Episode -3 C

  ? ? ? ? ?

  Even under Leo and Eli’s fierce attacks, Dabi’s Space Hero team did not go down easily, and from their counterattacks,

  Leo’s team was gradually growing anxious.

  Feeling like this would end with Dabi’s victory, Leo gathered the power he had been building up and leapt into Dabi’s team all at once.

  As his final gambit, Leo launched an all-out attack. Before Dabi’s team could get caught up in the all-out attack and take damage, Dabi

  casts a defensive skill that protects his teammates.

  Leo’s plan fails, and he quickly returns to his original position.

  "Now, Eli!" Leo shouts.

  Seizing this opening, Eli pours all attacks onto Dabi’s team at once.

  Eli: "Give up, it’s our victory!"

  Dabi tries to use the defensive skill again, but it was unavailable due to cooldown,

  Dabi: "What do I do, there’s no way!"

  The Space Hero team had no choice but to shoot down Eli’s incoming attacks one by one with their beam guns.

  Pai: "Focus and clear them one by one! "

  But there were too many pouring down, and they couldn’t reduce the number.

  Even so, they didn’t give up, and the Space Hero team tried their best to reduce the number! But it’s not enough.

  A do-or-die moment! Two huge fireballs appear from somewhere!!

  One of the fireballs burns up e single incoming attack object.

  Then the remaining fireball flies toward Leo. Seeing the giant fireball, Leo and Eli are startled~ they cling to each other,

  and with wide, round eyes, they scream at the top of their lungs.

  "Kiii~~~~ah"

  The fireball flying fast toward Leo and Eli!!...At the moment it’s about to collide ~ the giant fireball vanished in an instant.

  Eli and Leo scream.

  "Kkaa~ huh!"

  Then, from somewhere, the Red Rooster ~ Eat jumps up and calls out a ruling.

  "Due to the use of 'fantasy' magic in the SF scenario 'Space Hero,' a penalty is given to Dabi’s team!

  Leo’s team HP recovers by 10%! Remaining time 5 minutes! Resume the story!" Then Eat goes poof and disappears somewhere.

  Rogi, surprised again, asked.

  Rogi: "Who is that? Where did he go?"

  Pai: "Yeah~ that’s called Eat~ I didn’t tell you on purpose because I was going to introduce you when we met~" [Smiling]

  Eti: "Yeah! Rogi-unni’s surprise gift." [Eti smiling brightly]

  Rogi: "Oh-ho! So there was one more friend~"

  Yona: "Mm... you could say that."

  Yona: "But Rogi.. how did you do that?"

  Rogi: "Haha... ha.." [Rogi, feeling awkward...]

  The one who summoned the fireballs was Rogi.

  Standing awkwardly behind the friends who were clearing the incoming objects, Rogi jokingly chanted a spell,

  and when she stretched out her hand, two huge fireballs actually formed.

  Shocked and flustered herself, Rogi hid among her friends and acted as if nothing had happened.

  But, by chance, Yona had been watching.

  Time passed and the story ended, and in the end, Leo’s team took the victory. But Dabi looks quite wronged.

  "This doesn’t make sense! It can’t end like this! This can’t be happening!"

  Watching Dabi feel wronged and flustered, Yona, after, proposes a 'Doritori Trial' to resolve this issue.

  The friends judged that Dabi 'might be wronged' and all agreed to open a trial.

  Rogi feels terribly sorry because it was a problem caused by her behavior, but behind her, the friends shout words she doesn’t understand.

  "In the name of the King!"

  At that moment, all the surroundings vanished, and they returned to the original open lot.

  Rogi had many questions she wanted to ask, but~ with the feeling that she’d made a big mistake, she decided to stay quiet.

  For now, they split up, deciding to go home, finish dinner, and then gather in Dabi’s room.

  Rogi is uneasy as things got big because of her actions.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  And in the confusion, she forgets about Eat.

  ? ? ? ? ?

  Toward the end of dinner, little by little, the sky and the ground darken, and the streetlights that brighten the dim neighborhood turn on.

  One by one, the kids are moving toward Dabi’s house.

  ---

  This is Dabi’s room.

  From the beginning, it was not a room prepared for Dabi.

