Long ago, when I was taking part in a pickup party...
Is one healer going to be enough?
We'll be fine.
In fact, I didn't think we'd be fine.
And sure enough, her heal rate couldn't keep up,
and we suffered a party wipe.
Isana-san kept apologizing, but she really wasn't the one to blame.
I should have spoken up that it was going to be hard at the outset.
I inwardly prayed that she wouldn't get fed up with the game and quit.
So then, a few months later, she was there in another pickup party.
Isana-san was like...
Is one healer going to be enough?
I'll be fine.
But with what happened before, this time, I made sure to say something.
This will be hard with just one healer,
so let's be careful not to be too big a burden on her.
And then, Isana-san said one word to me in private chat...
Thanks.
So what you're saying is, you're bragging on your old girlfriend.
How do you get that out of it?!
Am I wrong?
What I'm trying to say
is that some people have trouble asking for help when they need it.
Ako, you understand that, right?
Yes, I do.
I think that when someone is feeling like they're overburdened...
...it takes some compassion to realize that and help them out.
Yes, you're right.
Very good.
Now, you understand how I feel, right?
Huh?
Summer vacation will be over soon, and school will be starting again.
Can I get you to tell everyone around us that we're not married,
but just in a regular relationship, please?
There you go again, Rusian!
What a silly thing to say!
Such a jokester!
It's actually a pretty earnest request!
Oh, you, Rusian...
I thought we would do our best at the culture festival?
Somebody, sell me a heat resistance potion.
It really is hot, huh?
Yeah, it is.
Hey, Takasaki, you got tan.
Yeah, and Nishimura, you're as pasty white as ever.
Yeah, well...
Nishimura...
Come with me for a minute.
Um...
Segawa-san...?
Just come on, already!
Hey! My neck...!
My neck...! My neck...!
Seeing Nishimura get strangled by Segawa...
...it sure does feel like school has started up again, huh?
Yep.
Hey, you!
Just because we haven't seen each other in a while...
We just saw each other yesterday, in the game.
Yeah, but still...
Is something bothering you?
Why can't we just skip over the whole "forced conversations with classmates" event
that comes at the end of summer vacation?
It's usually only suckware games that have unskippable events, right?!
Is that what you were thinking?
For that matter...
...how did I pull off being a regular high school girl for all of 1st term?
To be honest, I don't really remember much...
It's your character class, right?
Ah, Akane, good morning!
What are you two up to out here?
An affair?
If Ako heard that, she'd withdraw again, so please don't say that.
We were just chatting, that's all.
You could just get along regularly in the classroom,
without having to come all the way out here.
Butt out, will you?
It's none of your business, you teamkilling summoner!
You can say so after you've abandoned your pet Mu-tan out in the mountains.
You mean in the game?!
That's mean!
Mu-tan is such a good boy!
What did he ever do wrong?
He runs around out of control...
Wait up!
Mu-tan, bad!
...and goes around pulling trains.
Yeah, yeah.
"Mu-tan, bad!" doesn't cut it!
You two are both mean!
Come to think of it, Ako isn't here, huh?
Yeah, you're right.
I'd like to at least mess with her, to make me feel better.
Tamaki Ako
Ah, speak of the devil, it's Ako.
Hello? Rusian?
Good morning.
Why isn't everyone logged in today?
Are you... serious?
Huh?
Good morning, everyone.
I am Student Council President Goshouin.
I know that over this long summer vacation,
everyone probably had a productive and memorable time.
I hope that during this new school term, you will continue to spend your time productively.
I-I'm late...
Aww...
Rusian...
Nice going.
Way to overcome the desire to stay home and skip.
Well, Rusian, you said you wanted to see my face, after all.
Maybe I'll go home, instead.
Okay, everyone!
It's the start of the looongest term of the year!
Let's get ourselves fired up!
It's so cool...
Oh, yeah...
I missed you, my little War Machine.
Say...
...how much of your lost gear did you manage to get back?
Hmm, let's see, 20 percent, maybe?
