chapter02 · 057-ep57
Episode 56: The Truth About Mitsuki Shijou
"""...!?"""
"Wh...!?"
In one corner of the joint training ground, where young police officers and major-clan recruits were competing, every member of the unarmed and weapons training group stood speechless.
"Oh! I only tried copying you by eye, but your movements really ARE wonderfully efficient and Elegant, Mitsuki-sama! Even though I held back so I wouldn't wreck the training ground, that came out more powerful than I expected, desu no!"
Karin ojou-sama happily sheathed her practice sword. Her draw had wiped out three special training targets at once: custom-made 'Infinite Slice-Mes,' self-repairing practice devices made with the cores of formless monsters, all specially resistant to slashing. She hadn't split them in half or chopped them to bits. She'd pulverized them so silently it was as though she'd cut the sound itself. Everyone was stunned.
The first to react were the viewers watching the abnormal sight through their screens.
【Huh?】
【No no no no NO!】
【What even IS slash resistance...】
【Mitsuki-sama got past the slash resistance too, so that's not the issue. EVERYTHING ELSE is nuts!? How'd a sword slash turn into an area attack!?】
【And what WAS that... I didn't hear a sound... are my headphones broken, desu no?】
【N-no, I didn't hear anything either, desu wa...】
【Did she cut the air the sound travels through...?】
【I've seen things chopped to bits in an instant, like Mitsuki-sama did earlier, but never seen them vanish without a trace from ONE slash!?】
【She's breaking the concept of sword cuts】
【Elegant Draw-and-Obliterate??????】
【We know ojou-sama's a monster, but WHAT just happened!?】
【And even with that force she avoided the cores properly, because they're starting to regenerate...!?】
【Wait, Karin ojou-sama's skilled, but she's probably self-taught. Isn't this the first time she's incorporated a formal style built up over centuries...?】
【This is like teaching a bear karate and making it even stronger...】
【↑ Martial arts on top of wild-animal strength? Terrifying lmao】
【Not 'a demon with an iron club' but 'Karin ojou-sama with martial arts'...】
【How does she STILL have room to grow...? (shaking)】
【Also, how'd she perfectly copy Mitsuki-sama's swordplay after seeing it ONCE!?】
【I thought this while she was teaching Honoka-sama, but Karin ojou-sama's ability to read moves is extraordinary!?】
"Hmm. I can't quite copy it after only one try, though."
While chat mixed awe and praise, Karin herself seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
"Mitsuki-sama's was more... refined and beautiful than my movements... You can really see the difference years of practice make. Well, I'm streaming, so enough self-analysis. Better to have you teach me directly from here! What should I do, Mitsuki-sama?"
"...!"
"Mitsuki-sama...?"
Karin tilted her head. Mitsuki was acting even stranger than before. She covered her mouth as though stifling a cry and stared at Karin's hand on the sword with a ferocious expression. Her breathing was unusually ragged. Something was plainly wrong.
【What IS wrong with Mitsuki-chan today!?】
【Mitsuki-chan's looking at her like she's her parents' murderer... Nobody else may see it, but I do】
【Is she in shock because her swordsmanship got copied instantly!?】
Mitsuki's viewers remained bewildered. Honoka, watching beside them, couldn't stand seeing the popular streamer seemingly struggle to contain some overwhelming feeling and started to interject. But—
"...Ah. U-um, sorry... I was so stunned I couldn't speak... You wanted instruction, right...?"
Mitsuki responded, apparently regaining her composure, and just managed to put her on-stream face back on.
"Well, your overall movements are good. Perfect, in fact. If I were to get into the finer details, though, moving this part like so would—"
"Oh, I see, desu wa!"
ZUBAN!
Karin swung as Mitsuki, oddly stiff, advised her. The strike was more concentrated and clearly more refined than before. It obliterated the now-regenerated Infinite Slice-Me again.
"Another thing... lower your hips one millimeter here."
"Amazing! That makes all the difference, desu wa!"
ZAN!
Her slashes grew more polished with every stroke, each blow sharper than the last. Karin cheered at the dramatic change and swung again.
【Infinite Slice-Me: 'Please stop'】
【She avoids the core, so it's fine】
【Now you can slice me infinite times, don!】
【How can she avoid the core that precisely with THAT destructive power...?】
【Hey, even an amateur can see she's getting more skilled with each tiny bit of advice!?】
【Is Mitsuki-sama amazing, or is Karin ojou-sama abnormal...?】
【Both, probably, desu wa!】
【Mitsuki-sama's instructions are spot-on, but she's still making a face like THAT!?】
【Every time Karin ojou-sama improves, Mitsuki-sama looks more like wrinkly Pi●achu!?】
【I don't know why she's making that face, but she can stop if she hates it!? She's making an already monstrous ojou-sama even harder to handle!】
Despite Mitsuki's seemingly reluctant coaching, Karin's movements grew ever more refined. After several strokes, her draw left everything else behind.
