The Misfits meet System-san

Narrator:

Cassy's and Drayden's first day was eerily similar to Alice's and Bronsen's, due to System-san's careful design. So, let's look at their second day.

Cassy:

Cassy sighed silently.

I've only reincarnated into this cursed place for barely a day, and I'm already about to lose my temper.

The rain was still coming down, although it wasn't near the continuous downpour it was yesterday. When the raindrops hit the ground, they went straight back up—as water vapour.

So bloody hot!

Both she and Drayden were stark naked.

I spent good money on that ensemble! And some random, viscious crocigator abrades it off like a wire brush removing a potato skin!

I only managed to wear it for that one time!

And, come to think of it, I felt like that nude potato for a while. Thank goodness all of the cuts and abrasions have already healed.

Right now, they were standing at the location where they had left most of the carcass of the crocigator last night. All that was left were a few scattered bones and traces of blood on the shore.

It was just as well we climbed up a tree to make a shelter for the night. I don't want to meet any predators when we are sound asleep.

Wait a bit; maybe there are horrible monsters that can climb trees?

Oh fucking hell.

However, it wasn't those matters, vital though they were, that was pushing her to the edge. No, it was the person right behind her.

"Cassy! We must act together to survive in this crazy place!" said Drayden.

"I am acting together with you! It's just that your idea of acting together is for you to make all the decisions and boss me around! I can also think, you know!"

"I am the man around here! I am also the most intelligent one around here! It is my right as a man to lead us!"

"Oh, bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit, Mr Genius!"

Her voice was rising, and she was emphatically jerking her arms around. And her tail copied her arms, moving in the opposite direction to them.

"Well, I am a genius compared to you. You were in the bottom class!"

"That's merely because I never felt settled enough to study, what with my family. I'm as intelligent as the rest of the Misfits!"

Drayden took a deep breath.

"Look, we should search around this area to find out dangers and opportunities there might be. Then we must find a permanent shelter and catch something more to eat."

"Yeah, that's right. I know! But, can we discuss it and mutually decide what to do without you ordering me around?"

"OK, OK. Well, at least you agree we should do something about that blood otter coming our way?" said Drayden.

A blood otter was three times the size but only half the intelligence of an Earth otter. Also, it had ten-centimetre-long claws and an array of sharp teeth. It was an obligate carnivore and hunted down prey much larger than themselves and could hunt on land and in water.

Cassy and Drayden had already been introduced to the lovely critters yesterday. Unlike wargs, which will walk away if they decide an opponent is too strong, blood otters were too stupid to do that. Fortunately, in general, they were solitary hunters. Hopefully, yesterday’s group attack was an exception.

After a minute of furious motion, there was a dead blood otter with multiple puncture wounds. Both Cassy and Drayden were getting quite proficient at using their [Bonded Daggers].

Drayden checked his status screen, "Yep, we have a further 6 points, making 19 points in all. Let's allocate it all to the bonded dagger, thus getting a much better weapon. Presumably."

"Drayden!" shouted Cassy.

But she could see he was already starting to allocate the points. So she allocated 9 points herself to general combat.

Beeeeeeeeeeeep! Your allocations clash! And, kids, you do need to talk things over.

"Look! Even System-san agrees!" shouted Cassy.

"Well, shit this, I going off!" said Drayden.

He turned and stomped off. Cassy watched until there was about ten ten-metre separation. Despite the [Emotional Control] ability, she felt her panic and fear rising. Something inside her mind snapped, and she screamed and leapt after him. Only, she forgot how much stronger she was now. She flew over the ground in a shallow arc and slammed into Drayden's back. They tumbled and hit the ground with a loud thump, arms, legs and tails all over the place. There might have been some swearing by both parties.

Cassy ended on top; she gripped his shoulders and, almost crying, said, "Don't leave me! Please! And don't even make a joke about leaving me! OK?"

Drayden:

Drayden, startled by the flying tackle but not in the slightest bit hurt by it, saw how distressed Cassy was.

Oh hell, she's going to start crying soon.

"OK! Look, I'm sorry for that, ah, OK?"

Cassy nodded her head.

Then, they both realised that Cassy was straddling Drayden's body in a way that would not usually be acceptable in polite company.

"Shit!" said Cassy as she jumped up.

