Chapter 1: RRPG (Real Role-Playing Game)
Chapter 1: RRPG (Real Role-Playing Game)
The school festival was almost upon us, and preparations were in full swing. At our school, each class would be hosting some kind of event or exhibition for the festival, and clubs were encouraged to contribute too. Which is why I was currently in the light literature club room after school with Tokiwa trying to think of something for us to do.
What about a lounge? Somewhere for students to come take a load off during the festival?
After reading the suggestion Tokiwa had typed out on her laptop, I rubbed my chin.
“Isn’t the club room a little small for that? Plus, this place is like a heat sink. I’m not sure it’d make a very comfortable lounge.”
Curse you, global warming...
“Besides, is anyone even gonna come to the old school building during the festival?”
I have absolute faith in your ability to attract people.
“That doesn’t thrill me...”
I could feel my shoulders slump as we continued to lazily wade through discussing what we’d do for the festival.
“How about we just make a club zine or something like that? Though it’d end up being more like a feature on you, Tokiwa.”
I submit all my writing for the New Writer’s Prize...
“Eh, I guess that’s a no-go then.”
We’d been talking for nearly an hour already and hadn’t come up with a single good idea. Festival applications for clubs had to be submitted to the festival committee, and the deadline for submitting them was the end of today. At this rate, we weren’t gonna have anything to submit in time... What could two club members even do by themselves? That was the real issue.
“...”
I was at a complete loss when Tokiwa leaned back in her folding chair and looked up at me. Because we mostly communicated via her typing on her laptop, I naturally stood behind her so I could read over her shoulder. When she leaned back like this, her head fell right on my abdomen between my chest and stomach... But today she suddenly reached up, wrapped her arms around my neck, and pulled me closer.
“Wah!”
My nose was just millimeters away from her cleavage, and I could feel my head overheating at the feminine scent tickling my nasal passages.
“Since we can’t decide, shall we just spend the day of the festival lazing about in the club room together?” Tokiwa whispered in my ear.
She had such a quiet voice that she needed to be this close to someone in order for them to hear her. That’s why we’d agreed on communicating through typing instead while in the club room, but she’d still break her promise every now and then and cling to me like this. I mean, I wanted her to stop because it was embarrassing, but when she did it, it was so hard to actually tell her to...
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
“Hey, I’m coming in... What are you two doing?”
“Waaah!”
President Momone stepped into the clubroom with a suspicious look on her face, and I immediately tore myself away from Tokiwa.
“Don’t just come barging in!”
“I knocked first.”
“Yeah, before you barged in!”
I tried to object, but I realized my argument was weak.
“A-Ahem... So, anyway, did you need something, President Momone?”
“Hmm. Well, you’ll do,” she said nonchalantly.
She then produced what looked like a CD-ROM case, but the packaging was completely plain. She cracked it open and pulled out a disk, which looked totally normal, but...
“What is that?” I asked.
“Someone brought it to the shrine. Allegedly, it’s got a cursed game on it.”
That apparently got Tokiwa’s attention.
“...!”
“So, I want to install this on your laptop. Neither my grandfather nor I have a computer, and the vice president is using the one in the student council room right now for festival prep,” explained President Momone as she turned to Tokiwa, whose sleepy eyes were uncharacteristically sparkling.
I said Tokiwa had to whisper into someone’s ear for them to be able to hear her, but President Momone was an exception. The two of them were childhood friends and had known each other forever.
“That makes sense,” I interjected. “But isn’t that kinda dangerous?”
“It might be, but I can’t turn down an exorcism request.”
“You don’t say...”
I sighed in exasperation, but I could understand the position she was in.
“So, if you will, Midori...” President Momone said, handing the disk over to Tokiwa.
Holy crap, they really were gonna do it right here and now.
“Okay, but you have to stop as soon as it gets too dangerous,” I warned President Momone.
She laughed in response.
“What’s this? You’re worried about me?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Haha, how cute,” she laughed, slapping me on the shoulder. “If something happens to me, I’ll be counting on you to save me. That’s your specialty, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but... Wouldn’t it be better for me to just go and get your grandfather?”
President Momone’s grandfather, the Demonslayer of Kibi Shrine, was practically a living legend. He was an expert with this kind of stuff. I figured he’d be way more useful than me, but...
“Unfortunately, my grandfather won’t be any help in this case. He’s terrible with technology. We don’t even let him use the microwave at home. He’d break it in five seconds flat.”
Go figure.
“I guess a computer would be out of the question, then...”
“That’s right. So if I end up in a bind, I’ll waive all the favors you owe me in exchange for your assistance.”
I would rather she just not put herself in a situation where that might happen, but it was pretty clear she wasn’t about to yield. The One-Eyed Student Council President had nerves of steel, so she was unfazed by things like this.
“...”
“Thanks, Midori. Is it ready now?”
Her eyes still sparkling, Tokiwa silently—at least to my ears—hurried President Momone to launch the game.
“All right, I’m counting on you if something happens,” she said to me before walking over to Tokiwa and her laptop. “Start it up, Midori.”
“...”
And with a click of the mouse...
Vwoom!
An intense flash of light poured out from the screen with a strange sound.
“What?!”
“...?!”
The next thing I knew, President Momone and Tokiwa had vanished like they’d been swallowed by the light.
“H-Huh...?”
I was dumbfounded by this sudden and bizarre turn of events. I was frozen for a good ten seconds or so before rushing over. I touched the chair where Tokiwa had just been sitting in disbelief. She was gone, but her warmth still lingered. There was no sign of President Momone, either.
“...”
My eyes were naturally drawn to the computer screen. A single window was open, which read in pixelated letters, “Dragon Install: The Legend of the Demonic Dragon King.” Judging by the design of the logo, it seemed to be some kind of fantasy RPG. I guess this was the aforementioned cursed game. President Momone and Tokiwa had disappeared the second they launched it, which had to mean...
“She said if something happened... But right off the bat, huh?” With a sigh, I turned and left the room. “Looks like you’ll be wiping the favor ledger clean today, Prez.”
▽
I managed to snag Satsuki, Iris, and Rosalind before they left school, and I returned to the light literature club room with the three of them.
“You mean to say the girl with the eyepatch and the well-endowed girl got sucked into the game?” Rosalind asked with an exasperated sigh.
For the record, she meant President Momone and Tokiwa. I needn’t say why she referred to Tokiwa as “well-endowed.”
“So this time it’s a game world, is it? What will they think of next?” Satsuki said with a sigh too.
