CHAPTER 23
The Melancholy of Karen
Saturday, August 29th, 2026.
Mai Kirishima was on her way to work.
She left her apartment at eight thirty in the morning and enjoyed a drive flanked by greenery and watched from above by blue skies.
Her job as a nature guide did not have “weekends.” That was especially true during summer vacation.
Of course, here on the great northern island of Hokkaido, the short summer holiday had already ended. But many on the main island of Japan still had time off and visited Hokkaido.
Mai was a twenty-four-year-old Japanese woman in real life and looked nothing at all like Shirley, her GGO avatar.
For one thing, she was short: about five foot one. Her GGO character was taller than the average Japanese height, but that was not a surprise at all. Karen and Miyu were exceptions to the rule.
Unsurprisingly, her hair was black and long enough to drape down her shoulders. It was currently tied into a ponytail. Her facial features resembled Shirley’s. They gave her an air that did not mesh with cute clothes. Depending on how complimentary you wanted to be, she was either bold or feral.
For clothes, she wore a famous brand of outdoor jeans and a red flannel shirt under a bright-orange vest with plenty of pockets. On her head rested a waterproof nylon baseball cap.
Mai always wore the same thing when working as a summer nature guide; it was practically a uniform for her. The vest was worn out and starting to fray, so she’d been considering purchasing a new one.
Three days had passed since the fourth Squad Jam.
Shirley had gone through quite an adventure that day, but in the end, she had failed to take down Pitohui.
That was frustrating all on its own, but after reflecting upon her battle, she felt that she had enjoyed a fair amount of action and killed a satisfactory number of enemies over those three hours.
She’d had fun. That was nothing to be upset about.
Mai remembered what Clarence had said during the game: “Don’t worry so much, Shirley! You gotta take it easy and enjoy your life… Your gaming life, I mean!”
Then, because she had her hands on the wheel, she recalled all the crazy driving she’d done in the Humvee and chuckled. “Hee-hee!”
She took the next curve with more confidence than she would have three days ago. Still within the realm of safe driving, of course.
Smiling serenely, she said to herself, “I’ll still have plenty of chances to kill her.”
Thankfully, there were no police officers around to hear her.
Mai hadn’t spoken a word to Clarence since then.
When she returned from SJ4, the other girl had already logged out. So the next time she saw her in GGO, she had something to say. “We can meet in person, if you want.”
When August ended, Mai would get a late summer vacation of her own. She was willing to pay a visit to Clarence, no matter where in Japan she lived—even if it was the distant islands of Okinawa—and do a little sightseeing there as well.
Mai wanted to tell her, “I’m taking it easy and enjoying the game.”
As she pondered the idea, Mai arrived at her workplace for the day, a local farm open to tourists. It was time to clock in.
The time wasn’t quite nine o’clock yet. She parked her car and went to say hello at the office.
Today, her job was to help get a visitor from Tokyo onto a horse, then lead the way on horseback as they enjoyed a gentle walk through the great outdoors.
She got tasks like this frequently during the summer holiday, although the patrons were usually entire families, so this was a bit different.
A married couple ran the farm. The wife was in her forties. She explained the visitor’s situation to Mai.
Today’s guest, arriving around ten o’clock, was a girl from Tokyo in her third year of middle school, although she was not currently attending. She’d never been comfortable in classes, and by fourth grade, she was unable to go anymore. Since then, she’d been homeschooled. Worried that she would withdraw from her social life, her parents had convinced her to come to the farm.
Therefore, the woman explained that Mai would have to be very careful with how she acted around the girl to ensure her sensitive feelings weren’t hurt. It sounded difficult.
Mai had never refused to go to school. To her, it was a great place where she was able to see the friends and teachers she liked every day. She couldn’t relate at all.
Perhaps that showed on Mai’s face, as the woman reassured her, “You should be fine just being yourself. You’re very gentle, Mai.”
“Huh? I am?”
“Of course. Haven’t I said that before? Especially lately. All the rough edges have been sanded off. Why is that? Is it because of that Gun Gale Online–something game everyone plays? Are you nice in the game, too?”
Because she didn’t play, the woman did not know that in GGO, Shirley was more of a hellish demon. She shot and killed people and ran over them with big cars.
“Um, I don’t know…,” Mai replied, trying not to answer. She wondered if feeling satisfied from the game made her more relaxed in real life. “Oh, and by the way, you got all the words of the title right.”
By ten o’clock, Mai had prepared the horses and supplies, and a rental car drove up carrying a woman and a girl about Mai’s height.
The girl’s black hair ran down to the center of her back, her skin was pale to a medically troubling degree, and she had gaunt and unhealthy features—er, scratch that. She was “as cute as a doll,” as they say. She wore a flower-pattern dress.
While the woman running the farm greeted the two warmly, Mai watched the child. Their eyes met, and the girl looked away promptly.
Hmmm, can we even hold a conversation? It’s kind of hard to do this if she doesn’t say a word…
Still, work was work. As always, Mai took the visitors to the office first.
To Mai’s surprise, the fifteen-year-old girl, named Ai Onoda, had no trouble speaking.
While Mai was taking the reins in helping her change into riding overalls and practice getting on the horse, the girl only said three words: yes, no, and okay.
However, once they got out into the pasture, she commented on things just like every other kid who came to the ranch.
“It’s really beautiful out here.”
