06/21: Want To Be Close
- Location
- The Sea of Souls
[X] Full Disclosure.
[X] Despite it all, you will choose trust.
[X] Despite it all, you will choose trust.
FRIDAY - June 20th, 2025
Evening
A man with the face of an boy band headliner twisted into a scowl waits at the entrance of Karen's apartment complex. You expect he thinks he's intimidating, but the effect is somewhat lost on a man who has more makeup on than his so-called master.
"Hiyori-san," Goushi greets, voice unfailingly polite despite his obvious agitation.
"You going to make me run again this time!?" you say, unable to mask your spite. You're still furious about all the complications Goushi introduced with his unnecessary meddling. Deciding that for once you want to simplify a mess you outlined to Elsa the entire deception. When she finally realized that Karen was the one with the real NerveGear she threw a fit, confiscated the item and stormed off home— alone, leaving Goushi behind. The guy probably has nowhere to sleep tonight, but you are entirely unsympathetic.
"...I've apologized already."
You take a moment to take a breath and calm yourself down. "Fine. Whatever. What do you want? Please don't rope me into any more schemes, you have no idea how little patience I have for those."
"Do you not care what happens to Pito?" he says suddenly and without hesitation. "Now that she has the true NerveGear, she can die. I thought you were trying to prevent that."
"The alternative of risking Karen's life isn't much better!" you counter. "And if you're so worried about her safety, why not do something useful for once and go smash her NerveGear!?"
Goushi shakes his head. "I could, but that would be the same as killing her myself. Pito has been dreaming of this for her entire life, if I were to deny her that she would go catatonic— or worse. No matter what I do she always returns to that one idea, to put herself on that peculiar stage where she can play her final act."
"Then you don't need to worry, Karen will stop her."
Goushi stops, staring down at you with an unreadable look on his face. "You seem sure for someone who doesn't even know her. Tell me, have you fought alongside Karen before?"
Technically yes, but to call Kyouji's shitshow a fight... urgh.
Taking your silence as an answer, Goushi continues. "Karen, or LLENN as I knew her... was someone I fought beside. I trained her, we competed together, and ultimately won together. She is... remarkable. Whether you chalk it up to blind optimism or sheer raw instinct she charged through the «Squad Jam» blasting past veterans, heroes and even traitors in a single mad sprint towards victory. Seeing her that day, I believed that she had the makings of the strongest player in all of GGO. All I needed was to convince her to charge ahead and keep shooting— and Pito would be fine."
He shakes his head, his smile bitter. "But then you got involved. Pito's life is at risk once more, and LLENN will fight filled with doubt and fear absent even the power of Death Gun."
"Then I'll be there to help her."
"No, no you won't, Kuro. If you defeat Pito, nothing will change. You are not who she is looking to overcome— it's LLENN." Goushi leans in and meets you in the eye, his without a shred of doubt, "I've made some mistakes. I failed to consider your involvement. I did not expect my plans to be unraveled. I am now bereft of options, so I shall do as you do and dispense myself of my plots."
He looms over you, and you find yourself backing up into the wall. "Goushi, truth is what will win this battle, not lies."
"The truth? Kuro, the truth is that you have chosen poorly. You have sabotaged LLENN's greatest strength, and placed Pito's life at risk. The truth is that I do not wish Pito to die, nor do I wish for her to become a murderer. The truth is she is now using a NerveGear, which means she is now capable of both. I can no longer part her from it, she's not even letting me into our home right now— which means if I want to ensure her safety I only have one option remaining to me."
You don't need to think about it twice to realize what he is implying.
"She must win. Against everyone."
Death Gun. He means to let her become Death Gun. "Why don't you help us instead? Anything but playing their game!"
"With Pito in the NerveGear can you guarantee her safety? If LLENN cannot satisfy Pito, if either of you misjudges— she will die. No, there is a much safer answer."
He reaches a decision, declaring his intent to the world.
"No more plots, no more tricks. I will simply wholeheartedly and unabashedly support Pito— for her I will kill all the other Death Gun candidates. I will fulfill her wish and hand her the crown. I will not allow even a single bullet to threaten her life."
You can see it around him, clearer even than his master's, as crystal as the shadow you saw draped over Shino on the eve of the Bullet of Bullets. This strange man with the mentality of a criminal was a player of GGO, a possessor of a NerveGear and fundamentally... no less of a Death Gun candidate than his master.
