The Pain of an Inferior: A Blistering Love Comedy That Begins After a Broken Heart - Chapter 37

“Hey!!! Obi Haruka! Drive safely! You’re going too fast!”

“It’s funny that you’re afraid of going 60 km/h when you’re playing a game where you have to fight in a fighter plane!”

“It’s because you are driving manually! Unlike in games, if you crash in real life, you’re finished!”

“Shinku, calm down! You’ll get us into an accident!”

Shinku, who is sitting in the back seat of the car, shouts as she puts her hand on the seat of the driver, Haruka. Yunika, sitting next to her, calms her down and looks at the scenery outside.

It’s a scene of an abandoned town as one would only see in a video game. The skyscrapers in the rows are desolate and tangled with plants both inside and outside.

Ria, who is sitting in the passenger seat, giggles at the sight of Shinku’s pale face.

Haruka glances at the rear view mirror and sees them in the back seat.

Shinku was wearing a black off-shoulder chiffon one-piece dress, a gift from Haruka. Yunika was wearing a simple cream-colored sleeveless parka, a green skirt, and black tights.

He glances at Ria, who is leaning elegantly on the backrest in the passenger seat besides him. She was wearing a beige blouse with black striped slits and a knee-length red flared skirt, which Haruka had given her some time ago, just like Shinku’s.

Haruka feel a little excited because two out of the three women in the group are wearing clothes that were chosen by him.

He look back to the front, afraid of getting yelled at by Shinku for looking away from the road.

Their four-wheeled car is speeding down the road, where broken cars lying around on the side. Haruka and the others are driving a four-wheel drive vehicle with high road clearance and functional tires and suspension, ideal for driving on unpaved roads.

Haruka was driving a manual transmission type car with manual operation instead of AI operation, and was driving at his leisure with his three companions.

They could have taken the expressway to their destination directly, but they decided to take a look around a little, though it’s not too late to get on the expressway after having a quick look.

Haruka invited Reika, with whom he had exchanged friend IDs the other day, to their outing, but unfortunately she could not come this time because she had something to do.

“I’ve never seen field art before, what an amazing view!”

“…. It looks like something from the Gray Warrior novels I played once.”

“Ah.. yes, there was a game like that… I’ve seen many similar landscapes in the virtual world, but seeing them in real life is overwhelming.”

The area around in this place are lined up with the works of many field designers for hundreds of kilometers.

As the name “Ruins Area” implies, only works with the ruin theme are found here.

It would not be right to choose this place for a date with a woman. However, Haruka thought about where he should take Shinku and Yunika, who have been escorted by many men, to entertain them, and thus came up with the idea of taking them for a drive to an abandoned area.

It may not be fun, but it will be fresh. Haruka is not a realist, but he thinks that the real world scenery has a different quality compared from a virtual one.

Even their minds, which are accustomed to the many scenes of other worlds in VR games, should be able to be moved at least a little.

“By the way, Haruka, I didn’t know you had a manual license.

“You can get it in a day if you dive into VR, you know.”

Ria asks, tilting her face from the passenger seat. A driver’s license to drive a car is no longer counted as a qualification in this day and age. It’s not surprising that Ria does not know about it since it does not even appear on her profile.

Unlike long time ago, the hurdle to get a license is very low now because the area where manual driving is allowed is limited.

“I’m going to take a break at a mall a little further down the road.”

Saying this, Haruka drove to a huge mall nearby.

It takes about five minutes to get there, and they enter a multi-level parking garage next to the building. He drove the car to the top floor and parked it roughly. There were only a few cars around that had been there for too long and were in a state of decay.

Haruka opens the door and take in the fresh air. He stretches out in the sunlight.

“They sell drinks and stuff at the mall, so let’s take a break here.”

Following Haruka, everyone gets out of the car.

Ria and the others got out of the car and looks around at the desolate landscape that spreads all around them, feeling the slightly hot sun and the dry air.

The buildings are all decaying and living together with plants. Most of the visible structures have collapsed. Numerous cars are scattered in the ruins, and the earth is cracked. It is a world that feels like the end of the century.

“It feel like we’re the last human beings left alive.”

“I know right.”

They would soon get used to it and get bored, but they still seemed to be moved by the sight spreading out before them. Haruka was a little bit pleased.

“Up until now, most of the places that Haruka has taken me to has been in the Watchtower area, so this might be a little new for me.”

At Ria’s casual words, Yunika’s face grimaced. No one, including Yunika herself, noticed the change that occurred unconsciously.

