Night of the Virtual Dead: Mariko and Charl (Part 1)

Everyone has a fear or two, and everyone consciously or subconsciously does whatever it takes to avoid it. Some people are afraid of water, some are afraid of heights, some are even afraid of the color yellow.

Mariko Pershing and Charl Raynal are no different, they just haven’t made it known. This of course is intentional, most people hide a lot about themselves, divulging that information only to the closest of friends.

But Akihiro Tani has a keen eye, especially if it involves assisting his road to the top of the world. This entire VR experience was created to help himself just as much as it was made to help the members of the Languages Club. Because of that, he’s studied their habits and mannerisms, jotted them down both on paper and within the annals of his mind, and has done some snooping into the past of these particular members of his club by interviewing former classmates and acquaintances dating all the way back to primary school. Through this, he has formulated quite the wrap sheet on the two foreign students.

Never one to be idle, he’s thrust them into what he assumes to be their worst fears, with the hope they will be one step closer to learning another language.

This tactic of disregarding privacy could be considered invasively loutish at the very least, but our resident investigator has never been one to shy away from committing dubious practices in the name of achieving the smallest of objectives.

And so, in Kokusai's dark sports gym, the night of the Virtual Dead begins for Mariko and Charl.

--------------------------

“Uhhh… do ya think this is actually going to work, Charl?” Mariko asks with a slacken sigh.

“I have to admit, I feel like I haven't gotten any better at English thus far.”

“I guess I got all worked up for nothing.” Mariko leans up against the base of the gym’s basketball hoop and relaxes her shoulders.

“We’ve only gone over the basics so far, we’ve been doing quite well in this game. No matter how bad I am in Shirai-sensei’s class, even I can handle saying ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’. Though I don’t know why there were specific words like ‘moment’ and ‘finished’, if he was trying to be clever by throwing in what he thought were more difficult words, he'd be disappointed to learn that these are things I’ve heard before.”

Charl hides it behind a nonchalant grin, but he can’t help but feel a little bit cheated out of making any real progress. If Tani is anything like how he broadcasts himself to be, there should be no way he’d sell himself so short at their expense. It sure seems like a lot of effort for minimal gains; the graphics he sees through his VR goggles have a health bar on the bottom that has been steadily filled with each correct answer, and there has yet to be any consequences for words pronounced incorrectly.

The stakes for this game are not high at all, coupled with knowingly learning nothing new, he’s found himself bored for the first time since joining the Languages club.

Mariko holds her hands out in front of her and clicks her tongue before adding, “Not to mention, our VR wands have been ping pong paddles this entire time! I feel stupid hangin’ on to these and answering questions in French.”

“What do you suppose we do about it?”

“I dunno… should we bail?”

[There will be no bailing!] Tani’s voice rings directly into their ears like a bolt of lightning.

“Gwaah!” Mariko shrieks.

“Oh? So you actually can hear us?” Charl asks, his once sullen posture returns upright, embracing the arrival of this sudden new development.

[I definitely mentioned that the doors have been secured shut through the school's electronic locks. The two of you are stuck here until you complete every task in this game.]

“Omigod have we been kidnapped!?”

[You have both done well to fill up your health bars. It’s time we put what you’ve learned to good use, forming coherent sentences is your new objective.]

A new moniker pops up in the upper left portion of the screen of their VRs saying - Ball Count: 10_

Floating in place directly in front of them is a little ping pong ball, and seeing that the count has dropped by 1, it becomes obvious what is being asked of them.

[This first game is focused on Charl’s ability to remember and pronounce words in English. Mariko, your job is to guide him mentally through a series of upcoming questions without having him repeat complete sentences. You will also support him physically, hence why you have table tennis instruments. These will be your weapons.]

“Weapons??”

“I’m curious as to what kind of foe we’re supposed to be using these paddles on.”

[You’re in luck, my curious French student! If you two would be so kind as to look towards the bleachers, the game is about to begin.]

They both oblige and look in that direction, in the VR world they’ve found themselves in, the bleachers have been replaced by stone steps stretching into an eerily dark sky. Like wispy fingers looking to grab at them, there are charcoal black twigs and weeds growing from cracks and holes in the stone.

“!!”

“?”

Both Mariko and Charl are positive the bleachers didn’t look like that just a moment earlier, so the sudden arrival of such a daunting structure comes as a momentary assault on their senses.

Dark clouds begin to brew above them, sending the base noise of thunderclaps into their ears, the occasional lightning strike out in the distance illuminates the falling raindrops and almost tricks their minds into feeling wet.

[Good luck to the both of you. Charl, remember that what I’m doing is for your own benefit. Keep that in mind as you persevere through this trial.]

Charl’s face twists underneath his helmet. He doesn’t appreciate the ominous nature of Tani’s statement.