"I will be praying for LLENN's victory... but you, Kuro, you have ruined enough already. I love Pito. I would die for her, I would kill for her. You, who also fights under the blessings of the Black Star are a danger to her."
The handsome man before you is cloaked in an image— that of a massive man with shield raised. A knight in tarnished body armor, holding a folding sheet of space metal against a hail of bullets and explosions. This is the image of his ideal, a champion who would hold the line and sacrifice anything to protect his one and only lady.
"If you fire a single bullet at Pito, if you allow her to come to harm in any way... I will kill you."
His image shifts to something far more terrifying. The protector becomes shaded and warped. The shield melts away into a Black Star, death rising out of it like a wraith, shrouding his face in a curse. You cannot see his face in the dark, but you feel the stare of a murderer in those red eyes.
"There is nothing I won't do— no one I won't kill, to protect her. That, Kuro, is my «Real Deal»."
>M will now prioritize neutralizing Kuro when in combat alongside Pitohui.
>Current NerveGear status:
Pitohui: Genuine NerveGear
M: Genuine NerveGear
Karen: No NerveGear (though you can lend her one of yours)
Hiyori: You have your OG NerveGear. Shino has a NerveGear. You also have Kyouji's NerveGear (total of 3). There's no point giving Karen a Fake NerveGear, because it's useless when the user is aware it's a fake.
SATURDAY - 227 CYCLES POST STARFALL
1500 Glocken Standard Time
You sent a message, no response. You snuck into her Speakeasy, only to find it abandoned in a rush. You even started asking random ArFA units for details, but no one knows what happened.
Lievre, your purported ArFA supervisor, has gone missing.
So rushed out of town, dodged a half dozen bounty hunters with the help of Lugh who insisted on tagging along, and find yourself in the outskirts of the «Old Forest», at the edge of the «SBC Flügel»...
And you've well... you've found Lievre.
"You're here to laugh at me, right!? Well I don't care anymore! You all suck!"
She's crouched in a fetal position, ensconced within an upturned storage crate, a pile of blankets wrapped around her body like some kind of makeshift, oversized, cocoon. She's got two empty tubs of neon colored ice cream next to her, with a third halfway to being demolished. She's hunched over a holoscreen with the latest horrific «Edge Punisher» stream on repeat, one where the vapid host spent 3 hours ranting about how Elsa was an overrated hack and that Risette was ten years overdue for retirement.
"Hello Lievre. It's a pleasure to see you once again," Lugh says, casually revealing that the two were acquainted. You are absolutely positive he will not explain himself, so you decide not to waste any time asking. "What are you doing out here?"
"YOU SUCK LUGHY! YOU HERE TO TATTLE ON ME TO MASTER!? WELL IT WASN'T MY FAULT! GAAAHHHH!"
She throws her empty ice cream tub at Lugh, who calmly deflects it with a simple wave of his hand. The plastic bin sails sideways towards the «SBC Flügel», the trash bouncing off an invisible barrier before it can hit the chassis. With his curiosity perked, Lugh wanders over to the spaceship, only to find his path obstructed by the same barrier— one that wasn't up when you first arrived.
A few seconds of testing reveals the truth of the strange development, the battleship refusing to let any of you in. Lugh makes a lap of the perimeter, the ship's barriers extending across the entire plot of land, preventing even the tiniest creature from entering or exiting. "It appears you've been locked out of your base, Lievre. Unfortunate." Lugh returns to your side, looking down at the pitiful girl.
"Shut up Lughy! I've at least gotten farther then you have! Like, what exactly have you done!? Teamed up with her?" She jabs a finger at you, giving Lugh the stink eye.
"Hey, I still have no idea what either of you are planning," you say, holding your hands up in mock surrender. "Maybe someone could clarify?"
"I do believe she has the best odds of fulfilling our goal, so you could say that she is my plan." Lugh says, and you'd be flattered if you still didn't know what the hell he was planning on using you for.
"Oh yeah? You think you're so clever, Lughy!? Well you know what!? You're a stupid, dumb, smelly human! You want to know how crappy your plan is? Huh? HUH!?"
