Epilogue
The two halves of the Aperto staff lay on the desk in the headmaster’s office.
Shiraaase was staring calmly down at it. She let out an annoyed sigh.
“Honestly, for something like this to show up… It’s rather vexing.”
A staff that released the darker impulses of the heart.
No equipment like this had been designed for the game. Officially.
Shiraaase had double-checked with Operations just to be sure. The facts were clear. What lay in front of her were the remains of a weapon that should never have existed.
But even if she hadn’t checked, no data made for a game should ever be able to directly affect the human heart.
Yet, this staff was real.
“We must investigate how it came to exist and what purpose it was intended to serve…but we know absolutely nothing about it, so the Aperto staff itself will likely be a dead end.”
So the investigation would have to focus on the purpose.
In that department, at least, they had some hints.
“The power to release their hearts, given to a test player… What can that mean…?”
This game invited parents and children with all kinds of relationship problems to serve as test players. One or both were inevitably harboring some sort of issue.
And unleashing that caused ruptures that went far beyond a mere prank.
Rather than improve their relationship by adventuring together, this would exacerbate the problem…
At worst, it would cause a permanent rift between them.
“And if that happens, this game is a failure. It will end before the official release ever happens. Hmm… Maybe their goal is to end the service… There were certainly any number of parties critical of the game’s creation.”
Mulling this over, Shiraaase let her gaze drift.
A nearby clock caught her eye. The hour was later than she’d expected.
“Oh dear. I’ll be late for the party. She was nice enough to invite me! I simply must show up in time to enjoy Mamako’s cooking.”
And with that, Shiraaase left the headmaster’s office.
Leaving her problems lying on the desk.
“I don’t know who you are, but if you want a fight, you’ve got one… The hero family members are awakening to their true power, and they’ll be ready for you. Heh-heh-heh.”
Shiraaase smiled, her confidence lying entirely in someone else, someone she had not even consulted about this. Typical.
The seventh day of school. The final day of the special accelerated course.
With the entire curriculum completed, Masato’s party graduated, and to celebrate this, a large party was being held in their classroom. As a concession to their classmates, who were unable to graduate, it was officially being called a good-bye party, but either way, it was going to be quite a shindig.
Well, that had been the hope.
“…The game classes were all over the place, so why was the test totally normal? That’s hardly fair…”
“…Questions from history, math, and English, all at our actual grade levels… What a nightmare…”
The test the day before had made Masato and Wise crave death, and they were sitting cross-legged in a corner of the class, sulking about it.
Their scores on the test were converted directly into bonus points—in theory, an extravagant amount of extra credit.
At any rate, their final SP scores: Masato: 103 SP. Wise: 72 SP. Porta: 170 SP.
The accumulative results of the first four days, plus the SP obtained normally through level-ups on the field trip, and then the test scores on top of that… Clearly, two of them had failed hard. It had naturally taken the wind out of their sails.
But what was done was done.
“Now, now, Ma-kun, Wise! Cheer up!” Mamako said, carrying dishes in both hands. “You both did your best. That’s what really matters! You both did just fine! Let’s celebrate!”
“Mama’s cooking is all done! It’s delicious!” Porta had sauce on her cheek. She must have stolen a bite.
“I helped! Let’s all eat it together! Bwa-ha-ha!” Mr. Burly said. He had lapsed back into the diner-child routine, but best to ignore it.
The classroom desks were shoved together and soon covered in sushi and steak and deluxe sandwiches and cake. Quite the gourmet party smorgasbord if you don’t get hung up on whether any of it went together.
And just in time, Medhi and Medhimama arrived, arms laden with grocery bags.
“Sorry we’re late!”
“We brought drinks and snacks. I hope it’s enough.”
And with that, preparations were complete.
It all smelled too good to ignore. “…Well, we did get a lot of SP.” “Yeah. It wasn’t a complete loss.”
And with that, Masato and Wise picked themselves up, and everyone raised a glass.
““““““Cheers!””””””
They ate, drank, and made merry with classmates they never did learn to distinguish (thanks to the ASCII art faces). This went on for a while.
Once things started to die down, Mamako came over to Masato. “Perhaps it’s about time.” “Yeah, I guess so.” They’d discussed this beforehand. Masato had a job to do now.
