Chapter 8 – Encounter 【5】

Well then, just one more event to clear, and it’s finally the boss battle.

From here on, the screaming monsters won’t appear anymore.

I removed the earplugs and recalled the event’s content.

In the original, the moment Hanako entered the next field, she experienced a vision of her past being bullied in the classroom.

The illusion soon disappeared, and Hanako’s consciousness returned to reality.

At that moment, the fifth floor boss had appeared before Hanako without her noticing.

The boss attacked Hanako twice, and if she dodged all the attacks, it disappeared.

The first attack manifests a weapon like the Grim Reaper’s scythe and swings it at her neck.

This attack can be dodged by crouching.

The second attack releases a light sphere that causes instant death on contact.

Since this light sphere can’t cross fields, it can be dodged by running back to the previous field.

As a little trick, when you first crouch, you can increase survival probability by simultaneously pressing “↓” and “→” to crawl toward the entrance, but since running speed is faster than the light sphere’s speed anyway, it doesn’t really matter.

Of course, the light sphere’s speed is faster than walking speed, so if you trigger this event in a low HP state—a state where you can’t run—you’ll definitely die.

And right now, thanks to Yamada and the first floor boss, I’m not in a state where I can run.

But there’s no problem. That’s what the potion is for.

I drank the potion I obtained in the “Door That Won’t Open” room and fully restored my HP.

Still, doesn’t this game have way too many instant death traps?

If this were a normal game, it’d definitely be certified garbage.

Let’s get back on track.

Now I’m fully prepared. All I have to do is avoid the fifth floor boss’s attacks, return to this field, then go to the next field again and survive in the boss room for one minute.

The second floor boss has a bug, so surviving is easy.

By the way, there’s one thing that concerns me.

If what Hanako saw in her vision was the worst memory from her past, then I should also see the worst memory from my past.

Thinking about it that way, the illusion I’ll see is obvious. That moment when my parents died.

I walked around while worrying.

Could I maintain my composure after seeing that illusion?

Would I panic?

The light sphere is no problem. I can dodge it by running.

But the scythe is fast.

The preliminary motion is long, so normally I could dodge it easily, but in a panic state, I might not dodge in time.

Panicking is dangerous.

After worrying a bit, I reached a conclusion.

Thinking about it, there was nothing to worry about from the start.

Even if that footage is an illusion, I’ll get to see my parents again.

Then I’ll tell my parents what I couldn’t tell them before.

How much I love them, how grateful I am.

Of course, this is just self-satisfaction. I know that better than anyone, even without being told.

I know, but… even so, I—

Even if it’s just an illusion, I want to see my parents.

With that determination, I headed to the next field.

◆　◆　◆

That place was filled with smoke and heat.

The sensation was so realistic that I completely forgot where I was and what I was doing.

Before my eyes, my parents were already buried under concrete from the neck down, only their faces visible.

Yet even so, my parents were alive.

They glared at me with expressions stained by pain.

Shedding tears of blood, my parents condemned me.

“This happened because of you!”

“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have died!”

“You——!”

“You——!”

Those were things I had once thought.

Things I had blamed myself for.

My parents continued saying something after that, but I couldn’t hear anything due to intense ringing in my ears.

Everything before me went pitch black, and my legs wobbled.

I was about to fall backward, but my body didn’t fall.

Some incomprehensible information floated through my mind—you only lie down when you die or when someone pushes you—and immediately disappeared.

My parents’ condemnation continued for a while.

Ah, they hated me this much.

Of course. Just as my parents said, their deaths were entirely my fault.

If I had been an ordinary child.

If I had been a little more well-behaved.

If I had been a little smarter.

Self-blame and regret spun around inside me.

Why had I forgotten their hatred?

Did my brain seal away this memory on its own to protect my psyche?

I feel nauseous from the intense self-loathing.

What was I even trying to tell my parents?

Even though they died because of me, even though I was the source of everything, even though they hated me this much, and yet.

For my own dirty self-satisfaction, I was trying to unilaterally convey my selfish feelings to them.

Just like a murderer unilaterally thanking their victim.

I only now realized that what I should have offered was an apology, not gratitude.

Though I could no longer see or hear anything, I heard the final words clearly.

“You should never have been born!”

Ah, from start to finish, there was no meaning to my being born.

My parents were unhappy that I was born.

The moment I thought that, I heard the sound of everything composing me breaking apart.

◆　◆　◆

Everything vanished in an instant.

The burning heat that scorched my body, the choking smoke, the collapsed building, and my parents who had been condemning me.

