Scumbag Fate System-Chapter 35: Club Fun

Morning light cut across campus.

But something felt... off.

It wasn’t anything Reinhard could name or identify. Just the specific unease of a man whose instincts had gone through various dangers and learned to pick up on those telltale signs.

He put this away as he headed to meet the others by the fountain. Rika stood waiting, her smile widening at the sight of him. Alice bounced up next, full of energy as always. Sirin approached from another path, looking neat despite the early hour.

Yor arrived last, hands in pockets, and a mask covering her face.

"Ready for some fun?" Alice asked, nearly jumping with excitement.

"As ready as we’ll ever be," said Sirin with a small smile.

The group entered the Entertainment Department, conversing with each other. All trying to decide on where to go first. Soon the building came into view—glass doors open wide, music and laughter spilling out along with the beeps and chimes of arcade games.

"Racing games first!" Alice pointed upstairs.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

They climbed to the second floor, where a line of racing simulators waited. These machines used Magical Relics like the ones in the Arena, but were made for fun instead of training. Reinhard picked one quickly and motioned for Yor to take the seat next to him.

The others settled into their own machines nearby.

"Have you played before?" He asked while helping her adjust the seat.

Yor shook her head before her fingers gripped the control of the carriage.

"Just follow what feels right," Reinhard said with an encouraging smile.

The race started—

Yor crashed immediately.

Seeing her carriage crash into the wall made Alice burst out laughing from her own seat while Rika tried to stifle her giggles. Reinhard’s carriage stayed steady, and he called out tips to Yor without looking away from his own screen.

Small things, such as lean into the turn before it happens, not during, or stop trying to control it and just move. The kind of advice that sounded like nothing and either landed or didn’t. She reversed and tried again, only making it on her sixth attempt.

Then another racer sideswiped her into the barrier, and she stopped completely. She stared at the screen with an expression Reinhard couldn’t fully read from the side. It wasn’t frustration, but he could tell she was lost in thought, as if reevaluating an expectation about herself.

Sirin won the race easily, while Alice came in second, Reinhard third, Rika fourth, and Yor finished last by a full lap.

She climbed out of the seat without comment. But when Alice said, already bouncing toward the next activity with a grin on her face, Yor’s eyes shifted to her. It was brief, but something in the set of her shoulders changed by one small degree.

Reinhard noticed, but he didn’t say anything about it.

They moved to the dance platform next, where colorful arrows scrolled across screens, and upbeat music played through speakers. Alice jumped onto a platform immediately while pulling Sirin with her.

Both of them started hitting arrows with varying degrees of success while laughing at each other’s mistakes.

Reinhard looked at Yor. "Want to try again like last time?"

She hesitated while watching Alice and Sirin, but then nodded and followed him onto a platform.

The song started, but she missed the first six steps. Yor closed her hands and furrowed her brows before pausing as she glanced to the side. She saw him moving without looking down, and moving as soon as the first arrow appeared on the screen.

Yor eyes moved up from the arrows to the rhythm structure behind them. Her feet began landing ahead of the prompts instead of chasing them. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a change as she began hitting an arrow before missing this time.

Rika called out encouragement from the sidelines. "You’re getting it, Yor! Keep going!"

Alice finished her song and came to watch, slightly out of breath. "This is really harder than it looks, for the record. But you’re doing well, Yor!"

Yor’s shoulders relaxed slightly at hearing someone else admit this was hard.

They played more songs, and by the third one. She was hitting the arrows a lot more cleanly, only making a mistake a few times at the end. And by the end, Yor’s movements became less stiff and more natural as she stopped thinking too hard about what she was doing.

It was the fourth song when it happened.

Alice jumped onto the platform beside her, and the score counter turned competitive. Alice was hitting a particularly difficult sequence with a shout of triumph and Yor, without planning it or thinking.

Let out a faint laugh that made her tremble before she fell silent, still focusing on the game. But it was heard by them, yet all of them chose to simply keep quiet. The game soon ended, and Alice dragged everyone out to grab some food.

The group moved downstairs to the food court for lunch, where they grabbed trays and found a table near the windows.

"That racing game was brutal," Alice said while biting into her sandwich. "My carriage spent more time upside down than right-side up."

Yor said, without looking up from her food. "You didn’t actually flip the carriage four times. It was twice."

Alice pointed at her. "You were watching!"

"Everyone was watching."

