The Long-Deserved Reunion (epilogue)

Thanks, but one meeting with this gal was quite enough for me. I’d be completely fine without a rematch.

With the sun shining, the clouds overhead, and the pleasant weather, when I was sure she was really gone and no one else was going to accidentally steal my head or soul as a prize, I dropped to the ground, kneeling, dizzy.

Eyes closed, I let out a little wail, like I’d finished a full marathon. I mean, after all the rushing and slashing all around, yelling at jerks and enduring pain that we’d been through in the last two days, it was pretty safe to call it gym days.

Everything I’d been through was swirling in my head now like soup.

“Ahhh, finally...” I wheezed weakly, but mostly out of frustration. “After this, Sachi and I will probably eat ourselves to death!”

Gathering my strength, I stood up, taking a look around at the group.

The serious things had just begun, and we were in quite big danger if we chose to continue.

Mineruva certainly wasn’t scared of Silaghi, and didn’t hesitate to reveal the Demon’s more tactical and annoyed side underneath.

I had a bad feeling, thinking that I’d probably end up on this side of her if I was the one to tease her.

“What do you think we should do now? What options do we have?” I asked.

Mineruva coughed a little, then tried to dust off her hair.

“She’s got some of her strength back, but it’s a big fake. She’s still weak, so it’ll take her a long time to make a move.”

Okay, that’s a good sign. Then we shouldn’t expect anything big for a while.

But I was wondering what exactly was she going to attempt next.

“How much time do we have?” Lupa asked.

“Also,” Adiel raised a finger. “What did she mean when she said the System was faulty?”

Our goddess put her hands on her hips, thinking it over.

“Okay, first things first... We probably have a month roughly. Until then, we can settle down, relax a bit, but have to be alert if there's anything strange going on in the world. And...”

She paused, and I sensed something was wrong.

“I have no idea what she meant. I use the System’s own magic that governs the laws of the world, don’t you think I would have known if any part of it was faulty?”

This got under her skin like, and I completely understood.

Mineruva was our local mage, and how bad would it be if a mage didn’t realize something that a villain casually hints about her magic.

That would hurt more than anything.

“Then, she did lie?” that seemed to be the best explanation.

“Not sure. Probably I’m the only one who doesn’t know everything, including how she got the power to make those weapons. None of the Demons have ever been able to generate anything like them before, only she could.”

“But she's the only one left,” Lupa surmised. “Right?”

“Undoubtedly, unmatched among all high-ranked Demons for sure.”

Okay, I expected as much after this. I’ve sorted out my thoughts a bit, finding a minimal peace in it all.

We’ve had time to mentally prepare for anything, based on what Silaghi did and what she might do next, and maybe...

Maybe if she shows up again, we can find a way to beat her without a fight.

No, yeah, that last one was a fantasy, I was just hoping because I didn’t want to log out next time and leave my soul trapped in a virtual world with a woman who looks like she’s from a western movie.

“So here we are,” a small bit of life came back to me. “Our odds are currently in our favor, but what about the Senate and the knights?”

A pained sigh came from our knight.

“Silaghi and Magne left one hell of a scar on the Empire and the Senate. It will be hard to clear myself, but I hope there’s someone I can turn to. A good friend of mine who’s a senator.”

Emeric.

I was hoping that lad would save Lupa from trouble, he had always been very kind to her.

“He was threatened with letters too, and was terrified for his family’s life. He’s also my childhood friend.”

“If need be, after I take Rumel and Adiel home, we can go to him,” Mineruva suggested. “You can convince him. He and perhaps the Senate will understand everything.”

Let alone Demas. That guy needed some reassurance.

“That’d be the best. They’d better realize on their own that they’ve been taken for fools,” I said. “I hope you get your rank back, Lupa.”

“Thanks, Michio-kun,” she pulled herself together, ready to hit the road. “You’re leaving too, then?”

For the last time, I breathed in the sight of Leclaire, as if I were on vacation.

The endless blue waters around the castle, and the vast city beyond the bridge not far from us, enclosed in mountains and walls with their dangers and delights.

And all this in a desktop application on my computer, where everyone’s an NPC.

“Well... I guess so. Even if we haven’t completely won yet, you guys don’t need me here for a while.”

“Hey, what’s that talk?!”

Hm?

Insulted, Rumel trotted over to me and grabbed my clothes firmly, flushing in anger.

“You wouldn’t just leave us here forever, would you?!”

I swallowed hard.

This girl had sharp teeth and claws. Looking at myself, how come she hasn’t managed to tear me apart yet?

“N-No, not at all, I—”

“I’ll have you know he’ll be back for the sake of his tummy,” Mineruva put a hand on her shoulder, smug. “His advanced world still lacks awesome tavern food.”

“Hey! That’s not true!”

Lupa giggled as she walked past, calling the two demi-human girls after her.

“Anyway, leave the poor guy alone. Come on!”

They followed, albeit a bit grudgingly, but at least they didn’t rip me apart.

I remained at the back, Mineruva starting to walk away from me, after the others.

“Have fun with Sachi,” she said as she passed me. “We’ll sort the rest here.”

“Thanks.”

