Episode 14: A Promise for the Future and a Wall Slam (Not the Romantic Kind)

"So, we've got about three hours until time's up, huh..." Kiryu-san muttered, his face etched with concern as he broke the silence, lost in thought.

"Sera, you know this game inside and out. What do you think is our best course of action? It’s a shame to leave behind the Army of Hell we’ve leveled up and all our weapons, but I'm wondering if it might be wise to ditch this game and evacuate to that otome game world you mentioned."

"Hmm, what should we do..." I mused, sinking into thought. Now that I'd calmed down a bit, my thoughts felt clearer.

"...Going to the otome game world is easy enough. But if we do that, this world—"Deadman's Conflict 3"—which has already hit a 'bad end,' might get locked into a game over state. We might never be able to come back."

"That's true. But there's also the chance that reaching an ending could reset it to the beginning... like a New Game," Elisabeth chimed in.

"Yes, of course, that's also possible." I nodded in agreement with Elisabeth.

"But I think our only reliable chance to save the world of "Deadman's Conflict 3" is right now. If we leave and come back later, it might be after the fuel-air explosive ending, and the city might never recover... That's a real possibility. And if we can help it, I'd rather not abandon the player 'Anata,' who triggered the ending flag."

I looked intently at Kiryu-san and Elisabeth.

"So, here’s my proposal: why don’t we rewrite the ending?"

"Rewrite it?" Kiryu-san tilted his head.

I nodded. "Yes. Before the fuel-air explosive is dropped on Confi-City, we trigger the 'Truck Ending' flag ourselves. If we do that, the 'bad ending where everyone is wiped out by the fuel-air explosive' might be nullified."

"...And what if it isn't nullified?" Elisabeth asked, her voice tinged with fear.

Shivering at the terrifying prospect, I forced the words out.

"...In that case, we might not reach 'Anata's' presumed location within three hours, and we might have to give up on rescuing 'Anata.' If the Truck Ending doesn't trigger, let's immediately escape to a suitable otome game world."

"I see... Well, it's worth a shot," Kiryu-san agreed.
"It wouldn't sit right with me to knowingly abandon lives we could save. I want to return to our original world without any lingering regrets... Let's do everything we can."

"...You have a point. Alright, I understand," Elisabeth said, then managed a tense smile.

"It's true; we absolutely shouldn't abandon someone who might be saved. ...In the last otherworld transfer I experienced, so many people acted like killing was perfectly normal that I became convinced if I didn't want to die, I had no choice but to abandon others. But... I think that's wrong. ...I'm truly glad the people I met in this world were you two."

"Hearing you say you're 'glad' with such a tense expression doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, you know?" I said, deliberately trying to lighten the mood and ease her tension.

"It'll be okay, Elisabeth-san. It's not like we're doing anything incredibly complicated. We're just going for a little drive to run over some zombies with a truck. And if it really looks like it's not going to work... well, it's unfortunate, but we'll have no choice but to give up on rescuing 'Anata.' Anyway, I wonder which otome game we should transfer to next? Whichever one we pick, I bet it'll be full of handsome guys on Kiryu-san's level. Eye candy galore!"

As I spoke in a slightly playful tone, Elisabeth gave a small laugh, and Kiryu-san, with a wry smile, tapped my head very, very lightly.

After that, we discussed our plan and decided to spend about thirty minutes adjusting our supplies and the Army of Hell's equipment in preparation for the Truck Ending.
Elisabeth, who apparently wasn't good at fighting—let alone any physical activity—would stay behind at the Safe House. With the Army of Hell standing guard, we judged it would be safe enough for our short absence.
Then, Kiryu-san and I, along with several members of the Army of Hell, headed out to Uptown's final area.
We ganged up on the mid-boss—the gun shop owner—beat him to a pulp, and confiscated the grenade launcher he had hidden. Now, we were at a shooting range, endlessly farming launchers.

"Aah, I could really go for a drink."

"Didn't you drink until you puked just a little while ago?" Kiryu-san chuckled at my words.

