The Cult Pt. 1

Zero returned home the next day, greeted by a chorus of applause:

“Look at you, becoming a real man, huh, Zero? Didn’t sleep here last night, so it must’ve been a good one!” said Master Zyg, laughing with his pipe in his mouth.

“How moving. At last, the young master is finally becoming just… master,” said the butler, once again crying.

“How embarrassing…” muttered Linsley, vanishing into the shadows.

Arms crossed, my aunt simply walked up to us and placed a hand on my shoulder:

“Get her pregnant quickly… That way she won’t be able to divorce you.”

“WHAT?!” everyone shouted in unison.

After that uproar, Tadashi and I finally had some time alone. One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were playing chess.

“Put this piece… here,” I said.

Since my body was just an illusion, Tadashi had to play for both of us.

“Hmm… I’ll place this one then.”

…

….

It was a monotonous game. We focused hard, trying not to let our thoughts slip out. One lapse and the other would notice our next move…

“So, you ended up talking all night. Who would’ve thought you could actually speak to a girl without stuttering.”

“Trying to distract me, Shi-nii? Won’t work. I’ll move this one then.”

“You used to do nothing but complain. Then a pretty girl shows up and suddenly you’re all smiles. I’m starting to get jealous here…”

Suddenly, a noise caught our attention.

“Bourne! You bastard, I was worried about you!” screamed our aunt.

We left the room and looked down at the entrance hall. There stood Bourne, all cleaned up with a fresh haircut.

“Forgive me, auntie. I was taking a sabbatical. I went to recover at a rehabilitation clinic. As you can see, I'm doing very well...”

Our eyes met.

“…well.”

We went right back into the room. Screw that guy.

We lost focus, and our thoughts got tangled up again.

I forgot how the knight moves in chess…

These checkers pieces are way too weird…

“What?” we both said at the same time.

In the end, we found out those pieces belonged to some local game… it wasn’t either of the two we thought.

We really are a couple of idiots…

— — —

The rest of the week was pretty busy.

I know I shouldn’t be saying good things about a cult… but those guys were seriously organized.

Overnight, the plaza was closed off, several tents set up around the perimeter of the sword. Rush took us to see the place. It was a space filled with technology — machines that resembled those retrofuturistic attempts from the 1960s. Huge computers with rounded screens displayed countless numbers.

What used to be a tourist spot in the city was turning into a full-on data hub.

“Hey, hey, hey! Careful with the equipment, it’s sensitive! The results can be affected even by the slightest mana emission from our bodies! TRY TO KEEP CALM!” Rush shouted, scattering her mana particles everywhere.

She definitely reminded me of someone…

From inside Tadashi’s memories, the president’s voice reached his ears:

“Oioi, Tadashi-chan, can you please hold that sword STRAIGHT! POSTURE. IF I CATCH YOU LEANING AGAINST THE WALL ONE MORE TIME, I’LL RIP YOU APART!”

Yeah… they were kind of alike.

“HEY, INTERN, SHOULDN’T THOSE WIRES BE HIGHER UP?”

“B-but… Miss More… there’s no more space left higher on the sword.”

The sword had so many wires and contraptions attached to it that it was almost comical. Naturally, the cables started tangling together and… well, when the intern happened to have his hand right there, Rush finally noticed the giant ball of wires it had become.

“Geez! How did you guys mess up the wiring this badly?”

I knew all these details because we had a tent just for ourselves.

Tadashi spent the whole day alone in the tent, training. We had taken on the mission of casting a portal spell.

Around midday, Rush would stop by to help — fixing Zero’s posture, correcting the breathing, and giving us a boost of confidence.

With each attempt, I could see the opening of the portal grow just a little bigger.

“Every spell has some kind of exchange. If you actually walked to the place you’re trying to open the portal to, the energy cost would be about ten times lower. Meaning, the portal is basically a cheat that consumes tons of mana — but use too much, and it becomes unstable and collapses. The trick isn’t just quantity, but the elasticity of your energy and cognition.”

We didn’t understand a single thing.

Yeah… nothing.

But hey, having support was nice.

Of course, our activities weren’t limited to that alone.

“Miss More… I mean, Miss Zero, what exactly is your husband’s position here?” asked the secretary from the finance department.

“He’s my emotional support…”

“And for that he needs to be on our payroll? I’m not sure I can allow that.”

I know what you’re thinking. Tadashi tried convincing her that he could stay without being paid. But she took it as an insult, so we just accepted the situation.

She’s just really good at arguing.

“He’s missing too many classes. This counts as school presence as well as vital information, just for our sake. If you cut him off… things will get ugly.”

The woman wasn’t budging. Even in a cult, the ones who handle money are cold and calculating.

The fight dragged on until all the interns gathered behind the secretary. In hushed whispers, their voices joined into a chorus: “Please, let him stay.”

My other job was calming Rush down. Every time, during our training, when I heard a scream that shook the ground, I knew it was my cue.

“Rush… I know you’re angry because someone messed up one of the equations… but the chalkboard had nothing to do with it… nor did the water fountain you threw it at… and using an explosion spell on top of that wasn’t really necessary — the damage was already done.”

“I know… It’s just that when I see an equation I made being abused like that, I lose it.”

“Okay, next time, how about you… vent your anger by eating instead?”

WHAT KIND OF ADVICE IS THAT, TADASHI?

I DON'T KNOW... IT'S BETTER THAN HER ENDING UP KILLING SOMEONE.

From Rush's calmer, I went to organizer, and before I knew it, I was leading that research.

“Mr. Zero, please let Miss More know that some of the magic detection wires have burned out and we'll need new ones...”

“Leave it to me.”

Zero went over to Rush.

“Our experiments are going very well, but we'll need more wires to... amplify the magic sampling,” said Tadashi, literally saying whatever came to mind.

“What a pain... the order's finance woman is going to kill me. I-I... I...”

“Here.”

I gave Rush a carrot, which he began to bite and eat compulsively.

We thought it would be better if he was going to take it out on food, that it should be something minimally healthy.

We went back to the intern:

“Go on, go buy those wires. If something breaks again, I'm going to blame it on someone random...”

Everyone looked at me in fear.

“You better be careful! Or she'll kill you.”

Zero pointed at Rush with his eyes shining as she devoured a carrot.

“We also have to get some equipment... If we don't have the wires and equipment in time, we'll have to postpone some tests until tomorrow,” said one of the employees in a lab coat.

Humph...

And off we went:

Jumping between the rooftops of the city with a box full of heavy industrial equipment and a bunch of wires hanging around our necks, we were practically ninja deliverymen.

In 30 minutes, everything was ready for the test.

All the scientists took their positions, and the last big test was underway. There was so much paraphernalia piled up that you couldn't even see the sword anymore.

And at the end of it all, we finally reached the finish line:

“We found it! The result is 8 percent!”...

What?

“Is this what I worked so hard for...?”

A wave of disappointment hit me.

A tear fell from my eyes.