And so, the Gears of Fate Begin to Turn

Our little visit at Reiji’s mansion had concluded with him suggesting creating a guild, which consists of me as the programmer, Reiji as the knight, Enzu as the guard, Ruri as the sniper and Kazuto as the leader, and by Ruri’s suggestion, we named it the ‘Take-Downs’.

After I showed everyone how to use their PDAs –which is how most players have decided to call those ‘floating screens’- and most of their basic features, Kazuto added that, to be able to confront the 4 Dei, we should take advantage of the power given to us by them; coding.

And indeed, I demonstrated how mass can be created from a single command.

Although all of them were confused as to how they would use coding to their advantage –since they had no knowledge of it whatsoever-, he speculated that, as it is a fact by now that this coding system can create something from zero, it might be possible to grant people special powers using it, each member having one akin to the peak of their given role.

Now, all that’s left to do is come up with a way to make this theory of Kazuto’s become a reality before it’s too late for us AND this world.

*

(Day 4 of 30)

It’s been 3 days since then.

Me and Kazuto are at my house to find a way to actually grant powers. I’ve been working non-stop on that for us to have a chance of winning a battle against the 4 Dei and get out of here once and for all.

It’s not sure to work ultimately, but at least it will be worth the try.

Well…only I am here, he’s eating the dinner Anzu made…

A ringing noise comes from my PDA; it’s a call from Ruri.

I answer with no hesitation.

‘’Yo, Yuusuke-senpai!’’

She’s as lively as ever, it seems.

‘’I see you got used to the PDA.’’

‘’Yessir! It was actually easy to understand, but it’s thanks to your help that I did! Thank you!’’

Stop being so cute!

Ruri suddenly goes silent, looking at me thoughtfully –although ‘inspecting my face’ would be more correct, if you ask me.

‘’W-What are you doing…?’’ I ask her to break that silence.

‘’You don’t seem to remember me at all, huh…’’ she murmurs.

‘’Remember you?’’

That being said, I’ve been struggling way too much these past 3 days trying to remember where I’ve seen her, but nothing came to mind.

‘’I was actually wondering, have we met before outside of school?’’

As if she was waiting for me to say that, she quickly responds: ‘’We have! I was once at Leon’s when you visited and his parents were away!’’

Leon? Could she mean…?

‘’Leon? As in Sakakibara Leon?’’

‘’Yes! I’m a cousin of his! Geez, you don’t remember me the slightest bit…’’ she pouts.

Well, sorry for having a bad memory!

‘’Although…it’s not like I can blame you though, it must be over a year since then.’’

‘’I did remember your face though. I can’t believe I’ve spent so much time since the opening ceremony at school trying to figure out where I had met you. I’m pathetic…’’

Ruri can’t hold back her laughter and bursts out. In fact, she’s being so loud that the echoing can be heard over the PDA.

‘’D-Don’t laugh it off! It’s not funny!’’

‘’Sorry sorry, I just think you’re really fun to talk to, Yuusuke-senpai, you know that!?’’

‘’T-Thank you, I guess…’’

‘’I recall that one time… If I’m not mistaken, the bell rang to get in class and you were looking at me for a while. When I noticed you, we were just looking at each other for some seconds, but then you snapped and ran up the stairs. Honestly, it is really amusing when I remember this!’’ she giggles.

‘’Don’t get me wrong, I just wanted to remember why you seemed familiar!’’

‘’No no, don’t worry about that, I’m not that kind of person. After a while though, I remembered who you were, but never got the chance to talk to you. I’m glad we got to meet each other here at least.’’ she smiles at me.

I can’t hide my embarrassment and bashfulness, she is just too cute to look at directly. She is extremely kind and well-mannered as well, no wonder why she’s popular with everyone.

I suddenly hear a knock on my door.

‘’Yuusuke, are you busy? Can I come in?’’

‘’Y-Yeah, just a sec!’’ I then lower my voice a bit so that Kazuto doesn’t suspect who I’m talking to: ‘’I-I gotta go, Ruri-chan. See you tomorrow then!’’

‘’Of course! Goodnight, Yuusuke-senpai!’’

And with that, our small conversation is over.

Kazuto opens the door at that moment, wearing a huge grin on his face.

‘’What is it this time…?’’

I demand an explanation on that!

‘’Why the huge grin, Yuusukeeeeeeeee?’’

‘’That’s actually my line. Fix your face!’’

Wait, I’m actually smiling?!

‘’Oh, it must be Ruri-chan, right? You got yourself a good girlfriend, didn’t you?’’ he throws his smug face at me.

‘’Is this why you knocked first?’’ I sigh deeply.

