Chapter 308: Don't You Dare Mess With My Affection Score!
Rin Seiya: "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
A total, catastrophic wipeout with absolutely none of that "tidal wave" energy left in it.
Even without an infinite-magnitude Overkill behind it, the sheer physical impact of Amano Rei's Crimson Dragon leading five crimson lotus demon dragons into a combined finishing strike was nothing to sneeze at compared to a god's own attack.
And on top of that, without a G-cup's worth of natural cushioning to soften the landing, his senpai ended up tumbling even farther than Celestia had, currently holding the arena's top spot for distance traveled, for whatever that was worth.
"What good does being 'the arena's top spot for distance traveled' do me!"
Back in the staging room's changing area, Rin Seiya peeled off her skin-tight D-Wheel racing suit and started rubbing safflower oil into her pale knees.
"If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have teased Jack so hard last time. Guess karma really does come around."
She still remembered clearly, back during that 5D's Chronicle, Amano Rei's Riding Duel against Jack Atlas, the moment the Wheel of Fortune had taken its infamous spill; nobody in the stands had cheered louder or more gleefully than Rin Seiya herself.
Turned out she'd have her own turn getting beaten by Jack someday too.
Yusei lost to Jack, and Stardust lost to the crimson lotus dragons; something that had never once happened in the actual 5D's storyline, a rare turn of events that only existed in memory now.
"Underclassman really has gotten strong. I feel like I genuinely can't beat him anymore."
"He went that hard on you, and you're still defending him, Seiya?"
Sitting in the changing room too, Nanami Misaki tenderly rubbed bruise ointment onto Rin Seiya's skin.
"Don't say it like that, Misaki. There's no such thing as going too hard in a duel, it's all just about winning."
"Either way, I'm not giving him a friendly face."
"Misaki, you've never given anyone a friendly face to begin with, that's just your whole deal."
"I do too. This is my friendly face right now."
"I genuinely cannot tell the difference..."
The New Riding Duel Invitational ultimately ended with Amano Rei taking the win in the eight-person elimination bracket, earning himself the right to challenge the Riding Emperor.
"An infinite Overkill?" Finesse asked, startled.
Since the tournament had wrapped up for the moment, and the Emperor's challenge match wasn't scheduled until that evening, the staging area had opened up, giving Amano Rei's group of friends a chance to come backstage and visit.
Naturally, the thing on Kikawayu and the others' minds most was still whether Amano Rei's cursed marriage contract had actually gotten resolved.
The contract itself had, of course, been voided. But the trouble that followed right on its heels turned out to be an even bigger headache than the marriage contract ever was.
"An infinite Overkill, that means..." Finesse kept her voice as low as she could and leaned in close to Amano Rei's ear. "Isn't that exactly what happened to Miss Shiyue Yi?"
Ever since being hit with an infinite Overkill by the Guardian God, the Puppeteer herself, Shiyue Yi, who used to constantly cause trouble with her Dark Games, had never been seen again.
Even someone as strong as Shiyue Yi hadn't managed to escape Eva's own rules.
Finesse's silver-gray eyes settled on the pair of assets she herself would never possess in this lifetime. "Which means this thing here is about to vanish from Eden pretty soon."
Why did the young lady's tone sound like it was missing all the sympathy it should have had, and carrying more than a little poorly-hidden schadenfreude instead?
Even the sweetest, gentlest people could apparently turn a little vicious when faced with a gap this absolute.
"It's fine, honestly. Once Amano boy and I get married once, the whole thing gets resolved."
Having gotten Amano Rei's verbal promise, Celestia didn't seem nearly as desperate as she had been at first.
Though the two of them hadn't known each other long, this was, at the end of the day, a marriage partner arranged by the older generation, and there was no way Amano Rei could just stand by and watch Celestia get thrown out of the Tower to die.
"Marry once? Amano's marrying you?" Nanki'in Sakuya asked, confused. "Why would you need to do that? Wasn't the engagement already called off?"