“This is my first time riding on a horse. I was scared at first, but it’s pretty fun.”
“I’m happy I got this chance. I always wanted to try it.”
Ai spoke very carefully and politely. The overall impression Mai got was that she was a smart young lady who had been raised well.
She heeded all the directions about riding a horse and kept to them strictly. If she was this good her first time riding, she could develop into a master rider if given the chance—even better than Mai, perhaps.
They wore riding helmets in case of a fall, as well as airbag vests that would deploy to protect them. But the horses were calm and slow enough that it wasn’t likely to happen.
“Good. Very good,” Mai murmured, deciding to pick up the pace a little.
Their horses were an indigenous Hokkaido breed known as Dosanko. They were smaller and squatter than the famous Thoroughbred and alternated opposite front and rear legs at the same time, leading to a very stable walk.
The two horses and their escort, the office’s large mutt, George, passed through the pasture’s gentle hills, taking a narrow trail through the woods and down across the valley.
“This really is fun. I’m glad I came to Hokkaido,” said Ai, her pale face smiling.
“I’m glad to hear it! It always makes my day when a visitor says that.” Mai beamed back.
After the forest, they proceeded through fallow farmland and flat plains. George led the way, the two horses following side by side.
Ai began to talk about herself unprompted. “I don’t go to school because I hate it. But everything else is fun. I think you should give everything a try. Except for school.”
If she had mentioned that she hated school twice within seconds, it must run pretty deep. Mai pushed her own fond memories out of her mind and replied, “Well, I suppose it might be irresponsible of me to say ‘Then you don’t have to go there,’ so I won’t. What other places do you like?”
Ai was right beside her at this point, offering a clear view of her face as she said, “Outside of the time that I have to study, I like listening to music, cooking for myself and my family, reading books on the Internet, and watching movies. I also play full-dive VR games. I like all of those things.”
“Ohhh,” murmured Mai. She thought about mentioning that she played full-dive games, too, but decided to keep quiet about that.
If she mentioned what game she played, the girl would probably ask what her avatar’s name was. And she did not want anyone but her friends to know about the vicious infamy of Shirley.
“I won’t say what game it is I usually play,” said Ai, who was very smart to keep that private, “but I love how I can be a different person in the game. I’m not a weak and cowardly girl; I’m a tough, cool lady.”
“Yeah, yeah, I—”
Mai started to say I get that, but she changed her mind and finished, “I think that’s interesting.”
Yikes, that was close, Mai thought, looking up. You don’t see sky this blue in GGO.
“The thing I’ve learned most from playing games…,” Ai continued. She clearly wanted to talk, so Mai let her go. If the girl wanted to speak, then that reduced the amount of thinking Mai had to do.
“…is that everyone is dirty. Including me.”
“Pardon?”
“Um, let me try to explain. In an online game, all kinds of people play characters in the game world, but since it’s not real life, you can do anything. You can act good, or you can act dirty.”
“That’s true. That makes sense. And?” Mai asked, getting sucked into the conversation despite herself.
“Well, I assume you wouldn’t know this, but in a full-dive game, you can’t have an avatar of the opposite sex.”
“Ohhh,” Mai responded, pretending she hadn’t known that.
“Since I have a female avatar, I get all kinds of comments from different guys. Most of them are nasty.”
No surprise, Mai nearly remarked aloud. Plenty of men had made glib comments to Shirley that they would never make in real life, just because it was a game and they could get away with it. They still did it.
Ai had probably endured the same unpleasant experiences. She might play a sexy grown woman as an avatar, but it was still a fifteen-year-old girl on the inside. It was appalling that anyone would say such things to a child—but they had no way of knowing, of course. That was one of the downsides of an online game where you couldn’t see the real player.
From her spot atop the horse’s back, Ai continued, “But I’m just as dirty as them.”
“What?”
Mai looked over and saw the girl’s pale face staring right at her. She was calm and collected, but it seemed like there was a faint smile playing over her features.
“I know the dirty thoughts those men harbor, and I’ve decided to make use of it. I have no problem doing nasty things with my avatar, because it’s not the real me. It has nothing to do with me. If anything, it’s fun to get to do things I can’t do in real life.”
Ummm…
Mai wasn’t sure how to react to this. She did not want to promote this behavior, but she couldn’t deny that the most fun part of playing Shirley was the pleasure of all those activities she couldn’t normally do.
“What do you do?”
“I got my avatar dressed really sexy—you can’t get naked in the game, so it’s just underwear—and showed it to a teammate of mine, then used that to blackmail him. I used a recording item to capture a really embarrassing and pathetic sound clip of him and told him I’d upload it to the Net. So I forced him to be on my squad and got him to pay me in-game money and items. He did things for me that I could never ask for in real life. It made my character supertough really fast.”
Yikes!
Mai was freaked out. This was quite an admission.
A girl in her third year of junior high engaging in honeypot behavior in an online game? Very sketchy.
But then again…
Mai considered that she probably lacked the caution that an older person would have because she was so young. Mentally, she was still basically a child.
And Mai knew from going through junior high herself that girls were more mature than boys at that age.
If she hung out at home on the Internet all the time, she’d end up as a precocious young lady, absorbing information from beyond her generation because she wasn’t around her peers all the time at school. At that age, the brain was like a sponge.
Mai thought back on how she’d spent her younger days running around outside all the time. With all due respect to Ai, Mai was very glad that she’d chosen to be a horse girl instead.