‘’No, this just happened to cross my mind. Totally didn’t hear her voice and decided to wait outside till you finished.’’

And for a second I wondered why I couldn’t get myself to believe you…

Following that, Kazuto comfortably sits on my bed, as if it were his own: ‘’So, what else do you got to tell me about commands?’’

‘’I already told you about how each player has a PDA that works only under their own commands, right?

‘’Yeah, and that it’s not necessary to type commands if you know exactly how the sequence goes in your mind.’’

‘’And you correctly concluded that they’re one with the mind and will of each player.’’

‘’I’m waiting for the next big info to leak, Yuusuke!’’

‘’Let’s see… Of course, how could I forget that! Commands can also include other people.’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’The reason I found Enzu in the first place was because I set up the command to teleport me near her.’’

‘’Wait, there’s the ability to teleport?! And why did I come all the way here on foot…’’

The world’s not all sunshine and flowers, you know…

‘’But it is interesting though.’’

‘’What is?’’

‘’If these command prompts are connected somehow to the brain, you can get to someone without breaking a sweat, but only if you know how they look like. Much like a Death Note.’’

‘’A Death Note…? Are you on your right mind…?’’

On second thought, he isn’t wrong at all; the Death Note works the exact same way.

In order for Kira to successfully kill a person, he had to follow some rules strictly, even unconsciously. His first killing was a terrorist that took hostages in a kindergarten, if I recall correctly. Curious to try out this mysterious notebook, he wrote the name of that person in it as soon as it was announced, also showing a picture of him. After 40 seconds, the terrorist died of a heart attack.

A flaw in this almost perfect killing machine appeared later on, when L challenged Kira to kill him. L made a prisoner who was about to be executed appear in his stead, using his own name. Kira, of course, took the bait and killed that prisoner moments before his life would have been taken away by other means. Despite supposedly having killed L, he was still alive; Kira understood he was led into a trap.

When L challenged him to try killing the real one this time, he failed miserably. That’s when L and Kira understood that to kill someone, you have to know both their name and appearance, in order to avoid confusion with other people with the same name.

This must be roughly how this interaction system works too.

‘’Say, Yuusuke…’’ Kazuto interrupts my thinking: ‘’I’m not surprised you’re in this game, but why are your sisters here too?’’

‘’That’s what I want to find out as well. It’s not certain that there are circumstances to be added to the game, but we can’t dispute their existence just like that. Do you know anything?’’

‘’Nothing at all.’’

‘’I see…’’

After some handful seconds of silence later, Kazuto takes a look at my clock over my bed, only to stand up surprised by what time it is: ‘’Woah, look at the time! 21:30, my dude! I gotta get going!’’

‘’Your parents aren’t home, you know… Besides, you’re not going to sleep or anything this early, right…?’’

‘’Nope!’’

This guy is hopeless…

And with that, Kazuto takes his leave from my room, and I head over to the door with him.

‘’One more thing, Yuusuke.’’

‘’What is it this time?’’

‘’If… If we do confront the Dei, what will our chances of winning be?’’

Seeing Kazuto being pessimistic for once is a first, and this is more than enough to take me aback.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t reply positively. The percentage of anyone beating the Dei closer to 0 than to 1.

Right before I respond to his question, Anzu gets out of the kitchen, dressed as if she is ready to go outside, distracting both of us from his original question.

‘’Are you going somewhere, Anzu?’’

‘’I’m walking Kazuto-san home!’’

‘’I’m not a dog!’’

Such a Kazuto-themed reply… I wonder if he’s proud of that…

‘’I never said something like that. I’m just going shopping because we’re short on some ingredients for breakfast and the convenience store is near your house, so I figured I should keep you some company.’’

‘’I see, that makes sense. Thank you, Anzu-chan!’’

What is this, a Disney sitcom?!

‘’Well, see y’all tomorrow then!’’

‘’Wait, you two.’’ they both turn to face me just before they open the door. ‘’Why don’t you just teleport? That way, you won’t have to worry about being late or getting assaulted by someone. This world was never a safe place to begin with, so we need to-’’

‘’Yuusuke-’’ Kazuto looks at me ready to tear up.

WHAT IS IT WITH THE TEARS ANYWAY?!

‘’-we don’t know the command for that!’’

‘’Ah, sorry, I forgot.’’

I forgot they know nothing about coding…!

But there is a loophole to that, right? I think I had thought of one when I was doing my research on the chips the other day.

I take two scraps of paper and write the appropriate command on them, giving one to Kazuto and the other to Anzu: ‘’This should do, right?’’

‘’Onii-san-‘’ says Anzu with an eerie smile on her face: ‘’-I said I’ll walk Kazuto-san home, didn’t I?’’

