We all sat around a campfire with our heads slumped. Tanaka-San had faced a series of humiliating defeats one after the other. After his loss against Raven at ping pong, we had challenged another two waifus in the forest. The first waifu was a ninja that challenged Tanaka-San to a sword fight. It was over in a flash as he had never held a sword before. The second challenge was a chess match. Tanaka-San had to defeat a monkey before he could even face the waifu, and he lost in five moves. As the sun was beginning to set, we decided to set up camp for the night and try again in the morning.

"Man, those waifus have such hard challenges," Raphine commented. We were sitting next to the fire while Tanaka-San was cooking some fish we caught.

"Isn't your challenge tough, as well?" Trash-Chan asked.

"Hmm, I guess it might be..."

"It can't be helped. The higher tier the waifu, the harder the challenge is to complete," I said. If Tanaka-San wanted, he could go to a challenge for some F-tier waifu no one has ever heard of. The challenge would be extremely easy for anyone to complete. There wasn't a hard rule that challenges would work this way, but it seemed to happen in every draft regardless.

"Oh, so we should just challenge a lower-tier waifu then," Raphine said while clapping her hands together.

"We could, but I don't want to," Tanaka-San as he handed us the cooked fish. He sat down and took a few bites before speaking again. "I did a lot of training; I'd like to see it not go to waste on an easy challenge."

"That's my Otaku-Kun; your training was not a waste!" Trash-Chan happily said before turning her attention to the fish.

"Thanks, Trash-Sensei."

"How about we get out of these woods tomorrow? It looks like there is a desert area to the west and a city area to the north from what the map is showing," I said. Along our way, I had seen the tips of what looked like two new areas start showing up.

"I don't know if we are well equipped for a desert area. We should head to the city area next," Tanaka-San said.

"Well then, I'm tired," Trash-Chan said with a yawn. She began to crawl into a tent.

"Oh, Trash-Chan, I'll join you!" Raphine said with enthusiasm. She practically leaped into the tent after her.

"Ah, no! I wanted to share a tent with Main-Kun, not you!" Trash-Chan yelled as she tried to push Raphine away.

"Well, we should probably turn in too," Tanaka-San said with a yawn.

I was going to reply when a crack in the woods caught all of our attention. We froze and turned in the direction of the sound.

A woman in a uniform walked out of the bushes. She was tall, with black hair that was cut short and styled into a bob. Her uniform was a pure white uniform with a multitude of logos patched onto it. The logos for Waifu Services, the Waifu Labs, and the Waifu Draft were all showing, among others. She was an administrator for sure.

"Oh, hello, kids," she said in a surprised tone. "You're quite off the path for the forest. Are you lost at all?"

"No, we aren't lost. We just decided to camp here for the night," I said.

"Hmm, well, okay. I see you have two waifus with you as well."

"Oh, actually, Raphine here is lost and needs help getting back to her challenge!" Trash-Chan said as she pushed Raphine off her.

"Oh, my, you got lost," the Administrator said with a smile. Then she said something softly that I could not make out, but for a moment, I thought she said 'stupid waifu.'

"Yes, could you help her get back?" Tanaka-San asked.

"Oh, well. I'd love to help this st... silly waifu, but I am here for more important matters. You see, there is a participant this year, causing a lot of trouble."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Participants could sometimes cause a fuss, at least from what I had read about past drafts. I could see something happing in this event.

The admin sighed.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you. This year, a participant has been on a rampage trying to get waifus to join him. It seems he got a powerful waifu to join him before entering the area and has been making waifus join him by force. You all should be careful; he doesn't care if the waifus were already with someone or not."

"Isn't this kind of a big deal? Shouldn't the WSDF be coming in?" Tanaka-San asked.

"For now, I have asked them to hold back. We don't want to make this incident larger than it needs to be after all," the Administrator said with a smile.

"What do you intend to do?" I asked.

"Oh, don't worry about it. For now, enjoy what little of the draft is left." The Administrator began to walk off.

"Wait, shouldn't you try to be more reassuring?" Tanaka-San yelled to her once she had taken a couple of steps away. She stopped and appeared to sigh, at least, that is how it looked with her back turned.

"If you get into too much trouble, just make a complaint to Administrator Kalen. I will hear you out personally." With that, she walked off.

"She seems like a bad administrator," Trash-Chan said.

"It can't be helped. Let's just be cautious of this guy as we travel," Tanaka-San said with a yawn. He slid into a tent and was fast asleep before anyone could respond to him. I sighed. and slid into the same tent.

"Wait! Main-Kun! You're not going to share a tent with me!" Trash-Chan yelled as Raphine hung off her.

"We already agreed that you would get the other tent."

"But that was before we picked this waifu up!"

"Goodnight, Trash-Chan."

My conscience faded.

