I’d be hard-pressed to imagine anyone looking more uncomfortable than Kiki did as she stood there surrounded by people she’d done multiple things to antagonize and who looked at her with a mixture of surprise, animosity, and amusement.

Sigrid: What the hell is she doing here?

Me: Tell you that later too.

Kiki shuffled her weight back and forth between her feet, her eyes darting everywhere but at me before stopping to focus on a spot on the ground between us.

“So, um, listen,” Kiki said. “I just wanted to say good job and, you know. Thanks.”

Sigrid: Thanks? Thanks for what? Who is this person and what have they done with the real Kiki?

Me: Quiet, you.

“Thanks, Kiki. And you’re welcome. Thank you for coming to watch.”

There was complete silence around us, everyone wondering like Sigrid what the hell was going on. Everyone but Jane, who was the only one who knew about Kiki’s role in the duel, and had a smuggish look on her face that I translated into her being happy that she and I had secrets too.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Kiki suddenly looked up from the spot on the floor and glared at me.

“Yeah, well, don’t go getting used to it or anything,” she snapped. And with that she spun and hurried away.

“At long last, that freak’s true tsundere nature is exposed,” Chika said, then covered her brother’s eyes with her hand as he gazed after Kiki with open infatuation.

“I’ve heard that word a few times before,” Jane said. “What does it mean?”

“Well,” Andy said, joining in my sport of ignoring Jane. “I think that about caps the can-things-get-any-weirder part of today’s show. I don’t see how we’re gonna beat that so I think I’m gonna head to the tavern. Anyone wanna come with?”

Most of the people there hopped on Andy’s bandwagon and started moving away. Annabelle also said her goodbyes, and Achmed and Tiff excused themselves saying there were a few people who’d bet on me they needed to pay out, but just a few. I had the feeling neither of their teams would be hurting for gold for the foreseeable future.

“Danny, you coming?” Andy said.

“Thanks Andy, but I think I’ll pass.”

“Aw, come on. One drink?”

“I’m still suffering from PTSD from the last time I went to a tavern with you, and honestly, I’ve had my fill of crowds for the night. All I wanna do is go crash.”

“That’s fair,” Andy said, laughing. “You’ve earned the right to do whatever the fuck you want, brother.”

“I think I’m gonna escort Daniel home to make sure he doesn’t go off and get into more trouble,” Sigrid said. Andy seemed disappointed by that, but I knew Andy. He’d get over it soon enough.

“Hey!” Jane said. “Is someone gonna tell me what a sun day ray or whatever is? Daniel?”

“So, Daniel,” Akari said, standing beside me and hooking her arm in mine. “We’re still on for training again tomorrow, right?”

“For sure,” I said.

“Terrific. Now that this distraction is over, I want to move on to larger groups.”

Morgan raised her hand. “Excuse me? Miss Akari?

“Yes Morgan?”

“What do you mean by moving into larger groups?”

“I mean fighting against groups larger than twenty.”

“Oh, so you mean team versus team.”

“No, I mean fighting twenty or more opponents at the same time. He’s been complaining that ten is too easy, so that must mean he should be able to take on twenty, right?”

“So just him alone against twenty, then,” Morgan said. “I see.”

Akari must have seen the looks on everyone’s faces and realized that between what they’d just witnessed in the arena and what she’d just said, they were all feeling a little inadequate. She swallowed hard and hurriedly said, “Although honestly the opponents we’ve been practicing with are total weaklings so I said to him, I don’t think that should even count as ten, it’s more like eight.” When that didn’t seem to make anybody feel better she kept rambling. “Not even eight, really, more like five. Or maybe even just three. But then, you know, I’m a pushover so I caved and let him think it counted as ten. You know how he gets.”

What was she even talking about? Akari was the exact opposite of a pushover, and I don’t remember ever having that conversation.

“Actually no,” Morgan said. “I don’t.”

“Yes,” Jane said. “Please enlighten us. How does he get?”

Akari swallowed hard again. “Uh, you know. All whiny and complainy and stuff.”

Morgan and Jane both rolled their eyes.

“Oh, you mean that,” Morgan said, then gave a little laugh. “Yeah.”

“Yes, sorry,” Jane said, “we totally thought you meant something else.”

Akari exhaled a deep breath. “So yeah. Practice, practice, practice.”

I wasn’t sure what was happening but I knew it was time to cut it off before Akari dug us both a hole too deep to clamber out of.

“Sounds good, Akari,” I said, pulling my arm free from her grip. I put my hand on her back again and gave her a gentle nudge toward the exit. “Thanks for coming to watch.”

Akari didn’t budge. She just barked one of her monosyllabic laughs. “Ha! Like I’d miss it, dummy,” she said, bopping me on the head again. “Right, I’m off. Bye all.” Then, with a slight bend of the knees she sprang up into the air.

“I suppose this means you know how to fly now too,” Morgan said as we all watched her soar away, shrinking down until she was nothing but a speck of pink in the sky before vanishing from sight altogether.