You've still got a long way to go.
Um, Rusian...
...since you're reassembling your gear anyway...
...you're trying to get something a little better than before, aren't you?
Huh?
Is that what you're doing?!
I hate it when girls are as intuitive as you.
Hey, Nishimura!
Hold on, hold on, hear me out!
You know how after you make your gear, you sometimes get buyer's remorse?
You wish your enchants had gone a different way,
or that for the same price, you'd have bought the other one, instead?
I'm talking minor-change-level stuff...
What you had before was fine, so buy it again, and be of some use!
R-Right!
Okay!
Everyone, when you hear "2nd term," what do you think?
Huh?
Distributing the rewards from the summer events?
Pumpkin collecting during the Halloween event?
Surveying the marketplace to prepare for the large-scale fall update.
The Christmas event with Rusian!
That's not what I meown!
I'm talking about school, not the game!
Is there something going on?
Saki
ko
sai
Sakikosai
When you think of September,
you think of Maegasaki High's culture festival, Sakikosai, right?
Oh...
Hey, guys, this is the culture festival.
Shouldn't you typically be getting more worked up?!
Are you sure you're all high school students?
Well, while it may be a nuisance...
...we can't very well ignore it, either.
"Nuisance"...?
Since our club does have activities...
...we have to participate.
Yeah, but still, what are we supposed to do?
"Show off the results of our club" is the go-to answer.
Results?
Do we have any?
Ako came to school.
Ta-da!
That's it.
Okay, we'll put Ako on display.
Tamaki Ako
Celebrating
School Attendance
You don't mean as an exhibit!
No way!
I couldn't stand exposure so unorthodox!
Please don't look at me!
Net game players fear the word "dox."
Well, kidding aside...
...we just need to come up with some result and present it, don't we?
Some result?
If you have no ideas...
Siege warfare
...then I have a proposal.
Siege warfare?
You mean, the recent PvP update?
Mm-hmm!
The long-awaited new content released in LA the other day,
siege warfare!
What if we make the victor of that our result?
Yeah, but Master, siege warfare, is, you know...
...the large-scale guild-on-guild, player-vs-player battle held once per week.
That's what we're going to do?
Mm-hmm.
All of us club members will compete as one.
It's perfect, isn't it?
Well, yeah, I guess.
And if we win at this, how do we present it for the culture festival?
The victors of siege warfare become the castle lords for the week.
The guild's emblem is hoisted boldly over the castle.
Do we even have an emblem?
Student Handbook Maegasaki High School
Um, are you saying we make our school crest our emblem..
...and raise that?
That's right!
And we all take a commemorative photo in front of it!
Then we use that picture as our display panel!
Siege warfare, huh?
I'm not too wild about this.
You don't like PvP fighting?
I can't win, after all.
You seem pretty happy, considering.
I may not like that there's a new term and I have to go to school...
...but I am happy that I get to walk home every day with you, Rusian.
I-I see.
Come to think of it,
what is your class doing for the culture festival, Ako?
Um...
...presenting establishments near the school who sell delicious food.
That sounds like a lot of fun.
Sure, I guess.
Don't stand around needlessly looking tense—start fighting!
I can't hit Rusian for no reason...
You know why!
This is PvP practice!
Staring into each other's eyes like a couple isn't practicing.
We were not!
My attack power can't take Ako out in one shot...
...so I was planning to whittle her down first with some reflect damage.
Okay, okay.
Go on, get to it, Ako.
R-Right.
Well...
Ako!
Are you all right?!
That damage came back on me.
Heal yourself, right away.
Right.
Thank you very much.
For crying out loud, Ako...
No, no, Rusian...
Oh, Ako...
That's enough!
You're facing my bad self!
Extra Damage!
Ho, not bad, you two.
With one combo, she's already red-gauging.
What was that?
Aren't you a kind of strong?
Sorry, force of habit.
After a stun, Rusian always tells me to cast Extra Damage.
Even so, that was too strong for a shield stun, wasn't it?
Well, stun moves are pretty powerful, to be sure...
