Chapter 4: Akira’s New Groove

At last, we arrived at the Item Museum! In the worst of times, even this could be an info broker. Our goal was to find some gear for Akira so her parents wouldn’t see her revealing sword dancer attire.

It proved to be more challenging than we thought, however.

“Hmm... They all kinda have an issue.”

“We’ve looked everywhere, but they’re all skimpy! Poor Akki.”

“I’d certainly be embarrassed if my parents saw me wearing these. They’d probably give me a good scolding, too.”

In the entirety of the Item Museum’s collections, every single piece of sword dancer gear was revealing. All of them were even worse than her usual outfit, and none of them better. Some of them made Angelic Charm look conservative!

Why do these things get stronger the less material they use, anyway? Just another fairy-tale rule of video games, I guess? Normally, I’d be all for it! Just not right now.

“Gah, this sucks. Seriously, we’ve checked the whole place and found nothing?”

Where’s the modest yet powerful gear?!

Sword dancer sure was fearsome! You could tell that one of the devs had made this his... personal project.

Still, I had to respect the way the creators put their souls into the work! The girls probably didn’t feel the same, though.

“Hey, Ren! How about this one, bawk?” Kokoru called my name from a spot rather far from the Sword Dancer gear displays.

“’Sup? Find something good?”

“Here. Looks like it’s called the Mimic Fan, bawk.”

Inside the showcase was a pretty, silvery fan made of iron.

Why’d they name it the Mimic Fan? It’s clearly made for fanning, but where’s the mimic part?

It really just appeared to be a normal fan.

“I don't see any mimic here. At least make it look like a treasure chest,” Yano said.

Did they mess up the name? Was there a manufacturing error?

“It’s referring to the act of mimicry, not some video-game monster that pretends to be a treasure chest. Mimicry is a real-life biological phenomenon that refers to creatures that resemble other organisms.”

What?! I had no idea! Maeda’s coming in to school us as usual.

“The fact that we’re even having this discussion makes me think it’s one of the school’s tricks to help us remember vocabulary. The school picked a good name for the item.”

“Aww, man! They made me learn?! This is so embarrassing.”

“Ahaha, it’s okay. Maybe try to study a little more, though?”

“Boooo.”

Uh, I’ll just keep quiet.

“It’s okay, bawk. You’re a good artist, Yuuna, so you can still make a living being dumb.”

“Thanks, Kokoru! You’re a real nice guy.”

Hah! She had to be consoled by an NPC.

But yeah, Kokoru was a pretty good dude. I wondered if he would come back to us after the guild mission. It’d be lonely without him.

“So, what’s it do?”

“Hold up, Takashiro! You just kept quiet because you didn’t know, either!”

“No comment! Let’s see what it does already!”

“Argh, no fair!”

I ignored Yano’s protests and read the item description.

Though fans were a type of item, they could also be used as weapons. They were one-handed, so they could be dual-wielded as well.

How were fans different from other items? Well, only girls could equip them.

Stat-wise, they typically had low attacking power but surprisingly high guard capabilities. Of course, they weren’t better than shields, but they were better than other one-handed weapons. It might be really valuable as a sub-weapon when dual-wielding, for more defensive players. There were some pretty fancy fan arts, so it sounded like fun to play.

As for this Mimic Fan, it had a special effect.

Allows the user to Mimic the last enemy that was attacked. The user can also Mimic other party members and NPCs.

AP Cost: 50

Effect Duration: 600 seconds

“Ohoho!”

“I see. So it lets you change form!”

“Do that, and nobody can see your sexy clothes!”

“Yeah, bawk. Maybe Akira can actually go all-out with this?”

“It requires level fifty-five. Yeah, this might work!”

Our levels were already beyond 55. If we could get our hands on one, we could use it right away.

I also had to wonder what would happen if you changed gear during the Mimic effect. Would you lose the effect? You’d start the battle in a school uniform, Mimic, change gear for the stat boost... and then what?

It’d be a shame if the Mimic effect canceled immediately.

Well, that didn't matter too much. If it did work that way, I could use my circle magic to hide Akira at the start of the match so that she could change into the sword dancer gear and then Mimic.

“Sick! Now, where can we find one of these?”

I was about to suggest we go to the info brokers, but Homura arrived just in time.

“What are you all up to? Find something you’re interested in?”

“Hey, good timing! Where can we get a Mimic Fan?”

“You want one of these?”

“Yes!” I nodded vigorously.

“Then I have a way,” Homura said with a smirk. “An instantaneous one at that.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“How about I give it to you? It doesn’t have an EX designation, and we have a few in stock.”

“You mean it?!”

To summarize item attributes again, O means you can’t hold more than one at once, while EX means you can’t give it to others.