Again, she misjudged her strength and somersaulted two metres into the air. It was not elegant, especially when she slammed into the ground head-first a few metres from Drayden.

"Ouch," she said.

Drayden crawled to where she sprawled out on the ground and sat down. They were silent for a while.

She is so damn emotional and irrational. Is she going to be a liability to our safety?

As the only man here, naturally, I should lead. Why the hell must she get so upset about it?

Cassy sat up and faced him.

She's got such a lovely body. And, shit, I can't react to it. Not the slightest.

Cassy raised her eyebrows, "Yeah, I know I look gorgeous, don't I?"

Drayden turned his face away, trying to hide his blush.

"Just because I'm impotent doesn't mean you have to make fun of me!"

Sigh. "Drayden, I'm not making fun of you. Remember, I'm just as asexual as you at the moment."

There was another awkward silence.

"And why are you so insistent on always being the alpha male? Remember, according to our status screens, I am precisely the same strength as you. And precisely the same numbers in all other abilities," said Cassy.

Because, in contrast to my classroom, I’m the alpha male this time!

"I don't know. How can you possibly be as strong as me? What does it even mean? I mean, I've got more muscle mass than you."

Actually, Drayden, not being particularly athletic, didn't have all that much more muscle mass than Cassy. But Cassy refrained from pointing that out.

Instead, she said, "Let's have a strength competition. Let's lie on the ground, facing each other, and have an arm wrestle!"

Right! I can easily beat her.

Ten minutes later, they were both panting. From exertion, that is. No matter how hard they tried, neither one could move their damn hands more than a centimetre from one side or another. Finally, by mutual agreement, they gave up.

What do I do now?

Perhaps I will discuss things with Cassy.

However, first, there was some more business to deal with:

Slash, slash, stab.

"These things just don't know when to stop, do they?" said Cassy as she kicked away the latest blood otter, now very dead.

They both released their bonded daggers.

"Well, I guess this one can be dinner," said Drayden.

They continued their discussion.

"OK, I'll allocate 10 points to the [Bonded Dagger] option," said Drayden.

"Ooh, look, it's now called [Bonded Sword]!" he said.

"Yes... Right, then I'll allocate 9 points to [Combat]," said Cassy.

"Hey, this is neat; I can now materialise either a dagger or a short sword!" said Drayden.

They spent a happy hour (well, happier) practising their slashing skills on the local trees and on another blood otter, which was far too stupid to realise that two people flicking swords around fast enough to make cracking sounds were probably two people it was best to avoid antagonising.

As they returned to their temporary campsite, with Cassy and Drayden carrying one blood otter each, Drayden kept thinking.

She has such a lovely body. And I like her a lot. But she is so emotional! And she doesn't want to accept me as her leader. Is this going to work out? How can it possibly work out if she keeps on like that? How can I rely on her?

Cassy:

"Hey, Drayden, it looks like those two have added more points to [Speed] and [Toughness]," said Cassy.

"So they have. But they're still keeping some in reserve, just like we are."

"Yeah, never know when we might need a few more to allocate somewhere."

This is so annoying. I like him a lot. And, while he isn't as athletic as Bronsen, he still has a handsome body. Sigh. I quite like the idea of him lying on top of me.

Stop it; now is not the time to think about that. Obviously, that's not happening. But his alpha male obsession is driving me up the wall. Why is he so stuck up on it? How can we possibly continue like this? How can I rely on him?

"Say, Drayden, how come this alpha male stuff wasn't visible back on Earth at the school?"

"Well, obviously, because Bronsen was the alpha male."

"Really? Frankly, I don't think he thinks along those lines."

"Of course he does. Just witness that he went off on his own accord and arranged that clubroom for us!"

"No, it's not ‘of course’ at all. He merely charges off on his own accord whenever he thinks up a great idea. Or at least an idea he thinks is great."

"But getting the clubroom was a great idea!"

"Yes, it was, but he still charged off without discussing it with us beforehand."

They called it a day with the contentious topics and lapsed into silence. They went back to their treehouse and did some more work on it, and in the late afternoon, they skinned and cooked one of the otters and had a meal.

And that evening, they added another 2 points to [Basic Fireball], while the other two Misfits added extra points to [Bonded Sword].