Chapter 3.3

Chapter 3

Part 3

Translation: Yamaking

Originally, the plan was to stay overnight, but that was cut short in favor of us heading home.

I thought it would’ve been fine to stay overnight as well, but Sensei wouldn’t permit it.

Once the hotel caught wind of what happened, they apologized so much that it was enough to even make me feel guilty.

And when I got home, I spent the night without sleep until it was finally the morning after.

For some reason, I was called to show up at school to explain what had happened.

“It’s pretty strange to be told to go to school for getting hacked don’t you think?”

“Essentially, I don’t think it’s that strange. We were at a school mandated camp while we met with an incident involving a crime after all.“

“I get the logic behind but…”

Thanks to Master helping explain the situation as our club president, it didn’t turn into that big of a deal.

‘The theft occurred in-game, so logic would dictate that retrieval of the stolen articles should also occur there’ is what Master explain to the elderly teachers. Once she had finished, they seemed convinced about the explanation and we were only told not to do anything dangerous before they dismissed us.

If you ask me, even I think that calling it a crime is exaggerating it. I’m just glad it got settled without much trouble.

However, the issue of whether or not it angers me is another story.

“…You know, Master—”

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m so pissed off that I can’t believe I’m really myself right now.”

“Your precious items got taken away, and you also got the character that you’ve been attached to for so long, suddenly deleted. Isn’t it completely normal to feel that way right now, Rusian?”

That’s true, but that’s not it.

“How do I put this? It’s hard to explain… Getting my items stolen… Having my character deleted… That makes me angry, sure. But it’s more than that. You see, the thing that pisses me off the most is that that guy posed as ‘Rusian’ while talking to Ako.”

“…I see.”

Master silently nodded.

“I shudder to think that that guy could have posed as ‘Rusian’, berated everyone and then caused everyone to hate me. I also hate that for a brief moment, he took Ako away from me. If Ako hadn’t recognized that he was a fake, just thinking what could have happened is enough to make me—”

“It’s a situation that always has a risk of occurring.”

Master closed her eyes and continued on with an unpleasant look on her face.

“Not being able to determine the identity of who you’re talking to is a problem that is always present in online interaction. Websites’ homepages getting compromised and identity theft are incidents that have been happening ever since a long time ago. It’s always a cause for concern if you’re online. As long as someone can steal your account, it’s easy enough to act under the guise of someone else. This is true, even more so, for net games.”

“Identity theft huh…”

I’ve always thought games and reality are separate things…

…That they completely different, and that I shouldn’t mind the real world in-game.

It’s precisely because of that, that my relationships with people online are so easily taken away from me. It’s really a huge shock.

“I didn’t know it was this fragile, or rather, this dangerous… Who knew that our ties to each other were such an unstable thing?”

“I don’t believe it’s that bad of a thing.”

Master seemed to laughing to herself as she slowly opened her eyes and said that.

“Ako was able to see through words alone that Rusian was a different person. Do you really believe that is a simple feat? Think about it. How deep of a relationship do you have where someone else’s identity can be determined from that tiny bit of communication? I believe that alone is enough proof of how solid your bonds are.”

“Bonds… Yeah, I guess you’re right. ”

“You see?”

We’re all connected with one another. Me and Ako, me and everyone… We all share the same bond.

It’s a bond that I am proud of showing to anyone.

Now that I think of it this way— It just makes more sense that I’d get mad about what I mentioned before.

“Somehow, this just makes me want to pay that bastard back even more.”

“I share the same sentiment. Has there been any reply from the admins yet?”

“I think it should arrive soon since they’re doing whatever they can. I’ll check when I get home.”

We’ll start from there.

If the admins can properly identify that culprit and deal with them, then that would be fine.

However—

“If the admins somehow manage to let that guy get away with this…”

“Then we, the Modern Electronics Communication Game Club, will definitely not let him escape.”

Master’s voice, which was full of confidence and determination, reassured me.

“…Sorry, and thanks.”

“It’s my job as the Guild Master after all. Leave it to me.”

‘Fufufu’, the Master of the guild Alley Cats let out an evil laughter as she took on this huge task.