Lievre's head pops out of her cocoon, still in the ridiculous leotard she was wearing when you first met her. Her usual ringlets are all frizzy and frazzled, her eyes bloodshot and puffy.
"You want to know a secret Lughy!? Your little buddy Kuro!?"
"Look, I do not want to get between whatever the hell is going on between you two—"
"She's actually an ArFA!" Lievre dramatically reveals, a look of triumph on her face. "All this time the lynchpin of your precious plan was an ArFA! Hahahaha, surprised!? She was working for me all along! All this time your stupid plan was just but a step in my grand design! So WHO'S USELESS NOW LUGHY!?"
Silence reigns. Distantly a robot bird caws out its metallic cry. You already feel a headache coming along.
"Oh. What a surprise." Lugh says in total deadpan, tilting his head to the side. "Silly me, I was so sure she was a human."
"That's sad! So very sad! Even when the truth is marched out in front of him, Lughy still can't see it! Kuro here is a infiltration unit under my direct command! C'mon, don't you feel like a total loony now? Go on, you can admit that you're an idiot."
"Wow. Even after hearing all that, I still somehow think Kuro is a human. Truly her infiltration skills are impeccable," Lugh says with a sigh. "I certainly feel like a big idiot right now."
Lievre hums, immensely proud of herself.
"Look, is this really important?" you interrupt, becoming more convinced by the second that Lievre's ArFA rebellion plot may have been more half-assed than you were lead to believe. "How'd you get kicked out of the «SBC Flügel»?"
"It's— it's... GAH!" Lievre slams her foot against the side of the crate, making you wince as it dents inward. "It was all those dirty, smelly humans! The invaded the place, and started trashing everything! They took over everything, and I don't even know why!"
In lieu of further explanation Lievre flashes a holoscreen in your direction.
Yeah. Of course.
『 』
It's a pair of the most ridiculous looking GGO Avatar's you've ever seen. A legion of ArFA foot soldiers and thousands of sentry robots fire ineffectively at a single man who's wearing a mismatched red spacesuit complete with a ridiculous cape. He's swinging around some kind of space-metal spear, deflecting every last salvo and cutting down ArFA units left and right. He's not even moving all that fast, but he seems to predict the paths of every single attack, weaving through the missiles like he was in some bullet-hell game.
You catch sight of the gigantic tank you've frequently seen Lievre lounging on emerge through a blast door, but before it can even fire, a girl with a comically large pink mega buster cannon strapped to her arm vaporizes the tank in an instant, causing an explosion that leaves the camera lens filled with static.
"Two! There were only two of them and they just took over! I don't even know who they are!" Lievre wails, stomping on the ground.
"Hmm, did you use your secret weapon?" Lugh asks, seemingly intrigued by the video. Lievre has a secret weapon? Who are you kidding, she could have like a hundred secret weapons and it wouldn't make a difference.
"The— the— of course I did! I released all the limiters, but like the moment I did that white haired weirdo just pops up behind me and is all like 'you activated my trap card' and she bonked me on the head and I blacked out and when I woke up this was happening and I've been stuck out here ever since!"
"I see. I see." Lugh nods, his expression thoughtful. "Kuro, you seem to recognize these people."
"Yeah. They're the biggest assholes in all of GGO—"
There's a faint buzz in the air. With a single flash of blue light a humongous screen fills the space about the spaceship, drawing all eyes skyward.
<You mean the sexiest, cutest, and the baddest assholes in all of GGO? Why hello there Kuro, fancy seeing you out here!>
That voice...!
"Sora you asshole!" you yell, whipping around to catch sight of a certain spiky headed bastard's face projected into the screen. "What the hell are you even doing here!?"
<Real names already? C'mon, that's not very sporting of an... phff... infiltration unit. Let's not say anything that might invite my retribution, mkay?>
And again with the threats, not even seconds into you reunion. But their presence here proves that『 』was going to keep moving, with or without your help. Everyone was feeling the upcoming deadline.
"GIVE ME MY SHIP BACK!" Lievre suddenly yells, her face turning red. "AND DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"
<Wha? Nah, I'm beginning to like this ship. Nice Boat.>
"IT'S A SPACE BATTLESHIP!"
