Volume 2, Chapter 1: Taiyou Con Academy
You are reading the official Taiyou Con light novel, Reset!!! We Tried to Run an Anime Convention… and Broke the Universe!!! Starring Sunny, Ash, Sakura, Leon and the crew as they put on the con — and save the world while they’re at it. Light Novel Volume 2: Controversy Game! (Note: The events and characters in the Taiyou Con light novel is a fictional story. For real convention event updates, go to our Updates.)
Previously on… Light Novel Volume 1: The Invasion Saga! Sunny managed to destroy the Solis Core, and things were going to go back to normal with the defeat of Evil King Barrel and his army. However, everything took a sudden turn when Sunny ended up in a reality that is completely different than before. Now, the city has changed, and a giant school called Taiyou Con Academy stands in downtown Mesa. She must figure out what has happened.
Sunny walked between Mina and Lily along the long stone path that led toward the academy’s main building, keeping her expression relaxed even though her mind had not slowed down since walking onto the campus.
The cherry blossoms trees were the first thing that made the place feel unreal.
They stretched in perfect rows along both sides of the walkway, their branches arching overhead and scattering pink pale petals across the ground whenever the wind passed through. Students moved through the falling pink leaves like it was the most ordinary sight in the world. Some carried instrument cases. Others pushed carts stacked with equipment and boxes. A few students walked in small groups arguing about projects while checking things on tablets as they went.
Sunny forced herself to match Mina and Lily’s pace. If she stared too long at everything around her, it would look strange.
She had already decided she wasn’t going to do anything that might make them suspicious.
The last thing she remembered before waking up in this reality was being in the parking lot of the Mesa Convention Center. She was walking with Ash, Honoka and the rest of the gang to get some lunch.Then a flash of blinding white light covered her, and suddenly, she was standing next to two total strangers, Mina and Lily.
Sunny was confused, but it seemed she was a student at a school called Taiyou Con Academy, and Mina and Lily were her friends.
After cleverly asking a few questions about the situation, she realized reality had changed and decided to play along to gather more information.
“Come on,” Mina said as she walked ahead of them a few steps. “If we don’t hurry, the bakery line’s going to be ridiculous.”
“You’re the one who stopped to talk to that boy on the dance team,” Lily replied.
“He was asking about the stage schedule!”
“You were flirting!” Lily shouted.
Sunny almost laughed. Their argument sounded so normal that it made the situation feel even stranger. She let her gaze drift across the campus again as she walked. The scale of the place still surprised her.
Buildings stretched in every direction; tall concrete towers mixed with modern and medieval designs and open courtyards filled with students already working on something.
Music floated across the lawn from a group rehearsing inside a gazebo. Not far from them, several students in lab coats surrounded a waist-high machine that walked on two mechanical legs. The robot staggered forward slowly while the people around it argued about the awkward robotic stride.
Across the courtyard, a group of theater students practiced sword choreography on a portable stage. And beyond them, near the entrance to another building, two students in racing uniforms crouched beside a stripped-down engine block mounted on a rolling stand.
Sunny understood immediately what Mina and Lily had meant earlier. This academy was a place for the best of the best in the world. Every field existed here from artists to engineers to entrepreneurs. Anyone who wanted to be the best at something could end up here.
Sunny said the first thing that came to mind, “There’s a lot going on.”
Lily laughed softly.
“It’s Spring! Everybody’s back from break and trying to prove they didn’t waste the last month watching anime or something.”
Mina pointed toward the robotics team when the machine slammed into a planter. “Case in point.”
Sunny kept walking with them while she tried to absorb the scale of everything around her. The campus stretched farther than she could see from this angle, buildings rising behind buildings like a small city dedicated entirely to ambition. It amazed her when she heard that the academy was over two miles wide and that it was majority of downtown Mesa.
Her eyes drifted toward a narrow side passage between two buildings. For a moment, she thought she saw a barrel cactus standing near the wall. It looked exactly like the ones from the last reality… round, green, covered in tight rows of spines.