I check my mail as soon as I got home and sure enough, the email from ‘Legendary Age Management Team’ was there.

I hurriedly logged in to LA and contacted everyone.

Rusian (temp): Hey, the admins just sent me an email.

Schwein: So it finally arrived huh… And actually, Rusian, what’s with that naming sense? Even I won’t be able to laugh at ‘Rus☆ian’ anymore with you having a name like that!

Oh shut up. The easier it is to understand, the better right?

Since I’ve decided not to logged in to the hacked account, I went and made another one.

Let’s see, the email reads…

This is the Legendary Age Management Team.

Dear customer,

Regarding the request that you have sent earlier, please find your answer below.

For this inquiry, we have carefully examined our logs regarding the current report. As such, we have confirmed that multiple IP addresses were found to be connecting at the time specified, and we have also confirmed that multiple consecutive password resets were made.

Under normal circumstances, we would deal with incidents like this by asking the customer to check if their PC is infected with any kind of virus or malware to see if that is indeed the cause. For this occasion however, the illegal access has been determined to have occurred while the customer was staying at LA’s collaboration hotel. For the management team, this is a huge cause of concern for us.

We would also like to inform you that we have ordered the decommissioning of the reported PC and that we will get back to you once we have confirmed the status on this action.

We sincerely apologize for the trouble—

Rusian (temp): I didn’t expect such a proper reply.

I thought they would just respond to me with the usual template, but it feels like they’re properly responding to my report.

Apricot: They also have to consider these things since this is a collaboration. You can’t just expect a makeshift reply here now, can you?

Rusian (temp): Does that mean I can expect something out of this?

‘They unexpectedly might be able to do something about this’, is the faint hope that I had.

Even though she said ‘I’ll be logged on the whole summer!’, Ako is currently not logged in.

I’m hoping that the issue would somehow improve, for her sake.

—Just then, a chat message appeared at the bottom of my screen.

†Black Magician†: Rusian, I’ve discovered some bad news so I thought of reaching out to you.

It was from the very dependable †Black Magician†.

Rusian (temp): Yes, what is it?

Can the situation even get any worse than it currently is?

Whatever, bring it on.

†Black Magician†: Would you take a look at this URL?

Rusian (temp): Let’s see…

When I opened the site, I came across a blog the likes of which you could see just about anywhere.

But it’s title was…

LON’s LA Scam Blog

Rusian (temp): What’s with that title? Is he messing around?

†Black Magician†: He’s not joking around one bit. It’s the blog of a famous swindler who runs scams on all sorts of games.

Famous swindler…?

Eh, then that means… it can’t be…

I had a bad feeling creeping up on me as I looked around the articles posted. What I then found was a familiar looking screenshot attached to a post.

I thought of trying an offline method to scam someone this time around.

I even went so far as going to the collab hotel. There, I went to look for a PC that seems to be a bit out of the way, and I opened a certain URL and left it open there. I didn’t install any malware or spyware mind you. I just left open a specific page on a publicly available PC. I didn’t do a single evil deed. It’s the person’s fault for using it.

I know this all too well since I was the one who fell for it. It was that PC.

What was that you bastard? You didn’t do a single evil deed you say?

And then Mr. Retard here easily falls for the trap and got his account hacked.

And what do you know? He was just about to start cybering with his wife! lol

There was a screenshot of Ako’s room in the hotel posted right there.

But, I got exposed right away. lol

There you could see Ako, who was full of suspicion.

Then there’s also a screenshot of the part where she got mad and yelled out ‘Rusian wouldn’t say such things’.

I figured I should just hurry and get his items so I fled.

The account got locked pretty quick so I didn’t profit much from it. But, being a hero of justice that brings these fools to stop with their slutty acts is just so not me.

Next time, I’ll make sure I properly teach these unsecured collaboration events a thing or two about security.

Rusian (temp): …What the heck is this.

†Black Magician†: It’s exactly as you can see.

That guy wrote everything here. Starting from how that faker got into my account and everything else that happened afterwards… Making it all look like some kind of joke…

And what do you mean hero of justice?

You’re really a huge fucking bastard aren’t you?