"Can a human even take over the «SBC Flügel»?" you whisper at Lievre, the girl too busy ranting at Sora to reply. How do you even hack what was effectively a shared dream? Did Shiro just type on a gibberish keyboard and magically things just happened?
"Hard to say if anything is truly impossible in GGO," Lugh says. "So this is『 』?"
<Aw, you guys recognize me? I'm so flattered! Allow me to return the favor! We got Lievre, ArFA Type-Moron and the dumbest AI since the tamogachi, Kuro the world wrecking woobie here to screw up again, and oh look, it's Mr. Internationally Wanted himself!>
Lugh bristles at that, the normally cold boy twitching in irritation.
"Why are you doing here,『 』?" you ask, wanting to cut to the heart of the matter. "Did you seriously come here just to pick a fight with Lievre?"
<Of course not! That'd be stupid! No, I'm here to set the stage for our fight, Kuro!>
What?
<You heard me! See I've wracking my brain about how to beat you, and you know, it's honestly pretty hard. See anytime anybody dies in GGO they just respawn, provided they're a player. Of course you're no normal player, are you Kuro? No, you're considered an ArFA. So I had a theory I wanted to test out. I wonder... where exactly your respawn point is?>
The holoscreen flashes to another picture, that of an... ArFA pod, currently tied to a giant cartoon bomb with a skull spray painted on the side.
<So the next time you die we'll just start spawn camping you until you give up. It's no fair if you just keep respawning and respawning, you know? Of course we can respawn as often as we like. Can't really say it's fair, but... eh. You were the one who wanted a fight with no rules.>
"Wait, this guy is『 』!? And he invaded me because of you!?" Lievre looks back and forth between the screen and the ship, the girl's eyes bulging. "I told you to fight him, not beat him! Why'd you drag me into this!?"
"I'm doing this for your stupid rebellion!" you shout back, "And it's your ship! How did you just let it get stolen!?"
<Don't feel too bad, better people than you have tried and failed to stop me. Thanks for removing your limiters Lievre, we wouldn't have been able to steal your credentials if you hadn't. Oh, and your passwords were pretty easy to figure out—no matter how cool you think the «Edge Punisher» is maybe don't use that as the password for every single system? But I won't complain, cause now I've got a giant spaceship, so thanks for that!>
"No no no, that's my ship! You can't have it!"
<Bit too late for that, no? I'm gonna hold onto it until I manage to figure out how to break into the SEED. It'll take me about... a week to fully figure out how to fly this thing? I could probably crank this out in a day but eh, got events to farm and raids in better games to get to. You know how it is, no rest for the weary, eh Kuro?>
And with that Sora's avatar disappears from the screen, Lievre pounding aimlessly on the glowing barrier surrounding her ship. She's openly in tears at this point, her body convulsing with sobs. "He's gonna wreck my ship! Master's shrine, all the saved Punisher-senpai superchats! It's all gone forever! I've lost everything, I'm homeless, I'm going to live the rest of my life as a hobo, Master's gonna think I'm useless and it's all your fault!"
Lievre spins and glates daggers at you, but you glare right back at her. "Don't forget that I'm your best bet at getting your ship back."
"Argh, that's the worst part! Alright you better pull your weight, you hear me? We're gonna kick their asses! There were two of them, they like『 』and『 』2? Gah, what if there are more of them!?" Lievre shrieks.
"It's just the two of them." You hope. If you include potential blackmail victims or alts like Kazuma, the number could quickly balloon to unmanageable proportions.
"Well? You got a plan!? They're dirty, cheating, humans! Anytime you kill them they'll just respawn back in Glowgen! I keep telling you, there's no point beating them. Until we destroy Glowgen itself the smelly humans are all but invincible!"
You're going to need a solution to this problem, either that or resign yourself to agreeing with『 』's so called rules. Fundamentally you were still fighting people diving into a video game, there were vanishingly few ways to secure victory when everyone was functionally immortal. The ArFA plot was clearly hinging on some kind of invasion of Glowgen, but Lievre claims there's not enough manpower for that.
"Not necessarily," Lugh states. "There is one exception, of course." Said exception appears in a flash of dark light, the Black Star materializing in Lugh's hands, a silent solution to the current predicament. It's always there, ready to be the final option.
"No, we're not murdering them."
"Just a suggestion," Lugh says, the boy holstering his weapon. "Lievre? Any bright ideas?"