...but once I use one, I can't use it again for a little while.
But as a result, you've switched me on.
All right, Schew...
...now it's my turn to face you.
Here goes.
Fight me, Master!
Feast your eyes...
...on my grand magic!
That's Master's finishing move!
She's leading off with the big guns!
Meteor!
Did you think I would leap into such an obvious AoE skill?
Wha—?
You weren't in the attack range?
That's crazy!
Monsters always are!
My bad self is not a mob!
W-Wait!
Impossible...
How could I...?
I'll resurrect you, okay?
You're next, Rusian!
Bring it on!
Here. Here, here, here...
W-Wait!
I can't move!
Impossible...
I'll resurrect you, okay?
Okay then, Ako!
Let's see if you can withstand my meteor!
I'm dead for sure!
No, Ako.
Just relax and fire off an SS.
R-Right.
Skill Sealing!
Master!
Brace yourself!
I'll resurrect you.
Why?
Why, when my attack and defense power is so overwhelmingly higher than the rest of you?
Well, in Schew's melee fighter role, she's our PvP ace.
If a magic user goes one-on-one against her, they'll usually lose.
As the tank, I have specialized stun lock attacks.
And Ako...
Her stats are pretty evenly distributed,
so she's more than suited for PvP play.
That's not what my intention was.
Master, a magic user like yourself shouldn't be dueling to begin with.
But I've watched a few videos where magic users like me wiped the floor with their opponents singlehandedly!
PvP play takes its own kind of equipment and fighting style.
So then what, Rusian?
Are you saying that we're just a collection
of broken-down characters, poorly suited for taking on others, is that it?
Yeah.
I wasn't expecting this.
I've checked into it...
...and my Apricot is not suited to PvP.
It would be quicker to start a new character from scratch!
I tried sparring against some friends who have done some PvP'ing,
and got my clock cleaned.
I'm fairly suited to PvP play, in my own right,
but I don't have the equipment anymore.
How many siege battles are there before the culture festival?
They're held every Sunday, so there are three more of them.
It's not possible, is it?
Well, worst case, we change our culture festival presentation.
Like, say, a net game discussion panel.
I will not be there that day!
As the student council president, I can't stick around, either.
I'm fine with just staying here and gaming with Rusian.
No, we should get out and look around.
Well, let's do as much as we can, anyway.
Everyone get your gear in shape...
...and we'll join in at the next siege battle!
This will be the Alley Cats' first campaign.
And we're starting off with the Templar Fortress of Ray Sword.
The current owners of the castle
are a guild that goes by "The Cleaning Crew."
Are they thumbing their noses?!
It sounds cute, like a group of maids.
No...
They're holding the fort, so they're sure to be tough.
That's correct.
If we take them too lightly,
they will indeed mop us up like so much garbage.
Siege warfare will now commence.
Everyone ready?
Be not too eager, nor too timid.
Charge!
Let's go!
Yeah!
It looks like another guild is going first.
All right, let's watch them, and study how they fight.
That many of them, wiped out in less than ten seconds?
What do we do?
Let's go back!
No, we won't know how bad it is unless we actually go through it.
Charge!
I don't want to!
There are no death penalties in siege warfare!
Let's try it again!
I don't want to go there anymore!
I-I'm sorry!
It was an accident!
What's the big idea?!
Hey, you, that's my wife!
You want a fight? You've got one!
Hold on!
We're outnumbered!
So that's it.
There's a single enemy,
but our side is not one monolithic block.
All the attackers are rivals to each other.
This really will be impossible.
Apparently, to break up a deadlock like this,
we can gather together materials and build siege weapons.
Ho?
We can bust down the walls and charge in?
Mm-hmm.
For example, a giant catapult, or "gi" for short,
can be controlled by five players.
That's no good.
Wait, don't give up just yet.
Oh, what, you know the victory conditions?
Master...
I'm going to use the premium items that you have forbidden me from using!
Under these circumstances, there's no other choice!
No, Master!
You can't use premium items in siege warfare!