“Because, as you can see, this place is not a pleasant place to be.”

“Then why did you bring us here?”

“Claudia-san and Yunika-san seem to have been to most of the place already.”

“Then again, you’ve chosen an unusual place.”

“I was a loner in elementary school, so I’ve never been to most of them. I’ve never even tried advanced VR before, and the last [Apocalypse] was my first time.”

“That’s surprising.”

With the group idly chatting, they headed for the mall.

The interior was not unlike the exterior, full of rubble, cracks, and plants. Ria and the others, watching their footsteps, walked ahead with Haruka in the lead.

“Are you sure you can drink the drinks in a place like this?”

“Don’t worry, the products are safe.”

The place where Haruka and the others arrived was a rundown food court.

The chairs and tables were clean, though not so much that they stood out from the rest of the place.

A rusty-looking robot with a rusty body worked as a receptionist at the counter.

“Order whatever you want and take a break. We don’t have a specific time, but we’ll be leaving in a little while.”

“So, where are we going?”

Yunika asks as she sits down on a chair and orders a drink from the window.

“To a place called RDGZ8492. I’ve never been there before, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to visit.”

“Hmm. Well, I don’t care where.”

“Yunika, I got one for you too.”

“Thank you, Shinku.”

Shinku handed Yunika a drink she had ordered and took a seat across from her.

“It’s very tasty for such a desolate world, isn’t it?”

“The drink is from the city, you know.”

Haruka replies with a wry smile.

He also ordered a drink, received it with Ria, and sat down near Shinku and Yunika.

Each person presents a topic and shares the contents in a funny and interesting way.

The communication skills of Shinku, Yunika, and Riai were very good, and the conversation was very lively.

“By the way, Obi, I saw your movie on LAIN.”

“What?!”

“During the time when you protected me.”

Ria adds to Yunika’s shocking statement. Either way, the shock level was the same.

“It was titled “Awww Loner-san, You Got Mad and Started a Fight with a Delinquent.”

“Kaburaki and the others, or maybe Akito reported it, it’s been deleted now, but I downloaded it.”

Yunika displays a window in the space where it’s visible to everyone.

When the video is played, the fight with Kaburaki and the others, filmed from an angle unknown to Haruka, begins to play. Haruka knows this because he was involved in the fight against Kaburagi, but the contents are violent and should not be seen by the public, such as a broken front tooth from a kick and a nasty sound from an elbow strike.

It seems that the video was shot with an analog camera, and the people on the screen, such as Haruka and Kaburaki, were not censored.

If there is no mosaic, the person in the video can delete it if they reported it. If  Haruka, Kaburaki, or Akito, who are fully exposed, reports it, they can take it down at once. If the video was removed, it must have been reported by someone who noticed the existence of the video.

It was also possible that the video was removed because of its violent content.

In any case, Haruka was surprised but he wasn’t really interested in the videos.

“Indeed, you are just as you look. Obi-san.”

With a slight smile, Shinku glanced at Haruka.

“I’m surprised that you accepted the invitation of a man who is as bad as he looks.”

“…It’s not that I’m interested.”

“For now I cleared up the misunderstanding with the girl I’m friends with. In any case, the atmosphere in the classroom is exactly what I wanted

Thank you, Yunika-san.”

Haruka gave a small laugh as exhales. Yunika’s kind nature, which had become apparent now that he was involved with her in a certain way, was something that Haruka liked.

“Don’t be so reckless again, you know… Haruka…”

“I know, I’m sorry for worrying you, Ria.

I’m sorry you had to go through that too, Yunika-san.”

“I don’t mind. It turned out all right.”

Haruka learned from Yunika’s chat that during the forest school, after Haruka and the others were gone, the number of points consumed was reduced because there were only five of them. In addition, the small number of members made it easier to take control of the group, and Ria, who felt responsible for the group, completed all the missions one by one, so they were in third place out of the five groups.

Haruka really couldn’t be more proud of the two of them.

Yunika and Ria refilled their drinks, and when they ran out, the four of them left the mall.

Getting into the car again, Haruka started the engine.

He pressed the clutch pedal to shift the car from neutral to first gear, and then lifted the clutch while stepping on the accelerator pedal.

The car starts without incident, and he immediately puts the car into second gear.

Slowly, the car goes down the multi-story parking garage from the top floor to the ground level.

The car leaves the parking lot at the ground level and joins the main road, and with the mall in the background, the car heads toward its new destination.