She tried to find a way to wrap up the topic. “Ah, I see. So you can do that in a game, huh? Well, it might not be the most moral behavior, but it’s not like it’s illegal or anything, as long as it’s all part of the game and not spilling over into real life.”
“Oh, definitely. I don’t want to make things any worse for my mom and dad.”
“That’s good. I’m relieved to hear that. Have you told anyone else about this?”
“No.”
“Then I’m the first and the last. I won’t tell anyone, and the horses and George are good boys. They’ll keep your secret.”
“You won’t scold me?” asked Ai.
“Do you want me to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then I won’t. See, I’m not such a perfectly mature person that I can tell anyone else how to live their life. The only thing I can teach you how to do here is horse riding.”
“Then let me ask you. Do you think I should keep doing this? Or should I force myself to be like everyone else, suck it up and deal with the school that I hate, and live like a normal person, starting tomorrow?”
Mai understood that this was the question Ai had wanted to ask her most of all. She had told the riding instructor all these things about herself so that she could make this urgent inquiry.
“Let’s see. Here’s what I can say to you,” Mai began, obliging her. “Don’t worry so much. You gotta take it easy and enjoy your life!”
They were still talking when they reached a river. It was a shallow, small stream, running where the plain dipped a little. George happily splashed his way across it, followed by the two horses, Mai taking the lead at a gentle pace.
“Upstream from here, there’s a place right by the river that has a natural spring. Sometimes my friends and I go in,” Mai said, changing the subject.
Ai’s eyes lit up. “That sounds amazing! I want to try that!”
“Exactly! That’s what I thought the first time I heard about it! But it’s way up in the middle of the mountains, so it takes over three hours to get there, even on a horse. And you have to do three deep-river crossings. Only college students with riding experience can go there, with a guide.”
“So it won’t be for a long time…”
“And until then, you just enjoy other things, okay? Enjoy studying; enjoy your game. The hot spring isn’t going anywhere.”
“Will you still be a nature guide by the time I’m old enough, Mai?”
“I’m not really cut out for any other kind of work.”
“That’s good. I’m relieved. I’ll try to figure out how not to worry about things so much. The next time I visit, I want you to teach me more about riding horses.”
“You got it.”
It was after noon, and the horse ride that had lasted much longer than anticipated was over. Slightly sunburned, Ai returned to her relieved mother, and they drove away.
However, before Ai got into the car, she turned back and gave Mai a very deep bow.
Next to Mai, the woman from the farm waved, beaming, until the car passed behind the windbreak at the property’s edge. Then the woman turned to Mai and gasped, “Whew! You wouldn’t believe all the questions and worries that rich mother had while we were waiting! She must have asked ‘Is she okay? Is my daughter causing trouble?’ at least thirty-two times!”
Mai stopped waving her hat and set it back on her head. “She’ll be fine. Like I said earlier, she’s a good kid.”
“What did you talk about with her, Mai? Were you able to have a decent conversation?”
“Of course. She loved the scenery, and I made a promise to teach her more about horse riding the next time she comes.”
“Oh my. So she’ll be an annual visitor? A big spender?” The woman grinned. She was nothing if not a good businessperson.
“Perhaps she will be.” Mai sincerely hoped as much anyway.
“If she does show up, you’ll be her exclusive guide, Mai!” the woman declared, unaware of what Mai was thinking.
“That’s fine. Will you give me a raise for it?”
“Hmm, we’ll have to talk about that! For now, how about a late lunch?”
It was two thirty PM on Saturday, August 29th, 2026.
Karen was at the entrance to a shopping mall in Tokyo.
She was dressed in reasonably fashionable clothes, plus the necklace she’d gotten from Saki and the girls.
For a date with Fire.
Three days earlier, her time in SJ4 had ended when she died from getting her eye crushed by a zombie, sending her back to the waiting area. But the event itself concluded before Llenn had time to chat with her defeated teammates. ZEMAL had won.
P-chan was at her feet again, and then she was back in the bar.
They’d started in a private room, so the original four were back in the same place. Shirley had been in the waiting area, but she’d gotten sent to a different location and was nowhere to be seen.
The next thing Llenn heard was the bustle of the audience in the bar. The crowd was cheering for ZEMAL over their victory. Llenn cracked the door a bit to listen.
“Way to go, you guys!”
“You’re the besssst!”
“Congrats on winning!”
“If I buy a machine gun, let me join your squadron!”
“Will you go on a date with me, lady?”
“I believe in you! I knew you’d win one day! I always knew you had it, from the very first Squad Jam!”
“That is definitely a lie.”
The crowd was in rare form, yelling whatever they felt like. The men of ZEMAL looked slightly guilty, standing amid so much adulation.
Thane, the player who did his own commentary, said, “Let’s have an interview with the winning team! We’ll start with the lady over there who gave such brilliant tactical orders! What was the main ingredient in your victory, would you say? Was it your strategy?”
He thrust a tiny microphone into Vivi’s face. She smoothly replied, “What? It’s because they all played so well. I was only able to lead the team as effectively as I did because they shut up and followed my commands.”
Everyone was so focused on this little scene, hanging on Vivi’s every word, that nobody seemed to have any interest in the fourth-place team.
That was fortunate because it allowed Llenn’s group to don robes and sneak out of their private room and then the building.
