A fatal error has been detected. (err. No. 445189ff4a)
In order to safeguard life and property, all Dealers have been logged out.
Thank you for playing, Kaname Suou.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What?!”
The boy looked up to see only the darkness of the campsite. His entire body was drenched with sweat, his breathing was ragged, his heartbeat still wild.
…What happened? he thought.
The archangel Uriel hadn’t shot him. Just before his assailant pulled the trigger, the boy had been forcefully logged out. However, it was unlike any log-out procedure he had ever experienced before. It wasn’t a Fall, nor was it the normal process initiated from the seat of his vehicle. It felt more he’d suddenly gone unconscious.
And then.
“What…happened?”
He muttered to himself, mopping his sweat-soaked brow. He’d been saved in the nick of time, but he wasn’t even thinking about that now.
“What happened to Midori?!”
Nobody had ever been logged out like that before, and especially not while possessed by an angel! How could he be sure the girl’s mind was still in one piece?! And now he was powerless to check on her, to make sure she was all right!!
No, wait…
The boy took a deep, calming breath, and reexamined a critical piece of information rattling in the recesses of his mind.
She’s here, at the campsite. I saw her. She came with her family for Golden Week. She had the same hair and face. It was her, I’m sure of it!!
He couldn’t sit still. He leaped to his feet and started running around the campsite, looking everywhere for her. Of course, there was no guarantee she was still there. For all he knew, Midori and her parents might have packed up and left that morning. But he had to try. So long as there was the faintest hope, he had to try.
Suddenly, he heard a tiny squeal. A baby boar…or so it seemed, but no, it was a selectively bred Pocket Piglet, just like the one the girl had with her the other day. It seemed to be calling for help, so the boy followed it. The girl’s parents must have loved camping, for what the boy came across was not a tent but a full-on camper van. Though judging by the sticker on the windshield, it seemed to be a rental. It must’ve been far beyond what a family of AI Dropouts could afford. Kaname felt a little guilty when he saw it. After all, their situation was mostly his fault.
Soon, however, his attention shifted to something beside the camper van.
There he found a hammock—little more than a cloth stretched between two trees. And sitting on it was the girl. She must have been absorbed in the game, eyes on her smartphone, until just a few minutes ago. But now her arms were limp and the phone lay on the ground by her side.
The forced log-out. Had it really been successful?
“What…the hell…?”
Bzzzt!! There was a sharp buzz, like a light trap catching a fly. But no—it was her. It was just like what happened with Meiki when she malfunctioned. The unconscious girl was surrounded by grayish static noise that pulsed at irregular intervals. She looked like she might blink out of existence at any moment.
The boy rubbed at his eyes. He was checking to see if his contacts had come loose, but they hadn’t.
The archangel Uriel—it seemed his influence extended into the real world as well.
“Midori! It’s time for supper!” came a woman’s voice. “Don’t you think it’s time you stopped playing that game?” Then, in a quieter voice, as if talking to someone else, she added, “Try sending her a message, will you, dear?”
It seemed the girl’s parents had been cooking outdoors, not in the camper van. But what would happen if they came across Midori like this? If they took her to a hospital, would the doctors know how to treat her? She had been possessed by an angel, then forcibly logged out of the game, leaving her mind and body a total mess. Even the boy found it utterly ridiculous, and he had seen it happen. What could they possibly do?!
If he messed up here, it would all be over. The girl would disappear without a trace, like a crashed program. He had no evidence, but that was the feeling he got.
He picked up the fallen smartphone and lifted the girl out of the hammock. He knew this was a daring plan, but he had little choice. Carrying her in his arms, he ducked back behind the camper van before the girl’s mother saw him.
“Midori? I guess she already stopped playing.”
Just the sound of her voice caused the boy’s guts to churn. He wasn’t in Money (Game) Master. He wasn’t Kaname Suou, the top-class Dealer. He was just some kid, and once the grown-ups spotted him, that would be it.
Where could he go? What should he do first? He was completely lost, but he managed to hold out until the girl’s mother moved on. Then he ran off as fast as he could, holding the still-unconscious, static-covered girl in his arms.
“What happened…?”
The boy heard a lonely squeak as the Pocket Piglet nuzzled his ankle.
“What did they do to you?!! God damn it!!”