Youying and Yae Miko were going at it, card after card, ranging from standard brawls to chaotic underworld matches, trying out almost every single character card available.
Before they knew it, dawn was breaking. A ray of light struck Youying's face, making him acutely aware of the passage of time.
"Oh crap, we've been playing all night," Youying cried out in surprise. "No, seriously, I gotta get some sleep as soon as this match is over."
"How can you possibly be sleepy at your age?" Miko seemed completely unfazed. After all, being an ancient yokai of several hundred years, skipping a night of sleep every now and then meant nothing to her.
"Please, at my age, being tired is terrifying, okay?" Youying rolled his eyes. "I can stay up late, but I need my guaranteed hours of sleep."
Rapidly wrapping up the current match, Youying quickly gathered his cards, dove straight into bed, and turned his back to Miko.
Yet, barely a moment later, Youying flipped back around to face Miko, staring right at her with wide-open eyes.
"Hm? What is it?" Miko, who was still sitting by the table and hadn't left yet, couldn't help asking when she saw his antics.
"Miko, do you know any spells that can make someone sleep really well?"
"Hmm... Yes, I do," Miko said after putting on a theatrical display of thought.
"Bzzzt." Sparks of purple electricity flickered at Miko's fingertips. "Guaranteed to knock you out in one second flat."
"I'm sorry, I was wrong."
"Learning to tease Lady Guuji, are we, little one?" Deciding not to disturb Youying any further, Miko turned and walked out of the room.
Youying spent the entire morning catching up on sleep, finally crawling out of bed at the very last second before lunchtime just to grab a quick bite.
"Ah, times have not been what they used to be. Back then, I used to have food brought right to my mouth," Youying began to reminisce about the days when he was a plagiarist and had Shrine Maidens delivering meals to him.
Ever since Miko let him wander around Inazuma City that one time and brought him back, she made him go down the mountainside just like the other Shrine Maidens who didn't bring lunchboxes, walking to the designated food distribution center for Grand Narukami Shrine staff to collect his meals using the Amulet she gave him.
It was basically... the Grand Narukami Shrine cafeteria?
Well, actually, he only needed to show his Amulet to the staff there for the first two times, mostly because he was literally the only guy going down there to pick up food.
Besides, he noticed that all the other Shrine Maidens carried official Grand Narukami Shrine work badges—the legitimate kind with photos and names—whereas he was just holding a little pink Amulet. The crucial part was that they actually gave him the food anyway.
It was hard not to suspect that Miko had already arranged everything in advance just to mess with him.
After quickly dispatching a simple lunch, Youying locked himself in his room once more and got back to work.
Once that door closed, it stayed shut straight into the evening.
"My, my, if I hadn't seen you go out to grab lunch at noon, I would have thought you'd slept straight through until now," Miko said, stepping into the room with light footsteps and finding Youying hunched over his desk, hard at work.
"What are you busy with? Making character cards?" Miko leaned in close and asked.
"Yeah." Youying temporarily lowered his pen and pointed to a stack of papers sitting nearby. "Most of the filler character cards for the first batch are basically done. They're mostly various Slimes; I'll save the other monsters to toss in later whenever filler is needed. As for the illustrations, I guess I'll ask Albedo to help out with those when the time comes."
"Of course, the first edition of the set can't possibly consist entirely of these monsters and such. I've also made cards that represent general groups rather than specific individuals, like Shogunate Samurai and Shrine Maidens. The first batch will feature these distinctive occupations from Inazuma," Youying continued.
"But the core of it all is still the cards for me, the Kamisato Clan, and the two little girls from the firework shop, right?" Miko added.
"Yeah." Youying nodded. "Those three... will probably have to be packed into the box set, and then you can put your group's character cards into random booster packs, sort of like the genius invocation TCG style next door."
"Mhm..." Miko nodded. "So, are you done with mine?"
"Uh, well..." Youying scratched his head. "I haven't started Ayaka's and Yoimiya's yet."
"Meaning... mine is done?" Miko's eyes narrowed slightly. "Hand it over and let me take a look."
"Fine..." Youying thought about it for a moment, and weighing the consequences of refusal, he ultimately gave in.
With that, Youying fished a card out of his pocket and handed it to Miko.
Yes, a card, not just a piece of paper.
Unlike the loose sheets of paper Youying had previously piled all over the desk, Miko's card was already crafted as an actual card face, complete with the artwork fully rendered.
The illustration was drawn by Youying in pencil. In the picture, Miko held a gohei in her right hand while making a fox gesture with her left, clad in the classic Shrine Maiden attire exclusive to Lady Guuji, with a gentle smile gracing her lips (referencing Miko's poster).
"Not bad at all, little one."
Miko could tell that while the drawing on the card wasn't exceptionally masterful, a tremendous amount of effort had clearly gone into it, demonstrating Youying's sincerity.
After taking the card, Miko carefully scrutinized the specific details.
Character: Yae Miko
HP: 3/3
Faction: Inazuma
Skills:
[Fox Shrine]: At the start of your draw/play/discard phase, you may skip this phase, then gain 1 [Sesshou Sakura] token (holding a maximum of 3 Sesshou Sakura tokens simultaneously). At the end phase, you may choose another character within distance X or less to make a judgment. If the resulting value is no greater than 5*X, you deal 1 point of Electro damage to them. (X is the number of [Sesshou Sakura] tokens you currently possess)
[True Thunder]: Once per turn, during your play phase, you may remove all [Sesshou Sakura] tokens and discard all cards in your hand, then perform a judgment. If the result is black, you may choose any number of characters to distribute X+1 points of Electro damage among them. (X is the number of [Sesshou Sakura] tokens removed, with a minimum of 1)
"Looks pretty good," Miko remarked after a moment of thought. "Though isn't the probability a bit high?"
"Can't be helped, especially considering there might be limit-breaking mechanics or something similar down the line," Youying spread his hands.
Regarding his design philosophy for the cards, Youying planned to release three versions for 5-star characters, corresponding to C0, key constellations around C2-C3, and C6; for 4-star characters, he would release two versions, directly covering C0 and C6.
"Have it your way, then." Miko didn't press the matter further.
She was quite satisfied with this card. The skills had a certain connection to the spells she usually employed—though, of course, there might have been other reasons as well.
"Mhm... I'll take this card as a gift from you, little one. When you give me the rest later, just write the skills and stats on paper like usual," Miko said as she slid the first-edition card right into her... scabbard.
"Can't you learn something good from Lady Shogun? Out of everything, you just have to pick up that habit," Youying muttered under his breath.
"Oh right, considering the time constraints moving forward, get those two girls' cards done as well," Miko said, having figured out what Youying was working on and deciding not to bother him any further. "Just like the ones on paper, write down their HP and skills and hand them to me. I'll pass the art duties to Chalk Prince as soon as possible, so you don't need to draw them yourself. Understood?"
"Oh, oh." Even though he didn't quite understand why Miko felt the need to reiterate that he didn't need to draw the illustrations, Youying still nodded.
Shortly after, Miko hummed an unfamiliar little tune as she walked out of Youying's room.
Indeed, even her steps seemed a bit lighter than usual.