As they walked down the dimly lit alley, Pitohui said, “Okay, shall we have an after-party where we talk about how we got our asses kicked? Let’s go get drinks! It’s on M!”
However, Llenn declined. “Sorry, Pito. I’ve been in this dive for too long—I’m tired. I’ll log off.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. Well, thanks for playing! It was fun! You can keep the pistols!”
“See ya next time, Llenn!”
“You did well today.”
“Thanks, everyone. I’ll find a way to thank you properly later!” Llenn said as she went into the window to log off.
Pitohui asked, “Oh yeah! What are you gonna do about the date with him?”
As she vanished, Llenn said, “I keep my word.”
She didn’t have time at the end of the Squad Jam to ask for Fire Nishiyamada’s contact information—but she didn’t need to ask her father for that.
A simple search of his distinctive name on the Internet turned up a hit for his company right away. There were also interviews with him on business news sites. More than a few, in fact.
Karen went to his company website and saw a picture of Nishiyamada, surrounded by many of his employees. It was the kind of photo that graduating students took with their teacher.
Over a hundred employees, all of them extremely happy, smiling as though their fat little company president was their pride and joy.
Karen sent an e-mail to the company address and received a response in two minutes.
At Nishiyamada’s suggestion, their first date was at a shopping mall in the middle of Tokyo.
The weather had been expected to be poor on Saturday, and the forecast was spot-on. It was raining like crazy outside. A date at the mall, where everything could happen indoors, was very welcome.
Karen was able to take the subway straight from her apartment building to the mall without setting foot outside. And this was a place with a movie theater, aquarium, and restaurants to spare.
Nishiyamada’s careful, precise message had suggested that the afternoon get-together would only last two hours.
And the date ended up being nothing more than drinking tea at an open café along the spacious thoroughfare.
Karen had no experience or knowledge of how to date. Still, she found this a very casual and low-stakes invitation, compared to rushing into a romance, seeing a movie, or having dinner at a fancy restaurant.
Karen had already reported the news to Miyu over the phone.
“Okay, that sounds good, right? It’s a public place, so he won’t like, push you up against a wall or hug you or try to drag you somewhere. Anyway, good luck. I’m worried, so I wish I could be there at the next table over to keep an eye out. If only I didn’t have sudden plans on that day…”
“It’s fine! Don’t come all the way to Tokyo just for that! When it’s over…I’ll let you know how it went.”
“All right. Anyway, this date is just a tea party. Don’t get all nervous just because it’s your first time, okay? I go in humming casually, every single time. I ask whatever I want, whenever I feel like it, and if the guy sucks, I’ll tell him.”
“Ohhh, I get it… So that’s why…”
“Hmm? Why what?”
“Never mind. Also, just to be doubly double sure…”
“What’s with all the doubles? Go on.”
“Don’t tell Elza and Goushi, all right?”
“Sure thing! I won’t tell them! I’ll only write it to them in text form.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Well, I doubt they have that much free time anyway. They’re not going to go spy on you if they find out!”
It turned out they had plenty of free time.
Spectators were watching from a different restaurant on the other side of the mall thoroughfare at a table all the way in the back.
They were Miyu Shinohara, fresh off a morning flight from Hokkaido, Goushi Asougi, and Elza Kanzaki. Each of them was in disguise, however, so they didn’t look like their usual selves.
Miyu was wearing a long blond wig, flashy glasses, and a colorful outfit.
Goushi was in his usual suit, but he had a thick beard and was also wearing a wig. The wig was salt-and-pepper, so he looked like he was in his forties. The addition of sports sunglasses was bizarre and did not look good.
Elza Kanzaki wore a hat pulled low plus a face mask: the classic method of going incognito. They hadn’t dressed up like this before coming, of course; each had snuck to the bathroom to change.
Plates covered their table, emptied of the food they’d carried. The group had been here for over an hour already.
It was 2:40. Nishiyamada, dressed in a suit, had taken a seat at the café twenty minutes ahead of schedule.
“So…what will become of Kohi and her boy toy? Oh, that rhymed,” Miyu babbled.
She spied Karen arriving eighteen minutes ahead of schedule.
The waiter guided her to the table, where she sat at a right angle to her partner.
“I’m sorry for being late,” Goushi suddenly murmured.
Miyu spun around in surprise. “Hwuh?”
“No…I just got here, too,” Goushi continued, so Elza explained.
“He can read lips. He can’t see that closely from here, of course, so we put a tiny camera inside the planter earlier. He’s watching the footage on his glasses lens.”
“Holy crap! How can he do that? Why does he have spy skills?” Miyu asked, twice shocked.
“They’re stalker techniques and gadgets.”
“Ugh! What the hell!” Miyu exclaimed, doubly disgusted. “I really think you should reconsider your relationships, ma’am.”
“Perhaps you’re right.”
“I mean, this is crazy. The police could show up right now and arrest him.”
“Maybe they will.”
But Goushi ignored the degrading commentary from his companions and continued to read Nishiyamada’s and Karen’s lips. “‘Thanks for coming today.’ ‘Well, we made a deal.’ ‘That’s right—thank you.’”
“On the other hand, this is great. Makes it so much easier for me to send messages!” said Miyu, who had her smartphone under the table, where she was blasting out a text to someone with rapid taps.