I just shook my head. "That doesn't even count as drinking."
"That stuff was useless. It tasted like booze, but I didn't get drunk at all," I sighed.

"I want some real alcohol. I want to forget all this scary stuff and just go home and sleep in my own bed."

"...Are you scared?" Kiryu-san asked, tilting his head as he handed me another launcher he'd duplicated.

I nodded, a little peeved.

"Of course, I'm scared! How could I not be? We're in a world where we might die in a few hours, and we're about to take a huge gamble! Honestly, I just want to ditch everything and curl up in a ball under my covers. ...But I can't do that."

I sighed heavily as I stacked the launchers onto the truck bed.
Watching me, Kiryu-san spoke, perhaps prompted by my state.

"...You're strong, you know."

"Not at all. I'm not strong," I shook my head.

"...If I seem strong to you, Kiryu-san, it must be your imagination. The real me isn't strong at all. I'm constantly worried that my decisions are wrong, so anxious I can barely stand it, and I'm just putting on the best brave face I can, even though I'm not actually strong."

"Even if it's just a brave face, you've saved me countless times in this world," Kiryu-san said.

My eyes widened at his words. Still, I didn't stop working. I was using sheets torn into rope-like strips to tie the excess launchers to the Army of Hell members. Finishing that task, I looked at Kiryu-san and said,

"...Saved you? That's quite an exaggeration."

"You might have forgotten, but from the very beginning until now, we've only ever been in desperate situations. The only reason I haven't lost my sanity is because you were here."

"...I kind of feel like even if you hadn't met me, Kiryu-san, you wouldn't have lost your sanity and would have acted calmly anyway."

"Can you still say that, remembering how I was when I talked about interrogating Elisabeth?"

"Ugh... well..." I involuntarily looked down.
Indeed, Kiryu-san had completely lost his cool back then.

"...Well, what I'm trying to say is," Kiryu-san said, scratching his head. He looked somewhat embarrassed, perhaps even awkward.

"There's no one who understands and can judge the current situation better than you, a zombie game fiend. So, whether your decision is right or wrong, we'll support you with all our might. We're in this insane world; it's natural for you to be scared, but there's no need to be too scared. So... it's okay. Let's do this."

Saying that, Kiryu-san gently placed his hand on my head. It wasn't remotely flirty; it felt more like he was doing his best to encourage me.

I thought this when we first met too, but Kiryu-san's hand is really warm...

I blinked, feeling the warmth of his palm. Perhaps because that warmth had unconsciously reassured me, I found I had a little mental space to think.

...It was about the way Kiryu-san spoke.
That way of speaking—his inability to resist pointing out technical inaccuracies, somehow endearingly clumsy and overly serious... I'd thought about it before I passed out, but I was absolutely certain I'd met Kiryu-san somewhere before.
No, I'd heard him before.
As I mulled this over, I arrived at a certain 'correct answer.'

"...Um, Kiryu-san."

"What is it?"

"I just remembered something out of the blue."

"Yeah?"

"Kiryu-san, you're a game creator, right? Working in █Shuku."

"...That's correct." Kiryu-san nodded, looking puzzled. He was probably wondering why I was asking that now.

Looking him in the eye, I continued,

"You know, Kiryu-san, I had this strange feeling I recognized your way of talking. It's rather formal, very distinctive, like I'd heard it somewhere before."

"And, well, I mentioned this a little while ago, but I love playing otome games with my friends, all of us laughing our heads off."

"Yeah."

"Including "Nijimu High School Fantasia," of course."

"..."

"Just now, I suddenly remembered something. My friend is a huge fan of Kiryu Souichiro, and she once showed me a video, all excited, saying, 'There's a video out with the game creator who's rumored to be the model for Kiryu-san!' Kiryu-san, about a year or two ago, you appeared in a video where otome game creators played Werewolf, didn't you?"

Kiryu-san said nothing. He just stood there, frozen, his eyes wide. It seemed I'd hit the nail on the head.
I leaned closer to Kiryu-san's ear and whispered, "Could it be, Kiryu-san, that your real name is..." and then I said the name of the creator who had appeared in that video.

