…I don’t even know what to make of that…

Just suddenly barged in drunk and collapsed… It was one hell of a whiplash compared to how she has been so far.

I was just trying to have a quiet moment, but that all shattered in an instant… And now… Well, I guess I’m never really sure of what to do in the first place. There never seems to be any chance of me even getting back, as much as I hated to admit it. I don’t really even know this place well enough. All that I really know is that this is a massive kingdom, completely dwarfing the one in my past.

I’ll just… I don’t really know.

“Mani?” Suddenly someone else barged in. Her mother, that much I know. “Oh dear! …I’ll bring her back to her room. Don’t be too hard on her alright? She has a bit of a… problem.”
“Can see that loud and clear.” I said, just wanting this done and over with.

She picked her up and walked out with an apologetic smile.

…I’m just gonna go to sleep and forget about this…

…

…

…

“Hey…” Suddenly someone barged in… It’s the fox girl, of course.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s a new day and that means tournament time!” She excitedly said, maintaining a bubbly voice… Is this the same person who looked depressed as all hell last night?

“Is there any reason I have to go?” I asked, seriously wondering why.

“I mean. Don’t you want to watch a good spectacle? Who doesn’t love a bit of action?” She said… Well… She’s not wrong…

“Fine…” I said in defeat. I know full well she’s gonna drag me along anyway, so might as well go peacefully.

“Yeah! Let’s go!” She said, clearly trying to hype me up.

What is this tournament even gonna be about? Or rather, what am I supposed to expect?

*Beep*

She is pressing something on that metal glass thing again. Don’t even know what it’s called.

*Shine*

Suddenly a circle of light appeared in the room. What is this?

“Well. Time to…” She was about to say something before looking at me. “I think you should get a change of clothes first, actually.”

“Why?” I asked, feeling confused. It’s not like I got dirty yesterday anyway.

“Why not? We have plenty of clothes to go around. I’m wearing a different outfit aren’t I?” She pointed out. An odd red shirt over a blue coat with a high collar.

“...Then give me something then.” I said so we can get this over with.

“Alrighty! Wait a bit!” She blitzed out of the room and gave me a moment to myself… A new day, with a big event happening, apparently. Can’t say I know how to feel about all of this…

Two days so far… And that’s about all I have to say about the whole situation… No way home…

“Back with your clothes! I’ll look away, make sure to tell me when you’re done!” She said before throwing me a dark red shirt and long blue skirt and then leaving the room… Skirt again?

“Hmph.” That’s all I can really muster before I start changing. At least it doesn’t look as overly bright as the pink one, I shouldn’t attract that much attention. “All done.”

“Great! Let’s step through then.” She quickly replied, pointing at the circle of light.

“Haaah… After you.” I said in response, to which she nodded and walked inside, and then I followed.

*Zoom*

And so we ended up in that colosseum place again. It is much more crowded compared to yesterday… This is way more crowded than I could imagine.

“What the hell is happening?” I asked.

“This is a pretty big event organized by the Demon Sovereign themselves. Anything of this scale only happens a few times a year, you came at just the right time now that I think about it.” She explained. “It’s basically a national holiday!”

I don’t think the fact that this is organized by no doubt powerful and sadistic demons to be very reassuring… Just gonna not say anything there…

“...Well, I think we should get going! There are seats reserved for us.” She said, leading the way towards one of the devices.

“What do you even actually call these things…” I pondered out loud as we stepped inside.

“We did call it a warp point yesterday…” She noted, as if mocking my question. “...But I guess you can also call it a teleporter. If you want. People call it all kinds of different things.”

…I’ll just stick with what they are calling it then.

*Beep* *Shine*

It’s going to take a long while to get used to this… Where are we anyway? The room we’re in looks a lot different than those long hallways from yesterday.

“Here we are. The VIP area. We are almost at the very top floor of this giant colosseum…” She began explaining before leading me to a large lobby with other people inside… How many VIPs are there? There are a lot of people here, many I do not recognize in the slightest. I have no idea what to do. “Come on, let’s find a seat.”

I don’t really have anything to say to object, so I just go along with her and find a sofa to sit down on. On the way I saw a massive table full of food that some people were taking without care.

“Oh, right! Free food. Another thing that people love about this kind of event is the unlimited food for people who come here. There’s an entry cost for everyone else, but it’s only a few hundred yen.” She explained. Talk about luxury… Never heard of something like this back home…

“Oh hey. Aren’t you here a bit early, Mani? Where’s your friend?” Someone chimed in, walking toward us with a plate of food in her hand.

A rather tall lady with purple hair and an eyepatch, with the left blue eye remained visible, wearing a black jacket and pants with white shirt underneath.

“Hi Miss Neturn.” The fox girl returned her greeting, standing up and walking towards her. “Everyone is coming here at their own pace. I’m just here early to show her around a bit.”

“I see.” She said before staring at me for a moment. “I’m Neturn, what’s your name?”

I can’t say I feel too comfortable to answer, despite her putting on a friendly tone.

“She’s still a bit shy. Her name is Maxi.” The fox girl said in my stead.

“Nice to meet you, Maxi.” The purple-haired woman said. “If you want to know something, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“Yeah yeah…” I doubt I’m going to do that, I have her leading me around anyway.

“By the way, Miss Neturn. I didn’t think you were participating if I remembered right.” The fox girl pointed out.

“Oh. I’m just here to watch this time, catching up with Sora and having a good time.” She replied.

“Ah. I see…” She responded, sounding a bit awkward. “I guess even Tana doesn’t participate every time.”