Sirin covered her smile with her hand, and Rika laughed openly. Reinhard noted that Yor had just corrected someone’s story and hadn’t flinched when they looked at her.

This made his smile grow.

After lunch, they headed to the archery range on the third floor, where light bows lined one wall, and targets glowed at the far end. Rika picked up a bow first and nocked an arrow with practiced ease while letting it fly toward the center target and hitting the outer ring.

"Nice shot!" Alice cheered.

Sirin went next and hit closer to the center while Alice’s arrow went wide. It embedded itself in the wall, which made everyone laugh, including Yor whose hand came up to cover her mouth, but the sound still escaped.

Reinhard handed a bow to Yor. "Your turn."

She took it and drew back the string while her eyes narrowed in concentration and released the arrow, which flew true and struck the bullseye dead center. Everyone went silent for a moment before Alice whooped and Rika clapped while Sirin raised her eyebrows in impressed surprise.

"Have you done this before?" Sirin asked.

Yor nodded and slightly blushed. "We visited here before... Reinhard and I."

She tried again and hit the bullseye again, and then a third time, which proved it wasn’t luck at all but natural talent.

"That’s amazing!" Rika said with genuine admiration in her voice.

Yor’s cheeks turned slightly pink above her mask.

They spent another thirty minutes at the archery range with Yor teaching Rika how to adjust her stance. Then showing Alice how to account for the slight drag on the light arrows and even correcting Sirin’s grip when asked. She spoke more in those thirty minutes than she had all morning while explaining techniques in her quiet voice and demonstrating proper form.

Next up was the obstacle course on the fourth floor. Reinhard saw stone blocks, wooden logs, and climbing walls that were waiting to be conquered.

It really looks so similar.

Alice went first, powering through with brute strength. Sirin slipped through tight spaces with ease. Rika took a careful approach on the balance beams.

Reinhard turned to Yor. "Ready?"

She eyed the course nervously, then glanced at the others cheering on the sidelines.

"Come on, Yor!" Alice shouted. "Show us what you’ve got!"

Yor looked at Reinhard, who gave an encouraging nod. For the first time all day, she stepped to the starting line alone.

Like water, she flowed through the course. Her feet barely touched the obstacles. She scaled the climbing wall in seconds and finished with a time that beat even Alice’s run.

Sirin whistled. "That was incredible."

At the finish line, Yor caught her breath. Her mask had slipped down to her neck, revealing a genuine smile that reached her eyes.

"Again!" Alice demanded. "But this time I’m racing you!"

They ran it again. Alice was fast and a quick learner, able to close the gap in the first section. But at the climbing wall, she hesitated while Yor didn’t hesitate at all, her hand finding each grip a second before it settled into position.

Reinhard paused.

...That wasn’t luck.

He watched the second run and then the third. And yet he saw once again, Yor somehow able to anticipate the course that should be unpredictable by design. You were supposed to read the hold as it moved and react.

Yet Yor hand always arrived at each position a second early.

Reinhard felt something cold settle in his chest. The sight wasn’t obvious, but enough for him to recognize a terrifying skill being implemented. She couldn’t do that before when they last came here and had fun.

So why now?

The same feeling from this morning appeared again. He wasn’t surprised it was related to Yor, but this made him really see something inside of her was different. The question was whether different meant better or worse.

Alice collapsed dramatically at the finish line. "I give up. She’s inhuman."

"Inhuman." Sirin agreed warmly, already writing something in her record book

Rika was applauding with a giggle while Reinhard chuckled and clapped for them.

Yor stood at the finish line, looking at Alice, and bluntly said. "You were faster on the third run."

Alice pointed up at her from the floor. "Don’t comfort me."

Yor lips slightly twitched as the others laughed.

The sun was setting when they finally left the Entertainment Department.

As they crossed the campus courtyard, Yor slowed. Reinhard noticed immediately.

"What is it?"

Yor stared toward the entertainment building they had just left.

"I thought I felt something."

"What kind of something?"

She hesitated.

"...Like when my power activates."

Reinhard turned back toward before then saying softly. "You must have been mistaken."

"Are you sure?" She furrowed her brows and spoke with hesitation.

"Of course, everything is fine." Reinhard caressed her hair, making her smile, and walked forward.

As he saw her moving forward. He took another glance back, seeing black-white crackles appearing through the area and then fading.

Is she getting worse?

Reinhard clenched his hand.

Or is this a warning? Am I running out of time?