“Ugah.”
“I think if anything, it just backs up what we’ve learned-gya. It proves there was a plan to seal the Demon King inside VPS.”
The student council trio said, trying to calm her down.
“If the game and virtual phase space are related, then wouldn’t the fastest thing be to investigate the person who created the game?” Hiroshi said as he looked at his mana screen. At this point, he just didn’t feel like it made sense for him to go home.
“The game’s creator?” Lily said, obviously uninterested. But when she saw the creator’s name, she gasped.
“Yoshihiko? Yoshihiko... Kanna was chasing somebody named Yoshie Kita.”
“That’s right-gya. It seems obvious to me that she’s involved somehow. But all the data’s been deleted, and nobody knows where he is now...”
“That’s because Yoshihiko’s in the game!” Lily stood up. “Okay, I’ve got it.”
“What are you going to do-gya?”
“All we’ve got is circumstantial evidence, but we can get the rest by threatening to beat somebody up! We’ll find somebody who worked on the game and intimidate them into giving us what we want,” she said eagerly.
“We don’t have to go that far, do we?” Hiroshi said, sounding a little worried, but Lily grabbed him tightly by the hand.
“Huh?”
“You come too! You’re already caught up in this.”
“W-Wait! Give me a break, President!”
But Hiroshi’s protests were completely ignored.
○
“Ugh....” Junko opened her eyes.
As soon as she remembered how she’d been knocked out, she jumped up in shock. It was much easier for her to wake up in the game than in the real world. She didn’t have a headache, and her body moved smoothly.
“Oh no...” Junko looked out at the ruined school courtyard. Korone’s army had already left. The school building had collapsed into a pile of rubble, and the students were nowhere to be found.
“Ugh.... So this is what defeat feels like. Even if this is just a game, it’s still not a good feeling. I don’t like having lost the initiative, either.”
She woke up Yoshihiko, who was lying on the ground next to her. His handsome face was twisted with a pain that wasn’t physical. Junko knew exactly how he felt. He was upset that so many students had died because of him.
“It’s not a pleasant feeling, no, but if we don’t start to focus, we won’t get another chance. It’s just a game, though, so maybe we don’t need to take it so seriously?” Junko laughed.
Yoshihiko’s eyes opened wide as if he was impressed.
“That’s amazing. Did you say your name was Hattori? You’re really used to war, aren’t you?”
“I don’t think that’s a very good compliment to give a girl.” she said, pouting, and Yoshihiko finally smiled.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. Let me try again: I was moved by your nobility.”
Junko found herself blushing and looking away, not because of Yoshihiko’s handsome face, but because it was clear that his words were coming from the heart.
—This is the second time I’ve ever liked a boy...
Junko suddenly thought, but then she shook her head to keep the thought from appearing on her face.
“Th-Thank you. Oh, right. How many people made it out?”
Yoshihiko opened his screen.
“...We lost quite a few. About three hundred. They got us good. That’s about as efficient as the game will let you be. Some of this goes beyond just the game parameters; the player was just that good of a commander.”
“That’s amazing.” Junko sounded impressed. She knew that Korone was a Liradan, but she still admired her skills as a commander.
“But this isn’t a problem,” said Yoshihiko. “If that Liradan is that good, we can count on her to get the students back to reality safely.”
“The school’s students are skilled fighters as well, though. They split up and headed into the jungle. They’ll want to beat the game by defeating the Demon King.”
“Then let’s get going ourselves.” Yoshihiko stood up.
“Go? Go where?” Junko asked.
Yoshihiko nodded and explained.
“To the jungle. It’s the only place we can hide. If we want to be able to fight, we need to spend some time leveling up. And monsters sometimes drop weapons, too. We need to get ourselves some equipment. Just like that Liradan named Korone said, there’s someone out there that’s not playing by the rules, so until we know what they’re up to, we’re limited in how much we can do. So we need experience and items if we’re going to explore the world freely,” Yoshihiko said, and then started to walk into the jungle.
Junko hesitated.
“Huh...? Wait...”
“What’s wrong?”
“D-Does this mean it’ll be just the two of us?”
“There’s not a lot we can do about it, is there? We need to work together, and I respect you. So it will be just fine.” Yoshihiko smiled innocently.
“Th-That’s right. You’re right. Okay, got it. You’re right.” Junko stammered.
—It’s good that he looks so innocent, but... Doesn’t he understand that we’re a boy and girl heading off alone together? Or does he just think it’s a game? Or...
Of course, Junko didn’t know that Yoshihiko was actually Yoshie.
—Forget it! Now’s not the time to be nervous! He’s obviously a gentleman.
Junko followed after Yoshihiko. And until sunset, Yoshihiko showed her how to hunt.
“Haah!” Junko sliced into a giant bat with a short sword she’d borrowed from Yoshihiko. The giant bat gave a high-pitched screech and died. Its corpse would eventually disappear, but unlike the bodies of players, monster corpses remained a little while before vanishing. And sometimes, items would appear next to them when they died.
“A knife, huh? But it’s still something I earned for myself. You can have your own blade back.” Junko held the knife in an underhand grip.