Then a pair of students crossed in front of her, and it disappeared. The passage was empty.
Sunny was not sure if the cactus was real or her mind was playing tricks on her. Maybe she had imagined it because the memory of the invasion was still too fresh. However, there was a real chance that the cactus invasion has not ended.
She told herself to stay alert.
“Sunny?” Mina slowed slightly and glanced back.
Sunny lifted her hand in the air and smiled, “Sorry. Just a little distracted.”
“Don’t slow us down,” Lily said. “I’ve been craving that melon bread.”
Mina suddenly chanted to Sunny and Lily with a smile, “Melon bread, melon bread, melon bread.”
They climbed the broad staircase that led up to the academy’s main lobby plaza. From here the central building looked even larger. White stone columns framed the massive glass entrance while banners hung above them marking different departments: engineering, media, design, motorsports, performance, research.
Students crossed the plaza in steady streams, most of them wearing academy uniforms with small variations that hinted at their departments. Near the doors a large digital screen shifted through announcements and schedules.
After a brief moment, the display changed. The Elite 12 ranking list appeared, and Sunny noticed it only because familiar names caught her eye.
Honoka — #1
Ash — #4
Kenji — #5
Sunny — #8
Sakura — 12
There were several other names she didn’t recognize. She also noticed that Leon was not on the list for the Elite 12. Sunny smiled and thought her grades had to be excellent for her to place in the top 12 of the school. The screen shifted to another display before she could study it longer.
Mina pushed the door open. “You coming?”
The three girls stepped inside the lobby and saw the enormous space before them. Sunlight poured through a glass ceiling high above them and spread across the polished floor. Multiple levels of balconies overlooked the central space, and people crossed the walkways constantly with instruments, equipment cases, clothing racks, and cameras. The entire place felt like the headquarters of a bustling city.
Sunny followed Mina and Lily toward the curved stairway leading up to the cafeteria. Halfway up the staircase, she saw something unusual along the upper balcony. Three barrel cactuses were walk along the walkway. They moved at the same steady pace as the human students around them, talking to each other. One of them wore a department badge pinned to a strap wrapped around its body, and nobody reacted to the three green cactuses. A human student stepped aside to let them pass and continued walking.
Sunny stopped.
What she saw was not making sense. The cactuses kept moving across the upper balcony and disappeared around the corner.
“Sunny?” Lily said with a confused look.
Sunny just gave Lily a blank stare for moment.
“Sorry. Just thinking about something.”
Inside her mind, her thoughts had already jumped ahead to the possibilities. The barrel cactuses had been alien soldiers attacking the city, but they were defeated. Evil King Barrel and his entire army retreated back to their galaxy.
So why are barrel cactuses walking around like normal people?
Sunny didn’t know.
As they climbed to the top of the stairs, the bustling cafeteria appeared before them.
Warm light filled the room, and the smell of fresh bread drifted across the tables. Huge windows overlooked one of the inner courtyards while students filled the space with conversation and movement.
Mina glanced toward the bakery counter and groaned, “I told you the line would be bad.”
Sunny followed her gaze.
A giant group of students were in front of the bread counter.
“That’s not a line,” Sunny said. “That’s a mob.”
“You say that now,” Lily replied. “Wait until they sell out. It will be an angry mob!”
They joined the fray at the very back of the big group of students that were waiting to get their hands on the melon bread. There were so many people surrounding them as more students appeared behind the girls. Sunny didn’t mind, but she was feeling a little claustrophobic.
Students nearby talked quietly about projects, rankings, rehearsals, and deadlines while they waited. A few tables were already full of people working on tablets while eating breakfast. After 15 minutes, Sunny finally reached the counter where she ordered the matcha cream melon bread Mina had recommended. The three girls found a table near the window and sat down.
As Sunny picks up the bread, she said with a big smile, “This is smells so good!”