Honestly, I’d had the same thought, but it seemed there were still a surprising number of worlds we hadn’t been to yet. The possibilities were endless. Which wasn’t a good thing, mind you.
“Going into a game world sounds awesome! Video games on Earth are always so interesting, but it’s like something is missing without the full-immersion experience,” cooed Iris.
She was the only one who was all smiles right now. Indeed, the rich girl from space had taken quite a liking to our silly little Earthling games recently. But I wasn’t exactly complaining. It was kinda nice to have someone cheerful and excited about things. It made me feel a little more lighthearted too.
“All right, let’s hurry up and get President Momone and Tokiwa out of there.”
“According to the Magic of Omniscience, entering the game will transform us into characters within the game world.”
Dragon Install was exactly the fantasy RPG it appeared to be, meaning monsters, magic, and all.
“Okay. Let’s get to it.”
Worried about President Momone and Tokiwa, I took the lead and reached out for the laptop. My hand slipped right through the screen like it wasn’t even there. Apparently, this was how to enter the game.
“Wait, Rekka. We should all hold hands and go together. It’d be terrible if we were separated.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
I was nearly on the verge of jumping the gun, but I turned around and offered my other hand to the girls. While I didn’t have anyone particular in mind, it seemed they all did.
“Me! I’m going to be the one to hold Rekka’s hand!”
“Are you kidding?! It should be me!”
“I was the one who suggested it!”
And so they began bickering about who would take my hand.
“Please just pick someone already...” I moaned.
“You stay out of this!” they all shouted back at me.
Eventually, they decided to settle things with rock, paper, scissors. The three of them stared each other down intently as they clenched their fists tightly. It was almost like they were getting ready for a duel and not a game... It certainly wasn’t any testament to the cooperation and teamwork we’d need to be able to get through what was to come.
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Shoot! Shoot!”
“Okay, this is clearly going nowhere. How about we go in the order of who beats me?” I suggested, starting to worry we’d never leave at this rate.
We were somehow able to decide the order that way, but nevertheless, it was a shaky start to our digital journey.
Entering the game was simple enough. After sticking my arm halfway through the screen, the rest of my body was sucked right in. By the time I even realized what had happened, I was already surrounded by different scenery.
“Are we in the woods?”
We’d been transported from the club room to somewhere outdoors... Er, we were just inside a game, so did that mean we were really still indoors? Whatever.
“We do seem to be in a forest, but the trees and soil here appear to be a bit strange...”
“Yeah, now that you mention it, they do look a little pixel-y.”
Computer graphics were so cutting-edge these days that honest-to-god pixel art games were hard to come by. I think the last time I played one was all the way back in elementary school. But anyway...
“All right, shall we look for President Momone and Tokiwa?” I asked, trying to urge my three companions toward our goal.
“Yeah, let’s hurry.”
“Hey, do you think monsters will show up around here? Like slimes and stuff?”
“Hmph, I’ll take on any creature that dares to get in my way.”
And so we began our journey, steadily making our way through the pixelated forest.
“Hey, uh... Doesn’t it seem a little too easy to move around here?”
“Even though we’re in the forest? Yeah...”
That wasn’t a bad thing, mind you, but it made both me and Satsuki rub our chins. I remember walking around the woods collecting firewood for the barbeque being exhausting. This, however, felt like a breeze in contrast.
“I guess it’s because the ground is perfectly flat.”
Moreover, there wasn’t underbrush all over the place. And even though it wasn’t well maintained, there was still a clear path for us to follow.
“This kind of thing sure makes it feel more game-like,” observed Iris.
“How so?” I asked.
“Well, you know how you always walk at the same speed in a video game, no matter the terrain? There’s also always a road or something, so it’s not like you really need to know where you’re going.”
“Huh, yeah... I guess you’re right.”
It was pretty easy to tell where you were and weren’t supposed to go in old video games. An obstacle meant you should turn back, and a path or road meant you should follow it. So in that sense, this setup was indeed pretty game-like.
“Hmm, speaking of games...”
We’d been walking for a while now. When exploring in an RPG, the one event you were guaranteed to trigger was...
Wibble!
Yup, it was a monster encounter. And the monster we happened to encounter was a round, translucent blob. In other words, a slime.
“Whoa!”
Compared to the forest around us, the slime appeared to be a lot more developed. Er, I said “developed,” but it really just looked like some kind of protoplasmic jelly.
“Ugh... It’s gross compared to the ones in video games,” Iris whined, wrinkling her nose.
I didn’t have the heart to remind her we were in a video game. She held her arms up and backed away, making it clear she wasn’t going to touch the slime or go anywhere near it.
“How pathetic. I’ll clean this up myself,” declared Rosalind, stepping forward to attack it in Iris’s place.
Slimes were the standard low-level small fry mobs that littered the beginner maps of any RPG you could possibly name. Defeating one should be a breeze for a powerful vampire like Rosalind, but...
Whap!
“What...?”
The result of Rosalind’s attack left her dumbfounded. She’d thrown a furious punch... or so she thought. All it did was jiggle the slime a little, making a sound comically reminiscent of a baby slapping its own bottom.
“What’s going on?”
In the midst of Rosalind’s confusion, the slime made its move. It extended a gelatinous feeler and tangled it around her legs. She immediately began screaming.
“Waaah! M-My clothes are melting!”
“R-R-Rosalind!”
Just like she’d said, the knee-high socks she was wearing were gradually melting away, revealing her bare legs. I mean, she wore short socks in the warmer months, so it wasn’t like I hadn’t seen them before... But the whole melting-clothes situation had a strangely erotic undertone that made me feel a little weird about looking. A-Anyway...
“Huh?! I can’t use my magic!” shouted Satsuki.
“What is this?! I can’t do anything either!” shouted Iris.
It seemed the two of them were having troubles of their own. What was going on here? Perhaps it made sense that Satsuki couldn’t use her magic in a game world, but how was it that Iris and Rosalind’s straight-up punches and kicks had suddenly gotten weaker?
“Kyah! I-It’s getting my clothes too!”
“Iris!”
I rushed over to try and help, but there wasn’t really anything I could do. It was four of us against a single slime—and the slime was winning. Seriously, what on earth is going on?!
“My, my... Rekka’s party has survived Demon Kings and dragons only to get wiped out by a lone slime?”
Wow, thanks, R! Great time to be joking around!
As frustrated as I was, just then...
“Make way!”
First someone called out to us. And then came the hammer.
