For the... did I pass out, over that?

  Not that I can be too surprised. I mean, how did Inkaro end up befriending the Stigmai of Unknown if he isn't emotionless? ... might as well go over my notes while I'm here.

  The Academy Halnuemi Enkindle Festival Event is one of the shortest but most memorable routes from the game Glamourous Befallen: Recurrence No.42291 for having the most time-limited capture target in the whole game: Inkaro, The Grimoire Reaper, or Grim Reaper, as the fandom had coined, that later became an official name in merchandise.

  Why might he be the most time-limited character might you ask?

  It's rather simple.

  In the game's over three-hundred-hours worth of content and playtime, Inkaro only had a thirty-minute window to be convinced into join the player's party. Which almost always leads to the bad endings if you miss this opening, because the player would lose their chance to access the highest-grade magical items and tools.

  Why might these tools and items be so important?

  Because. That. STUPID! Nightmare Stigmai is a glorified stat and hack check with how difficult his attack patterns are... or would it be worse now since this is real life now... and he won't be restricted to using the same set of moves? That's not important right now, it just means I need to befriend Inkaro that much more with how I won't get any do-overs if I die... ... I wonder if I can recruit Lizuranti to the cause since she isn't an antagonist anymore... wonder who will take that position from her now?

  Yuuvia? Anazenpha...? ...Louailanye? ... I think that are all the potential options at present... unless someone without a stigmai is dumb enough to take a deal with a random stigmai.

  Oh... how do I know all this?

  Is the thought of a third reincarnated person truely stretch of the mind to comprehend? Sign... okay, it's not quite the same as Myendi and Xythio in my case. To put it in simple terms, those two are from a non-supernatural Earth, while I am not. Instead, I'm what is called a Card Weaver, like that klutz Nuno and emo Lilith, although I highly out-ranked those two; basically, the difference between them and me is what a high schooler is to a university student.

  Sigh...

  A Card Weaver is an existence who acts as an assistant to }Eclipse{ in capturing the memories/monumental moments from all the realities within the Aether Realm. From there, I was playing the previously mentioned game created based off the reality information captured in some Constellation Cards before being isekai-ed in the classic TV screen flashbanging my bedroom.

  There, now you have the context. Can I snap back to reality now?

  Hello?

  And that she did, jolting up from her previously horizontal orientation of a resting position on the nicely padded, marble bench, from which was within an arm's reach of the marble battle arena. Eyeing the somewhat spanning arena, Mulinai dramatically threw her gaze over her shoulder before exhaustedly slouching her head at registering where she was: Solicrave Academy's largest combat coliseum; a towering snow-white marble construct, sculpted with heavily rune-etched columns, and a dark grey tiled arena at its centre. On the lowest columns closest to the arena, there sits multiple floating, hexagonal curios that project a faint mana field.

  Seeing as getting the chance to talk to Lizuranti or Inkaro in a more tame setting would have to wait for later, Mulinai went straight back to deliberate on the absurdity of how drastically Inkaro and Lizuranti differed from the variations she'd seen in the past.

  So speaking in a hushed tone that didn't matter, given her use of her native tongue prior to reincarnating, Mulinai voiced her befuddlement: "I still don't get it, why are they together!? It makes no sense. They're supposed to be mortal enemies; in fact, Lizuranti was supposed to be this route's overarching villain because of her jealousy for Inkaro's supposed proficiency at grimoire syntax, despite him being a commoner. It was only later revealed to truly be boiled down to the shame she has for her own handwriting... along with other family-related things. In fact, all the girls who were supposed to be obstacles to get Inkaro on the player's side are his friends here. How did this happen? I figured some things would be different from the game, due to me not being the original heroine, but I didn't think things so far away from the main story would've been so drastically different. I suppose befriending Enetha a few years back didn't help the scenario change."

  As she rambled on and on for a little longer, the only other member of her team for the tournament was ushered from the throes of his sleep from Mulinai's noise-making, and not the booming cheers of the energised audience slowly filing into their elevated seats, somehow. With a sharp puff of air from his mouth to knock some of his hair away from his eyes that had been draped over them, the teen drowesly loosly cast his attention in Mulinai's general direction.

