Uria: "Pour tea for Big Sis!"
Raviel: "Feed Big Sis!"
Hamon: "I–I'll massage Big Sis's legs!"
Suddenly being treated like a lord and waited on hand and foot, the Evil God—who had appeared moments ago with an annoyed expression—visibly relaxed, her displeasure fading away bit by bit.
"Mm. You Duel Spirits really know how things work. You're quite aware of who the real boss is here~"
"So… shouldn't I be the boss here?" Hoshino asked once again.
But apparently, the Duel Spirit world had its own rules—rank, hierarchy, and all that. As a human, it wasn't really her place to interfere.
Taking the teacup Uria handed her and sipping it with great ceremony, the Evil God spoke solemnly:
"Actually, letting you stay here temporarily isn't impossible~"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
The three stood respectfully before her, nodding like chicks pecking at rice.
"But you must understand—this place has never supported freeloaders. If you want a place to live and food to eat, you must provide corresponding labor. That's the rule, and it can't be broken~"
"Evil God-san…"
Leaning close to the Evil God loli's ear, Hoshino whispered quietly,
"When did we ever have a rule like that? And besides, haven't you been eating and living here for free this whole time?"
Seeing the Evil God putting on the airs of a Duel Spirit leader, Hoshino didn't dare challenge her openly and could only whisper behind her back.
"You really are hopelessly insensitive about these things, girl."
The Evil God raised her slender, cute eyebrows and replied softly.
"How could I possibly do something as shameless as freeloading? Besides, we're Duel Spirits."
"So what if you're Duel Spirits?"
"A Duel Spirit's job is obviously dueling." She said it as if it were common sense.
"I stay by your side and help you win duels when it really matters. That's providing labor, isn't it?"
…That actually made a lot of sense.
Hoshino was left speechless.
Glancing sideways at the three girls, the Evil God continued,
"You three said earlier that your powers were basically erased in that duel. Which means you can't even function as Duel Monsters to provide strength to Hoshino anymore."
…That also made a lot of sense.
The three were left speechless.
"I didn't expect Evil God-san to be this strict," Hoshino muttered.
"I should be saying that about you, gurl~"
Despite her cute appearance, the Evil God spoke with the tone of a nagging mom.
"You're always this defenseless. That's why more and more strange things keep gathering around you."
Coming from the first strange thing to gather around her, that was incredibly shameless…
"I can't deny that Big Sis has a point."
Biting her lip, Raviel reluctantly admitted it.
"With our powers sealed, we can't even duel anymore. We can't provide Hoshino with any strength! No—at this point, we're not even qualified to be called Duel Spirits!"
"It's not that serious," Hoshino tried to smooth things over.
"Uria freeloaded here for quite a while before, too."
Whether or not she could obtain the Sacred Beasts' power honestly didn't matter to her at all. As long as these three didn't cause trouble, she had no complaints.
Still maintaining her boss-like attitude, the Evil God negotiated,
"So you should be prepared. Since you can't serve as combat power in duels, if you want to stay here… you'll have to offer up your bodies~"
"Hold it right there, Evil God-san—what kind of dangerous statement is that?!"
With a whole room full of elementary-school-aged girls and wording like that, Hoshino felt like she was about to be dragged away by the police at any second.
"You're saying this is just negotiations between Duel Monsters?"
Do you think the police would believe that nonsense?!
"Offering up our bodies… I understand."
Swallowing nervously, Raviel steeled herself and made a solemn request:
"Please, Big Sis! Let us stay here and work! No matter how dirty or exhausting the work is, we'll do it!"
Seriously, these three were way too smart.
So this was their way of paying rent?
"That settles it, kid~"
Negotiations complete, the Evil God turned to Hoshino with a smug grin.
"From now on, any troublesome cleaning work around the mansion can be left to them. Don't be fooled by how frail spirits look—when it comes to actual labor, they're far more capable than humans."
Hoshino scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"But… all the household chores here are handled by Emiyamama already."
(***)
Kitchen
Although Heroic Spirits don't need sleep, Emiya—having retained human habits—was still used to taking a short nap at night.
