Pastel Rose Tales

Chapter 7: A New Life, and a New Tale

Author's Notes

Reminder: chapter 7 was uploaded at the same as chapter 6, so please read 6 first if you haven't yet.

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The Next Day

I slowly open my eyes as I feel my hand brush against the ARES headset next to me and the familiar weight of Onee-chan cuddling me. I take a deep breath as I recall a certain event from the TWO session last night.

"Wow Friend-san! You're so strong! These quests are nothing for you!" Ako cheers excitedly as Dear had once again made short work of another quest that ended with a horde of enemies trying to attack our defense objective without it taking a single hit.

"Hmm... Can I challenge you to a sparring match?" Everyone turns to Valor who made the request.

"Hmm, that sounds fun, since we've done so many quests it'll be a nice change of pace." Dear says cheerfully.

"Well... this is gonna be interesting to watch..." Alex says, seemingly not knowing who's side to take.

"You got this Sensei!" Tana cheers, making me remember again to ask her about how she tracked me down to Hanasakigawa. It might be better to ask her face to face at school, she probably already knows I know anyway with how close she and Alex are.

Valor opens her menu and sends a duel request to Dear who promptly accepts it. Everyone backs away, making a makeshift arena as the two step back and face each other before they draw their dual blades. There's a lot of dual blade-wielders in this group... aren't there...?

The match starts and in almost the blink of an eye Valor closes the gap, catching Dear off guard but she's able to intercept Valor's horizontal slash. Valor however, proves her skill in the ways of the sword by immediately following up with a forward lunge with her other blade aimed for Dear's chest, forcing Dear to press her other blade against Valor's before back flipping to evade.

What happens next can only be described as 'The Best Defense is a great Offense.' Valor rarely gives Dear an opportunity to attack, striking constantly and swiftly before Dear is eventually knocked down on her back and Valor rests one blade on her shoulder and the other pointed at Dear's throat to which Dear promptly laughs after witnessing Valor's display of skill. She really is an Oni.

There have been many theories that Onis likely have significantly greater muscular mass than humans and are incredibly nimble. According to Uncle Albert, in all his time dealing with Beast Folk Traffickers, he's never once found an Oni in their possession.

Unfortunately there's never been a researcher who's been able to meet with an Oni to confirm the theories and myths surrounding them. Unlike every other type of Mythic and Sub-Mythic Beast Folk, Onis have no documented research about them because of how rare they are. There's also the fact that there are less dedicated Beast Folk researchers compared to those in most other fields.

"Ooh! Ooh! I want to spar with Valor too!" Ako exclaims excitedly while bouncing on her feet and Valor turns to Ako with an adorable smile... that feels demonic...

And before we knew it, there was a 15 vs 1 against Valor...

And she still won without taking a single hit.

"Are you... using the System Assist or are you using the Neuron Body Input System?" I ask in disbelief at Valor after she took on 15 people and won. The 'System Assist' is a feature in ARES made to help players perform movements and actions they have no actual experience in, fighting and using weapons for example. Now, on the other end of the spectrum is the 'Neuron Body Input System', this system is more complex. The headset will analyze your physical stature and your neural receptors to predict how you move in the game, or in other words, it helps translate your real world skills into the game. Jane, Iris, Alisa, Onee-chan, and I all use the Neuron Body input system when playing Shooter games due to our extensive experience with firearms. The System Assist for those games feels... weird for us...