My hidden weapons were all OEX, so they were pretty annoying in that I had to craft them all myself no matter what. The O meant that I couldn’t make a bunch in advance, either.

That said, hidden weapon arts were typically only usable once per battle, so there wasn’t much point in having multiple.

If I could hold dupes, then I could craft more without having to break them one at a time with Final Strike. Then, I’d be able to rattle off more hidden weapon arts, which could be more economical in its own way.

But I didn’t do much damage without Final Strike, so I’d have to use it no matter what in service of getting dramatic damage.

It didn't matter how much money I had to spend. I was forever working for those crazy-big numbers! Big damage was justice!

“Not for free, of course. In exchange, how about we work together in the final battle?”

“An alliance, eh? Interesting.”

This was an airship battle with every guild present, so there were sure to be at least a few guilds that would work together.

Even if it wasn’t set in stone, the promise to stave off killing each other was its own kind of alliance. There weren’t any rules against it. They’d be too hard to enforce anyway.

“Essentially. We don’t hurt each other, and when possible, we help each other.”

“Fair enough.”

Well, that wouldn’t impose too much of a restriction on our actions.

“Also, if either of us wins, we must choose the ‘receive three items’ prize. The winner gets two of them and gives one to the loser. How's that sound?”

“Hmm...”

I wonder about that one.

For her, this was essentially insurance. Even if we won, she’d still be able to get one item. That meant she wasn’t too sure if they could win. If she were, she would’ve gone for all three items.

In other words, she believed we did have a good chance of taking the win; otherwise, this would be a pointless proposal. It had to be enough for her to go out of her way to offer us the Mimic Fan in exchange for an alliance.

Still, there were options other than the items... Among them was the free Lagoon island. To be honest, I figured we would choose the island if we won. Getting an island was the whole reason we’d formed a guild, after all. Intentionally delaying that would be a weird choice at best.

“Err, by the way, what would it normally take to get one of these?”

“It’s a drop from the Crystal Falcon Lord in the Crystal Forest. He’s about level one fifty, by the way. The drop is far from guaranteed, too.”

Level 150? Dang.

I vaguely remembered Kataoka saying there were some pretty tough conditions for entering the Crystal Forest, too. There were some quests you needed to do first to get permission to enter or something.

It’d be difficult to do all that on such short notice, and I doubted whether we’d manage to kill a level 150 monster. Not that we could try anyway, since all the farm spots were taken right now.

“Otherwise, I guess you could just buy it. But this is pretty rare, so it’s expensive. Market price is around fifty million Mila.”

“Whew!”

It was ridiculously expensive! Thanks to Kokoru, we were raking in profits, but we didn't have fifty million saved up.

Besides, since we were leveling up so ridiculously fast now, we needed to renew our gear before the final battle. We’d need funds for that as well.

“What do you think?” I asked the other guildies.

“If that’s what we need to help Akki have fun, then why not? I don’t see any other way.”

“I thought we’d all want the free island, though.”

“I’d like an island, too, but it defeats the point if we have to ruin someone’s fun in the process. So let’s leave the island for later and bring Akira a Mimic Fan.”

“I think that’s for the best too, bawk. Seeing you all have fun is the best.”

“Okay, then we’ll do it. Thanks!”

I’d been hoping to take this home to Akira. It was my duty to help my best friend have fun, y’know?

Especially seeing as her smile was just so adorable. I felt like one of those cool guys who say stuff like “I want to protect that smile.”

“Hear that, Homura? Let’s form an alliance!”

“Cool. I’m expecting big things from you, then!”

Thus, tantalized by the fan, we formed an alliance with Homura. We didn’t have a formal alliance with Akabane’s guild, but it might as well have been one, seeing as we were leveling our NPCs together.

At the very least, we wouldn’t be smacking each other around in the main event.

Anyway, I could hardly contain my excitement. I was ready to give Akira the fan the very next day!

◆◇◆

“Morning, everyone.”

About thirty minutes before the start of class, Akira logged in and appeared at the guildhouse. Sadly, she was still pretty down in the dumps.

“Hey, Akira. Still not feeling so hot?”

“Huh? Um, no, I’m fine.”

“Liar! It’s written all over your face.”

“Yes, you’re clearly unhappy.”

“Mm... Yeah, it’s the whole parent thing.”

“Are you struggling with the extreme skimpiness of the sword dancer outfit?”

“Well, yeah, I guess. But you’re the one who—"

“Boy, do I have the solution for you!”

“Wha?”

“Here. Use this!” I handed Akira the Mimic Fan.

“Uh, what’s this? A fan?”

“Read the description.”

“Okay... Hm? Mimic? Hey, this might work!”