Rusian (temp): Come to think of it, the name of the person who was selling my items was…

†Black Magician†: Lon. That’s the name of that merchant if I recall correctly.

He’s not even trying to hide it!

Just how much of a showoff swindler are you?!

†Black Magician†: I’ve sent the URL of this site to the admins. You should probably send it in your report as well.

Rusian (temp): Thank you very much.

I would have been unaware of all of this if you hadn’t told me. Darn it.

I reported this blog to the admins using the sub account I was using right now.

I don’t think anything is going to happen just because I reported it but—

Schwein: What’s the matter, Rusian?

Rusian (temp): Uhh… Could you two take a look at this for a sec?

I sent the URL to the two of them.

After a short while, Schwein yelled out.

Schwein: The heck is this?

Rusian (temp): It’s exactly as it says.

Schwein: Don’t mess with me… Don’t mess with me you ＊＊＊＊＊＊＊ bastard! I’ll ＊＊＊＊＊＊＊ pulverize you you ＊＊＊＊＊＊＊ piece of ＊＊＊＊! I’m seriously going to ＊＊＊＊＊＊＊ kill you!

Rusian (temp): Hey now, the filter…

I’m glad that you’re that mad about it, but your message is just plain unreadable.

Apricot: …As your Guild Master, I have to say that engaging in slutty acts is…

Rusian (temp): We didn’t do such a thing!

That’s the one you’re focusing on?!

Apricot: Of course, that was a joke. I got a bit too carried away you see.

Please be serious about this, I’m begging you.

Anyway, the only thing I can do now is look around the market.

Though I don’t really have the money to buy stuff back… What should I do?

Since it’s like this, I might as well just search every nook and cranny of that blog—

GM01 Nyack: Good day.

—Oh?

Rusian (temp): Huh?

Apricot: What is it this time?

Rusian (temp): It looked like there was some kind of message on top of my screen…

The message felt very imposing being displayed up there, all in yellow font.

Is this, what I think it is?

Rusian (temp): GM-san?

GM01 Nyack: Yes, this is GM01 Nyack.

I don’t really get it, but this seems to be Nyack-san.

‘And so what now?’, as I was thinking that, in the next moment—

Schwein: S, something just appeared!

A character just suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

Incredible… They just completely defied all the rules of the game. Is this what a GM is like?

But suddenly having a GM appear right now… Err, I wonder what’s up?

GM01 Nyack: With regards to the recent account hacking incident, the management has confirmed that a violation has indeed occurred. In line with this, we have information regarding the reported player who, as you have mentioned, might have been involved with this incident.

Rusian (temp): Ah, yes.

So it’s about that guy who was selling Ako’s staff and my gear!

That’s right! The guy that hacked into my account was that scumbag Lon!

So what about him? A permaban?

If you tell me that he’s only going to get a temp ban then I’m going to be pissed.

GM01 Nyack: We could not confirm that the reported player was the one who performed the illegal access.

Rusian (temp): …What?

Could not confirm… you say?

Apricot: What does that mean, specifically?

GM01 Nyack: I cannot disclose the details. I was only told to inform you that we were unable to accept your player report.

That sounds just like what a government employee would say!

I get it! I understand that you can’t disclose information but!

Rusian (temp): So I’m guessing the IP of the one selling the items and the IP of the one who logged into the account are different, right?

GM01 Nyack: I cannot respond to that.

As he said that, a sorrowful emote appeared above Nyack-san’s head.

Ah, I kind of get it now. That’s probably what happened.

Schwein: When it comes to these kinds of people, they would never do something like that from the confines of their own house.

Apricot: What about the tracing of the items through the server’s logs?

GM01 Nyack: There are some technical issues regarding that so this is quite the quandary.

Rusian (temp): Damn it…

He’s got all his bases covered huh.

Even though we all know this guy did it, but since there’s no evidence, we can’t do anything about it.

GM01 Nyack: I really understand your resentment over this matter.

GM01 Nyack: For this illegal access incident, it occurred during an event where the player could only use the PCs located in the hotel to participate, so it has escalated into a large issue.

GM01 Nyack: We’re also looking into the matter about the blog.

GM01 Nyack: Even now, I would like to help you to the best of our abilities, but I must apologize for there are also limits to what I can do.