“I don’t think a lot of heavy-hitters are participating this time around. Even you aren’t if I remember right.” She said, addressing the person she took a glance at.

“I didn’t get involved often anyway, always more of a spectator myself.” The other purple haired woman in the room replied, having longer hair with a small strand sticking out at the top of her head, as well as eye color somewhere between red and orange. Lazily leaning on the sofa with an empty wine glass in her hand. “I’m just here to hang out with her more, it’s the same with you.”

“I guess we’re similar in that regard.” The woman called Neturn said with a chuckle.

“Probably more than most realized…” The other purple-haired woman said before checking the empty glass and then standing back up and walking to a table full of wine bottles to take one. “Why didn’t she go with giant barrels with the faucet like last time?”

“...Because you took the whole barrel last time?” The eye-patched lady replied in exasperation.

“Ohh… I did remember that.” The fox girl remarked.

“You were tempted to do the same, don’t even.” The other purple-haired woman addressed the fox girl before opening the wine bottle.

“D-Don’t tell them!” She said in embarrassment, starting to panicking and raising her voice.

“I don’t think anyone here is gonna tease you about it… much.” The long-haired lady said, not giving the most reassuring response.

“...Anyway! I think she should take it slow right now, so for the others, please leave her alone for the time being.” The fox girl said loudly as she looked around the room, with some people paying attention, and others chatting amongst themselves, clearly clueless about what’s going on.

“...Well I wasn’t gonna say anything.” A black-haired woman said.

“Sorry… Uhhh…” The fox girl awkwardly replied as she got some eyes on her after the small scene she made. “W-Well hope you all have a good day!”

She then walked back to the sofa we chose and sat down in embarrassment.

…I’m just not gonna comment on what just happened.

“...I can show you around here in her stead in the meantime.” The eye-patched lady offered.

“I’m good.” I said while shaking my head.

“Hm. Then I’ll be off then. Hope you have a good time.” She said before walking away.

…Now what? Doesn’t look like anything is happening soon… Actually, how does the free food thing work anyway? Maybe I should’ve asked her about that…

“Alright! Think that’s enough moping.” Well that was a quick recovery. “I’ll get something to eat, and a bottle as well. What about you?”

“...I’ll follow your example.” I replied, to which I was met with a smile.

“Cool. I’ll show you around.” She said with enthusiasm. I’m not really sure how much there is to show exactly…

 

…It was all a bit simpler than I thought. Which is good. The food is good… and apparently unlimited, at least for the duration of this tournament…

“How long does this take place anyway?” I asked.

“Three days, no way they can get everything wrapped up in one day with how many contestants and exhibition matches there are.” She replied. I guess people will be getting a lot of mileage out of this event…

“And we are just gonna watch every single match?” I asked, hoping for that to not be the case.

“I mean we could, but I wasn’t intending to.” She answered. I guess…

“Then let’s not.” I said, making it clear I couldn’t be bothered following all of this.

“Hey you two!” Someone loud called out.

“Oh! Tana! Why did you come here alone? Where’s Elisa?” The fox girl asked.

“Eh. She got called in for something. Probably won’t take long.” She casually said.

“Huh. Of all days…” The fox girl muttered. So much about this being the holidays. “I guess Ragy is with Flosa right now?”

“Yep, keeping her company in the contestant hall.” She confirmed.

“Guess it’s just us three right now then.” The fox girl said, including me for some reason.

“Yep. I’m sure they’ll come back at some point, but for now, we should keep each other company.” The wolf girl said, taking a glance at me. “How have you been holding up? Just realized that you kinda ended up here in the middle of a pretty big event.”

“Please just tell me I don’t have to actually participate.” I said, starting to have a bad feeling.

“Eeh… I think you need some time to gather your footing here anyway. Don’t worry about it.” She said with a smile. Guess she really didn’t think I should join in.

“Glad that you also think that.” The fox girl chimed in, before checking something on that device of hers. “We got… 2 hours before the tournament actually started. A bit of time to kill.”

“Oh! Right! Hey!” The wolf girl suddenly shouted loudly. “Anyone wanna fight to kill some time!?”

“...Your audacity is entertaining, I’ll give you that.” An orange-haired girl wearing white clothing said, tying her hair in a long ponytail… Looks familiar somehow… “But I’ll pass.”

“...No takers?” The wolf girl confusingly asked, and got nothing but silence in return. “Aww… Fine… What about you? Want a rematch?”

“...No.” I said after a brief moment of shock. Who would even want to fight a monster like her?

“...I’ll go wait in a corner or something…” She said, exaggerating her disappointment before walking away.

Other people just ignore her and keep doing their own thing. Does she not have a reputation for being strong, or is it that…

“Can I ask you something?” I said to the fox girl.

“What is it?” She replied.

“Who is the strongest person in the room right now?” I asked after suddenly realizing something.

“It’ll be Miss Rico, the one who just replied to Tana just now.” She answered.

“...By how much?” I wondered out loud.

“Umm… Not really sure myself, but certainly way stronger.” She replied with uncertainty. I have no freaking idea what any of those is supposed to mean, but as it stands I guess I won’t cause any fuss, not that I was intending to anyway.

“Change of question… How many are at least on her level?” Might as well ask this too…

“Most people here are on her level or higher. Some are said to have more raw power but lacking in skill or vice versa, but generally most people here can compete with her.” She elaborated… Just what is with people in this very room? What makes them VIP anyhow? Now it really feels like if I slighted them even a little bit there won’t be anything left of me by the end… “Maxi? You’re feeling alright?”

“...I’m fine enough. I’m just gonna sit down and wait…” I said before walking away to find an empty seat. Let’s not think about this anymore…