The Pain of an Inferior: A Blistering Love Comedy That Begins After a Broken Heart - Chapter 53

“Hey, are you fine with killing people?”

Sakurako asked while relaxing on the sofa in the cottage.

“I’ll do anything, even kill, to go home alive.”

“That’s very reassuring.”

Two hours have passed since the game started. There have been no significant movement yet.

In the first place, in a game where killing may occur, few people can move actively.

The thought that they might be targeted if they make a move slowed them down, even if they don’t like it.

“Shall we go now? We haven’t found any weapons yet.”

“Got it.”

Haruka and Sakurako had found a few items, but none of them contained anything but food and water.

The only mod they could find was a rough detection mod that could tell them how many people were in an area.

With no weapons, they would lose if they were attacked with melee weapons, let alone guns.

“There are still two people in this area.”

Sakurako muttered as she looks at the map with the mod. It seems that there are two other players in the campsite area where Haruka and Sakurako are.

Haruka looked out the window and sees two shadows in the distance.

“There they are.”

“Where?”

Sakurako also squinted her eyes and looked in the direction to which Haruka was pointing.

“Over there, what should we do?”

“They don’t seem to have guns.”

One was a woman in a white one-piece dress, and the other was a stylishly dressed man with mussled hair.

They left the cottage and ran to the two people.

“O-i”

They turned their heads at the sound of Haruka’s voice. For a moment, they were startled by the appearance of a stranger, and they act warily of him.

Haruka sensed this and stopped without thinking. He knew very well what he looked like.

“Hello. I’m not armed, so I’d like to talk with you in peace, how about it?”

They softened their attitude a little when they saw Sakurako appear from behind Haruka.

From a close distance, there was no sign that they have any weapons. Haruka breathed a sigh of relief.

“I don’t have a complete picture yet, either. Makabe-san, may I?”

The woman in the dress asks the man next to her.

The man called Makabe nodded his head, acting a little suspiciously.

“Before that, let us know your cards. We can’t cooperate with you depending on your cards.”

“I have the 4 of Spades, and Sakurako-san over here has the 3 of Spades.”

“Eh!? 3 of Spades?”

The woman was astonished and looked at Haruka and Makabe alternately.

When Haruka sensed this, he rushed to Makabe, the man backed away in a hurry.

“Ww-ait…! The woman there is the joker! You’re being deceived!”

Haruka ran at once to close the distance. The man ran away in a panic, but he was immediately grabbed by the collar by Haruka.

“Get off me!”

Makabe took out a small folding knife from his pocket and swung it at Haruka.

“D?a?m?n?!”

He clucked his tongue, and it was Haruka’s turn to retreat.

Makabe backed away with his weapon at the ready, turned on his heel, and began to flee again.

“Aren’t you going after him? He’s the Joker, after all.”

“Don’t be absurd.”

Although Haruka has mastered Hapkido, he doesn’t have experienced combat with a person with a blade even in the training in the VR space. He had trained with clubs and nunchucks, but never with a blade.

Haruka might have been able to handle Makabe’s attack, but he really didn’t want to overreach himself, especially when there was a possibility that he might die.

It was a knife with a blade of about five centimeters, but it still had enough power to kill a person.

“Well… Thank you for saving me…”

The woman who had been working with Makabe thanked him.

“That was a close call.”

“Yeah, it was really… It was a close call…”

“Fuh… Well then, now that we’re out of trouble, let’s introduce ourselves and head for the nearest beach.”

Haruka nodded and replied to Sakurako’s suggestion.

“Yes, I think so. Let’s calm down a little bit and talk about it.”

“Okay.”

The three of them walked along the quiet street side by side.

“My name is Reizei Suzu… Pleased to meet you.”

“I’m Obi Haruka. She is..”

“I’m Nanasaki Sakurako. Nice to meet you.”

After their greetings, Sakurako cut in.

“So, what’s your card, Reizei?”

