“I see, I see.” 2V smiled to herself.
It was 2V’s own body that was smiling. She was staring at dozens of mana screens, lying alone on the floor of a room that was empty except for rows of standing dolls. Even the rest of CMID-8 didn’t know about this condo, which was where she lived to conceal who she really was.
2V thought to herself that she and Yoshie were similar people. 2V herself was still in her early teens, and her incredible abilities had never been recognized by any authority.
—But it’s possible to make your thoughts into reality in this world too, you know. You don’t understand that. That’s why people say you’re unhealthy.
That was where their ideas differed. But the biggest difference of all lay in their ultimate goals.
—If I can have anything I want, I don’t want a paradise inside virtual phase space. I want to be in the real world, where I can be the formless king in a world without gods.
2V was about to betray Yoshie. The plan she’d told Yoshie was a lie.
—And the pleasure you get when betraying someone is much, much more exciting in the real world.
2V grinned, and ran her sickly thin fingers across her pale face.
2 - Let’s Go to a Game World
“Ackie, fantasy is great, isn’t it?” Keena said suddenly.
This statement had come out of nowhere, the reason being that this was Akuto’s room. Keena had snuck in at some point, and was now scooping rice from a bowl into her mouth with a ladle.
“I don’t follow,” Akuto said, sitting up in bed. He didn’t seem at all surprised by this sudden red-haired intruder, who was crouching on the floor of his room and eating rice. At this point, he was used to it.
“Fantasy, Ackie. You know, like swords and sorcery!” Keena declared as she scooped up the rice.
“We’ve already got both of those things,” Akuto said with a shrug.
But Keena waved her ladle from side to side.
“Tch-tch-tch. That’s not what I mean, Ackie. Fantasy is about heroes from other worlds, and trapped princesses.”
“Well, I guess those don’t exist in reality,” Akuto said, continuing the conversation even though something seemed wrong. But then a voice came down from above.
“Those are the words of someone who doesn’t understand how special he is.” Korone the Liradan came down from her usual spot in the cabinet above his closet. Her job was to watch Akuto for the government, and so she lived in the same room. But lately it felt like she was ignoring him.
“That’s true, but she’s probably getting this out of another old book she read or something,” Akuto said. But Keena shook her head.
“Nope. There’s this really neat video game I just found out about...” Akuto thought to himself that he was hearing a lot about video games lately.
—Come to think of it, I never got her contact info... If I start playing video games, maybe I’ll run into her.
“What kind of games are there? I’m interested, but I’ve never tried one.”
“This is the one I played.” Keena pulled up a game on her mana screen. The game’s author was listed as “Yoshihiko.”
“See? It’s interesting, like rice,” Keena said, as she began to play. Games in this era were three-dimensional images, but their stories and gameplay hadn’t evolved in a long time. The sorts of things that humans enjoy don’t change that easily.
“I’m not sure what ‘interesting like rice’ means, but... Does that mean it gets more interesting the more you chew on it?”
“Aww, no. Rice is really interesting!”
“...N-Never mind. What kind of game is it?”
Akuto peered into the mana screen. It was an online fantasy RPG, but what made it special was that you could lead an army to fight wars. There were lots of other soldiers besides the players, and as your character grew you could expand your armies.
“It looks like a war game.”
“Yup. But you don’t have to be the commander. You can be the kidnapped princess, and all you have to do is stay kidnapped and the army will come and rescue you.”
“That’s an amazingly strange concept, but well, it’s a game, I guess. Wait, does that mean that war starts because you’re kidnapped?”
“Yup.”
“And that’s what makes it interesting, huh?” Akuto nodded in understanding.
“It’s also kind of amazing that you’d come here this early to talk about video games,” Korone said. Keena clapped her hands together like she just remembered something.
“Oh, right! The Student Council President says she won’t be in early this morning. So she wants you to take over for her. That’s what I came to tell you.”
“She’s got her trio, right?”
“Well, the trio’s gone too. All of them. Hiroshi’s gone as well. All of them were called out somewhere late last night.”
“I guess I don’t have a choice, then. I’m a little curious what happened, though.” Akuto stood up and was about to tell her to leave so he could change, but then he realized something.
“But why are you coming to tell me this?”
“I was up all night playing video games. So I ran into the Student Council President just as she was about to leave this morning.”
“...I see. You don’t need to sleep?”
“I’m fine. If I eat, I can go a little while without sleep. And if I do get tired, I can just skip class.”
“You’re as much of a free spirit as ever, huh?”
Keena went outside after that, and Akuto took off his pajama top.
Suddenly a voice interrupted him from behind.
“I didn’t expect to be sexually seduced like this.”
“Uwah!” He turned around and Korone was right there.
“Th-That’s right. I forgot to ask you to leave.”
“At this point, it’s like it’s natural for us to be together. We’re like husband and wife, you could say.”
“Don’t be silly... And don’t you always leave on your own when I’m about to change?”
“Yes, but there was something in that conversation that is bothering me.” Korone normally never intervened in his daily life except to tease him, so it was rare for her to say something like this. Akuto’s face suddenly took on a serious expression.