Celestia explained to the bewildered Sakuya. "Once we're married, even just once, my debt gets wiped out because it becomes shared marital debt. After that, we just get divorced on the spot, and there's really no lasting effect."
Nanki'in Sakuya shook her head firmly. "No, no, no. Even if it's just for a moment and you get divorced right after, having Amano marry you at all still seems way too..."
"The only real effect is that Amano boy's status will show up as 'Divorced' afterward," Celestia added helpfully. "You know, the whole married-man thing. I hear that particular attribute is actually pretty popular in certain circles."
"The... the married-man thing!" Even Nanki'in Sakuya's usual stone-faced expression cracked visibly at this brand-new concept, her eyes flickering with a noticeable disturbance.
Sakuya's widened eyes fixed themselves on Amano Rei, still in his racing suit, his posture looking even sharper and more upright than usual, and she couldn't help but swallow hard.
"The married-man thing. That's, that's actually... not bad, maybe?"
"Hey, hey, Tia, don't go corrupting our pure, innocent class rep!"
Amano Rei hurriedly raised a hand, stepping in to stop Celestia's ongoing campaign to spiritually contaminate his own class representative.
"This whole infinite Overkill thing, you're not just making it up, are you?" Kikawayu asked, suspicious.
"If you don't believe me, feel free to test it yourselves." Celestia raised her wrist, showing off her Eva Terminal with its balance sitting at a flat zero. "Here, go ahead, send me a transfer."
"Fine, let's test it, then!" Kikawayu opened her own Eva Terminal and sent a targeted transfer of 250 Eva Points straight to Celestia.
The number 250 flickered onto Celestia's Eva Terminal display for the briefest instant before getting wiped straight back down to zero.
Almost immediately after, Amano Rei's own Eva Terminal chimed with a completely unprompted notification: 250 points received.
The familiar scene made something click for Finesse all at once: this was exactly the same pattern as those random, unexplained Eva Point deposits she kept getting on her own account all the time.
Anyone who owed an infinite Overkill debt automatically had every subsequent Eva Point transfer they received redirected straight to their creditor.
Which meant, all those mysterious little Eva Point deposits Finesse had been getting this whole time had actually just been other people's transfers meant for Miss Shiyue Yi.
Finally, the mystery that had been nagging at Finesse for so long was solved.
"Rei, give me my 250 back."
"If you can't afford to send that much, don't send it in the first place. Not giving it back."
"If you won't give it back, I'll just collect the debt from your body instead."
Kikawayu received 250 points.
"Ha ha ha, I was just joking with you, why did you actually send it for real? There's no point giving it back anyway~"
By "joking," she of course meant that even if he gave it back, she'd still be collecting the debt from his body.
"Oh, everyone actually came to visit."
Having left the changing room, now dressed in a casual pink-and-white outfit, Rin Seiya returned to the staging area alongside Nanami Misaki.
And out of Amano Rei's whole group of friends, the one Rin Seiya was closest and friendliest with was, without question, Nanki'in Sakuya.
Just how close were they? Close enough to be underclassmen at the same academy, close enough to have watched movies together, close enough to have almost livestreamed a Try Not to Laugh Challenge together.
Thinking about it now, it was probably because Nanki'in Sakuya shared that same stone-faced-but-secretly-cute quality as Rin Seiya's own childhood friend Nanami Misaki, which was exactly why Rin Seiya had taken to her so well from their very first impression.
Except right now, Nanki'in Sakuya kept muttering something quietly under her breath, her state noticeably stranger than her usual stone-faced self, which naturally caught Rin Seiya's curiosity.
"Nanki'in, what's going on with you?"
"Seiya senpai, what do you think... the married-man thing on Amano would feel like?"
So this was what her class rep had been stuck on this whole time. Clearly, this brand-new concept had rattled her worldview more than a little.
"The married-man thing on Amano?" Rin Seiya's eyebrow twitched. "What's that supposed to be? Somehow that sounds delicious?"