“You’ve got it. If you just Mimic someone throughout the battle royale, then nobody will see your gear.”

“Woow! Yeah, it’s true! I might be okay after all!” Akira’s face lit right up, making her all the more radiant. “Can I really use it?”

“Of course! We went looking for it just for you.”

“Where’d you find it?”

“After you logged out yesterday, we went to Homura’s Item Museum and found it there.”

“You all did that for me? Wow, thank you so much!”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s more fun for us if you’re having fun, so we were more than happy to.”

“Yeah! If you’re not smiling, that messes with us, too, Akki.”

“Same, bawk. Akira’s smile is extremely important! Ain’t that right, Ren?”

“I totally agree.”

“Heheheh! Well, let’s go try it out right now! C’mon!”

“Right now? But class is about to start.”

“It’s cool! Just a little, okay? Let’s go!”

Thus, we moved to the usual stomping ground: the first floor of Trinisty Isle. The other guilds had overlooked this place in their effort to suppress grinding spots, so my beloved Island Bunny friends were hanging around in a fluffle.

“Okay! Here goes!”

By the time she finished speaking, Akira was already over smacking a bunny with her fan.

Fwap! The Island Bunny fell to the ground.

“Bwee?!”

It let out a cry I’d heard many times by now. With the huge level difference, the bunny died in one hit.

“Nice. Now, Mimic!”

She activated Mimic, which was treated as a weapon art. With a little pop!, Akira was enveloped in white smoke.

What emerged from the smoke was an Island Bunny dual-wielding Skyfall and the Mimic Fan.

So the weapon graphics stayed, huh? It didn’t copy the rabbit's stats—just its appearance. I guess the way you attacked would be different if it didn’t leave the weapons. Fair enough!

“Ooh! I’m so soft and cuddly!”

The voice was hers, too. She started hopping around excitedly to show off her new form.

“Wooow, bawk!”

“That looks fun!”

“Right? This does seem rather fun.”

“Hey, Akira. Your stats are still the same, right?”

Better make sure she’ll be good to fight.

When I asked, Akira opened her status window and checked the contents.

“Yep, they’re normal. All that changed was my appearance.”

“I see, I see.”

“Hey, Kokoru, can I try turning into you?”

“Sure, bawk.”

Akira lightly touched Kokoru with Mimic Fan. This was what let her change the Mimic target.

“Next up, I’ll be Kokoru!”

Pop! This time, a dual-wielding Kokoru appeared.

“Ooh. You really do look like me, bawk.”

Kokoru looked on in amazement as Akira ran around in his body.

“Ahahaha! It’s kinda hard to run like this, bawk.”

His legs were short, and his body was round. It was probably hard for him to move how he wanted too.

Oh, she bawked!

“What happens if you unequip it mid-Mimic?”

Does the effect end? I need to know.

“I dunno. Yuuna, hold this.”

“Gotcha.”

Akira handed Yano the Mimic Fan, but the effect remained active.

Interesting! So once activated, it continues even if you change gear.

“Okay, what if you try using Mimic on Akira while she’s mid-Mimic?”

“Dunno! Let’s give it a shot!”

Yano activated Sprint and rushed into the fluffle of Island Bunnies. There, she smacked down a whole bunch of them with the Mimic Fan. They were sacrifices for the sake of her AP gain.

She didn’t have Breath of Ares like Akira, so taking down enemies to get the required AP was a necessary crime.

“I’m quite interested myself.”

Maeda cast some offensive magic on a lone Island Bunny in the distance. Her Tactical Magic talent allowed her to gain AP just from consuming her MP.

“Here goes nothin’!”

Yano returned and touched Akira-Kokoru with the Mimic Fan, targeting her for Mimic.

Pop! The result was that same super-beauty that I had come to know.

“Ahh, you turned into Akira. I guess it copies the original.”

“Whoa, I’m Akki now! Dang, girl, look at this cleavage! These things are super heavy!” Yano-Akira cupped her breasts in her hands.

Hoo, boy. This was a pretty fantastic sight in itself.

“Hey, cut it out!” Akira-Kokoru blushed.

Yeah, that looks pretty weird.

“Kotomi, you should try turning into Akki, too.”

“Huh?! Me?”

“Having big boobs is an important experience. Especially for you.”

Maeda was more on the thin and slender side. On a scale of Maeda to Akira, Yano was closer to Akira.

"Okay, maybe just once."

Seeming somewhat interested herself, Maeda transformed into Akira. Looking at her new body, she suddenly cried, “Goodness, no! I can’t stand this!”

“What’s wrong, Kotomi? Heavy, right?”

“Erm, I don’t care about that. But this outfit is dreadful!” Teary-eyed, she squatted down to hide herself.