Before me, I watch as the girls, chuckling and laughing amongst themselves, enter the elevator to the floor where their rooms are, led by the cotton candy manager herself.
As the door closes, Zekka sends me one last look, clearly guilty, yet at the same time, far more resolute.
Ding.
I slump, the overwhelming urge to sigh and flop down on something nearly makes me hit the floor right then and there.
Right, let's back up a little.
Freya is lovely, in the literal sense. Honestly, I hope I see more of her throughout the festival.
Hell, I likely will tomorrow, in fact.
However, it sucks to an extreme degree that she basically had nothing to add beyond what Vali already told me.
About the potential Evil Dragon wandering around, what could have happened with that Valkyrie squad that lost their memories, all of it?
One big nothing burger.
And while all that was happening?
Zekka and some other person whom I've never sensed before released a massive spiritual power in the middle of the festival.
I wasn't watching them too closely with my senses; I felt Schwe and Zekka wander around listlessly for a bit, and felt they were the last ones to join the group because Zekka kept stopping - poor girl likely got scammed out of the ass…
Then, right as the group was heading toward the inn, they all stopped, and Zekka suddenly broke away.
I didn't think much of it at first. It's Zekka; that girl is a bit of a clutz sometimes. At first, I assumed she had lost something or other and was just running to retrieve it.
It was when I felt her spiritual power surge, her Touki, that I figured out something else was going on. With a bit more focus, I felt the other surge next to her, someone else also using Touki, and several bursts of magic.
It felt like some kind of fight started in the middle of the festival, but also not really.
At that time, I still had Freya right in front of me, and she didn't even bat an eye when I told her.
"You'd be surprised how often this kind of thing occurs." She had replied, a serene smile across her face all the while, "In fact, I myself am quite shocked. This is the first, and only such, incident that I've heard about today!"
I thought about it for a second.
Northmen. Alcoholic beverages. Music.
I immediately saw where she was coming from.
Still, the fact that it had one of my girls at the ground zero of it didn't help me much.
Yet, as Zekka kept moving, breaking through the bursts of magic along with whomever she was with, I felt that this wasn't actually a fight.
No, it was a chase.
It all came to a stop on the other side of town when I felt a massive burst of magic that even made Freya raise an eyebrow, and it looked like she was about to step away for a second.
Whoever Zekka was with, though? They were good, just as good as Zekka herself. With them, I felt them break all that magic power, and at that point, I assumed the chase was done, as both released their power.
It got a touch harder to track them after, especially with that new power, but I felt them both go their separate ways.
Although the new person went straight back, Zekka, for some inexplicable reason, went practically the opposite way before doubling back and going all the way around town, to end up near their starting location.
I'm not sure why she didn't return with whoever she was chasing that magician with, but it's Zekka - socially awkward Zekka. I could totally see myself doing something that extreme purely to avoid an awkward or terse conversation.
Even if there's a much simpler way to avoid a confrontation when you need to head to the same place.
Just use an adjacent side road?
Eh, I'd only think of that after the fact, too.
Whatever, the point is, I thought that the whole thing was pretty weird, but also completely like Zekka.
I made it to the inn right around when the girls did, a rather typical, mundane-looking inn for Northern Europe, I presume, and I didn't need to ask; they were animatedly talking about it already.
A little witch dined and dashed, and Zekka, along with a part-time girl from a nearby stall, rushed off to apprehend them.
There was some whole thing about them running into Schwe's childhood friend as well, but Schwe kept diverting the conversation toward Zekka and her actions, clearly not wanting to deal with that can of worms yet.
Ah, drama. It's even better with teens.
Therefore, after hearing all that from the periphery, I was perfectly willing to let all of it rest.
I didn't even interrogate Zekka or anything of the sort; I asked one simple question.
"So, how was the girl you teamed up with for a bit there?"
It was pure curiosity. Touki is, after all, pretty rare to find by itself. At the very least, the girl Zekka was with felt human, like her, so they couldn't have been some Yokai and likely either worked really hard for it, like Sai, or were some sort of sage.
Not only that, but in terms of speed and such, they seemed to keep pace pretty damn well.
So, when Zekka's reaction was…
"A-Ah!? Well, u-um," Zekka looked away, twiddling her fingers as her eyes darted between literally anything else around the room, "they w-were fairly skilled, yes, quite the, u-uh, Valkyrie! Yes! They were a Valkyrie-in-training! From the academy! E-Eheh…"
She was lying so hard, I could be blind and still see it.