Rusian (temp): Yeah…

Unexpectedly, this GM-san really seems to understand where we’re coming from.

I thought all the GMs were just people that pretend to be an actual player showing off their high upgraded gear or those other ones that hand out duped items to their friends.

But even if GM-san is upright about this, there’s no evidence to pin on the guy.

The way he traced the IP being used like that feels very much like the police, but everything that comes after the report is up to the discretion of the management. With regards to the current situation, I don’t think he’s lying to me about anything at all.

Apricot: At this rate, they’ll just do RMT to turn it all into real money and that’ll be the end of it.

Master loathed.

Rusian (temp): …RMT?

Apricot: Real Money Trade. It’s the act of selling ingame currency for real money but—, Rusian, did you not know this?

No, that’s not what I meant.

True, it feels like I recall there was something like RMT written on that fucking bastard’s blog.

Well, that’s dirty money after all. Of course he would try to get it exchange right away.

That means…

Rusian (temp): It’s not over yet.

I asked the GM-san, who was still here, something again.

Rusian (temp): Let’s say, for example… If we can get something regarding this, would the management finally do something?

GM01 Nyack: …If we can get more information, then our courses of action would also increase.

Alright! That’s good enough!

All we need is to get some right? Dirt on this guy that is!

Rusian (temp): I understand. I’ll contact you again.

GM01 Nyack: Well then, please excuse me.

Just like when he arrived, Nyack-san suddenly vanished without a trace.

I could sense this feeling from Nyack-san that he wanted to do something about the guy too. What’s more, there’s no more traces of that feeling of resignation we had earlier.

This simply means, there’s no other option but to go forward. For now, let’s do what we can.

Rusian (temp): I’ve thought up of a plan so help me out here. From here on out, we’re going to be making a blog too.

Schwein: Blog? A Scam Victim’s Blog?

No, no you got it wrong. Heck, even if I made that, nothing’s going to come out of it.

Rusian (temp): You got it wrong. We’re making a Scam Blog. One good enough that it could give that scumbag Lon’s blog a run for his money.

Apricot: What are you going to do once you’ve created that?

Rusian (temp): We’re going to send him that URL. With a guy as curious as he is, he won’t be able to resist looking into a blog that’s apparently the same as his. If we do that, then we’ll figure out the IP that the culprit’s been using right?

If we make our own blog, then we can verify the IP addresses of the people who visit the site.

If we make a blog that’s completely unknown to other people, then we be able to collect only his IP address.

Apricot: But that won’t prove anything, will it?

Of course, just getting his IP and then reporting it isn’t going to mean anything.

We have to go deeper.

Rusian (temp): Making a blog is only the beginning. The important part comes after that.

Let him have a taste of his own medicine.

If it’s a game of bamboozling he wants, then two can play at that game.

Rusian (temp): I’m going to teach him a lesson. Please, lend me your help.

Schwein: Alright, count me in.

Apricot: You don’t have to tell me twice. Leave this to me.

Thanks everyone.

As for Nekohime-san— I mean, Sensei… I really don’t want to drag her in this.

Rusian (temp): Alright. From this moment on, the guild Alley Cats will be working on something very sinister!

Making the blog took half a day but I have to say, this looks pretty sick in my opinion. A lot of people helped pitch in by letting me take screenshots of them getting scammed. Included in that list is the famous †Black Magician†-san, where I uploaded a video of me scamming off a high priced item off of him. There’s also the article about collecting membership fees off the members of the guild Nekohime’s Elite Guard, which has been making a name for themselves recently. Those are the kinds of stories we put in there so I think this is good enough.

Our only difference from that bastard’s blog is, ours is a scam blog made to scam scammers. It’s not like we actually scammed those people.

Furthermore, I’m currently working together with the other members as we desperately work on finishing the groundwork for this farce.

I kept typing away at the keyboard in my room as we coordinated via LA.

Schwein: For now, I finished working on the logs for the period from a year ago up to 3 months ago.

Rusian (temp): Ty. I’ve just finished with the most recent logs as well. All that’s left is the design.

Apricot: I’ll finish working on that one. I’ve just finished with the logs ranging from 3 years ago to a year prior.

