It was more than five years ago when Hecate first met Katja and Narumi. “Wait, Narumi. Someone’s here.” Those were the first words she heard either of them say.

  During one chilly, early spring day, school was out for the day, and Hecate made her way home. There was an abandoned construction site that she always passed by on the way. The other kids said it was a mall that was finally opening in their growing town. While the adults claimed a rich businessman bought the land for a retirement home. She didn’t know who to believe, but in the end, the construction was shut down before her questions were answered. All that remained was an unusual place that she would sneak into whenever she wanted to be alone.

  *Clack! Clack!* Wood knocking on wood was what she heard on that day. She was just passing by with no intention of sneaking in, but the sound caught her attention. Maybe the construction project resumed. That was the only explanation for there to be sound in such a place. But if that was the case, where were the heavy machines? Curiosity got the better of her, and there was a quick change of plans. It’s just a peek. If the workers don’t find her, there’s no issue.

  “Wow…” In the middle of the evened-out terrain was a small cement platform. Two girls around her age were engaged in an intense battle using wooden swords. Their skilled and precise movements looked like magic for Hecate’s na?ve eyes. This must be that one sport… What was it called…? Kendo! They’re doing kendo!

  The two girls suddenly stopped when they spotted her. The girl, she’d eventually come to know was Katja, spoke first. “Oh no! Shinji’s going to get mad at us! What do we do?”

  “Th- that was kendo, right? Were you practicing? You were so good!”

  “Kendo?” Narumi was stunned by the girl’s misunderstanding, but she cleverly took advantage of it. “That’s right. We’re just practicing for a tournament. You’re smart. What are you doing here?”

  The duo needed a place to train, and Hecate didn’t yet know much about the world. They bought her silence in exchange for letting her watch, accidentally making a new friend. Their stay in Hecate’s town was a temporary one, and it was just a matter of time before they’d vanish. Naturally, they didn’t share this with her, nor any other details about themselves.

  Every single day for over two weeks, Hecate went over to the construction site to watch them train. Little by little they talked with her more and even accepted some drinks she had bought as refreshments. There was a huge disconnect between her and the two other girls that Hecate couldn’t look away from. How could girls like her be so dazzling and untouchable?

  Then one day, the curtains closed. Her window into that fantastic world suddenly closed.

  Hecate didn’t go into much more detail after that. Katja and Narumi stopped showing up until a portal appeared at the spot she met with them a few days later. Hecate got caught in the mess, and the two of them saved her. Since she was too young, apparently, they weren’t worried about her leaking information.

  “That’s almost the same thing that happened to me, huh?” The way we were both given a choice to join. “Only I was told I’d be under surveillance if I didn’t join.” Hecate was a bit surprised, like she hadn’t realized it yet.

  “I guess you could say that… It’s not entirely different…”

  I got nervous earlier when Hecate started asking me about my relationship with Carol. I thought she had figured something out, but I think I’m safe for now. I commented on how she thought about the others a lot with all her talk about relationships. Eventually, it led to her telling me how she met Katja and Narumi. Seems like Carol wasn’t part of the House at the time.

  “I’m glad everything worked out for you in the end. You get along so well with the others that I actually thought you were childhood friends, somehow…” With just the two of us here, sitting face to face, I could feel some tension between us. Her story must have been an attempt to reduce the tension, but I’m still worried that she knows about Carol.

  She said before she’d trust me even if I kept some secrets, and she’s not pressing me about anything. She’s keeping her word, but I bet she’s still curious. She might stop asking if I told her it was a secret, but saying there’s a secret between me and Carol is the same as confessing everything, isn’t it? I need to find a way out this… “Hey, Hecate, did I do something wrong with the others earlier today? You were acting a bit weird before…”

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  “No… You didn’t do anything wrong… You were just being friendly, right? Just like what you said was your relationship with Carol. Just friends.” I nodded back nervously. How do Hecate and I always get into these sorts of complicated conversations? Was this self-inflicted? “It’s all good then. I see that now. An absurd idea just popped into my head at the time. Don’t pay it any mind.”

  “An absurd idea?” Hecate smiled and relaxed, but I had a feeling it was too early for me to do the same.

  “That’s right… For some reason, when I saw you getting touchy with Narumi, Katja, and Carol, I thought you might be interested in one of them romantically.”

  “Ahahahaha… You really think so? Is the House like one of those jobs where they forbid romance in the office? That’s explains why you’d be worried… It’d be bad if someone got distracted by romance when they should have been paying attention to the monsters.”

  “That’s not it…” Hecate shook her head. “Unfortunately, romance is not that bad of an idea for any of us. The power of love is otherworldly and can give people strength during our battles.”

  “I- is that so…? But isn’t that a good thing? How is that unfortunate?”

  “Because it would be an issue for me personally.” Hecate took a deep breath with her eyes closed, before opening them again. “You know, Iroha… Since you’re someone that I can trust, there’s something I must confess to you.”