WHAM!
The slime was obliterated with one overhead swing. The feelers attacking Iris and Rosalind suddenly liquefied, oozing to the ground. I still hardly had any idea what was happening, but it seemed the danger had passed. As for the person who’d saved us...
“Hey, are you guys all right?” she asked, resting her massive hammer against her shoulder.
By the look of the armor she was wearing, I would have said she was definitely a knight.
▽
Said knight introduced herself to us as Yorun.
“It’s dangerous to be walking around out here without any gear equipped. Shall I escort you to the village?”
After what we’d just been through, we happily agreed, and she kindly led us to the nearby Kinawa Village.
“The locals call this place the Furthest Reaches.”
“Sounds like your typical starting village...”
“Huh? Well, it’s a rather quaint town.” Confusion overtook Yorun’s expression for a moment, but she quickly returned to smiling. “What an eventful day, though. It’s rare to have so many visitors in these parts.”
“Have there been that many? Did someone else come by here?”
“That’s right. Before you guys, there were two girls.”
Two girls? Could it be...?
“Where are they now?”
“I took them to the inn.”
I immediately asked Yorun to take us there as well.
“Hey, problem child. That was fast.”
It didn’t take long to find President Momone. Of course, Tokiwa was there too. She was lounging on a bed in the room where they were staying, but she immediately leaped up and...
Stomp, stomp, stomp... Crash!
“Waaah!”
“WH-WHAAAAAT?!”
“How’s it going, Rekka?”
My shouting was almost completely drowned out by the other girls screaming. Tokiwa alone remained calm as she clung to me, asking trivial questions.
▽
After inviting us to come and find her at her room at the inn if we needed any help, Yorun wandered off. Once she left, the rest of us piled into the room President Momone and Tokiwa were renting to regroup and catch up with each other.
“How did you get the money for a room at the inn, Prez?” I asked.
“I had it with me when I got here. See?” President Momone said, tossing a small pouch my way.
I looked inside to find several coins of a currency I’d never seen before.
“Midori has one just like it. Don’t you guys?”
“Huh?”
At her behest, I checked my pockets and found an identical pouch with more coins inside it.
“But I didn’t bring this with me...”
As we were all pondering over the mysterious pouches, Iris suddenly raised her hand.
“Ooh, I know! Isn’t this a starting item or something? You know, like the stuff you automatically have at the beginning of a game? This money must be part of it, too.”
“You mean this was, like, a scripted thing?”
I guess that wasn’t impossible to believe. We were literally inside of a video game, after all. Actually, speaking of the game aspect of things...
“Come to think of it, were you two attacked by monsters in the forest?”
The four of us had struggled so much against a single slime that we might’ve been in deep trouble if Yorun hadn’t shown up. Tokiwa couldn’t fight, so how had President Momone gotten them both here safely on her own?
“We were attacked, but we ran.”
“Huh? You ran?”
“Of course we did. We had no reason to fight. Did you think you needed to defeat it or something?”
“Erm...”
When she put it that way, I didn’t have much to say for myself. The other girls all looked away, too.
“Grrr...”
Rosalind was especially frustrated, as she’d technically been the one to initiate the fight by attacking the slime first. But, really, we’d all been a little too confident in our abilities and had ended up letting our guards down. Lesson learned, I guess.
“Well, whatever. As long as you’re safe, everything’s fine. But if you actually engaged the monster, surely you were able to learn a thing or two about it, weren’t you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So speak up. That’s the kind of information that could be critical to surviving in this world.”
“Wow, it’s rare for there to be a heroine you can’t stand up to, Rekka.”
Put a sock in it, R!
At President Momone’s request, I recounted our battle with the slime... The only hitch was that it was a secret that Iris was an alien and Rosalind was a vampire, so I made it sound like I was the one doing the fighting.
“...And so it seemed like our attacks had no effect on it at all.”
Once I finished relaying the modified story, President Momone had only one thing to say: “Isn’t that because you’re just too weak, problem child?”
“Actually, no... That’s not the case here. I promise.”
I didn’t really have a leg to stand on since I’d said I was the one doing the fighting. But even though I couldn’t tell President Momone, I was quite sure Iris and Rosalind weren’t hurting for power.
“...”
“Hm? What’s that, Midori...? It has something to do with game cliches?”
“Game cliches?”
Tokiwa’s voice was too quiet to hear, but thankfully President Momone interpreted for us. This way, I didn’t have to be hugged. Well, leaving that aside...
“Wait, cliches...” I suddenly recalled Yorun’s words earlier. “She said it was dangerous to be wandering around without any gear equipped. Don’t tell me...”
“What is it, problem child?”
“If this is a game world that plays by game rules, then of course we’re completely powerless without any gear.”
“That’s what we just established,” President Momone said, looking exasperated at hearing me state RPG basics like I’d discovered penicillin.
“Whaaat?” asked Iris. “But aren’t there classes like martial artist and whatnot? Don’t they typically fight barehanded?”
“A profession like that might not exist in this game. Besides, they normally fight with knuckledusters for weapons, don’t they?” I answered to the best of my ability.
“What, really? Then I should’ve just used my laser gun.”
It seemed Iris had interpreted what I’d said as “any gear at all would have defeated it.” She put her arm behind her like she was reaching for something, and then...
“It’s gone!”
“Huh? What is?”
“My laser gun! No, my whole bag!”
“What?!”
Iris’s bag was an incredibly advanced—and incredibly useful—piece of technology. Despite its physical size, it could hold anything inside of it. Without that, we’d likely have a much harder time in this world.
“Did you drop it somewhere?”
“I don’t know... I would have noticed right away if I’d dropped it, but I swear I brought it with me...” Iris replied with a troubled expression.
“Don’t worry. I’ll search for it,” said Satsuki as she got up and left the room.
By “search for it,” she meant she was going to find somewhere private to use her Omniscient Magic.
“Hm? Where’s Otomo going?” President Momone asked, cocking her head to the side.
The same as she didn’t know Iris was an alien or Rosalind was a vampire, she didn’t know Satsuki was a mage.
“S-Satsuki’s, uh, good at finding things. She’ll be back soon.”
“You don’t say...”
I managed to dodge the question for now, and about ten minutes later... Satsuki returned looking even more troubled than Iris when she couldn’t find her bag.
“Rekka, come with me for a minute.”
“Sure.”
I followed Satsuki out of the room, and we moved a little down the hall.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I can’t use it.”
“Huh?”
