SING CRIER CH.28 - Sofishtication We mix the crushed fruit with powdered rock and try swallowing the concoction in pinches. ... Don't give us that weird look... We seriously can't eat raw fruit, you know?

It's so awful, even if we try just tiny mashed bits at a time, we immediately throw it up, that's how dire the situation is... It's only just bearable with added rock dust... 「 Be sure to finish all of it. 「 Fatigue will set in early if even a spec is left. 」 Zombie groan... It can't be helped... ...We collapse onto our backs. 「 Three nights and two days remaining. 」 『『 Meeeeeh... 』』 「 You two were unsuccessful in acquiring a monster trigger last evening, 「 but this was within expectations; we will continue at sunrise. For tonight...」 She's really just getting straight into it huh... Even though our nap was only like, half an hour... And even though we just woke up... We're going right into a twelve-hour lesson... The energy fruits haven't kicked in yet either... ...Crier yawns. 「 Cover your mouth when yawning. 」 『 A...Ah? 』 「 ...I will explain this time, but in the future, 「 I will expect you two to reason why yourselves. 」 Her tone is cold and direct as if to be annoyed. 「 There's little time to spend elaborating the do-and-do-not, 「 when that time can instead be spent realizing and practising. 「 Simply do what I say the moment I say to do it. Understand? 」 She's... being a lot harsher all of a sudden... 『『 O...oka- 』』 「 Say, "I understand," calmly. 」 『『 I... 』』 「 Don't hesitate after you open your mouth. 「 If you must hesitate, do so beforehand. 」 What the heck is this?! First of all, it's almost pitch black and we can barely see the silhouettes of our hands. Is there really a point in trying to hide a yawn at a time like this?! Secondly, even hesitation is being instructed?! This is supposed to be a hopitality lesson or whatever, right?! We almost huff- but knowing that might get us lectured... we take a deep, controlled breath instead. ...We're fine. This is fine. 『『 I understand. 』』 「 Good... As for why you must cover your mouths, in the present day, 「 the upper echelons consider visible yawning rude, as it prompts others to yawn. 「 In addition to this, some cultures find showing the insides of your mouths to be 「 vulgar, and unsanitary. Use the backs of your hands to conceal your yawns. 「 Even if you are unseen, a masked yawn is of a different sound.」 『『 ... 』』 「 ... 」 A faded ivory stain amongst black clouds tells us roughly what time it is, but nothing else. So little moonlight is seeping through that visibility is near zero. There's only enough light to make out the silhouettes of things. 『『 ...I understand. 』』 「 ...In regards to your pasts, I understand you two were in high-standing among 「 demon-kind in "Myriad Worlds Online," but the common sense then, and now, 「 may have changed from what you two are used to. As such, we are starting with 「 the very basics and will accelerate based on your performances. 」 Um... okay, that makes sense, we think... Social common sense is important to hospitality... 「 Sit up straight. 」 ...We groggily sit up on our knees and straighten out our backs, resting our hands in our laps. 「 Look forward. 」 ...After some seconds, a blue flame appears in the corner of our vision. Agehatate sits behind it, off in the distance, making eye contact with us. 「 Try again, look forward. 」 Is... is this a part of common sense? ...The blue flame disappears, and with the light gone, so does Agehatate. A few brief seconds pass before a new blip appears in our peripheral vision. This time we focus on staring forward into the dark. It's surprisingly difficult to not look... 「 Good, continue to look forward. 「 Our first topic will be, how to properly address strangers, without speaking- 「 And you looked at the flame. Focus, look forward. 」 The flame disappears and reappears elsewhere. We take another deep breath... 「 ...Awaken, it is morning. 」 We sit up with our eyes still closed. The fresh smell of that awful energy fruit is in the air. 「 I have gone to the liberty of preparing the fruits as you two have, 「 except with powdered meat substituted for that mud-like solution. 「 After your meals, immediately resume developing your monster triggers. 「 I have business to attend to and will return shortly. 」 We nod silently. ... So tired... What kind of business does she have anyway? Aren't we... in the middle of nowhere? Or something like that...? ... We rub our eyes and get moving. Our heads hurt. 「 Do not forget to empty your minds. 「 Recalling what you learned last night 「 will dilute your monster trigger attempts. 」 『『 Yes mom. 』』 「 ... 」 『『 ...I mean- I understand! 