Final Descent

Don't tell me I've spawned in some other hellhole.

It's not the empty void I initially spawned into, but it's not the comfy island paradise I spawned into previously either. It's giant tunnel, and though there are emergency lights, I can barely see five feet in front of me.

Looks like the inside of a massive storm drain, or even a sewer. But I know it's not, because just a few steps down, one of the lights has that purple and black corrupted texture look. Otherwise, it's emitting a (dim) light like all the others.

Not a good place to be. I can't see an entrance or an exit anywhere, so I simply decide to assume that the way I should go is the way I was facing when I "spawned in," but otherwise, I'm hopelessly lost.

Good thing I have my weapons!

...if what I'd say if I had any ammo. The submachine gun, my best weapon, reads 0 rounds, 0 magazines.

I check my revolver, only to find that the hand cannon I had is replaced with a tiny concealable revolver. Given that weapons don't weigh anything and can be hidden via inventory, this is useless for me.

Six rounds. No reloads.

At least my sword is unchanged. Well, it looks a bit rusty, but other than that it's what the comments were telling me is a 'gladius.' Same model as last time, I think.

I have a helmet and some body armor, but it's significantly lighter. At least I'm not weighed down as much.

"Having fun?"

"Chisaki?"

There's a bored looking Chisaki looking at me from above as I enter a massive chasm. She's looking up at me from the railings, which I would presume is a maintenance post, if not for the fact that there is neither a way to get up there, nor a way to get out.

"Guerilla streaming, eh? Well, I can't deny your ambition." Chisaki shrugs and tosses me a pair of headphones. I put it on, that by-now familiar HUD appears over my head, featuring a chat, now thankfully even less intrusive. New additions appear to be the addition of a heartrate monitor and a vague health bar. "Oh, and Hinata, you should be careful here! We're no longer in a controlled environment, so even if I could spawn you some bandages, I don't think they'd be of any use!"

"Wait, what do you mean a controlled en-"

"Besides, as you already know from the previous stream, the health bar means little down here. It's just an abstraction! Even if your health if 'full', that won't stop you being unable to walk if your leg is mangled. So just keep in mind, you are much more fragile than the bar lets on! As much as I don't want to leave my precious Hinata alone in this dark place to face whatever unholy things there might be in here, something tells me you still haven't learned your lesson after the first one."

"Hey, Chisaki, you still haven't told me anything about-"

"Anyhow, I'll be in chat so your viewers don't miss me too much. Tootles!"

And with that, Chisaki is gone without answering a single question. Another day that ends with a Y I suppose.

...now what?

I walk through the tunnel for some time. There's absolutely nothing here. The giant tunnel leads to nowhere but more tunnel.

...there's no threat here!

Yeah!

Wait, what was that?

I look around. It's my imagination. It has to be. I feel like I keep hearing strange noises around me, but every time I think about it, it's just my own footsteps echoing in the darkness.

I think. Due to the echoes, it sounds like my footsteps are coming from all around me.

These are my footsteps, right?

I raise my revolver up and point it around. This isn't good. I don't know where I am. I don't know what's in here. And I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing.

The lights are flickering.

I quickly switch to my empty submachine gun. It's a glorified flashlight, but it's my only means of seeing if things go dark, because there's a small flashlight attachment on the front.

God dammit.

To try and maintain my sanity, I check the chat, which I had been forgetting about in the moment.

"Hey you all..." I mutter as I try to read the comments, but it becomes apparent just how useless it is at calming me down

"Bro is afraid"
"Vro is dead"
"Good luck Hinata!"
"Hinata you are fucked"

The cruel comments almost calm me down. Almost. They don't sting anymore, and simply remind me that somewhere, someone is typing this stuff down maybe in their mother's basement or something.

I swivel around, pointing my gun to the rear. I realize, I can dual wield. Now my odds of survival have increased from 0.1% to 0.5%! The lights are still on, but I don't know how long that will last.

"Ayy, dual wielding!"
"Creepy ahh tunnel"
"I'm going out for lunch, brb SaekiKanataBlade!"
"Trying not to let the monsters hear you buddy?"