"...Correct," he muttered, his shoulders slumping as he went still.
...Or so I thought. But then, his face bright red with shame, he started furiously pounding on the wall. THUMP! THUMP! The shooting range shook. He kept hitting it with such brute force that it looked like it might break. Apparently, having his name revealed was that embarrassing for him.
Watching the embarrassed Kiryu-san made me feel embarrassed too, and I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.

"...I thought it was a long shot, but I never imagined I'd actually blurt out the right answer. So, Kiryu-san, you really were one of the creators of "Nijimu High School Fantasia," huh? Is the rumor that you were the model for Kiryu Souichiro true too?"

"N-No! I have nothing to do with that game! I only handle the programming side; I'm completely uninvolved with the scenario or illustrations, and the character creation stuff was all done by the guys in a specialized department, on their own, without my input...!!"

"But you are involved with "Nijimu High School Fantasia," right? That's amazing, I'm so thrilled! This is the first time I've ever actually met someone who made a game I love!"

"Ugh...!!" Kiryu-san flinched, looking at my face. Apparently, he hadn't expected such admiration.

"...Um, it's an otome game, you know?"

"Yes, it is."

"A guy making otome games... what do you think about that?"

"I think it's cool!"

"C-Cool...?" Kiryu-san looked at me as if to say, What on earth is this girl talking about?

I couldn't help but tilt my head.

"I think being an otome game creator is a perfectly respectable job... Kiryu-san, do you not like your job very much?"

"...It's not exactly the job I wanted. It's more like I'm only doing it because I can't find work elsewhere," Kiryu-san said, looking away awkwardly.

I blinked and tilted my head again.

"Not what you wanted... Oh, wait, did you want to make VR games? You were talking in such detail about FOV and haptic feedback and stuff, weren't you?"

"Ah... that was just something I'd recently looked into out of interest, not that I'm an expert or anything. I've tried making demo-like things on my own, but I've never actually released a finished game under my own name. ...To create something yourself, complete it with your own power, and release it to the world under your own name... that takes a lot of courage, and it's a huge undertaking."

"Huh... But you're making "Nijimu High School Fantasia," right? Being involved in such a big game that's loved by so many people, I still think you're amazing, Kiryu-san. ...Oh, right! Kiryu-san! When we get back, could you sign an autograph board for me? I want to brag to my other friends who play Nijimu!"

"Whaaaaat!?" At my words, Kiryu-san looked at me with an expression that screamed, What on earth is this girl talking about?! his face a picture of utter distaste.

I hurriedly retracted my words.

"I'm sorry! If you don't want to, it's fine! I just... I just thought that if I had something to look forward to once we safely escaped this weird world, I'd be able to try harder. But, thinking about it, this would be embarrassing and unpleasant for you, Kiryu-san, wouldn't it? I'm sorry for making such a strange request. Please forget abou—"

"No, I'll sign it."

"Eh?"

"...If something as trivial as an autograph from an ordinary guy like me—I'm not famous or anything—can cheer you up, then I'll sign as many as you want. So, let's all make it out of here alive, no matter what. That's a promise, Sera."

"...Yes!!"

At Kiryu-san's words, I was so overcome with emotion that I nodded and practically threw myself at him. Kiryu-san looked surprised for a moment, but then he gave a wry smile and gently patted my back.
...All around us, members of the Army of Hell, burdened with ridiculously large launchers, stood watching, but I couldn't care less about that now.

We're definitely getting out of here alive.

The fear that had paralyzed me vanished before I even realized it.

【Character Introductions That Will Be of No Help Whatsoever in Understanding the Main Story – Not One Bit!】

■ Werewolf Game
There was once a mysterious boom where all sorts of creators and game players were gathered to play live, unscripted werewolf games broadcast online. Kiryu-san likely got caught up in this. For him, it's an exceedingly embarrassing memory, and he apparently wants to get the video deleted somehow, but it seems nothing he tries works out.