Chapter 307: Communicate: Boss Rush
[Author's Note:] A roaming boss. They actually exist...!
I face off against the old man in the strange silence. What is this, man? First Ryuguin Fugaku, now this — aren't there way too many real-life old warrior types around? Look at those arms. He could probably strangle a shark. How'd he allocate his stats? STR's probably dropped off from age penalties, so maybe he cranked DEX...
Rakuro: "...Ah!?"
Shit, my thoughts were getting devoured by game logic. This is what I get for sitting across from an old man radiating overpowered character energy. Yeah, that's definitely it. Still, what I picked up off the floor couldn't have just sprouted from the wooden planks, which means someone obviously dropped it. And from what I've heard, this season...
Rakuro: "Ah, uh... sorry, here you go."
Old Man: "Hm."
Rakuro: "Salmon fishing? I've heard the best season's still a little ways off."
Right, that thing's a lure. One for salmon fishing, specifically. I remembered because I saw my dad gleefully getting his gear ready. He was all hyped up going, "We're eating salmon roe bowls! Salmon roe bowls!" Although, honestly, store-bought feels a lot safer on a bunch of levels...
Old Man: "...Oh? You know your stuff?"
Rakuro: "Ah, crap— ngh, well, yeah... I mean, it's not me, it's my dad. He's a total fishing nut... I mean, he does fishing as a hobby."
I should've just handed it over and ended the conversation. I grind my teeth at the time lost to a bad dialogue choice, but I keep the conversation rolling against this Strong Silver-tier opponent, drawing on every ounce of my dating-sim experience.
Rakuro: "If I remember right, you can already fish up north, right?"
Old Man: "Indeed. At this time of year, skipjack fishing is also good, but a friend recommended I try my hand at lure fishing, you see."
Rakuro: "With lures, the fish you're after naturally get bigger, too... When I was in elementary school, my dad took me seabass fishing, and I lost a tug-of-war and fell into the ocean."
Looking back, that was a pretty wild experience. I couldn't hear my dad yelling, "Let go of the rod!" and my stubborn little kid brain was dead set on reeling it in no matter what, so I nearly got swept away.
Old Man: "...Hmm. Well, that is quite something."
Nice, nice. The advanced technique of spinning past stories into conversation. Gotta be careful, though — overshare and you'll get slapped with a "navel-gazing" judgment and lose affinity points.
Rakuro: "Well, in the end I let go of the rod and my dad rescued me. But afterward, some other guy caught a ridiculously huge yellowtail amberjack."
Old Man: "Given how this story's going..."
Rakuro: "Yeah, the fish was a real glutton, apparently. There was a line coming out of its mouth, so they pulled on it and reeled in my dad's rod."
Old Man: "Gah-ha-ha-ha! The fishing rod got fished up!"
Rakuro: "Hahaha... and that's the story."
I have a vague memory of the old guy who reeled in the massive meter-long fish patting my head and saying, "Kid, you might grow up to catch something huge someday!" Well, old-timer, that little kid grew up and landed a whale on a single line in the digital world...! Also, my dad's fishing obsession has worsened to the point of catching marlin.
Old Man: "Hmm... I see, I see... First seabass fishing, a child reeled in by a yellowtail amberjack, a fishing rod getting fished up..."
Hurry up and get here, Saiga-saaaaan! I can't keep this fishing talk going any longer! My cover's about to blow! I mean, starting a half-assed conversation really was a bad move, wasn't it! Like I could just say, "Well, I've got nothing left to talk about..." at this point! I'm desperately patching up my smile mask as it starts crumbling, sending out a mental SOS, and then...
Old Man: "........."
Rakuro: "........."
From the shadow of the sliding door, peeking out with just the top half of her face, I lock eyes perfectly with Saiga-san.
Rei: "...!" (Tries to duck back behind the door.)
Rakuro: "......!!" (Flashes a high-speed blink to signal for rescue.)
Help! Requesting backup! I can't solo this! Maybe that wish got through, because Saiga-san timidly emerges from behind the sliding door.
Rei: "Um, Grandfather..."
Grandfather: "Oh, Rei. Is this a school friend of yours?"
Rei: "Y-Yes...! He's, um... from the same school... This is Hizutome-kun."
Rakuro: "Hey..."
Grandfather: "Hmm... Hizutome... I see."
What the hell keeps "making sense" to him? Just what about me is he looking at to say that? Man, times like this I really resent that "reality" doesn't have a strategy guide. A roaming boss with a first-timer kill setup, isn't this going a bit too far...?!
Grandfather: "Well then, I shall take my leave... Ah, yes."
Rakuro: "HAI, WHAT IS IT?!"
Grandfather: "Send my regards to Senji-kun...... would you?"