The message currently read: THEY’RE STARTING! FIRST UP, NICE CASUAL GRIEVING! THAT’S SUPPOSED TO BE GREETINGS! AUTOCORRECT!
“Messages? To whom?”
“Boss and the girls. They spent so much time helping us, I couldn’t say no when they wanted to hear how it was going. I bet they’re all together at one of their houses, hanging on my every word!”
Tall, thin Karen and short, squat Nishiyamada.
The odd couple naturally attracted a certain amount of attention. The other guests at the café glanced their way, and virtually everyone walking past their table in the mall itself looked at them.
However, Karen did not pay them any mind. Right now, her job was to have a proper conversation with this man.
The gentle herb tea she’d ordered arrived at the table. Karen picked up the dainty teacup and took a tiny sip.
“Mmmm.”
Nishiyamada, meanwhile, did not drink at all.
He was wearing an uncharacteristically stern expression, though Karen had only met him once before, so she wasn’t sure. The man was thinking something over.
Or perhaps he was extremely nervous.
Maybe she was the one who was feeling more relaxed here, Karen mused. She decided to say what she’d meant to tell him if they ever met again. She’d gotten the idea two days ago, thinking that none of this meant anything if she didn’t say this first.
She turned to her right to look at him and stated, “Mr. Nishiyamada…I mean, Fire. I think it might be easier for me to say it, if you don’t mind.”
Goushi relayed the dialogue.
“Whoa, whoa, Kohi, already on a first-name basis? That’s kinda cute! You’re gonna get a guy interested!” Miyu said, worked up.
Elza remarked, “Maybe that’s what she’s after. Very crafty, Karen.”
“What? No way. Holy crap, Kohi’s turning into one of those bewitching vixens!”
“That’s just fine. I don’t mind at all, Karen,” replied Nishiyamada, who didn’t seem as confident as before. Still, he gave her a stiff smile, and she bobbed her head.
“I came here to have a proper talk with you,” she began, “but I want to say something first. It’s what I wanted to say at the end of the game.”
“Wh-what is she launching into…?” Miyu wondered, leaning back in her chair. She was worried.
“Is she going to say she loves him first?” posited Elza excitedly, leaning forward.
Goushi quoted, “‘All of the teammates that you had on your alliance fought very hard for your sake. So I want to say sorry for being rude to you.’”
“Whut?”
Nishiyamada just stared at Karen in silence, allowing her to continue.
“Please offer my apology to all of them. From the start of the event, I thought they were just mercenaries, people you hired to fight…but I was completely wrong. They were your employees, your friends, your companions…and it wasn’t until the very, very end that I finally realized they were working for you out of friendship, not for money. And you got them all together with a simple word. I felt ashamed of myself. I have a new respect for you.”
“……”
It was a while before Nishiyamada actually spoke again.
“‘All right. I’ll tell them. I promise. I’m sure they’ll all be thrilled to hear that.’”
“What is she talking about…?” Miyu asked, aghast.
“This is just like Karen, though.” Elza grinned, presumably. She was still wearing the mask.
“Thank you. I’m relieved that I was able to get that off of my chest,” Karen admitted. She lifted her cup and took a quiet sip of herbal tea.
She’d done what she needed to do. And now…
They could see Karen turn her chair to face Nishiyamada directly.
“Oh crap! Kohi’s totally in ‘love-acceptance mode’! That’s the expression of a woman who wants to say yes!” wailed Miyu, making a face like the man from Munch’s The Scream.
“Very astute of you, Miyu. You understand how it goes.”
“Exactly. How many times do you think I’ve been in that position? I just never expected to see Kohi like this…”
“‘Karen, I just have one question for you,’” Goushi said, repeating Nishiyamada’s words.
“Yes?”
Karen straightened her spine, waiting for what would come next.
She was prepared for whatever it might be. Ready to answer.
However, what Nishiyamada asked took her slightly aback.
“The Karen that’s here now…and Llenn in GGO… Which is the real you?”
It wasn’t an inquiry she’d been expecting, but the answer came to her immediately. There was no doubt in Karen’s heart—she had only one response. It had been true since the day she’d cut her hair. Or perhaps since the day she’d beaten Boss? Either one worked.
She put a hand to her chest and answered, “Both are me.”
“Um…I’m really sorry… I think… Er, excuse me. Please hear me out…,” Nishiyamada stammered, suddenly much less sure of himself.
“Huh?”
Karen’s mouth hung open in a rather unflattering way. In other words, agape.
“‘Um…I’m really sorry… I think… Er, excuse me. Please hear me out…,’” Goushi said, suddenly more polite.
“Hwa?”
Miyu’s mouth hung open in a rather unflattering way. Basically, agape.
“Um, well, you see… Gosh, this is very hard to say…”
“Huh? Go ahead…”
“Um, I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me…”
“Huh?”
Nishiyamada stood up. Even when he was standing, his face was only level with Karen’s while she was seated. There were huge beads of sweat on his face.
“Um, are you feeling unwell?” Karen questioned.
“I’m sorry!” Nishiyamada stated. He promptly gave a quick bow and bolted away from the table. Though extremely flustered, he still had the presence of mind to take the bill with him to the register to pay.
When he was finished, he left without a backward glance.
“What…?”
Karen could only watch him go.
What happened to Fire? Does he have an upset stomach? Was the drink he just had no good? Or is he feeling unwell because he spent so much time in the unfamiliar environment of a VR game?
