The Pain of an Inferior: A Blistering Love Comedy That Begins After a Broken Heart - Chapter 52

[Tsuyuri POV]

For example, let’s say you were on a fun six-day and five-night school trip.

After the trip is over and you go home, what if your memory is taken over again and you are taken back to the day before the trip?

I’m sure you would be fed up. At least, I would be.

It’s painful to repeat even a pleasant event.

So I am fed up with the current situation.

I want to kill myself right now.

My body may recover from the fatigue, but my mind does not.

I’m really tired.

“It’s your fault…Haruka….”

I mutter to myself as I stare at Haruka’s corpse.

I had completed the second round of the game with wounds all over my body, and am now on the third round.

There were survivors besides me in the second game, but in the end, I was the one chosen to keep my memory.

Despite being the third game, there was no third time’s a charm.

Haruka was chosen as the Joker, and he became the enemy of all of us players.

If I had not killed him, he would have killed me.

And if I did not survive, my memories would not carry over.

I had no choice but to kill him.

If there is no way for us to survive together, then I have no choice but to kill him.

I can’t survive on ideals alone.

“Let’s go, Shirogane.”

“Okay.”

I follow Reizei Suzu’s lead.

“We’re all done with the game now.”

“… I guess so.”

[I’m glad I didn’t use the bomb I planted.]

A man’s voice echoes from Reizei’s terminal.

It’s the voice of Kuzuryuu Masaomi, who tried to kill Haruka during the first game.

The two were able to communicate via a communication mod.

“I’m an amateur at blowing up buildings. If things went wrong, we’d probably would’ve died.”

Depending on Haruka’s location, we planned to use bombs planted in the buildings.

There were four fuse-type bombs, but no one knew how powerful they would be, and we could only imagine the range of the attack.

Therefore, if the bombs were more powerful than we had imagined, it would have been dangerous for us to set them off.

Most of the other survivors were killed by Haruka, and now Haruka was also dead.

The three of us are the only ones left alive.

[Now I can finally sleep peacefully.]

“I’m think I’ll be suffering PTSD from killing two people. It’s gonna be hard sleeping at night.”

[You liar. You didn’t even hesitate in killing them.]

“……”

Last night, we were in the same room.

We chose a slightly old guest house as our sleeping place.

We slept on futons in a large tatami mat room, with a little space between us.

I was lying on the middle futon, with my waist pouch on my pillow.

Reizei and Kuzuryuu would occasionally ask me about something, to which I would reply briefly.

Perhaps because the tension had been lifted, we immediately fell asleep.

“Reizei, Kuzuryuu…”

“What?”

“What is it?”

“Thank you for protecting me. If it weren’t for you two, I’d probably be dead by now.”

“Fuh.”

“You’re welcome.”

The two of them are the reason that I’m still alive.

They used to be enemies, but in different environments, they can become allies.

We can be compassionate.

I even wished that the game would end with us as survivors.

But then my mind wanders back to Haruka’s face. His corpse.

I shouldn’t have followed him. I shouldn’t have trusted him with my body.

If I hadn’t followed him, we would never have become friends. I would never have known him.

I didn’t know that if I trusted him with my body, he would take my heart with him.

Even more so because it was the first time I’ve done it. Maybe he unconsciously changed my mind.

I gave him my chastity in the virtual world as a cheap price, but that was a mistake.

Every time I remember it, my face burns.

I was too much of a fool than I thought I was.

I’m sure that I will be chosen to keep my memory in the fourth game.

Because they will find it interesting that way.

?

[Congratulations on completing the game!]

A cute mascot like a deformed cat appeared and congratulated me.

[You have been chosen to keep your memory.]

I knew it.

[By all means, be a good dealer.]

Die.

[I wish you good luck.]

Shut up and die.

My consciousness faded away.

Before I can bask in the afterglow, the final game begins.

?

Haruka woke up in a strange vacant lot.

It’s just a plain, empty lot, surrounded by ordinary houses.

It’s a place that he doesn’t remember.

He got up and walked for a while.

The streets are quiet and slightly foggy.

There was no sign of people, and an eerie silence enveloped him.

Haruka rode on a swing at a nearby park, and are at a loss.

He paddled on the swing, the sound of metal scraping against metal, while gazing at the cloudy sky.

“Yo, buddy.”

A voice suddenly came from beside him, and he turn around.

“Sumireko-senpai?”

There was a person who seemed to be Nanasaki Sumireko.

Her long purplish black hair was tied in a bun on both sides. Jewel-like purple eyes reminiscent of amethysts. She was dressed in a monotone black uniform and white tie. She was wearing a white coat.

“Oh, you know my big sister?”

At first glance, there was a sense of discomfort.

She looked like Sumireko herself, but somehow she looked different.

“My name is Nanasaki Sakurako. I am the younger sister of Sumireko.”

She told Haruka her name.

Haruka tried to display her profile, but the Talisman didn’t activate.

“Nice to meet you, Obi Haruka.”

“How do you know my name?”

The fact that the Talisman didn’t work indicated that they are in a virtual world. Haruka didn’t know why he was in a virtual world.

