

“Because this only causes any effect on the players… when the scenes are

being constructed, it’s actually the process of co Sora-dono and Her

Majesty’sthat took us quite a lot of effort to do, but –“

Plum spoke in shock all of a sudden:

“Where did Sora-dono get your infor like

that before”

Plum didn’t know that Sora came from another world, and indicated curiosity

at hoas able to inored her

“Speaking of which since what you’re doing is reflecting the iinations of

the players, the settings should be rather easy to change right?”

“Ah, yes, because the spell is being constructed… so as long as Sora-dono

wishes it anything can be changed”

Plum continued:

“But one’s appearance, age and sex are unchangeable… please take care”

- The E in wait of a 「Prince」

Ifshe were to fall in love only to realize that the person that had awoken her

was completely different from the character in her dream, like a photo scam –

she would probably resume hibernation

They didn’t have any problem with that, but as important was:

“Since we can change our names, please set my name as 「Ko〇man」”

“…Nii, setting all base stats…to 573 is cheating…”

[16]

Facing his sister’s accusing gaze with her eyes half open, Sora shook his hand

while chuckling in denial

“Using official cheats are technically allowed according to the rules, and also if

this cheat is used as long as you perform any actions you will be afflicted with

neurosis, causing you to s in it… so it

does have its negative side effects!” (TL note: See what I ative

stats?)

“…Then shi+ro will… use the name「Se〇ponume」”

[17]

“Um… is there any particular reason for that…?”

As they were conversing – Sora and others’ appearances changed according

to Sora’s iination made reality by the spell

Sora’s dressing was merely an extra uniformed suit over his usual T-shi+rt

saying 「I ♥Humans」

“…Oof, this clothing is rather stuffy”

Wearing a ht year old man with

bulging muscles spoke beside him

“…A unifore muscles…I think I’m

going to have nightht”

Sora spoke while averting his gaze from hell(Ino) over to heaven

(playground) – which was essentially the female members of their posse

shi+ro as standing on the other side of hi her usualfull

black uniforhtly colored female uniform

- Maybe because it was mixed in with the Empress’ impressions as well, it

was a sailor unifor than Sora had expected it to be

And around her were Izuna, Jibril and Miko earing the same

uniforms –

“…Miko-san’s sailor unifor…”

“Do you have so to say about it?”

Stroking her long golden hair, Miko spoke while wearing a sailor uniform

identical to shi+ro’s

Her twin tails lifted her skirt slightly as they shook about, and her beautiful

legs underneath were extremely attractive, but –

“…Miko-san, how old are you?”

“Didn’t anyone tell you that asking for a lady’s age is extremely rude?”

“Oh, right… speaking of which the one that created the Eastern Federation

was Miko-san right?”

Miko’s ears twitched slightly

“You kept saying things like since you were matured or whatever, Izuna’s

eight years old but she’s already matured, while the Eastern Federation

prospered rapidly within fifty years (half a century) – even when you leave out

the time taken to take care of the entire Eastern Federation, you at least have

to be about fifty-eight –“

“Let ood news OK? Imanity (bald monkey)

Werebeasts – especially in their 「Blood Devastation」 fore extremely

slowly

Miko interrupted Sora’s accurate deduction, and spoke with a dazzling smile

- After which a dangerous smile appeared on her face, and she spoke clearly:

“If you dare to call me 「Auntie」, you knoill happen, don’t you ♥”

“- Phew… and I was the one about to tell Miko-san soood news”

Sora met her smile head on, and replied:

“Looks are everything! Miko-san gives off an air like she’s older than she

actually is because of her actions and tone of voice, but appearance-wise you

look no older than a beautiful twenty-year-old lady –which e

is no more than a title, which is e Imanity believe”

“…That is what you believe”

Despite clearly hearing Steph’s words, Sora excellently ignored her, and

pointed beside him

“Also there’s someone here who is 「Over six thousand years old」, so there’s

nothing to worry about right?”

“Ah, Master, to be precise I’m 「Six thousand four hundred and seven」 years

old”

Jibril as looking at her garb curiously since earlier, replied with a smile

on her face

Her shi+rt was lifted up slightly by the wings on her waist, revealing a short

snatch of bellybutton, while the rest can be omitted

On the other hand –

“…Speaking of which, may I ask a question?”

“Hmm – is there a problem? Steph”

“Why a male

clothes?”

