Chapter 2.0

I am seated at a desk, twirling my pen, in what presents as an ordinary schoolroom at a glance: with rows of desks, a whiteboard and shelves and educational posters.

Most notably, however, there are no actual windows; rather, a giant LZU display panel has been confitted to take up one entire section of wall, emulating the kind of view one would expect through a classroom window: complete with a fictional basketball court, fluttering birds and trees with blowing branches, even simulated weather--that changes according to the actual, live forecast of Old Tokyo.

War History class...is the worst. It's where we're taught "battle ethos and strategy," in spite of the fact we're Rank F scrubs who aren't allowed on combat missions to begin with...

In other words, it's totally useless!

Still, I force myself to listen in more than I usually would, in case it will one day prove useful...

I am aiming for a higher rank, after all.

It's been an agonizing three days, since I lost my ring (and what was left of my pride) to Ms. Berlin. Emiko was excited when I made it to the barracks that evening--until I flopped a pillow in her face--and I could barely sleep that night, through all the "hot flashes."

As for my experience in the showers, let's just say--surprise, surprise--pervy guys in the bodies of little girls are STILL awful.

Inwardly, I am seething with rage--gripping the corners of my desk with my girly talons; I swear, I'm even more pissed off than usual, though it's only been happening since I became stuck as Alice, so it's perhaps not a coincidence...

What madman even designed such a wild, morally questionable technology?

Why did they want to curse the world with it?

Class ends with the little girl teacher giving us an assignment: to run a simulation of a chosen battle in the shogunate era, and take notes on unit positioning and resource deployment. (Oh joy.) I watch her with my head in my hand, sulking sourly, as she flicks a switch on a remote to turn off the LZU window display, then breeze out the door--trailed by a wave of students.

Meanwhile, I haven't moved from my desk. I'm sat here, wondering if I should just report Ms. Berlin to administration for sexual harrassment,out of vengeance...when I notice a couple of non-little girls walking up to me.

One is petit, with a complexion like dark chocolate, neon green colored hair tied with black scrunchies, droopy eyelids with fluttery lashes, turquoise blue lipstick, and a curvaceous figure, wearing her snugly-fitted uniform neatly, fully buttoned and tucked in, with a white undershirt covering any gaps where skin would otherwise show. The other, by contrast, is much taller and skinnier, with salmon pink hair fashioned into a long, silky ponytail, wide hoop earrings, and apricot-tanned skin. Her blouse is untucked and unbuttoned--revealing a bright yellow bra--with a pair of ladybug patterned headphones hung around her neck.

"Yo!" The pink one greets me, puffing her lips out, flashing a "peace" signal. "You're Alex Strangelove, from F Rank, right?"

I scan the two warily. While it's always nice to see girls not using their Charming Forms, I can never be too careful. They've been in the same War History class as me all semester, yet never once approached me, until now, when I'm wearing Alice...

It strikes me as more than a little suspicious; like they're lulling me into a false sense of security, so they can dunk my adorable head into the nearest toilet.

"Yes." I respond. "Why do you ask?"

"Hah! I knew it! You're the Legendary Z--"

Before she can finish, the greenhaired girl intervenes--swiftly slapping a hand over her mouth.

"Pardon my friend; she's a tactless idiot."

"What do you want?" I snap at them. "Are you here to gawk at me, like everyone else?"

The pink girl tears away from the green one.

"No! No! No! It's nothing like that at all! We only wanted to introduce ourselves, and ask if you're doing anything after school!"

Hah! Yeah, right. I wasn't born yesterday.

I know a trap when I see one.

"No, thanks. I'll pass."

The girls catch up to me as I'm turning away, blocking my escape.

Green girl confronts me, saying:

"Why'd you start using your Charming Form?"

I scowl. "Tch! I don't believe that's any of your fucking business."

I gasp--my own words startling me.

Or...were they Alice's?

Green girl goes wide-eyed, huffing and grinning with amusement before rotating away, so that pink girl can try me again:

"Alex. You were the...last one."

"Last what?" What's she going on about...?

I manage to slip past them, but they pursue me through the hallway.

"Every other guy in school started using their Charm Ring,s and haven't turned back!" Pink continues to explain, as she trails behind me-- the urgency in her voice reminiscent of those scenes, in zombie outbreak movies, where a scientist is unveiling the cold, hard truth about just how fucked mankind truly is.

"Your were the last boy in all of Irorishiro--and now, you've also been infected too!"

I reach my locker, to put away some books.

They still won't leave me alone!

"It's only temporary! I hate being like this."

The two girls exchange glances--apparently, this is some amazing news to them...

Green girl is beaming. "In that case--"

She slams my locker shut in my face, her and her friend crowding around either side of me.

"What the Hell?!" I protest.

I try to reopen my locker, but Pink stops me.

"My name is Miki." She says, then points to Green. "This is Miko. We're both C Rank."

"We've been deciding for a long time if we should approach you, after we've tried all the other boys we could, with none of them expressing any desire to revert to their normal form."

"I still don't know why this concerns me..."

