After another night’s stay in the Tanzimat Hotel, Daisy flew everyone back to Vermögenburgh. They arrived around dusk the following day, exhausted from clinging to a stone bird’s back.

“Fuck me, I need a drink,” Natsuko said, sliding off Peng’s stone wing and wobbling onto sore legs. Her thighs were an angry, lobster-red from straddling rocks all day.

“Ugh, I need to unwind too,” Daisy said, rubbing her back with her knuckles.

“Devil’s Cut?” Sofiane asked. “I mean, it doesn’t feel great to celebrate right now, but screw it, we’re alive, the world-ending apocalypse is still two years away, and we dealt with the craziest shit any Hero has ever dealt with. I feel like we can cut back and drink some, non?”

Natsuko was already walking towards the bar. “Y’gonna yap or y’gonna drink?”

Since the other three had already decided their next course of action, Pechorin turned to Shuixing. “Are you coming, Shui?”

Shuixing blinked. “Oh, erm, in a bit. I wanted to deal with my stolen research first. Once I make sure it’s gone for good, I’ll catch up with you all.”

Pechorin nodded and then went to meet up with the others.

“Klaus! Buddy!” Natsuko yelled at the top of her lungs the second she walked in the door.

The middle-aged bartender and the other mellow drunkards quietly nursing drinks on a Wednesday night in the least exciting bar in the least exciting city in Po-Lin were first surprised and then delighted.

“Hey! The wyvern-slayer has returned!” said Karl the brewer. The rest of the patrons raised their glasses with a cheer.

“Oh uh…” Natsuko laughed nervously. “You didn’t die horribly too many times, right?”

“Just a couple mondays of brutal, flash-frozen deaths. No biggie,” Klaus said, swabbing a glass. “You’re back for good though, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t remind me,” she said in feigned disappointment. Truthfully, she had a lot more appreciation for her little life now that she knew how big the pond really was, and how small the fish at the top were by comparison.

“The whole bar’s on my tab!” Daisy said.

This earned another cheer, loudest of all from Klaus, who immediately hopped to getting everyone drinks with a whole lot more vigor than for the broke, alcoholic Hero he usually served. Natsuko sighed and slid into a stool while Sofiane and Pechorin took the seats on either side of her. She slumped forward, her messy mop of bright-orange hair pooling on the splintery countertop.

“After everything, it’s still all about money…” Natsuko muttered as Klaus plopped down her regular tankard of ale and double-shot of whiskey.

Sofiane eyed the glass of Cascadia 75 that Klaus had mixed for him which he was 90% sure was just white wine and gin with a twist of lemon.

“Well, it’s like an old friend once said,” he said, nodding at Pechorin. “As above, so below.”

“Perhaps we should give some thought to what to do next?” Pechorin asked after swishing around his shot of whiskey until it was diluted enough by spit that it didn’t burn.

Natsuko groaned. “Gods, whatever we decide, I’m taking at least three days to nap and binge drink first. I am slammed.”

“I think…” Daisy started to say. She licked her lips and cocked her head, swirling the stir stick in her mint julep as she tried to find the right words. “So… my role in all this… I think I’m the numbers girlie, right? We gotta have someone who can fight off the other Heroes.”

After a few drinks, everyone was willing to wholeheartedly agree and skate over the fact that they all knew Daisy was still worried about her Use-Ranking. But she had come back before, and presumably, if need be, she would come back again. Most of the immediate work for preparing for the apocalypse would fall on Shuixing anyway. Out of the five of them, she was the only one who remotely understood the inner-workings of their strange world.

“I’m sure the rest of us can hold down the fort,” Pechorin said.

“Uhh… about that,” Sofiane said.

“Oh? Is someone gonna go chase tail?” Natsuko said with a lip-biting grin. She started stabbing him in the ribs with her finger. “Look at this little bastard, wanting to go play while the world burns!”

“Ow! Stop! Natsu I can easily kill you— stop poking me!”

“Aw, you know I’m just bustin’ your balls. Maybe not as well as the raccoon girl can, but you know…”

Sofiane flushed bright red and was about to give his retort before Daisy threw her arm around his shoulder and squeezed.

“I think y’all make such a cute couple, you and whats'ername!”

“Gomiko,” Sofiane said.

“Yeah! Give ‘er lots of smooches for me, alright!” Daisy said with a loud hiccup.

Daisy was about one drink behind Natsuko, which was a bad place for anyone other than Natsuko to be. Sofiane realized his best option was to shut up and let them continue messing with him until they got bored. Unfortunately, he underestimated how much fun Natsuko could have making lewd comments and Daisy could have planning his and Gomiko’s future wedding. After half an hour of this he’d had enough.

“I think I’m gonna head out. You all take care,” Sofiane said.

“Gonna finish your drink?” Natsuko asked, her words starting to slur.

“By all means,” he said with a handwave as Natsuko slammed the rest of his leftover Cascadia 75.

