[Luna POV]

While visiting the Academy to find Ibuki’s relative, I visited Mimir who told me where I could find her.  When I did find her and introduced myself, I somehow got caught up in her rhythm.

 

“Now spill, give me all your secrets.” (Suzuka)

 

“Hmm.  Well, I don’t use any makeup and I try to eat balanced meals so that I stay in perfect shape.  Plus, I make sure to put extra care into my hair and tail.  Me and a friend even put together some stuff to make sure to bring out the maximum amount of fluff from them.” (Luna)

 

“I see.  They do look pristine.  Mind if I ask for some of that stuff?” (Suzuka)

 

“I don’t mind, but we can save that for later.” (Luna)

 

“True, true.  What is it that you needed from me today?” (Suzuka)

 

“Not much.  I sought you out since Ibuki mentioned you back in Onigashima.  Said she would like your help in reducing her workload and just to see you or something.” (Luna)

 

“Sounds like her.  I’d really like to help her too, but constantly doing paperwork isn’t my style.  I mean seriously, have you seen how much she has to do?  It’s insane.  And don’t even get me started on how it never decreases, like, come on, what are people doing that requires this amount of paperwork?  I’d rather just burn it all and be done with it.” (Suzuka)

 

“I totally get it.  My mom is always doing paperwork as well.  My dad would be too if he didn’t push it off on a subordinate and train all day.” (Luna)

 

“Your dad is smart.” (Suzuka)

 

“Eh, sometimes.” (Luna)

 

“Hahahaha.  But aside from Ibuki, is there anything else?” (Suzuka)

 

“Not really.  But it is fun talking with you.” (Luna)

 

“Thanks, I try.  Hmmm.  Do you mind staying still for a few minutes?” (Suzuka)

 

“S-ure?” (Luna)

 

Suzuka stood up and walked around looking at me from every angle she could.  When she was done, she sat back down.

 

‘What was that about?’

 

{No idea.}

 

“Hmmmmm.” (Suzuka)

 

As I was pondering why Suzuka did what she did, she started to use some magic.  She closed her eyes and a few seconds later, her horns disappeared and two fox ears the same color as her hair appeared on her head.  At her back, a fox tail also appeared.

 

“Haaaaaaah.  Why is illusory magic so hard?” (Suzuka)

 

“Hmmm.” (Luna)

 

“What?” (Suzuka)

 

“A good enough recreation, but it lacks true fluff.  I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s a disappointment, almost an insult on the level of wyvern scales.” (Luna)

 

“Damn, harsh much?” (Suzuka)

 

“No, that was sugarcoated.  And why did you do that in the first place?” (Luna)

 

“Because I’m training my illusory magic and want to get it as realistic as possible.” (Suzuka)

 

“Neat.  By the way, what’s the difference between illusory magic and illusion magic?” (Luna)

 

“Illusion magic is the more potent and powerful version of illusory magic.  Illusory magic only affects the caster and is pretty much only useful for disguises and theatre type things.” (Suzuka)

 

“Interesting.  I’m fond of illusions myself.” (Luna)

 

“You get illusion magic as a race skill, right?” (Suzuka)

 

“Yep.” (Luna)

 

“Mind showing it off some?  If I get a feel for the extreme end of the spectrum, it might give me some inspiration for my own magic.” (Suzuka)

 

“Fine, but don’t blame me for anything that happens afterward.” (Luna)

 

I stared into Suzuka’s eyes and they became dull.

 

{What did you trap her in?}

 

‘A sea of fluff.  If she’s going to try and imitate it, then she needs to know what true fluff is.  But don’t worry, I made sure it won’t mess with her too much.’

 

{You really took offense to her cheap imitation didn’t you?}

 

‘Only a little.’

 

After a few more minutes of bantering with Tamamo, I snapped my fingers and Suzuka returned.

 

“Eh?” (Suzuka)

 

“You completely back yet?” (Luna)

 

“Y-yeah……That was an…experience.” (Suzuka)

 

“I hope so.  And your thoughts?” (Luna)

 

“Well, at first I thought you didn’t do anything, but then everything disappeared and I was surrounded by things that looked like your tail and other extremely fluffy things.  Then I started to get covered by them and the fluff kind of whispered to me to let it consume me.  After trying to resist for a bit, you pulled me back.” (Suzuka)

 

“Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen, but at least you learned a bit about true fluff and stayed sane, so it’s all good.” (Luna)

 

Ignoring that first part, I am very impressed.  I never thought an illusion could get to that point.” (Suzuka)

 

“Oh please, that was simple.  The real complicated stuff is making the illusions take physical form.  The mana consumption to keep it up is ridiculous and they can’t be used for much at the same time.  Of course, this hardly matters when you have equally absurd amounts of mana, but still.” (Luna)

 

{Luna, none of that is really simple for normal people.}

 

‘Eh, tomato, potato.’