“Something bothering you?”
“Yes. My job has put me in a rather delicate position, but I am able to inform you that you’re the target of a certain plan. However, I am forbidden to tell you what the plan is, or to stop it.”
“That’s... a problem, isn’t it?”
Akuto immediately understood the seriousness of the situation. Korone was a Liradan, who was following the government’s orders. And the government was divided between the extremists, who wanted Akuto dead, and the pacifists who wanted to wait and see what he did. There were probably a lot of places where orders from one faction contradicted those from another.
“Yes. But be careful. I’ll do the best I can to help.”
“Thanks. I get it. So that’s the reason the Student Council President left,” Akuto said. He went to take his pajama bottoms off, but realized that Korone was staring.
“...I almost took them off with you standing right here. Can you leave me alone for a second?”
“No, I can’t leave your side even for a moment,” Korone said, with a completely serious look on her face.
But Akuto had known her long enough to know that she was joking.
“Seriously, don’t make jokes like that...”
○
Lily had woken up early that day, and was staking out the area near the Imperial City University Lab with a bean jam bun in one hand and milk in the other. She was watching the room that Michie had ID’d earlier.
The lights were on inside the room. It was still before sunrise, and that room was the only one with lit windows.
“I’d love to bust my way in there while the place is still empty...” Lily whispered.
“Huh? You got p
ermission first, right? Did you just say bust your way in..?”
Next to her was an extremely doubtful Hiroshi, who she’d forced to come along. He was standing next to Lily, nibbling on a cream bun, and his eyes had gone wide with surprise.
“If I had permission I wouldn’t be hiding. The plan was always to do this the violent way. My trio is investigating the area around us. Once we’ve got a good handle on the situation, we’re going in.”
“G-Going in?”
“Going in, finding the guy inside, and knocking his lights out. It’s as simple as that,” Lily said.
“W-Wait! Why did you bring me then?” Hiroshi started to panic.
“Oh, right. I never told you, did I?” Lily nodded to herself as if she’d only now remembered.
“I’ve got information that Boichiro Yamato’s servants are plotting something.”
“Huh? Boichiro Yamato...?” Hiroshi’s words caught in his throat.
The Anti-Demon-King combat suit that Hiroshi had once used was given to him, through a fairly involved process, by Boichiro Yamato.
“That’s why I called you. Not because I expect you to fight, but because you might know something, or they might want you for something.”
“Huh? I don’t know anything.”
“I know that. But there’s a chance you might remember something. And if it turns out you’re important to them and you don’t know it, I can use you as a hostage.” There was no sign on Lily’s face that she was joking, so Hiroshi went pale.
“W-Wait, you’re kidding, right?”
“Nope. If I want to kill 2V, I need to be prepared to make some sacrifices.” Lily’s eyes were dead serious.
“W-Wait, you just have it out for him personally, right? ...R-Right! What’s this plan about? We’re here to stop it, right?”
“What’s wrong with having it out for him personally? We’re not here to stop the plan at all.”
“Huh...?”
“The plan is to seal Akuto Sai away in Virtual Phase Space. Most likely they want to either lock him away from the outside world, or just kill him inside.”
“A-And you’re not going to stop it?”
“Nope. That’s his problem. As long as the majority of the students are safe, it doesn’t matter to me at all,” Lily said, just as a telepathic call came in. It was from the Trio.
“President, we’ve got things secure here. If you move now, nobody will be able to leave.”
“Okay. I’ll tell you when to bust in.” Lily threw her bread and milk carton to the ground. And then she grabbed Hiroshi’s hand and started to walk.
“W-Wait, President, I’m not ready...”
“I’m not waiting for you. If we don’t get going, people are going to notice us, and then we’ll have a real mess on our hands.” Lily dragged Hiroshi by the hand onto the laboratory grounds.
Imperial City University was open to the public since the labs received regular visitors from the outside. Lily was able to head right to the door she was looking for.
There were no traps, and she’d seen no resistance up until this point. She cautiously put her hand up to the doorknob, and flicked her head towards Hiroshi.
Hiroshi assumed he was supposed to respond somehow, but before he could answer, Lily kicked open the door.
“Wh-What the heck, President?”
But Lily didn’t answer. As soon as the door hit the ground, she was already inside. That wasn’t how you opened the door to a university lab, it was how special forces broke into a terrorist hideout, or a gang launched an attack on a rival.
Lily dropped down low, holding her arms out in front of her. Her fighting style involved extending out her arms, and she could fire them off at the speed of bullets. As long as she could see someone, she could knock them flat in an instant. But that only worked if she had a target.
“What...?” Lily’s face tensed up in surprise.
The lights were on in the room, but nobody was there.
There was no place to hide, either. The room was crammed with shelves and research equipment, but there was barely a place for a single person to stand.
“They escaped? How?” Lily contacted the Trio via telepathy, but they sounded as surprised as she was.
“Huh? Ain’t nuthin’ happened out here.”
“Ugah.”
“Yoshie Kita hasn’t moved at all.”