Click!
Several instants after the soft sound of her sword entering the sheath—SWAP!
The Infinite Slice-Me was already cut in two.
【Huh?】
【I heard a sword going into a sheath and then it was already cut!?】
【When did she draw it, desu no!?】
【I thought that sound was her drawing the blade, but it was her SHEATHING it lmao】
【Her FIRST strike was impossibly fast, but this time she didn't just finish the swing—her sword's already back in the sheath. Too Elegant!?】
【I've seen this in a manga! Is that a slash faster than sound!?】
Everyone recoiled at the bizarre phenomenon. Then something even stranger happened.
"...Huh? The Infinite Slice-Me isn't healing...?"
As Honoka pointed out, it wasn't moving at all. Normally it would start regenerating immediately after being obliterated, so long as its core remained intact.
【Wait, did she break it...?】
【Uh-oh...】
【Knew she'd do it eventually...】
【Destruction of property. Off to join Black Shell, desu wa...】
"Huh!? Wait! N-no, it isn't broken! Probably! Look—I didn't hit its core!"
Karin defended herself in a panic. Sure enough, the core didn't have a scratch, and there was so much mana in it that its failure to regenerate was baffling.
【Huh? You're right】
【Then why isn't it healing...?】
【Infinite Slice-Me was Finite Slice-Me all along...?】
【What's happening, desu no?】
"It must be this! Here!"
THUNK!
As if answering chat's confusion, Karin stuck her blade into the Infinite Slice-Me. At once, it started regenerating, as though that blow had finally made it realize it had been cut.
"See? It wasn't broken, desu wa! I sometimes meet monsters that are this slow on the uptake and don't notice they've already been beaten. Though this one was a processed training device."
【HUH???????】
【WHAT???????】
【Wait, so she cut so fast and so cleanly that it didn't even start healing????】
【What does that even MEAN!?】
【Not even noticing you've been cut... isn't that master-swordsman stuff from manga!?】
【How'd she get there in less than a DAY holding a sword? She hasn't even swung it TEN times!?】
【Um, she sounded like she'd already done this a few times BEFORE she picked up a sword...?】
【Was Karin ojou-sama reducing upper-layer monsters to stains on the wall out of MERCY, so they wouldn't sadly live on without realizing they'd died...?】
【No, I think those wall stains STILL don't realize they're dead... (shaking)】
【Th-that's impossible, desu wa...!? Our product shouldn't malfunction like that...!?】
【The manufacturer showed up lmao】
【Finding an unintended behavior like that, what is she, a hardcore gamer breaking games with weird exploits?】
【Please stop debugging reality...】
【Karin ojou-sama's a bug in reality herself...】
"P-phew. That frightened me... Still, I feel as though just a few pointers have made my bearing even more wonderfully Elegant!"
Genuinely alarmed by the near miss with property damage, Karin now brightened. She turned to Mitsuki, who'd been stunned by Karin's insane swordplay.
"Mitsuki-sama, you truly are remarkable! Was it the Shijou style? As they said in Dungeon Alive, techniques built up over generations really are wonderful, desu no! Thanks to you, I'm one step closer to becoming a more Elegant streamer!"
"...! I'm... glad."
Mitsuki bit her lip at that radiant smile. As though she'd reached her limit, she blurted out:
"Excuse me, I need to use the restroom...! I'll take a short break from instructing and streaming...!"
She suddenly cut off her stream. Leaving Karin—"Oh? Is that so?"—and the trainees behind, she ran away at full speed.
【Seriously, what's wrong with Mitsuki-sama today...?】
【Well... watching a monster instantly master the swordsmanship you spent years polishing would crush anyone's spirit as a martial artist, never mind an explorer...】
【Even if she WERE crushed, would Mitsuki-sama act that strange while streaming?】
【She's a pro streamer with the nerve of a level-900 fighter...】
【We've said it already, but something really doesn't add up...?】
【More importantly, Mitsuki-sama uses the RESTROOM...!?】
【↑ Reported, desu no】
Chat wasn't alone in its confusion. Looking toward where Mitsuki had run off, Honoka addressed Karin.
"Um... are you all right, Karin ojou-sama...?"
"Hm? Whatever do you mean?"
"Well, she seemed to be glaring at you the whole time, for some reason... I wondered if it bothered you."
"Oh, she was acting a little oddly... But she didn't seem malicious, so I thought perhaps that's just how she is."
Karin answered lightly, then considered. "Now that you mention it, why WAS she like that if there was no ill will or hostility?"
(She ran toward the restroom... Perhaps even an explorer's reinforced bladder couldn't save her from nearly watering the flower beds? Or was she feeling ill? She didn't look that way when I 'looked' at her, though...)
Karin finally joined the others in wondering about it. "Whatever the case, I'd like to speak to her again later! I must thank her properly for bringing me one step closer to Elegance!"
Mindful of Mitsuki, she returned for now to the sponsored task of introducing the training ground to her viewers.
〇
"...! Impossible, impossible, impossible..."
After ending her stream and fleeing Karin and the others, Mitsuki ran nowhere near the restroom.
【Mitsuki-chan, you suddenly ended the stream—are you okay!?】
【Don't lose confidence! Karin ojou-sama isn't... well, human!】
【Among humans, YOUR swordsmanship is the best, Mitsuki-chan!】
Posts like these flooded the black screen that allowed comments for a little while after the stream ended, and social media as well. Fans weren't the only ones concerned. Staff she passed near the training grounds turned to stare. "What happened?" "What's wrong, Mitsuki-san?" She looked that desperate, that overwhelmed.
Anyone who knew what had happened might have thought Karin's ability had broken Mitsuki's spirit and she was about to file her explorer retirement papers at the guild on the spot. In fact, several posts on a certain forum worried earnestly about her mental state and possible retirement.
Yet while everyone speculated and fretted about her unusual behavior, Mitsuki reached an individual training room, breathless. She checked that nobody was around, drew a deep breath, and—
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAA! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THIS IS INSANE, INSANE, INSANE! Seeing Karin ojou-sama in person is TOO AMAZING! Don't I deserve a medal for staying even remotely sane after that completely unexpected dose of one-hundred-percent pure, live Elegance!?!?!?"
She shouted with shining eyes, letting out everything she'd held in. There was no grief from a swordswoman whose techniques had been stolen in an instant, nor resentment of Karin's reckless dungeon antics. Only fierce, passionate adoration blazed in her eyes as she babbled feverishly.
"What WAS that swordplay!? She copied one of my forms after seeing it once, and after a few pointers she surpassed me completely in THAT form!? My years of training became part of ojou-sama, and she even thanked and praised me for it... It's too much of a reward...! And a processed training device didn't even realize it'd been cut—and she's done it before? Karin ojou-sama is everything I hoped for! Every word and action is insane, and I love it!"
Yes. Mitsuki Shijou was an ardent fan of Karin ojou-sama.
For a girl raised in a warrior family stretching back generations, the strong had always been people she instinctively yearned for and admired. As a child, Mitsuki had loved dungeon anime and looked up to many fictional explorers. To her, Karin, who crushed countless powerful monsters without a scratch, was exactly like the heroes of her childhood come to life from the TV screen.
Furthermore, Mitsuki had been a model student since childhood. Karin's wild behavior was exhilarating to her. Ever since the first post-viral stream, when Karin had knocked Kagerou flying without a second thought and done something as bizarre as the Tea RTA, Mitsuki had been hooked on her 'Elegance.' After the Shibuya battle, her devotion broke through the ceiling. She played Karin's archived streams in the background during daily practice and sent over two million yen in superchats from an alt account. Beneath her usual cheerful, poised demeanor she'd become an intensely passionate fan.
"Wait, how did our streams clash out of nowhere!? I always check her announcements so I never miss a Karin ojou-sama stream... Oh! I know! I got so jealous of Honoka-sama that I felt like I'd die whenever Karin ojou-sama mentioned her, so I muted the words 'Honoka-sama'! That's why I couldn't see the announcement that said she'd be checking on Honoka-sama!"
Mitsuki was now saying every thought the moment it entered her head.
"Ugh! I wasn't ready to see her, didn't know what to do, and behaved TERRIBLY! I want to prepare properly and collab with her someday...! If we can't collab, I want to turn EVERY one of my streams into reaction-and-commentary videos on Karin ojou-sama's videos! And I want her autograph! On the hilt of my favorite sword... no, if I can get away with it, I want her to mark my body with a tattoo and make my bond with Karin ojou-sama eternal!"
She shouted wish after wish. Yet she couldn't ask Karin for a single one. Mitsuki had long told herself she didn't even deserve to admit she was a fan. Because—
"Ah... ugh. I want to tell her how I really feel... I wanted to tell her earlier that I'm a huge fan... Why did I..."
After pouring out her feelings, she suddenly cooled down, clutched her head, and slumped.
"Why did I write 'Fist Fuck' in the comments on episode twenty-five of Dungeon Alive when they streamed it back then...!?"
The original sin of giving the person she adored most the worst, most embarrassing mistake of her life. A past act of sheer, inexplicable impulse. It was why Mitsuki couldn't tell Karin she was a fan when they met face-to-face, and the greatest reason she'd had no idea how to behave and completely malfunctioned.
Too afraid Karin would hate her even if she got on her knees and apologized, Mitsuki let out yet another moan of anguish and regret.