‘’Y-You did…’’

Why do you have to be persistent like Mum?! It’s, like, your only flaw!

‘’Then that settles it! Here’s how it will go: I’ll accompany Kazuto-san to his house, then go to the convenience store, and then I’ll use this to come back.’’

‘’Why don’t you teleport with Kazuto to the convenience store and part ways there? It’s much better-’’

‘’You don’t get it, Yuusuke, do you? Even if it’s convenient to use teleportation, we are humans. What’s the harm in wanting to take a little walk and talk?’’

I can’t say he’s wrong on that…

It’s more like I can’t prove him wrong though…

‘’Suit yourselves…’’ I sigh. ‘’If anything happens though, be sure to call, okay?’’ I pat Anzu’s head saying that, and she responds with a nodding and a wide smile.

‘’Where’s my share of trust from you, Yuusuke?!’’

‘’It died long ago.’’

‘’That’s harsh, Onii-san.’’ Anzu chuckles, and following suit, we’re unable to hold back our laughters.

‘’Well, we’re going now. See ya!’’ says Kazuto as he steps outside.

Both me and Enzu from the kitchen reply ‘’Goodnight’’, and Anzu with Kazuto close the door behind them.

Considering Kazuto’s previous question about why my sisters are also here: It’s not just my sisters. There are a lot of people who don’t fit into all the possible categories that some were theorizing are the criteria to get transported here. There’s no way someone can deduce anything with just this info. I would call it ‘a random selection’ and leave it at that, but it doesn’t feel it’s random.

Just what did the 4 Dei have in mind when they started this mess?

‘’Well then, I’m going to my room.’’ I mutter to myself.

‘’Hey, shut-in.’’ Enzu startles me, making me screech unwillingly.

‘’What was that screeching?!’’

‘’What do you think it was?! Who do you think caused this?!’’

‘’You.’’ she points at me.

Trying to blame me as always, huh…

After taking a few breaths, I sigh: ‘’What do you want, Enzu? If you wanna give me a heart attack, just say so beforehand…’’

‘’I don’t have time for your jokes.’’

Is that so?!

Is that freaking so?!

‘’I-I just wanted to commend you for your encouraging and moving speech the other day. To make me, of all people, change my opinion…you’ve grown quite a lot.’’

‘’May I wish the same for your cardboard chest?’’

‘’I’m still growin’, ya know! Just ya see! I’ll surpass Ms. Jiggly Succubus!’’

What the hell is this naming sense…?

‘’W-Well, I’m going to my room, I need to pick up my work where I left from.’’

Just as I’m about to ascend the stairs, Enzu pulls my shirt’s sleeve so hard that I can’t move an inch, so I turn around.

‘’What is it now?’’

‘’Where do you think you’re going? Locking yourself in your room again? Is that all you’re capable of?’’

‘’I know I’m the programmer of the guild, but it’s no piece of cake to make something from scratch no matter how you look at it. Responsibilities need their time as well.’’

‘‘Look, you’ve locked yourself in there for 3 days straight, you need to take a break and sleep at least a bit.’’

Well…this is awkward.

Kodo Enzu giving helpful advice to ME?

I don’t even get her anymore… Her gagging was one thing, but this is on a whole new level…

‘’Could it be…that you worrying about me?’’

‘’It’s the others that are worrying about you, not me, you dumbass! Anzu is, Reiji-san is, Kazuto is, Ruri-san is…! I’d rather die than do that!’’

‘’Then drop dead.’’

With an emotionless expression that is more terrifying than Anzu’s scolding, she responds quickly to my quirky answer as soon as it’s over: ‘’Your humor doesn’t work against me.’’

‘’…’’

Is it bad that I’m scared for my life here?!

Think, Yuusuke… Would Enzu ever start a conversation with you if it weren’t for something she considers important? If praising me was all she wanted, she would have left me go upstairs without a shadow of doubt.

I can only think of one thing that she might have in mind right now…

‘’So, what’s the reason you’re forbidding me to go upstairs? There must be one, right?’’

‘’You said we would be getting powers or something like that, but what about Anzu? Just because she doesn’t want to be a part of this doesn’t mean she isn’t in for trouble. It would be reckless and risky to assume that.’’

Just as I expected.

Of course it would be about Anzu. Enzu cares about Anzu more than she does about herself, so Anzu’s safety is a given for her.

‘’ ‘You’re right, I didn’t think Anzu would need them. I’ll try to sort it out somehow.’ is what I would normally tell you… But things are different now.’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’Giving Anzu powers means that she would have to use them if necessary. And you know what else this means? Someone could end up losing their life because of that.’’

