Chapter 147: And So the Journeying Wolf Goes From the Sea to the Skyscrapers

[See, the festival and my part-time job, you know...? Anyway, Gaia in my heart keeps whispering, "Hey, updating every other day is fine, isn't it?"... Though with my real-life schedule already such a mess that updates have become irregular, I know I've got no room to talk. Still, basically, I intend to keep aiming for daily updates.]

Rakuro: "Why the hell does this Galaxeus bastard want so badly to be a bystander…? He directly intervenes plenty, so don't act like one when it actually matters…"

I was on the maglev, headed for the nation's capital. I muttered to myself while reading an American comic book that Katzo had told me to check out, streaming it through a lightweight VR headset plugged into my phone. The headset wasn't full-dive, just a simpler model built into the seat. I pulled it off for a moment and looked out the window. The brilliant lights of the city streamed by at high speed, kindled by the arrival of twilight as the setting sun settled in to sleep.

A while had passed since I'd taken down the Giga Oarfish—no, the thing with the name like Alkidas Meganex. The roar and the devastation had served as a beacon beyond compare, and one by one the players had gathered at the scene. And the fish-men came too. We managed to meet up, but several problems surfaced… even if we were at the bottom of the sea.

First, just like me, the other players couldn't devote all seven days of the EX scenario's time limit to the fight. If we'd known ahead of time, we could've adjusted our schedules to battle through the full seven days, but we'd been shunted straight into the EX scenario without a moment to build a schedule. Still, even a Unique EX scenario couldn't possibly demand seven straight days of full-time play to clear. Realistically, you could probably manage it if you abandoned any semblance of a human lifestyle for four days—no, maybe three.

Tomorrow, the day after… no, depending on how things went, it might even affect the day after that, so I'd be unavailable for about three days, from day two through day four. Akitsu Akane had club activities and couldn't play from day three to day five. Mold and Rust, without giving details, were unavailable every other day: days two, four, and six. But everyone, as far as I heard, could make day seven, so the final battle against Ctarnidd seemed doable.

The second problem: we hadn't been able to meet up with Rei-shi… with Psyger-0. The order of arrivals at that spot had been Rust & Ceecrue, Akitsu Akane, then Mold. We'd waited, but Rei-shi alone never showed. The fish-men were closing in and the other players wanted to log out, so we'd had no choice but to pull out. Rei-shi gets weird sometimes, but when it comes to mastering Shangri-La Frontier, she's one head—no, four heads—above the other players in this scenario. Hopefully she'd figure out how to save even on her own.

Besides, the VR system, game aside, would force a logout after so many hours of continuous play anyway. And the reason I hadn't been able to test that forced logout myself was that I'd been worried about Emul and the other NPCs. Rei-shi could log out without that worry. Where she'd respawn on re-login was uncertain, but there was no way we'd fail to meet up over seven full days.

So, despite the unresolved issue of not having met up with Rei-shi, we'd managed to regroup. We'd discussed our strategy schedule and each logged out or stayed logged in as needed. And now, I was on the maglev with a travel bag in hand.

Rakuro: "Still, those two are the reason we ended up using email… I mean, yeah, normal people just use social media…"

One was a charismatic model practically deified by teenagers. The other was a pro gamer that every gamer dreamed of being. Both had work social-media accounts, and their stupid reason for using email as our primary contact was that they were "afraid of accidentally posting to the wrong account." Every so often I entertained the thought of exposing their true natures to the whole country, but my little sister turning into a cultist would be a problem, so beautiful things should stay beautiful. Because of all that, the option of using social media for real-life contact had completely slipped my mind, and when I'd tried to get everyone's email addresses to establish a line of communication, the other players had looked at me like I was crazy.

Rakuro: "Everything's their fault… tch."

I paused my reading and opened the social-media app that was supposedly popular among middle and high schoolers lately. I mean, I'm a high schooler myself… but, well. You know. Half my youth's already been tossed as kindling onto the bonfire of trash games…

Rakuro: "Uh, okay, I go here and enter this… there."

