[Tsunade: Oh, a new member.]
[March 7th: A new member, welcome! Welcome! (Pom-pom confetti!.jpg)]
[Erza: Oh, another member after me. That name… sounds strong.]
[Hancock: Hmph. Could she possibly be stronger than me?]
[Saeko: Welcome, new member. This may be hard to believe, but this is a chat group that connects multiple worlds. For now, try changing your name in your personal info first.]
[Ice General: Hm? What is this? A chat group? Is this some new type of Teigu developed by the Empire? Heh, change my name? You don't know who I am?]
[Saeko: Teigu? What's that? And sorry, I don't know your name until you change it in your personal info.]
[March 7th: It's always like this with new members. @Tetsuya. Tetsuya! You know who this new member is too, right? Hurry up and explain it to her!]
[Tetsuya: You could explain it too, little March 7th. And yes, I know who she is.]
[Tetsuya: Teigu. The Empire. Ice General. It's obvious, the new member is General Esdeath.]
[Ice General: So you've finally shown yourself? And you dare say you don't know my name?]
Esdeath sneered. A chat group connecting other worlds? Wasn't this just a new method the Empire had devised to try to manipulate her?
Still, she was curious about how strong these people were. Could they satisfy her in battle?
[March 7th: It's always like this.]
[Tetsuya: It's normal. It's fine. If they believe, they believe. If not, that's not our concern.]
[Erza: You're right.]
[Ice General: …]
[Tetsuya: It's already night. @Ice General. Take some time to explore this chat group and decide for yourself whether to believe it or not. There are several features here, you can check them out for now. Tomorrow, if you still don't believe it, that's up to you.]
After sending that message, Tetsuya closed the chat group. Whether Esdeath believed it or not didn't matter for now, he just wanted a good night's sleep.
…
The next day, Tetsuya woke up feeling refreshed. He showered, put on his uniform, ate breakfast, and headed to school.
"Ugh!"
On the way, someone crashed into him from behind. However, because Tetsuya's body was solid as a wall, it was the person who bumped into him who ended up falling.
A pained groan came from behind him. It sounded like a girl.
"Ow ow~."
"Are you okay?"
Tetsuya turned around, crouched slightly, and extended his hand, asking with concern. The girl looked delicate, too soft. Running into a body as sturdy as Tetsuya's was bound to hurt.
"I'm fine, hehe. Sorry for bumping into you." She took his hand and stood up, dusting off her skirt and laughing sheepishly while scratching her head.
Tetsuya looked at her and saw a cute girl with shoulder-length reddish-brown hair. Her eyes were pink, narrowing into crescent moons when she smiled awkwardly.
He recognized her.
Her name was Yui Yuigahama, one of the main heroines from the anime Oregairu: My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected. Sadly… she was the losing heroine.
…It wasn't nice to talk about someone's tragic fate like that. Especially since the possibilities here might not be just one, but endless.
"It's fine. It didn't hurt. More importantly, are you sure you're okay?"
Yui brushed the dust off her skirt, checked herself briefly for injuries, and nodded firmly. "Un! I'm fine."
Tetsuya gave a faint smile. "That's good."
"Yeah. I'll get going!"
Yui bowed slightly and ran past him. Soon, she joined a certain group, two girls and two boys.
In class.
Tetsuya attended lessons as usual. But since the old teacher's voice at the front was dull and monotonous, Tetsuya opened the chat group.
===
[Esdeath: Hm… You really aren't from the Empire. I believe that. But is all of this real?]
[March 7th: Of course it's real! Didn't you watch the live stream recordings?!]
Esdeath had already watched two archived live streams in the group. One of them was truly terrifying, the man named Tetsuya fighting an iron dragon in outer space, wielding lightning that looked powerful enough to wipe out the Empire's entire capital.
And that iron dragon, the one called the Doomsday Beast, was horrifying as well. Stronger than any Danger Beast Esdeath had ever seen. It didn't even look like a living creature, more like a machine driven by some immense power.
However, Esdeath dismissed the wreckage of that creature, the Doomsday Beast had already been destroyed, and the one who killed it was Tetsuya.
Now, Esdeath was more interested in Tetsuya.
Interested in fighting him. Was he really that strong? Could he withstand her ice?
Esdeath felt thrilled. Her body trembled just imagining such a battle.
[Esdeath: @Tetsuya. Fight me.]
[Saeko: ???]
[Hancock: ???]
[March 7th: ???]
[Tsunade: ??? Are you serious? You're that confident? Could you even defeat that Doomsday Beast?]
[Esdeath: I don't know. But I crave fighting strong opponents, and Tetsuya is clearly stronger than anyone I know. I want to fight him.]
[March 7th: Uhh… Tetsuya, what do you think?]
Tetsuya had expected this. The Ice General was indeed a battle maniac.
[Tetsuya: I don't mind. But traveling to another member's world costs 1000 points per hour. Can you afford that?]
[Esdeath: …]
Esdeath had already learned some of the chat group's mechanics, including points. Points could be used to enhance abilities, draw from a lottery with various rewards, and travel to other members' worlds.
But the cost was high, 1000 points per hour. Even Tetsuya considered it a bit of extortion.
Esdeath knew several ways to obtain points. One was through group missions,bbut there were none available right now. Another method, in Saeko's world, was killing creatures called zombies, one zombie equaled one point.
Esdeath wondered whether killing Danger Beasts would grant her points. But if one Danger Beast equaled one point, she would need 1000 just for one hour of travel, which wasn't worth it.
So, for now, Esdeath gave up.
[Esdeath: In the next group mission, if you and I are selected together, fight me.]
[Tetsuya: As you wish.]
Tetsuya replied casually, though he was somewhat looking forward to fighting Esdeath as well. If he won, then… well, everyone knew what that meant. A double victory.
Then for the next three hours, Tetsuya attended lessons as usual.