I envy the losers who are watching this in their mother's basements right now, where it's safe.

I want lunch.

If the lights go off, am I screwed? I recall the train again. That only applied there, right?

After more wandering, I finally collapse onto the floor, my legs refusing to walk. This whole time, I have been silent and untalking, but I'm exhausted. Unlike in the previous arena, I actually seem to get tired much more quickly.

When in doubt, phone for help. That always worked, didn't it?

...I'm going in fucking circles.

"Chisaki?" I type into my own chat. "I need help."

Chisaki responds shortly thereafter.

"I believe in you Hinata! You got this!"

"Please, I need a hint! Or something!"

"Hinata, you're a brave boy! I trust that my chosen one can deal with this on their own, right?"

No, I can't!

I sit there, frozen in fear for a moment, only turning my head occasionally to look out for any threats.

"What actually happens if I die in game?" I ask Chisaki over the chat. Amidst the deluge of comments, I can read her response there shortly after.

"Ooh, trust me, you don't want to find out."

Yes I fucking do!

"Chisaki, please. I REALLY need your help. I need someone."

I press enter.

"Be careful what you wish for Hinata, you just may get your wish." The response says, just as I notice a strange silhouette out of the corner of my eye, but the moment I turn my eyes on it fully, it disappears.

That's it.

I turn the revolver onto myself. At least if I go out, I'll go out on my own terms.

"Chisaki," I say out loud. "Get over here. Please. I'm not going to get killed by some who knows what in this place."

"Sigh" the chat message responds, then Chisaki materializes right before me. She spreads her arms, like a heavenly angel, and I almost find myself diving into them for safety.

"What, no hug?"

"Uh..."

Chisaki sighs again. A frown forms on her face.

"What did you enter the game for anyhow then, you bozo?" There is genuine annoyance in her voice. "What, would you rather have me chase you around, instead? That's not going to teach you anything."

A superchat pops up, and I elect to read it.

"Coward" is all it says.

"I...I just wanted to make...more content I guess..."

Oh, fucking lovely Hinata. Tell all your viewers your motivations! Yes, it's obvious to literally everyone that that's what you wanted to do, but must you say it?

Chisaki shakes her head.

"Fine, if you want my help so badly." She reaches out a hand. "If you want me to baby you so bad and get you out of this big, scary tunnel, instead of giving the viewers what they want, maybe that's fine? I mean, I will admit, I don't exactly like this place either. Oh, would you look at that, chat is jealous of you..."

I look down and notice that indeed, chat is going utterly wild. I'm going to admit, as I take her hand, that it's warm.

She smells like strawberries. Say what I will about her, but she's always felt...warm.

"Are you enjoying the texture of my hand, Hinata?" Chisaki teases.

"What? No..." Embarrassed, I look over at the chat, who are all reacting with messages of jealousy and encouragement. About what I expected.

A door appears before us as Chisaki manages to conjure one up out of thin air.

"It's a good thing you have me around." Chisaki says, a genuinely kind expression appearing on her face. "You've experienced firsthand by now, haven't you?" She looks back at me and gives me a wink and a grin.

I am silent.

"Well?"

As I step through the door, I notice that chat has frozen.

"Uh, Chisaki?"

"Are you changing the subject?"

"No, no! I mean...Chisaki, the chat's frozen."

"Oh yeah, the stream might break a little when you step through teleportation zones. Anyways, that's not what I want to talk about, it's that you never seem to th-"

"You're lying. It didn't stop when I ran through the door in the video. Or when I switched environments in any of the other streams."

"Well, maybe your internet is trash today." Chisaki shrugs. "Don't blame me for every little thing."

"And why shouldn't I?"

Chisaki is fuming.

"Hinata, do you want me to strand you back in that tunnel all by yourself again? Because if I were a crueler person, I'd be sending you back there." 

"No, no!" I say, and I decide to drop the topic. Chisaki turns away, angry.

I look around the room. It's Chisaki's bedroom. I look outside the windows. Despite it clearly being nothing but whiteness and light from the outside last time I visited, now when I look, it's the Italo-Japanese resort town I saw during my last stream. The ocean's not that far, and it almost feels like if I just opened the door and went down a flight of stairs, I'd be there.