“I can’t use the Magic of Omniscience.”
▽
I went back and grabbed Iris and Rosalind, and I took the four of us elsewhere so we could try and figure out what was going on with everybody.
“So on top of the Magic of Omniscience, Satsuki can’t use any magic at all... We straight-up don’t have any of Iris’s alien tech... And all of Rosalind’s vampire abilities are unusable, huh?”
“What’s the meaning of this?” Rosalind muttered, tapping her foot against the floor in frustration.
“This might be part of the game too.”
“What do you mean, Rekka?”
“You can’t just start a game with high-powered gear and abilities. That would be broken. That’s why we’ve been reduced to starter equipment, and why we don’t have access to any of our special powers.”
That was my theory, but I checked with President Momone to be sure. As it turned out, she couldn’t use her demon eye here either, though it wasn’t really like that would make much of a difference in this world.
“What do we do now?”
“That’s a good question...”
We all regrouped and put our heads together. Based on what President Momone had already gathered from Yorun, we knew there was a Demon King that had invaded this world. It felt pretty safe to assume the goal of the game was defeating him, but we were more interested in getting out of the game than beating it.
“I guess if we don’t know what else to do, then we might as well go after the Demon King...” I murmured, feeling pretty disheartened.
While I had defeated several Demon Kings before, I’d only ever done so with the help of the heroines. And right now, they were just as powerless as I was.
Even if Harissa or Tsumiki happened to notice we were gone and found the game still running in the light literature club room, there wouldn’t be a point in them trying to come help us. They’d have their abilities sealed just like we did, and any helpful items they tried to bring with them would be lost in transition. Honestly, considering the potential danger we were in, I was hoping they didn’t realize we were missing.
But just as everything seemed to be coming apart at the seams, President Momone slapped her knees and heaved a great sigh as she pulled herself together.
“Well, there’s no point in thinking about it anymore. Let’s call it a night.”
“Yeah, that might be for the best.”
At this rate, we were just spinning our wheels. Like she suggested, we’d probably all be better off getting a good night’s rest and clearing our heads.
“In that case, I’ll go get a room.”
“Nonsense. You can stay here with us, problem child.”
“Excuse me?”
“Think about our resources. We have a limited amount of money, and we don’t know how long we’ll be stuck here. If what you said is true, we’ll also need to purchase equipment. We should be as frugal as possible. Fortunately, this room has three large beds. All six of us can stay here as long as we pair off.”
She was right. Three beds would sleep all six of us.
“But...”
“Don’t worry. Unlike the vice president and the disciplinary committee, I’m open-minded when it comes to relations between students. As long as both parties are consenting, you can do as you please.”
How could President Momone be so reliable, yet still manage to say the weirdest stuff at the worst times?!
I mean, I understood what she was saying about being frugal. It was a good idea to limit our expenses as much as possible. But...
“Me! I’ll sleep with Rekka!”
“No, I will!”
“Fools! It should be me!”
What on earth was I supposed to do? Iris, Satsuki, and Rosalind were violently squabbling over the sleeping arrangements.
“You will all obey my will!”
Rosalind went off the deep end and tried to use her charm to force the other two girls into listening to her, but...
“Ngah! I forgot I can’t use my powers right now!”
She could only clutch her head in agony as Iris hit her dead in the face with a pillow she threw.
“I have the advantage in pure strength!” she announced triumphantly before a pillow came flying at her too.
“Oh, yeah?! Even I stand a chance in this world now that the playing field’s been leveled!” shouted Satsuki, Iris’s assailant.
“Hey! Now you’ve done it, Satsuki!”
“You’re the one who started this! I won’t forgive you, little girl!”
“Bring it!”
And so the bickering escalated into full-blown fight. It seemed like their physical strength and other stats had been appropriately reduced to that of level-one characters, so the three of them were actually pretty evenly matched. But the fact they could deal even the slightest damage to each other with pillows was a bit troubling. Did that mean friendly fire was turned on in this world? I found myself praying that wouldn’t be an issue down the line...
“HAAH!”
“ARGH!”
“RAAH!”
But for now, I had to focus on doing something about the pandemonium going on right in front of me. With a sigh, I tried to intervene before President Momone scolded us all.
▽
Unsurprisingly, my intervention failed. The three girls kept at it until they’d knocked each other out, leaving Satsuki, Iris, and Rosalind all conveniently sleeping soundly on one bed. President Momone and Tokiwa took the second bed, and I guiltily took the third all for myself.
“I see you’re still a coward, Rekka.”
“Shut up. Let me sleep.”
R must have been bored without her portable TV and DVD player, and she took to talking to me instead. I felt sorry for her, so I decided to chat with her for a while until I actually felt sleepy. Of course, I made sure to whisper so the girls wouldn’t hear me.
“I know you’ve been to other worlds and even back in time with us, but I didn’t really expect you to be able to follow me into a video game too, R.”
“I’ve told you before I’m incredibly advanced.”
“Yeah, yeah...”
I brushed her off and felt a big yawn coming. I guess that was as good a sign as any I should call it a night.
“Hm?”
Just as I was about to tell R good night, a shadow appeared next to my bed.
“Gwuh!”
It collapsed right on top of me, flopping over my stomach. And when it did, I realized it was Tokiwa.
“T-Tokiwa, please wake up!”
“Mm... bathroom... mrgh, mmph...”
This wasn’t good. She was completely out of it.
Squeeeze!
“Hey, please don’t hug me!”
I didn’t know if it was out of habit or what, but Tokiwa clambered her way up my body to bring her lips to my ear. She was right on top of me though, so I felt every bit of it...
“Wow, Midori’s really all over you right now.”
No, it wasn’t like that...! Even if it did feel like it...
Regardless of R’s commentary, I found myself in my most compromising predicament yet. I don’t know who would have been able to keep their cool with a beautiful upperclassman climbing into bed with them.
“Oh, Rekka...”
“What’s going on over there?”
“Yeah, tell us, Rekka.”
Like I said, no one could keep their cool right now...
“Um... I can explain.”
In response to my desperate plea, I took three flying pillows to the face. For the first time today, I found myself glad that we were in a game. If that damage had been calculated with their real-world stats, those three pillows would’ve spelled a game over for me.
▽
At last, morning came.
“Tell me... Why are there five people sleeping in one bed, problem child?”
“I wish I knew...”
I’d passed out at some point, so I wasn’t sure myself. When I came to, Satsuki, Iris, and Rosalind were all dead asleep... And they were all clinging to me. It was sweltering.