Moreover, Haruka failing to display her profile means that she couldn’t know his name unless he introduced himself to her. And yet Sakurako seemed to know him. Haruka thought that Sumireko might’ve mentioned him to her.

“I know you well.”

She replied with vague words that may or may not be an answer.

“By the way, what’s your card?”

“Card?”

Haruka tilted his head, not understanding Sakurako’s words.

“A card, like this…”

Sakurako took out a 3 of Spades from her skirt pocket and held it up in front of Haruka.

Haruka followed her example and felt a hard and flat feeling on his fingertips as he searched his pocket. When he picked it up, a card similar to Sakurako’s appeared.

It was the 4 of Spades.

Immediately, a window appears in front of him.

[Clear condition: Collect four or more cards of the suit of Spades. ]

Not only the clear condition, but also the rules of the game, the rule fragments, and other items that he doesn’t understand are displayed.

“That’s a very strict condition. Mine’s a bit strict as well.”

“What are these clear conditions for?”

“They are the conditions for clearing the game. If you don’t meet them, you’ll probably die in real life.”

Sakurako had a fresh smile on her face despite of the gruesome things she said.

“Maybe we got caught up with the Red Rom?”

“Probably. We’ve been kidnapped, so even if it was a prank, it’s still a crime.”

Although Haruka’s tone was light, his face turned pale when he heard what she was saying.

If Red Rom had really abducted him, it meant that there’s a high probability that he will not be able to return to Miyako and the others.

His face turned pale.

“Let’s walk a little.”

Sakurako suggested, and Haruka decided to walk alongside her in the residential area.

“Speaking of Red Rom, I heard that some people were forced to participate in a horror game where they had to escape from murderers, monsters, and aliens. This battle royale game is better than that. It’s still scary, though.”

Red Rom is probably best known for forcing people to play games that employ illegal damage in the VR space comparable to reality.

The representation of pain in the virtual world has to be changed to numbness or heaviness when the pain exceeds a certain level.

Despite this, Red Rom games are set up so that players feel the same pain as in real life when they take damage.

In a horror game where the damage level is realistic, even if they survive, they may not be able to avoid PTSD.

“What are we going to do now?”

“We’ll just have to play the game. There’s no way we can overthrow the ones that are behind this.”

“I guess so.”

Haruka knew that, but he was still a little saddened when Sakurako told him that clearly.

The fringes of Red Rom has been caught by the police several times, but the core of Red Rom had never been caught.

There is probably no possibility of interruption via police intervention. Haruka has to face the reality.

“In the first place, Red Rom is an AI. It’s the kind of thing they’d like.”

“That’s one theory.”

“They’re a?s?s?h?o?l?e?s. But it’s still better this way because they haven’t destroyed the real world yet.”

“Destroyed?”

“Just like in this game.”

Sakurako then continued to walk aimlessly with a pensive look on her face.

“By the way, how is Yunika?”

“Yunika? She’s fine.”

The sudden mention of Yunika’s name brought a dubious look to Haruka’s face.

“Oh, so you know each other. It’s fate, isn’t it?”

“…?”

Haruka had the feeling that they’re not quite on the same page since a while ago. He think so, but he doesn’t know what to say, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Well, anyway, let’s just survive together, shall we? Please help me again, Haruka.”

“Have I helped you before?”

“You just don’t know it, but I’ve been saved before.”

Sakurako snickered.

“If I survive, will you bring me to my sister?”

“Eh, why don’t you just go home?”

Sakurako hugged Haruka’s shoulder and smiled mischievously.

“I’ve been separated from my sister. I’ve been looking for her for a long time. That’s why I don’t even know where she lives.”

“Oh, really?”

With an expression of not quite trusting her, Haruka looked sideways at Sakurako, who was entangling herself to him.

“Really. If you tell me, I’ll give you a kiss.”

“Whatever.”

While trying to shrug off Sakurako, the two continued to walk aimlessly.

“By the way, what’s your rule fragment Haruka?”

“What? Ah, it says that the weapons placed in the game become stronger with the passage of time. And it also says that the survivors will divide a billion yen among themselves.”

“Wow. It’s a chance to get rich.”

“I don’t want the money, I just want to go home.”

“I bet 90% of the participants think so.”

“That’s true.”

After walking for about an hour, they were tired and decided to take a rest.

They rested on a beach with a panoramic view of the horizon.

“You’ve become a bit of a flirt, haven’t you?”

“You talk as if you knew me in the past.”

“You used to be a bit more orthodox, you know. For a second I thought I was mistaking you for someone else.”

“Haa…”

Sakurako talks about a topic at random, and Haruka replied to her in an appropriate way.

Time passed by with them doing idle conversation, and finally the game has reached its starting time.

“In the end, we didn’t meet anyone.”

“That’s right.”

“Well, we’ll manage somehow.”

“I guess so.”

“We’ve managed to get by in the past, so we’ll manage this time, too.”

“I see.”

“You’re too casual with your words.”

“Haha.”

Has the cruel game of killing each other really begun?

With Sakurako, it didn’t feel quite real.

Haruka guessed that time will tell.

For now, he still wanted to spend time leisurely.

“Let’s survive together this time, Haruka.”

Haruka nodded in reply to Sakurako’s words.