The moldy stone staircase begins to feel like a malicious presence that looks to devour them. The sensation of which is no different than finding yourself alone in a forest when all the birds collectively fall silent. The bass noise cascading into their ears rises to a momentary crescendo before suddenly stopping; what replaces it is the tickling sound of moist skittering that induces the instinct to cringe and shrink within oneself.

“...Oh no.” Charl mutters, backing away in a cold sweat.

Scurrying out of the many holes in the staircase in rough zig zags are cockroaches, spiders and centipedes, most of which gleam under the light of the electrically charged sky like mute colored oil slicks.

“Eyyyyaaaaaahhh!!” Charl lets out a ghastly squeal and hides behind a bewildered Mariko.

The snarling roaches and hissing spiders crawl their way towards them with threatening movements looking to attack.

Tani’s voice rings into their ears and seems to delight when informing them, [Every correct answer to the language questions will provide you with much needed ping pong balls that you can hit towards the bugs to stop them from crawling on you and inflicting damage on your HP. If either of you die, the game will start over with a new set of questions. Good luck my western students, with proper teamwork your killing of these bugs will give birth to knowledge!]

Mariko looks down on her hands and decides to take aim at an encroaching beetle, with the athletic ability of a tennis pro and the dramatic nature of a hero in an action film, she swings her paddle and hits the ball so hard that the bug explodes in a green gush upon impact.

‘SPAATT’

The sound is jarring, but the sense of accomplishment is there nonetheless.

“This isn’t so bad!” she declares with a toothy smile.

But looking towards Charl with the wanting eyes of someone seeking acknowledgement, she instead finds him cowering behind her frozen in place holding his shoulders, his teeth chattering as though he has been stricken with a deathly chill.

“Are you okay?” she asks with a tilt of her head.

“No.” he swiftly answers. “...I have a crippling fear of insects.”

“Haha, c’mon you’re kiddin me.”

“I’m dead serious. I can’t even move my legs right now. If one of those things jumps on me I might pass out.”

“Ehh?? They’re just tiny stupid bugs, you can squash them under your foot!.”

“I beg you to not downplay my phobias, especially since you’re the one afraid of ghosts.”

Mariko back hands one of her ping pong balls into an encroaching spider before turning towards Charl and replying with a scoff, “Ghosts are hella scary, you can’t touch them! I don’t think it’s irrational to be afraid of something ya can’t physically do anything about.”

“That is useless information to me right now! For the sake of all that is good, Mariko, please kill all those bugs!”

Mariko stretches her neck and confidently flicks the braid in her silver hair back behind her goggles. “Well since ya asked me like that, I’ll do my best!.”

She positions herself in an athletic pose and awaits the incoming insects with the form of a natural. No sooner than doing so, a spider lunges at her. A swift motion produces a snap victory, and she smacks two more of her ping pong balls at a couple other bugs encroaching close behind for good measure.

“Great job!”

“You ain’t seen nothin yet!” She says with a glint in her eye.

In rapid succession, she sends the balls screaming forth in a series of body movements that can be described as both graceful and violent. As she does so, Charl gazes upon her dazzling form as if she were a beacon of radiant light that has descended from the heavens to save him. Her arms seem to dance as they slingshot forward and to the side, propelling balls off her paddle with tremendous speed and accuracy.

The bugs explode one by one, their gooey insides spraying all over the screen and sticking to the walls. As gross as the bloodbath is, Charl finds himself engrossed in the beauty of the spectacle that has the result of protecting him from harm.

However, the glowing magnificence in front of him comes to a grinding halt, the light he had been gazing upon turns dull. What arrived in a bang goes out in a whisper.

He asks himself why, and his thought is quickly answered when Mariko carelessly says,

“Oops I got carried away and ran outta ammo!”

“...Eh?”

A foot long centipede jumps and lands directly onto Mariko’s chest.

“Gnnyyah!”

Her HP bar begins depleting. It seems very realistic to her even though she can’t technically feel the insect biting at her. Instinct compels her to take swipes at the bug, but she very obviously is touching nothing other than her chest. The rules of the game stipulate that there is only one way to kill the bugs.

In Charl’s view from his goggles, he can see her HP bar being drained, but this isn’t what strikes him with nausea. No, it’s the horrific amounts of blood spraying from Mariko with each bite.

“.~...~.”

Charl has the look of someone on the brink of vomiting.

“Holy crap!” Mariko lets out a whale upon seeing her grievous injuries.

{Question #1: Charl, you are in a college setting working on a project with English speaking students and you wish to submit what you have worked on to your colleagues. Pick the most polite answer and translate into English to replenish 5 table tennis balls.

A: These are my rocks, they are hard and friendly.

B: Do the work for me, I’m lazy.

C: If you have a moment, I would like your thoughts on the work I have finished.}

(10…9…8…)

Mariko is swarmed on by a spider and a cockroach and their bites bring about wretched streams of blood, feeling her life fleeting, she shouts at her hesitating comrade, “Dude it’s C! The answer is C!!”