It was morning before I knew it. I woke up and groaned. I began to stretch out and hit my hands against the wall of the tent. Then I sat up and pushed my hair out of my face. I slid out of the tent and saw Tanaka-San looking up and staring off into space.

"Morning," I grumbled as I stepped out of the tent.

"Juyo-San, is something flying this way?" he pointed to the sky.

I looked over in the direction he was pointing. Sure enough, a giant ball of fire appeared to be flying over the woods. It passed a little our way before stopping to fly in a circle over the section of woods. Then it flew our way again. It repeated this pattern before finally circling us. The ball of flame stopped in the air once it circled us.

The fire appeared to take a person's shape, then the form of a waifu on fire appeared in the sky above us. In place of clothes, it appeared that she wore flowing robes made out of flames. Her hair was lit into blue flames that seemed to hang down over her shoulders.

"Oh, so there were still some stragglers in these woods!" the fiery waifu yelled from the sky.

"Tanaka-San, who is that waifu?" I said in a low voice.

"I- I have no idea!" Tanaka-San yelled out in a not so quiet voice. He pulled out his phone and started to type on it frantically.

The waifu in the sky began to laugh.

"Ohohoho. You wouldn't be able to find me on any list." A fiery ball of flame seemed to come falling out of the sky as the waifu descended. She landed on the ground, and a ring of scorched earth appeared around her. "It's cute how much effort you're putting into finding out, though."

"Well, of course, I pride myself on my ability to know every waifu," Tanaka-San said without looking up from his phone. The fiery waifu laughed again. Tanaka-San's phone suddenly burst into flame. He quickly dropped it on the ground and took a step back.

"How cute, well since you want to know so bad... you may call be Firestorm."

"What are you from?" Tanaka-San asked.

"Does that matter right now, Tanaka-San? She seems like a lot of trouble," I said while slowly backing up to Trash-Chan's tent. She was most likely still sleeping peacefully, even with all this going on.

The fiery waifu just laughed again.

"Ohohoho. You don't have much longer in this world, so I'll go ahead and tell you. I'm a new type of waifu. One that you will not be able to beat so easily even if you wake the two waifus in that tent."

I stopped moving. There was no doubt that this waifu was trouble. What did she mean by a new type of waifu anyway? I would have to guess that she meant she was from a source, which wasn't already used. I don't recall seeing anything in the news about the labs researching a new type of waifu.

I didn't have too much longer to think about what she said. She pointed a flat palm at me, and a burst of fire shot from it. I barely managed to jump out of the way. I ended up diving into the dirt as the flame flew past me and crashed into some trees behind us. They seemed to catch fire instantly.

"Juyo-San, your jacket!" Tanaka-San yelled to me. It took me a second before I realized my jacket had caught fire. The flame must have just barely touched me. I quickly got up and pulled the coat off. I threw it on the ground and began to stomp on it.

"Ohohoho. There's no point trying to put out the flame. You'll be burned up soon enough anyway." The waifu pointed her palm at me again.

Before she could shoot more flames, a golden streak flew out of Trash-Chan's tent and hit Firestorm in the shoulder. A large amount of ice formed on her shoulder. She stepped back as the tent was unzipped.

Trash-Chan stepped out, holding her Trash Whip, and Raphine stepped out, holding the golden bow. She had a golden arrow with a glowing white tip drawn. Firestorm chuckled, and the ice on her shoulder began to melt rapidly. Steam flew up in the air as if it was skipping its liquid phase. Raphine shot her drawn arrow. Another golden streak in the air crashed into Firestorm, and a chunk of ice appeared—this time on her chest.

"What pesky waifus you have there," Firestorm sneered.

"Darius Bow, Water Arrow," Raphine said. She pulled back on the bowstring, and a golden arrow with a glowing blue tip appeared. She fired it at Firestorm, and when it made contact, it seemed as if water exploded over her face as if she was hit with a large water balloon.

The water quickly turned to steam before it ever touched Firestorm. She laughed.

"I suppose you would think water or ice might be effective, but I'm afraid I'm just too hot for that to work," she said as she ran her hands back through her fiery hair.

"Main-Kun," Trash-Chan said as she took a step toward the waifu.

"Everyone, run!" I shouted. We all took off away from the waifu. She just laughed as we ran away.

"Where are we even going to run!" Raphine yelled.

"Anywhere out of this forest will be good!" I shouted back.

A large wave of heat seemed to hit me from behind. I turned back to look. I wish I hadn't. Firestorm had taken to the sky and was now shooting two large streams of flames into the forest. The entire forest behind us had caught on fire. The fire seemed to chase after as they consumed everything.

I turned away and pulled out the Mirage Map. It was hard to read while running, but it seemed like we were heading toward the desert. There would be less stuff she could set on fire there, at least I hoped.

A wall of wire appeared in front of us and blocked our path. We were forced to turn right and run that way. On either side of us, two walls of fire seemed to run with us on either side.