What I heard instead was a slightly strange sound effect.

And what I saw was a floor composed of something cell-like.

At some point, I was on the ground on both knees and hands.

There was a sound of something tearing through the space where my neck had just been.

But I didn’t understand what it meant.

Suddenly, the surroundings became bright.

But I didn’t understand what it meant.

Dazed, I raised my head, and a sphere of light came into view.

The sphere of light gradually approached, and eventually touched my body.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah——!”

Tremendous pain raced through my entire body.

I felt my HP hit zero.

In that instant, my consciousness returned to reality.

I died? Me? Why?

—Because I was hit by the light sphere.

Huh? Hit? By that light sphere I could easily dodge by running?

Impossible. How did this happen?

In that moment, I remembered the illusion I had seen.

The burning heat, the choking smoke, the collapsed building, and my parents’ voices condemning me… voices?

I’m a complete idiot!

I felt an illusion like everything before me turned bright red.

My motionless body, my body whose blood should have stopped flowing, sent all the blood in my body to my brain, and I felt a heat like my brain was burning.

In murderer Renka’s case, the feeling of self-blame was even greater than anger toward the murderer.

Because at that time, there were several pieces of information that could have predicted her crime.

I think she had been observing us—more precisely, the club president in the clubroom—with bugs and miniature cameras for a long time.

If so, she should have already grasped what beverages I preferred to drink and Eri’s habits.

In that case, manipulation would be simple.

Probably that day, most of my speculation was correct.

If I had assumed the worst from the beginning and acted accordingly, I could have arranged for the murderer to be caught by the police.

Everything was my fault for being bound by common sense and not anticipating the murderer’s rampage.

Of course, I don’t intend to forgive her.

My life is something my parents protected in exchange for their own lives. She took that life.

I don’t think I’ll ever meet her, but if I encounter her in this labyrinth, I’m confident I can trap her and kill her cruelly.

On the other hand, in Yamada’s case, I wasn’t careless from the start.

I read his true intentions, guided his thinking, and turned the tables on him.

Since he had tried to kill me, I felt no guilt.

In the first place, I didn’t even kill him; he just died on his own.

I harbor no resentment or hatred for him using me as bait.

He’s already dead, and he was dancing in the palm of my hand from start to finish.

But this time is different.

Perhaps my parents hated me in their final moments.

Maybe thinking they loved me until the end was just my own assumption.

Or perhaps, just as I thought, they loved me until the end.

Only my parents know the truth.

But think about it.

In that illusion, my parents were buried under concrete from the neck down, only their faces visible.

Setting aside how they were alive when they shouldn’t be, their lungs were crushed. They couldn’t breathe.

In that state, is it biologically possible to speak loudly?

Also, seeing that illusion didn’t awaken any sealed memories.

There were no sealed memories to begin with.

In other words, that vision didn’t show something that actually happened in the past—it was merely an illusion.

Someone arbitrarily used my parents, denying my parents’ final moments with my parents’ voices and my parents’ expressions.

They were defiled. Not me. I don’t care if I’m defiled.

What was defiled were my parents. I won’t forgive this. I can’t forgive this.

Let’s think calmly. Who did this?

It’s obvious. After I saw the illusion, the fifth floor boss appeared.

And its ability is to manifest illusions.

…I’ll kill it. No matter what, I’ll definitely kill it.

But how?

There’s a way.

In the original, the fifth floor boss is the only boss you can fight and defeat, excluding the demon god.

It’s because of the setting that it guards the demon god’s seal.

And I already know the strategy for killing it thoroughly.

Therefore, I just need to proceed as is.

But how?

I’ve died. No, I haven’t died, but I’m as good as dead.

Can’t I come back to life?

Of course, I know very well that can’t be done.

When you die, you have no choice but to reset the game and play from the beginning of each floor.

But since the game has become reality, there’s no reset button anywhere.

No, think harder. Is there really no possibility?

If things that could be done in the game can’t be done in reality, then things that couldn’t be done in the game should be able to be done in reality.

So what can be done in reality that couldn’t before?

It’s interaction with other players.

Through interaction with other players, while in the game you only lay down when you died, in reality you can lie down even without dying.

My body being pushed down by Yamada proves that.

On the other hand, in this world, potions are full recovery medicine.

In the game, since there was only Hanako, you could only use it on yourself, but here you should be able to use it on others too.

Therefore, if someone uses a potion on me, I might be able to come back to life even if my HP reaches zero.

A silver lining in misfortune, I suppose.

Considering the original CG, my corpse should have no external injuries.