Natsuko ordered herself, Daisy, and Pechorin a round of vodka shots—on Daisy’s tab, naturally—and they toasted to temporarily saving the world. After choking and coughing down her shot, Daisy gestured at Natsuko’s bottle.

“So… Natsuko…” Daisy said.

“So… Daisy?” Natsuko said.

Daisy’s eyes flicked down to her bottle.

“Once Shui gets rid of her research, we just got that left.”

Natsuko cringed. “I know, but…”

Pechorin placed a hand on Natsuko’s shoulder. “Nothing is harder to give up than power. But take it from me, it can only corrupt you. No Hero should have that power over another. The right thing to do is destroy it.”

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“No, idiot, it’s still half full of wine! That’s what I’m worried about,” Natsuko said in disgust at the very notion that her concern would be about the power of forced dimension-jumping and not booze.

“We can have Shui pour it in a vat or somethin’,” Daisy said with a yawn. “Gawsh I’m gettin’ tired too! I think I’m also gonna pack it in.”

“You gods-damned weenie!” Natsuko said, “It’s not even two o’clock yet!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Daisy said with a hand wave.

Natsuko turned back to her own half-full glass of whiskey. The presence of Pechorin hovered like an uncomfortable cloud to her left. She guessed he was about to make some grand confession which would finally exposed the tender core he kept locked inside a cage of cold detachment or something. She wasn't looking forward to it.

“Natsu…” he said.

She sighed. “Yeah?”

“Want me to walk you back to the Mage’s College?”

“No,” was on her lips, but Natsuko supposed someone to guide her around swinging shop signs wouldn’t be a terrible idea, so instead she said, “sure, I guess.”

The air outside was much cooler than it had been at dusk. Chilly air sliced through Natsuko’s outfit and made her shiver as they walked. For a couple of blocks they said nothing, the scuffing of their boots the only sound beside the soft wind and the distant ruffle of pine trees.

“Want my coat?” Pechorin said.

“Nah, I’ll be fine,” Natsuko said, tightening her muscles as though bracing against the chilly wind. “I’m tough.”

“The offer remains open,” Pechorin replied.

They walked another block before Natsuko said, “alright, gimme the coat.”

Pechorin shrugged it off and handed it to her. Underneath he wore a pair of black slacks and a black turtleneck sweater.

“A turtleneck? Really!?” Natsuko said, huddling into Pechorin’s black trenchcoat. On her much-shorter frame the bottom trailed against the ground and the sleeves engulfed her hands.

“It’s comfortable,” he said.

Natsuko laughed at that, bursting with snorts. “Oh gods… I’m sorry, I’m sure it is, I just— a turtleneck was not what I expected.”

Another minute or so passed and she added, “I don’t think it’s bad though”

“Can I come clean with you about something, Natsu?”

Her heart thumped. “What about?”

“I don’t actually like black coffee and whiskey.”

“Oh," she said. "Yeah, I know. Your face puckers up like you ate a lemon.”

“And you don’t think that’s—”

“Nah, I do think you’re a wimp,” Natsuko said. “But not everyone can be tough-as-nails like me.”

Pechorin grunted. Eventually they arrived at the courtyard garden outside the entrance to the Mage’s College. Natsuko swung one leg back and forth, scuffing her shoes against the ground.

“So, you uh… you tryna walk me inside, or…?”

“Oh, no, sorry, I didn’t mean to linger. I’ll be off now,” Pechorin said.

He departed while Natsuko was still trying to figure out what had happened. It took her almost a minute of wondering what the hell she said before realizing Pechorin had taken it as her telling him to buzz off. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Pech, you’re a dumbass…” she muttered.

“Jeez, what a rude thing to say about your teammate.”

Natsuko’s head shot up, her heart rate with it. She knew that voice.

“Hey, I was just kidding! I know you and Pech have a will-they-or-won’t-they thing going on,” Zhidao said, floating in on his cloud through the side of the courtyard that overlooked Vermögenburgh.

Her knuckles curled around the bottle. “What do you want, you little creep?”

Zhidao pouted. “I am not creepy, I am cute! Look at these little toe beans!”

He held up his paws for Natsuko’s inspection before hastily withdrawing them to dodge a swing of her bottle. He did a loop with his cloud and righted himself.

“Wow! Way to almost force dimension-jump the messenger! Do you do this to all the emissaries of the Yishang, or just Hemiola?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Only the ones that really piss me off. If you’ve got a message, spit it out.”

“Hmph! Since you so kindly asked,” Zhidao said, putting on a fake pair of reading spectacles and clearing his throat. “For defeating the Hero-slayer Hemiola, the Hero Natsuko is entitled to a re-summoning which will bring her stats in line with the top Heroes and she will furthermore receive support from the Yishang to maintain her status at the top of the Use-Rankings.”

Natsuko’s bottle clinked against the stone path as it fell out of her hand. It took around thirty seconds for it to come to a rocking stop.

