Chapter 380: Side 3: The Madness of the Bakumatsu Event — The Enemy of My Enemy Is Also My Enemy
[Short character count, so this is effectively one chapter update.]
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In a way, it may have been inevitable that the news reached Kyogoku's ears.
Kyogoku: "Festival Music has logged in...?"
???: "Ah, yeah! No doubt about it. There's no way just anyone's walking around with a Hannya mask and the high-rank rewards from the event equipped!"
Kyogoku: "I see. Thanks for that. Oh, and while we're at it—divine punishment."
???: "Should I just let this grudge go—!"
In this event, "Moonlit Extreme," any player who dies respawns as a "vengeful spirit" for the rest of the event. It makes sense, since it's set as the avatar of the dead. Players who haven't died — that is, the living — can see the dead, but can't interact with them. The dead can't interact with the living either.
So what happens? Players show up who cling to the player that killed them.
Ghosts (inaudible): "......!" Ghosts (inaudible): "......?" Ghosts (inaudible): "...! ......!!"
To put it simply: Kyogoku has gone around picking fights with literally everyone she's met, and now a mob of over a dozen ghosts is hanging around behind her. She just added one more. Since there's no sound, she can't tell what they're saying, and it's quiet at least, but...
Kyogoku: "Guys? Can you take the excitement over your out-of-body experience somewhere else?"
The sheer nuisance of their movements is the problem. If they were just chatting, that'd be one thing. But when a dozen-plus people behind her all start breakdancing at once — "Look, look! This body's so light I can breakdance!!" "Whoa!" "Let me try!" — even without sound, her focus gets shredded whether she likes it or not.
Tragically, the only form of communication left to either side is body language. The ghosts enthusiastically wave back at her—an entirely silent "Yeaaah!" expressed through body language—and Kyogoku sighs. Since there's nothing she can do about it, she resolves to just lead around a hundred of them in spirit, and looks up...
Restoration Activist: "I couldn't join last year's winter event! That 'Jifubuki' you've got — the third-place reward for winter event rankers... I'd love to take a shot at throwing it!!"
Sunraku: "Gh... some pain in the ass just had to pick a fight with me...!"
A rain of blades — no matter the weapon type — pours down onto the rooftops of the row houses, aimed at a single target. The fleeing Hannya mask weaves through feints, deflecting a falling cleaver that has anticipated his escape route. With almost acrobatic movements, he sprints across the roofs. Chasing him, the Restoration Activist in the cherry-blossom-pattern haori keeps hurling weapons with terrifying accuracy.
With the silently raucous ghosts at her back, Kyogoku's face twists into the deepest possible delight.
Kyogoku: "Ahh, finally... I finally get to meet you on this side, Sunrakuu!!"
Sunraku: "Gyeh!? You—Kyotimate! Damn, can this wait!?"
Kyogoku: "Nope~ With everything else thrown in... I'll be taking divine punishment."
.........
.........
Restoration Activist: "Come on down, Sunra—"
Sunraku: "Impromptu alliance!"
Restoration Activist: "Divine punishment for the opportunistic third wheel!!"
In the next instant, the two swordsmen — who should have been hunter and hunted until just moments ago — hurl their blades at Kyogoku as if they'd been allies from the very start.
Kyogoku: "Wha—...!?"
Sunraku: "Hahaha, idiot! In Bakumatsu, the opportunist looking for a third-party advantage is the first one to get targeted!"
Restoration Activist: "Well, that's that, but... an opening."
Sunraku: "Oi, quit it with the metal club! Quit it!!"
Restoration Activist: "That's 'Golden Demon' — the max-rank reward from the Black Ship Event — and 'Koukasasu,' the first-come reward! I see... even more reason I absolutely cannot let this slip by...!"
Sunraku: "Shut up, go home!"
???: "Is this the festival grounds!?"
Kyogoku: "Geh! 'Go-Kart'!!"
In Bakumatsu, the concept of alliances is shockingly fragile, yet can be built up in an instant. The more people there are, the faster the cycle of collusion and betrayal spins. Betraying each other at the exact same time five seconds after forming an alliance is nothing unusual.
This is the world of Bakumatsu. The only things you can trust are yourself, your own weapon... and your own skill in carrying out the divine punishment handed down from the heavens.
That's exactly why Kyogoku couldn't understand it.
Everyone Else: "Divine punishment!!!"
Kyogoku: "—Wh,"
Why—
Why is everyone targeting me...?
Well, it's only natural, isn't it? Every last samurai here, fully contaminated by Bakumatsu, wears the same grin.
Don't tell me—
Don't tell me you thought the dead... have no malice...?
The players who'd been content to just watch from behind Kyogoku all bared their teeth in a grin at once.
Sunraku: "Kyotimate... as a souvenir for the underworld, let me teach you one thing."
Kyogoku: "—!?"
A fundamental rule of this game. Namely: those with high scores naturally have a bigger point bounty on their heads when they're hunted.
Sunraku: "Hiding your score is a basic skill. A boss monster that barely pays out... or a duck carrying a leek over its shoulder. Which one are you gonna aim for?"
Concealing your score is a form of deterrence. Are you the provisional first place? Or do you have zero points? Can you fight in a battle royale while carrying the risk all on your own?
In an event, your title means nothing. Unlike normal times, events ask only what your final balance is. That means some players conserve their strength until the final stages, while others keep a secret kill card just for taking out those players at the very, very end.
Heads or tails? Even if you just flip a coin, the question is: who, when, where, how, and with what? At the very least, if Kyogoku was going to try to run ahead and break away, she should have bought off the players she defeated — at bare minimum.
In other words, the dead are walking, ever-present scoreboards — practically shouting, "I'm carrying a huge score!" to every direction. And Kyogoku never noticed: the ghosts hanging around her, already acting on other players' orders, had turned her into a scarecrow — a "high-value bonus target" with a score far beyond its real value.
???: "So with that... much obliged!!"
But the blade never reaches Kyogoku's body. As expected — or rather, as is only natural — everyone but Kyogoku, who had betrayed each other as if they'd planned it out, plunges into yet another clash for the umpteenth time.
???: "There they are! The title-holders!" ???: "Surround them! Surround them!" ???: "Divine punishment! Divine punishment!!"
More players, drawn in by the gathering of ghosts, coalesce to at least wipe out the high-threat players. A group lying in wait springs an ambush. The surrounded title-holders rampage as if their prey had walked right up to them...
Sunraku: "Oi, Kyotimate. We're running."
Kyogoku: "Huh? Ah, Sun—"
Sunraku: "Shh. They're all gonna scatter in under a minute anyway. We're getting the jump on that."
Sunraku, who'd crept over to Kyogoku hunched low, proposes their getaway. At the same time, he exchanges some odd hand signals with the ghosts. He points at his own sword, makes a circle with his thumb and index finger, forms numbers with his hands, points at the sun, then makes more numbers... and once some kind of conclusion seems to be reached through body language, the ghost players all give a thumbs-up and scatter in their own directions.
Kyogoku: "Wait, what? Huh?"
Sunraku: "...From the timing, I'm guessing this is your first event, right? I'll give you a little lecture. C'mon, over here."
Kyogoku: "Ah... yeah..."
After this, Kyogoku would step into an even deeper abyss of Bakumatsu... but that's a story for another time.
Tsujigiri Capriccio: Online Summer Event — "Moonlit Extreme"