  Adding to her ramblings, Mulinai muttered, "This isn't where I learn that recurrence number thing wasn't just a title and was some sort of indication there were actually multiple instances of the game's world? And here I thought the differences I encountered were merely from my presence moving a few things out of what I thought were their original places."

  Listening to the ramblings for a little bit longer, the guy finally reached his limit, not from being annoyed, but purely out of an effort to keep his teammate from conking out again from overthinking. Or whatever. So to ensure their team had all five members, the teen deeply "ahem"ed, snapping Mulinai back to reality and squinting her eyes at him: disapprovingly.

  "I'm all for pumping yourself up before a big event, but I doubt putting a curse on someone in whatever language you're rambling in is going to help."

  "Shut it, Maxomeul! I do debuffs, not curses. Curses are Kyaquelo's area of expertise," Mulinai exclaimed defensively, slamming her tightened fists against her lap in frustration for her inability to wrap her mind around how different Inkaro and Lizuranti had been to what she'd envisioned. It wasn't long before the mouxola teen stared down her teammate, no longer side-eyeing but still carrying the same intensity, followed by a weak exhale as her annoyance didn't phase him in the slightest.

  [Maxomeul Reubovan is a slightly tall, dark-tanned, sixteen-year-old humalian elunotite male; he has slightly short, deep blond hair with reflective metal ends, and a reflective metal ahoge. A white left eye and a reflective silver right eye, both with glowing irises. Subtle, golden glass panel-like effort on his body(hand palms, soles of feet, area on the outer sides of eyes, and spine). Internal organs share the same glass-like effect as the rest of his body. And a lean, muscular build with slightly extra muscles in his legs]

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  [Maxomeul is wearing a silver, sleeveless jacket with thirteen golden stars on the back. A pale golden, three-centimetre-long gem, cut to resemble a moon with a hole in it that is slightly off centre, that is embedded into his chest. Forearm-long golden fur armbands. A short, puffy, furred, pale golden sarong with tiny, lantern-shaped, silver bells around its hem. And, silver fur boots]

  :Attributes:

  [Base]

  [Mana Capacity: B]

  [Mana Control: X]

  [Mana Tolerance: SSS]

  [Advanced]

  [Affinity: Speed/Momentum]

  [Proficiency: Projection]

  [Complex]

  [Speciality: Rubberbanding]

  [Stigma: None]

  [Class: Kaizu Moonblight]

  [Grimoire/Tapestry/Curio limit: 9]

  "What's with that look?" Tilting his head to the side, Maxomeul momentarily wore a contemplative expression as he pondered whether she'd had a bad dream, like Kotou was dating a giant playing card, again. Although as funny as that would've been, the guy dismissed it, mainly because Mulinai would've definitely mentioned the word card upon her awakening, before begrudgingly coming to a more rational conclusion. "Are you annoyed the others aren't here when the tournament is about to begin, Vice Kaizu?"

  Maxomeul snapped his fingers at his teammate with the utmost playfulness, snarky smile included, all much to Mulinai's dismayed frown. She only found his second comment annoying because she hadn't even noticed the lack of three whole teammates, but decided to play along, solely so she didn't have to think of an excuse for her ramblings herself.

  "Let me guess, the other three decided that it was beneath them to show until they're called to perform?" Mulinai grumbled softly, playing up the annoyance she wore on her face and the strength of her pouting to sell the illusion of her disapproval of her teammates' untimeliness to Maxomeul.

  "It's a bit rude to lump Solus in with those two, isn't it?" Maxomeul barked playfully, extra playfully swiping his hands in the air in time with his remark, as he lounged on the other side of the bench, giving Mulinai plenty of space. Such space being necessary for his own safety when Mulinai's mana tail aggressively thrashed about behind her from Maxomeul's provocation. Such thashing was for show, of course.

  "Hmph... he can be excluded; his poor time management is hardly his own fault with that girl constantly on his shoulders." Snapping her fingers just like how Maxomeul had, Mulinai followed up her statement with a hearty huff, as her teammate blankly looked her way.

  "Girl?" Maxomeul mumbled perplexedly.

  "Nothing!" Mulinai blurted out defensively, averting her gaze in the opposite direction of Maxomeul upon acknowledging her verbal slip-up.