“I said I was open-minded, but I can’t say I’m thrilled about this fivesome of yours,” said President Momone, folding her arms and sighing.
“Please don’t call it a fivesome.”
Despite weak objections on my end, she helped me tear Satsuki and the others off of me one by one. When we were all done...
“I see we still get hungry in the game world,” said President Momone.
“Well, there are games with bars or gauges for hunger.”
And so we all went down to the first floor of the inn to grab some breakfast.
“Now that we know we need to eat as well, we’ll have to find some way to put food on the table,” said President Momone while minding the sleepy Tokiwa.
It was true we probably needed to come up with a way to make money. At this rate, we were all going to use up our starting money in no time.
“Morning! Did you guys sleep well?” a new voice to the conversation suddenly called out to us.
I turned to see Yorun, the knight who saved us in the forest yesterday, standing there with a plate of breakfast herself.
“Er... Honestly, it was only so-so.”
“Really? I think the beds here are pretty soft. Anyway, mind if I sit here?” Yorun asked before taking an open seat at our table.
I got a glimpse of it from yesterday’s events, but she really did have an easygoing personality. She had no trouble fitting in with all of us.
“So, uh, Rekka, was it? You gotta be more careful. We don’t want any repeats of yesterday. It’s pretty dangerous outside the village, so don’t go taking girls out there, okay?”
“I’ll be careful from now on.”
“You should at least have a weapon and armor prepared if you’re gonna go out,” Yorun continued.
She went on to give us all kinds of useful advice about this world. The monsters around the village were relatively weak, but not weak enough that they could be defeated barehanded. Weapons would be absolute necessities. Even if someone used magic, they’d still at least need to buy a tome. Kinawa Village was a small town, but it still had an armor shop and a weapon shop. And so on. That was all good to know, of course. But I still had one more question.
“What do we have to do to make money?” I asked.
“Well, there are lots of self-sufficient people in this village. If you don’t have any connections, you’re probably stuck slaying monsters or trying to trade items in the shops.”
Yeah, that sounded pretty in line with this kind of video game. In other words, if we were going to stay in this world... the only way for us to make gold was to farm it.
“...”
Just then, Tokiwa started mumbling something in her usual inaudible voice.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” President Momone replied with a nod before turning to our new companion. “Yorun, we’d like to ask a favor of you.”
“Hmm?”
Yorun dug in to breakfast as she listened to President Momone’s request.
▽
That afternoon, the group of us journeyed out into the forest once more.
“It’s spawned!”
When Yorun called out, we each readied the weapons we’d bought. The monster that appeared from the shadows of the trees was the same as yesterday—a slime.
“Here I go!” shouted Iris.
She was the first to jump out at the enemy. She had leather knuckles on her fists today. They were still only basic gear, but...
“Hiyah!”
The sound of the punch she threw was clearly different than yesterday, and it sent the slime flying.
“All right! Looks like we’re actually doing some damage this time.”
But we still couldn’t let our guard down. All the strengths we’d learned to rely on in the real world had been zeroed out here. Other than the equipment we’d just gotten, we were all just helpless level-one characters.
“Satsuki! Rosalind! Support Iris!” I called.
“Okay!”
“I know!”
After giving the girls orders, I took off running. We were currently practicing our teamwork against weaker monsters. Earlier, President Momone had asked Yorun to help us pick out gear and come up with a plan of attack for combat. Yorun had kindly agreed, and she was now observing our fight from a safe distance. The trees in the forest were getting in the way, so we had to adjust our formation even with just the four of us.
“Fire!”
Satsuki made the next move and used a basic spell to crisp up the slime a little.
“Hah!”
Next, Rosalind ran her rapier through its singed, globular body. She hadn’t really liked the range of weapons available at the armory and had complained plenty about it, but the sight of her wielding it was simply elegant. I knew she would be a natural with it.
“Hyaah!”
Finally, I brought my longsword down on the slime’s head (?). The stereotypical RPG weapon was enough to make the slime shriek... but it wasn’t enough to finish it off.
“Come on! Don’t falter now!”
“Shall I lend you a hand?”
“You’ll get your turn, Momone. Too many people in combat brings the risk of friendly fire.”
“...”
And so, with Yorun, President Momone, and Tokiwa watching over us—Tokiwa still a little sleepy—we somehow managed to defeat the slime.
“Hahh... Hahh... Are you sure slimes are actually weak enemies, Yorun?”
Now that we were properly geared up, the slime didn’t pose any real danger anymore. But it still took an awfully long time to take it down with the four of us.
“Well, you guys are still level one, you know? Everybody’s gotta start somewhere.”
Apparently, Yorun thought this was all normal. But seriously... Wasn’t the difficulty set a little too high? At any rate, we continued to switch out party members and strategies for a little while as we honed our techniques hunting slimes. The afternoon quickly faded into evening, and right about the time we’d finally picked up enough coins to afford a couple more nights at the inn...
Doot doot doot doo, doot doot doot doo!
A strangely cheerful tune rang out from seemingly nowhere.
“What was that?”
“Hey, congrats! Sounds like you leveled up, Rekka,” Yorun said, clapping her hands.
“So, what? That was the level-up jingle?”
“Yup, that’s right.”
Because I was often left dealing the finishing blow, it seemed I’d pulled ahead of the others in terms of experience.
“You should be able to handle a slime by yourself now, Rekka.”
“Really? Even though we’ve been struggling to do it with four people?”
“Yup. One level difference makes all the difference.”
“That seems a little extreme.”
I decided to test it out and tried fighting a slime by myself. And just like Yorun said, I made quick work of it. Like, way quicker work than four of us had been able to pull off together. It seemed the game got exponentially easier as you leveled up and threw all your stat points into strength. Typical.
Anyway, we decided this was as good a time as any to call it a day and headed back to Kinawa Village.
“Hahaha, wow! I didn’t think you’d level up in a single day. That’s pretty impressive!” Yorun laughed heartily as she ate dinner.
We’d offered to treat her to a meal as thanks for helping us out, but at the rate she was going, she was threatening to eat us out of our profits for the day.
“So what now? Are you going to hunt more slimes tomorrow? I reckon you won’t need me around with you this strong now,” Yorun turned and asked me.
She had a grain of rice stuck to her cheek, so I leaned over and plucked it off in lieu of responding.
“Oh, thanks.”
“Wah!”
She then happily closed her mouth around my finger to make sure she didn’t miss a single bite of her dinner. But it wasn’t even her table manners I was concerned about... It was the glares I was getting that really hurt my feelings.
