"That's enough."
Cyan patted the sand off her body and turned to look ahead. She saw a girl wearing a black leather jacket, black slim-fit pants, and a newsboy cap. She seemed to be looking for something. A strand of sunset-orange hair peeked out from under the cap and fluttered in the wind.
"Hm? Cyan?"
When Cyan noticed Asuka, Asuka also noticed her.
Asuka jumped down from the railing and ran across the beach at an Olympic-level sprint, kicking up a cloud of sand as she came to a stop in front of Cyan.
"You got here fast."
Cyan was surprised to see Asuka. She hadn't expected her to arrive so quickly.
"Of course. My place isn't that far from here."
Asuka took off her newsboy cap. Her long sunset-orange hair flowed in the wind. She wore an eyepatch over her left eye, and her bright blue right eye looked at Cyan with a hint of a smile.
Her appearance had changed quite a bit. Before, people could recognize her at a glance. Now, at most, they would think she looked similar to some anime character.
"Your real-world appearance…"
Asuka examined Cyan. Looking at her real-world face gave her a strange feeling.
Cyan, who is she?
Asuka's appearance made Erni alert. She walked over to Cyan's side and hugged her arm.
"Asuka Langley. Temporary teammate from the survival game world."
"Erni. She's my friend. The house I'm living in right now belongs to her." Cyan introduced the two to each other.
"Is it okay for you to reveal information about that place so openly?"
Asuka's eyes widened. She hadn't expected Cyan to directly mention information about the survival space.
"I'm also a survivor."
Erni looked at Asuka warily.
A survivor?
Asuka looked at Erni in surprise and asked, "Why didn't you two form a team? If you're friends in the real world, wouldn't it be better to work together in the survival space?"
"My strength is still very weak. Teaming up with Cyan would just make me a burden. I plan to get stronger first before teaming up with her."
Erni decided to explain why she wasn't teaming up with Cyan.
"I see. Then excuse me, but I'm going to beat you to it and team up with Cyan first."
Asuka wiggled her finger in front of Erni's face, then added, "But only after the next survival game."
What?! Cyan is going to team up with her?!
Erni thought about how Cyan had already given Asuka her address.
"Being able to team up with Cyan means your strength must be quite high. Want to have a match?"
Erni kicked up one of the large swords from the ground. She took one for herself and handed the other to Asuka.
"Sure. Let's have a spar then."
Asuka showed a confident smile.
A newbie who hasn't used a sword before?
Asuka looked at how Erni was holding the sword.
I'm going to win!
Erni charged at Asuka using the Infinite Single-Blade Style sword stance.
This stance… Is that the Infinite Single-Blade Style that Cyan uses?!
Asuka became vigilant when she saw Erni's movements.
After a few probing attacks, their fight became intense.
One side had overwhelming stats, while the other was suppressing her opponent by taking advantage of the fact that she wasn't skilled with large swords, using the Infinite Single-Blade Style she had only recently learned. For a short time, neither could do anything to the other. However, Erni knew clearly that if this dragged on, she would be the one to lose.
During the previous combat training with Cyan, she had already consumed too much stamina. A prolonged fight was overwhelmingly disadvantageous for her. Not to mention, Asuka's stats completely overwhelmed her.
Erni could feel this clearly while fighting her.
One more move to decide the winner!
Erni took a deep breath and adjusted her breathing. Golden lightning appeared on her limbs, greatly increasing her mobility.
Golden lightning… The same move as Cyan. She can use it in the real world. Is it a special skill, similar to mine?
Asuka focused completely on Erni's movements. The moment she charged forward, Asuka abandoned the inconvenient large sword and suddenly lunged forward to dodge the incoming slash.
Crunch crunch. The sound of chewing could be heard. Erni's turning attack paused. She saw Cyan holding a Portuguese man o' war and eating it. She was so shocked that she threw away the sword in her hand and rushed over.
"My God! That's a Portuguese man o' war! Throw it away and don't eat it!"
Erni didn't know where she got the strength from. Her legs flashed with bright golden lightning as she kicked away the partially eaten Portuguese man o' war from Cyan's hand.
"Ah…"
Cyan looked up at the Portuguese man o' war that had been kicked into pieces by Erni's lightning-covered foot and tilted her head.
"It tasted pretty good. Why can't I eat it?"
"Portuguese man o' war are poisonous. Didn't you know that?"
As soon as Erni said they were poisonous, Cyan felt a slight numbness in her mouth.
"My mouth feels a bit numb. This jellyfish has a really unique taste."
"That's not unique. That means you've been poisoned!"
Erni was about to go crazy from Cyan's lack of common sense. She grabbed her and started running toward the house.
"My HP didn't decrease. My mouth just feels a little numb…"
Cyan thought that being poisoned should reduce HP, but her HP hadn't gone down. Besides the slight numbness in her mouth, she didn't feel anything else.
Should be fine, right?
Asuka picked up the two large swords from the ground and followed them.
Cyan was dragged into the bathroom by Erni. Erni forced her to rinse her mouth with mint-flavored mouthwash and then tried to make her throw up the tentacles of the Portuguese man o' war she had eaten.
Nishi saw Erni pouring some strange liquid into Cyan's mouth and angrily shouted, "Hey! What are you doing?!"
"She ate something poisonous! Come help make her throw it up!"
"What? Coming, coming!"
With just one sentence from Erni, Nishi joined the vomiting squad.
In order to make Cyan throw up, Erni even stuck her hand into Cyan's mouth. Cyan felt so uncomfortable that she pushed her away.
"I'm fine."
Cyan wiped the saliva from the corner of her mouth and looked at Erni and Nishi's anxious faces. After a moment of silence, she punched herself in the stomach. She opened her mouth but nothing came out.
"It got digested…"
"What? Digested?! Do you feel any other discomfort in your body?"
"Does your stomach hurt?"
Hearing Cyan's words, Erni and Nishi became even more worried.
"It doesn't hurt. I don't feel uncomfortable anywhere. The numbness in my mouth is gone."
Cyan shook her head. She didn't understand why Nishi and Erni were so anxious. That thing called a Portuguese man o' war tasted pretty good.
Seeing how worried the two of them were, she decided that from now on, she wouldn't eat Portuguese man o' war anymore.
Just now, Erni had stuck her hand into her mouth. Cyan had really wanted to hit her. If Erni and Nishi hadn't meant well, there would already be two human-shaped paintings on the wall.
"Survivors' bodies aren't that easy to damage. Cyan's stats are so high, and she didn't eat the whole Portuguese man o' war. She only ate a few tentacles. The amount of poison she ingested wasn't that much."
Asuka pushed open the door and looked at the mess inside the bathroom. Unabi, who was standing behind her, curiously peeked inside as well.