Coming to senpai for a conversation about this kind of suggestive topic was really the right call, professionally speaking.
Meanwhile, Amano Rei had been feeling a sharp, burning stare aimed at him for a while now.
"Nanami senpai, why are you glaring at me like that?"
"Wait, you can actually tell Misaki's glaring at you?" Rin Seiya cupped Nanami Misaki's face with both hands, examining it carefully, but still couldn't spot anything different from her usual expression.
Being able to read the tiny, subtle shifts in a stone-faced-but-secretly-cute expression was, apparently, one skill Amano Rei had picked up thanks to all his training from Nanki'in Sakuya.
"I already said I'm not giving him a friendly face. He went and hit you that hard."
Come on. Was what he'd done really "that hard"?
Sure, on the surface it looked like his Crimson Dragon had stacked five crimson lotus demon dragons into a 17000-ATK finishing blow, but at the end of the day, wasn't that only because senpai had pulled out that Gathered Prayers Stardust Dragon in the first place?
If Amano Rei had Summoned even one fewer crimson lotus demon dragon, if his ATK had come in even a little lower, he would have been the one getting counter-killed instead.
So really, if anyone here was being too soft, it was her.
Suddenly, the system chimed with an affection-change notification.
Wait, hold on. Was this thing serious right now?
Since he'd just beaten Rin Seiya up pretty badly, whatever affection points he'd had with Nanami Misaki, which weren't much to begin with, had probably just taken a hit.
[Nanami Misaki] [Affection: +10] [Affection: 61]
"???"
A whole pile of question marks materialized above Amano Rei's head and clattered noisily onto the ground.
She'd literally just said, "You beat up my good friend, so I'm not giving you a friendly face," and then her affection went up by 10 points?
What kind of operation was this? Amano Rei genuinely couldn't make sense of it.
Even a fake, backstabbing friendship wasn't supposed to work like this. Besides, Nanami Misaki and Rin Seiya's friendship was supposed to be the genuine article.
And yet, the instant that affection change registered, Nanami Misaki's expression also visibly shifted, clearly showing a flash of shock, plain to see.
Rin Seiya said, "Oh, now I can tell. Yeah, that's definitely different from before."
[Nanami Misaki] [Affection +5] [Affection: 66]
Still climbing?
The shock on Nanami Misaki's face deepened even further, now mixed with a distinct sense of being forced into something against her will, and no small amount of embarrassment.
"You, come with me for a second!" Nanami Misaki, her cheeks flushing red enough that she could barely hold it back, grabbed Amano Rei and hauled him toward the farthest corner of the neighboring area. "I need to talk to you alone!"
"Dragging the underclassman off alone again? Misaki, don't go hitting him now!"
Once they'd left the staging area and made sure they were well out of everyone's sightline, Nanami Misaki, having dragged Amano Rei into a corner, finally let her expression ease slightly, and asked, "You saw that, didn't you?"
"Saw what?"
Nanami Misaki's shock and embarrassment from a moment ago vanished entirely, replaced with a stern, serious expression. "Somebody's been tampering with my affection score."
Hold on, senpai, what kind of bombshell statement was that?
What exactly did she mean by "somebody's been tampering with your affection score"? That wasn't exactly a line a proper tsundere was supposed to be able to say out loud, was it?
And also, why could she even see his system in the first place?
"Nanami senpai, what exactly are you saying?"
Nanami Misaki gritted her teeth, clearly annoyed. "I don't know who's doing this, but it makes me look like I'm secretly playing both sides against my own best friend. It's basically framing me!"
Saying out loud that Amano Rei had gone too hard on Seiya senpai, while secretly boosting her own affection toward Amano Rei by 15 points behind the scenes, that certainly was a fairly suggestive move.
It was suggestive enough, in fact, unusually so, completely out of character for Nanami Misaki, that it took Amano Rei a second to even process it.
[Nanami Misaki] [Affection +5] [Affection: 71]
Nanami Misaki spoke up quickly. "See, it's still changing right now!"
