Game 33: True Friends

Takeshi was now face to face with his best friends. Except… They were not looking friendly at all today.

“Hey, you idiot!” Rita shouted at him. “Are you gonna fight us or what?”

“Fight you?!” Takeshi couldn't believe what Rita was telling him. “I'm not gonna fight you, are you crazy?”

“The Game is all about survival, Takeshi,” Makoto told him. “You either fight or you die. Magic Art: Falcon Arrow!” An arrow made of light shot right through Takeshi, reducing his Life to three.

Takeshi landed on the ground very roughly, but his resolve would not be broken. He would not fight his friends, no matter what.

“Do you want to be weak forever, Takeshi?” Rita asked him. “Do you really want us to stand up for you every time you get into a fight?!”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Takeshi asked. “We're a team! We work together! We fight together!”

“Team, shmeam,” Proteus told him. “Everyone knows you're the weakest link in the chain, Takeshi. At least I can turn into cool animals like this!” Proteus then shifted into an animal Takeshi had never seen before: a lion-wolf, a wolf with the thick, fluffy mane of a lion.

“Okay, this is definitely a nightmare,” Takeshi told himself.

•

Proteus in this new lion-wolf form then lunged right at Takeshi. Needing to defend himself quickly, he slashed at the lion-wolf with his electro-whip, causing Proteus to disappear instantly.

“You killed him!” Rita cried. “How could you do something like that, Takeshi?!”

“If you want to be like this, Takeshi, then we've got no choice,” Makoto told him.

“You were literally threatening to kill me thirty seconds ago, and now I'm the bad guy because I decided to defend myself?!” The strange behavior of his friends was beginning to drive Takeshi to tears. No, he tried to keep himself together, this cannot be real! This has to be another nightmare!

“Magic Art: Vulcan Burst!” Makoto screamed, sending a wave of flames right at Takeshi. He was just barely able to avoid getting scorched by the blast.

“What is going on here?!” Takeshi asked. “Why can't I wake up?!”

“This is not a nightmare, Takeshi,” a voice called out to him. It was the Granter of Wishes. “Your friends have betrayed you! You must eliminate them in order to survive!”

“No!” Takeshi insisted. “I refuse to believe it to be true! My friends would never!”

“There is no such thing as friends, Takeshi Ishida!” The Granter of Wishes seemed to be controlling Takeshi's friends with his twin swords. “They will only be nice to you as long as they get what they want!”

“Acid Arrows!” Rita sent out a barrage of arrows right at Takeshi. He tried to swat them away, but would only unintentionally cause more destruction once they landed on the ground or in a tree or in some bushes.

“That's so evil!” Aisha cried out. “You're hurting so much innocent life!”

“What?!” Takeshi asked. “Rita was the one shooting the arrows, not me!”

“Look at this, everyone!” Rita told the others. “Blaming everyone else for your problems but yourself! Or need I remind you that YOU attacked us first!”

“That wasn't me!” Takeshi insisted. “That was a fake version of me created by the Game Masters. Come on, guys! Don't you remember everything we've been through together?”

“The only thing I remember is how much I hated your constant whining!” Rita told him as she fired off more arrows. One of those arrows hit Takeshi square in the gut, reducing his Life to two. As he lay on the ground, she mocked him. “Waaaaah! Poor me! I play The Game because it makes me feel alive. I ran back into my poor widdle power fantasy because I realized I have no life outside of my generic isekai video game!”

Through the pain of his friends attacking him, Takeshi slowly realized what was actually happening. His friends, or simulations of his friends, or nightmares or something were being controlled by the Granter of Wishes. They were being manipulated into trying to provoke Takeshi into doing things, and they would lash out if he did the very thing he was provoked into doing.

Therefore, Takeshi realized, the best thing to do in this situation… is to do nothing at all.

But the Granter of Wishes was not having any of it. He had the others all attack Takeshi at once. But Takeshi stood firm. It hurt. Oh, it hurt Takeshi so much. But he was not going to hurt his friends.

•

Day 9. Takeshi decided he was going to just stay in town today. Maybe he'd go to the library and read some books. He remembered the Slicer was coming into town today, probably to pound him into the ground. He didn't care. He was going to enjoy his life as the sole resident of Innsbruck one way or another.

Day 10. Day 11. Day 12. The days kept piling on and on and on. Days without end of Takeshi doing absolutely nothing. He would take a speeder to the ruins of the Emerald City. There, nobody would be able to bother him if they couldn't find him.

Day 22. Day 23. Day 24.

Eventually, thirty-five days came and went before Lazlo Cardona arrived to talk to Takeshi.

“I can't take this anymore!” Lazlo told him. “Who would have thought you could be so boring?!”

“You asked for this, Lazlo,” Takeshi answered. “I'm not going to betray my friends for your own sick kicks.”

“Fine!” Lazlo screamed. “I'll end the simulation, if that's what you really want! Just please! Stop killing us with your boredom!”

“Will my friends be there?”

“Everyone will be there as if nothing had happened.”

“Good.”

Everything then went to black.

•

“Takeshi, you idiot! Wake up, already! How long are you gonna be sleeping in?! We've got a big day today!”

Takeshi woke up to the sound of Rita pounding at his door and yelling, as she often does when Takeshi finds himself sleeping in.

With a groan, Takeshi asked, “How long have I been asleep…?”

“You've been sleeping for a whole week!” Rita scolded him. “What were you doing, hibernating for the winter?”

That's when it hit him. The knight's simulation or nightmare or whatever it was had caused him to be knocked out for an entire week! Wait… a whole week? He must have spent thirty-five days in that! He then realized the simulation or whatever it was must have been running on fast time. That would have explained why it seemed like so much time had passed when much less time actually passed.

“I, uh… I can explain!” Takeshi told her. “I'll be out in just a bit!”

“I sure hope so!” Rita told him. “Mac's gonna be so mad if he misses that big catch today!”

At least things were back to normal, Takeshi thought. Better this than anything in that whole nightmare...