"You know Hinata, there's more than one way to cheer a girl up." Chisaki says, leaning forward as she always does, though there's a small pout on her face.

"I'm...sorry." I look to her. "Uh, what do you want?"

"Should we uh...cook together?" Chisaki gives me a hopeful smile, but I know that face. It's the same face Airi made when I found out about her secrets.

"Yeah, sure."

"A-actually, how about you go feed the pets? I'll start preparing the materials! You remember where our pet food is, right? Uh, the food information should be on your HUD..."

"Yeah, I'll do that." I peel away from Chisaki, who is now headed for the kitchen, and into the animal cages, but as I do, I notice something wrong.

All of the animals are dead. I tap on the cages, to see if they are asleep but nope, the animals still in their cages are dead. I look to my HUD. The animals are all indicated with a skull markings. Even the turtles, which I would have had trouble identifying as asleep or dead, have a skull symbol over them. The only ones not marked as dead are the empty tanks and cages, of which there are several.

"Hey, Chisaki?" I call out. "The uh, pets are dead! Or, some of them are missing..."

"Wha-what? I mean..." Chisaki's panicked voice sounds out from the kitchen. "Uh, nevermind them! Just uh, get over here!"

I choose to comply, and enter the kitchen, a bit miffed.

"How...how dead?"

"Dead dead. My game info says the animals that aren't missing are dead. Skull and crossbones...and stuff."

"O-oh." Chisaki's eyes widen with sorrow as she looks sideways. "I...I don't understand..."

"It's alright. I'm sure they had good lives. Or uh, something."

It's only then I notice a snake on the fruit bowl. Seems like one of the escaped pets.

"Hey uh, snake on the bowl? Is that intentional?"

"What? Oh god." Chisaki picks up the snake. "That...you shouldn't be here." As Chisaki takes the snake to the room, she calls out to me. "Hey Hinata, can you cut the potatoes for me? I'll take care of everything else!"

"Yeah, sure." I grab a potato, and as I do, the potatoes apparently undergo mitosis as they begin to duplicate. "Hey, Chisaki?" I call out to Chisaki, and as I hear the sound of a pet cage shutting, comes running back.

"Ahaha!" Chisaki laughs. "Just uh, wait here then. I'll do all the cooking for you."

I get away from the cutting board - fine, I was feeling lazy anyways - and wait for Chisaki to finish cooking for me. After a tense moment of waiting, Chisaki finally slams the stew down onto the table with a hopeful expression on her face.

It's an empty texture stew. Purple and black, almost a static as whatever inside seems to still boil.

"Hinata, you...you like this stew, right? I made it...just for you...it's your favorite uh..."

"My...favorite what?" I look at the stew.

"I know your favorite food back home is Nikujaga, so I figured if I made it for you I uh..."

That's...true. I'm not even going to bat an eye at yet again another invasion of privacy, however the hell she managed to get that information. But I just can't anymore.

"Chisaki, there is no stew." I take a spoon and shove it into the stew. It doesn't go in. It bounces around on the surface as the moving plastic "stew" rejects my spoon.

"Huh?" Chisaki looks at the stew, then at me, crestfallen. "I see. So, I guess you're right about everything. I'm not real."

"Yeah. Sorry." I get up. "Uh, sorry for the stream scuff everyone. Oh dear god, I'm going to have to scrub this stream..." I look at the comments that are all yelling bloody murder at me for doing this to their beloved Chisaki, but one comment stands out.
"WATCH OUT HINATA SHE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU"

Huh?

I turn around to see Chisaki standing directly behind me. The windows too, have disappeared, and the outside world is gone. The light in the room rapidly fades, then goes completely dark as the main light dies.

"If I'm not real..."

"Chisaki, not again! You're broken or bugged or something..."

"...then what about all these feelings in me? Are those fake too?" Chisaki looks up at me with a heartwrenching expression. She looks up at me with a crazed face as the room begins to glitch and writhe.

It doesn't take a genius to know when this is to run.