“This feels more like what I’m used to, anyway.”
“You’re a ninja, after all. Ideally we should try and get you a katana like the ones Suhara followers use. Let’s hunt a few more monsters until you’re leveled up enough to use scrolls.”
After that, Junko kept leveling up under Yoshihiko’s instruction. Before too much longer, the sun set.
“A day in the game is about an hour in the real world,” Yoshihiko explained as they made camp. He tossed something that looked like a miniature model into the air, and a tent and campfire appeared in a clearing in the jungle.
“That’s convenient,” Junko said as she sat next to the campfire. She sounded impressed. “By the way, besides level up, what will we be doing tomorrow?”
Yoshihiko opened his screen and pointed to the center.
“There’s a powerful weapon here. The monster that protects it is strong, but there’s a way to defeat it even if you’re at a low level. Let’s go there... Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
Yoshihiko had a serious look on his face, like something wasn’t right.
“The goal of the game has changed. It says it’s to... find the Grail?”
“Is it possible to change the game?”
“Of course it is. But now that I’m on the inside, I can’t do it. Only somebody on the outside can. But obviously, it’s protected by security. If it wasn’t someone from the outside... Maybe it’s the other player I mentioned before.” Yoshihiko put his hand to his chin in thought.
“We just need to be careful then, right? It’s not that big a deal. And it doesn’t look like there’ve been any accidents so far, either,” Junko said to try and cheer him up.
“Your gallantry gives me courage. I’m truly glad that we were able to meet each other,” Yoshihiko said in a soft voice.
“Y-You’re giving me too much credit. I already told you that.” Junko pouted and looked away.
“No, it’s true. I�
�m not that good at opening up to people. I always try my best to be honest with others, but I don’t have a lot of friends.”
“Don’t say stuff like that. I don’t know how to answer it. ...Fine. We’re going to be stuck with each other for a while. I’ll try my best to hear what you have to say,” Junko said, blushing at Yoshihiko’s openness.
“Thanks. The whole reason I invented this technology was that so you could do all of your communication in virtual phase space.”
“All of your communication?”
“That’s right. Pure communication. I thought that perhaps in a world free of physical bodies, where you can do whatever you want, it would be easier for people to live.”
“I’m sorry, I’ll just come out and say it. I’m not good with anything complicated.” Junko chuckled and shook her head.
Yoshihiko smiled sadly.
“I’m basically just complaining, that’s all. Sorry for wasting your time. Let’s go to bed.” Yoshihiko moved away from the campfire and opened the tent flap.
“Wait...” Junko turned red and waved her hand. “...Are we sleeping in the same tent?”
Yoshihiko looked confused.
“Do you want to sleep together?”
“Y-You dummy! Of course not!” Junko yelled, a little louder than she meant to.
Yoshihiko looked even more confused.
“Of course not. There’s not a lot of room. ...Oh!” He clapped his hands together. “You’ve got a camp in your equipment too.”
“Huh?” Junko patted down her pockets. Just like Yoshihiko said, there was a small model tent like the one he’d thrown. If she did the same, could she create another campfire?
—What could be he thinking about me now...?
Junko felt an unpleasant sensation, like her heart was skipping a beat.
“I’m going to sleep,” Junko said as she deployed her own tent and went inside. She got inside her sleeping bag and stared at the tent’s plain ceiling.
—Ugh... This is really frustrating. This feeling... It’s like the one he gives me.
She thought of Akuto, and then curled both herself and her sleeping bag up into a ball.
—You know, the two of them are kind of alike... Do I just have a weakness for that type?
Junko spent the whole night thinking about it.
○
—I’m not the type to get excited when I’m doing something dangerous, sadly.
2V laughed a little to herself. She was the type who didn’t take chances at all. It was more than a policy, it was sheer habit.
She’d leave any dangerous tasks to her dolls, and if she was ever in danger of being found out, she’d order the doll in question to self-destruct. She even used dolls to buy her dolls, and since she mostly bought ones that were easily available on the market, there was no way for anyone to track her.
But now, she felt the slightest bit of fear as she tapped at the terminal. She had to hack into the highest level of security. And to do it, she needed to use her own personal mana frequency — in other words, she had to do it herself. She needed to prove that she was 2V, a member of CMID-8, in order to get access to the deepest level of the god.
—CMID-8’s access privileges can’t get me down to the level that high priests can access. To go any further, I’ll need to hack it.
There was a reason she needed to get down that far.
“Even the high priest probably hasn’t noticed that record. There’s no obvious reason it’s important, after all. But if it’s true...” 2V whispered to herself as she fiddled with her mana screen.
The real 2V was a pale young girl. Her frail arms and legs were covered with badly fitting white clothes. In the dimly lit room, with nothing around her but her dolls and her terminal, she had a certain kind of beauty.
—I’ve never taken anything seriously in my life, and now here I am, tapping at a screen like a geek. Hilarious. My hands hurt, and so do my eyes. I never thought that this, of all things, would be what excites me.
Words displayed on the screen in front of 2V. She’d reached the lowest levels of the god Megis.
“The high priest only comes down here when he’s rewriting the program...” 2V whispered.