“Look closer! We may be being tricked!” Lily screamed. But just then a single ray of light appeared on the lab’s desk.
Lily tensed up, but it was only the light from a mana screen. The face of a very ordinary man — 2V — appeared on it.
“You!” Lily howled, but the video wasn’t from an open line. A pre-recorded message began to play.
“Glad you could make it, little one. I’m afraid I found out about what you were up to, and made the first move on my own. The plan has already begun. You were just a little too late. I look forward to our next meeting, though! Oh, but I guess there won’t be a next meeting. This room is going to self-destruc...”
Before 2V’s sentence finished, Lily had jumped backwards. She grabbed Hiroshi, who was simply standing there in shock, and leapt outside of the room.
“Or rather, it was going to self-destruct, but that wouldn’t be a nice thing to do to the other researchers, would it? Anyway, have a nice day.” 2V’s mocking voice echoed through the room.
“Y-You bastard!” Lily screamed, as she began to pound her fists into Hiroshi’s head.
“Aah! Stop it! President! Calm down, please!”
○
“Is this really the right way to do it?” Yoshie asked. “Something doesn’t seem right.”
“It’s fine. Well, it’s going well at least,” 2V’s salaryman-like doll answered.
Yoshie and 2V both got started as soon as their preparations were ready. As soon as the VPS-control device was finished, they teleported near the school and hid.
The two of them had beaten Lily because of Yoshie’s incredible programming abilities, and the fact that they’d used teleportation to escape. Teleportation wasn’t cheap. If you wanted to use it, you needed a good reason.
“They underestimated how serious we were about this. Even if we’re doing this in secret, it’s still a government project.”
“I suppose I should be grateful that I can have that kind of backup when I’m doing the research I love. But why did we have to come all the way out to the school? We’re just doing a control test for the VPS system, right?”
“I guess I never told you.” 2V laughed. He pointed towards the Constant Magical Academy courtyard, where the morning assembly was being held. 2V and Yoshie were standing in the place where 2V’s tent had been during the huge battle at the school.
“We’re going to seal him away,” 2V said, as he pointed towards a young man standing at the lectern. When Yoshie saw who it was, her eyes went wide with surprise.
“Him? I just talked to him.”
“You talked to him? You didn’t know he was the Demon King?” 2V said calmly.
“Wooaah! I’m really surprised. I had no idea. Hmm? You’re going to seal him away?” Yoshie suddenly raised an eyebrow.
“That’s right. If we seal him in virtual phase space, he’ll have no more power than an ordinary human. There’s a lot of people who’d like to kill him without harming the people around him.” 2V grinned.
“K-Kill him?”
When he saw her panic, 2V tried his best to stifle a laugh.
“That’s right. That’s what this government project is for. I’m sorry I never told you, but you’ll never be prosecuted for this. So don’t worry, and please continue. I think every human should play a part in a murder plot at least once in their life.”
Yoshie covered her face in shock.
“I-I... I can’t accept that. Listen, can you rethink this?”
“I’m afraid I can’t. I’m not trying to threaten you, but I do need you to do this, so there’s a warrant out for your arrest. Hahaha. Funny, isn�
��t it? If you don’t do it, you’re a criminal. But if you do, you’ll never be prosecuted. You’ve only really got one choice, don’t you?” 2V couldn’t contain his laughter anymore.
Yoshie bit down on her lip.
—What do I do...? No, maybe there’s a way to fix this. Maybe there’s a way to make this right. Calm down... Just stay calm.
“A-Alright. I don’t want to do it, but I guess I don’t have a choice. I just need to adjust the machine to do that, right?”
“That’s right. Glad to see you’re cooperative.” 2V let out a laugh, satisfied that he’d won.
“Seal him away as a normal person. That’s your order, right?”
“Correct. Don’t get any ideas.”
“Sure, I get it. I’m not going to do anything crazy. I understand.” Yoshie knelt down over the VPS control device.
The device was a 50-centimeter square box, with a control panel, keyboard, and monitor built into the side. Yoshie began to tap at the keyboard.
“How does it feel to help kill someone you’ve spoken to?” 2V asked cruelly.
Yoshie couldn’t help but let her displeasure show on her face, but her answer was calm.
“It hurts. He and I had a lot in common. But I think he’ll probably understand.”
“Hmph. I see. I have no idea what you think he’ll understand, but I suppose if you want to do this, you have to think that. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Your best option is to work hard, even if it means lying to yourself.”
“I agree. But in the end, humans are made to only be able to do the things they want to do. I only talked with him a little, but I feel like he and I understand each other. So I think I understand what it is he wants to do too. Which means that I’ve got a feeling he’ll be able to overcome this, as long as he has a chance.”
“A chance? What are you talking about?”
“Heheh. I’m talking about this.” Yoshie was extremely calm, but passionate, as she spoke. She activated the device of her own will, without 2V’s orders.
“Wh-What are you doing?!” For once, 2V began to get scared. Even a brilliant mind like 2V’s hadn’t seen this coming.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 7 Page 3