Enzu’s surprised look soon changes into one that shows how much she regrets suggesting that.

It’s my fault both of them are into this.

Anzu decided to stay away from everything, yet Enzu is walking the same path I am.

She is ready to die anytime because of me.

Still… Is Anzu safe just because of her decision?

‘’Why did you become like this…?’’ Enzu mutters as she grits her teeth.

‘’I don’t want her to see people dying in front of her eyes… She told us that herself… She is just not cut out for-’’

‘’Don’t spout this crap in front of me!’’ she slaps with all her might. ‘’Just listen to yourself for a second! Are you even being reasonable right now?! What happened to you?! You got Anzu worrying about you all the time! She says you’ve been down the whole time since that day, but this is way worse than what she described!’’

‘’What crap?! I made her burst into tears in front of so many people! All because of my selfishness to get out of this place as fast as possible! I was basically asking both of you if you had any problem with being forced into a battlefield… Wouldn’t you hate yourself if you realized everything you did was just for your own satisfaction?!’’

‘’I don’t even care what you were trying to achieve. Your crying won’t make me change my opinion about you either. But if you regret making her cry, then you’d better make it up to her! Just yesterday, she was telling me that she regretted giving you false hope if it meant to let you down ultimately! She’s been trying to seem happy in front of you so that you don’t worry about her! But instead, YOU are the one making her worry!’’

But if she does care so much about Anzu, why is she doing this?

‘’Do you honestly think anyone would fight the Dei if it weren’t for these strict rules of theirs? But there’s nothing else they can do! Fighting is the only choice! Whether she wants it or not, she has to fight!’’

‘’Anzu clearly said she doesn’t want to be a part of this, and there’s nothing we can do about it… Do you know how much it will traumatize her if anything bad happens?! Do you have the slightest idea?! You don’t! I don’t get why you insist so much on getting her to-!’’

Enzu can’t seem to contain her anger anymore and gets it all out on me: ‘’You useless piece of garbage, what are you using your brain for?! The Dei wanting ALL of us to fight, what happens to those who refuse to abide by their rules as well… You’ve realized it too, haven’t you?!’’

‘’I have… So what?! It’s not like I can make Anzu-!’’

‘’Kodo Yuusuke!’’ she screams at the top of her lungs, quivering more than I have ever seen her quiver before. ‘’Anzu is weak. She is fragile. She is a pacifist. She cares about everyone, yet doesn’t look after her own self. I’ll agree on these. But life doesn’t always go your way! Do you think anyone planned their little trip here? No one did!’’

So what she’s basically saying is…

‘’Anzu has no choice but to fight. Be it the front lines or the back ones, solo or with a team. If she needs to stain her hands with blood, then so be it!’’

At that moment, I finally notice that the tears Enzu must have been holding back are now coursing down her cheeks.

How stupid can I be anyway? Her goal obviously isn’t to get Anzu to fight; it’s to get someone like her to survive in this hellish environment.

‘’[Anzu will die if she doesn’t fight!]’’

That’s right.

She will die.

And along with her, our most important reason to fight will take away our will to go on.

But…

‘’What makes you say that, Enzu? I told you, she is not cut out for that… She can’t hurt a fly, yet you want her to fight. Even if she does fight, she will most likely die! But if she doesn’t fight, she would again die! Isn’t death the only thing that’s waiting for her now?!’’

‘’It’s not! That’s why I want to leave this to you! If she fights, she has a chance! I’m saying this because I don’t want her to die, and you’re the only one who understands this feeling!’’

What is ‘this feeling’ actually?

Something about that right now reminds me of someone clinging on a single thread of hope that’s as good as lost, like Enzu is right now.

Ah, I see.

That’s me.

That’s me, 3 days ago.

‘’You’re her beloved older brother! She trusts you as much as she trusts me! You must do something about this! If you don’t, Anzu will-!’’

‘’Don’t you get it?!’’

No, she definitely doesn’t.

She is repeating the same mistake I made 3 days ago.

She is putting what seems the most convenient solution over everything else at stake.

‘’Listen carefully, stupid brother of mine. This game isn’t one where you can get away with running away. If you fight, you are as likely to survive as you are to die. If you run away, the Dei will deliver you their judgment without warning. And what you are doing right now is stripping off Anzu’s right to fight for her own survival, when you yourself know that will make her death inevitable!’’

‘’Judgement…you say…?’’

How could I forget that? It’s what I considered the most plausible thing to happen to the players who decide not to play the Dei’s game; a punishment by the Dei themselves.