Karen was left alone to ponder the answer. She had experienced poor health as a result of too much VR, too.
At this point, she could easily go four or five hours at a time, but at first, if she was online for even two, she would suffer terrible headaches and mild dizziness from the time she logged off until the next day. Miyu had told her it was muscle pain for her brain, but she didn’t know if that was what it truly was.
Karen considered the possibilities.
Was nearly three hours of constant battle in SJ4 way too much stimulation for someone who had never played VR games before? If so, it was possible that the full aftereffects hadn’t hit Nishiyamada until just now.
If he had rushed off for medical help, should she have gone with him? Karen suddenly realized that was the right choice, and she hurriedly got up to leave—but then her smartphone went off in her purse.
She stopped to look at the screen, thinking that the message might be from him. Sure enough, the name Nishiyamada, which she’d registered the other day, was there on the screen, but it was a text, not a call.
“Is that from Fire? What does it say?” she heard Miyu say.
“Hang on. I’ll open it right now.”
“Okay.”
Karen tapped the screen to call up the message. Before she read it, she suddenly looked up.
“Uh?”
Karen then uttered the funniest sound she’d ever made in her life. “Obloo!”
Three very fishy-looking people were standing nearby.
And on closer examination, she recognized all of them.
The trio slipped into the empty seats at the table. Elza, her face hidden behind a mask, had dragged the waiter with them so she could order “Three of the same.”
The way he silently nodded, removed Nishiyamada’s cup, and left spoke to his professionalism.
Karen’s mouth trembled and chattered. “Wha—?! Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha—?”
Miyu reached out and squashed Karen’s cheeks between her hands.
“Wmurp.”
“C’mon, you can save your surprise for later. Let’s get to that juicy message, yeah?”
Miyu let go, and Karen gave her a dazzling smile.
“Miyu, I’m going to destroy you later.”
“Yeah, yeah, later. I mean, no, you don’t have to do that at all. Just read the message, yeah? There might be something incredible in there.”
“Incredible?”
“Yeah… Like, ‘I left all of a sudden because I have a surprise present! I bought out an entire flower shop just for you!’ or ‘Let’s go on a vacation overseas! We’ll fly first class!’”
“Um, what?”
“Or maybe it’s something simpler, like ‘Sorry, this is really embarrassing, but I got so nervous that my stomach cramped up. But it’s all because I love you so much…’ You know?”
“…Um, I doubt it has anything to do with love…”
“Look, just read the dang thing. Nothing’s going to happen unless you read it.”
“Grr…”
She hated to do what Miyu was telling her, but Karen acquiesced and looked down at the screen.
She read the text.
It said…
“Miyu’s messages have stopped…,” Saki stated with dread.
The rest of SHINC—Kana, Shiori, Moe, Risa, Milana—were there in her room with her, dressed in their high school uniforms.
It wasn’t a very big room, so the girls were all seated in a circle on the floor. The population density was quite high.
Saki was gazing at her smartphone with the other five around her, waiting on every update. Miyu had been delivering messages on the status of Karen’s date, but the last one had been about three minutes ago.
What was happening to Karen?
Had Nishiyamada cleverly tricked her with honeyed words, taking her to the kind of place that good high school girls should never go?
What if he found out Miyu was there, too, and took them both with him?! To a place where good high school girls should never go! Just to take a “rest”!
Saki’s imagination was running away with her when the object in her hands finally buzzed.
“Here we go!”
“What does it say?!” all five other members of SHINC demanded in unison. The gym team was very coordinated.
“Wait, young ladies…wait… I’ll read it now,” placated Saki, slowly and carefully examining the screen. Then she repeated the words verbatim.
“‘Bring everyone here.’”
“Huh?” all five of them asked.
Saki said, “Hang on, there’s a link here,” and hesitantly reached a slender finger to tap it. “You don’t think it’s…the ‘rest’ area…?”
What popped up on her screen hardly cleared up the confusion. It was the glitzy home page of a karaoke place at a big train station three stops away.
Fifteen minutes later, the bare minimum of time necessary to complete their travel, Saki and her friends were at the karaoke place, still dressed in their uniforms.
At the counter, they announced they were with the Shinohara party and were guided to the building’s top floor. Along the way, the girls argued about what could have happened, but there was no consensus.
“Pardon us…,” they said as they opened the door to the private room.
Dun, daka-dun!
Sitting there, dramatically strumming an acoustic guitar, was a short woman wearing a white mask and a large hat that hid her features.
“……”
Next to her, back painfully straight, was a handsome young man in a suit, tapping a tambourine to the beat.
“Huff…huff…”
Karen stood with a mic in her hand, breathing heavily.
“Yo, gang! You made it! That was quick!” called Miyu, who smiled and beckoned the girls inside.
The song had just finished, the last note fading out. The fishy-looking woman playing the guitar gave the chord a final flourish.
There was no next song cued up, so the karaoke room went quiet.
“Um…what’s going on…?” Saki inquired. It was a bit awkward, so they didn’t walk through the door.
“Oh, it’s okay—just come in. C’mon, gang, pack in,” urged Miyu, pushing the guitarist and the handsome man together so that there was space for the teens to sit down. It was a reasonably spacious area, but ten occupants was creeping up on maximum occupancy.
“In that case, pardon us…”
Saki went first, and the six girls in their summer uniforms filed bashfully in and sat on the sofa.