』』 We plant our faces into the palms of our hands. The mental fatigue is getting to us. ... The powdered meat substitute made breakfast marginally more bearable. It was probably more important to Ageha that we stopped eating rocks though. Speaking of which... She still hasn't returned. So, we're starting alone today we suppose... There should be... two nights and two days left? Hmm... We guess we can just start now... What was it again...? Cut fingertip, sip blood, smile, wait? Except, Sing is drinking Crier's blood and vice versa... We need to empty our minds too... That's going to be annoying with a headache... We press our cheeks together. Just focus! Cut! Oww. Sip! Smile! Wait! Next finger... Cut, sip, smile, wait... cut, sip, smile, wait... Cut, sip, smile, wait, cut, sip, smile, wait, cut, sip, smile, wait... 「 ...◕◕◕! 」 We flinch at the sound. Crier's nails slice across Sing's face. 『 Ah- 』 『 Oww. 』 There's blood everywhere. 『 Iyaaaa-! 』 「 ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤...! 」 Crier's scream is completely drowned out by Setsuna's, which is twice as higher pitch, and four times as loud. We scramble to cover our ears against the pain. 『 Setsuna whyyy?! 』 「 ⬤⬤⬤⬤◕◕◑◑◔◔⭘⭘... 」 The kraken's screech steadily lowers in pitch and volume, down to musical notes, then to a whisper, until silence... allegedly -- it's hard to tell when your ears are ringing. 『 S...Setsunaaa... 』 She blinks at us, in what appears to be total confusion. She has that kind of expression that's like: "Hm? What happened? Did I do something wrong?" It's seriously aggravating... 『 Why are you here... 』 She looks off in some other direction, then down at the ground. She then sinks into her tendrils, and stares back at us. Crier sighs. Life is hard. ...Sing touches her stinging cheek, then looks at her now bloodstained fingers. The wound is bleeding profusely. Eldritch Serendipity is steadily rising as well, bringing along its signature spine-twisting chill. ... Sing is bleeding out. Crier cuts her own fingertips and jams them into Sing's mouth to drink from. Her face wound will naturally stop bleeding in a minute or so, but... if Eldritch Serendipity is rising, it means she's going to bleed out before then. Drinking Crier's blood however, should be enough healing to close the wound in time... we think. We're pretty sure... This is probably enough? Right?! Right... Okay... Down to zero, please... or level one, whatever... Hah... We breathe out... Living is too hard... Setsuna carefully inches a curious arm close which Crier promptly bats away, glaring. 『 ... 』『 ... 』 There's blood all over the place, it's a literal bloody mess... Mega sigh. At least the wound is more or less healed... Crier brushes some blood specks away from Sing's eyes, then starts a general cleanup of her face, smudging away the blood. For an accidental graze... there's a comical amount of lost blood here... True damage is just that dangerous huh... ... Heh... Actually... this feels kind of familiar somehow... Seeing Sing like this... it's strange... Her torso and lap covered in red splatters and drips... Her hands, her hair, her face... dappled in red... and... her soft smile, there despite it all... This kind of surreal scene... It... gives Crier a searing headache. She brings her wrists up to her temples and squeezes her head, but despite the increasing intensity of her headache, she can't look away. She can't tear her eyes off of Sing's blood-smudged face for even a second. 『 Crier? 』 『 ... 』 Crier won't blink, there's no response. Sing hurriedly stands up and stumbles back. Somehow, this loss of control... Crier acting on her own... it feels familiar too. 「 ...? 」 Setsuna slithers directly between us, breaking our line of sight with each other. 『 I'm...here... 』 Crier stumbles towards Setsuna, tripping over herself, trying to get up on her feet. The moment she finds her footing, she breathes in... then throws a kick at Setsuna. 「 ?! 」 Her foot connects with a tentacle, and Setsuna recoils away, before snapping back, grabbing Crier's foot in the air with a different tendril. Crier's breath shudders. 「 ⭘... 」 Setsuna's expression changes; her brow furrows, and her fake mouth flattens. This is an angry expression. She tucks her head in and rolls her upper body downward, and at the same time, lifts her lower body up into the air. Crier is dragged up by her leg in the process. It all happened in a blur, but Setsuna has flipped herself upside-down in something resembling a multi-limbed handstand. Some tentacles have extended to the ground for support, while the many others have restrained Crier overhead. 『 ... 』 「 Setsuna. 」 The kraken girl's pupils shrink, and her tentacles slow dramatically. From behind Sing, Ageha strolls near. Her approaching shadow alone engulfs the three of us. 「 I instructed you to keep your distance. 」 「 ◑◑◑...◑◑◑◕◕◕◕!」 Setsuna appears to shrivel up, trying to hide underneath her tentacles... and Crier. 「 And that is not a wrong decision. 