- That was true

shi+ro, Jibril, Miko and Izuna

They were all wearing sailor unifor a male

uniform identical to Sora and Ino’s”

Sora nodded his head

“Good question – this is what is known as 「To kill a general, first shoot his

horse」”

“…What?”

Sora spoke with a serious expression, and everyone’s eyes were on him

“- First, there are 「Two」 reasons why I didn’t let everyone wear male

clothing”

Sora continued while lifting up a single finger

“First, if we’re going to conquer the female lead, I want to have help from her

friends – the girls”

“…You really say all these dastardly things without hesitation”

Miko spoke her thoughts on everyone else as glaring at Sora coldly

However Sora ignored her and raised another finger:

“Secondly – I considered the possibility that a trap like the Empress 「Never

was interested in ht exist”

“…I did say earlier that the E for a fertile male…?”

“There’s insufficient evidence to prove that”

Sora rebutted Pluers at him as well, and

continued:

“Next up is the reason why I let specifically Steph wear– Steph

has strong communication skills, so she can be our scout for information”

If they were only looking at political power, Miko could be a stand-in for her

as well

But according to Sora’s instinct, Steph was the correct choice as she could

make friends easily

“I want a male comrade that has the socialskills and ability to collect

information like Saotome-kun – but…”

[18]

Sora turned to Steph and sighed

“…But compared to Saotome, you’re more of a… someone like Ijuuin…”

[19]

“- What? I don’t really understand…”

- A redhead with rather proper looks

She looked like a rather high-classed handsoer – the male-dressed

Steph tilted her head in confusion

Her attitude was nonchalant as she hadn’t particularly noticed her

appearance, but she was proficient in both physical ability and studies, even

being a decent homemaker

She had socialskills, a drive to get things done – and had a set of determined

blue eyes

And deep in her eyes, one could even get a gli

gentleness and resilient personality – she was quite literally a er

- To be honest

Sora wanted to punch her, as she was the enemy of unpopular people (the

world) – once again glancing at her riajuu appearance, Sora sighed

[20]

“…Ijuuin? Who’s that?”

“…It’s first-gen… don’t bother about it…”

[21]

“…Speaking of which, how about we not bother about Gramps over here

and just let Steph go talk to the girls?”

“What? No, for irls – and about that… S-Sora and I –“

“…Ah, it appears the spell is complete”

Part 4

“Hain – after which I’ll

infiltrate the Empress’ subconscious”

Following Pluiant screen appeared in the middle of the

air

The badlyclip that had just played in their ain

round music

Following the narrator’s descriptions, after photos of the school buildings and

classrooe cut to the courtyard, where a

giant madder-red colored piece of coral that seemed to have branches

extending in all directions was shoith the cahtly tilted

The narrator explained calmly

“Marinal Kagayaki High… there is a legend that as long as one confesses

under the ical coral, one will acquire 「True Love」”

[22]

Hearing these recycled words, Sora complained with his eyes half-opened:

“…Hey, I wouldn’t care if it was like a , but what

the hell is a ical coral…?”

To confess under an ancient tree was somewhat understandable

Confessing in theor on a slope with Sakura blossoms

blowing around would be acceptable as well

But no ical coral」 just seems a

bit too over-the-top, don’t you think?

“Even if you say that I can’t do anything about it… there aren’t any trees in

the ocean…”

- Speaking of which stuff like corals would probably look disgusting up close

The opening cutscene continued to play, disregarding Sora’s inner thoughts

and protests

- After a while

The boring narration ended, and pop

Under the pink-colored 「Magical coral」, a

along with the waves appeared

- The empress

The uniforiant red coral

as though dancing

Her colorful unifor from side to

side unpredictably in the water brought out her naturalsexiness and charisma

evenout from her short

skirt while flapping about in the water was attractive

The Empress’ eyes carried a hint of melancholy, and she stretched her hand

out to the sky as though earnestly waiting for so –

“La - ♪”

She began singing

- Upon hearing her voice, everyone simultaneously inhaled sharply

“Ah…!”

“Oh, this is… she really is a beauty, even her voice is exceptional”

Steph and Ino began praising her

An Elance

Her beautiful voice brought a sensation to the listener’s soul that was almost

like taking drugs

…Except for Sora and shi+ro

Sora and shi+ro stared at the screen in boredom

“Even I’ with our taste…”

Ignoring her voice for now –

The song and video that was playing were completely mismatched with her

sensual actions and melancholic expression

But before that, the Empress wasn’t suitable to wear sailor uniforms at all

because she’s too sexy

It was like a thirty-year-old woh

schoolstudent –

“Well it’s true that everyone’s preferences are different… but you want me to

conquer her?”