Sure enough, Amano Rei confirmed it: Nanami Misaki really could see his own system, or at least, she could see the affection value tied to herself.
Was this some kind of Team Future access privilege? Did that mean his own system had some connection to Team Future?
[Affection reached 70 points. Skill unlocked: Support from the Future That Was - Antinomy]
His affection had already climbed high enough to unlock a brand-new skill, though judging by the fact that Nanami Misaki showed no further reaction, it seemed like she could only see the affection number itself, not any of the other system notifications.
"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, this affection score has clearly been tampered with. I do not actually feel that strongly about you!"
"Thanks for the heads-up, Nanami senpai."
Honestly, she didn't even need to say it. By any reasonable logic, Amano Rei already figured there was no way his relationship with Nanami Misaki could suddenly shift that dramatically just because he'd beaten Seiya senpai in a duel, and he certainly wasn't about to do anything presumptuous about it either way.
At most, having freeloaded his way into a new skill, he did feel a little bit like he'd scored a lucky bargain.
"So who exactly has the ability to tamper with a system affection score, Nanami senpai?"
"I have a rough guess at a few people, but I can't think of a reason any of them would actually do this. Just pretend nothing happened. As long as you don't act too close with me, it's fine. I don't want to do anything that'd be unfair to Seiya."
"Come on, I'm not some player. I'm not going to suddenly act all intimate just because some random girl's affection toward me happens to be high."
"You'd better not."
Without explaining who actually had the authority to tamper with his system's affection score, Nanami Misaki simply delivered her "warning" to Amano Rei and turned to walk away.
If she wasn't going to tell him, he had his own way of finding out.
At 70 affection points, he could already use his Thought Reading skill on a target!
Amano Rei curled his fingers into a circle and aimed it at Nanami Misaki's retreating back.
Millennium Eye, open!
Thought 1: Can't believe someone actually went and tampered with my affection score without asking. Good thing Seiya can't see it, or I'd genuinely want to dig a hole and crawl into it.
Thought 2: Who could possibly be capable of something like this? Z-one? No, Z-one wouldn't have any reason to do something this pointless.
Thought 3: Oh no, is it because my affection value got tampered with? I'm actually starting to find that guy more and more likeable. Can this system honestly go so far as to twist a real human being's own will? That's terrifying! I can't keep thinking about that stuff. I absolutely cannot do anything unfair to Seiya!
Yep, Thought 3 was, once again, an absolute bombshell of a statement.
Just tampering with a numerical value, and it could actually influence a real human being's genuine thoughts and will. His own system might be a lot more dangerous than he'd ever given it credit for.
And Amano Rei had also noticed something else: ever since he'd started collecting fragments of the Millennium Puzzle, the system had been getting progressively bolder and more out of control, not just tampering with the mainframe Eva's own authority, but now apparently able to tamper with a living person's affection and will too.
If three fragments already had it acting this brazen, Amano Rei genuinely didn't want to imagine what the system might turn into once he had all four.
At this rate, it might actually end up taking over all of Eden Tower for real.
Of course, he still needed to check out the new skill properly.
[Support from the Future That Was - Antinomy] [Unlocks Extra Deck cards related to the "Tech Genus" field in your Extra Deck.]
In an era where skill descriptions had all gotten so bloated and overblown lately, it had been a good while since Amano Rei had seen one written this plainly.
Of course, a plain description didn't mean the skill itself wasn't powerful.
Simply unlocking Extra Deck cards on their own was already pure, unconditional gain with no downside whatsoever.
And on top of that, the Tech Genus archetype had no shortage of excellent Extra Deck cards. There was even a legendary Synchro Monster in there, Tech Genus Hyper Librarian.
At this point, Amano Rei remembered Celestia's copying skill too, and opened it up to check as well.
After beating Rin Seiya, Mark of the Heir had also successfully copied a card.
