Critical Error in the Speaker System: The Delegate vs. The Administrator
For Sora, the day was turning into a complete disaster. Not only could he not focus on his classes, but he could’ve sworn he kept seeing Shiori and Mochi in the hallways—sometimes holding signs, other times just waving at him.
"Ah! Where are you supposed to be, Airi? If you're my childhood friend, come rescue me!" Sora screamed inside his head.
With nothing left to lose, he devised a plan. Luckily for him, Tomoki, his best friend at the institution, was sitting behind him.
While the teacher was distracted at the board, Sora threw a paper ball at Tomoki. It read: “Let’s sneak out five minutes early. I need to talk to you at our usual hideout during break.”
Tomoki, not fully understanding the situation, simply extended his thumb in an OK signal.
However, the teacher saw Tomoki's movements and threw a piece of chalk that hit him directly on the head.
“Tomoki!” the teacher snapped angrily. “If you have enough energy to bother your classmates, then you definitely have enough to come up here and solve the board exercises.”
Tomoki let out a groan while rubbing his head, not taking his eyes off Sora. "You owe me a legendary-level lunch for this."
[Five Minutes Before Recess]
Sora didn’t wait for the bell. While the teacher wrote on the board, he slipped out the back door. Tomoki followed seconds later, pretending to head to the nurse after a chalk incident.
They met behind the old club building, a place even Mochi’s instincts couldn’t reach.
“Sora, for the love of our goddess Kaguya!” Tomoki groaned, leaning against the wall. “What the hell is going on? You haven’t logged in since the new game dropped, and I saw a girl putting up Wanted posters with your face. And there’s another one scaring people from."
Sora covered his face, letting out a sigh that seemed to drain all his strength.
“Tomoki… my peaceful life has been attacked from within,” Sora replied. “Those two are… my ex-wives from the game. And now they’re living with me.”
Tomoki froze, unable to process what he had just heard.
"Live... in your house? Two SSR-level beauties?" Tomoki grabbed Sora by the shoulders and started shaking him. "Sora, that's not just any problem, that's a lottery event you won! Why do you look like you just got your game account banned?"
"Because one won't stop following me even when I go to the bathroom, and the other clings to my arm like a sea otter the moment I let my guard down!" Sora shouted, completely losing his composure. "I just wanted my life to be that of a boring, invisible NPC, and now I'm taking care of two completely beautiful girls in my house!"
Suddenly, the school speakers crackled to life, making Sora tense up. A familiar, overly sweet voice echoed throughout the campus.
“Attention, all students,” Mochi’s voice rang out over the speakers, dangerously sweet. “Player Sora Yamamoto, your lunch has been deployed on the rooftop. If you do not arrive within three minutes, I will proceed with a manual scan of every classroom. The use of physical forc-”
An interference noise and scuffle cut off Mochi's sentence. Sora and Tomoki froze under the building's shadow.
"But what do you think you're doing?!" Airi's voice burst into the announcement, sounding both indignant and embarrassed. "Let go of the microphone right now!"
“I’m just trying to give my beloved some attention!” Mochi’s voice could be heard in the background, slightly away from the mic. “Let me finish the announcement, low-level delegate!”
“Low-level?! Listen to me, you spoon-obsessed maniac! Yamamoto is a normal student, and I won’t let you ruin the school’s reputation!” Airi sounded like she was struggling with Mochi. “And you, Yamamoto! I know you can hear me! Get to the student council room right now before these two lunatics tear the place apart!”
The speakers beeped and went silent, leaving the campus in an awkward hush. Then the murmur of confused students rose like a wave.
Sora pressed his face against the wall, wishing the ground would just swallow him whole.
Tomoki could only pat him on the back a couple of times.
“Look on the bright side, Sora,” Tomoki said, trying to hold back his laughter. “You’re not an NPC anymore—you’re officially this school’s final boss. Two girls are fighting over you right now.”
Sora stood up.
He couldn’t hide anymore. If he didn’t step in soon, Airi and Mochi would tear the place apart.
"I have to go... I guess," Sora sighed, starting to walk toward the main building.
Sora hurried down the second-floor hallway, clutching a cold can of coffee from the vending machine. His mind was too busy dealing with Mochi and Airi to notice anything else.
“If I get there in under a minute, maybe I can stop Airi from calling the police—or Mochi from threatening someone else,” Sora thought as he quickened his pace.
Sora turned the corner by the library at full speed, and suddenly, the world stopped.
Sora ran into something soft yet firm, sending his coffee can flying and spilling it over the uniform of a girl coming the other way.
“Hey! What the hell is wrong with you, idiot!?” a female voice snapped, full of indignation.
Sora regained his balance and looked up. In front of him stood Mika Tamaki.
Mika’s anger made her seem taller, though she still had to tilt her head up to meet Sora’s eyes. Her blonde hair, tipped in vivid pink, was tied in a voluminous ponytail with an oversized ribbon. Her amethyst eyes seemed to pierce right through him.
She wore the white school shirt tied at her waist, leaving her navel and a neon orange top underneath exposed. An oversized beige cardigan hung from one shoulder, and her red and black plaid skirt was so short that her fallen white socks and platform shoes stood out even more.
"My clothes! Do you have any idea how much this costs?! It's a limited seasonal edition!" Mika shouted while pointing at the disaster with horror. "Hey, look at me when I'm talking to you! You just ruined my outfit and my entire day! What makes you think you can do this to the great Mika Tamaki?!"
Sora barely had time to look at her, but something caught his eye. In Mika’s hand was a phone with a small red dragon keychain. He recognized it instantly—it was the starter pet given to Berserker players in Frontier Online.
But there was no time for nostalgia.
"I'm sorry, really. Here," Sora said, pulling a pack of tissues from his pocket and placing them in her hand, right next to her shiny bracelets. "Clean yourself up before the stain dries. I have a problem at the council office, and if I don't get there now, the entire school is going to suffer a catastrophe. Talk later!"
Sora passed by her almost at a run, leaving the Queen of the school with the tissue pack in her hand and the words stuck in her mouth.
Mika stood frozen in the middle of the hallway, watching as the boy who had just completely ignored her walked away without even asking her name.
"Problem at the office...? Did he just... ignore me...?" Mika clenched the tissues, and a dangerous gleam appeared in her violet eyes. "That idiot... No one turns their back on the great Mika Tamaki and lives to tell about it!"