I made a new account and entered the room titled "Ruluiath Capture Front." Everyone except Rei-shi had already joined the room that Akitsu Akane had set up, and a few messages were already posted. Huh, farming fish-men gives decent EXP… Lucky… I'd skipped a bunch of stuff with the Golden Scorpion fight, so my level had jumped way ahead… Leveling too much has its own problems.

Announcement: "…Customers alighting, please ensure you have all your belongings—"

Rakuro: "Oh, we're here already."

A distance that could take who-knows-how-long on foot was under an hour by maglev. Civilization is incredible. I got off, pulled up the map on my phone, and started walking. In this day and age, even Japan's capital was a proper city that never slept. LED light pierced the night, making the buildings gleam. The brightness was almost enough to expose one of Lycagon's invisible clones. I followed the map through it and found the place.

Rakuro: "Hotel Grand Supreme… So this is, what, a luxury hotel?"

The kind where a single night's stay costs as much as everything you'd need for a full-dive VR setup. Could the map app have gotten the coordinates wrong…? No, probably not. Damn pro gamer, calling people to a place like this—are you insane? This isn't the kind of place a high schooler just walks into alone. A net cafe with full-dive VR would be way more comfortable, mentally speaking.

Rakuro: "Ghh… Katzo said, 'Just say you're Sunraku, a friend of Uomi Kei's, and they'll let you through'…"

This was beyond feeling out of place. It felt like being told to take on Lycagon at level one. If this were a game, I'd ram a C4-laden armored car through the entrance or bomb the building with a fighter jet without a second thought. But in real life, even just entering the hotel was hard mode. Still, I'd come here for a reason… Ah, to hell with it—here goes!!

Rakuro: "OMOTENASHI is amazing… So this is what they call first-class… I could use this as reference for roleplaying."

They'd shown a single high schooler—wildly, painfully out of place—an absurdly polite welcome and escorted me to a room. At least they hadn't done anything insane like putting me in a suite, but I was acutely aware that whether it was a suite or not made zero difference when it came to how uncomfortable I felt.

Rakuro: "This isn't some elaborate prank precisely targeted at me… right?"

I'd contacted Katzo, and he'd said he'd come see me soon, so I was to wait in the room. I tossed my bag carelessly onto the bed and took another look at the room I'd been given. Two beds—a twin room assigned for single use—but it was absurdly spacious. And most strikingly, there was a piece of "equipment" that looked like a cross between a bed and a reclining chair, but far more mechanical than either, sitting smack in the middle of the room.

Rakuro: "Isn't this that latest-model full-dive system… the one famous for its price tag and size that make it obvious they have no intention of selling it to ordinary people…?"

This was getting scary. What was that pro gamer thinking? Had the adversity broken his mind? This was way, way too much money to spend on entertaining a single high schooler. Still, all that aside, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in the latest full-dive tech. Let's see, if I remember the catalog, this is the power switch and you lie down here…

I was poking at the capsule-like chair-integrated full-dive system when someone knocked on the door—roughly. A hotel employee would've used the room's intercom, so this was probably Katzo.

Rakuro: "Hm? Wait, is this…?"

Towa: "Yah-hoo, Sunraku-kun! Thought it was the pro gamer, didn't you? Surprise! The super charismatic model Amane-sama herself has come down to grace you in person! Now, let's see that face—"

Rakuro: "Shhhk… shhhk…"

Honestly, I get it—a gas mask is a bit much. Yeah. But if you find one in your bag, you kinda just put it on, right? Having achieved the glorious feat of making a super charismatic model's face twitch, I had to desperately stop Pencilgon—rather, Towa Amane—from calling hotel staff for help.

By the way, each person's social-media icon:

• Sunraku: Extreme close-up of a shoebill
• Akitsu Akane: Stylized dragonfly mark
• Rust: Rusted screw
• Mold: Blue cheese
• Pencilgon: Confident selfie
• Katzo: Fighting game character face that changes regularly