‘’Enzu… How do you know all this? How do you know inactive players will die? You even told us that day that the Dei hadn’t shown us everything we need to know, yet you seemed to know.’’

Enzu is taken aback by my question, but after she clutches her sleeve as firmly as possible, she says quietly: ‘’A friend of mine that was transported here…refused to fight. She removed all of her items from her inventory. When the final one was removed, she received a ‘Judgment shall fall upon the ones who run away’ message…and her heart stopped a few seconds later.’’

‘’Her…heart…?’’

‘’No, it didn’t just stop…it disappeared from her body althogether.’’

With every single word she uttered, the fear I felt towards death in this game grew stronger.

‘’Her friends panicked and called everyone they knew to ask for help, including me, but only when they reached the hospital did they realize that she was doomed from the moment she chose to run away.’’

So this is what the Dei were after.

Indeed, a heart failure isn’t uncommon at all. It would make it seem like an unlucky happening.

But the truth is that they wanted to hide the big scoop; being unable to bring them back to life by removing the most vital organ from the body.

Correcting my past words: Death is achievable in this game after all. It’s still unknown if the deceased of this world will return to our homes either as corpses or alive, let alone if they will even be remembered if they don’t, but what matters is that people will die in this hell, and the numbers aren’t going to be small.

This isn’t just a regular game.

‘’I don’t want that to happen anymore!’’ she breaks down as her tears overflow on her already drenched face.

I can’t stand any of this.

I can’t stand seeing Enzu crying for some reason, so I take her to my embrace to help her calm down.

Even if I hate her, it feels like the only and natural thing to do for some reason.

Much to my surprise, she doesn’t show any signs of resistance to that and continues trying to stop her unstoppable tears from coming out.

‘’I swear…I will protect you. All of you.’’ I mutter.

This isn’t even a game anymore; it’s mere self-satisfaction for the Dei.

‘’This is the fate that we are being forced to accept! It’s die or be killed in the end!’’

They will torture everyone here who isn’t willing to fight them, no exceptions allowed.

Enzu has stopped crying now, so she leaves my embrace. Her breathing has become slower as well.

‘’I honestly didn’t know anything. I just felt something was off when Anzu said she wouldn’t fight.’’

My will and resentment towards the Dei right now is unimaginable.

‘’I’m not asking to do this for me; do it for Anzu. You want her to have a genuine smile on her face too, don’t you? Not that mask she’s been wearing because of you…’’

Enzu is once again right.

What have I been doing these 3 days? Instead of falling on my knees and apologizing to Anzu, I chose to shut myself in my room.

Not only that, but I also ignored her. I made her go through so much that I can’t even accept the fact that I was the one responsible for everything.

I was only running away from my guilt and problems.

The thought chips…I was only using them as an excuse to achieve that.

What is the most important thing to me? Is it to survive? To get out of this hellish game?

Actually, surviving is the most important thing right now. But if I manage to survive, what will I gain from it?

[What will I gain from it if I have no one else by my side at that moment?]

If everyone –if anyone remains at all- loses their smiles after we return… If Anzu loses her true, genuine, authentic angelic smile of hers forever… What will the meaning of me surviving be?

‘’Thank you, Enzu. I’ll apologize properly to her when she comes back.’’

‘’I don’t need your thanks. Save your kinds words for Anzu. I’m only doing it because I care about her. Don’t you dare forget your promise, crybaby.’’

To be honest, who is the crybaby now, me or her?

‘’I won’t.’’

‘’Good.’’ she shows me a broad smile after having wiped all her tears and proceeds to head upstairs, only to stop halfway with her back turned at me, saying: ‘’She doesn’t have to die for anyone’s sake. But letting her die because you were trying to protect her…pretty ironic, isn’t it? She isn’t a kid anymore. She knows what’s best for her.’’ are her final words as she disappears from my field of vision.

What is even stronger than my fear and resentment towards the Dei right now is my will to take all 4 of them down, one by one; that’s the hope Enzu was clinging on. A faint existence of hope. Too faint to be called real, but too real to be called fake.

I’ve set my goal now; I’ll complete these chips and prevent everyone from dying. I don’t want to see anyone in despair like Anzu was.

But how? How do I whatever it takes to do it?

A ringing sound suddenly reverbs around the house, interrupting my thinking. It’s coming from my PDA.

It’s Reiji this time.

There’s no way he would call so late at night if it weren’t anything of importance.

I pick up and decide to get straight to the point: ‘’Reiji, what’s the mat-?’’

In a slightly trembling voice, he replies without waiting for me to finish my sentence: ‘’Yuusuke, don’t panic, but…Kazuto and Anzu…’’

[And this was the beginning of a fate that was about to be set in stone.]