Rusian (temp): That’s fast!

Wanting to get the blog up as soon as possible, we all worked through the night but Master is the only one who was able to work this fast. Seriously, this person really excels at the strangest things.

Though unfortunately, the application of her talents is often wasted on nonsensical things.

“Alright, things are looking good. All that’s left is to apply Master’s design and…”

With a groan, I straightened my back.

I’ve been concentrating on this a whole lot more on this compared to the tests we had before so I when I did that, I could hear the sound of my bones cracking.

Ah—, that hurts. In addition, I feel unbelievably sleepy. But there’s no time to rest.

It’s really a shame, but I have to get back to——’Pinpo—n’— working… soon…?

‘What’s this?’, as I was thinking that, the sound in my ears began to ring more clearly and I could hear the chime of doorbell ringing again. This familiar sound is our doorbell. A visitor right at this time? What a bother.

Rusian (temp): It looks like someone’s here so I’m going to go check it out.

Apricot: Oh my, a visitor at this time of day?

Rusian (temp): Stop saying that like it’s a death flag.

TL note: The way Master says it here is in form of the phrase that usually as a joke for a death flag. Since I don’t think there’s any real equivalent for it in English, I just translated it as it (https://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/%E8%AA%B0%E3%81%8B%E6%9D%A5%E3%81%9F%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%A0)

It’s noon you know? It’s a perfectly normal time for a visitor to drop by.

TL note: Sorry, I just had to put this here. Now that’s a death flag.

While we were chatting around like that, the sound of the doorbell going ‘Pinpo—n, pinpo—n’ continued on.

“Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses, I’m coming.”

I moved away from my computer desk and left my room. I then went down from the second floor and into the entranceway.

Ah that reminds me, no one told me that anyone was coming over… Well, I tried to think about it a little but since I stayed up all night, that’s that. I’m so sleepy that I don’t even care anymore.

“Yeeeeah, what do you n—”

As I sluggishly opened the door at the entranceway, I shielded my eyes from the light from in from the outside like a vampire. Uhh, that’s too bright.

Standing right there was…

“Ehehe… I dropped by.”

Ako stood right there with a coy smile across her face.

—That being the case, I slammed the door shut right away.

“E, ehhhhhhhh!?”

As I heard the faint sound of Ako’s voice ringing through, without really knowing why, I locked the door.

“Well then, let’s get back to work shall we?”

I turned on my heels so I could go back to my room.

Right when I did that, loud sounds that went ‘Don Don Don Gasha Gasha Gasha Pin Pon Pin Pon Pin Pon!’ could be heard.

“Rusian—!”

Uwah, she’s banging on the door! Ako’s screaming! Scary! What are you, some kind of debt collector?! I understand, I understand! I’m opening to door right away!

I hurriedly opened the door and Ako, who was on the verge of tears, flew in clinging on to me.

“Why did you close the dooooooooooor?!”

“It’s like my body just did it on reflex.”

Sure, I may have been at fault there, but so were your choice of words. ‘Just what are you, the ghost of Manic Monday?’, thinking that, it makes sense for me to close the door right?

TL note: The literal phrase used here is Monday Youkai. In Japan, it’s the ghost that chases you, never seeming to go away unless you chant the words ‘Give me work to do’. That’s what I got from this link in Yahoo (https://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/araraixp2000/43912717.html)

Rather, this is no time for jokes. There’s a mountain load of work to be done.

“Err… For starters, mind if I ask why you know where I live?”

In response to my question, Ako answered without the least bit of malice in her words.

“I took a peek while we were making all those accounts for the various net games we played and memorized it.”

“What you just did is constitutes you as a stalker you know!?”

“Since you’d probably tell me if I ask, I thought sneaking a peek would just be the same thing—”

“If that’s what you think then just ask properly!”

There’s just something wrong with that way of thinking Ako!

Kuh, if I knew this was going to happen, I should’ve just registered my address as somewhere around the National Diet Building.

It’s a direct violation of the rules, and it’s going to be a problem when something actually happens so I won’t really do it.

“Come to think of it, Rusian somehow knew where I lived too.”

“It’s okay if it’s me.”

