It was my fault

Knock Knock Knock

“Come in,” the answer came a few seconds late, the tone of the voice stifled.

The round handle twisted, and the door soundlessly opened. In went Uyumi, who politely closed the door behind her, before turning to face Tamashi.

Suddenly, she froze, noticing an illusory azure smoke floating before Tamashi, slowly dissipating.

“W-what was that?” Uyumi asked with a trembling voice, staring at the now-empty space.

“An avatar of the Guide,” Tamashi responded flatly, subtly gritting his teeth.

He was sitting on his bed, supporting his head with a hand while leaning forward. Then, he collapsed onto the mattress with a groan—half resentful, half regretful.

“Have you two decided yet?” Tamashi inquired before Uyumi could question his current state.

“Yes...” she answered meekly, worried after seeing Tamashi once again in a clearly awful mood.

“And?” he pressed, growing a bit impatient.

“We decided to accept your offer.”

Tamashi sighed once again, this time sounding more tired than anything.

“I don’t even know if I should be glad or disappointed...”

Normally, someone in Uyumi’s position would be offended after hearing that reply. But she wasn’t. Instead, she cautiously took a step closer.

“Can I sit down?”

“There’s a chair over there.”

Not wanting to force herself on his bed, Uyumi obediently pulled a rotating office chair from his desk, sitting down and facing Tamashi, who was still staring at the ceiling.

Then, there was silence, neither of them saying anything.

After a few minutes, Tamashi finally spoke, realizing Uyumi had no intention of speaking first.

“What, not gonna ask any questions?”

“Do you want me to?” she countered calmly, causing Tamashi to snicker.

“Hah, you’re good. Did you want to be a therapist in the future?”

“That was an option, but we probably couldn’t have afforded it.”

Silence once again ensued, but Tamashi broke it much sooner this time.

“It was my fault... Tokyo, as well as almost the entirety of Japan, plus a few more places around the globe.”

“I don’t understand...” Uyumi admitted, pondering what he could be talking about.

“Wanna add another thing you can’t share with the rest of the house?” Tamashi asked sarcastically.

Before Uyumi could even decide, Tamashi started, revealing everything without a second thought.

“You’ve seen Tokyo and the state it’s in. That’s my fault. Almost all of Japan is probably in a similar state. Also my fault. As well as New Zealand, Iceland, Greece, Norway, Egypt, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, and the Czech Republic. All the countries I had visited in the past year while being a beta tester are experiencing their own apocalypse, with Japan and the Czech Republic probably getting the worst of it, since that was where I visited last. All of that is my fault...”

Uyumi was stunned. This was information she definitely hadn’t expected to hear. A small part of her wanted to start yelling, accusing Tamashi of being the cause of the recent hardships.

Thankfully, her rational side took over soon, and Uyumi calmed down.

“Why would any of that be your fault?” she asked, curious, but also a little scared of the answer.

Tamashi explained, his tone going from casual to bitter.

“At the very start, the Guide created dungeons around Tokyo so I could level up and find bugs in them. Unfortunately, I also wanted some free time, so I asked the Guide to create dungeons in other parts of Japan and foreign countries, so when I traveled there for the System work, I could also have a bit of a vacation.”

He paused, finding difficulty voicing the next words aloud. Eventually, he forced himself, knowing bottling it up would only hurt him more in the long run.

“Well, turns out, the Guide never deleted the dungeons I hadn’t cleared. And since every dungeon will break down after about a year of not being conquered, every single dungeon that was created on my behalf experienced dungeon breaks, letting the monsters inside loose before the humans even had a chance to prepare.”

Tamashi practically spat the last sentence, seething with anger and self-hatred.

“Funny, isn’t it?” Tamashi jested, “all of this happened because I wanted a break from having fun playing with magic and cool swords...”

Uyumi was looking at Tamashi with her single eye, barely able to see his lips curled up into a mad grin.

He’s... laughing?

She stood up unconsciously, wanting to take a better look at his expression.

Truly, Tamashi had the grin of a maniac spread across his face, yet his single eye—the same as Uyumi’s—was grieving. It was suffering.

“You’re crying...” Uyumi whispered, noticing a single tear sliding down his temple.

Only then did Tamashi realize Uyumi was standing before him, and he hurriedly covered his face.

“Why are you—?!”

He started to shout, then abruptly stopped.

“It doesn’t matter. You’ve seen me in worse situations.”

The sun was already beginning to set, painting the horizon an aggressive orange color. It was totally silent outside; the same as in Tokyo, yet completely different.

“I should let you be alone...” Uyumi suggested. Seeing Tamashi remain silent, she headed towards the door and reached for the handle.

Before she could reach it, though, she heard a quiet click. The door was locked.

Turning to Tamashi in confusion, she saw him still facing the ceiling, holding a small remote.

Understanding what had happened, she came back, this time sitting on his bed, not even bothering to ask.

After they both hadn’t said a word for over ten minutes, Tamashi said: “You know, to me, you seem like an extremely foolish and naive person.”

Not the best way to start a conversation, Uyumi thought, but didn’t offer her opinion, instead waiting for him to continue.

“And right now, I could use the opinion of a naive person. Do you think it’s my fault?”

“...Honestly, yes, I do think so.” Uyumi replied truthfully.

Her answer was so unexpected that Tamashi moved his head to look at her, his face one giant question mark.

“But I don’t blame you for it. If a person accidentally trips someone and that someone gets hurt, while they hadn’t meant to do it on purpose, it is still their fault.”

Looking at the back of Uyumi’s head, her long light brown hair gently flowing down her back, Tamashi asked: “What are you getting at?”

Unexpectedly, Uyumi turned to face him, startling him a little.

“It is your fault. There is no denying that. But that doesn’t mean you should be punished for it,” Uyumi smiled gently at Tamashi, who could feel the warmth coming from her heart.

“Instead, you should do everything in your power to help the person you tripped. Or better yet, try to prevent anything similar from happening to anyone else again.”

Tamashi stared at Uyumi with an unreadable expression, gazing right into her azure eye with his own.

After a few long seconds, he asked: “How old did you say you were?”

“Huh? I’m pretty sure I haven’t mentioned my age, but I’m currently seventeen...”

“Hmm,” Tamashi pondered, “you’re pretty smart for a kid.”

“...Thank you?” Uyumi wondered if that had been a compliment or not.

“I know you can’t realistically save any of the other countries, but maybe it’s not too late to save Japan,” Uyumi suggested.

“How did I end up getting advice from a kid?” Tamashi laughed sarcastically and bitterly.

That definitely wasn’t a compliment, Uyumi pouted in her mind.

“Wait...” Tamashi whispered suddenly.

“What is it?” Uyumi inquired, but Tamashi already wasn’t listening, instead paying attention to the screen only visible to him.

After a while, he gasped, turning to Uyumi with an urgent but hopeful expression.

“You know how you said it’s too late to help the other countries where dungeon breaks are currently occurring?”

Uyumi simply nodded, and Tamashi finished with a smirk.

“Well, turns out you weren’t entirely correct.”