"Urgh, and it all comes down to me, again. Key point is this, Master says if the pathetic weak-willed humans believe in something strong enough it'll become true! So once I've gotten a big enough army I'm gonna have all the ArFAs start spreading rumors about how a bunch of these dumb decorative towers are actually lynchpins for Glowgen's safety zone. Then we mount a mock invasion of all these points, convince all the humans to defend them, then bam, it's like it'll become true!" Lievre slams her hands together. "Then I'm gonna fly «SBC Flügel» straight into the dumb city and finally glass the whole damn zone!"
"Except now we, uh... lost the battleship." You remind Lievre before her dreams of carnage get more ridiculous.
"Gah, don't remind me! Whatever, I've still got like warehouses full of war bots. These assholes have got to go down first otherwise the plan is ruined! Hit me up when you finally take them out, Kuro, I'm gonna make a bunch of clones of them and make the clean the vats with their tongues!"
Lievre storms off, dragging her crate and leaving you and Lugh standing alone, staring up at the spaceship that was no longer home to an AI but instead, a pair of assholes.
>Lievre and her robot death army will now assist in combat against『 』.
SATURDAY - 227 CYCLES POST STARFALL
1800 Glocken Standard Time
"You have no idea how awesome it is! I thought it'd be something like a prison but it's like... some kind of spaceship, right? They got this big mainframe and so much advanced tech just lying around— I saw a robot there! They've got robots just walking around, it's insane!"
There's a faceless man in jet black camo, a gas mask in the shape of a human skull stretched over a pale body half wreathed in bandages. Every element was chosen to elicit the appearance of a shadowy assassin, from the skeletal features to the stealth focused build.
This is «Sterben», the main account of Red Eyed XaXa.
"Hey, and I'm an official intern now! Had to sign all the non-disclosure forms and everything, so I can't really tell you all the details but i-if you're asking Asada-sa— ah, I mean Shino, I'm sure I can, uh... tell you some details..."
...And he's currently trying and failing to impress his crush with his new job.
"T-that's nice, Kyouji. Glad to see you're enjoying yourself."
Sinon, sitting at the edge of the ruins, tries very hard to not be extremely put off by the emotionless mask acting like a lost puppy. Before the «Bullet of Bullets» she encountered XaXa in his Sterben account, and no doubt she had unpleasant memories of the encounter. The appearance of Sterben is clearly reminiscent of Red-Eyed XaXa's gear in SAO, and the longer you stare the more obvious the similarities become.
You wonder if, under those bandages, you'll see the «Laughing Coffin» tattoo. Your thigh's already itching just thinking about it...
...
It's been some time since you've thought about them. Even just a few short months later, it's remarkable how distant your days in «Laughing Coffin» felt. It was as if your days as a criminal were just a dream.
A dream filled with blood, terror, and never ending fear.
You and Sinon were here to send Kyouji off. He's already left the country, as Kikuoka spirited him away practically moment his brother was arrested. Kyouji was also soon going to start his... internship... and was going radio silent, which meant this was the last time you'll get to speak with him.
The three of you catch up, neither of you all bringing up the current circumstances in GGO, some unspoken rule reserving the conversation to the mundane. Kyouji rambles about how he's going to miss episodes of some anime you've never heard of, while Sinon urges him to finally start taking his studies seriously. You complain about the price of parfaits in Tokyo, and Kyouji brings out a stash of virtual snacks. For a moment it feels like the three of you were back in Golden Week.
Kyouji's timer dwindles, the clock counting down to the end of the conversation.
"So... it's about time," Kyouji mumbles, looking up at the sky. "It's been fun, hanging out. I guess I'll be pretty busy for a while so, um... sorry about that. And about, you know..."
"It's fine, Kyouji. I'm just glad you're better."
"...then I suppose it's time I give this to you."
With the hiss of decompressing air, the helmet of Sterben separates into two parts, Kyouji handing you the symbol of Death Gun. The grim visage now lies in your hands, the red eyes still glowing faintly. Though you cannot use the account directly, with this mask you could assume Sterben's appearance for whatever purposes you see fit. There was still the matter of the account itself. SEED accounts were registered to biometrics, but people could share accounts if the main user granted permission. You did the same to Cayna back in ALO...