If she hadn't done that, I wouldn't be standing here right now, contemplating why the hell she thought she needed to do that.
Unless, somehow, someway, a Valkyrie trainee discovered Touki through sheer physical training like Sai, which isn't impossible but still very improbable.
But the way Zekka said that made it sound like her skills came purely from her Valkyrie training. Which, obviously, doesn't include Touki.
I don't think she knows I could sense the whole thing from afar.
If I couldn't, the person being some sort of Valkyrie would make sense, in fact. It'd likely be anyone's first assumption, really.
But the Touki I felt destroys that assumption.
Not only that, but just, come on, the way she said it.
Straight out of an anime. And she thought she was legitimately able to cover it up.
The poor girl can't lie to save her life.
In the end, I faked buying it and sent her along with the rest to their rooms.
Man, what a damn shame.
I finally let the sigh out, my arm still holding the bag with Rose's gift, raising it as I do.
It's going to make enjoying this all the harder, now.
Ah well. Ma may not have raised me, but I sure as shit didn't end up a quitter!
~ A New Sun ~
The very next day, the music part of the music festival began at last.
So, we're back at Vanadis!
Unfortunately, continuing the more mundane trend, the auditorium where all the performances are being held is also rather plain and standard.
Fairly spacious, but the seating surrounding the big stage, the curtains, all that? Normal stuff.
A shame, so much potential there!
Then again, the point of this part of the festival is the performances, so I won't complain. Much.
The performances are split into two big sessions, morning and afternoon. The girls are set to play in the afternoon, but because I wanted to enjoy everything the festival has to offer, I sat in on the morning session to boot.
With Rose sitting by my side, all the while.
Poor girl has been having trouble looking at me straight since we woke up. I think she's still embarrassed about the accent she ended up with once I got it on her.
Country girl Rose does something to my immortal soul, let me tell you.
In any event, all of that embarrassment seemed to leave when the first performance happened, the literal opening number.
It was a beautiful ballad. Rose ended up leaning against my shoulder and swaying along. Real cute.
The band was a duo, not really a band, but that's not the point, no.
The singer was clearly a foreign girl, Japanese, and her aura felt the same as the girl I felt alongside Zekka yesterday.
Yeah. Definitely a Valkyrie.
I almost snorted when it clicked in my head.
There's definitely something more there. I'll have to keep an eye on things, maybe leave a clone to watch things at and around the inn after the performances.
That is, of course, assuming something doesn't happen in the middle of it all.
Following that, though, the rest of the performances sort of…blended?
Why?
Well.
It's all rock music.
Now, I have nothing anything against rock music itself, and in fact, at first, I was actually kind of into it.
But then, they all sort of started blending. All the same instruments, all the same energy, that type of thing. Just rearranged into different formats.
It was after about four songs that I finally realized that, no, Rose had indeed not misspoke. Norse music is rock music. For some reason.
The pun is real, and our alliance is now in question.
At least Rose seemed to have been having a good time. She's been happily vibing along to the beats since the start!
The only reason this place didn't become ground zero for a supernatural Fallout spinoff is that I actually like Freya.
And Rose is having fun, at least.
That, and the girls seemed pretty excited to perform, and even if it's more rock slop, I'll be around to support them.
Though knowing them, I doubt it'll be quite like everyone else's performances.
From what I heard, the girls are scheduled to open the afternoon session, so after dealing with rock all morning and taking a break by giving in to Rose's embarrassed pleas not to put her in a rocker girl outfit, we came back again.
The lights had already begun to dim, and by the time we sat back down, quiet had overtaken the auditorium.
With a few more seconds, the curtains opened, and there they stood.
Huh, oh damn, they made shirts? Over their usual outfits, or rather mostly in their stead, they have black t-shirts with the colorful words emboldened on them.
With a glance, I read 'Occult Power Perform All Impact,' specifically off of Avi's.
Because hers is flat and the only one legible because of that fact.
And she's in the back! With a full-on drumset!
Lile is sitting right next to her, a big bass sat on her lap and held upright.
Both Schwe and Zekka are standing closer to the front of the stage; both girls have guitars, but Schwe, standing up front and center, signals her as the definitive lead.
Makes sense, considering she was the one specifically invited for this whole thing.
What doesn't is the silence.
Schwe just stands there, blankly looking off past the crowd at nothing.
Zekka seems to resist the urge to meekly shy away from the crowd, but quickly looks toward Schwe and seems to notice the same thing I did, her eyes widening in no small amount of panic.
Avi and Lile look at each other and furrow their brows.