  Originally, it was a place Dabi’s father was going to use,

  but because the floor was high and was inconvenient, Father decided to use the small shed beside the house instead.

  For that reason, when a well-organized room was left empty, Dabi chose this place as his room and began using it.

  Inside the room, aside from Father’s well-worn desk and bookshelf, a TV and shelves, a heavy wardrobe, and the carpet laid on the floor,

  there is nothing special—just a space that is simply wide.

  When the time comes, the kids begin to gather one by one at the meeting place.

  Right now, Dabi is serious, and Rogi is uneasy inside. Yona is reading something hard by himself.

  [When each story is safely completed, the owner of the story obtains story bonus coins from Eat.

  Depending on the number of these coins, each person obtains a 'one-line writing right' that does not collapse the balance of their story.

  In the case of a story like Dabi’s this time, unlike a typical adventure genre, it proceeds in a match format, so depending on win or loss,

  the coin acquisition method differs.

  If you win, you steal a certain amount of the opponent’s coins, and if you lose, you lose a certain amount of your own coins—those are the rules.

  So right now, Dabi is in quite a painful situation. ]

  They were spending time leisurely, waiting for Pai and Leo, when Leo arrived just now.

  Then he says he has something to tell his friends.

  "Pai has something to do, so she’ll be a little late. She told us to go ahead without her."

  Right away, the friends try to start the trial in Dabi’s room. First, Yona shouted.

  Yona: "Alright! Then from now~ the 1st Doritori Trial begins~"

  Yona: "Mm... but... looking at the manual, it seems like we have to call Eat first?"

  Leo: "Then should we call Eat?"

  Yona: "To do that, Pai has to come."

  Eli: "Let’s wait. We’ll do it when everyone's here."

  The kids wait for Pai to come. After a while, Pai arrives.

  In one hand, she brought a rolled-up bundle of paper.

  Dabi: "Everyone’s here? Then?"

  Leo: "Let’s call Eat~"

  [The kids decided to call Eat inside the room and shouted Dotori.]

  "Doritori Toris!"

  Eat appeared. And after hearing the whole story, he permits the 1st Doritori Trial.

  After a moment...

  The room darkens, and a small courtroom opens.

  The kids find it fascinating. It was a courtroom they’d never seen before.

  Yona and Eat are seated in the judge’s seat.

  In the middle of this, why? Yona is wondering why she is sitting in the judge’s seat.

  Yona: "Eat~ why am I sitting in the judge’s seat?"

  Eat: "Because you suggested it~"

  Yona: "I didn’t say I’d be the judge?"

  Eat: "This story’s worldbuilding is... no. I’ll tell you later~"

  As if it’s bothersome, Eat calls out the start of the trial.

  "Alright, then we will begin the trial."

  Seeing Eat, Rogi’s memory returns and she asks Pai.

  "Ah, right! Who is that kid?"

  Pai sitting beside her answers.

  "It’s called Eat~ he’s our friend," she replied kindly.

  Hearing their back-and-forth, Leo added one more line.

  Leo: "He’s the story play administrator~"

  Rogi: "Huh?... why does his face look like that?"

  Pai: "Because he’s a Red Rooster..." [Her tone and expression are unsure even about her own answer.]

  Rogi: "Is he a chicken! A person! What is he?"

  Leo: "Eat is..." [He seems to want to add something, but nothing comes to mind.]

  Eti: "He’s just Eat~"

  Then Eat shouted.

  "Everyone be quiet! We are in trial~ Judge [Yona], explain the case~"

  "Yes, Your Honor [Eat]."

  Yona is briefly explaining the whole story of the incident. Dabi looks extremely wronged.

  Leo and Eli look like they don’t care about the result, and Rogi feels uneasy, like she caused harm to her friends,

  so her heart is not at ease.

  Pai looks calm, but also shows a firm attitude.

  Eat first gave Dabi a chance to speak.

  Dabi: "Guys, I’m wronged!

  Dabi: "For sure, our Dabi team could have beaten Leo’s team~ and then this problem happened!"

  Dabi: "Of course I’m not blaming Rogi. It’s Rogi’s first time~"

  Dabi: "What I want to say is!

  [Leo, listening to Dabi, looks dumbfounded. He looks full of dissatisfaction.]

