“It’s over…! I’ve been dragged into a complete mess…!”

Collapsing to her knees and placing her hands on the ground, Ryuuko-chan lamented.

For some reason, that posture just seemed to suit Ryuuko-chan.
Even though beautiful girls shouldn’t wear such a gloomy expression, why does it feel so right?

“How did it end up like this…! My elegant day off…!”

Right now, we were hiding in a certain spot in the tourist district.

Ryuuko-chan had decided it would only make us targets if we kept flying, so we descended to the ground and quietly concealed ourselves.

We were currently in the middle of a full-on strategy meeting, exchanging glances inside the wings of a dragon on a building rooftop.

“Ryuuko-chan, keep your voice down if you can…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Right now, Baltius is in Invisible Dragon Mode. No one can see us from the outside. So go ahead, wail your heart out!”

She said, almost manically, giving a thumbs-up.
Her bloodshot eyes were… a little scary.

“Okay, let’s sort out the situation. Sorry to drag you into this, but you all have probably been caught up in an incident involving this girl.”

Saying that, Ryuuko-chan placed her hand on Rei-chan’s head.

“Hey! Don’t touch me so casually, peasant.”

“Here, candy.”

“Touching allowed.”

She’s already figured out how to tame her.

With renewed resolve, Ryuuko-chan opened her mouth.

“The truth is… this girl is a clone of a certain S-Rank individual.”

“What!?”

It seemed Toa-chan hadn’t realized.
She probably just saw her as some little girl she shared a meal with.

Time to steal the spotlight and act all clever.

“…I had a feeling. There aren’t many explorers who can control this much ice.”

“As expected, Kei-chan, you’re sharp. That’s right—this girl is a clone of Hyououdou Rei. And I was in the middle of a mission to stop this cloning project.”

Ryuuko-chan explained with a serious—and somewhat smug—expression.
Wh-What did she just say!?

“A clone… this girl…?”

Toa-chan stared at Rei-chan in disbelief.
Rei-chan, unfazed, just continued licking her candy.

Too cute.

『A clone… I see. That’s a valid possibility.』

No, it’s not.
Stop muttering such ominous things.

Why are you only serious about genre expansion while the rest of us are trying to be serious?

『An S-Rank clone might be one effective countermeasure against the Six Calamities. That’s all I meant.』

Oh, I was the unserious one.
My bad.

『A Sorciera who hunts down her own clones being abused… wonderful… I want her to kill them with a pained expression… vomiting while apologizing in a fit of self-loathing…』

Take back my apology.
Why do you assume they’ll be abused?

At least suggest they be used constructively.

『? I am using her constructively—to push the real Sorciera’s mind to the brink.』

Can you not casually showcase your madness?
It’s terrifying.

“Originally, someone from Arianrhod was supposed to come pick this kid up… but seeing how things are, that’s not happening. Somebody’s already made a move.”

“T-Then what do we do?”

“Ryuuko, I’m out of candy.”

“Here, chocolate.”

“Ooh! Ryuuko carries lots of sweets! I shall bestow upon you the highest of praises!”

“Yeah yeah, thanks.”

While Rei started munching on her chocolate, Ryuuko quietly peered down from the rooftop.

“Remember what happened earlier? Everyone present turned on us.”

“Wait, does that mean all of them were bad guys?”

Ryuuko-chan shook her head.

“No, they weren’t part of the underworld. They were totally normal at first. That’s why I let my guard down. Or maybe we were lured in. That was… yeah, closer to brainwashing.”

So much for being a bland character—she’s seriously competent.
She’s calmly analyzing the situation… definitely worthy of her S-Rank.

“To brainwash that many people, they must be using some kind of trick. I think this has something to do with it.”

Ryuuko-chan pulled out a crystal.
It looked like a shard of ice—small enough to fit in the palm, but very sharp.

Looks like it’d really hurt if you got stabbed with that…

“Hmm. I can make one of those too.”

Rei-chan casually replicated it one-handed while still eating her chocolate.

“So… it was made using Rei-chan’s power.”

“I’ve imbued it with a fraction of my freezing ability. If used once, it can freeze whoever it’s stabbed into.”

Rei-chan said this with a casual air.
This thing is seriously dangerous.