  Gulp.

  “The truth is that I love them. Katja, Narumi, and Carol. I have kept this hidden for the longest time, but I love them all.” My heart pounded, and every defense mechanism in my body went off. “You said you were trying to be friendly with them, but from my point of view, it looked as if you were flirting. That would be a problem for me. I can’t bear the thought of giving them to somebody else. If you were romantically interested in one of them, I would be forced to treat you as my rival. That would be very unfortunate, don’t you think?

  Wh- wh- wawawhat the hell?! She likes them in that way!? Is she telling the truth? Maybe she’s just messing with me. She hasn’t told them anything, so it’s not like I’m too late. If anything, the fact that Carol and I are more or less dating means I’m doing quite well. Still, what the hell?

  “Yeah… Ahahahaha… That makes sense…” So in the end, she was never overprotective, she was just in love. She wasn’t doing the chores for anyone just because she felt like it, she was just in love! And all her hesitation about thrusting me was all because she was jealous!

  I see, though… I think she suspects that I’m interested in the others, and this was her way of keeping me at bay. She’s smart, but she didn’t figure everything out yet… She hasn’t realized I’m already dating Carol. Or maybe she just doesn’t want to realize it… That makes me feel bad somehow…

  I never wanted to hurt her or anything! I didn’t know! What should I do? I don’t want Hecate as my romantic rival! That’s ridiculous! This whole thing is ridiculous. “Well, I’ve said what I wanted to say, so I think I’m going to bed. Can you turn off the lights soon, Iroha?”

  “S- sure…”

  “Thank you. Good night.” Hecate got into bed and pulled up the sheets. I stood in place in a daze and eventually turned off the lights before going to bed myself. What should I do? Truth bombs at this hour are terrible for good sleep…

  Was she being serious? This is such a crazy revelation… What am I going to do? I need to come up with something fast!

  No, come on, I gotta stop thinking about this, or I won’t be able to sleep. I need something else—something to distract myself with—a mental reset! Uhhh… Oh yeah, I can combine skills now.

  I hadn’t realized it was possible until my fight with Armand. It’s not something that was doable in the game, but it seems like I have a lot more freedom now. Slash flurry and Butterfly’s Wings can combine into a flurry of two slashes for each swing. It’s like a two for one deal, except it’s actually pay full price and it’s damn expensive. I wonder if I have something else I can combo right now.

  Speaking of skills, now’s the perfect time to go over the new stuff I got. It is a good time, right? I know there’s a pressing issue right now that I can’t ignore even if I want to, but that’s the point. I’m trying to run away here! I’ll think about it tomorrow. Ah, yes, skills. I finally bought the Parkour skill. I was already doing lots of parkour thanks to Wall Artist, but now I can do other jumps and moves that don’t involve walls. Agility Burst already helped with that, but Parkour is a passive unlike the other two, meaning it doesn’t use MP.

  Other than Parkour, everything else I bought was also new unlocks. Charge Shot, Burst Dash, and Blade Dance were the three skills I bought as soon as I unlocked them. Charge Shot lets me use some MP with my gun, meaning it might be able to actually damage things from the other world now. Would have been very useful against Armand. Burst Dash is a special case, meaning Blade Dance is the last one to take a look at. It’s an attack buff. That’s it, that’s all, let’s go to sleep now.

  …

  Not yet, huh? I was just joking, of course. It’s not just any attack buff. Blade Dance increases attack based on the number of consecutive hits. With how I was chaining hits with my new combo, I can see it becoming very useful very soon. At this point, can I even call myself a hybrid build anymore? It’s like I’m going all in on speed and agility…

  [Iroha Shinohara: Lv.35]

  [HP: 3400/3400]

  [MP: 1700/1700]

  [Strength: 185; Defense: 154]

  [Magic: 86; Agility: 355]

  I may be able to choose which skills to get, but I don’t have any control over how my stats are distributed. Agility’s growing like crazy, so maybe this is just my fate. Not that I’ll give up on Heart Piercer.

  The last thing is how some of my skills reached the level cap. Agility Burst, Slash Flurry, and some of the passives like Nimble and Sword Mastery are all maxed. This unlocked some upgraded variants, which is how I unlocked Burst Dash. It has a different use from Agility Burst since it’s not a toggleable skill, but its effect is much stronger.

  Maxing out Nimble doesn’t unlock a specific skill and is more like a requirement for even more unlocks. Sword Mastery unlocked Divine Swordsmanship, while Slash Flurry unlocked Flowering Flurry. At level 10, Slash Flurry allows me to chain an infinite number of slashes for as long as I have MP. Flowering Flurry is a strictly better version with more speed and fewer costs. Either way, those last two skills were too expensive to get. After all that, I ended up with 20 skill points left.

  Whew… I feel a bit more relaxed now… What exactly is going to happen between me and Hecate? There’s a lot to think about… I wonder if I’ll be able to get any sleep today…