Zekka looks like she's about to move toward Schwe. Her body turning, she opens her mouth.
"Um, Schw-"
Only for her to turn straight into the path of her microphone, and her voice to be caught in that, producing a horrid, loud ringing sound behind her voice.
"Eh!? O-Oh, sorry!"
Zekka quickly grabs the microphone pole and is about to move it away, only to take one look at the crowd, seeing their focus on her, then back at Schwe, still zoned out, and gulp.
Uh oh.
With a small shake, I could easily see from my seat that she instead pulls the mic closer, and with a voice thick and mired in tension, she exclaims, "I, am from U-Uccult P-Pe-Perform All, Impacta, my name iz, ZEKKA!"
Dead silence follows.
Not going to lie.
Not even I could resist cringing at that.
Zekka's face turned red enough to match Rias' hair.
Without a second thought, she continued, "S-So it's come to this." She held up a small knife. "I'll make up for this with a harakiri show! I'll entertain everyone, at least for a bit, then die!"
Harakiri?
Oh, right, that's another term for seppuku. Ritualistic suicide via stabbing through the stomach.
I blink.
Wait. Did she really just say that!?
As Zekka actually starts angling the knife over her damn stomach, I nearly get out of my seat, only for, thankfully, a sound to ring from the drums as Avi quickly grabs a mic.
"WAIT, WAIT! Don't commit seppuku as fan service! Stop! Stop!" Avi cried out, waving her arms toward Zekka rapidly.
Zekka, at least, halted her knife and turned slightly toward Avi, her expression dead even as her face still burned, "My remains can be used as fertilizer for Yggdrasil. At least then, I could be useful."
Avi looked flabbergasted, "Don't aim your fan service for a universal scale, Zekka-chan! If you're cutting 'hara,' at least aim for Val-hara!"
Okay, that got a snort out of me, even if the pun was terrible.
I settled back in my seat as Avi steadily talked Zekka down from her idea. A few more silly jokes and puns were thrown in along the way, and the crowd seemed to enjoy them.
It wouldn't shock me if they assumed that the whole thing was a bit, but no, I could legitimately see that Zekka was definitely going to shank herself out of sheer embarrassment.
In a few short minutes, Zekka lowered her away, and with a shake of her head, Avi took the lead, "Right. Now! Let's give ourselves a proper introduction!" Avi proudly announced with a grin, "We are Occult Power Perform All Impact! Or, OPPAI, for short! Please remember it!"
…I'm sorry. The hell did I just hear?
The shrimp, however, continued as though at least one audience member wasn't contemplating murder, "Today, we're going to give it our all for you tonight! If you enjoy it, please be sure to recommend us to others!"
"Er, P-Prez," Zekka spoke up again, gaze flickering in the general direction of where Rose and I sat, "you say things like 'oppai' so publicly, right?"
Avi leaned back a bit and gave her a chuckle, "Ahah! While that might be so, if we get reported, I won't be taking responsibility." She then leaned forward a bit, in my direction, and winked, "So I'm sorry!"
My eyebrow twitched.
I might have to borrow Zekka's knife after this.
I'm going to shank a shrimp. I swear to myself.
Exuberantly, everyone made their introduction, following Avi. With Zekka finally given enough time to shake Schwe to bring her back to her senses, and following along.
"Alright! Let's go, everyone!"
~ A New Sun ~
Right outside the auditorium doors.
I stood there, blankly staring at the floor.
Once their performance was done, I quietly slipped out. Rose teleported away after the girls to make sure everything was alright.
Truly?
It was incredible.
However.
Zekka slapped herself in the face with her own chest, mid-performance, and I think she might have given herself a concussion.
I caught it in her eyes, for a second, she was legitimately out.
There was something off there. The entire time, I could feel an energy coming from her chest; it felt tied to her sacred gear's aura in some way, and, after that incident…
Her shirt exploded.
I don't know what she was doing. What kind of technique did she invent, using whatever the hell the first guy in her sword uses as fuel, maybe it has something to do with her guitar pick being that knife, but, uh…
Huh. I think half the people in that auditorium need to be arrested.
Also, I might be traumatized now?
I'm not sure.
I haven't blinked since I walked out of there.
I'm definitely going to congratulate the girls; they did amazing, and all that on top of improvising after that botched start, Zekka pulling through, and I think there was something else going on with Schwe there.
Not sure how I should reward them quite yet. Maybe a fancy restaurant? Oh! Maybe Disneyland Tokyo?
I don't know quite yet. But I'll think of something.
Eventually.
I just need a really, really long minute right now…