“I have the 7 of Spades.”

Suzu took out her card from her skirt pocket.

It was definitely the 7 of Spades. Sakurako looked at the card and nodded.

“You’re not competing with us, that’s a good sign.”

“The 7 of Spade isn’t allowed to kill people, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, that’s right. How could you act alone with a man? If they attack you, it’s hard to fight back..”

“I’m trained in self-defense. If it had been a muscular man I’d have run away.”

Makabe was thin and of medium height, so Suzu, who was about the same size as Makabe, would have been able to restrain him easily.

“But he had a knife, didn’t he?”

Sakurako looked at Suzu with a mean smile.

Suzu turned away from her, looking embarrassed.

“Yeah, so… I’m saved. If I had been attacked, my dignity as a woman would have been trampled on, or I might have been killed.”

“Or both.”

“……”

“Don’t be too hard on her.”

“I’m just trying to show her how scary this game can be.”

“Yes, yes…”

While talking idly, the three of them walk quietly toward the foggy beach.

Soon, their backs disappear behind the fog.

?

“It’s kind of quiet, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.”

The three of them walk along the beach.

“There are only a few players. I think it’s late in the game when they move.”

They told Suzu that weapons and mods would become more powerful in the later stages of the game.

And the field gets smaller and smaller. The chances of encountering players would also increase.

“Then, let’s take it easy until the time comes.”

“I don’t have any weapons, so I’d like to have at least one of your guns.

“I’m lucky, so I have a spare.”

“Aren’t you unlucky if you’re involved in this game?”

“That’s true.”

Sakurako laughs off Suzu’s cool-headedness.

“Let’s go exploring for now, shall we?”

“I agree. If we don’t, we’ll get dehydrated sooner or later.”

“That’s right. Let’s go searching.”

No one objected to Haruka’s words, and the three of them headed for the embankment.

“Haruka!”

They heard a woman’s voice that was unfamiliar to them.

But she clearly called out Haruka’s name.

They turned their eyes to the source of the voice.

Two girls were looking down at Haruka and the others from the bank.

Her silver hair was flowing in the sea breeze, and her sadly narrowed eyes are looking at Haruka.

Seeing the unexpected figure, Haruka’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Do you know her?”

“She’s a classmate of mine”

It was Haruka’s classmate, Shirogane Tsuyuri, who called out Haruka’s name.

With a girl whom he had never seen before, she ran down the steps of the embankment.

Although her feet were caught in the sand, she ran desperately towards Haruka.

When she was right in front of the him, she jumped on him without losing her momentum.

Haruka, who had thought that she would stop right in front of him, catches Tsuyuri in a big surprise. However, he was unable to catch her and was pushed down.

“Shirogane-san!?”

“I’m tired… I’m really tired…”

“Oh, T-thank you for your hard work?”

Confused, he hugged back Tsuyuru who was tangling on him.

“W-wait, Shirogane-san…”

A girl with bluish black hair arrived late to join the others.

“Are you really classmates?”

“We’re supposed to be…”

Tsuyuri never moved away from Haruka.

Tsuyuri clung to Haruka for a while, but then she suddenly pulled away and looked at Haruka from a very close distance and asked him.

“What is your card?”

“The 4 of Spades.”

“Haaa, I’m glad… We’ve passed the first step…”

Tsuyuri lets out a deep sigh and leans against Haruka.

“Haruka…”

“W-what?”

“I’m tired. Give me a piggyback.”

“O-ou…”

After standing up, Haruka supported Tsuyuri who jumped on his back with both hands and carried her on his back as he was told.

“Shirogane-san, what’s wrong with you?”

Haruka was a bit taken aback and uttered a puzzled voice.

Sakurako and Suzu looked at each other and tilted their heads.

Even they  were confused, not understanding anything.

In spite of the reactions of the people around her, Tsuyuri abandoned her duty to explain and continued to play with Haruka silently.