No, no, no, no! What was happening? Was Minerva, ok? What was that weird feeling from earlier? Was it all connected? And the person who just entered my head. Who was she?
While those questions came to mind, the darkness started to feel suffocating. I couldn’t breathe and there was a crippling fear in me. It felt like I was actually about to die. Suddenly, I could feel wind in my face. My body was in a ton of pain and it was getting cold. There was this uneasy feeling, like I was falling.
Slowly, I opened and my eyes, and there I noticed that clouds were passing me by at high speeds.
‘Fufu… I’m falling. Why’s this so funny?’
‘Don’t know, don’t ask me.’
Akira chimed in.
I was literally plummeting to my doom, yet the pain made me feel like I shouldn’t care less. And the number of higher beings looking over me from beyond death made me feel like I really could do anything, and they would simply bring me back to life. There was no point in trying my hardest.
‘Oh yeah. Before I forget. This is the last time I ever interfere in that kind of situation. Next time you die, you’re dead.’
The voice from earlier said, making my heart sink. Next to me, the eye winked, then glitched out of existence.
‘Curse my luck… Kira?’
‘We’ve got nothing. We’re out of stamina and mana. It’s up to someone else to save us.’
‘Send a message to the shadows then?’
‘That’s a no go. They disappeared the moment our heart was stabbed through.’
‘Huh… so they depend on my life to remain here. At least I know they’d never betray me now.’
‘What to do?’
I looked all around the battlefield lazily. I saw Zana looking around, confused. Probably shocked by the entire scenario.
‘Ah, that’s right. I formed a party with her. Let me send a message. Zana.’
‘Hinotori?! Where are you?’
‘I’m kind of in the clouds right now.’
‘What?’
‘Just floating up here.’
‘Huh?’
‘Kind of winging it.’
‘Dude! Now is not the time! Minerva is in trouble.’
‘Right! I’m falling from the sky, right above you. Can you make the mist save me?’
She looked up and saw me. When she did, I could feel my descent slowing down. The mist grabbed me like a cushion and gently dropped me into Zana’s hands. The Tyrant looked at me with tears in her eyes, no doubt grateful for my heroic endeavors.
“You… You… did… not… abandon… me… too.”
She said the words in between sniffs, making me realise she was teary about an entirely different matter. Her giant water ball for tears fell on my body, having a shocking effect.
[You have restored 50 Health points!]
‘Wait… her tears can heal?’
[You have restored 50 Health points!]
[You have restored 50 Health points!]
[You have restored 50 Health points!]
‘Um, Zana, could you get me close to the necromancer’s body?’
I asked her, even under her tears. She looked confused at first, but took me either way. When we got there, I saw the necromancer’s “body”. It actually had been damaged beyond recognition. My final attack had actually done it in before it could make any more moves. Lying next to it, was an orb. It glowed dimly and seemed to be calling out to me.
I assumed that it was the cause of the entire mess. I summoned [Scorching Winter] and grabbed it with my mouth. I was still handless. Not like I had hands in my bird form.
‘I really hate you, [Scorching Winter], but please just do this for me. Just this once.’
[[Scorching Winter] says just this once.]
[[Scorching Winter] has activated Effect #1]
The blade turned into a mess of molting magma that dropped on the orb.
[DING!]
[You have destroyed the [Soul Consuming Orb Replica]]
[You have received 1.5 million Experience Points]
[You have gone up several levels]
[Party Member Zana has received 1 million Experience Points]
[Party Member Zana has gone up several levels]
[Party Member Zana has achieved Racial Climax]
[Party Member Zana will undergo evolution soon]
My body poofed up right after I leveled up. My stamina was still low, but I could at least teleport to her. In Zana’s shadow, I used [Shadow Travel] to reappear in the West. When I got there, all I saw was burning trees, missing earth and a few corpses. I even identified Kuro’s corpse amongst the midst. Same for Tsuna, Gorm and some other goblins, timber wolves and some weird panthers.
I tried to take some steps, but my body just fell to the ground.
[Stamina is low!]
[Stamina is low!]
[Stamina is low!]
The system kept screaming to me. There was practically no energy left in my limbs anymore. My body felt too heavy. It was like I was carrying the entire world on my shoulders. My body simply collapsed under the weight, too tired to do anything.
***
“Uuogh!”
Something heavy fell on my body, jolting me awake. What followed was an annoyingly cute high-pitched voice of a little girl.
“Onii-chan. Wake up.”
