The Pain of an Inferior: A Blistering Love Comedy That Begins After a Broken Heart - Chapter 50

There’s not much that I, Shirogane Tsuyuri, know about Obi Haruka.

I wasn’t interested in him at all.

The only thing I know about him is that he’s a guy who looks flashy, has a trashy status, and yet was accepted at the A-10 Academy, the most prestigious school in the Kanto region.

Aside from that, I know that he is a childhood friend of Uta Miyako and Kureha Shun.

I often see him in the corner of my eye talking to Ise Ria, who’s infamous due to being a Rank E citizen.

That was all there is to it.

The only person who attracted my attention was always Kureha Shun.

A prince who looks like something out of a shoujo manga.

That’s why, I never thought that the day would come when I would be interested in Obi Haruka.

?

Thirty-two hours have passed since the start of the second round of the game.

I have yet to meet Haruka.

Playing the game again with the fear of death is more mentally taxing than I had imagined.

And to have two more games to play, with the only possibility of getting out alive is to be chosen by an audience, is just too miserable.

I curl up in a bed in an unoccupied hotel room.

“I just…want to go home.”

I don’t even know if Haruka is still alive.

I don’t know if he’s an ally or an enemy.

I don’t know if I can live through this game.

I do not know if I can survive the next two games.

I don’t know if I will make it back alive.

I was so anxious and worried that I felt crushed.

Why was I chosen to play this game? There are so many meaner, more twisted people in the world.

Why don’t they just get all the bad people together and let them play this game, poison them, whatever. Why should I, a good citizen, get involved in this game?

I only curse at the people who kidnapped me and the fate I was chosen for.

“I’m tired…”

It’s bright outside. I should really be working to clear the game.

As time goes by, powerful detection mods appear.

It’s not safe where I am.

But it’s not safe outside either.

“Obi-kun… Help me…”

In the previous game, he was there for me, and I felt so safe.

His presence was reassuring.

He quickly decided that it was better for him to get into the game, and he made me his only partner, abandoning the others.

He saved me by killing six of them, seven including the Joker, half of the players without hesitation.

After killing them, he looked a little sad, but said nothing.

He never justified himself with any reason, nor did he ever speak out against the people who had set up the game.

Remembering him gives me strength.

“I have to go…”

I get up lazily, get ready and leave the room.

The pistol that I have is lighter than a model gun, perhaps because it is designed for female players.

I checked the safety by clicking it on and off, and put it away in its holster.

I wandered around the area aimlessly, occasionally shaking my shoulders at the sound of distant gunshots.

I scavenged around in a convenience store in search of food.

I can drink tap water in the worst case scenario, but for food I have to look for a black box.

When I entered the convenience store, I see a black box on the counter.

It’s the first thing I saw, even more than the empty shelves.

Inside the box are three knives and five bags of snacks.

I takes out one knife and puts it on my belt.

Just as I was about to go to the bathroom to wash my hands before eating the snacks…

“Excuse me?”

A man’s voice echoed through the store with the sound of the automatic door opening.

I quickly pulled out my gun and turned around.

After I hold up my gun, I realize that I have not taken off the safety, and I release it in a hurry.

“I’m not an enemy! Look, 7 of Spades!”

The man said, and threw the card from his pocket.

Trembling with nervousness, I checked out the card on the floor. It is indeed the 7 of Spades.

“I’m not an enemy! Look at the entrance.”

He took a step to the side and points at the entrance.

In the parking lot of the convenience store, there is a large crossbow that looks like it would take two hands to shoot.

Having witnessed the Kuzuryuu incident in the previous game, I put down my gun for the time being, though I stay alert and no let my guard down.

“Ah… Thank you… I’m Kajita Shuuichi…”

“Shirogane Tsuyuri.”

He said his name, so I told him mine.

I’m not a good judge of people, but at least I didn’t feel any hostility toward him, so I put away my gun. Even if he tried to put me down, at least I would have a knife.

“S-so… Can you tell me what your card is, Shirogane-san?”

Shuuichi asked me what my card was, though he seemed reluctant to ask.

“The 10 of Spades.”

He looked at me delicately as I answered without hesitation.

The 7 of spades has the [Don’t kill anyone] clear condition. In fact, if he kills a person, he can’t pass the test. In a sense, it’s a strict condition for survival that is difficult to defend himself.

On the other hand, the 10 of Spades may be impossible to achieve without killing a person.