But Shouichi, the main user of Sterben, was unlikely to cooperate.
Yet with the mask did it matter? Nobody has formally tied the Death Gun that appeared during the tournament to the Sterben account and technically nobody but your present company even knows the username of the main Death Gun account was Sterben. That's a gap you can exploit.
You tie back your hair, hiding your most distinct feature inside your hood. The mask snaps to your face, the system automatically affixing itself to your hood.
The world briefly turns red, and then the UI settles in place.
"How do I look?" you ask, the voice distortion of the mask changing your voice to a deep, raspy growl.
"You're creepy," Sinon states, her tone flat.
"You look just like Nii-san."
A skeletal thin man with dirty gray hair raises sunken in lips in a strange facsimile of a smile. Sterben's face looks identical to Shouichi, the same cold eyes, the same gaunt cheekbones and pointed chin, the same sickly pale complexion. This was a transferred SAO account, and in SAO the only face you were permitted to wear was your own.
This was the face of the man that tortured you, that day after day tried to urge you to cross that final step, to become a murderer in truth...
The face of a man you hate.
"Oh, and take this. Nii-san really worked hard on grinding the crafting skills necessary to make this weapon, I'm pretty sure it's the only one like it on the whole server! Sorry I can't give you the cloak or the sniper rifle, both were RMT items so they can't be traded."
An estoc lands in your lap. What should've been a crude metal spike has been polished to a mirror sheen, indents placed at the bottom to simulate a hilt. The material was different, but the shape, the feel. This was XaXa's weapon.
You could never forget it. Not when you've seen your life flash in its reflection a hundred times.
"He... he worked really hard on Sterben," Kyouji continues, his head lowered. "You should've seen him fight! When he moved it was like watching a dance! No wasted motion, he swung his weapon like he had practiced it thousands of times... he... he mentioned he had this rival who never remembered his name he wanted to impress..."
You'll never forget XaXa. He never let you forget him, no matter how much you want to.
«Laughing Coffin» will never let you forget.
"I know it sounds like I'm making excuses, but Nii-san— he was what you call a SAO Survivor. T... this probably won't make you think any better of him, but he was a member of «Laughing Coffin». The uh, player killing guild? Not sure if you've heard of—"
"I'm aware of them."
"O-oh. I know he's done horrible things, but... you gave me a chance. I... really hope you can give Nii-san a chance too. I wasn't thinking right, Kikuoka-san called it VR Psychosis? I think, Nii-san has that too, probably worse than me. I'm sure that after SAO he couldn't tell fiction from reality..."
SAO was a fiction that never let you forget that it was your new reality.
XaXa knew exactly what he was doing.
When he killed players in cold blood. When he laughed as Johnny Black made the friends fight to the death. When he took joy in watching you squirm, when he reveled in your fear.
XaXa was not sick. He was a murderer.
"Nii-san's protected me my whole life. He always makes sure Dad doesn't get on my case, he's the only one who would listen to me... He's my hero, he—he doesn't deserve to be locked up. He needs a friend, like Sinon and you were to me... that's all he needs—"
He was forgiven, you all were. General amnesty for all crimes committed in SAO. And what did he do with that newfound freedom? He went back into the game, killing for fun, just because he could—!
"If Nii-san can understand, if someone can help him understand, I'm sure he'll take responsibility for it all!"
Even now his goddamn ghost was haunting your every step. The accursed Black Star, at every turn, you feel it beckoning you to pull the trigger. Lugh, Goushi, the situation with『 』... there was a solution. XaXa's solution. Always waiting in your holster, waiting for a moment of weakness, waiting for you to cross that line, to become a Coffin in truth...
"Kyouji." Sinon puts a hand on his shoulder, interrupting the boy's frantic ramblings. She just shakes her head, looking at you in worry.
...
"I... I see... I suppose there's no forgiving the things he's done..." Kyouji whispers, crestfallen. "There's some things you can't just forgive..."
No. Some things just... can't be taken back.
"There was this girl. Had this weird accent, said she worked with Kikuoka. She gave me something." Kyouji's voice wavers, the boy choking back tears. "It's the address of the mother of uh... Furuya Takeshi. U-usujio... the one that uh... I helped to kill..."
...