“W-Wha— no, hold on, is everyone getting this? All five of us?” Natsuko asked.

“Did all five of you kill Hemiola?” Zhidao asked.

“All five of us played a role—”

“Natsuko. Did all five of you kill Hemiola?”

She swallowed and looked away. “No…”

“Right.”

“Could I think on this, please?”

“No. This offer is only good tonight. You can say yes, or you can say literally anything else and I will go back to the Yishang and tell them you declined,” Zhidao said.

“What!? That’s not fair—”

Zhidao spun his cloud around. “I’ll tell them you declined.”

“No! Wait!”

Zhidao spun back around with a smirk. “Yes?”

“I accept,” Natsuko said, hoping she wouldn't regret it.

“Great! Just one second!”

Zhidao clapped his fox paws twice and then went into orbit around Natsuko. After a couple revolutions, her skin started to glow. After a couple more, Natsuko was consumed in a blinding white light. She flailed in every direction, but it was like being in the dimension-jump space between planes. She couldn’t feel the stone path below her, or the bottle that had been at her side. But a moment later, the light dimmed. She was still in the courtyard of the Mage’s College. It was still nighttime. Nothing seemed to have changed except that she was no longer wearing Pechorin’s coat. Zhidao floated back in front of her.

“Why don’t you take a look at your stats?”

She did.

“Ho-ho-holy shit! This is nuts! And new abilities and—”

She rushed to one of the college’s dark windows. In the reflection she could see her hair was longer, grown out in a single, high-ponytail with a pair of side-fringes. Even more dramatic, it was now shot with streaks of platinum white. Matching it was an outfit that she would need to have a talk with the Yishang about later, but for the moment she was ecstatic.

This was it. She was back in. And she was going to stay there.

“Gods-damn Zhidao! I’m friggin’ cracked, dude! What the hell!?”

“What can I say? The Yishang are demi-gods of their words.”

At the mention of the Yishang, her boiling-over excitement was taken off the heat. Yesterday she had learned that this was all to make the Yishang richer, that she was basically whoring herself out for their benefit. Worse still, in two years’ time, it wouldn’t even matter. The whole world would be wiped out.

But then again… what did Natsuko really want to do in those two years? Scrimp for cash to keep daydrinking? Ruin her buzz by thinking about the impending apocalypse? Keep sighing about the good ol’ days? Screw that. She was here for a good time, not a long time. Plus, now that she knew the whole system was bullshit anyway, she wouldn’t get wrapped up in the race or feel obligated to the Yishang for giving her the stats. Once Shuixing needed her again for whatever strategy she came up with to fight them, Natsuko would dip out. It was a way to kill time that wouldn't leave her a sad, alcoholic wreck. Shuixing would've approved of that.

“I guess I’ll head out to al-Nuwba to finish up the quests and stuff tomorrow. I wanna say bye to everyone first,” Natsuko said, putting her hand on the door to the Mage’s College.

“Nope! We go tonight,” Zhidao said.

“What!? Why!?”

“Because the Yishang said so,” Zhidao replied. “And if I were you, I’d get used to that being good enough.”

Natsuko spat. “I’m saying good-bye to Shuixing at least. And if the Yishang have a problem with that, I’d be happy to go around telling all the other Heroes that they live in a make-believe reality run by them.”

For the first time since Natsuko had known him, Zhidao dropped the cutesy fox act. “You’ve got five minutes.”

Natsuko threw open the door, or rather, tore it off its hinges. She was still getting used to being OP.

She went to Shui’s laboratory first and found it dark and empty. Not knowing when she’d be back, Natsuko went to her closet and grabbed the Opto-Box picture of her and her former teammates and stuffed it… where she could. The red-and-white kimono the Yishang had replaced her previous outfit with had long sleeves, an extremely short hemline, and not a lot of pockets. Taking one last look at the shitty little supply closet she’d spent the better part of three years living in, Natsuko shut the door and bid it good riddance.

The only other place Shuixing could be was her apartment. When she arrived, the door was unlocked and a candle was still burning on the little kitchenette table Shui liked to spread her research across. All that rested on it now were Shuixing’s head and hands as she snoozed, her glasses laying precariously at the tip of her nose. In the kitchen there was a large pile of ashes atop a recently-used burner.

Natsuko didn’t have the heart to wake her after everything they’d been through. Since it was usually Natsuko who passed out first, her friend dozing so daintily was a rare sight. And a bittersweet one. It seemed she wouldn’t get her good-bye after all.

She lifted Shui’s glasses off her nose before they could slip and break and placed them carefully in the center of the table. Grabbing a pencil and paper, Natsuko tried to write a note explaining the Yishang’s offer, but every time she tried to write a justification, it sounded wrong, and she had to crumple the note and start over. Eventually, she just wrote that she’d be going off somewhere and would return as soon as she could, intending to come back once she was caught up on levels and quests and the Yishang let out her leash a little.

“Bye, Shui,” Natsuko said softly, sliding the note under her glasses.