The karaoke room was pretty eerie.
You had this ominous woman whose eyes were only visible through a strip between her mask and hat. Her gaze was all but beaming at the members of SHINC. The handsome man sat extremely straight and did not say a word.
They had no idea who these people were or why they were here. It was kind of scary.
“Oh, you guys are here… Welcome…,” said Karen, greeting them lifelessly with dead-fish eyes. Now things were getting into horror movie territory.
Out of all of them, only Miyu seemed to be acting normally. “Oh, you girls will want some drinks, right? It’s an open tab, so order whatever beverages you want! The adults are paying today, so don’t feel bad about it!”
“Th-thanks, we appreciate it…”
SHINC used the special terminal for ordering to get drinks for the group. The beverages were delivered to the room right away. Perhaps this booth was right next to the kitchen?
The employee was utterly unfazed by the chaotic sight of a bunch of high school girls mingling with the four creepy adults.
The staffer merely stated “Enjoy your time!” before leaving with a smile.
“Um…Karen, Miyu…can we ask…what happened…?” Saki questioned, very unsure if it was, in fact, okay to ask.
The silent, handsome man and the masked woman with the smiling eyes were scary, but the girls chose not to look at them.
“Well, here’s the thing… Kohi, you mind if I borrow your phone? It’s probably quickest to show them, y’know?” said Miyu, prodding Karen as the tall girl slurped some iced tea.
“Mm,” grunted Karen, straw in her mouth. She handed over the phone.
Miyu took it, moved over next to the high schoolers, and tried to show the text to them, when— d un-dun-dundunnn!
“Eek!”
The gymnasts flinched when the masked woman abruptly riffed on the guitar.
“Hey, Sis! Don’t tease the young’uns!” Miyu scolded. That just raised more questions.
Was she Miyu’s older sister? They’d never heard about her having one. Or was she Karen’s older sister, the one who lived in the same apartment building? Was the handsome man her husband?
Mysteries abounded in the karaoke room, but the two strangers’ identities were not the most important one.
“This is the message that Fire Nishiyamada sent to Karen earlier…,” Miya explained.
Saki and the others huddled together to look at the phone screen.
This was the message they saw:
IF KAREN AND LLENN ARE THE SAME PERSON, THEN I THINK I’M AFRAID OF YOU.
I DON’T THINK I CAN BE WITH YOU.
I’M REALLY SORRY.
PLEASE, JUST FORGET ABOUT ME.
I’M REALLY SORRY.
“Huh?” “Hweh?” “Hoy?” “Augh?” “What?” “Why?”
Saki, Kana, Shiori, Risa, Milana, and Moe all expressed their feelings at once.
They were in perfect synchronization, but each one uttered a different sound.
“Whaaaaaaat?! What is that supposed to mean?!” Saki exploded, her pigtails swinging.
“Well, basically, as you know, Kohi kept her word and went on this date, but before it even got to the point of giving a yes-or-no answer to his question, he completely dumped her and left her hanging,” Miyu explained unceremoniously.
Of course, to Miyu, dumping or being dumped was as natural and familiar as breathing, so it was no big deal to her.
“B-but…”
Saki had watched the replay, so she knew what Llenn had done after their one-on-one duel. Even so, refusing to be with Karen over something like that?
Just because of that…? Only that…? Okay, to be fair, it was pretty freaky.
Saki had no words. Fortunately, Miyu was there to freshen things up.
“Well, what’s done is done! And that’s why we’re holding this fancy event: the Comforting the Rejected Woman Karaoke Special! And now that you know what’s going on, you have to participate, too!”
“I-in that case, we’d be happy to! We’re on your side, Karen! Hang in there!” Saki shouted. The rest of the gymnastics team added their own words of encouragement.
“We’re here with you! Don’t feel down!”
“Let us sing with you, Karen!”
“We’re here for you!”
“Yeah, totally!”
“I’ll do whatever I can to help!”
Despite the teenagers’ sympathy and comfort, Karen was totally dead eyed. “Ha-ha-ha… Yeah…um…thanks…”
The necklace she’d received as a present dangled around her neck.
“Well, now that we’re all here…”
Daka-daka-dun!
“Let’s sing a song to get you pumped up!” shouted the masked woman with the guitar.
“Um…I hate to be rude, but,” Saki began, finally summoning the courage to ask what she so desperately wanted to know. “Who are those two…?”
The rest of the team sent silent gazes that all but spoke Way to go, Captain! Thanks for asking!
The mystery woman replied, “Members of SHINC! Greetings! I am the woman known in that distant world by the name of Pitohui! Next to me is M! Nice to meet you!”
“Whaaaat? Is that t-true, Miyu?” Saki gasped. The others looked just as shocked. None of them seemed to believe what they had heard.
“Yup, it’s true. I’ve known her in real life for a little while now, actually,” Miyu admitted casually, and it didn’t sound like a joke for once. If she had looked dead serious and tried to be convincing, then the teens would have assumed it was a fib.
“Allow me to introduce you. This is Pito’s player, and the handsome guy next to her is M’s player.”
Goushi rose to his feet. “It’s a pleasure, everyone. We owe you quite a lot for all the experiences we’ve had during the various Squad Jams. I’m very pleased to have the chance to meet you in person,” he said, bowing politely. The girls bowed back automatically.
“Oh my gosh…um, hello. What can I say…?”
