Fragment: The Ending Rebellion (2)

—GAME OVER—

Strategy Hint: Do not let him freely fire off magic. Force him into close combat. Your chances of victory in a magical shootout are slim.

“Damn it… I lost to Zeke again. I always get stuck here.”

The words Game Over appeared on the television screen against a black background. A sigh escaped him without thinking.

He gently set down the controller he had been gripping and fell backward onto his back. He lightly pressed and massaged the corners of his eyes. The result of the long, fierce battle was Hiroto’s defeat. Van, the protagonist he had trained through a challenge run, had fallen before the hated villain.

The game Hiroto had been playing since morning on his day off was Wish Soul, the game he was currently hooked on.

Its genre was a classic RPG. The story unfolded with a party made up of the main characters, and in the end, they defeated the final boss—a popular genre, and to put it badly, a rather ordinary game.

“This guy is cheating. He barely has any casting time, he’s a combo demon, and he even heals himself. …And the fact that he’s needlessly cool just makes me even more pissed off.”

Zeke Lagias, Hiroto’s sworn enemy. He was one of the most prominent villain characters in the story, a great scoundrel hated both by fans and within the game itself.

He appeared at key points in the story, and every time he did, a battle followed, forcing the player into a difficult fight. In particular, the battle before the final showdown was truly hard. Some even said that without the final boss’s special enhanced state, Zeke was the stronger one.

The challenge run Hiroto had been attempting this time was as follows.

Only the protagonist could be controlled.

Swordsmanship was forbidden. Only magic was allowed.

Items could not be used during battle. However, they could be used only when mana ran out.

As challenge runs went, the conditions were very lenient. He could have made them much stricter, but Hiroto was not a hardcore addict; he was simply a genuine fan. He enjoyed the game purely as a casual player.

…That said, limiting the protagonist to magic was quite difficult.

His mana pool was small to begin with, and his magical attack power was the weakest among the party characters. Needless to say, the number of spells he could learn was limited. A magic build in a normal playthrough was completely out of the question. —So what was the answer? It was to collect stat-boosting items through repeated playthroughs and use carryover bonuses to learn magic.

While raising the protagonist’s base magical attack power to its limit, Hiroto had him learn fire-element magic that could not normally be acquired. —He had narrowed it down to fire because it had good compatibility with the protagonist, and because the certain villain who became a high wall was also weak to fire.

Whether the results were worth the time and number of playthroughs spent preparing this far was unclear. In the first place, there was nothing to gain from it. It was nothing more than self-satisfaction. Even so, it was fun, so there was no helping it.

“Even if I do more playthroughs, there’s no point anymore… I’ve got no choice but to polish my player skill.”

As he sighed and shifted his gaze, he saw a brand-new bag and several flyers there. They were papers that said, Now Recruiting Club Applicants. —This spring, Hiroto had entered high school.

“What the hell is… ‘Your legs are beyond high school level’ supposed to mean…? That woman, saying whatever she wants.”

Hiroto had been accosted by a female student who seemed to be an upperclassman. He understood that recruitment activities were lively in early spring, just after enrollment, but that female student had gone too far.

It was only natural for her to persistently follow him around the school. Every break time, she came to his classroom and shouted, “Let’s aim for nationals together!” The worst part had been when she started recruiting him over the school broadcast. Thanks to that, Hiroto had become famous in a certain sense. Even though it had only been one week since he enrolled.

(Why did she only get a verbal warning after occupying the broadcasting room? Did I choose the wrong school…?)

It was an ordinary college-preparatory school, neither particularly good nor bad. He had chosen the high school because it was a reasonable distance from his house. He might get scolded for saying this, but moderation was best in life.

“Being praised for running fast ends in elementary school. I don’t want to join a club.”

He had no intention of denying students who devoted themselves to club activities. That too was probably one choice. Sweating alongside friends might also be youth… though Hiroto wanted no part of it.

Studying moderately, playing with friends moderately, and enjoying his own hobbies. That was enough. Even an ordinary life, seen from the other side, could be called a stable life.

“Hiroto, do you have a moment?”

The door was knocked on and opened. It was Hiroto’s father.

“Hm? …Are you playing that game again? Aren’t you going to buy a new one? If you don’t have enough allowance, I’ll buy one for you.”

“No, I have money, so I’m fine. Thanks. …I just like this game.”

Hiroto’s father was an office worker. Including his mother, their family relationship was good. They were an ordinary, average household.

“I see… Your father gets bored easily, so I always end up wanting something new right away. …Oops, that’s not the point. Come to the living room. Something seems kind of dangerous.”

His father showed a strange reaction. While wondering about the expression on his face, which was different from usual, Hiroto headed to the living room with him. There stood his mother, looking troubled.

“Hiroto… this arrived by fax.”

The paper his mother handed him. It seemed to have been received through the fax function of their home phone, which was unusual nowadays. Several copies of the same thing had apparently arrived.

“Let’s see… ‘Dear beloved Namiki Hiroto-sama. Not a day passes when I do not think of you. Please dedicate your once-in-a-lifetime high school life to me. Actually, dedicate it to me. Take responsibility. Aim for national conquest’………… What the hell is this?!”

(T-That woman, how does she know our fax number?! This is way too insane!)

The fax was still receiving even now. Multiple copies of the same bizarre letter kept being printed. Getting scared, Hiroto hurriedly removed the fax paper, but the receiving itself did not stop.

“H-Hiroto… a lot of them came in the mailbox too. Did you do something? Is that high school really all right…?”

(She even knows my address?!)

“Hiroto… is the other party a female student? Giving someone false hope is not good. Your father had a hard time with that in the past too…”

“No, no, I didn’t do anything, and it’s only been a week since I enrolled!”

He collected all the bizarre letters and hurried back to his room.

There was no way such abnormal recruitment could be allowed. In the first place, how had his address and fax number been exposed? It was completely absurd.

He tried to use his smartphone to send a complaint to the dangerous woman in question, but fortunately or unfortunately, he did not know her contact information. Since no messages had come to his smartphone, he felt relieved that this had not been exposed. …Of course, that did not solve anything.

(At the start of next week, I’m absolutely filing a complaint with the school… No, isn’t this already at a level where I should consult the police? Should I expose the school’s name and force the club to shut down? …Wait, if I do that and she resents me, it might seriously be bad. Worst case, she might kill me.)

Why did he have to prepare himself for death at such a young age? It might have been an exaggeration, but that deranged female student just might do it. Thinking back on it now, her eyes had been serious. Completely serious.

(Should I run? No, that’s impossible. Transfer schools… after one week of enrollment? I’ll have Dad help me. I’ll talk to my friends too. I’ll drag everyone into this.)

Hiroto himself understood that his personality was bad. That was why this could not be helped. Feeling unable to forgive the fact that everyone around him was acting as usual while he was suffering was because his personality was bad. Surely that was it.

(…Well, I’m joking. I’ve got no choice but to do something about it myself.)

Objectively speaking, Hiroto had done nothing wrong, but he could not drag unrelated people into it. He had no choice but to deal with that weirdo himself. —In the worst case, he would take her down with him.

He let out a deep sigh.

When he casually turned his gaze toward the television, the words Game Over were still there as always. Was Hiroto’s high school life going to end up like this too? It was the absolute worst.

“Haa… I wonder if something good will happen…”

—A silver light, which would become the opening curtain of a long journey, flashed.