Chapter 109

EPISODE 2 LET’S FORGE OUR OWN PATH! Right about the time Alfoncina was pinching Ryouta’s hand, something was happening in the old Empire’s castle. The castle staff had no idea, either, because it was taking place underground, on a floor regular people couldn’t visit. “I finally won… I finally beat them all… Putting so many hard games back-to-back has to be illegal… Ehem, ehem. Oh dear, I think playing so many video games has made my cough worse. Ehem, ehem…” Rei stared at the ending credits on the TV screen with bloodshot eyes. Security underground had been raised considerably ever since Sairi invaded. An NES console with ten N*ntendo-hard games had been placed in the hallway—all titles that were universally panned for being too difficult. The door at the end of the hallway would not open unless you beat every one of them. Not only that, but if one also got a game over at any point, they would be sent back to the very first game without any continues, even if they’d cleared several beforehand. And since the whole setup required forcing aged hardware to work again, the slightest external vibration meant the screen would glitch and freeze. It was a thoroughly brutal affair. Rei, with all her bad luck, had experienced two freezes that resulted in a full restart. The second time was so upsetting, her heart had stopped for a bit, too. “These old games are such a handful—a lot of them seem to place the emphasis on conquering a difficult system over actually enjoying the game… An unskilled player might end up throwing away a game they bought, unable to ever see the ending…” The shutter behind the TV slowly rolled open. “Now then, what sort of trial awaits me next?” The next room had a computer in it. It seemed the computer was running a very old dating sim. The rules were taped to the wall: Get the good ending for every girl, even the hidden characters. “This has got to be simpler than the last round. I don’t think I’ll have to concentrate as hard… Wait, there must be a catch…” When she researched the game on her phone, she was met with a terrible verdict. “Um, this says… ‘One, affection mechanics in this game are incredibly harsh. If you pick the wrong choice even once, you won’t trigger any events. Two, even if your affection level is high enough to trigger events, the most important events are triggered essentially at random, so if you have bad luck, you’ll only get friend endings. Three, the game’s story loops, but there’s no skip function for either read or unread dialogue, so you have to read the same lines over and over again. Four, for some reason, your cursor will go straight to the first option when it’s time to make a dialogue decision. I guess the devs thought they were being nice, but if you’re just clicking to get through dialogue, you will accidently choose the first option every time. Five, there’s one character whose events won’t trigger unless you pick the nonsensical options, so you can’t finish this game by choosing only the most logical responses. Six, there’s a bug where the game freezes when you save, so you can’t save scum. Seven, there’s a bug where the game crashes depending on the option order, so you have to go through characters in a certain order. This is truly a garbage fire of a game’… Am I in for another hellish experience…?” In the end, Rei’s inherent bad luck came to a head, preventing her from triggering any events. It took her twenty hours to clear the game. Once again, the shutter on the other side of the room rolled open. “I finally…got through it… If I remember correctly, the next door should be a really tough one, like the kind on a bank vault.” She had no plan for how she was going to get through it, but she needed to in order to do her job. “I won’t let this stop me. I will not bend to any door or stupid, crappy game!” The door in question had been sliced in two, and on it, she found a paper that read UNDER CONSTRUCTION. “Oh, Sairi must have done this… I suppose she is very powerful. Ehem, ehem…” The special door had been broken in a very special way, and it seemed repairs were going to take a while. At the end of the passage, Rei came across a room decorated in an eerie fashion. The floor was carpeted with a rug that appeared to be covered in blood, and there were rose petals scattered across it. The curtains were drawn, despite the room being underground, and they had ominous designs on them featuring skulls and bats. “I’ve come here countless times to deliver messages, but it never fails to give me goose bumps…” This room, of course, belonged to Ouka’s mother—Ominaeshi Sarano. “Hello? Hello!” Rei knocked on the coffin in the middle of the room. “How obnoxious! Can’t you summon me in a quieter manner?!” Wham! The coffin flew open, and Ominaeshi emerged. As she did, the lid smashed into Rei, who went hurtling backward and landed on her head. “Oh dear… I’ve done it again… Oh no, her skull has split, and real blood now colors my rug…! Hello! Please wake up! I only pretend to be a stereotypical vampire; I cannot handle the sight of so much blood!” “This is nothing. It’s not enough to kill me.” Rei sat up, blood still pouring from her head. “I simply cannot understand by what standard you are judging things. If you’re really that tough, can you at least appear as if you’re taking no damage? Watching you is bad for my heart.” Ominaeshi wore a black dress as always and was cooling herself off with a black fan. “Sorry about that. If you don’t mind, I’ve come to deliver a message. Ehem, ehem.” “A message? From whom? I don’t mean to brag, but I have very few friends.” Would that technically be a humblebrag? “All right, allow me to recite the message: ‘……………Good luck.’” “I need a little more information! Couldn’t they have written what the good luck was for?!” The message had been more abstract than expected. “I’m sorry, but I forgot more and more of the message as the games held me up. I did remember that it was something encouraging, though…” “Then at least tell me who it came from…” “Hmm, what was the name again…?” “You must be the least qualified messenger in existence… If you have nothing to tell me, then I am going back to sleep. I wish to spend every moment possible sleeping.” “Oh, I know!” Rei clapped her hands together. “Ms. Ominaeshi, I’ll go back to sleep to confirm the message, so could you please strangle me?” “By ‘sleep,’ do you mean eternal slumber…? I would rather not have any brushes with the police… If it comes to that, I’ll need to