“You’re fine! We know what you want to say already!” shouted the strange woman in the hat, although the girls did not know what she was going to say. “I can tell you apart! I already knew from the conversation that you were SHINC, but I can tell who’s who! From the left, it’s Boss, Sophie, Rosa, Tanya, Tohma, and Anna.”
“Oh my!” SHINC exclaimed, each member wide-eyed.
“How can you tell?” Miyu asked the woman.
“By the vibe. Their appearances might be different in the real world, but the subtle movements each of them makes comes through. It’s just the way they carry themselves.”
“Wow. That’s amazing,” Miyu praised. Then she went ahead and introduced Saki and the team by their real names. In true athletic fashion, they bolted to their feet one by one as their names were called, and each bowed vigorously.
Once Moe had finished and sat down, Milana asked, “That guitar of yours is the Elza Kanzaki model, isn’t it?”
Elza Kanzaki’s famous acoustic guitar had special stickers on the frets that looked like a white cat walking along the fretboard and leaving footprints behind.
The other team members nodded along, indicating that they had noticed this as well.
“That’s right! You have an excellent eye!”
“Heh-heh! We all love Elza Kanzaki!” Milana stated proudly.
“Aw, that’s so sweet! But you might not after today,” responded the woman.
Milana took that to be a joke and smiled innocently. “Why? Of course I will!”
Saki snorted and said, “We’re just as big fans of Elza Kanzaki as Karen and Miyu are! Believe it! Our dream is to go see an Elza Kanzaki concert together one day!”
“That sounds wonderful!”
Da-da-da-dun, the masked woman strummed.
Behind her, Karen finished drinking her iced tea and inputted a new song on the karaoke machine. There were no other tracks queued in the list, so the title immediately popped up on the big screen.
Karen had chosen Elza Kanzaki’s “Independence.”
“Ooh!” exclaimed the girls, leaning forward and clenching their fists. They all knew how to sing this one.
“Karen! We’ll do the harmonies before the chorus!”
Da-da-da-dun.
“Then I’ll play the guitar!” said the masked woman, and she ripped off her disguise.
“Huh?”
The six gymnasts stared dumbfounded as the intro melody began playing, the same as the one during the chorus.
Elza started playing her instrument along with the song—and yes, it was undoubtedly Elza Kanzaki herself.
“Eeeek!” the teens screamed, nearly loud enough to break the glass window of the door. They completely ignored the man jangling the tambourine next to Elza.
The shocking revelation that Pitohui was Elza Kanzaki was like a series of chain explosions in their brains. The song continued unabated during their freak-out.
As the intro from the speakers and acoustic guitar got louder, the six-foot-tall girl with the microphone got to her feet and said, “It’s time for a song from Karen Kohiruimaki, the loser in romance!”
After all of my anguish
What am I, some tragic princess?
No way, that’s not me
Karen’s voice filled the room.
This was one of Elza Kanzaki’s most energized rock tunes, but Karen was up to the task. She was belting out the lyrics like each line needed two exclamation points after it. It was aggressive and intense.
And her singing was good. Not as good as Elza’s, of course, but quite passable for an amateur. The girls had not heard her sing before. They shared a look, then raised their hands and cheered, “Whoooo!”
Shiori and Risa grabbed the maracas and joined the rhythm section with Goushi’s tambourine. Elza was banging away on the guitar, of course, but now she had a bit more sound behind it.
I had blind faith until I could see
Ideals, ideas, it’s all fluid
But I know what I am, cogito ergo sum
She rocketed through the lyrics, and the song reached the part where the backup harmony came in before the chorus.
Accompanied by guitar courtesy of the singer herself, Saki and the gymnastics team added their voices.
(Of all the hundreds of choices)
Their coordination was perfect, adding a tremendous new depth to the performance.
Karen continued with her lyrics, determined not to fall short.
I think I’m losing sight
(There’s only one decision)
Of the outline of life
(Of all the thousands of pressures)
The only thing that can feel it
(There’s just one blow of resistance)
Is these fingers
The back-and-forth verse construction shared by the gymnastics team and Karen ended—and the soulful chorus began.
Karen knew all the words, so she didn’t need to look at the screen. She closed her eyes, tears welling, and clenched the mic.
Rest in peace, Miyu thought, willing her friend’s dead romance to the afterlife.
Don’t discard it, I will keep it
The devil can’t buy this
Independence I’ve won
It’s meant to be, this breath, this pulse
Will stop one day, but when that is
I will never let fate decide for me
After the second chorus, the end of the melody played on the speakers, and Elza matched it on her guitar.
Karen had sung her heart out, face covered in sweat. Miyu patted her on the back.
“Nice singing, Karen! Listen…every night ends with the dawn.”
“Awww…”
Karen really wanted to offer some retort to that, but she remained tough and swallowed her words.
“It’s all right, Karen! You don’t need a man to be happy!” exclaimed Elza, handing her precious guitar to Goushi and squirming past Miyu to get closer. “If you want, I can spend the night with you…”
That could be taken for an unwanted sexual advance—it certainly was—but Karen blocked the other woman’s approach. All it took was her hand on Elza’s face to keep her at bay.
“Mrgh!”
Elza struggled and writhed, much to the shock and consternation of the teenage girls.
“I’m going to keep living in GGO!” Karen yelled.
The mic was still in her hand, so the booming declaration resounded through the room.
The End
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