Wonder Game - infinite 1

[bakemonoremy]

Location: Student Council Room

- Present-day Winter, Early Morning of the First Day of “Wonder Game” -

Jun: Excu~se me! Eden’s Tomoe Hiyori and Sazanami Jun have arrived!

Hiyori: Ahaha ☆ You sound like you’re in the military, don’t we get enough of that from Ibara already?

Jun: Cut out the jokes and do your introductions, Ohii-san.

...Huh?

Eichi: (His eyes are closed.) ……….

Hiyori: Oh, seems like Eichi-kun’s dead! I always knew this day was going to come, but who would’ve known it’d be today? What bad weather…! (He’s smiling.)

Jun: Th-, that’s not funny, alright? I’m sure he’s alive, it’d be a pain if he died at an important time like this~?

Hiyori: He~y, Eichi-kun, Eichi-kun! Wake up if you’re alive! If you’re just asleep, open your eyes!

I don’t know what kind of dream you’re having, but as long as I’m here, reality is infinitely more interesting than whatever you’re dreaming about!

Eichi: Uu~... Mh, mmh?

...My apologies. I must have dozed off for a moment.

I was having a dream about the past.

Hiyori-kun. You’ve changed a lot since then.

Hiyori: Fufun ♪ I’m sure I have, since I’m constantly changing myself for the better!

Eichi: I wonder about that. In fact, to me it seems more like you’ve become unnecessarily over-familiar and just a bit of a dope.

Hiyori: How nice of you. You’ve also changed a lot~, I feel like you’ve gotten a lot calmer than you used to be! Your age must be getting to you, huh?

Eichi: That must be it. Aah… Thanks to Hiyori-kun being as noisy as an alarm clock, my mind has cleared up.

Fufu. Once again, I apologize. It seems that lately my fatigue has been building up from how busy I’ve been.

Welcome to Yumenosaki Academy, gentlemen of Eden ♪

Jun: Thanks. Rather than Eden, it’s just us Eve in here right now, though~.

‘Cause Adam is currently greeting the other idols who’re participating in “Wonder Game”.

Hiyori: Yup. Seems like they went through all the trouble of preparing a shuttle bus, put on cute bus guide uniforms, and now they’re showing everyone around.

Jun: Pretty sure they wouldn’t go as far as wearing bus guide uniforms~, usually. But then again, Ibara and Nagi-senpai are usually willing to wear whatever outfit they deem necessary.

Hiyori: Yep, yep. One time, I saw them wearing these prison guard-like uniforms and twirling around iron clubs, I wonder what kind of job those were for?

Jun: Wasn't that part of a campaign to use their sorta intimidating image as Adam to prevent children from engaging in nightlife, or something?

Actually. How about you take some interest in the kinda jobs they’re doing, since we’re part of the same unit and all… Ohii-san?

Hiyori: Hm~... I haven’t felt that way lately, but until just recently, whenever I saw Nagisa-kun getting along with others while he was working, I got a complicated feeling in my chest just looking at them.

Could this be love? Or the desire to monopolize him?

Eichi: Ah~, Ahem. It’s a wonderful thing that the two of you get along so well, but you can’t keep chatting on and on.

Though I’m sure you only came here out of courtesy to give your regards to me, seeing as I am the chief executive of the matter at hand.

The tale always continues someplace else, so get these annoying formalities out of the way already and head to the location.

Well, I’m sure the other participating idols, aside from Switch, have yet to arrive…

So even if you went on-site now, all you could really do there is warm-up exercises.

One of the former “Five Oddballs”, Sakasaki-kun, is part of Switch.

You should try to approach him and deepen your friendship with him as soon as possible, especially you, Hiyori-kun. Just as you would guess from his high-strung appearance, he is the type to hold a grudge.

Even now, whenever I try my very best to strike up an amiable conversation with him, he ignores me completely, more-or-less. And I can hear him muttering curses at me all the while.

Hiyori: Aha, my deepest condolences! But at this point I’m unperturbed even if the amount of curses against me was to increase by one or two… What about you?

Eichi: Ditto. But, well, it’s not a nice feeling, even though I’m just reaping what I've sown…

That child is a real magician after all, as much as those have become a rare species nowadays. So even just a simple curse from him brings about so much evil influence that it is no laughing matter. 

Jun: Magician, you say… Magic isn’t real, so shouldn’t you be fine just ignoring him?

Eichi: Magic is very real, just like fortune-telling and sleight of hand.

Of course, RPG-like things, such as chanting “abracadabra” to shoot fire or lightning bolts at will, are impossible.

But there exist certain arts that we don’t have any choice but to call sorcery. And Switch knows how to make use of those. You’ll get burned if you underestimate them too much.

Be careful, “Ohii-san”. In the world of fairy-tales, it’s the magicians who influence the outcome of the story the most.

Hiyori: Hmm. Thanks for the warning.

From how I remember things… This Sakasaki Natsume was the most insignificant among the “Five Oddballs”, in my opinion.

It’s been over a year since we subjugated the “Five Oddballs”, so if he’s human, it’s only natural that he has done some growing-up since then, though.

We may have treated them like they’re monsters, but in fact, they are human, and didn’t die.

For now, I’ll see how that child has changed.

Children change fast, and even Wonderland’s Alice-chan turned into a queen in the short time we took our eyes off her.*

Eichi: Aah… That’s what “Wonder Game”’s theme is, I remember now.

In the end, we never managed to perform it together as fine, so I am personally looking forward to seeing how this will turn out.

From what I could tell from the proposal, the mood of the source material has been a strong influence on the details…

Now that we’re opening this box, I can’t even guess what’s going to jump out of it. I am keenly interested.

Hiyori: ...I thought you hated matters with this many uncertain elements, Eichi-kun?

Eichi: I did, in the past. Entrusting things to fate isn’t to my liking, and in order to accomplish my goals, I needed to calculate things level-headedly.

Relying on things like fortune-telling would make one a failure as a politician, and entreating oneself to a deity means that it’s all over for one as a human.

Hiyori: Hmm. And yet you gave the go-ahead for this proposal, and even went as far as to become the chief executive for it.

I’m not sure if you’re aware of it or not, but this isn’t like you at all, Eichi-kun.

But then again, you really seem to have changed a lot in the span of this year without me noticing.

I feel like that’s not all there is to it, but since this is convenient for me I won’t say anything about it at this point.

Eichi: What’s with the loaded phrasing just now. ...Are you trying to say I’m being manipulated by someone?

Hiyori: Maybe. Even in “Through the Looking-Glass”, Alice-chan, who’s supposed to be the protagonist, is nothing but another chess piece if you change your point of view.

Now let’s see who the one moving the chess pieces is this time… And who’s the one that’s dreaming?

Eichi: ……..

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* This happens in chapter 9 of Through the Looking-Glass.