Episode 10: The Villainess Awakens from Her Nap

“Well, this is a surprise. I was so busy looking around, I genuinely didn’t notice. …Is she alright, that girl?”

“She’s unconscious… but she’s breathing, and her pulse seems normal for now.”

I said, holding one hand before her nose and touching her wrist with the other. Her chest rose and fell, and I could feel the beat of her radial artery. Her complexion wasn't too bad, either.

“This girl is… a classic, bona fide Villainess.”

“A ‘Villainess’?”

“You don’t know about them? Right, well, a Villainess, just as the name suggests, is a young lady from a prominent family who plays the villain in an Otome Game.”

“Do Otome Games really have characters like that?”

“They do, believe me. …Actually, Kiryu-san, how come you’ve been saying things lately that make it sound like you know a thing or two about Otome Games?”

“…”

“…………”

“………………”

“…Well, whatever. A Villainess is a character who typically dislikes the heroine, subjects her to terrible harassment, and in the end, her evil deeds are brought to light, and she’s punished.”

“Ahh, I see… So it’s a setup for the player to feel satisfied when the annoying character meets a nasty end.”

“…If you put it so bluntly, I guess that’s what it boils down to…”

“So, is she one of them too?” Kiryu-san asked, looking down at the Villainess with a puzzled expression.

“Yes, this girl is a Villainess named Elisabeth. She’s the rival character from a fantasy PC Otome Game that was popular about ten years ago, called ‘Doki Doki Landowner Lovers and Alice.’”

“…Huh?”

“I said, ‘Doki Doki Landowner Lovers and Alice.’”

“A game with such a ridiculous title actually exists?”

“You’re being rather insistent, Kiryu-san. It is what it is; there’s nothing we can do about it. This girl, Elisabeth, is the daughter of a major landowner known as the ‘Land Eviction King.’ She’s the type to launch insidious bullying campaigns against the heroine for petty, landowner-type reasons like, ‘She moved in without greeting me.’ She even attacks you with this scepter. She’s cute, but surprisingly, she’s quite the martial artist.”

“‘Doki Doki Landowner Lovers and Alice’… I’ve never heard of it. Such a ridiculous title,” Kiryu-san muttered, as if at a loss. He seems to like game trivia, so maybe he’s shocked that there was a gap in his knowledge?

“It’s not surprising you don’t know it. The company went under quite a while ago. But ‘DokiAli’ is an Otome Game title with such enduring popularity that they still put on musicals for it even now.”

“A musical… Ah, you mean one of those ‘2.5D musicals’?”

“Exactly. The musical is popular, and the game itself was fun too. You accumulate Land Affinity Power and Tenants, steadily buy up more land, and aim to become the world’s greatest landowner.”

“Land Affinity… Tenants…”

“Depending on the situation, conflicts can break out with yakuza groups backing land sharks, and it can even escalate into gunfights. It’s a sort of chivalry-themed fantasy.”

“…Somehow, that doesn’t sound like a game girls would enjoy…” Kiryu-san blinked, an indescribable expression on his face.

I shrugged with a wry smile. “Girls surprisingly like gunfights, you know.”

Silver, twin-tailed hair in ringlets, a purple dress, a scepter made of mithril… There was no mistake; that was Elisabeth.

I’d heard from a friend that ‘Villainess’ is a popular concept in novels, but it might actually be rare in games, come to think of it.”

“…The more I think about it, the less I understand. For now, does it look like that Elisabeth girl is going to wake up?” Kiryu-san wisely changed the subject.

I nodded and gently patted Elisabeth’s cheeks. “Hmm, I wonder if she’s a deep sleeper or something; she won’t open her eyes no matter what… Is this girl also human on the inside?”

“…She’s so obviously a game character, so she must be human on the inside,” Kiryu-san said with a sigh.

“Should I try waking her up a bit more forcefully… Hmm, she’s not waking up.”

“Don’t do any more than that; it’s pitiful. More importantly, I remembered something much more crucial. Let me see your smartphone.”

As if suddenly recalling something, Kiryu-san said this and took out a smartphone from his pocket… my smartphone.