  "Pfft, how unbecoming of you to speak so crassly about me behind my back. Don't take us as equals because you possess a Kairunaki Emblem, Beaconette," a truly crass-sounding guy announced as he emerged from one of the arena's side entrances, the only thing breaking up his agitating voice being the clacking of his footwear against the tiled arena ground. Clacking his way around the marble bench, Mulinai callously, not even trying to hide it to preserve any sense of decorum, watched the guy she resentfully called his Kaizu Squad member, not even stopping her glare as the guy stood beside Maxomeul.

  [Lumikrosku Kruvikroka is a very tall, dazzling snow-white-skinned, seventeen-year-old humanoid demon lunthera male; he has slightly long and woolly, slicked back, snow white hair with two elbow-low extensions of dyed pale golden hair that resemble rabbit-like ears. Dazzling pure golden eyes. Hip-low, woolly, snow-white, large rabbit ears with animal-shaped(the left being a pale grey sparrow head, and the right a Persian green cobra head) patterns on each end. Woolly, Snow-white fur on the forearms and lower half of his legs. And, Woolly, snow-white, ball-shaped rabbit tail]

  [Lumikrosku is wearing a pale cyan, three-centimetre-long gem, cut to resemble a symmetrical harp, embedded into the forehead of his right ear's cobra pattern. A loose-fitting, Persian green kimono covered in pale grey detailing that makes the kimono appear to be crafted from snake scales. The kimono has large, flared sleeves with multiple overlapping folds jutting out of each sleeve. A snow-white, sleeveless, skin-tight tank top. Fluffy, snow-white martial arts gi-like trousers with pale golden hems. Light grey, thick, fur socks. And, pale golden getas with pale grey foot straps]

  :Attributes:

  [Base]

  [Mana Capacity: A]

  [Mana Control: SSS]

  [Mana Tolerance: A]

  [Advanced]

  [Affinity: Ice]

  [Proficiency: Ice Structure]

  [Complex]

  [Speciality: Magic-infused Music]

  [Stigma: None]

  [Class: Kaizu Frigid Melodious]

  [Tome/Instrument/Catalyst limit: 13]

  Whilst all that was going on between the three Teulani Archipelago islanders, Lizu somehow managed to surpass Mulinai's resentment for Lumikrosku by skipping over any other feelings and going all the way up to animosity straight away. She had murder on her mind. Had she not already been standing, Lizu was sure she would have done a dramatic jump to her feet, followed by an aggressive finger point: all lawyer objection style.

  "I cannot believe he's here; the only saving grace is that I doubt his father would be able to make a trip out of Kruyaktroviki, given the time of year." Lizu refused to remain still, pacing back in front of Inkaro and his other three classmates on the marble bench, which lay situated on the opposite side of the arena to the other team's bench.

  "Who?" Inkaro asked calmly, whilst he found himself in the position of having to brush his fingers through Paruneha's hair to keep them appeased from going violent at Lizu's unspoken order, as they sat on the guy's lap with around the same amount of bold sass that Inoni had shown.

  Lizu snapped her head directly at Inkaro, the momentum of her head turn stopping the dragolyte dead in her tracks, said momentum carrying over into her full-body, sideways-arching slouch as she envied Inkaro for his selective memory sometimes. "Remember that boy whose father wanted to arrange a marriage between said boy and myself?"

  "Oh... him?" Inkaro uttered, sounding so unconvincing that it bordered on being able to be misinterpreted as being sarcastic. Such a tone worked to convince a drowsy Yuuvia, carrying a signed medalian of a kitsune fox in her hands, and Myhail, who hadn't been paying attention to the conversation as he constantly focused on the texts flying across his phone from Nova, while Lizu and Xythio weren't so much.

  "You have no clue who I'm talking about, do you?" Lizu remarked softly as she rested a smirk-full cheek in her palm, already finding her fury being swept away in favour of basking in Inkaro's Inkaroness. She did so intentionally, knowing that beating up Lumikrosku with her own hands wouldn't be satisfying enough and that only Inkaro had the capability to achieve. Which only now got her thinking about how statistically odd it is for only one commoner to be in the tournament.

  At least one should be on the other team's side.