He must be thinking about that.

“I don’t want to live by killing people.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right… I’m glad… It’s ridiculous to play this kind of killing game.”

Shuuichi was sweating and faltering as he told me what’s on his mind.

I looked at him blankly, and urged him to take a snack in a box with his hand.

The black box containing food and weapons is rare and precious, but I’m is not willing to eat all the five bags of snacks by myself.

“Thank you, Shirogane-san. I was a little hungry.”

For a while, I talked with him about trivial things.

We talked about where he went to school, what games he played, and other such trivial things.

Last time, when I was with Haruka, we did not have this kind of conversation.

It’s not that we didn’t have much to talk about. Simply, we just didn’t say much. We just spent time together in silence, sharing a common goal.

There was definitely a bond between me and him, but in the end I didn’t know much about him.

If I could meet him in this game, I would like to know about him just a little bit.

I guess it’s because I am in the second round of the game that I have the presence of mind to do so.

Without much chatting, Shuuichi started to talk about his purpose.

“I got a detection mod a while ago. It can tell the position of a player within a one-kilometer radius every 15 minutes.

Shuuichi share his display window. It shows the players’ location based on the scan done seven minutes ago.

“It’s too early to say they’re not hostile because they’re in a group, but there are two players working together about 900 meters from here. I’m not sure if they’re still in the same place.”

“You want to go see them?”

“Well, yeah… To be honest, I’m not sure if I can survive without someone by my side…”

Shuuichi’s goal is in line with mine.

I had to take the risk of death, but I had no choice.

“Okay… I want to have allies… Let’s team up.”

“Really? That’s great!”

Compared to the single-shot crossbow he had, I have a pistol with nine rounds in it. I guess he wanted me to be there for him as an asset. Shuuichi was very happy.

“Well, let’s get going.”

“Okay.”

The re-scan will take place in two minutes.

We should close the distance between the two players, considering the amount of time they have to move.

We headed for the two players side by side.

Hopefully one of them would be Haruka.

Their location is a school on a slightly elevated hill.

That’s where I met Haruka in the first round of the game.

That time, I woke up at the bottom of the hill and went up to the school to look down from below.

I silently prayed that Haruka would be there again.

The danger of contacting others in the middle or later stages of the game is far greater than in the early stages.

When the time comes, I must be prepared for it. To drown out my fears, I touch the pistol in my holster.

“We’re almost there…”

I look up at Shuuichi’s words.

The old school building felt nostalgic, even though it was only a few days ago.

“They haven’t moved for a long time, they might be resting somewhere…”

There was a limit to how much the map could be enlarged.

We know that the two players we are looking for are in the school, but we don’t know which classroom they are in.

We step into the school and checked the classrooms one by one, crossing the wide, long corridors.

We move cautiously, keeping our footsteps as quiet as possible, because we were afraid that we might be dealing with an enemy.

When we were about halfway through the first floor, I stopped Shuuichi with my hand.

“W-what?”

“I hear voices.”

I hear a faint voice from far away.

It sounds like a woman’s gasp.

“I-is this…?”

Shuuichi became suspicious. He is understandably upset since he is in the middle of a killing game.

I took out my gun and removed the safety.

I did this in consideration of the possibility that the woman is being attacked by a thug.

The woman’s charming voice becomes louder and louder as I approach her step by step.

The woman’s moaning was so amorous that I could not help but feel my cheeks turning red.

I wonder if I had been making such a loud voice when I was being held by Haruka.

The source of the voice seemed to come from the infirmary.

The lustrous voice, almost like a scream, is still coming from the infirmary intermittently.

When we came close to the room, Shuuichi and I were standing by the door, trying to decide what to do next.

I don’t know if they have detection mod like ours, or if they are so absorbed in the situation that they forgot to check, but the two inside still don’t stop the action even though they are so close to us.

How careless of them.

We’re almost at the door.

If I were the Joker, I would definitely surprise them both whether my bullets would hit them or not.

“Wait till it’s over, okay?”

“… Y-yeah, I guess so.”

Shuuichi noded his head, sweat beading on his forehead and his ears bright red.

The sound of another person’s tryst makes my heart beat faster. I must be blushing at least a little too.

[Aa..Aa…Haru, kun..Nn.There..]

I couldn’t help but react when I heard her call him “Haru-kun” in between her moans.

I put my finger between the door and opened it slightly to peek inside.