“If this ‘place’ isn’t set as an official stage, it’s impossible for enemies to appear. Let’s do everything we can while we’re here.”

“You’re right… Ah, the lock code is 0511. It’s my birthday.”

“…Change that passcode. Right now.”

“Ehhh? No way, that’s too much hassle.”

“Change. It.”

“Owowowow, that hurts! …Mmm, okay, how about a code based on ‘white-black’—so 4-6-9-6?”[^The numbers 4-6-9-6 are a Japanese number pun (goroawase) for 'shi-ro-ku-ro' (white-black).]

“The moment you told me, that passcode is also rejected. And don’t just carelessly tell people your passcode. Also, make it harder for others to guess by adding more digits. You never know where the traps of social engineering are lurking, understand?”

“Geez, I get it, I get it. I’ll change it properly when we get back to the real world.”

“…You said it, okay? It’s an absolute promise. You absolutely have to change it. That’s a promise.” Hearing my half-hearted reply, Kiryu-san grimaced but tapped in the passcode and unlocked the smartphone.

“…As expected, no signal. Aside from the ‘Untitled’ app, is there anything unusual on the menu screen?”

“Nope. The battery’s down to thirty percent, huh. It’d be great if we could charge it somewhere.”

“Doesn’t look like that’s possible for now. We don’t have a Micro USB cable either.”

It was probably best not to expect to be able to charge a smartphone in Confi-City.

“…Well then. All that’s left is to decide whether or not to open this ‘Untitled’ app…” Kiryu-san trailed off, his words clipped. His gaze remained fixed on the smartphone screen.

“What should we do…” Like Kiryu-san, I could only offer a similarly hesitant reply.

This app called ‘Untitled’… I’m curious, but is it really okay to tap it open? Could it be some kind of cursed app? What if a countdown starts the moment I open it, displaying the time left until I die?

Just as I was thinking such things…

“…Seriously?!” Suddenly, Kiryu-san let out a very un-Kiryu-san-like shout and thrust the smartphone at me.

“Eh?”

And before I could ask Kiryu-san anything, a sharp, metallic CLAAANG!! rang out above my head. Reflexively, I flinched and hugged myself. Timidly, I looked up. Something outrageous was happening.

—Above my head, the Villainess, or rather, Elisabeth, was trying to strike me with her mithril scepter, and Kiryu-san had blocked it with his crowbar in the nick of time.

“…If you have an explanation, I’m prepared to hear it.” Lightly flicking his crowbar to brush aside Elisabeth’s scepter, Kiryu-san spoke in a quiet voice.

Elisabeth looked down at her own scepter with a bitter expression.

…Looks like she was overpowered.

Kiryu-san, he’s unbelievably strong…

“We have no intention of antagonizing you. However, just now, you committed a hostile act against us. You understand that, right?”

“…” Elisabeth remained silent. She looked as if she didn’t know how to act or what to say. …However, the next moment, she raised her scepter again. Kiryu-san mercilessly parried it, knocking the scepter away, and this time, it seemed Elisabeth’s fighting spirit was truly lost.

To the dumbfounded Elisabeth, Kiryu-san said quietly, “From what I saw, you woke up, got up, looked around, and the moment you laid eyes on us, you immediately attacked.” His expression was stern, but there was an air about him suggesting he was choosing his words very carefully. “For what earthly reason did you attack us… Explain it so we can understand.”

“…”

“If you give us a satisfactory explanation, we won’t attack you. But if you continue to remain silent, then from now on… at least I personally will consider you an enemy.”

At Kiryu-san’s harsh tone, Elisabeth bit her lower lip, looking as if she were about to cry. Still, there was a strange sense of dissonance in the way Kiryu-san was speaking.

Or perhaps, should I call it… déjà vu? Something about his overly logical way of speaking, not typical for everyday conversation… a game… and combined with that voice, it felt like I’d seen or heard it somewhere before… Hmm…

“…Um, first, I’d like to confirm, Elisabeth-san, are you a human from Japan?” I asked, raising my hand in a gesture as if seeking permission to speak. “Both I and Kiryu-san… this man here, we’re humans who wandered in here while working overtime at our respective companies or hospitals in Japan. Elisabeth-san, are you the same? Or are you an entity unique to this game… no, this otherworld?”