“I-I don’t know how to say that in English.”

(6…5…)

“Yes you do! We literally just got done saying those key words individually. You just need to add the filler.”

“A-Ah okay…” Charl clears his throat and expands his chest before clicking on the answer C and saying, “If you hev ay moment, I wuud like yor tought on ze werk I hev finiished.”

Green checkmarks pop up on screen along with a ringing bell noise one would hear on a game show.

The French accent was heavy, but the answer registers with the VR; Mariko’s balls are replenished and she doesn’t hesitate to blast away the attacking bugs, freeing herself from the grievous bites.

Instead of expending her remaining two balls, she hangs onto them as the next question sounds in their ears and presents itself on the screen.

{Question #2: Charl, you introduce yourself to a new person at a mixer in the US. Divulging a little information about yourself, which of these three options are you choosing? Pick the correct answer and translate to English for 3 ping pong balls and 1 Weapon Upgrade.

A: Hello, my name is Charl and I’m a wool sock. I am often itchy.

B: Hi nice to meet you, my name is Charl. Pardon my accent, I am new here and still trying to learn.

C: I’m not just a pretty face, I’m French!}

The correct answer is so obvious that Mariko can’t take them seriously. But she watches on as Charl wracks his brain, the hesitant scratching of his cheek communicates the potential of a calamitous choice. 

Tani chose those three answers purposefully, playing with key words to force Charl into thinking deeply on what he knows. It would be easy to slide right into whatever words he recognizes and pick that solely because it’s familiar so long as he doesn't recognize the words to what is obviously correct.

“Don’t even think about choosing anything other than B!” Mariko shouts incredulously as the timer present on their screens counts down from 10.

“Hi nice to meet you, my nem is Charl. Pardon my accent, I am nu ere and still trying to learn.”

“Whoah! Dude you crushed that!”

Charl pretty much said that without a hitch. He looks just as surprised in himself as Mariko is.

“Maybe I’m better at English than I give myself credit for?”

Mariko’s ping pong balls are replenished to 5, and a green moniker saying ‘New weapon unlocked!’ flashes on the upper left corner of the screen. Instead of immediately clicking on the new weapon option, she swats her remaining ping pong balls into some encroaching insects and buys herself some time.

But no sooner than she does this, the screen informs them that they’ve reached level 2, and rushing out of the staircase are dozens more bugs, these ones are much bigger and look even more menacing than the last. There are Goliath Birdeater Tarantulas the size of car tires, Giant Silkworm Assassin Caterpillars the size of skateboards, fist sized Camel Spiders jumping ten feet in the air and bouncing off walls towards them.

Charl clinches up. The details present on the insects' features strikes an even more paralytic fear into him than the creepy crawly small bugs from the first level of this game.

{Question #3: Charl, you are to make small talk with an acquaintance. Which one of these options would best open up a standard conversation? Pick the best option and receive 3 special attacks with the upgraded weapon.

A: I love your new shoes, where did you buy them?

B: How are you doing today?

C: The weather is perfect! Not a cloud in sight.}

All three of those answers could be considered correct, and that makes him feel as though whichever one he chooses will be wrong. He awaits Mariko’s suggestion as the timer begins counting down.

(10…9…8…)

Mariko is deathly silent. A cold sweat falls down Charl’s temple.

His partner is standing amongst the terrifying bugs looking down on her hands without any sense of urgency.

(6…5…4…)

This time however, the bugs pass right on by her and head towards the helpless Charl.

“!!”

He panics and backs himself into the wall of the gym.

Mariko pays him no mind, what she sees in her hands has left the world around her frozen in time. 

She is looking at a white volleyball.

The sight of which floods her mind with unpleasant thoughts that bring about a trembling in her knees and a quiver of her lip.

She knows that this is supposed to be used as a weapon against the bugs, this ball appeared in her hands after clicking on the newly unlocked weapon moniker after all. She knows that there may be no one in the world more adept than she is at using this weapon.

Her unique talent with her hands and a volleyball is what brought upon the weight of expectation that led her to the Languages Club in the first place.

She is overcome with flashing scenes of memories that take the shape of angered and sad faces, the sound of the voices that accompany those scenes bounce around inside her head in a series of intervals, coming and going in high pitches and echoing whispers.

She can’t find it within herself to move an inch in response to it.

“H-Hey!” Charl shouts, trying to break her out of her stupor. “I need help in more ways than one!”

(3…2…1…)

XXXXXXX

Both of their HP bars take huge hits when that gameshow buzzer lets out its emphatic rejection of their effort. What follows are Level 1 bugs that come rushing out of the staircase.

“!!”

“I-I’m sorry, Charl.” Mariko says, holding the volleyball in her hands and looking toward him. “...I can’t help you.”

To be continued!!