[Mark of the Heir] [Copy Target: Rin Seiya] [Card "Junk King" Copy Successful]
Not a Tuner, but stronger than most Tuners in practice, this was easily one of the best lower-level monsters in the whole Junk lineup. His luck really was something else.
Having spent a few extra minutes checking out his brand-new skill, Amano Rei ended up getting back to the staging area a few minutes later than Nanami Misaki.
The moment he stepped back into the staging area, Amano Rei could tell that the previously pretty relaxed mood had turned noticeably colder, with a faint, lingering sense of despair hanging in the air.
That faint sense of despair, as it turned out, was radiating off of Celestia.
Because there was one more person in the staging area now: Kaiba Chiaki.
"Chiaki senpai, what brings you here?"
Amano Rei had actually been planning to go find Kaiba Chiaki himself once the Riding Duel Invitational wrapped up, to ask her about the whole infinite Overkill situation.
Well, now that saved him the trip entirely.
Kaiba Chiaki nodded. "Came to get a read on the situation. I've got a pretty clear picture of what's going on now, including Celestia's debt."
Judging by the timing, it looked like Kaiba Chiaki must have shown up right after Amano Rei and Nanami Misaki had stepped away.
"So, Chiaki senpai, do you know of any way to resolve an infinite Overkill besides marriage?"
A faint, ambiguous smile that wasn't quite a smile tugged at the corner of Kaiba Chiaki's mouth. "Not only do I not know of any way to resolve an infinite Overkill, I also need to tell you that the marriage plan isn't going to work either."
"Why not?"
"Because you can't get married right now."
"Huh, why not?"
Kaiba Chiaki opened up her Eva Terminal's projection function, displaying a digital contract that looked distinctly familiar to Amano Rei.
"This is the employment contract you signed with Kaiba Corporation half a month ago."
As far as Amano Rei remembered, he had definitely signed that. After all, without signing it, there was no way he'd have gotten that fifty-million annual salary. Which meant, technically speaking, he was currently an employee of Kaiba Corporation.
He just hadn't actually read the contract's contents closely; he'd only skimmed over it briefly at the time.
Kaiba Chiaki pointed to Clause 15 of the contract: to ensure employee work efficiency, unmarried employees joining Kaiba Corporation may not enter into any new marriage within three years of employment.
"What's the point of a clause like that supposed to be?"
"Kaiba Corporation is a company only the elite of the elite get to join. Third-rate duelists clinging to naive fantasies don't get a seat at this table."
So in your view, getting married counts as some naive fantasy that hurts dueling efficiency, does it, Kaiba Chiaki? You really are a coldhearted capitalist.
As Amano Rei recalled it now, he did think he'd caught a glimpse of that particular clause back when he'd signed the contract. He'd just figured there was no way he'd be getting married within three years anyway, and unconsciously brushed right past it.
Kaiba Chiaki added, "Inside Eden, labor contracts carry the same mainframe-Eva-backed enforceability as duel contracts. So for the next three years, even if you, Amano, personally applied to enter into a marriage, Eva's own system wouldn't approve it."
No wonder Celestia's expression had gone this despairing. However smug she'd been a moment ago, this was exactly how crushed she looked now.
If marriage was off the table, then what was he supposed to do about the infinite debt?
"Then what if I quit my job?"
Amano Rei forced himself to ask the question, even though it hurt just saying it; quitting meant giving up his fifty-million annual salary. He'd originally planned on using that money to go buy a tradeable copy of Charity of the Angel at auction.
A tradeable, generically useful rare card like that would never lose its value sitting in his collection, and if he ever needed cash, he could always sell it back later.
But a measly fifty million just didn't compare to keeping Celestia alive.
"Not possible!" Kaiba Chiaki's eyes turned cold. "Even if you submitted your resignation right now, the handover process alone would take at least half a month, and there's no way to skip that step through Eva's system. You wouldn't make it in time."
Which left Celestia with only one week.
Towering over Celestia thanks to her height advantage, Kaiba Chiaki looked down at her, her icy gaze seeming to lay out one plain, simple fact.
"You're already dead."
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