“Isn’t that unfair—!”

In my case, Ako made me enter her address a bunch of times after all. Unlike her, I didn’t sneak a peak and memorized it. In no way are we a couple that completely resembles each other.

“Haa… Well, let’s continue this chat inside. Come on in.”

“Okay. I’m home—”

Ako just barged right in without any reservation. Actually, it feels like she’s acting as if she just got back in her own home.

“What do you think is this, your house?”

“My husband’s house is also my house, you know?”

“…Such an old-fashioned wife—”

Even though you say it as if it’s an obvious thing like that, I don’t think a lot of people share the same sentiment this day and age.

“Well then…”

After sitting down to properly take off her shoes in the entranceway, Ako’s eyes looked around in wonder as she said,

“Where is my— Rusian’s room?”

“Don’t you go in there.”

“I got shot down right away!?”

Of course. As if I’d let a girl come into my room with me doing any preparation for it.

It’s still unimplemented you see. It’s the same as those times when even though there’s clearly a continuation to that corner in the map, there’s an invisible wall blocking entrance to there. If you somehow get inside, you’re going to get banned.

What’s more, Ako, you almost said ‘my room’ didn’t you? That is just plain scary.

“Anyway, my room’s in quite a mess right now so let’s just go to the living room.”

“Should I clean it up for you?”

Ako rolled up her sleeves as she said that.

“So basically, you’re telling me to die right?”

“I, I didn’t say that!”

You did say it. What you just said is basically the same thing.

Just what kind of torture are you trying to suggest by having another person clean up my room anyway? There’s a lot of things lying around in a boy’s room that they would never want a girl to see.

“It’s alright. No matter what you may be trying to desperately hide under your bed, as your wife, I’m willing to accept it all! I won’t do something like throw away your train models!”

“What would you do if there were albums of gals and idols in there?”

“I’ll purge them.”

“Accept them!”

I knew that was a big fat lie!

Well, it’s not like I really have those albums, but you’re scaring me so let’s just stay in the living room.

“Have a seat. I’ll go check if we have something to drink.”

“Okay.”

Ako sat herself down on the sofa. Even though it’s a familiar place with a person very familiar to me, somehow, it just feels out of place.

“Uhm, where are your parents?”

“My mother just went out and my old man’s at work.”

And my little sister’s out somewhere too. It’s summer after all. And it’s noon on a weekday.

But I’m glad my mother isn’t home. For someone like me, who barely brings any friends over, suddenly having a girl come over… Just how overjoyed would she be or otherwise in reaction to that? I don’t really know.

“Oh, we have some black tea bags here. Is that fine?”

“Yu—p.”

I just kind of put the tea pack in there and walked back. When I did, Ako was waiting with a complex expression on her face.

“I don’t know if I should be depressed or relieved that it’s just the two of us here together… I was thinking I wanted to introduce myself to your parents soon.”

“Just what do you plan on telling them?”

“Please let your son take care of me from now on!”

“I don’t get it at all!”

I don’t know if its her Japanese that’s weird or the contents of what she just said… Heck, everything about it was strange!

I’ve been retorting to every single thing she’s been saying since earlier that I’m quite out of breath.

“Ah—, tiring me out like this even though I haven’t gotten any sleep at all.”

“Ooh you’re right, Rusian has those terrible looking bags under your eyes…”

“I’m reeeally sleepy—, I essentially haven’t slept since yesterday so aaaa—m kii—nd of sleepy—”

“You look kind of like an evil version of Rusian—”

Essentially or not, I really haven’t slept at all though.

“Though even if I say that, I’m pretty stubborn so I’m fine. There’s still the second phase that we’re schedule to go through with.”

“You’re going to die you know—!”

“If it means killing that bastard then I’m satisfied with that…”

As I looked off into distance, Ako frantically shook her head.

“You can’t—! I don’t want to be a widow at this age—!”

You’re still saying things like that? The game and reality are different, so you won’t become a widow or anything right?

In the first place you— no, wait.

I thought about something just now.

“Hey Ako, we’re not married anymore, are we?”

“Eeh?”

Ako looked at me, puzzled, as she said that.