I opened my eyes and noticed Mitsuki on me. Her impish grin showed her perfectly arranged white teeth, and her nose and cheeks were red as Christmas lights. I knocked her head and she started to rub it with a tear forming.
“Ow!”
She cried out.
“I’m not in the mood for your games, system master.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, I’ve got you figured out.”
She was tearing up over me in her pajamas. Her cries kept getting louder as I scanned where I was. It was my room from back on Earth. With my bed to the side, the desk with my set up pc, closet at the far end, messed up floor, shelves filled with manga and light novels, as well as Eroge Visual Novels I had managed to hide in there. The doujins went somewhere else obviously. Outside the window, I could see snow dropping gently. The sun was high in the sky and the neighbors were shouting and playing loud music – most likely having a winter party.
The system master really outdid herself this time. I knocked her on the head again just so she would shut.
“Waaaa! Mom! Nii-chan is punching me!”
“Stop that!”
I sat up, accidentally throwing her off me and onto the floor. She fell on a pile of CDs in what looked to be quite painful. I could hear something crack, and when I looked down, it was a Visual Master X. The VR device Manyuda lent to me. Even worse, it was lent to Manyuda by someone else in the class.
‘Damn it! Just when I started making friends with Manyuda too! Wait… hasn’t this already happened before?’
“Now he’s throwing me on the floor and kicking me.”
Mitsuki screamed.
“Mi-Mitsuki! Keep it down!”
“Waaaa!”
“I-I’ll buy you candies or ice cream, so keep quiet!”
I patted her head so she’d calm down.
“That’s a deal then. Mom’s gone to buy groceries and dad got called in to do some work. I’ll be in the kitchen preparing lunch. I’ll be expecting my candy by 2. Akane will be here by 1, so you can go out and buy them with her. Chop, chop, time is money, nii-chan. Teehee.”
An almost instantaneous switch in moods!
She showed the peace sign then ran out the room, sticking her tongue at me. For some reason, this put my heart to rest.
“Honestly, you just started middle school. Grow up.”
I looked at my hands. The left one had a scar in it. I remember it being stabbed through in my second year at middle school with a cutter by some crazy girl who said she didn’t like my face. She said it was my fault for existing and that I probably should just kill myself. She was probably right. I really should have just killed myself earlier on. Would have saved me the time and energy since I was going to get killed anyway.
‘Ok system master, you can cut the simulation now. Get me back to Larm.’
I got no response.
“Come on! Enough fun and games, System Master!”
Still, no response even after I yelled. I aid back on the bed and looked at the ceiling. It was blank with a creaky fan there.
‘The system master is still not responding… she’d only call me if she had something to tell me. Wait… was anything that even happened real? The fights, blood and pain… were they real? Or did I die and get sent back to my actual world?’
I reached out for my phone which was on the floor. Upon checking, I discovered that it was the 31st of December. The year before I went to highschool. The year before I met Ken.
‘Huh? I’m in the past? The day before new year’s!?’
I jumped off my bed. I remembered this day very well. This was the day Akane changed for good. Starting tomorrow she would start dying her hair red and acting like an emo degenerate. Even worse, she would be the biggest bully I’d ever face.
“Akira!”
Akane’s voice came through the door.
‘Akane?! But it’s not even one!’
I looked at my phone. The time was 1:05 pm. I really slept through half of the day. My bad sleeping habits! She walked in through the door in a yellow blouse and grey baggy pants that simply didn’t match. Her black hair was tied into a ponytail and her face still looked angelic and cute. She was waved at me, but I was too scared to wave back. She tilted her head in confusion then immediately drew in closer.
“Are you ok?”
I nodded my head.
“Y-Yeah. Just give me some time to dress up.”
“Sure. I’ll use your PC to play one of your games.”
“Um… just open the folder named “The Good”.”
“Sure.”
‘Wait… I didn’t tell anyone to clear my hard disk in my previous life. Oh, dear Lord. If it’s dad, I’m sure he’d discard of it as the bro code demands, but mom, or Mitsuki…’
“Akira. There’s two of them.”
“Huh? No, no. It may have been a while, but I remember there being a folder entirely just for show. The other folders should be hidd-“
‘My fourteen-year-old self was more retarded than a harem protagonist.”
“NOOO!”
CLICK!
“What’s this? Doki Doki Curse Warrior.”
“Akane stop!”
I tried to jump at her, but my own blanket tripped me on the floor, sending me crashing into the Visual Master X. My jaw started to hurt, but not as much as my heart did when I heard the moaning.
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