  Leo: "No, because of Eli’s plan, at the end, Leo’s team had grabbed a chance to win!"

  Leo: "You can’t lie—say it honestly!"

  Eli: "Guys, instead of this, wouldn’t it be better to redo it starting from before the problem happened?"

  Eti: "Yeah! That would work."

  At this time, Eat speaks firmly in a solemn manner.

  Eat: "No! There will be no rematch."

  Eti: "Ah! It would be nice if we could do it again..."

  Eat: "This story has been completed. If needed, it proceeds as a new story."

  As time went on, all the kids became downcast. They couldn’t find any clear answer.

  But Pai was different. Quietly, she had been waiting for the moment. And she raised her hand, drawing everyone's attention.

  And slowly, she began to say what she had prepared.

  "Everyone, what I have in my hand is exactly the story summary of Space Hero that Dabi delivered to Rogi yesterday."

  As she spoke, Pai unfolded the paper document and showed it to Leo.

  Leo looked at the paper document, then cried out in surprise.

  "Huh? This is...!"

  Leo looked at Dabi. Dabi asked.

  "Why? Is there some problem? I delivered it properly~ didn’t I?"

  Without a word, Leo takes the paper document from Pai and hands it to Yona and Eat.

  Receiving the document, Yona and Eat show slightly surprised expressions, then calm the excited courtroom mood.

  Eat looked at Yona, and when Yona nodded, Eat began speaking.

  "Everyone, the result of this story play will be concluded as it was at first: Leo’s team’s victory."

  Leo and Eli threw both arms into the sky, cheering and rejoicing. Dabi is protesting, asking why.

  At this moment, Yona looked at Pai and said.

  "Pai, you explain this. That makes it easier to understand."

  Pai answered with a smile.

  "Okay, I’ll tell you~ Guys! That summary that Dabi, that fool, handed to Rogi~

  wasn’t Space Hero—it was a document that recorded 'Magic Child,' which Yona has been writing recently!"

  At those words, the surprised friends look at Dabi.

  Frozen Dabi... For a moment, Dabi stopped like a broken machine. And Pai continues.

  "I thought, surely 'Dabi who is always careless' might have messed up again this time? So before coming here,

  just in case, I went to Rogi’s house! And I came late because I had to secure this evidence~"

  Dabi is screaming in despair. In the middle of this, Rogi suddenly thinks of something she wanted to say urgently, and she walks up to Yona and speaks.

  "Right, Yona. 'Magic Child' was fun~ When are you going to write the sequel?" At Rogi’s words, Yona flinched in surprise and answered.

  Yona: (Eyes wide) "You already read all of that?"

  Rogi: "Yeah~ it was so fun"

  Rogi: "I want to see the next part too"

  Yona: "Really?... Thanks for saying it’s fun~ I’ll try to write the sequel quickly~

  (After thinking about something for a moment, meaningfully)

  Yona: "...Ah! Since you brought it up, Rogi, you also have to make a story~"

  Rogi: (Flustered) "A story?... I can’t do stuff like that."

  Yona: "You can do it with me~"

  Leo: "Yona writes well. He also reads a ton of books~"

  Rogi: "I can’t do it..."

  Leo: "I can’t either~ I’m worse. Still, Yona did everything for me~"

  Yona: "Hehe~ I do it because Teacher taught me~"

  To settle the chaotic mood, Pai opened her mouth.

  "Alright, then the next story is my turn! Eat, get ready~ please~"

  Eat waves his hand, saying okay. Rogi is curious about Eat!~ so she tries to approach him, but again, behind her, the friends shout.

  "In the name of the King!"

  Rogi wanted to tell her friends to wait just a moment.

  "Ah! Wait."

  But the courtroom vanished, and they returned to Dabi’s room again.

  Rogi is so disappointed that she couldn’t say even one word to Eat. Pai approaches the disappointed Rogi.

  Pai: "Rogi, the next story is mine! This time, I hope you have fun too~"

  Rogi: "Huh? Okay.. what’s the story about?"

  Pai: "It’s just about all of us exploring the great together~"

  Rogi had many things she wanted to ask in all of these unexplainable situations.

  But the burden of having to make a story came at her with enormous size and weight,

  and her head began to fill with nothing but making a story.