In other words, it doesn’t look like a corpse with absolutely no possibility of revival. It just looks like I’ve collapsed.

In that case, maybe I can hope.

But when will other people be transferred?

And even if someone manages to reach this point and notices my condition, in this insane labyrinth, would they use a potion equal to their own life for a stranger?

No, if they won’t use it, I’ll just wait until someone who will appears.

Until such a person appears, I’ll keep remembering the strategy. To kill that thing.

I’ll reflect on my short life. To maintain my ego through the long wait.

And I’ll keep reminiscing about the people I’ve met. So I don’t forget my precious people.

According to the setting, one year in this labyrinth is one second outside.

In other words, 3,600 years in this labyrinth is one hour outside, 86,400 years is one day outside, and 2,592,000 years is one month outside.

There’s no guarantee anyone else will be transferred soon, but to protect my psyche, I’ll choose to believe part of the information Yamada told me.

The information that says: select one being with the highest aptitude factor from each world and summon them to this labyrinth.

If that’s true, I was summoned from my world, and Yamada was summoned from a world where supernatural powers exist.

I don’t really know how much time passed after I was transferred before Yamada was transferred, but thinking in terms of outside time, it definitely wasn’t even an hour.

In other words, the selection occurred almost simultaneously.

It’s not impossible that the goddess is watching the behavior of summoned people and only summons others when someone like me makes little progress, but even so, it probably won’t exceed one month.

Even if waiting an eternity is impossible, I can endure if the period is fixed.

Therefore, I’ll wait 2,592,000 years while maintaining my ego and desire for revenge.

And someday I’ll revive and kill the fifth floor boss.

If someone appears who gives me that opportunity.

If someone appears who lets me maintain this life my parents saved again.

If in this insane world, such a kind person appears who would use a potion equal to their own life for someone else—

I wouldn’t mind dedicating my everything to that person.

And so, the long endurance began.

I repeatedly reminisced about past events, people I’d met, and the labyrinth strategy as much as I could remember, ten times.

No one came.

I repeatedly reminisced about past events, people I’d met, and the labyrinth strategy as much as I could remember, one hundred times.

No one came.

I lost track of how many times I’d counted midway, so I recounted and repeated another thousand times.

While doing so, someone occasionally appeared.

I screamed “Help me!” But that cry couldn’t become a voice.

They finished the event with that hateful thing and entered the boss room.

I don’t know what happened to them after that.

I continued waiting as usual.

How much time passed after that?

After recounting four times—not an exact number—when it reached about five hundred times, my ego and desire for revenge had already weakened.

I felt like everything had become gray.

There was a me dispassionately reminiscing about the life of a person named Suzuki Sugar.

In the first place, I had underestimated the time of 2,592,000 years.

I had lost my composure in anger, but thinking about it now, there’s no way an ordinary person could endure that eternity-like time.

Maybe I’m reaching my limit soon.

No, I don’t want that!

The thought of my desire for revenge disappearing, my precious people vanishing from memory, my very existence disappearing—it’s unbearably frightening.

Driven by urgency, I prayed.

Please, anyone, save me.

I was truly confident I’d do anything.

I was even confident I’d happily lick someone’s shoes without complaint if told to.

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly something was poured on my body.

In that instant, I felt my HP recovering. And my body that shouldn’t be able to move could move again.

I raised my head and looked at my savior.

In the gray world, there was a girl like an angel.

She smiled cutely while showing an empty bottle and spoke to me mischievously.

“Um, are you okay? If you sleep in a place like this, you’ll catch a cold, you know?”

In that instant, color returned to the world.

I felt like my entire body was enveloped in something hot.

Something hot flowed from my eyes, and sobs naturally escaped.

My head grew hot for a completely different reason than I’d felt before, and I could see only her.

I intuitively realized I’d fallen in love at first sight.

With her angel-like appearance, with her saving me, with the kindness to save a stranger using a potion equal to her own life, and with her very existence.

This feeling was different from any feeling I’d had for anyone before.

Different from my feelings for my parents, my feelings for my friends, my feelings for a girlfriend I’d dated long ago going with the flow, and different from my feelings for Eri.

And so, I met her.

And I fell in love for the first time in my life.

◆　◆　◆

Ah, I should thank her first.

I tried to express my gratitude to her “Eh!? W-Why are you crying!? That thing must have shown you something bad! But it’s okay now! The bad guy disappeared!” but it had been far too long since I’d spoken words, and no voice came out.

So instead, I licked her shoes as I had sworn to do.

Huh, she screamed and ran away.