“So that’s why they tried to stab me… Everyone there had one of these. Staying there would’ve been a death sentence. Ha… I can only laugh now.”

Ryuuko-chan laughed weakly.
Where did the dignity of S-Rank go?

“Ryuuko-chan, what are we gonna do now…?”

“Hmm… First, I want to figure out how they’re doing the brainwashing. If they can brainwash that many people, then they’re definitely using some common method. Something even less noticeable than this crystal…”

She peered down at the people walking by.
Next to her, Toa-chan mimicked her and peeked out too.

I just watched them. They were adorable.

『No, you do something too.』

Okay, Starreader’s Staff—tell us the identity of what’s being used to brainwash people.

『Sorry, I don’t really know.』

You’re pretty hopeless too.

“…Ah!”

Toa-chan suddenly raised her voice, as if she’d noticed something.

“Hey, isn’t everyone wearing bracelets? With crystals just like that one on them?”

Ryuuko-chan looked up, surprised at Toa-chan’s words.

“Wait, you can see them!?”

“Yeah… is that weird? I can see all of them from here.”

Maybe it’s ‘cause she’s a long-range type—she must have great eyesight.
Toa-chan’s got those super-strong peepers, huh.

“That’s… amazing… I’d already given up and was ready to head down.”

Seeing Ryuuko-chan’s honest amazement almost made me question if she really was S-Rank.

Even though she’s hiding us using an invisibility dragon, none of it comes across as impressive.

“They were handing out those bracelets in a bunch of places. I saw them.”

“Really? I didn’t notice. What about you, Kei-chan?”

“I didn’t notice at all either.”

I was watching Toa-chan at first, and then later I was just watching the flood of pretty girls.

“Our goal this time was food crawling, so I didn’t pay attention, but… maybe taking one of those bracelets is what triggers the brainwashing.”

“At this point, that seems most likely… Got it.”

Ryuuko-chan nodded and stood up.

“I’m gonna go ask where they got them. If anyone nearby is handing them out, I want to beat the crap out of them.”

““Eh?””

While we froze in place, Ryuuko-chan rotated her shoulders energetically.

“Alright Baltius, lend me your tail.”

“Wait, wait, wait! Who are you even gonna ask?”

“The people down there.”

“No way! We’re being hunted, remember!? If they spot us, we’ll get caught!”

Toa-chan shook her head, pleading desperately.
As for me—I stayed silent.

Because I knew… Ryuuko-chan can do it.

“It’s okay, Toa-chan. I’m like an empty shell right now. In this form, for some reason, people don’t recognize me. If you two step away from Baltius, they probably won’t recognize you either.”

She said this with a smile.

Yes—when she brings out Baltius, Ryuuko-chan’s presence becomes almost nonexistent.
Only other S-Ranks can still perceive her; to everyone else, she becomes unrecognizable.

This is due to Baltius being a special entity, but we’ll skip that for now.

More importantly—Ryuuko-chan was going out.

Everyone, give her your support.

You can do it—!

『You can do it—!』

“Wait, she’s really going…? Kei-chan, what should we do?”

“If Ryuuko-chan says she’ll be okay, we should believe her. If she’s S-Rank, her words are worth trusting.”

At my words, Toa-chan seemed reluctantly convinced.

Then, Rei-chan, who had been eating chocolate all this time, suddenly grabbed Ryuuko-chan’s arm.
Her expression was serious.

“I’ll be fine. I’m just stepping out for a bit.”

Ryuuko-chan said, patting her head.

And then Rei-chan said—

“Vanilla. Choco-mint. Strawberry.”

“Oh… it was an ice cream order…”

Realizing she wasn’t actually worried, Ryuuko-chan slumped forward.

The atmosphere grew awkward.

“A-Alright! I’m off then! See ya!”

Trying to break the mood, Ryuuko-chan called out, grabbing Baltius’s tail.

Then, without waiting for our response, she leapt off the rooftop.

Baltius’s tail stretched like rubber, stopping just above the ground, and Ryuuko-chan landed smoothly.

Despite having just leapt from the rooftop, no one noticed Ryuuko-chan’s sudden appearance.

Not a single person around recognized her as Ryuuko-chan.

Ryuuko-chan looked back up at us and gave a peace sign.

Then she walked toward the people likely wearing those bracelets.