「 It is a choice like any other and comes with repercussions 「 for which we must all take responsibility for. 」 Ageha bends down, biting and lifting Crier up by her side-tail. Setsuna's tentacles weakly cling to her as she's taken away. 「 Leave. 」 Huh? After bending down to pick up Sing as well, Ageha trots away with us dangling from her jaws. And as we distance further and further from Setsuna, she slowly drops from her upsidedown stance to a defeated posture where her body wilts over. 『 Set...suna...? 』 The twin-tailed fox kneels at the edge of the island... then dunks us in the river for a second before pulling us out. 『 Bwah! 』『 ?! 』 「 Congratulations, my children, 「 you have acquired a monster trigger. 」 She quickly returns us to the centre of the island, where Setsuna is nowhere to be seen. 『 I don't understand what's going on. 』 Crier shakes her head, cold droplets fly out in a torrent. We've been soaked from head to toe. 「 Crier acquired her monster trigger, 「 so I submerged her in water to return her autonomy. 「 If it were not clear, then you may have had both your monster triggers activated. 「 New monsters often have a blurry recollection of- 」 『 No. 』 She looks down at Sing. 『 I get that- I mean... I understand that Crier's monster trigger went off. 『 I lost control of her for a short time, so, it makes sense. Loss of autonomy, right? 』 Agehatate tilts her head. 『 The thing is... we didn't do anything to make it go off. 『 I was the one that drank Crier's blood, but she had her monster trigger go off? 『 That doesn't make sense, right? If anything, my trigger should have went off... 』 「 Perhaps then, having her blood consumed became her trigger? 」 『 Even then, the timing doesn't line up. Too much time passed between 『 me drinking her blood, and her actually losing autonomy... 』 Crier slowly wrings out her side-tail. 「 ... 」 Agehatate lies down, her gaze darting between us. She seems to be looking for an answer... 『 And why did you tell Setsuna to leave? 』 『 We won't forgive you if she doesn't come back. 』 Crier scrunches up her side-tail, water bursts out like from a wet sponge. 「 ...I have made an error. 」 『『 ...? 』』 Agehatate tilts her head up, looking towards the clouds. 「 You two have long had a monster trigger. 「 This training was unnecessary. 」 She closes her eyes, and gently lowers her head resting on the ground. 「 To begin, allow me to clear a misunderstanding. 「 Setsuna is not banished. I requested she stay at a distance 「 so that you two could focus on your development until the due date. 「 The repercussion I spoke of, is her privilege to attend your night lessons. 「 Those are now lost to her, for she lacked the discipline for them. 」 Setsuna was there... during our hospitality lectures? 「 As for your monster triggers... 「 Think back to Sal'venakai, effectively your place of birth. 「 If your retelling is accurate, then at some point, 「 you two were suddenly afflicted with amnesia. 「 During this time, you also reported your first 「 encounters with your bodies acting of their own will, correct? 」 ... 「 Rather than attribute that to mental deterioration... 「 perhaps you two acquired your monster triggers then. 」 That... That's why... those things were so familiar... Those feelings of deja vu... were from... our first kill... and our time in the cave... We've had monster triggers... this whole time... 『『 Our monster triggers are... 『『 seeing each other, covered in blood and smiling... 』』 Agehatate wraps and rubs her tails against us, drying us off and wiping away residue. 「 That is fine, my children. That is fine... 「 Your work on drinking each other's blood as a trigger does not go to waste. 「 As this first trigger is... difficult to activate yourselves, in the future, you two may 「 resume developing this new method as a second, more favourable trigger. 「 This revelation only means you two will learn an Enrage Attack sooner. 」 ... Agehatate isn't fazed at all. She heard our monster trigger and responded as if we told her we broke a teddy bear. Even after all this time we've spent here... this surreal feeling... This world is just going to keep delivering it, it seems... We grab hold of the fur on Agehatate's tails and hang onto it. It has a divine softness and warmth... 「 ...Let us enjoy a short rest. 「 You two were expected to acquire a monster trigger in the latter half of 「 the last day, if at all, so I would say we are ahead of schedule and have the time. 」 She squeezes us against her body. 「 You two already possess half of your Enrage Attack... 「 Perhaps we will spend part of the last day reviewing your hospitality 「 development. There is much you two have yet to refine... 」 『 What kind of... Enrage Attack did you have in mind? 』 「 ...It utilizes a trait of yours to kill all who bear witness. 「 All you two require is a technique of mine. 「 Would you two like to hazard a guess? 」 [END]