“So, what are you gonna do?” she asked again unabashedly.
I cleared my throat with a cough before pulling myself together and looking at everyone.
“I’m thinking of heading to the next village tomorrow.”
“The next village?” asked Satsuki.
“Yeah. We can’t just stay here forever. In order to gather new information, we have to keep moving to new places.”
In this case, I was referring to information on how to get the heck out of this world. Unfortunately, we hadn’t learned anything useful in Kinawa Village in that regard. To be precise, none of the villagers besides Yorun had said anything to us other than, “Welcome to Kinawa Village.” We wouldn’t have learned jack here if it weren’t for her.
According to Yorun, Kinawa Village was also called the Furthest Reaches since barely anyone ever came out all this way. Honestly speaking, I couldn’t see us making any progress by staying here.
“Hmm, I think that’s a bad idea, though,” Yorun protested with a conflicted expression.
“How come?” I asked.
“Sure, you can handle a slime by yourself now, but the road between Kinawa Village and Goshi Town sometimes spawns some pretty high-level monsters. There’s no guarantee you’ll make it there safely.”
“Ugh, really...?”
If that was the case, then the trip would indeed be dangerous. I was honestly shaking in my boots a little, but we were kind of in a pickle. We didn’t know where else to start, and we didn’t even have a clue as to how much time was passing back in the real world.
“Hm, well, I don’t really get it, but it seems like you guys are pretty serious about this,” Yorun said with an understanding nod. Then she grinned. “So how about I escort you to the next town over? I’ll make sure you get there in one piece.”
“Really?! I mean, are you sure?”
“Don’t sweat it. It’s not like I’m busy or anything. We should help each other out when we can, you know?”
“Thank you, Yorun. Thank you.”
I was more than happy to accept her offer.
▽
The next day, we bought all the food and items we’d need for the trip before leaving Kinawa Village.
“You sure aren’t carrying much, Rekka. Looks like you’ve just got your items and your weapon there.”
“The same goes for you, Yorun. Besides your hammer, all I see is that knapsack.”
“That’s all I need. It’s carrying something important for me.”
“Huh...?”
“Now, let’s get going!”
Goshi Town was half a day’s walk from Kinawa Village, through the woods and then northwards along the road. Yorun took the lead as we first cleared the slime-ridden forest. Our experience from yesterday paid off. The fighting today didn’t seem as hard, and we were out of the area in no time. As we walked forward, the canopy of leaves thinned, and we stepped out into an open field that stretched as far as the eye could see.
“That over there’s Goshi Town,” said Yorun, pointing to what was practically a speck on the horizon.
While it was overwhelming to imagine just walking that far, they say a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step... So we all stepped forward in hopes of getting there sometime today. Nevertheless...
“Uwah! What the heck is this big-mouthed rabbit?!”
“The sky! Look to the sky!”
“I HATE BUGS!”
“Aah! Not my skirt again! Stop it, you beast!”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to Western-style swords.”
“...”
Thus, the journey there was utter chaos. President Momone was the least perturbed, but we were definitely up against tougher foes now. Compared to the slimes, we were missing a lot against the beast-type monsters in the field. It slowed things down a lot, but our defensive teamwork was solid, and we’d brought plenty of healing items, so it wasn’t like we were in any real trouble. Having Yorun there was a huge advantage, too.
“Yah!”
Her massive warhammer defeated most of the monsters in a single hit. She’d said level difference made all the difference, so having a high-level character like her around was especially reassuring.
“Hmm...”
Come to think of it, who was Yorun really? Kinawa Village had been filled with your typical NPCs—characters who were completely predetermined by their programming—but Yorun seemed to be moving and doing things of her own free will. Tokiwa had suggested she was a friendly NPC designed to help out new players in the beginning, but there was no telling what the truth really was.
“Huh? What’s wrong, Rekka?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Oh, yeah? I saw you looking at me just now,” Yorun teased, poking my forehead with the handle of her hammer.
She didn’t seem particularly miffed about me staring at her, but it was mostly out of curiosity. It wasn’t like I could just ask, “Who are you really?” Instead, I decided to try having a normal conversation with her and seeing what I could figure out.
“So, um, Yorun... What do you normally do?”
“Me? Well, I sometimes hunt slimes. Sometimes I go on journeys to hunt further away.”
“Have you always lived in Kinawa Village?”
“Yup!” she answered with a grin.
“Then... why were you staying at the inn?”
“Huh?”
“You know, if you’ve always lived there, then why are you staying at the inn? Don’t you have a house? Or... did you mean ‘always’ as in since becoming a knight?”
“Hmm...” Yorun’s expression suddenly clouded over as she trembled a little. “I wonder. It seems I’ve forgotten.”
“Is that the type of thing you really forget...?”
“Who knows? All I know is I can’t remember,” Yorun said lightheartedly. “I figure if I’ve forgotten it, then it wasn’t all that important in the first place.”
“That’s not... Gwuh!”
I was going to say that couldn’t be true, but Yorun gave me a hearty slap on the back that knocked the wind out of me.
“More importantly, we’re over halfway there now, so let’s stop for a break.”
At Yorun’s behest, we decided to take a load off in the shade of some trees by the road. It looked like the start of another forest. After a late lunch, we all inspected our equipment for damage. I said all of us, but it had mostly been President Momone and Yorun doing the fighting. But after lunch and gear checks...
“All right, ladies! Gather ’round for a sec!” Yorun suddenly declared, huddling the girls over where she was standing.
“What is it?” Satsuki asked.
“Psst, psst, psst...”
In response, Yorun whispered something to her and the other girls. Once she finished telling them whatever it was, she turned to me and waved.
“Okay, Rekka, we’re gonna go into the forest for a bit!”
“Huh? What for?”
“Something nice! Oh, but you can’t come, Rekka. Yell if a monster spawns, though!”
“Hey, wait a minute...”
Before I could even try and stop them, Yorun and the girls scurried off into the woods.
“What was that all about?”
“Who knows?” R said with a shrug.
Well, if Yorun was with them, I knew they’d at least be safe from any weaker monsters. But more importantly... How was it that Yorun didn’t remember anything about her home or her family? Was that just how her back story had been written?
“I don’t get it...”
“The way out of this game?”
“Well, I don’t get that either...”
Hopefully we’d find something out in the new town up ahead.
“I’ll be praying for your fast escape from here,” R said while somersaulting in the air.
