[Fun Mission: Defeat a Hundred People]
[Task Description: It's time to reveal your true strength. Defeat one hundred opponents in a fair duel before midnight today. Let your name be heard far and wide.]
[Reward: Exclusive Bound Equipment]
[Failure Penalty: Hearing sealed for 24 hours]
[Note: The reward is highly valuable, don't miss it.]
[Note: Cheating is strictly forbidden. Ensure the duel environment is fair and just. Collusion, bribery, or unfair advantage will render the defeat invalid.]
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"Are you okay, Kaguya-chan?" Chika asked cautiously, noticing Kaguya's stillness.
Other than biting her lip slightly, Kaguya appeared perfectly composed. With a calm tone, she answered, "I'm fine."
"That's a relief," Chika sighed. "If it were me, I'd be crying after two strange missions in a row."
But the truth was, Kaguya was only good at hiding her emotions. Outwardly calm, but inwardly... not so much.
Amemiya could practically see the thoughts bubbling above Kaguya's head:
"It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair…"
Why me again? It felt like someone was targeting her.
"It seems like Kaguya-chan's horoscope predicted some bad luck today," Chika speculated. "Maybe tomorrow you should watch the fortune-telling program on NHK before heading out."
'I watched it yesterday, and look how that turned out,' Kaguya thought to herself.
Breaking the silence, Amemiya spoke, "Let's figure out how to complete this task."
Boys like him tended to approach problems with solutions in mind.
"Right," Chika chimed in, placing a hand on her chin. "But 'defeating a hundred people' sounds kind of..."
She and Amemiya exchanged a look, both realizing the potentially violent implications of the task.
"Defeating a hundred people," Kaguya mused, frowning in thought. "It would be much easier if we could just bribe our opponents."
As the heir to the Kaguya family, using actual power to solve problems wasn't out of the question. Without the no-cheating rule, she could have defeated a hundred, maybe even a thousand, opponents in a day.
"Oh! I know!" Chika's eyes lit up. "What if we play rock-paper-scissors?"
"It's quick, simple, and you could rack up wins in no time!"
"It sounds unreliable," Amemiya said skeptically. "But it's worth trying."
"Let's duel, Kaguya-chan!" Chika declared confidently, placing one hand on her hip and extending the other toward Kaguya.
Despite doubts, Kaguya figured there was no harm in trying rock-paper-scissors. But then she lost five times in a row.
"Wow, I won again?" Chika blinked, her voice bright. "It seems like the fortune-teller was right. I'm super lucky today!"
Watching Chika gloat, Kaguya began to question her own luck. 'Could it really be this bad?'
"Let me take over," Amemiya said, raising his hand. "It's probably best if you don't play against Fujiwara-san today. She seems unusually lucky."
Kaguya reluctantly agreed, and after another round of rock-paper-scissors, she finally won.
"Did it work, Kaguya-chan?" Chika asked eagerly.
Shaking her head, Kaguya responded, "No. It doesn't count."
As expected, rock-paper-scissors didn't meet the mission's requirements.
"Hmm..." Chika thought for a moment. "Oh! You're amazing at archery, Kaguya-chan. What if you entered a kyudo competition?"
As a multi-talented young woman, Kaguya excelled in academics and a variety of arts, including tea ceremony, flower arrangement, aikido, naginata, and most notably, archery. She had even won first place in a national archery competition in middle school.
"That could work, right?" Chika added.
But Kaguya shook her head. "My stamina won't hold up."
Although skilled in many areas, Kaguya's physical strength was her weak point. Her busy life as a young heiress didn't leave much room for physical exercise. In game terms, she had high attack power but low endurance—fragile and easily exhausted.
While confident she could defeat a hundred people in archery, doing it in one day was impossible. Her arm would give out halfway through.
"I can't think of anything else," Chika sighed. "What about shogi? You're great at shogi and go. Maybe you could defeat a hundred opponents that way?"
"The task requires force," Amemiya pointed out. "But we won't know unless we try."
"I think there's a shogi board in the board game club," Chika recalled. "Let's go check."
The three of them made their way to the board game room, and soon Chika and Kaguya were engaged in a shogi match. Within ten minutes, Kaguya emerged victorious, but it still didn't satisfy the mission's conditions.
"I'm out of ideas," Chika groaned, slumping onto the table.
After a pause, Amemiya spoke up. "I might have a solution."
"Really?" Chika perked up. "Tell us!"
"Have you heard of arcade fighting games?"
"I've heard of them but never played," Chika said, shaking her head.
"I've never played either," Kaguya added.
'I should've expected that,' Amemiya thought. Kaguya was a dignified young lady, and even though Chika could be a bit clueless, both had been raised too properly to have encountered arcade games.
"It's simple," Amemiya explained. "It's a one-on-one fighting game where players face off in duels. That might fulfill the mission's requirements."
"Let's try it out then!" Chika exclaimed. "We can always think of something else if it doesn't work."
"There's a game center on my way to school," Amemiya suggested. "We can head there now and see."
"Sounds good!" Chika cheered, her enthusiasm undiminished. "Let's skip class, Kaguya-chan!"
"No need to skip class," Amemiya interjected. "There's still time before the next one. If we hurry, we'll be back in time."
Kaguya hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, let's go to the game center."