Episode 4: You have been warned.

Once we’d made up our minds, we had to commit. It’s the default setting for a burnt-out corporate drone, one of the countless souls keeping Japan’s city lights burning late into the night.

So, we cut the small talk and quickly got down to the practical matter of figuring out our next move.

"Let's get out of this baffling situation as fast as we can. First, once we've collected all the items in this 'Downtown' stage, we need to hurry to the Safe House in the next stage, 'Uptown'."

"Right."

"Safe Houses are, at the very least, safer than the regular stages."

"...'At the very least, safer than the regular stages'? That’s a rather roundabout way to put it. Does that mean Safe Houses aren’t completely safe either?"

All I could do was shrug at Kiryu-san's point.

"Unfortunately, yes. In this game, as time goes on, zombies multiply, safe places become scarcer, and clearing the game gets harder. Safe Houses are secure for the first few days, but…"

"Eventually, they get overrun by zombies, right?"

"Yes."

I nodded.

"Two or three days after the game starts, random, irregular zombie raids begin. Seven days after that, a cutscene triggers, an overwhelming horde of zombies appears, and it's a forced game over.

If we manage to fight them off, we might be safe again for a short while. But… they’ll likely just keep spawning infinitely, so fending them off indefinitely is probably impossible. It’s best not to count on surviving that kind of game-over onslaught."

As we were talking, we made our way back to the large window. Two or three zombies had already gathered outside, so I made them fodder for my infinite machine gun.

"Ah! The corpses are moving again... Zombies, just dieeee! Ahahahaha!"

"...Um, this might be awkward to ask, but are you… one of those people? Someone who’s into, uh, sadistic pleasure killing or something like that?"

"How rude! I don't have any desires like that. I just enjoy venting all my pent-up daily frustrations on zombies. I’m a hopeless case, always bowing and scraping to others, but hey, these are zombies, right? If I don’t kill them, they’ll kill me. It can’t be helped!"

"To think someone could kill zombies with such a bright smile for that reason alone…"

Kiryu-san said, twirling his crowbar idly, looking like he had nothing better to do.

"I never expected to be traveling with a hardcore zombie game addict of this caliber."

"That's right, I'm a hardcore zombie game addict! So Kiryu-san, you can just relax and feel like you're in good hands. It's okay, it's okaaay! Things might get a little scary, but I'm sure it'll all work out in the end!"

"...That cheerfulness is actually kind of reassuring, in a strange way. Before I met you, I was completely stuck, and so many desperate things had happened."

Kiryu-san gave a wry smile, as if influenced by me. Then, his expression clouded over slightly.

"...Still, just because you could do it in a game, being able to handle firearms so easily in reality… that’s strange, isn’t it?"

"You think so?"

"Of course. Aren’t firearms pretty much the number one weapon amateurs can’t handle? You often see videos online of people getting knocked flat by a gun's recoil."

"...Ah. Now that you mention it, you're right. Why can I use it?"

Even as we talked, zombies kept spawning one after another in the back alley.
Splattering blood. Dancing chunks of flesh. Zombie games really are fun.
Japanese people should kill zombies more freely. It'd be a great stress reliever and would undoubtedly skyrocket the entire nation's QOL.

"Everyone! Die!!"

"...Honestly, you're really reassuring."

Kiryu-san sighed in admiration.

"I used to play games a lot myself, but zombie games aren't my specialty. I had no idea the terrain would make the right path so hard to find... If I were alone, I probably would've died here."

As Kiryu-san looked around the back alley area, another zombie approached from down the road. I clapped my hands together.

"...That's right! I think we're doing fine with the machine gun, but just in case, shall we 'test' our unarmed capabilities too?"

"...Test?"

Ignoring Kiryu-san, who clearly had a bad feeling about this, I thrust the machine gun at him and charged headlong towards the approaching zombie.

"Hey... Sera-chan!?"

Kiryu-san yelled after me, but it was no problem.
After a few dozen seconds of grappling with the zombie, I plunged my hand deep into its abdomen and ripped out its insides.

"...You ripped its guts out?!"

Kiryu-san's shout said it all.
I have a feeling if I write too many details, various people will get angry and say, "That's too gory!" so I'll skip the description.
Anyway, I ripped out its guts!

"Sera-chan, what in the world were you thinking?!"

"This is Level 1."

"Level 1?!"

"Just now, it took me about a minute, and I fumbled quite a bit ripping out the zombie's guts. At MAX level, you can do it in an instant. Since it took over a minute, it seems this 'Sera Harvey' body is currently at Level 1."

Waving my blood-soaked hands around, I shrugged.

"You did something that dangerous just to find that out...?"

Kiryu-san sighed, looking exhausted, but honestly, I think it's a pretty standard way to kill zombies in a zombie game.

"You're overreacting, Kiryu-san. ...Actually,"

"What is it?"

"I’m not usually the type of character people add ‘-chan’ to, so it feels a bit strange. You can just call me by my name, no honorifics needed."

"Alright, I will. …But now that you mention it, it does feel a little weird calling a woman I’ve just met by her first name, without any honorific."

"But isn’t ‘Harvey’ a bit hard to say? Sera’s last name barely ever comes up in the game, so I might not even realize you’re talking to me if you call me Harvey."

"That could be an issue..."

Kiryu-san frowned, lost in thought. Then he sighed and shook his head.

"...Yeah, Sera is fine. Calling each other by our real names would be awkward too, anyway."

"Right? That’s better. My real self isn’t small and cute like Sera, so using my real name with this appearance would feel pretty strange."