I felt a little alone again, but couldn’t linger long with bad thoughts.

All I could do was pray that I hadn’t missed Sachi’s train and hadn’t received a thousand messages to my phone already demanding to know where I was.

The menu was already open in front of me with the option to quit avatar-mode.

Now I could finally press it and log out without any repercussions...

“Oh, and one more thing!”

Mineruva seemed to pause for a moment a few feet away.

What did she want?

“Yeah?”

She leaned closer back, voice strangely playful.

“You know, if you really wanted to make a life for yourself here, danger aside, technically if you wanted to, you could adopt us...”

I shuddered, and part of my mind was instantly thrown out the window.

“Uh...”

Mineruva made an incredibly unhinged face.

“You know, adopt! Don’t tell me you guys don’t have that! You should, Rumel and Adiel would approve, as much as they like you!”

“WHAT?!”

She winked.

“We could be your three adopted sisters in spirit! Or, whatever would creep you out the most. I’ve got you covered!”

I held my head involuntarily, and she was on the verge of a fit of giggles.

“No, nope, NOPE, don’t make this weird! I didn’t hear that!”

“Why would I make it weird?!” she laughed wildly. “I’m a goddess, I can arrange anything!”

Okay, that settles it, she’s officially gone mad, but never mind, she’ll have to drive Lupa and the others insane with her ideas.

As I selected and pressed, the castle wall, sky and sea were simultaneously torn apart into tiny particles, like a jigsaw puzzle coming apart.

What was left was the familiar void outside Leclaire, but I could still hear Mineruva laughing in the distance.

Just please don't follow me into reality or I swear I’ll do something—

◆ ◆ ◆

I opened my eyes, stretching, feeling my old desk chair beneath me.

Finally—I could hardly believe it—after the last few days, I was in my room again.

It was so infinitely comforting to see the familiar bed and shelf filled with all the goods after dealing with unhinged goddesses and dark magic.

Wait a minute.

At first, I didn’t even notice that my computer was off.

No buzzing, no screen on. How could that be, when the app pulled me in at the Birdman’s attack when it was still on?

Well, I had no clue when or how it shut itself down, which reminded me how stupid I was for not setting it to do so automatically.

I exhaled as my heart suddenly started pounding at the thought of the huge power bill I avoided with this.

Goodness, it was only a few days ago that the NPC System glitched and created Leclaire, but it felt like years!

An awful lot has happened in such a short time.

But how long had it been?!

I climbed out of the chair, it didn’t hurt to leave my poor PC there for a while, at least until Sachi and I came back.

Upon closer inspection, I noted the room was as clear as I left it to be. At least she wouldn’t comment on that now.

I went to the bed, quickly picked up my phone from where I’d dropped it, and checked the time.

1:40 PM. Saturday.

I’ve actually been in Leclaire for two days!

As soon as I unlocked the screen with my finger, my wallpaper was flooded with five new messages.

New Message – 11:56

Sachi: Boarded the Nozomi, two hours :/

New Message – 12:10

Sachi: Chapter’s done tho

New Message – 12:31

Sachi: Bring you some stuff, a printed copy & some surprise

New Message – 12:55

Sachi: Passed Nagoya, hope you’re preparing

New Message – 13:01

Sachi: R u asleep dummy?

I did some quick math and almost fainted.

Hell, I got back just in time, because I probably have less than half an hour before her train arrives!

I had to hurry! I set my phone on charge, while I went out quietly and changed into something tolerable.

Less than five minutes later, checking everything I had stashed in my jeans, I headed quickly downstairs to the kitchen in time to grab an energy drink from the fridge.

I downed it on the way as I unlocked my bike in the covered yard outside the sharehouse block and set off down the deserted, rainy streets.

Yep, I had a bike. Got it as a teenager, rarely used it, but maintained it for my own sake. How good it was that I didn’t have to run through half the country to reach a station.

I rode through Tokyo’s less crowded blocks, then into busier ones lined with skyscrapers, constantly checking the time at traffic lights.

I probably should’ve texted back, but I didn’t have time. Any minute now, the train would be here.

In the meantime, as I passed the parks and rivers, it was quite a sight to see this world again. It was just as fun to be in, even though it didn’t have the cool game-like mechanics.

I didn’t mind though.

Soon enough, I reached Tokyo Station, wringing my neck. The wide, old, brown building was surrounded by skyscrapers, and behind it was the thousands of covered platforms.

I parked quickly, locked up, and from my old childhood memories somehow managed to get to the tracks without a hitch, and just then the Nozomi was announced.

The phone said 2:07 PM when the sleek bullet-train in question pulled in.

As I looked at the disembarking passengers the next couple of minutes, it didn’t take much to find Sachi.

How could I have missed the black hair, glasses, and blue floral kimono, as if Akemi Gozen wanted to dress in our world?

She was holding a colorful bag filled with stuff, yet I only cared about the moment.

I literally had the gang train for some two days instead of a week to be the best we could AND finish off one villain and have the other’s cameo, just because I didn’t want to miss this moment.

From one angle, this was sweet and all, but from another, more tactical and logical angle, I should be glad that my soul was still mine.

Yep, I was glad to the heavens. This was worth it.

