Section 11: Back to Square One

Hi again. It's time for another digest.

Me being here is probably enough to give you the general idea, right?

We went into the final checkpoint with no help cards. The gift-giving trial ended without much fanfare.

I think Fujimaru's gift got the highest score again? This time, seventy-eight points.

It was a plushie of those green creatures we see around Chaldea sometimes. Con, I think they're called.

Boy, he really blew it when he gave it to her, though!

Said he thought she'd like it because the other Sakura Five did, too! Reeeally should have kept his mouth shut!

...Me? I didn't give her anything. Why would I? I didn't give her anything last time, either.

Anyway, although we made it to the goal for a second time, of course, we didn't have nearly enough points to pass.

Our total score was four hundred and four. Better than last time, sure, but still a far cry from five hundred.

Kazuradrop then cheerfully declared we were heading "back to square one!"...

...then picked us up and moved us all so quickly we passed out again.

So, that's the current situation.

By now, they're all realizing we probably won't be able to get full marks this time either...

...and are already resigned to spending this run gathering information in the hope that the next one succeeds.

But even with that awareness, it sucks to be confronted with the reality that all your efforts were wasted.

When fatigue builds up in your mind, it starts to make everything look bad, even when that's not the case.

I'd rather avoid that if at all possible. Persecution complexes, or worse, getting one's comeuppance? Not really my thing.

It's getting to a point where I'm starting to seriously want to get out of this mess myself...

Now then, whose side should I take?

Good grief. I kind of hate how familiar this starting line is already beginning to feel.

...(Sigh)

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling a little despondent, but

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Yeah, same. Our overall score went up last time, so that's encouraging.

We're getting closer. That much we can safely say. But, the more points we eke out in each test...

...the more you realize just how hard getting full marks in everything really is.

Plus, now we know that even using help cards isn't a surefire way to get a hundred.

So the question is, how should we best use our three cards this time...?

Oh, about that. You only get two cards now.

What!?

I'll go ahead and make a new rule for you: you'll get one fewer help card in each run.

Which means this time, the blank cards will only spawn in two locations.

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Don't blame me. I only realized the new rule on this run myself.

I'm not making up anything.

That little insect over there's the one who forced this rule in. I'm sure he knew about it from the beginning.

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No, no, I wasn't trying to.

I just forgot to mention this before, maybe because I didn't feel like it was important.

See, trying to connect this isolated insect space to Chaldea's systems from scratch would've been nearly impossible.

So I had to use a connection that was already there.

That's right. Your Command Spells. That's why there were only three help cards to begin with.

More accurately, I restored two of your Command Spells when I brought you back here for the start of a new run.

I'm guessing there'll only be one card on the next run, and after that, zero.

Whether the help card system comes back after that or not depends on how your Command Spells are doing then.

？！

What? I thought it would be bad luck to talk about the next run before we'd even started the last!

So, you're saying things are actually worse now.

And? It's normal for games to get more difficult as you continue to play them, right?

Besides, this race isn't meant to be a journey where you just rely on tools to make things easy for yourself☆

Although, I suppose those cards of yours weren't all that helpful to begin with anyway.

But I guess that's all the resistance I could expect from the lowly king of root-gnawing insects♡

You think? From where I stood, you seemed pretty flustered at the time.

Hmph. I'll admit, you surprised me.

But even using all three cards barely made any difference. A bug on the board is still just a bug.

And so this game is still nowhere close to ending♡ Who knows? Maybe it'll even go on forever.

All right then, everyone. Good luck trying to become the perfect father once again.

...Forever, huh. Ah, you've said too much, Kazuradrop.

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Y-yes. I was just momentarily overcome by a vision of a hopeless future with no end in sight.

But don't worry, I'm perfectly all right. Nothing to see here.

The commander in chief can't very well give in to despair, now, can I?

Hahahaha...haha...hah...haaa...

...Ahh... What I wouldn't give to curl up in the corner of my room with a blanket and drink wine until I pass out...

How did I even end up in this mess, anyway... (Thousand-yard stare)

(Oh crap. He's starting to dissociate from reality.)

(I guess the plan for gradually improving our score each run until we escape was theoretically sound...)

(...but it does force you to confront the possibility that you may never escape, no matter how many times you attempt it.)

(And it looks like that's exactly what's starting to happen now.)

I don't think we should tackle this run the same way we did the last two.

We need to make some real, tangible progress towards getting full marks. Otherwise...

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...I'm curious why you thought so, but never mind that. Right now, let's just focus on Kazuradrop.

Do you mind if I make a serious suggestion?

Of course not. If anything, it's about time you did. I've suspected you had some thoughts about all this right from the start.

Why are you only starting to take this seriously now? Is it because of the little back-and-forth you and Kazuradrop just had?

That's part of it, sure, but I'd also decided from the outset that I'd keep my mouth shut for two rounds.

I figured I owed Murian at least that much. By now, though, any debt I owed her has been repaid in full.

And above all, with one possible exception, there's nothing in this whole world that lasts forever.

？！

For this round, I say we forget about points altogether.

Huh? Are you crazy? We'll never get out of here unless we can get a full score in every test.

Hang on. Let him finish.

I believe we've been overly focused on the immediate goalthat is, getting a high score at each checkpoint.

It makes sense, of course, since that's what the rules Kazuradrop outlined for us say we should be doing.

But I see no sense in just going along with a game when the scoring criteria are being kept secret.

The real obstacle we need to overcome isn't the checkpoints' various trials.

It's the race itself.

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Hm? Isn't that ultimately the same thing?

No, it's not.

I've been getting an inkling of this myself. There are fundamental questions we've been ignoring in favor of progressing in the race.

Questions like, "What IS a perfect father, anyway?" "Why does Kazuradrop want us in particular to embody him?"

"Why are each of this race's trials designed the way they are?"

Those are the questions you're saying we should be focusing on?

Basically. Before we consider what this race involves, we should be thinking about why it was made in the first place.

Right now, we still have no idea what it is Kazuradrop REALLY wants from us.

So if we keep taking these trials without understanding that key premise, we're just spinning our wheels.

Which is why I thought it would be worthwhile to get back to basics, so to speak.

Of course, I'm not saying this means we'll find the answer right away.

We'll still need to try and gather information with every trial.

But this time, I suggest we focus mainly on Kazuradrop's reactions...

...with our ultimate goal being to uncover her secrets rather than finish the game.

If we can do that, it should also take care of wrapping the game up.

Hmm. That sounds like an even more roundabout tactic than we've been taking thus far.

But, I suppose it could also give us a clue into this scoring criteria she's refused to tell us about.

Right. If we can discover her real goal, and why she's doing this...

...we should also learn what she's paying attention to and how she's scoring it.

Who knows? Maybe we'll even notice some questions she wrote on the back of her notes or something else we've been overlooking.

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All right.

Then what should we do the next time we find a help card?

We should get two this time.

Good question. For those, I think that, instead of asking them for advice on scoring higher...

...we should find someone who can help us better understand what Kazuradrop means by "perfect father."

So it shouldn't matter whether they're any good at cooking, cleaning, and whatnot.

？！