"Neither me nor Nii-san, we can't just... blame VR Psychosis. I chose to help Death Gun, we all chose to help..."
Kyouji, wearing the face of his brother, looks at you with tear filled eyes.
"I hated Usujio. I thought he was annoying, and his Rambo costume was stupid. I... I tracked him down. I received his name from Nii-san, and I was excited. I stalked his address, I figured out his schedule... I didn't just help, I directed it. Eagerly. If it wasn't for me he wouldn't have died. I... I killed him because he annoyed me in a video game. I chose to do that."
There's nothing either you nor Sinon can say. There was no justification, no reason.
"I didn't even know David. I don't even remember his real name, I tracked him down because I didn't want to disappoint Nii-san. I... I killed him and I don't even know why."
"Kyouji, please." Sinon interrupts. "We don't have to—"
"I tried to call. I sat there with the number in my hands for a whole day. I... I couldn't do it. I keep telling myself it's my fault, but I... I don't know if I believe it. VR Psychosis, those strange powers I had, the rest of Death Gun... my mind keeps circling back to them, it keeps screaming at me that I wasn't in control... I— I feel guilty that I don't feel guilty. D—does that make any sense to you?"
It does.
There's little more to say. Kyouji was going to be leaving soon, to participate in some shady venture of Kikuoka's, and you doubt you'll get a chance to say anything more to him. He's like you were at the start of April, confused... lost and without direction.
"Kikuoka-san told me that I'm going to be given a new chance. To be a new person, to be... whoever I want to be." Kyouji looks distantly at the sky, the grey clouds swirling. "It's the new internship. I don't get the details, but he told me to think hard about what type person I want to be, and he'll make it happen. That I can be someone new without worrying about my past."
"So then be yourself," Sinon says, her voice a bit louder than usual.
"I... I don't know who that is anymore."
"Then be who you want to be," you say, the voice changer making the suggestion sound like a command.
"I... I think I'd want to be a hero, and save others like you did to me. Start paying back my debt to everyone I helped kill... or I can just be a normal person, and try to forget all of this..."
Kyouji pauses, a strange look in his eye.
"Or, I guess, I could just be a villain."
"Kyouji, that's not—"
"That's the truth though. At every opportunity, I chose evil. But maybe... maybe the new me would choose differently. Maybe I've reached the point where I can trust myself to choose the right thing for once. Maybe... I'm still just a piece of shit. But that only means I have but one direction to go."
To choose to start a new life as a hero, as a villain, as what counts as normal... or to start from zero once more. "I have no right asking you for yet another favor but... if you were me and you could do it all over again... who would you choose to be?"
[ ] I'd be a hero, and save the world.
>Spiegel Synthesis 340 will enter the Underworld.
[ ] I'd be a villain, and the see the world for what it really is.
>Rank 10 Dark Knight Spiegel will enter the Underworld.
[ ] I'd be a blank slate and seek a new beginning.
>A Child of Vecta will enter the Underworld.
[ ] I'd be a piece of shit.
>Spegiri of the Plains Goblin tribe will enter the Underworld.
[ ] Write-In
You have gained «Sterben's Mask». It provides resistance to gas-based attacks and costs nothing to wear. It is recognizable as the face of Death Gun.
[ ] Keep it.
[ ] Sell it. [Gain ¥5000]
[ ] Destroy it. [Gain +5 DETERMINATION / +15 if you destroy both]
You have gained «Starship Metal Estoc».
Range: MELEE
Basic Attack [Forward Thrust]: The simplest of maneuvers, for the amateur fencer. [6 DICE / PIERCE]
[Impression of Red Eyes]: Incarnate a bad memory. You are narratively considered experienced and highly proficient with one-handed thrusting weapons, and will have ADVANTAGE when attacking with MELEE range PIERCE attacks. You are now weak to DESPAIR and MADNESS effects.
[Starship Blade]: Your MELEE attacks deal +1 DMG, provided the enemy does not also have a [Starship] rank weapon.
[A Civilized Weapon]: This weapon from a more civilized era gives STR attacks +2 DICE.
[ ] Keep it.
[ ] Sell it. [Gain ¥10000]
[ ] Destroy it. [Gain +5 DETERMINATION / +15 if you destroy both]
Give me a PLAN vote this time, since the options are somewhat intertwined.
Last edited:
