Progressive Factor

And They Get A Confession

December 11th

Asuna remembers a time in junior high during a social studies final exam, where one of the girls beside her dropped her eraser on the floor. It landed by Asuna’s desk, so naturally Asuna went to pick it up. However, the roaming teacher beat Asuna there and, having seen where the eraser dropped from, was going to hand the item back to the student.

Then she saw the writing within the eraser holder.

The student’s mother was brought to the school for an explanation, and Asuna happened to be passing by as mother and daughter departed with heads down. The argument is unforgotten; to please her mother’s expectations of her, the girl risked cheating on her final. The resulting smack is unforgettable as well.

Why is she remembering this now? She glances up as Koharu taps her on the shoulder and points to the space between the blinds of the window they sit by. The building they’re within is right behind Nezha’s workspace in the Taran square, exactly where he was placed the night prior.

What Koharu is pointing to is Nezha finishing setting up shop as two armored players come to him. “You closing up?”

“Er, no! I’m open! You looking for repairs or…”

“No. Upgrade.”

“Ah… Upgrade, then.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Er, no! Not at all!”

“Quickness, please. I’ll pay for enough materials to make the chance 90%.”

“That will be 2,700 Col then.” The player getting the upgrade provides Nezha with the Col and sword to be worked on. Asuna focuses intently on Nezha’s hands as he unsheathes the blade and inspects it. “Anneal Blade 6. That gives you two chances left. It’s already got plus three to sharpness and durability. A challenging sword, but a very good one. And if you upgrade the quickness on top of that, it’ll be even better… Here we go.”

“Have they started?”

Asuna answers Argo’s question with a focused nod. “Yes.”

“I realize it’s hard to ignore the flash of light when he tosses the materials into the furnace, but make sure not to miss it.”

“Right.”

“We know.” Nezha kicks the furnace on, tosses the materials, and there’s the flash of light to the right of Nezha from the combination of heat and materials. But the eyes of the three girls weren’t on Nezha’s right, but just slightly to his left, where his left hand interacts with a menu, switching the customer’s Anneal Blade for another. “A...Argo, I saw it.”

“Yep, her switched it out.”

As Nezha begins to hammer the false blade, Koharu sighs, possibly because she didn’t want to believe Nezha was doing anything wrong at all. “Now we wait.”

“Sounds like he’s really putting his heart into those strokes.”

“Indeed… Actually, it was the same with my Wind Fleuret too. Even though it doesn’t matter how you strike it, as long as you hit it the right number of times. At the time, I thought he was praying for the success of the attempt, but he wasn’t. He must have been mourning, actually, for the sword that would be sacrificed in the scam. Yes, the sword he switched in was a ‘spent’ weapon with no attempts left, and any attempt on a spent weapon will always fail. And the penalty for that failure is…”