Shuuichi peeked inside on top of me, perhaps interested in what’s inside.

The bed in the infirmary is supposed to be partitioned with a curtain, but in this case it wasn’t.

This meant that the person in the room was in full view.

“Obi-kun…”

I opened my eyes and stare at reality.

The one who had been assaulting the girl was the person I was looking for, Obi Haruka.

Perhaps it was because of the death game, he may had exposed his reproductive instincts and was dominating and devouring the body of the female in front of him, guided by his animal desires.

I was shocked to witness such a shocking scene, and while I remained frozen for a while looking in, the door was suddenly opened.

I fell on my butt in surprise.

I move my eyes to see what’s going on.

I can see Shuuichi with a grim look on his face. He had his hand on the handle of the door. It seems that he’s the one who opened the door with a mighty swing. Don’t startle me like that.

“Hey! Get away from Madoka!”

Shuuichi looked furious and stormed into the infirmary.

He threw down the crossbow he’s holding and approached them, probably because of the danger of a misfire.

Haruka and the girl called Madoka are startled by the sudden visitor and turn their eyes to the entrance at the same time.

“Eh?! Shuu-kun?! Why are you-”

Madoka’s eyes widen in surprise at the sight of Shuuichi.

Haruka quickly took a revolver from the bedside table and points it at him

Shuuichi was so angry that he forgot himself, but he had no choice but to stop when a gun was pointed at him. He stared at Haruka with eyes filled with murderous intent.

“W-wait! Haru-kun! He’s on our side…!”

Madoka impatiently held the hand holding Haruka’s gun.

“I’m not going to shoot him. I’m just trying to keep him in check.”

“Let’s talk calmly… Both of you, fix your clothes…”

I act calm, even if only on the surface, and try to regain control of the situation.

For a few moments, there is a silence as if the time of the world has stopped.

Shuuichi is the first to make a move.

“Dammit…!”

“Ah… Shuu-kun… Wait…!”

Without hiding his irritation, Shuuichi left the infirmary.

Madoka looked anxiously at his back. Her eyes were filled with tears.

She quickly fixed her clothes and followed Shuuichi out of the infirmary.

The girl called Madoka had a beautiful face.

Her bluish black hair that flowed down to her back was shiny even from a distance, and well groomed. Her large peach-colored eyes were also beautiful.

Her facial features bear some resemblance to Uta Miyako, who is reputed to be the most beautiful girl in the school. Her atmosphere is more like that of Kamisato Reika.

From Shuuichi and Madoka’s attitude, it’s easy to understand what kind of relationship they have.

It was Haruka who broke it.

I stared at Haruka with half-open eyes.

Madoka didn’t look like the kind of woman who would ask a guy out on her own. He must have made a pass at her.

Haruka turned me down once when I tried to get close to him.

I felt a sense of defeat that I didn’t understand.

“So you’re involved in this game too, Shirogane-san…”

Haruka spoke to me, oblivious to what just happened.

I was a little shocked to realize again that he doesn’t remember anything, even though I already knew that fact.

“Why were you having sex?”

I asked him directly.

It was the first thing I wanted to ask him, not about the game or the future.

“Madoka-san was scared. I’m not trying to put the blame on her, but she didn’t tell me she had a boyfriend.”

Haruka looked out the window with an embarrassed expression on his face. He seemed to be feeling a sense of guilt.

He called her by her name, Madoka, and I felt a little annoyed.

“Hey, Shirogane-san. You haven’t met Miyako, Ria, or Yunika by any chance, have you?”

To his question, I answered with a shake of my head.

Actually, I hadn’t met all the players yet, but at least none of them were familiar to me so far.

“Good.”

He smiled in relief.

It was not a smile for me.

Still, I couldn’t help but run to him when I saw his smile.

I was sure to confuse him, but I couldn’t help it.

I hugged and clung to him.

Tears well up in my eyes as I thought about Haruka’s corpse that I saw in the previous game.

“Shirogane-san… I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through.

He stroked my back slowly, whispering me reassuringly in a gentle tone of voice.

“I’m glad… I’m so, so glad…”

I let out a tear and continued to hug him with all my might.

There are still so many problems to solve.

So many things to think about, so many things to do.

But for now, I want to sleep in his arms without thinking about anything.

“I’m back…Obi-kun.”

“Welcome back..?”

I’m sure he doesn’t know what I was thinking about when I said those words.

I was finally able to smile for the first time since the second game had started.