 

“Can you demonstrate please?” (Suzuka)

 

“What do you mean?” (Luna)

 

“Can you demonstrate a physical illusion and how close it can get to something real?” (Suzuka)

 

“Easily.” (Luna)

 

I turned around so Suzuka couldn’t see anything and pulled out a small bread from my inventory and then made another one with illusion magic.  I then turned back around.

 

“Try both of them and tell me if you can figure out which one is an illusion.  Just remember to use all of your senses.” (Luna)

 

Suzuka took both things from me.  She weighed each of them in her hands, smelled them, broke them apart, and then finally tasted them.

 

“Wow, they’re both delicious.” (Suzuka)

 

“Thanks, I made them myself.  Anyway, which is fake?” (Luna)

 

“Ummmmmm.  Neither of them?” (Suzuka)

 

“Nope.  That one.” (Luna)

 

I snapped my finger and the illusion bread vanished.

 

“Ok, that felt weird.” (Suzuka)

 

“Sorry about that.  But that’s not even the best part about illusions.” (Luna)

 

“What is?” (Suzuka)

 

“Well, are you sure this entire conversation even happened?” (Luna)

 

“Eh?” (Suzuka)

 

“Are you still trapped in the first illusion I showed you, or is this the real world?  Am I still sitting in front of you, or did I move somewhere else?  Is the fountain we’re sitting on actually real, or is it a false image of the last scenery you saw?” (Luna)

 

Suzuka’s eyes went wide and she gripped the side of her head.

 

“Ugh.  I don’t know.  If I am still stuck, please let me out.” (Suzuka)

 

“Ok, yeah, sorry, I just wanted to mess with you a bit and got a little carried away.  Don’t worry, you’re in the real world and I’m the real me.  Everything around us aside from that fake fluff is real.” (Luna)

 

“Fine, I’ll get rid of it if it offends you so much.” (Suzuka)

 

She snapped her fingers and she went back to normal.

 

“Better?” (Suzuka)

 

“Yep.  And again, sorry for giving you a small existential crisis.” (Luna)

 

“All’s fair in fun and illusions.” (Suzuka)

 

“I like the way you think.  So, did this give you any ideas or anything?” (Luna)

 

“A ton.  In fact, I’d like to get to trying it out.” (Suzuka)

 

“Then I’ll leave you to it.  Oh, and before I go, send some letters to Ibuki and think about at least helping her out a bit when you get out of here.” (Luna)

 

“Fine.  But only if you help me out with stuff like this again some time.” (Suzuka)

 

“I’ll try for as long as I’m in this country.” (Luna)

 

“Good enough for me.” (Suzuka)

 

I got up and left Suzuka to her own devices and started to make my way to my next destination in the Academy.

 

‘That was a very interesting encounter.’

 

{Indeed.  But did you really need to go that far in messing with the poor girl?}

 

‘Yeah, I really went overboard with that, didn’t I.  But at least I cleared it up before she started to question if the world was real or not.  I’d only do that to my enemies.’

 

{Understandable.  Now, what are you going to talk with the others about today?}

 

‘Whatever I feel like.  I kind of just want to chat with people other than my party for a bit.’

 

{Fair.}

 

Chaos Realm:
Atmos: I see.

That doesn't sound good.

Order: It really doesn't.

Atmos: Maybe I should work on my illusions.

Order: Payto, call Grey and Tamamo here now, we need to put a stop to this yesterday.

Already on it.

*Snap*

Grey: What?  Why am I here?

No time, go and stop Atmos from doing Atmos things.

Grey: How bad is it?

Order: Illusions.

Grey: So extremely serious, got it.

*Snap*

Tamamo: You better have had a good reason for that.

Atmos and illusions.

Tamamo: On it.

Atmos: Oi!  Why is that all it took to convince you?

Tamamo and Grey: Because it's you.

Atmos: ... Stop being so reasonable all the time.