I can’t seeet excited… Sora took a small breath

■「The First Day」■

- All of a sudden, the words 「The First Day」 appeared in front of everyone

Sora and shi+ro were undoubtedly already used to it, but Plum continued to

explain it to the others

“Um, I believe a few 「Commands」 should have appeared in front of

everyone, if you use those you can perfor

presents and things like that”

Hearing Plum’s explanation, Sora tilted his head in curiosity instead

“It’s like that in theory, but this is a realistic roht? So there

shouldn’t be a hidden affection meter…”

“…Nii”

As Sora was co to him

“…Coe rise?”

shi+ro’s eyes appeared to be expecting so, while Sora smiled bitterly

and replied:

“Sorry, sis, my affection for you is already at maximum levels, so even if you

try nothing will –“

“So Master, if you allow me to, I will –“

Jibril gave hiift as well

Plum looked away from them and continued her expression

“Also…a the commands displayed, there should be two heart shapes as

well”

Everyone carried out individual confirmations and found them almost

immediately

It was in the lower-half corner of a screen with ns on it

There was a normal heart shape and another heart shape with a 「+」marked

on it

“That heart is the confession command…it’s up to you how you wish to

confess, but if you choose this and get 「Duarded as a

「Loss」… while the one with a + on it is…”

“Your 「Love Magic」 right – a cheat coot

it… yep”

Sora had figured out the system since earlier, and turned towards Ino

“So Gramps, since you’ve married thirty wives, the amount of people you’ve

slept with ht? So how about you use those skills

that even Ka〇 Taka can’t beat to quickly conquer the Eet her

heart”

[23]

“The way you put it is rather displeasing…”

Ino wrinkled his forehead, but after that –

“I’ forward to your lover’s skills that seem to be your pride,

Hatsuse Ino”

“…Good luck Grandpa, des”

“Yes! As Miko-sama orders…!”

Hearing the to words, Ino replied respectfully and

turned towards Sora

“…But Sora-san, I was quietly listening to you since earlier, all that stuff

about shooting generals and horses, helpers, scouts for information and others

seems pretty hard to comprehend”

“…What?”

Sora replied with his forehead wrinkled, and Ino shrugged his shoulders and

continued:

“…Could it be that Sora-san believes that ignoring women’s preferences and

forcing one’s own preferences onto the to the point of

changing one’s appearance to suit them is 「Love」?”

…He got ht

“To be precise, that’s how it is in a 「Romance Game」”

Noticing that Sora was unable to answer, Ino looked at him solemnly

“Phew… so that’s how it is, it was a good idea after all to leave it to me after

all, it seeames doesn’t make one

a good fighter, ames doesn’t allow one to talk about real

romance and love”

- He was right, but Sora sory as he realized that his selfconfidence

probably came from the fact that he’d slept with many women

“Sora-san do you knohy you’re a virgin – an unpopular, antisocial,

incurable man now?”

“…Old et Jibril to teleport you to the ends of the

universe”

Ino didn’t appear to be the slightest bit threatened by Sora’s devilish glare

“So hearts」- ifso, why can’t Sora-san

do it?”

“…Hmm?”

- If it was 「Reading hearts」

Then Sora ay above himself (Ino) should be able to do it

Ino’s words carried absolute confirmation at Sora’s ability with it as well,

leaving Sora speechless

“I see, there are many different ways to love, but… the end result is always to

「Convey one’s feelings to the other」, and –“

Ino stared at Sora sharply

- His eyes didn’t carry any hint of condescension

It wasn’t a look ofsarcasm, hate, pity, nor underestimation

It was a look that Sora – knew all too well

With the look in his eyes that Sora never wanted to see again in his original

world – Ino continued:

“The words spoken by a liar that lives on mountains of lies do not have the

power to convey one’s feelings at all!”

No doubt about it, it was – a look of 「Distrust」

“But, it’s true, if it really is about reading hearts, there’s only one hich

is –“

Ino spoke while glancing towards his own command screen

“「Seize the upper hand」”

Unhesitatingly choosing the 「Confession Command」- Ino dashed forward

“”Eh-!?””

Leaving behind Sora and others ere stillfrozen in shock –

Using his physical ability as a Werebeast