“User identified as high priest. Please select operation.”
She heard the voice of a Liradan, speaking the words of the god. Her deception seemed to have worked.
“I want to access the sealed data on the Demon King.”
“Command received. This data is read-only. It will be automatically deleted from your terminal.”
“One look is all I need.”
2V’s eyes desperately tracked the information pouring across her mana screen as she tried to memorize it. And once she’d learned all there was to know, she instantly cut the connection and tried her best to hide all her tracks.
Once she was done, she started to laugh, as if she couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Heh... heheh... Hahaha! Well, I certainly didn’t expect THAT! This is great. All of my ideals, in one place. I never thought for a moment I’d have such luck. And who could’ve thought it would be so easy... In a way, it’s almost disappointing that this was all it took.”
2V’s voice was calm, but there were traces of excitement in it. Her pale cheeks had flushed an almost eerie pink as she opened up the mana screen again. This time, she broke through the security on Yoshie’s game.
“But... this, I think, will work. He’s inside. And that means I’ll take all the risks I have to. After all this time, I’m finally starting to figure out why normal people are able to enjoy their lives. They’re able to get excited over stupid things. Sheesh... What a bunch of idiots.”
2V smiled as she began to change the program and insert her trap.
“The first Demon King... a being created to destroy the original world’s system... And it’s still usable too!”
○
Hiroshi gulped when he realized where Lily had taken him. It was the Megis temple.
There were exceptions, but even the temples themselves had halls that were open to visitors. Some of them even had entertainment facilities inside, and it was common for small downtown areas to build up around them.
But still, the area Lily had brought them into was off-limits. It was a place only for employees of the temple and priests.
“A-Are we allowed to be here?” Hiroshi stammered, but Lily shook her head.
“It’s fine. I’ve made an appointment to discuss something in secret.”
“Oh, well that’s good.”
“He wasn’t happy about it, but I made him change his mind,” Lily added.
“Wait, what does that mean?” Hiroshi asked, but Lily ignored him.
“I sent a message saying to stay in the room he’s in now.”
“Is that all?”
“What else would I need to say?”
“...No, I guess you’re right. But who are we meeting?”
“The high priest.”
“Uwah! Come on, please don’t drag me into this!”
“Why do you have to be scared just because you’re meeting somebody important?” Lily laughed. But there were two guards outside the entrance that led to the special area on the top floors.
“You need permission to pass,” one of them said.
“I-I’ll just be going then...” Hiroshi started to say, but Lily calmly walked up to them and grinned.
“I’m the daughter of Shiraishi.”
“The priest...” The guard looked surprised for a moment, but he immediately resumed the emotionally blank look that security guards were expected to have and held up his right hand.
“Even if you’re Shiraishi’s daughter, you’ll need permission. At least a temporary guest pass, if nothing else.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Lily said coldly. She made a fist with her right hand and rubbed it with her left.
The two guards twitched as a tension filled the air. But a voice interrupted them before anything could happen.
/> “It’s fine. Let them pass.”
It was a low, gentle voice, coming from beyond the door.
“High Priest...” The guards froze in a salute.
It was Hidehiko Kita who came out. He was an honest-looking man with greying hair, set back with gel. But if you looked carefully, you could see something terrifying in his eyes, a strong light that almost seemed like madness.
“I’m glad to hear you understand.” Lily bowed forward, giving him the proper, official greeting. She was a girl, so she didn’t technically need to remove her hat to be polite. But given how obnoxiously big the hat was, not to mention her attitude before, she seemed extremely disrespectful.
But Hidehiko led both her and Hiroshi inside. And when he was far enough inside that the guards couldn’t hear, he spoke.
“I heard about my daughter’s mistake. But it would take somebody related to Shiraishi to try and threaten me with it.”
“I don’t want to chalk it up to blood. My father’s still willing to fight me when I ask him.”
“A father’s job is to worry about his daughter. Not that you’d understand at your age.”
“I’m afraid I’m not old enough to start worrying about an heir.” Lily’s attitude was making Hiroshi sweat. Hidehiko was laughing, for now, but who knew how long that would last?
They went inside the High Priest’s office, and Hidehiko sat behind his desk, gesturing for the two of them to sit in chairs. Then he opened a mana screen and motioned for Lily to speak.
“Operation Birdcage,” was all Lily said to begin with.
It was effective enough that Hidehiko raised an eyebrow.
“You’re saying Yoshie’s involved in it?”
“Correct. And so is the game she made. How exactly this came about, I don’t know.” Lily opened a mana screen of her own and slid it across the desk towards Hidehiko. It contained the information she’d gathered so far, along with her hypotheses.
Operation Birdcage was the name of the plan to seal the Demon King inside virtual phase space. The VPS it was going to use was the one that Megis used for its defense. Yoshie’s research was involved as well. To make matters worse, the Academy had gotten caught up in it.
“I had Yoshie tailed personally. I couldn’t get any proof, but there’s no doubt she’s involved in this. The fact that she’s inside is all the proof I need.” Lily called up game footage on the screen. It was showing “Yoshihiko’s” data.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 7 Page 7