Sachi spotted me at the same time through the crowd. Maybe I was just tired, but I thought I saw her narrow her eyes for a sec.

Anyway, I was waving at her from a distance, but what I got next...

It was quite unexpected.

She stormed through almost everyone without any push or shove, rushing up to me in a matter of moments, grabbing my clothes and pulling me between two pillars, away from sight.

“Uh, S-Sachi, wha—”

Then with a swat, she bonked me on the head. Not hard, but enough to hurt if I put on headphones.

“Ow!” I held my head, pouring a little sense into myself. “Hi to you too?”

“Hi?!” she crossed her arms. “Is that all I get after I’ve been worrying about why you weren’t reading my texts?"

She gave me a side-eye, demanding an answer.

Okay, this was the worst situation.

Should I lie to her now? Only to tell her later, but then because, who knows, we’ll have a bigger problem and I’ll have to save the world again?

“Okay, listen, please forgive me! I didn’t mean to, I just... had to take down a bloody muscular idiot and nearly died in the process! Our mage was barely able to protect us, our healer was drained, and so many worse stuff, it was a nightmare!”

I think Sachi could tell something was wrong with me because she must’ve taken some of it seriously, although not in the way I’d hoped.

“Okay, so you were playing games! Surprising,” fake insult, but I was so glad she concluded this and didn't ask anything else. “But at least you’re great at picking out clothes for once.”

“Wait, am I?!”

“Lucky for you. You didn’t wear a hoodie this time. Hoodies don’t suit you.”

“Oh, that’s cool, I’ll keep that in mind.”

When you get compliments from a girl who knows how to use a katana, you nod and take it in as long as you can because it’s the biggest compliment of your life.

I lived by that and so far it has worked well. 10/10, would recommend.

“Good,” she rummaged through her bag. “I have some stuff for you.”

I didn’t even get to ask, she already pulled out what she had for me.

A printed manga.

I blinked a couple of times. “Is this your…”

“The whole Volume 4, straight from our printer which I may or may not have punched to make it print faster, so it’s got a bit of ink smeared in it.”

You what?!

I flipped through the manga, still not believing it.

She surprised me with a copy of her manga before the official release!

“I can’t wait to read it!”

Sachi ruffled her hair a little, and now I saw a glimmer of smile.

“Don’t get used to it too much. Anyways, you didn’t just get that one for playing for time, you got it for spoiling Requiem Hearts Koishii.”

Yeah, if it wasn’t for me not responding to her texts, I would’ve been smacked the same way.

Normally, I would’ve tried to find some excuse to apologize while being a bit annoyed, but I’ve already done that.

However, there was something that strengthened me, because now I had a much better understanding of what it was like…

“I deserved that,” I said with a sigh. “I’ve also almost lost some of my favorite characters that I’ve grown close to. I really had no idea you didn’t know about that light-novel stuff, but whatever. I would’ve reacted the same way to that guy being written out.”

We barely lost multiple members of our team. I would’ve been the most likely to get a game over if Magne had ripped me apart, or Lupa if we hadn’t caught him in time before doing so.

But Magne himself was a loss too. Like I said, he could’ve been more honorable instead of a madman—and he didn’t have to leave a whole empire miss him.

“Alright, let’s leave it at that!” Sachi decided. “I didn’t come here to talk all about myself. Come on, let's go.”

I nodded, and we walked together through the crowd.

We were almost near the exit, the rain thankfully stopping outside. Before going out though, I hesitated.

“Wait... I came by bike.”

“You? On a real bike?!”

“Don't be like that, I was in a hurry!” I laughed uncomfortably. “I guess I can push it then.”

"What’s so bad about a good cardio? Oh, yeah, hold on, there’s one more thingy I have here."

God, how much stuff is in her bag?

She took out something equally bookish, but as soon as she held it, I realized it was even better!

A game case wrapped in shiny plastic, unopened.

As the light of the station shone on it, my own face flashed on its surface.

Not to mention its insane cover art.

It was split in two, with a modern city in ruins on top with dragons in the stormy sky. But below, as if in a mirror, was the same city in our own normal reality.

Ruined World/Reflection

A truly edgy fever-dream! I’d heard of it before, even saw the trailers, but thought it was weeks away from release!

My mouth couldn’t form words.

“H-How’s this possible? Did it just come out?”

“Yeah,” Sachi knew how much I loved these. “Straight out of the store, its wiki site’s empty, and there’s no spoiler, lore, or review videos yet online.”

She flipped the case and on the back there were some screenshots of the gameplay.

“Lookie here, split-screen! So it’s a game for two, and if that’s not enough, we might even find bugs in it.”

That’s it, I swear I give up!

I've missed this reunion so much, and there's so much stuff we could do!

A manga, a game, and a best friend for a weekend together?

I couldn’t keep it to myself.

I hugged her.

“Ack!” she squeaked suddenly as I embraced her lightly, but she didn’t resist, so I’d just have to avoid getting hit in the head again.

Even if I was hit again though, it didn’t matter. The hug still felt good.

I had to return this, and I thought of an idea how to.

Maybe when the time comes, I could show her something even cooler than a game...