Tonight, however, he was dragged awake halfway through by Hoshino.
"Sleeping in the kitchen… I suppose that is very like you, Emiya."
Pushing Uria and the others in front of him, Hoshino briefly explained the situation.
"So you're saying I should put these little ones to work under me?"
Emiya frowned slightly, his expression complicated.
Hamon whispered to Raviel and Uria,
"Is this really okay? He looks kind of scary…"
"Scary or not, he's definitely dark," Raviel judged.
"The lights were off earlier—I almost didn't realize there was a person squatting in the kitchen."
"It's fine! Emiya's really nice, and his cooking is super good!"
Compared to the other two, Uria—who had freeloaded here before—was clearly much more at ease.
After thinking it over for a moment, Emiya agreed,
"I don't lack manpower, but since this is Master's request, I'll keep these three for now."
"Thanks, Emiya. That really helps a lot."
"Yadaze! We finally found jobs!"
The three high-fived in perfect sync, the weight finally lifted from their hearts.
"Don't relax too soon," Emiya said sternly.
"I'm very strict here. First rule—wake up at 4 a.m. every day and prepare the breakfast ingredients. Anyone who can't do that should leave on their own."
"W–We start working at 4 a.m.?"
Even though they had already prepared themselves mentally to work hard, the Three never expected the very first task to be this brutal.
Unlike Heroic Spirits, Duel Spirits do need rest. Just as humans sleep to recover their strength, spirits also rely on sleep to replenish their power—especially after experiencing a duel that utterly defied common sense like today's.
"W–We can do it! We finally found a place to stay—Hamon won't leave no matter what!"
"Wait… what time is it right now?" Raviel asked, a bad feeling creeping up on her.
"It's two in the morning~ You girls do your best."
Yawning widely as drowsiness washed over her, Hoshino said goodbye to the Three and Emiya, then returned to her room alone.
After a quick wash-up, Hoshino rummaged through her storage cabinet and dug out an eye mask she hadn't used in ages.
At two in the morning, the glow of the Xyz Network outside was still as bright as daylight. Hoshino had a feeling Kaiba Corporation's inbox would be flooded with light-pollution complaints by morning.
"But I can finally relax and get some proper rest~ I'll just take tomorrow off work."
She took a deep breath. At this moment, there was no place more capable of soothing both mind and body than her bed.
"Hoshino-chan, I don't mind you skipping work, but you can't rest just yet~"
The familiar voice coming from beneath the bed jolted Hoshino—who had just entered a peaceful state—into an instant 'startled awake from a near-death stupor.'
"That voice is… Da Vinci?"
"Half correct~ Actually, it's the Lily form—your adorable Da Vinci~"
Climbing out from under Hoshino's bed, the childlike Da Vinci looked up at her with her trademark smile.
"Earlier, the child density in this room seriously exceeded safe limits. I couldn't find a good chance to come out."
(ㅍ_ㅍ) "What do you mean 'a good chance'—I get it now. Da Vinci, you set Chaldea's teleport circle under my bed, didn't you?!"
If that were the case, then all those inexplicable "someone's hiding under the bed" paranormal incidents from before suddenly made perfect sense.
Sticking out her tongue, Da Vinci played cute.
"Ehehe~ Guess I got found out in the end~"
"You realize you're responsible for my chastity after pulling something like this, right, Da Vinci?!"
"I'm in Lily mode right now, so I don't understand what you're saying~"
Successfully dodging the issue with cuteness, Da Vinci dusted off her little backside and sat down on Hoshino's bed.
"Alright, let's put the small talk aside. Hoshino-chan, defeating the Chaos Phantasm under those conditions was truly impressive. However, the main reason I'm here is to explain why the system has been unable to properly distribute Saint Quartz. Even a genius like me has been researching this nonstop for an entire month."
That immediately woke Hoshino up completely.
The Saint Quartz she had worked so hard to earn—vanishing into thin air. She was finally going to learn the real reason.
"So you've figured it out, Da Vinci? Can my Saint Quartz still be salvaged?"