“All I know is this is all thanks to you. All of this, Morgan. It’s all thanks to you and your potion. If anyone deserves a flower it would be you.”

“Oh!” she said. “Well, not really, but that’s nice of you to say, anyway.” Morgan really did look cute when she blushed.

Jane heaved a long, dramatic sigh. “I never thought I’d miss that socially inept dweeb who begged me to join his team because he was too lame to talk to other people and clammed up like an awkward sixth-grader when he had to talk to a girl, but at least he paid attention to me.”

“Did I not just grow a flower for you out of absolutely nothing?” I said.

“Hurumph,” Jane said, folding her arms and looking away.

I looped Jane into the telepathic conversation with Sigrid.

Me: Jane, you wanna come with Sigrid and me?

Jane: Is that okay? You sure I won’t be getting in the way of all your stupid secrets?

Sigrid: Are you gonna show her too?

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Jane: Show me what?

Me: Remember before when Sigrid was all zoned out?

Jane: Yeah, so?

Me: You tell her, Sigrid.

Sigrid: I was looking at his Status but someone was such a busybody I never got to see it all.

Jane: He showed you? That is so not fair!

Me: So do you wanna come see my Status with her or not?

Jane: I’m coming!

Sigrid: That's what he said.

There were still a lot of people milling about when I finally stepped out into the town square courtyard. I caught my name in the air from several voices, and as we headed toward the teleportation circle I noticed a change in how people looked at me compared to how they were before the duel with Flint. Those who hated me only hated me more — Troy was there with all his buddies glowering at me — but a lot of people started nodding to me when they saw me. Not in a familiar way, more like, I don’t know, like they were afraid maybe? Or confused? I don’t know, nobody had ever looked at me like that before so I wasn’t sure what it meant.

The moment we appeared in the elf village’s affinity ring, Jane turned to me. “Lemme see! Open it up, I wanna see!”

“Can you at least wait until we get to my place?”

“Fiiiine,” Jane pouted.

A few minutes later, I was boiling some water for tea while Sigrid and Jane scrutinized my Status.

“Holy crapola, Daniel, this shizznit is the bizzle,” Jane said.

“You do know if I said something like that you’d be on my case like the guillotine on a French noble,” I said, scooping a precise measure of aromatic dried leaves into a tea ball.

“Weirdest metaphor ever, but probably true,” Jane said. “But I’m not you. I can pull off shizzle like that. Hey, this Holtzmann Effect thing, You used that in the fight, right?”

“Uh huh.”

“I was wondering why his sword never seemed to cut you. You used Synthesis to make all these powers? Can’t you just copy one when you want it?”

“Sure, but I can only copy three powers at a time, and the copied powers are exactly the same as the original.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Jane said.

“Using Synthesis, I can blend multiple abilities together to create an entirely new power, or modify an existing power. Like how I created It’s All In Your Head as an improved version of Arthur’s telepathy by adding in Kenji’s heightened senses, so now in addition to telepathic communication I can also share sensory data, like seeing through the other person’s eyes.”

“Really? Show me,” Jane said. “I want to see myself through your eyes.”

“You are literally the worst, Jane,” Sigrid said. “But show me too.”

I linked the three of us telepathically, then shared my vision with them.

“Holy shitballs,” Jane said, “that is frrrrrreaky. I do look good though.”

Sigrid squeezed her eyes shut. “Nope. Don’t want.” I cut her out of the link.

“Oh!” Jane said, jumping to her feet and spinning around. “I wanna see how I look from the back. Hmmm, enjoy this Daniel. It’s your one and only chance to stare at my ass. With my permission, I mean.”

“Seen enough?” I said, watching Jane fondle her own butt.

“I suppose,” she said, and I shut the link so she could see where to sit back down through her own eyes. “You know, it’s like having the perfect mirror.”

She had better not ask me to do this all the time so she can use me as a mirror to check herself out. I did not create this power just to indulge her narcissism.

“This reminds me,” Sigrid said. “Is Arthur’s telepathy power only for communication, or can he read our minds too?”

“Just communication,” I said.

“Thank God,” Jane said, making me wonder what thoughts she would rather keep from Arthur. Or maybe it was me she wanted to hide them from, but that wouldn’t make any sense. Either way, I probably shouldn’t draw attention to the Illithid Probe power I made which actually did let me read surface thoughts, but it was flaky and unreliable and cost massive mana so I’d never used it after testing it out.

“Jane, nobody needs telepathy to know what you’re thinking, you willingly share it all the time whether we want to know or not,” Sigrid said. “And unless you’re on stage or in front of a camera, or if you happen to not be talking at the time, which the rest of us call eating, your face is an open book.”

“Yeah? Then what am I thinking now?” Jane said, scowling, to which Sigrid laughed and went back to scrutinizing my Status.

“My friends suck,” Jane said.

“Hey,” I said, “I represent that remark.”

“This I Hate Surprises power,” Sigrid said. “That’s my danger sense with a different name.”