have my daughter use her Imperial power to forcibly erase all evidence.” “It’s all right. I’m just going to the world with the flower field~.” “I have a feeling you may not be able to come back from such a world…but very well. I shall do as you ask!” Ominaeshi wrapped her hands around Rei’s throat. (*DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.) “Agh… Augh! Ah…ah… Slump.” Rei’s head lolled to the side. She had lost consciousness. “Now, what shall I do with her? I suppose I shall lay her down until she wakes up. But I do not want to put her in my coffin. That spot is for me alone. If she were to die for real, it would hinder my next slumber.” Ominaeshi was also aware of Rei’s special qualities (?) and was not terribly bothered by the situation. She was not the cruel sort of person who would happily wring the neck of anyone who asked. “Mm, I suppose I’ll lay her down on the rug.” She wasn’t very gentle. Fifteen minutes later— “Phew, the conversation got so involved that I almost missed the boat back home. Ehem, ehem. Had I missed it, I wouldn’t have been able to come back… Close call!” “The boat? That means you did pass into the next life for a moment… You have put yourself at risk.” “But I did find the person I was looking for, and we had a good chat.” “Oh, so you completed your mission?” “We got really into talking about old NES JRPGs!” “Do not pass into the afterlife simply to reminisce with people of your own generation!” “We eventually agreed that G*ga Z*mbie no Gy*kushu is an essential title.” “I did not find it particularly impressive myself. I would say that’s your nostalgia speaking. In terms of entertainment, while I know this is toward the latter half of that era, the Goemon RPGs…” They spoke for half an hour. “Everyone says it’s the dodgeball that makes the series, but personally speaking, I preferred the soccer~.” “Oh, the one with hunter team versus the ninja team! You always had to use the really powerful teammates who could send the ball straight to the goal no matter where it ended up. Often, they’d knock the opposing goalie out of the way, too, giving you extra points. You could only block so many of the opponent’s special shots, so it was nearly impossible to win by blocking. But isn’t this a little before your time…? I’m starting to think you’ve given me the wrong age.” “I really like historical series, too! If you lower the difficulty just a touch, then all the enemies die in a single hit!” “I think you are, indeed, lying about your age.” “No, I’m fourteen.” That would make her younger than Rei’s own little brother. “Oh. And what was that message you had for me?” asked Ominaeshi. “I forgot.” (*She crossed into the afterlife once again.) “I arrived when he was with another woman, and things got dicey. I thought I was going to die there, too! Ehem, ehem…” “You’re putting yourself on the line even more than a bad stand-up act… What was the message, then?” “Yes, yes. I definitely remember this time. I just heard it, after all. It’s still fresh in my mind.” Rei played the part of dependable messenger. She even imitated the sender’s manner of speech, as if it was some sort of performance. Because of that, the message took quite some time to say, and more and more tears began to well in Ominaeshi’s eyes as she listened. By the time Rei finished relaying the message, Ominaeshi’s cheeks were stained with tears. She did not even care that it was ruining her makeup. “No… This isn’t fair… Abusing the privileges of the dead… Pretending to be a good person in the next life… People only grow more beautiful in death… And after he was unreasonable and egotistical and a complete rascal in life!” Ominaeshi sat on her coffin. She no longer had the energy to stand. Rei came to sit next to her. “I’m glad I got to tell you.” She gently handed the other woman a handkerchief. Ominaeshi took it wordlessly. When she brought it to her eyes, tears quickly came to wet it. “To be honest, I thought it would be kind of a pain to go back and ask again; I considered just winging it so I didn’t have to. It isn’t as though anyone else could check. Ehem, ehem.” “That’s quite a statement to deliver so casually.” “An adult’s life is difficult. The longer one lives, the more burdens one comes to shoulder.” “Yes, and I have been through so many terrible things already. I hope my life is filled with nothing but joy from here on out.” “Though, I think I might be a full twelve years younger than you.” “What a bold thing for a twentysomething to say! You will soon grow old! This is the only time you can get away with acting young!” “I told you, I’m fourteen!” “We both know that is a lie!” “I know things are tough for us adults, but let’s do what we can, okay? For the younger generations.” “I am forever seventeen.” In the end, Rei’s bid for adult sympathy was denied. “What? But you have to be at least twice my—” “You will not finish that sentence, lest I wring your neck again.” Neither of them had an ounce of adult decorum. “Still, we cannot inflict hardship on my daughter’s generation. I don’t wish them to inherit the consequences of our mistakes. To make them suffer simply because we did would only bring about senseless resentment…” Ominaeshi stood and pulled back the creepy curtain on the wall. A framed picture hung behind it. It was a picture of the day Ouka graduated from elementary school. On either side of her stood Ominaeshi and her late husband, Ouen. One of them was gone now, but that was precisely why she had to live to her fullest to make sure Ouka was happy. “There is…another to whom I would like for you to deliver the message. Will you do it?” Ominaeshi asked, her head lowered and her voice muffled. This was important, but it was still difficult to say out loud. “Of course. I made it all the way to you. Anything else should be a cinch.” Rei took on the job without question. “Thank you.” Ominaeshi then gave her the name of the other recipient. “I had thought as much,” Rei said. “It will be difficult, ehem, ehem, but I will do it. Ehem, ehem.” “Yes. I wish you the best of luck. However”—a bleak look crossed Ominaeshi’s face—“that does not mean everything will go back to how it used to be, nor do I intend to offer any assistance.” She slowly pulled the curtain back across the painting. The framed photo was once again hidden from view. “I want things to be better for the younger generation. But it is up to them to decide how they want to live. They must decide whether they want happiness or not.”