If this ended with a system fix that paid out all the missing Quartz at once… she'd instantly strike it rich.
"The result is…"
Da Vinci pursed her lips, then smiled mysteriously.
"The result is—there's nothing wrong with the system at all."
"(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ Who do you think you're fooling?! If there's no malfunction, then where did all my Quartz go?! Don't tell me you, you shady merchant, skimmed my rewards off the top?!"
"Don't get so worked up, Hoshino-chan. Hear me out first~"
Da Vinci soothed her with practiced ease.
"The reason I took the Evil God's card was because I sensed something within her that interfered with the system's normal operation."
"Duel Spirits interfering with the Heroic Spirit system… is that even possible?"
Hoshino's skepticism was understandable—there had never been any precedent for something like this.
Heroic Spirits and Duel Spirits were fundamentally concepts from entirely different worlds. Even though they were unified in this world through Duel Monster cards, once removed from that framework, they shouldn't have had any overlap whatsoever.
"I used to think the same way, Hoshino-chan—that two concepts with no connection couldn't possibly influence each other."
Da Vinci continued,
"But I overlooked something extremely important: something that exists in both worlds… and something unique to the Evil God herself."
"Something that exists in both worlds… and is unique to the Evil God…"
Hoshino fell silent, thinking hard. Like a riddle, no matter how she turned it over in her mind, she couldn't find an answer.
This was probably the difference between an ordinary human mind and that of a so-called genius.
"It's actually not that complicated. With just a little hint, you'll figure it out."
Gently touching Hoshino's furrowed brow with her soft fingertips, Lily Da Vinci added,
"You remember the war in the World of Memories seven years ago, don't you?"
Ancient Egypt.
The world from Atem's memories three thousand years ago.
The Millennium Seven Items.
Kisara, the girl of the White Dragon.
The Dark Great Evil God Zorc.
The Orichalcos.
Atlantis.
And finally—the Creator Gods of Light and Darkness.
"How could I forget?" Hoshino replied.
Da Vinci nodded.
"And at the end of that war, another identity of the incarnation of the god was revealed. The same kind of identity as the Dark Great Evil God Zorc… and the Orichalcos Devouring Star Serpent…"
"—Beast!"
Before Da Vinci could finish, realization struck Hoshino, and she blurted out the answer.
"Bingo~ Correct, Hoshino-chan!"
Da Vinci smiled brightly.
"As one of this world's Beasts, the incarnation of the god—due to the special nature of her existence—successfully intersected with a Beast from another world. That's the true culprit behind the system's disruption."
At its core, the reason Beasts could connect to one another was because of their inherent nature.
Beasts appear in chains. When one Beast manifests, others inevitably follow. A world where the Evils of Humanity emerge is destined to move closer to the 'Final Evil.' Once Beast I appears, Beast VII is already lurking somewhere in the world.
Up until now, the God of Orichalcos, the Orichalcos, and the Dark Great Evil God Zorc that Hoshino encountered were all Beast-class entities of this world.
"The entire incident began when an unidentified Beast unconsciously linked with the Evil God in this world, infiltrating the Heroic Spirit system. However, manifesting a Beast in physical form in another world requires an enormous amount of energy."
"An enormous amount of energy… Saint Quartz!"
Everything clicked at once. Hoshino exclaimed in shock,
"All the Saint Quartz in the system was converted into energy to manifest that Beast in this world—and got devoured."
"Exactly right, Hoshino-chan. That's why I said from the very beginning that the system itself wasn't broken. Someone simply took the Saint Quartz before we could."
Pulling a card from her pocket, Da Vinci handed it to Hoshino with a serious expression.
"This is the result of my month-long research. After tracking the flow of the Beast concept tied to the Evil God, I discovered that all the Saint Quartz energy was diverted into this card."
Hoshino lowered her gaze to examine it.
A pitch-black card, bearing only a vague red emblem—nothing about it revealed any clear meaning.
"What exactly is being nurtured inside this card… remains unknown. The truth that lies ahead is something you'll have to uncover yourself, Hoshino-chan."