For a moment she forgot about everything else. The bread was so warm and the cream inside had just enough saltiness to balance the sweetness. She smiled as she chewed the bread.
Mina and Lily watched her reaction.
“Told you it was amazing,” said Mina.
“You didn’t exaggerate,” Sunny admitted.
At a nearby table, two older male students were looking at something on a tablet.
“Did you see the board this morning?” one of them said.
The other replied, “Yeah. Stephanie is dropping fast.”
“She was so popular just last week.”
Sunny looked at Lily and Mina, pretending not to listen to the two boys. She had to bring up a more pressing matter casually to see how her two new friends would react.
“So those barrel cactuses, am I right?” Sunny joked and laughed. She then took a bite of her melon bread.
Lily casually laid back in her chair and took a bite of her own melon bread.
She muttered with her mouth full of bread, “What about them?”
“You know, I’m kind of glad that more of them are attending the academy this year. They do make up a large portion of the population so it’s good to see them represented,” Mina chimed in.
Sunny slowly replied, “When did they arrive on this planet?”
Mina and Lily both looked at each other and said, “Arrive?”
“Maybe they did come from another planet,” said Mina. “Or maybe… humans came from another planet! But history says both species have been living together on this planet forever.”
Sunny thought to herself that the barrel cactuses weren’t the same ones from the invasion. In this reality, somehow barrel cactus co-existed with humans. That was why nobody around her thought it was strange.
The overhead speakers suddenly came on, and a loud sound cut through the room instantly:
“Student Stephanie Highguard has reached zero CP and is hereby expelled from Taiyou Con Academy. Security will escort the student from campus immediately. Please refrain from talking with the student.”
Conversations in the cafeteria were silent for a moment before all of the chatter started up again. Students near the railing stood and looked down into the lobby. Others got up from their tables and went over to the balcony railing as well. Curious students on the multiple walkways on the upper floors were also looking down at the lobby. Curious about the commotion herself, Sunny followed Mina and Lily to the balcony’s edge.
Below them, two academy officers were escorting a girl across the lobby floor. She was crying softly as she walked slowly toward the big front doors. Her camera bag was at her side while she tried to avoid eye contact with every student. The girl looked up at one of the glass windows showing the blue sky and wondered how it got to that point, but at last, she knew her time at the academy was up.
Lily spoke quietly beside Sunny.
“That’s Steph.”
“You know her?” Sunny asked.
“She’s a photographer,” Lily said. “She was a rising star. Everyone knew her and wanted her attention.”
Mina folded her arms while watching the scene below.
“Until she made some enemies.”
“And they took her down fast,” Lily said. “Which means you two better be careful of what you do around here.”
The three of them looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Sunny continued watching Steph and the officers walked through the student crowd in the lobby like the sea was being parted. The officers led Stephanie through the doors and into the sunlight outside. Cherry blossom petals blew across the entrance path behind her. It was a bittersweet and majestic exit.
Inside the lobby everything became quiet for a moment. A few murmurs were heard here and there. Then the building slowly returned to its usual noise. Students stepped away from the railing and went back to their tables, but Sunny stayed where she was. From the cafeteria balcony, she could still see the long walkway lined with cherry blossoms. They shook in the wind so peacefully, and the campus still looked majestically beautiful. Nothing about the scenery had changed, but now she understood something important. This school in this reality was not as warm and friendly as it appears.
Sunny rested her hands on the railing and looked back at Lily and Mina who already sat back down at the table. She smiled at them, and they waved back to her to join them. Inside her mind, some questions kept repeating.
What kind of school is this really? What is CP, and why did Stephanie get expelled over it? As Sunny sat down with the two girls, she could not help but wonder where Ash and her real friends were. She wondered if they would even remember her after everything that had happened.
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Thanks for reading the Taiyou Con mascot light novel series — a fictional story for fans!! For real convention event updates, guest announcements and more, go to our Updates.
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