When I asked that, Elisabeth shook her head with a self-deprecating smile. “…No, I’m not an NPC. I’m just a perfectly ordinary human who, until a moment ago, was supposed to be suffering through unpaid overtime. Actually, am I Elisabeth this time? Me?”

“‘This time’?” Kiryu-san immediately picked up on Elisabeth’s remark. “Elisabeth, you mean to say, ‘you’ve encountered a similar situation before,’ right?”

“…That’s right. If my appearance has changed to that of a game character, and this is some incomprehensible world that looks just like a game… then yes, that’s correct. I’ve encountered a similar situation before.” Elisabeth’s way of speaking was quite slow. Rather than her naturally having a leisurely tone, it felt more like she, too, was choosing her words carefully.

“Your appearance… you’re Kiryu Souichiro from ‘Nijimu Academy ☆ Fantasia,’ aren’t you? And the girl over there?”

“Um, I’m Sera, the heroine from the zombie game ‘Deadman's Conflict 2.’ Just my appearance, of course.”

“I already know that. …So, that smartphone, does it belong to Kiryu-san or Sera-san?” As she said this, Elisabeth pointed to the smartphone I was clutching to my chest.

I was about to say, “It’s mine,” but Kiryu-san stopped me. Was he telling me not to say anything careless?

But that alone seemed to be enough for Elisabeth to understand. With a chillingly dark expression, Elisabeth grinned. …No, perhaps it was a smile on the verge of tears. A smile that showed the grim determination of having to do a job she didn’t want to do, but had no choice.

“…I see. So, it really is yours, Sera-san.”

“What does that have to do with anything we’ve discussed so far?” As Kiryu-san said this, he smoothly stepped between me and Elisabeth.

He was probably protecting me.

Ugh, I’m sorry… Did I make a slip of the tongue?

“As I said earlier, you suddenly attacked us. …Being thrown into a ridiculous world like this, one would normally be confused or stunned. Conveniently enough, this place is also clearly abnormal in appearance.” As Kiryu-san said this, he gestured sharply with his thumb towards the flimsy-looking backgrounds above us. “But you attacked us with surprising smoothness. ‘Almost as if you knew beforehand what you were supposed to do in this world.’”

“…”

“In other words, you know what kind of world this is, and what you need to do to get out of here, don’t you?” Kiryu-san’s voice was hard. Kiryu-san, who just moments ago had been stuffing medicinal herbs into his pockets and swinging his crowbar around with abandon, was now visibly on high alert.

“…Hehe, that’s right. You’re absolutely correct. I’m not entirely ignorant about this world, at least.” Elisabeth laughed. It looked like a broken smile… or perhaps a tearful laugh. “…She’s the ‘Core’ of this game. If you don’t kill her, this game will never end.”

【A Character Introduction That Offers Absolutely No Help in Reading the Main Story】

■ Villainess
A concept found primarily in web novels aimed at a female audience. Conversely, it's rarely seen in actual games. The Villainess typically endures terrible experiences, then makes a dramatic comeback, winning wealth, fame, and handsome men. So, by all accounts, her role is less ‘villain’ and more ‘classic protagonist’… yet, for some reason, the term ‘villain’ always sticks. Perhaps, in this context, ‘villain’ is closer in meaning to someone starting from scratch or overcoming adversity.

(Incidentally, disaster medicine literature notes that when a sphygmomanometer is unavailable, systolic blood pressure can be estimated by the location where a pulse can be felt. The radial artery (wrist) corresponds to approximately 80mmHg, the femoral artery (groin) to 70mmHg, and the carotid artery (neck) to 60mmHg. For instance, if a pulse is only palpable in the carotid artery, systolic blood pressure can be inferred to be around 60mmHg. Furthermore, if the individual's normal blood pressure is unknown, a systolic reading of 90mmHg or less is generally considered a state of shock.)