When I said that with a wry smile, Kiryu-san offered a similar one.

"I don't think most people have looks that can be compared to 2D characters. ...My real self doesn't look like this flashy peacock either, you know."

"A peacock, you say? How dare you! I’m a Nijiyume fan, you know! I’m not a Kiryu-san fan myself, so it’s fine, but if you said that in front of a real Kiryu Souichiro fan, you could get killed, you realize?"

"Yeah, I know. They're the largest faction among Nijiyume fans, and a lot of them are pretty radical."

"..."

"..."

"...Hm?"

Just as I tilted my head, Kiryu-san quickly averted his gaze and, with a suddenly straight face, covered his mouth with his hand. It all happened in an instant.
Seeing that, I tilted my head even further.

"Kiryu-san... Nijiyume High School ☆ Fantasia... you only saw it at that game event in Kaihin Makuhari, right?"

"..."

"Kiryu-sa—"

"A-hem, Sera!! ...I, uh, forgot to tell you something important!"

Kiryu-san changed the subject with surprising force.

"It's something that occurred to me when I saw you ripping out those guts earlier. Don’t you ever do anything that reckless again, like you’re actively trying to get yourself killed!"

"Trying to get myself killed…? I’m a veteran zombie game addict. Zombie game addicts don’t die just from ripping out a zombie’s guts."

"You say you won’t die? This world might look like a game, but it’s not exactly the same as a game, you know."

Kiryu-san's eyes were serious.

"You were just lucky to come out of that unharmed. …This world isn’t a game. You only have one life here—think of it that way."

"That's... true. I'm sorry."

"It's fine as long as you understand."

As we walked and talked, the next enemy arrived.

"...Ah. Infected Wasps are here."

"That’s a strangely huge swarm of… bees?"

"They’re huge, aren’t they? Exciting, right? I’m thrilled to see enemies from the game in real life! From now on, enemies like that will keep appearing. The fun of defeating ‘dynamically strengthening enemies’ is the main appeal of this game… Whoa?!"

I couldn't help but cry out.
Kiryu-san had suddenly dashed forward and, in an instant, swatted down all the wasps.

"Kiryu-san… you’re strong…"

"I was good at sports."

I don't think being 'good at sports' quite covers that level of skill...

While I let out an involuntary sigh of admiration, I re-adjusted my grip on the machine gun.
However, it was Kiryu-san himself who stopped me as I tried to provide backup.

"Hold on a sec, Sera. Listening to what you just said, I’m curious… what do you mean by ‘dynamically strengthening enemies’? Until I met you, I’d only encountered regular zombies…"

"Huh? Oh, that’s because you’ve hardly killed any zombies, Kiryu-san. Or rather, none at all. This game is designed so that the more zombies you kill, the stronger enemies start appearing as ‘trash mobs,’ letting you experience the thrill of defeating them."

"...Sounds like GT██."

"It’s fun! The more powerful enemies you defeat, the stronger ones appear as trash mobs, and the difficulty skyrockets. Come to think of it, I just remembered—if you keep doing that, eventually even the Safe Houses stop being completely safe."

"Hmm?! Isn’t that a pretty bad situation?! Does that mean it’s not good to kill too many enemies right now?!"

"..."

"... ..."

"... ...Huh?"

"You just realized, didn't you?"

"I just realized."

"You slipped up, didn't you?"

"I slipped up… I’m sorry. I’m usually careful not to make mistakes at work, but right now, for some reason, I’m just acting on this nostalgic feeling, like I’m playing an old game I used to love…"

I turned pale.
If killing enemies makes stronger ones appear, then I can’t just keep mindlessly mowing them down now…

"…This is a problem. It’s bad if too many strong enemies spawn, but if we don’t kill enough zombies, our levels won’t go up, and we’ll be in serious trouble if we get unlucky and a tough enemy appears."

"So we can’t just keep running away either… Understood. I’ll actively start taking down enemies too, so you try not to kill too many with the machine gun. If we share the kills, we should be able to prevent our levels from rising too quickly."

Even as we discussed this, Kiryu-san and I walked briskly onward, killing the Infected Wasps.
Looking around at the enemies gathering nearby, I sighed. I told him to leave this game to me, and yet here I am, already making a mess of things… It’s truly pathetic.
But Kiryu-san just said, "Don't beat yourself up about it," and patted my shoulder with the hand that wasn't busy smashing wasps.

"From your gut-ripping display earlier, we know your own level isn’t too high. It’s a good thing we realized this before the problem got any worse. Besides, the situation isn’t that desperate yet."

"...Huh?"

"If I were alone, I probably would have gotten lost and been eaten by zombies. But thanks to you, I have a detailed understanding of the game’s mechanics. Things I couldn’t do alone, I can do now that you’re here. …That place where this game starts—can we still get there from here?"

"Huh? The route might have changed, and it could be tough, but we probably can."

"Alright then, once we've recovered those two important items, the Vital Watch and your smartphone, could you guide me there?"

"What are you planning to do?"

As I looked up and asked, Kiryu-san grinned at me.

"—Let's get out of this game's 'frame'."

【Completely Unhelpful Character Introductions for Reading the Main Story】

■ Kiryu-san
A cautious muscle-head. He was cornered and in a desperate situation, but after witnessing a zombie game otaku joyfully massacring zombies, he’s calmed down considerably. He’s even composed enough to hit home runs on giant wasps with a crowbar. As a manager, he doesn’t get flustered by a younger person’s minor mistakes.