Dimension Wave

“I bite my thumb at thee, Miss Kizuna!” Yamikage shouted out from the deck .

We’re back at sea, as we usually are . The only thing different was that water surrounded us in every direction .
There was no land at all to be seen .

“Oh, picking a fight, huh?”
“I can take no more squid!”
“I understand, but Sheryl, you too must give due respect to our bounty . ”
“… I’m not wasting food . Just repurposing it . ”

The first glance of yet squid again had Yamikage shrieking, while Shouko chastises Sheryl for loading our lunch into the ballista .
But there were two others .

“Ahaha, you guys are hilarious!”
“Ugh… why did I sign up for this…?”

Tsugumi had a good laugh, but Alto was far less impressed .
How did the six of us sailors end up like this? you may ask .
Well, let’s go back to about a week ago, to the day after we beat Dimension Wave .

We decided we needed a day off . Actually, it’d probably be more accurate to say that we needed a day to walk to the Second City to research the newly implemented items .
By chance, we b.u.mped into Romina and with the warm support from everyone, I had her make me a new weapon out of the parts I got from gutting Cerberus . Romina eyed me with suspicion when I handed the items to her, but she said nothing of it and forged me some proper equipment .
I mean, it was only natural that I stood out just a little when I’m the only one with a huge inventory of Cerberus’ parts .

In any case, what she came up with was the Cerberus Slaughterer—an unadorned blade that like nothing but an oddly matte black kitchen knife .
A weapon forged from the mats of a boss monster that powerful, it should be accordingly lethal .
Well, should…
… but I wouldn’t know . I didn’t even have the Energy to equip it .
Advertis.e.m.e.ntSo, away it went into my inventory, biding time until I can wield its potential .

Then, we went shopping to check out the updated weapon types, Stones of Mediations, and other new stuff in the game .
Along with a newly purchased reel, I had a beaming smile plastered on my face as Shouko, Yamikage, Sheryl, and I made our way to the Second City .
Then, I saw it .

—The lure .

It was glimmering—no, rather, it was glowing .
We came across a merchant selling a lure that would glow in the dark . Or better yet, a lure for night fishing .
10,000 serin was its price .
As soon as I showed any intent on purchasing it, Shouko immediately tried to stop me .
You absolutely cannot buy this, Kizuna . Do not be swindled, she pleaded, but alas, it was to no avail—my wallet would soon be 10,000 serin lighter .

“You are being completely cheated by the merchant! Please, just listen to us!”

I had no regrets .
I still have no regrets because, though it unbeknownst to any of us at the time, I definitely did not make a bad decision .
At the end of the day, I went to bed and slept soundly, pleased with a peaceful and successful shopping trip .

The next day .
After deciding that I should regain my lost Energy, we set off back to our floating home base of a sailing ship .
Things were still fine at this point .

“We may not risk thee taking damage, Miss Kizuna . Thou art best to rest in the cabin . ”

Maybe I was still tired from all the shopping I did the previous day, I left the deck to the rest of them and went to a nap as suggested .
There are two bedrooms in the cabin . But for some reason, I felt a little embarra.s.sed to be the only one sleeping and so, I locked the door before the Sandman visited me .

“Gah! Help!”

A few hours later, I was awoken by the racket outside .
I stepped up and out to the deck and immediately understood the situation .

… my fellow party members were engaged in some sort of act of piracy .

To sum up the bizarre turn of events unfolding in front of my very eyes, my sister, Tsugumi†Exceed, was about to be thrown overboard .
In the water waiting for their meal were three Blue Sharks .
Honestly, it seemed like a slapstick routine more than anything .

“What the h.e.l.l are you guys doing?!”

I snapped to my senses and shouted at them .
Shouko was the first to respond .

“Executing a stowaway!”

All of my attention was on them .
Something must’ve happened while I was asleep, but frankly, I really didn’t want to know . I just didn’t have much of a choice but to talk things over with them .

“Come on! Tsumugi’s my sister! What the h.e.l.l happened?”
“Judgement upon stowaways on our vessel!”
“You stay quiet!”
“… stowaways are shark food . ”
“I don’t have a clue what you mean . ”
“Seajacking shall bring demise unto us!”
“I told you to stay quiet, Dark Shadow!”

Our arguing brought me nowhere closer to understanding what was going on, but at least I saved Tsugumi for now . I had to coax them out of their frenzy before I could get a good grasp of the situation .
Apparently, while I was sleeping, a group of four that were stowed away in the bilge tried to hijack our ship .
Our party members engaged the hijackers at the bow and easily rounded them up, as the hijackers didn’t have any naval combat–related skills .
—And then .

“Are you for real?!”

That still didn’t explain anything .
Then, they told me they were discussing what to do with the hijackers when one of them called out to Shouko .

“Remember how we were allies?”

He tried to fish for sympathy .
It seemed like they were the people Shouko used to run with before coming to us .
After seeing how well we did in the Dimension Wave, there were snide remarks about how “the likes of us Spirits” must have played dirty . It made Shouko’s blood boil, and so now, the hijackers were being dangled above the water .

“I’ll make sure to spread rumors . ”

His last words were befitting of a heroin in a dating sim game .
With one down, it leaves three .

“Goodbye to you two, too . ”
“We’ll kill you in the next Dimension Wave . ”
“Wh—aaagh!”

They sure can talk a lot of trash .
It was a slog to get through what Shouko and the others had to say too, but I had little choice but to listen .
Anyway, it turns out that the hijackers found Tsugumi hiding in a barrel, hoping to pop out and startle me .

“What a bunch of tools!”
“Yes, they were quite the characters . ”
“Don’t pretend like you didn’t go crazy either, Shouko . ”
“Sorry…”

I never woulda thought that she would flipped out like this .
Tsugumi then began to explain why she was here .

“I snuck here because you and your party seemed to be having so much fun, big bro…”
“What, did you have enough of your permadeath run?”
“I muttered that under my breath! You weren’t supposed to hear that!”

Unfortunately for you, I’m not hard of hearing
It’d be weirder if I couldn’t hear you since I’m standing right next to you .
And it’s not like I have super good hearing either .
… not that I know of, at least .

“What’s a permadeath run anyway?”
“… it’s a roleplaying thing in VRMMOs . ”
“Hmm, don’t think I’ve heard of it . ”

According to Sheryl, it’s common in virtual worlds where you can’t voluntarily logout, making it kind of like a “if you die in the game, you die in real life” kind of roleplay .
The rest of the party would kick you and cut off communication if you die, I a.s.sume .

“Wait, I didn’t know they were doing that!”

Well, I’m not about to criticize anyone how they play the game, but I can’t say I’m enamored with the idea .
Maybe the frontliners are more dedicated to their role because they play on permadeath rules . Who knows .

“If everybody’s okay with it, maybe we can let Tsugumi into our party . ”
“But of course . ”
“We are indebted to your sister for bequeathing us her aid during the Dimension Wave . ”
“‘kay . ”
“But I mean, y’all just tried to feed her to the sharks…”

None of them could look me in the eyes .
Did you think I’d forget about this?
Tsugumi joined our party without an apology from any of them .

True to their words, the hijackers had been spreading false rumors about us back in the cities . Alto caught wind of it, explained the truth, and seemed to have turned the tables back on them .
Glad that someone’s got our back .

And those were the events that led to Alto joining us .