Yui saw any woman who got close to Ado as an enemy.
To be fair, Ado was a pretty attractive guy. Just going about town, he had his fair share of women flirting with him.
Yui saw those women as targets to destroy. Even if they weren’t in romantic relationships with him, she didn’t even want them in his proximity.
Her love was pretty intense.
Zelos glanced at the knife embedded in the wall. “Oh? Well, if it isn’t one of Ted’s cursed blades. This one was part of a set of seven, right? The Normie Eradicators, he called them. How’d you get your hands on those, Yui?”
“Ah—we actually knew Ted in real life,” Ado explained. “When we found out Yui was pregnant and started dating in Swords & Sorceries, the idiot gave us those as a present.”
“Didn’t those blades have a curse that adds lethal poison to any food you make with them?” Zelos asked. “Plus, an Ultimate Envy curse that makes you want to stab any couples you see nearby...”
“Yeah. My character got killed by Yui thanks to those things. He confessed to Yui last year, you know, and she rejected him. That bastard was trying to get back at me.”
“So that’s why you and Ted were always at each other’s throats. You guys crossed swords practically every time you met.”
Dead Ted, one of the Destroyers, had been Ado’s junior at school. After he’d confessed to Yui last summer, he’d gotten completely turned down and become a shut-in. He was actually good-looking in real life, plus he’d had amazing grades and had been great at every sport. Countless female students had confessed their feelings for him, but his unrequited love had set him on a course to becoming a hermit.
While Swords & Sorceries didn’t let you see players’ real-life identities, Ado had encountered Ted in-game once. He’d introduced him to Yui without knowing who he was, and Ted had recognized her from the way she talked.
Not long after, he’d learned Yui was pregnant.
Until about a year ago, Ted had gotten along pretty well with Ado, but he’d become openly hostile by the time they fought the Dark God. Zelos had always wondered why—and now he knew.
“I’d been worrying about him because I hadn’t seen him in real life for about a year, but...yeah. How was I supposed to know he’d turned into a recluse after Yui rejected him?” Ado said. “Not long after that, apparently, his mom heard about Yui’s pregnancy through some online gossip group for local housewives. Then he heard it from her and showed up at my part-time job to stare daggers at me...”
“So you’re saying that up until then, you had no clue that you knew Ted in real life?” Zelos asked.
“Yeah. I mean, who’d assume some guy they know in an MMO is actually their childhood friend?”
“Fair point, I guess. So, Yui—how’d you reject Ted? What’d you say to him?”
“Huh? Nothing too weird. Something like ‘Sorry. I only have eyes for Toshi. By the way, I want to tie the knot with him and earn everyone’s approval, but I’m not sure how to go about it. Do you have any suggestions?’”
“So you didn’t just reject a guy shooting his shot—you also asked him to help you get with someone else?!” Zelos and Ado cried.
Apparently, Yui had been scheming ways to lock Ado down even before Ted’s confession. It was a scary thought.
From Yui and Ado’s anecdotes, it seemed that Yui had realized she was pregnant before her high school graduation, so her decision to marry Ado must have come even earlier than that.
In other words, she’d had her eye on him from a young age—no, more like her crosshairs. Eventually, she’d shot her shot—and it had gone right through Ado’s heart. She was clearly head over heels for him.
The thought of Ted being forced to watch their love blossom from afar was kind of pitiful.
“He must’ve been pretty serious about you if getting rejected turned him into a shut-in. In a way, I feel bad for him too,” Ado said. “Sounds like you’re a real heartbreaker, huh, Yui?”
“I feel like your sympathy would only infuriate him, Ado,” Zelos said. “Yui, out of curiosity, is there anything else you said to him?”
Yui tilted her head. “Hmm... What was it again? ‘Every guy but Toshi is garbage. And it’s always satisfying to watch trash get incinerated, you know?’ Something like that, at least.”
“You compared him to garbage when you rejected him?!” Zelos and Ado exclaimed. “That’s gotta be rough on a guy his age...”
“What else was it?” Yui said, trying to remember. “Maybe... ‘Thanks for telling me, but your feelings are kind of a nuisance. I see you as a friend and have no interest in you beyond that. Sorry.’”
Zelos, Ado, Shakti, and Lisa all winced. “Harsh!”
Ted had been seen as boyfriend material, both by the girls in his class and those in other classes.
But the one he’d actually had his sights on, Yui, had shown no such interest in him. She was different from all the others.
Ado was about the only thing Yui had ever been assertive about. She hadn’t been interested in fashion or pop culture like most of the other girls, and as a result, she hadn’t really fit in with her classmates. It had been more of the same when it came to talking about guys.
The problem was that she was Ted’s type to a tee.
But Yui had only ever had eyes for Ado, so she saw any other guys as...well, as empty space, if you wanted to be polite—but she just called them garbage.