Trigger Words

"Haruto Fukuzawa?!" I cried in disbelief.

He turned an gave me a beaming smile. "Hi Minori, long time no see!"

"What are you doing here?!"

"I'm here to welcome you as the latest addition to our party, of course. Haven't you spoken with Ramsy?"

"No, I meant what are you doing here, in this world?!"

"Well, I'm leveling and grinding—both my class level and my Dancer Kraft. Wanna see some moves?" His smile brightened.

Oblivious as ever... I would have been irritated if I weren't so shocked. "...But, like, how long have you been here?" It didn't make sense that he was over four times my level, when he obviously departed from the other world after me... 

"For a few years, at least, though I'm not entirely sure—time works different here, being centered around the cycles of the Seven Moons and all."

My face scrunched up in confusion. "Years?!" I hadn't even been here a full week yet. How could he possibly have been in this world for several years already?

"Why do you keep mentioning my brother?" interjected Reems. "What business could he possibly have with a puny level 5 who doesn't even have half of her equipment slots filled?"

Unfortunately, Reems was right—I was woefully unequipped.

The various equipment slots you could fill were: head (barrettes, hats or crowns); neck (amulets, chokers, scarves); chest (gowns, breastplates, vests); leg (pants, stockings, skirts); hand (bracelets and gloves); foot (shoes, socks, ankle bracelets). 

Then there were also several jewelry slots: one for each finger and each ear. Of all these possible slots to fill with stat-powered gear, only my head slot was equipped with a barrette, and my chest slot filled with a gown (which, unlike breastplates and vests, also filled the leg slot too (because what kind of a psychopath would wear pants under her dress?)). We'll just put aside the fact that my Moth Bitten Gown was only a slight step above useless, despite taking up two whole slots.

What did you expect? I'd only had a chance to do a couple quests before I somehow got caught up in this seemingly never-ending torrent of meta drama.

"If Ramsy hasn't already mentioned it to you, then he must not think it's any of your business, or would you really like to discuss the nature of your brother's work—" Haruto threw a glance at the Geisha Dryads bathing in the nearby neon light "—in such a public setting?"

Reems stood still, staring him down while growling from the back of his throat. 

Yet Haruto wasn't budging an inch. 

Finally, Reems turned away. "C'mon, let's get away from these losers!" he grunted at his underlings.

"Yeah! Or else their weakness might rub off on us!" said Cockface with a forced laugh.

Judging by the giggles of the Geishas as they walked off, it was clear that—duel or no—they were the losers of this round.

***

"Haruto Fukuzawa?!" I repeated in disbelief, still unable to pull my eyes away from him. I activated Levitate and used it to float over for a closer look. As if him already confirming his identity wasn't enough.

"Uhh, yeah? Who else would I be?" he answered with a raised eyebrow. He probably found my behavior off-putting, but I didn't care.

"It really is you," I said, staring into his eyes. There was no longer any shred of doubt about about it.

It was him alright.

Smack!

"Ow! What was that for?!" he cried, after I slapped him across the face with the force of my .75 strength.

"What do you mean 'what was that for'?!" Was he really so oblivious?!

I couldn't help myself: Smack!

"Ow!" he cried again. "Why'd you slap me again?!"

"Well, the second was for not understanding the reason for the first," I growled, with my hands on my hips.

Fahna challenges you to a duel.

Huh? The prompt appeared out of nowhere, right before my eyes. 

I turned to see the Dryad glaring at me with a murderous scowl while white knuckling her staff. I guess that's Fahna.

Focusing on her, her stats appeared:

Fahna: level 20

Race: Dryad

Class: Chantress (Inspiration)

Kraft: Carver

Hmmm... she seemed rather upset at me for slapping Haruto... 

Fahna.... that name was entirely unfamiliar to me. "Your real name wouldn't happen to be Akari, would it?" I asked as a murderous scowl of my own appeared.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not in the mood for talking anyway. Nobody treats my master like that—accept the duel so I can give you what's coming."

"Ladies, please," chimed in Haruto, "can't we just settle down for a second so we can talk?"

"Master?! Why did she call you her master?" I demanded. But the answer was obvious.  "Don't tell me...she's your slave?!"

I turned to look at each one of them in the eye. 

Haruto was scratching his head in embarrassment.

The other Pixie was rolling her eyes. I took the opportunity to check her stats as well:

Cici: Level 22

Race: Pixie

Class: Elementalist (Lightning)

Kraft: Weaver

Hmmm... so my suspicion that these two may have been the other girls from my past seemed unfounded. "You're real name is Cici?" I asked, just to make sure.

"It's Italian, so it's pronounced Chichi," she said, folding her arms and giving me a haughty look.

Italian? Well that was unexpected. Hmmm... now that I thought about it, many of the names I'd come across didn't sound Japanese at all... Fahna, Reems, Ramsy, Leilei... and now Cici. Sounded like people from all over the world—the old world—were being reincarnated here. Well, I guess it made sense, being that Witch Kraft was a global MMO, even if its developers were Japanese.

Now that I knew these two weren't who I feared, I could now focus the full brunt of my fury at Haruto: "Is it true then, are you a slaver?"

"It's.. uh, well... it's complicated..."

"Ice Shard!" I cried.

Invalid Target.

The attack merely disappeared before it could strike as I heard an error sound in my head. Okay then... I declined Fahna's standing challenge to a duel, then challenged Haruto to a duel instead.

I know, I kept falling prey to these hotheaded outbursts... but the absurdities just kept happening, one after another—after another! I felt like I hadn't even had a real chance to catch my breath since my flower mother birthed me onto the floor of the Faunhaven nursery. 

And I'd always found slavery to be an incredibly vile institution, so having to cope with its existence was seriously irksome. Now, to top it all off, I had this imbecile uttering my ultimate trigger words: "it's complicated."

Challenge Accepted.

"Haruto the Satyr has accepted a duel from Minori the Pixie!" announced the patchwork black bird that landed on a nearby lamppost. "Duel starting in 3... 2... 1... Fight!"

"Ice Shard! Moon Beam!"

I was so amped to kick his butt that I didn't bother wondering why he simply accepted instead of trying to reason with me any further.

"Crit—3 damage. 1,1, Resist,1,1, Resist," read the combat log as my attacks landed.

Haruto winced a bit, but otherwise didn't move.

"Master Haruto—please, allow me to deal with this vile ingrate in your stead!" pleaded Fahna.

"Don't worry, Fahna, I'll be okay!" he said, flashing her a thumbs up and a beaming smile—so sparkling and handsome I couldn't help but be doubly enraged.

I cast three more Ice Shards and another Moon Beam in rapid succession.

Mana low—said a voice in my head.

Ugh! His HP was still at 95%!

"Master, I beg you: put this mad dog down with one of your glorious offensive spells!" cried Fahna. "I simply cannot bear to watch you be abused like this!"

"There's no need for any of that Fahna," he said stoically, as he drew his rapier "Now, Minori—" he stuck his blade into the ground "—may we at least talk while your mana regenerates?" 

My only response was a bestial growl from the back of my throat.