“I mean, see, ‘Rusian’ was deleted. My name even disappeared from your ring.”

It’s a bit late to say this now, but with ‘Rusian’ deleted, the words ‘Engagement’ also disappeared from her ring, and Ako’s married status has also been changed. If you just take our current status in the game, me and Ako are not married or anything at all.

“——”

Ako had a blank look on her face as she froze up like that with her mouth open. After that, she stood up with vigor.

“Y, you mean we’re divorced—!?”

“I wouldn’t call it divorce, more like, the marriage just completely vanished.”

It’s as if the fact that me and Ako were married just suddenly disappeared.

“Rather, didn’t you notice that?”

She seemed to pretty shocked that time we found out ‘Rusian’ got deleted.

“I was so shocked that ‘Rusian’ was not there anymore that I… I didn’t think it would mean we were divorced…”

A short while after my former wife was completely dumbfounded, she suddenly began strongly banging on the table.

“H, how could that fake Rusian do this to me! Who knew he was such a villain?!”

“It’s a bit late to start getting angry now! Why do you think I’ve been pissed off so much that I’ve been doing all this!?”

“I just thought it was kind of normal for you to get mad since you got your character deleted and your items taken…”

“Well, I’m also mad about that but…”

There’s more to it than that as to why I’m so pissed. Like how he made you cry, or how sad he made you feel, or how I— well, I’m not going to say that.

“Then… What’s me and Rusian’s relationship right now…?”

“…Friends?”

“N, no way…”

As I responded to her with a bit of resentment behind my words saying ‘You rejected my confession after all’, Ako seemed to gradually lose all color from her face.

It’s indiscreet, but seeing her that shocked from such a simple statement made me a bit happy.

“Uhm… Since we’re not married anymore, is this kind of thing no longer welcome?”

“Oh?”

As Ako nervously said that, she brought out something out from the bag she had. Inside was a bento box. It’s the same as the ones I got from her at school.

“I don’t have a single clue as to what exactly it is you’re up to, but you seemed to be working really hard, so I thought I’d make you something…”

“Uwah, seriously? This is a huge help! Thanks!”

More than anything, knowing that Ako is watching over me really cheers me up. I understand now what it is I’m truly working hard for. Call me simple-minded, but this makes me feel fully pumped to see through this to the end.

“Thanks to you, I feel really motivated right now. I may not be able to bring everything back to how it was, but I’ll perfectly set back things right! As least, that’s what I’m planning so we can at least look back at this as a fond memory.”

“Are you doing that, for me?”

Ako said that as looked a bit uneasy.

‘I’m doing this only for you’, well, I guess that’s not completely the case.

“Hmm, if I had to say, it’s for the two of us, I guess.”

“That really makes me happy but… Please don’t overdo it okay? Rusian, having you stay well is the most important thing, after all.”

Ako said that as she anxiously looked at me.

Those were the words of a person who supports the person most important to them, but also watches out for them, while staying close to their side.

I, incredible. She’s just normally worried about me. I can really feel something like true affection behind those words.

“…Ako, of all the things you’ve ever said, that was the most wife-like.”

“Even though I’m not your wife anymore now?!”

‘Why!?’, Ako yelled out in surprised. I proceeded to gently pat her on the end while she was like that.

Even though her background of being my wife was taken away, I guess you really are just my wife after all.

“Alright, I’ll do my best! Once I’m done eating I’ll go back to work!”

“Okay. Please finish this one with an epic win, Rusian.”

Ako said that in great mood, feeling happy with me placing my hand on her head but—

“—Weeell, that’s look to be a bit impossible.”

“…? Huh?”

“Ah no, it’s nothing. Ah, that’s right, Ako. I feel bad for saying this since you went through all that trouble to make this for me and all, but could you leave before my parents arrive?”

“Uuuu… I can’t really complain since we’re not married anymore—!”

Ako’s innermost feelings of frustration overflowed.

After that, all our preparations took the whole day to finish, but I feel that the reason I was able to see it through the end was all thanks to Ako.

All our efforts paid off. Everything is going as planned.

But I’m sorry, Ako. I can’t really be proud of what I’ve done.

After all, everything we’ve prepared for is to something diabolical.