“It’s almost the same. I also blended it with Kenji’s heightened senses when I synthesized the power and it expanded the range.”

“Ah, I get it. That’s cool,” Sigrid said.

“Some powers, like your danger sense, I had to synthesize. Most powers are active, meaning you have to consciously trigger them, but danger sense is different. It’s passive, always on. I’d need to keep it copied at all times for it to be useful, but that would use up one of my three copy slots.”

“Does this thing ever end?” Sigrid said. “Holy hell, look at the skills! Is there anything you don’t know how to do?”

“Shit buckets,” Jane said. “I am so glad you’re on our side.”

“Why Jane,” I said, bringing the tea things over to the table, “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Yeah, well, thank you,” Jane said, doing a tone-perfect imitation of Kiki’s sweet little lamb moment at the arena, then switched to the Kiki we were used to. “Just don’t go getting used to it or anything.”

“See? You already know what a tsundere is,” I said, then explained the term.

“Thank you!” Jane said, throwing her hands up. “Finally. Seriously, though, you need to watch that chick. She’s loco.”

“She’s just doing her best in a loco situation,” I said. “A lot of people started off like her, thinking this was like a video game where normal societal rules are largely ignored.”

“I can’t believe you’re making excuses for her,” Jane said. “You do remember she kidnapped me, right?”

“Yeah, but she wasn't really serious about that. Did she hurt you?” I said.

“Only my pride, I suppose. But why does that matter? She. Kidnapped. Me,” Jane said, tapping her finger on the table to emphasize the staccato last words. “She also killed you once, almost twice.”

“You’re right, of course,” I said. “She’s a piece of work and if we were still back on Earth should probably be locked up. But she's far from the most sociopathic person here and I don’t believe anyone is totally unredeemable. I think we just saw the birth of a new Kiki.”

“You may be right,” Jane said. “Now, how about you start telling us about how you got so chummy with those other women. You got a thing for brightly-colored hair?”

I sat with them for a while, drinking tea and telling them a glossed-over version of my adventure with Annabelle in the Cathedral, and how Akari came late to the party but saw some of what I did and offered to train with me. Jane seemed placated, but I didn't need to be able to read minds to know that Sigrid was pissed I'd kept so much from her.

I was just wrapping up the story when I felt a vibration in my pocket. It surprised me to feel it so late in the evening, Ruka usually gave me more warning of an impending visit. Feeling a bit guilty about it, I nonetheless told Sigrid and Jane I needed to crash and it was time for them to go home.

“Why don’t I spend the night here?” Sigrid said. “I’ll just be back in the morning to wake you up anyway.”

“Hey, if she gets to stay I’m staying too,” Jane said. She really did hate being left out.

“Does that mean you’ll join us for a sunrise workout?” Sigrid said.

“That depends on what kind of workout you’re talking about,” Jane replied with a wink.

“Really?” Sigrid said. “I’ve asked you lots of times and now you want to do a threesome?”

Jane laughed. “Dream on. Some people don’t like to share.”

I didn’t have time to let them keep joking around.

“Maybe another night,” I said. “Something tells me you two would find some way to be bothersome and keep me up.”

“Yay!” Jane said. “Slumber party at Daniel’s. I’m gonna make you keep that promise.”

“When did the word maybe come to indicate a promise?” I said.

It took a few more minutes of barely controlled panic at the thought that a demon succubus could show up at any moment while they were still there, but I finally managed to send Sigrid and Jane home.

When there was a knock on the door less than a minute after they departed, I knew Ruka must have been waiting outside for them to leave.

“Sorry about that,” I said after I let her in.

“I thought they’d never leave,” she said. “You’re a popular guy.”

“If only. This is late for a visit, Ruka. Is something wrong?”

“Is it wrong to want to congratulate my friend for his stunning victory?”

“You saw the fight tonight then?”

“Alas, no,” she said, flicking one of her horns. “For some reason my kind don’t tend to feel completely comfortable being in a place surrounded by hundreds of your people.”

“I can see that.”

“I did hear all about it, though. A blow by blow report. Very impressive, Daniel. It inspired me to make a spontaneous visit.”

“Thank you, I appreciate the gesture. Was that all or did you plan to stay a while?”

“I can't tell if you're kicking me out or inviting me to spend the night. A sleepover sounds like fun.”

I laughed, wondering if that was a coincidence or had she been listening in to my conversation with Sigrid and Jane.

“You just can’t resist, can you? You’re lucky I know you’re joking.”

“Old habits die hard,” she said. “But who said I was joking?”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“I thought you believed everyone was redeemable,” she said. “And before you chastise me for listening in, I wasn’t. I just happened to hear bits and pieces when I came to knock on the door. I went and hid in the bushes like a common burglar waiting for them to leave. But what I really want to know is: what’s the real story behind you and this Kiki person?”

“I’d better go make some tea. This is a bit of an epic tale.”

“Ohhh, I’m all tingly with anticipation.”