Miki crouches to Alice's height, massaging my shoulders.

"You're the CHOSEN ONE, Alex..."

Miko walks behind me, draping her arms across my chest.

"Because you're the last, we're desperate..."

They finish, by shouting in unison: "Please be our boyfriend!"

...

...

Ah. I guess that explains it.

I suppose I can empathize with their dilemma...

However, that being said--

"I refuse!" I give in answer, as I storm off, leaving those two in tears--my life already containing more than enough WEIRDNESS as it is, thank you very much!

At lunchtime, I go to meet Blitz in the Simulation Room.

I remember, on the first day I showed up wearing Alice, she had on the most startled look I've ever seen! Of course, she went on to have the last laugh, with her relentless teases:

"Your boobs are bigger than mine, bro."

"I bet a lot of guys would want to mess you up--if there were still any guys around."

"Should we share a sauna bath together, bro?"

Before we enter the ski lodge, I tell her about my upcoming fight.

"Okay." She abruptly says. "Let's go train."

"Together? As in, the both of us? Rank F and a Rank B?!"

That's like pairing a gladiator with a matador!

She nods. "I know the perfect battle sim."

Taking her word for it, I am pulled into a sim designed like a dungeon in a MMORPG: a wide, cavernous space filled with slimy, green soft egg sacs spread across gooey webs spread from the walls to the floor--all surrounding one gigantic, quietly shifting, hard-bodied mass.

I'm raring to go, but just then I come to an unfortunate realization:

"Wait! I totally forgot!"

"Ms. Berlin has my Charm Ring!"

"That means...I can't use any Vorpal Weapons!"

Blitz steps away from me, as though she hadn't heard, and I watch as she moves toward the unidentified mass at the center of the room, materializing her favored weapon type in her hand--

The one-and-only [Vorpal Chainsaw].

It putters quietly, vibrating gently in her grasp, until she employs her other arm at revving it.

"Keep the little guys distracted."

Little guys...?

Glancing around, I see the eggs are cracking.

Giant larva emerge, bursting forth from the egg sacs with sharp, clicking pincer-teeth.

There's hundreds of them, closing in on me...

No problem! I'm a Speed type, so I can run circles around these bumbling, bulbous bugs--dodging and weaving, cartwheeling, and narrowly lunging my way through their ranks.

My body feels super-flexible, like rubber.

I react faster than I can process--pulling off so many crazy contortions and maneuvers before I can even comprehend what's going on; as if my mind isn't fully synchronized with my body.

My acrobatics reach me to a far end of the room, where I stop to catch a breath.

Suddenly, the ground begins to quake.

I look, and the source is revealed to be the giant mass that aas residing on tje center of the room, awakening from its slumber--a giant, black shelled beetle-like monstrosity, thrashing its set of legs around in a wild frenzy.

Meanwhile, the vaccine barrier has just vanished from around Blitz, to reveal her Charming Form:

Built stout and strong, she is dressed in a snow white, twopiece bikini shorts with a white and grey tiger-stripe design; draped in an opened grey, fur-lined snow jacket; wearing purple tinted ski goggles and a thick white scarf wrapped around her mouth, like a facemask, with a billowy white ponytail trailing almost the length of her entire body.

Going by the name of "Tundra," it...uh...

Never ceases to be awkward, seeing Blitz in this form.

That said, it's rare I get to see her in action!

A swirling aura of snow crystals exudes from her as she repeatedly parries the giant beetle's attacks with her roaring Vorpal Chainsaw: producing sprays of bright, green glowing blood, as the beetle only serves to wound itself in its futile assault.

Her power is to freeze the molecules of air around her.

The Ifstate: to stand completely still.

I observe as swarms of the hatched larvae are inching toward her, before recalling the instructions she'd given me:

"Keep the little guys distracted."

Ah! I understand it now...

It's just like an actual boss in an MMORPG!

She'll handle the big one, while I "peel" away the "trash mobs!"

With this duty in mind, I return to the fray; hopping from larva to larva, I'm able to wrangle their attentions and proceed to lure them away.

Meanwhile, I glimpse Tundra's System powers being used:

She grabs unto one of the beetle's legs.

Gradually, a wave of freezing particles spreads, starting from her point of contact then outward across the surface of the leg, forming icicles that continually grow as they become connected into a single, large mass of solid ice encasing its limb.

As Tundra then lets go, the beetle can be seen attempting to pull the affected leg loose, but it is stuck firmly to the ground.

With her foe immobilized, she acts swiftly:

Lowering her ski goggles over her eyes like a visor, she then raises her Vorpal Chainsaw-- letting it roar, before promptly bringing it down in a gradual, slicing motion--carving through the icy outer exterior as well as the soft flesh hidden underneath, in one vicious swoop.

The creature hisses in pain as shards of shaved ice and splatters of the thing's green blood fly against Tundra's face, in her convoluted act of slow, brutal torture.

I stand, watching in awe, at her complete control of the situation.

The chasm between a Rank F and Rank B...

I am nothing in comparison.