That was her favorite thing to do when she was bored. She only wanted to get out of this world because there was no TV here. I felt for her, honestly. I wanted to get us home ASAP for both our sakes.
“Rekka.”
“Mm?”
I looked up when R said my name to spy a big, ugly monster running our way on the other side of the road. It was one we hadn’t seen before.
“Hey, that one looks kinda strong...”
Come to think of it, Yorun had said high-level monsters sometimes spawned between Kinawa Village and Goshi Town. If this was one of them, it was bad news. I could take on weaklings by myself with no problem now, but if the opponent was several levels higher than me...
“Tch! We have to get to Yorun and the others!”
Rather than yelling to them, it would be better just to go and meet up with them. And so I ran headlong into the forest after the girls. The trees were just dense enough that it made it hard to spot them, but I happened to hear Satsuki’s voice from a distance. I ran towards it and jumped out from the trees as I shouted...
“Yorun! There’s a monster—”
“R-Rekka?!”
Yorun cut me off in shock, just before...
“KYAAAAAH!”
All the other girls screamed at once. The reason was instantly clear—everyone was taking their clothes off next to a natural spring. It appeared they were cleaning themselves up, wiping off all the dirt and sweat from our journey so far. Fortunately, no one had stripped further down than their underwear, so the situation wasn’t quite as deadly as it could have been.
“Hey, nice. Gratz on adding a new cutscene to the library, Rekka.”
We aren’t in that kind of game right now, R!
“Um, I’m really sorry...”
I averted my eyes from everyone as they covered themselves with their clothes and armor. I tried to come up with an excuse, but soon remembered now wasn’t really the time for that.
“Raaghrahrah!”
The monster from before had already caught up to me.
“An ogre?! Damn it!” Yorun yelled in a panicked voice.
Based on her reaction, I could tell this was one of the high-level monsters she’d been worried about. It was bad enough to run into one, but this timing couldn’t have been worse. The girls had all unequipped their gear, meaning they were practically defenseless in their current state.
“I’ll buy us some time!”
“Wait! That’s too dangerous, Rekka!”
Ignoring Yorun’s attempt to stop me, I readied my sword and jumped at the ogre.
“Raaghrahrah!”
The ogre swung the club in its hands right at me.
“Ugh!”
I took the blow dead to my side and it sent me flying. It hurt like hell, too! If this wasn’t a game, that might have killed me.
“In that sense, I guess I’m lucky...”
As I got to my feet, I switched gears to optimism.
“Raagh!”
The ogre apparently had its sights set solely on me, as it came right after me again. Fingers crossed I had enough health to take one more hit...
“Rekka!”
But just then, Yorun jumped out from behind the ogre and brought her hammer straight down on it.
“Rrraaaaagh!”
It roared and thrashed about.
“Ugh!”
In its flailing, it managed to smash its club right into Yorun’s side. It knocked her to her knees, giving the ogre a chance to clobber her good this time.
“Tch... Ugh!”
“Yorun!”
She must have run out in a rush, because she wasn’t equipped with anything other than her hammer. She was somehow managing to withstand the ogre’s fierce onslaught with just her weapon to defend herself. But this was a game world. With no armor on, I knew she had no defense power. And based on what she’d told us earlier, the high-level monsters that spawned around here—in other words, these ogres—were around the same level as Yorun. Even if their levels were equal, without any gear, Yorun was at a disadvantage.
“Rrr... Raagh!”
However, it seemed the ogre was still reeling from the blow it had taken from Yorun’s hammer. It was staggering slightly. This might be my only chance!
“Take that!”
I threw the sword in my hand at the ogre’s face. The sword made a direct hit, impaling the blade right between the ogre’s eyes.
“Raagh!”
It roared once more, then froze in place.
“Yorun! Now!”
“Hiyah!”
Yorun saw the opportunity and took it. While the ogre’s guard was down, she smashed her hammer into its chest.
“Rrraaaaagh!”
The ogre roared then fell backwards, loudly crashing into the ground and disappearing into thin air like it had vaporized. Items and coins scattered everywhere in its place.
“Ugh...”
But it looked like Yorun was in trouble too. She dropped her hammer before collapsing to the ground.
“Yorun!”
I hurried to her side to help her.
▽
By the time we arrived at Goshi Town with the unconscious Yorun still on my back, the sun had already set.
“We need a doctor! Is there a doctor around here?!”
We ran through the town in a panic, but the NPCs that heard us asking for a doctor just looked at us funny. We were at a complete loss.
“Argh! There isn’t even a hospital in this town!”
In the midst of my raging, Tokiwa tapped me on the shoulder. Then she leaned in close and whispered into my ear...
“Try going to the inn?”
“Huh? But Yorun...”
“I think the inn will probably do,” she said, pointing down to the ground.
Or rather, to this world.
“Because we’re in a game, her health should be restored if she sleeps at the inn.”
“Oh!”
She had a point there, so I took her advice, and we hurried to the inn. Once inside, we made a beeline for the counter.
“Looking for a place to stay?” the proprietor asked with a smile.
“Yes! Please give us a room!”
“Did you need anything else?”
“No! But we’re in a hurry, so please make it quick!”
“Here you are. Have a nice stay,” he said as he handed us a key.
As soon as we got Yorun in bed, her breathing relaxed and she seemed to be at peace.
“Whew...”
We all heaved a collective sigh of relief, and I sat down on the edge of Yorun’s bed, exhausted.
“Man... Thank God.”
“I’m relieved too, honestly. But now that that’s over with, I’m starting to get hungry.”
Several of the other girls’ tummies grumbled when they heard Iris mention eating.
“Th-That wasn’t me, okay?!”
After Satsuki inadvertently admitted guilt, everyone agreed to head down to the tavern on the first floor for dinner.
“Aren’t you coming, problem child?”
“Nah, I think I’m gonna stay here and keep an eye on Yorun for a little while. Someone can swap with me when they’re done eating.”
“Hm... All right, then.”
President Momone nodded and then took everyone down for dinner. When the door clicked shut behind them, I let out a small sigh of relief for a different reason.
“Yorun ended up saving us again, huh?”
Treating her to a meal probably wouldn’t be enough to repay the debt this time. As I was pondering all this, my eyes fell upon the gear and bags everyone had left in the room.
“Guess I’ll clean up a bit.”
Since everyone had come and gone in a relative hurry, there was stuff just kinda thrown all over the place. And with little else to occupy me, I thought I’d do some organizing. I started by lining up the weapons over by the wall. Then...