That's ridiculous!
A Drop of Yggdrasil is about the only non-premium means of total recovery.
I've never even used such a precious item.
Just one of them runs more than 10 megas.
Selling it at the bazaar and upgrading your equips would be more practical.
I can't accept this.
This could be a good opportunity to wean Master off of premium items, couldn't it?
That's true.
Is that...
Proud warriors of the elite guard, hear me!
We have but one goal...
...to present that fortress to our goddess, Nekohime-sama!
Wait up, everyone!
I never asked you to do this!
Sensei's guild is pretty strong, aren't they?
Nekohime's Elite Guard seems to be a collection of experts at the game.
Hey, they occupied the fortress.
They sure did.
Mm-hmm.
Why don't we go now?
Afterward, though Nekohime's Elite Guard put up a good fight,
they were beaten by a larger guild, and chased off the lord's throne.
"Our all for Nekohime-sama."
"Our goddess."
"The holy angel Nekohime-sama."
"We devote ourselves to Nekohime-sama."
It's not like that!
I was just chit-chatting about taking the castle,
and before I mew it, it was happening!
History of Maegasaki High School
Listen up, everyone.
No wholesale copying the sources.
Rearrange the sentences a little.
Roger that!
It's okay to trace the map of the school, though.
The sources come from books in the library and web articles.
Isn't that a bit too skimpy?
Then again, the finished materials should end up at a pretty high level.
Right, which is why it's so hard to get too angry meow.
Rusian, it's hard being the teacher meow.
Enough to turn you into Nekohime in the classroom?
No way on earth!
Ako?
It's our class presentation.
An exhibit of Maegasaki's tasty foods, right?
That has been changed.
It was suggested that
as long as we were presenting food, why not make it something that could actually be eaten?
Sounds like an improvement.
Then they started suggesting taking in money, making a profit,
and while they were at it, to have the girls serve the guests.
Now it's starting to stray.
Right.
Then they said if they did a café, it could be a maid café.
That's way off course!
The problem is what comes next!
People just started saying, "Tamaki-san knows about maids."
"Then she'll be the head maid!"
They put me in charge of this.
Well, I can see why they'd say that.
There's a perception among regular people that "otaku" equals "maid."
But they're wrong!
I am a housewife, not a maid!
You're not even a housewife, right?
Besides which, they asked me to get the uniforms,
draw up shifts, come up with serving manuals,
and a bunch of other things.
That is a pain, huh?
Well, as far as the maid uniforms,
you could work something out with Master, couldn't you?
I suppose I could...
Well, good luck with that.
We'll help wherever possible.
Okay...
"Sette-tan, logging in!"
Stale!
I just learned about it yesterday.
W-What are you doing here, Nanako?
Y-Yeah, why is she here?
I invited her.
We need as many allies as we can get now.
As such, I ordered extra machines for Sette and Miss Saito.
Listen, Nanako...
...you don't have to take the trouble to help with this.
Eh, it sounds like fun, you know.
I'll do my best.
Yeah, but on a Sunday, too?
Why can't you direct that enthusiasm toward the class exhibit, meow?
Mm, sorry, Mu-tan.
You have to stay behind this time.
It's too much trouble having you nipping at everyone and his brother.
Now, as for our strategy...
Today, we're going after the fort of Cantor, the smallest one there is.
The guild occupying it is also small—
"Emperor Sword."
They're made up of about twenty players.
Huh?
But there are only six of us.
That's a pretty steep disparity in numbers.
We'll all be killed again...
Not to worry.
I have a plan.
Do you have a trick up your sleeve?
Mm-hmm.
For this one time, I have arranged for the reinforcement...
...of the server's top-class powerhouse mercenaries, Wallenstein!
That Wallenstein?!
I knew she'd solve it with money.
Are they famous?
Yeah.
I thought we could win by delegating to others?
Please, don't die, Master!
If you die here, what do we do about the culture festival?
If we survive this, we'll win the siege battle!
Next time: "The Death of Apricot."
Netoge Standby!