WHAT IN THE HELL HAS MY HONORED OLD MAN BEEN GETTING UP TO, PRAY TELL?!
This feels like getting stabbed the moment you turn a corner. Like some protagonist whose family-abandoning deadbeat dad was actually fighting a lonely battle to protect the world and his family, but collapsed before he could finish... nah. My dad's perfectly fine. Hell, just recently he got food poisoning from raw oysters and the very next day he went blowfish fishing with a totally straight face. What is he, a death-defying berserker?
Rei: "F-Family... c-c-close ties...?!"
Rakuro: "Saiga-san?"
Rei: "FAMILY TIES!?"
Rakuro: "Sorry, what?"
She still glitches out now and then, but I gotta say — as expected of a daughter of the Saiga house. This is the first time I've seen a high schooler in a kimono at home.
Rakuro: "The Saiga family's insane..."
Rei: "N-No, not at all...... Um, thank you for going out of your way today..."
Rakuro: "Seriously, don't worry about it. Anyway, here you go. I did clean it and everything, so I think it should work fine."
No, really. The business-use one's maintenance is a pain in its own way... The thing's so bulky it's a nightmare to move. My room's robot vacuum cleaner keeps bumping into it like it's pissed off.
Rei: "Th-Thank you so much... Sorry, I'll just go get mine...!"
Rakuro: "Ah, okay. I'll just wait here?"
Rei: "Yes! Please wait a moment!"
I see her off as she patters away, then sip my green tea. I've got a commoner's tongue so I can't really tell, but it's probably good stuff. Still, my dad has a connection to Saiga-grandpa... Small world. Or maybe the fated encounter RNG just hit a jackpot?
???: "........."
Rakuro: "........."
Wait. Calm down. This is a trap. One of those things where an instant-kill move flies out the moment you react. Reaction-type instant kills are exploitable if you know they're coming, but on a blind run, they're terrifying... which means I'm terrified right now.
???: "........."
Rakuro: "........."
What the hell, what is this? Is Saiga-san in on it too? Is the whole family trying to pull an elaborate prank on me? The silence just drags on as I face off wordlessly against a woman in a kimono who entered the waiting room perfectly naturally and sat down across from me. I'm dying to look away, but I've got the same bad feeling as when an instant-kill move is about to trigger. So I play it cool on the surface while wiping the sweat off my forehead with extremely stiff movements.
Woman: "...A school friend of Rei's, I hear."
She talked...!? I mean, obviously she'd want a conversation, but seriously? You've gotta be kidding me. A secret boss?
Rakuro: "Uh, yes. We're in different classes, so it's more like we share a common hobby, I guess."
Woman: "A common... that thing where you attach a machine to your head and sleep..."
Rakuro: "Full-dive VR, yes. That's the one."
The woman, whose features somewhat resemble Saiga-san, stares at me intently while radiating pressure from her entire body. I see. So this is how NPCs feel when they react to Lycagon's Contusion or a "curse."
Woman: "That... how exactly does it work?"
Rakuro: "How... ah, well... The brain runs on electrical signals, so by sending specific signals from the outside..."
Yeah.
Rakuro: "It's kind of like using machines to share everyone's dreams."
Woman: "I see..."
I'm pretty sure Psyger-100 is Saiga-san's older sister... Is this her? No, the way she talks and her whole vibe are totally different. Maybe there's another sister besides Psyger-100? I don't exactly memorize other people's sibling configurations. Hell, obviously I don't even know Psyger-100's real name!
Woman: "You are... let's see."
Rakuro: "Hizutome. Today, Saiga... uh, Rei-san's equipment was malfunctioning, so I'm here to lend her one I'm not using right now until the repair's done, I guess you could say..."
Woman: "———Something a man has used over and over again?"
The woman keeps smiling, but the temperature in the room absolutely plummeted below freezing. It definitely did.
Rakuro: "No, no, no, no. Obviously it had some grime, so I cleaned it up nicely."
The temperature returns to something a human can survive in. Ugh, I wanna go hooome...
Woman: "Is that so... Well, truth be told, I'm a little curious about this thing Rei and Momo are so absorbed in."
Momo? Come to think of it, Pencilgon mentioned a name like that... Wait, Saiga's Momo? Momo Saiga? Aren't these sisters picking their character names way too casually?
Woman: "———So. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"
Rakuro: "Fam—...... Go ahead."
Just ask your own family, is what I wanted to say, but I crushed that thought with a will harder than a Crystal Scorpion's carapace and barely managed a reply. What is this, the vibe where you beat the final boss, a cutscene plays, and then you get thrown straight into the secret boss fight without a break?
Help me, Saiga-saaaaaan! (Second time today.)