“Oops, these are Yorun’s belongings.”
I picked up Yorun’s knapsack, which had gotten dropped on the floor at some point. It was lighter than I expected. She said there was something important inside it...
“Well, I guess I’ll leave it over here?”
I went to move the knapsack, but the drawstring had gotten loose. When I did, it opened, and something fell out of the bag.
“Ah, crap... Wait, this is...”
I froze in shock as I stared at the object that had fallen. It... It was a cellphone.
“H-How?”
It was definitely something that shouldn’t exist in this game world based on what we’d seen of it so far. Why did Yorun have it?
“Rekka?”
Right about then, Yorun opened her eyes and called out to me.
“Oh, Yorun...”
“Hey! You shouldn’t be peeking at a girl’s belongings!” she shouted, leaping out of the bed and snatching her knapsack and phone from me.
“I know. I’m sorry... But what’s with the cellphone?”
“Huh? This?” Yorun looked baffled until I pointed to the phone in her hand. “So this is called a cellphone? I had no idea.”
“You didn’t...? But that’s yours, isn’t it, Yorun?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’ve been carrying it since before I can remember, so I know it’s important. I just didn’t know what it was called,” Yorun said with a giggle. She didn’t seem mad anymore. “Anyway, did we make it to an inn? Is everyone down in the tavern?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“Oh, boy, that means it’s dinnertime! I’m starved!”
“Yeah, why don’t you go on down? I think I’m gonna rest a bit more.”
“All right! But no more peeking, okay?”
After Yorun jokingly warned me away from her belongings, she left the room in a good mood. As I watched her go, I felt several times more exhaustion than earlier come over me and flung myself onto the bed.
“But still... How does she have a cellphone and not know what it is? Or did she forget that too?”
If she had one and couldn’t remember it or where she’d gotten it, then... it had to be...
“Yorun’s from the real world just like us, isn’t she?” I asked.
“Who knows?” R replied with her usual feigned ignorance.
Not that I was expecting much else...
Anyway, what was really important here was why Yorun had lost her memories. Was it the result of an injury? Maybe she’d encountered a magic item or a monster that had stolen them? There were too many possibilities to consider. Including...
“...Staying in the game world for too long?”
It wasn’t impossible. Yorun was clearly different from the NPCs, but she fully believed she was a denizen of this world. Maybe she got sucked into the cursed game like we did; she just didn’t know any better.
“If so, this is bad.”
If that was the case, there was no way of knowing how long she’d been here. We’d been in the game a whole day already, and I hadn’t forgotten who I was. But what about tomorrow? The day after? Next week? We may have a lot less time to get out of here than we initially thought.
“We have to find a way to leave this game as quickly as possible!”
Too bad we still didn’t have any idea how to do that. If we completed the story and beaten the final boss—in other words, defeating the Demon King—the game should end. We would most likely be able to leave then, but now there was no guarantee we’d still remember who we were when the time came. Worse yet, we were in a game world—one where everything was bound by rules and programming. It wasn’t like I could just whip out a laser gun I got from Iris and shoot down the Demon King here to win.
“Damn it... Isn’t there any other way? Some way to leave this world without defeating the Demon Ki—wait.”
It suddenly dawned on me. I was getting too caught up on the wrong things. This was a game world, after all. One that ran on all sorts of rules and cliches. One where a vampire couldn’t deal any damage without a weapon equipped, and one where even grievous wounds inflicted by monsters could be healed just by sleeping in a specific bed. And if all of that followed... then shouldn’t I be able to do that too?
“If so, where would I do it? The church? Or do I need an item to do it?”
Thinking through it all, I suddenly remembered the words of the innkeep when we first talked to him.
“...”
The instant the pieces all came together in my mind, I flew out of the room. I ran down to the first floor and straight to the counter.
“Oh, hey, Rekka.”
“Where’s the fire?”
The girls were all seated at a table nearby, and everyone had questions when they saw me moving like greased lightning. But if I was right, showing them would be easier than explaining.
“Looking for a place to stay?” the innkeep asked with a smile just like before.
“Nope, not this time.”
“Did you need anything else?”
This was it! The NPCs’ dialogue was scripted, meaning the innkeep wouldn’t ask that if there wasn’t a reason for it. And that meant there had to be something else we could do at the inn other than stay the night. Hopefully it would lead to some kind of menu, and if I was right, then that menu would let us...
“Can I save and quit the game?”
“Understood. Now saving and quitting.”
A few seconds after he said that, we were all thrown into darkness.
▽
The next thing I knew, I was no longer at the inn, but the light literature club room in front of the computer. We did it! We were back!
“Whaaat?! Where’s my dinner?!” Iris immediately screamed.
She’d apparently been in the middle of eating.
“Calm down, Iris. We’re back in our own world now.”
“You could have at least waited until after dinner! There was some weird gamey meat in it I’d never had before! I wanted to finish it!”
Iris almost looked like she was on the verge of tears. She must have really liked it... I honestly had to giggle a little, but I stopped dead when I realized Yorun was standing there with us looking dazed.
“Wh... Where are we?” she asked, glancing around and blinking repeatedly.
I took a deep breath before approaching her.
“This is the real world. We were only in a video game before.”
“A... video game?”
Yorun blinked slowly once more. There was a faraway look in her eyes as several silent seconds passed.
“That’s right... I remember now,” she murmured quietly.
She no longer had her hammer or any of her other gear with her. The only thing she still had was probably the one item she’d brought into the game world with her to begin with—her cellphone.
“What... What should... What should I...” Yorun continuously muttered to herself as she stared down at her phone.
I had no way of knowing how long she’d been in the game or how much of her memory she’d regained by leaving it. Surely it would take some time for everything to make sense.
For now, I could only imagine that she was feeling overwhelmed and confused. She was probably disoriented and didn’t know what to do but just sit there... despite feeling like there was something she needed to do. The knightly, reliable Yorun we’d known in-game was now reduced to feeling like a lost child. It was only fair, then...
“Yorun.”
“Eek! Y-Yes?”
“You saved our butts all the time in-game. Now it’s our turn to help you out,” I said, extending my hand to Yorun who was huddled up on the floor.
She really had saved us numerous times. Without her, I’m not sure we ever would’ve made it back to the real world safely. And now that we were here, I was determined to make sure we returned the favor. On behalf of everyone who’d probably been looking for her here in the real world, I smiled at her and said...
“Welcome home, Yorun.”