"It almost seems like we are being directed somewhere!" Tanaka-San yelled. I have to give him credit for being able to think about that in this kind of situation.

We ran out of the forest. The city was in front of us now. If we weren't in such a hurry, I would have liked to admire the impressively tall buildings. However, we were not able to enjoy the scenery as the walls of flames behind us seemed to combine into one massive wave heading toward us. We ran onto a city road that seemed to merge into the ground.

Then the wall of fire stopped at the edge of the city. We collapsed on the ground. I turned around. The wall stretched along the edge of the town in either direction. Was it safe to assume it surrounded the city altogether?

Firestorm stopped in the sky above us. She looked down at us with a friendly smile.

"Um, attention. Hello. Is this thing working?" A voice came ringing over speakers. I turned to look at the city. All the TVs, the signs, and everything else that was a screen had changed to show a man's face. He looked sleazy and strangely familiar. "Oh, it's on? Good. Ahem. Nice to meet you, peasants. If you are in this city, that means you are the last few people with waifus. I will be going ahead and taking them for you. If you could be so kind as to send them to the tower in the center of this city, I would appreciate it. Oh, and Firestorm. Get back here."

With that, the screens all went black.

"What a pathetic display," I heard Firestorm grumble from above. She turned back to us. Trash-Chan and Raphine were both standing up with weapons ready. Tanaka-San stood up as well and balled his hands into fists. Firestorm just casually waved to us. Then she blew a kiss our way. A wall of fire exploded between us. Trash-Chan and I fell to one side, and Tanaka-San and Raphine fell to the other. "Well, see you all later, I guess." With that, Firestorm flew off to the tallest building in the center of the city. I saw her flame fly to the top and appear to land there.

"Juyo-San, are you alive?" Tanaka-San yelled to us from the other side of the flame. I looked down the city's road. It looked like the flame wall made a path that would diverge us deeper into the city. This path also looked like it would split us up if we followed it.

"We're okay, but I think these flames aren't going to let us meet back up!" I yelled back. There was no response. I'm sure Tanaka-San was probably thinking about the situation. "Let's plan to meet up around the tower in the center. We can come up with a plan to get out of this from there!"

"We might just be playing into their hands if we do that!" Tanaka-San yelled back. He was right, of course. They wanted us, or at least our waifus, to head that way so they could take them.

"I don't think we have much choice!" I yelled back.

"Fair enough! I'll see you there!"

I turned away from the flame and began to walk into the alleyways of the city. Trash-Chan followed after me.

"Main-Kun?" she said after a moment.

"Yes," I answered while walking.

"Wasn't that guy the one who tried to take Junkers away?"

I stopped walking and turned to look at her. I thought his face had seemed familiar.

"You're... right."

"That jerk. First, he tries to take Junkers, and now he is causing havoc here!" Trash-Chan yelled.

Now that she brought it up, I recall his face correctly. It was, without a doubt, the same guy. The question was, how did he get such a powerful waifu like Firestorm on his side. It probably didn't matter too much, and now I had the opportunity to give him a punch for Shin-San. I smacked my fist against my palm.

"Trash-Chan, let's get that guy."

"Main-Kun, you're looking a little scary."

"I'll buy you whatever you want on the way home if you help me."

"I'm in!" Trash-Chan mimicked my pose with her fist hitting her palm. "Let's get that guy."

"As much as I would like to see you do that, I'm afraid I have to stop you!" a voice yelled to us.

We turned to see a waifu with pink hair walking toward us. She was carrying a bamboo sword and walking with her shoulders slumped.

"Who are you?" Trash-Chan and I asked together.

The pink hair waifu sighed.

"Just someone who was forced to be that scums waifu. Unfortunately, I have to stop you from beating him down."

"She doesn't seem like she wants to stop us, Main-Kun."

"I'm sure she doesn't, but for whatever reason, she has to. It seems we will need to fight our way there."

Trash-Chan nodded and pulled out her Trash Whip. The pink hair waifu swung her bamboo sword. Trash-Chan avoided the blow by leaning backward as the bamboo blade flew over her. Trash-Chan snagged her sword with the Trash Whip and pulled it out of the pink hair waifu's hands.

The waifu stepped back as Trash-Chan stood straight back up. The sword went flying across the battlefield until it landed in a distant fire.

The pink hair waifu shrugged as Trash-Chan punched her in the stomach.

"Well, I guess I tried..." she said as she fell to the ground.

"Main-Kun, I don't think she was-"

"She fought well Trash-Chan, you overpowered her." I interrupted.

Trash-Chan was right to be confused. That fight went too quickly. We had been allowed to win, but the waifu was trying to play it off as a natural loss.

"Main-Kun?"

"Let's just go; we have a guy to punch."

"Oh, your right, and we have shopping after!"

Trash-Chan and I took off in the direction of the tower.