As a final check, he looked to Wise and Porta in turn. Porta nodded vigorously. Wise gave a “suit yourself” shrug. He took that as agreement.
And as the party’s representative, Masato went over to Medhimama.
“Medhimama, do you have a minute?”
“Oh? What is it?”
“If you don’t mind…would you two like to join our party?”
“Huh? …You’re inviting Medhi and me to join you?”
“Yes. I thought it would be great to have you with us. We’re kind of a mess of a party, really, what with the lack of designated healer… Oh, but I’m not just after Cura, here. I think it would be fun to adventure with you.”
Honestly, he was also worried about how Medhimama would deal with Medhi in the future, and that was definitely part of the offer.
Now he had to wait and see how Medhimama responded.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid I can’t accept. Sorry.”
That was a no. Masato had been turned down by a woman with a child. Shame.
“Uh… I can’t change your mind, then?”
“Yes. For me, at any rate. I’m actually planning to log out after this.”
“Log out…? You mean you’re quitting?”
“Not permanently. I’m just going to take a break. I think I’ll go back to the real world for a while. I need to take care of the unfortunate blog I’d filled with my parenting theories. I wouldn’t want anyone following that and ending up like us.”
“I see…”
“Which means I can’t accept your offer, but Medhi… Well, I can hardly speak for her. Medhi, what would you like to do?” Medhimama asked, smiling gently. “This is your choice to make.”
Medhi turned to Masato, with a far-too-beautiful smile.
“I’d be honored to accompany you. Thank you so much for inviting me.”
On the surface, an unmistakably beautiful girl. A healer with a hidden dark power. Handy with a blunt instrument.
Add Medhi to the party?
“Yeah… Maybe you being my heroine is a bit unrealistic, but I’d gladly have you in my party.” He grinned.
“Masato! You can’t say that with a smile! I’m going to do everything I can to be your heroine! Just you wait!”
She took hold of her arms, deliberately pressing her chest against him. “See? You like this, right?” A sentence a prim and proper heroine would never utter.
But either way, Medhi joined the party.
“Well, there you have it. Um, but…isn’t there some rule that parents and children have to play this game together? Is it okay if you stay here on your own?”
“Don’t worry. Wise established precedent, so I’ll take care of permissions.”
“Eeek, where’d you come from?!”
A nun had manifested before him. Shiraaase.
She bowed her head to everyone, and then quickly began stuffing her face.
“Well, with everything neatly wrapped up,” she announced once she’d finished eating, “all that remains is to give out the enhancement items you’ve been waiting for.”
“Oh! That’s right! They’re the whole reason we came here, yet I totally forgot about them.”
“HELL YEEEEAAAHHHH!!! The Prevenire will be miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!” Wise bellowed, immediately back in obnoxiously enthused mode, but she cooled off a moment later. “Oh, but…I only got seventy-two points. Is that gonna be enough to exchange for an ultra-rare item like a Prevenire?”
“Seventy-two points will be plenty. You can pull on the gacha seven times.”
Shiraaase raised a hand, and a magic circle appeared.
“Just touch the magic circle, at a cost of ten SP a pull. And then, like magic, wonderful items will be yours.”
“…Um, Shiraaase. I was sort of assuming that we could directly exchange the points we’d earned for the specific items we wanted. But…instead we’ve got a gacha?”
“Yes. A gacha.”
The flyer had said they could get the items, not that they would. If they were in the gacha somewhere, it wasn’t actually a lie. Shiraaase seemed to be calmly sticking to that official administrative position.
“Can I hit her?” Wise asked, fist at the ready.
“Better not,” Masato said, restraining her.
Then Porta, unable to wait, stepped forward. Beaming with excitement.
“Um! Um! I’d like to try!”
“Oh, the top batter’s Porta, then? Go right ahead. Good children get good results, you know. Heh-heh-heh.”
“Then I’ll try! C’mon!”
Ten SP vanished from Porta’s window, and she touched the magic circle. Then…
Porta obtained Stuffed Animal!
“Wow! I got it! The Stuffed Animal! That’s just what I wanted!”
Porta threw her arms around the Stuffed Animal (a cat) with a huge smile. That smile was all the reward anyone needed.
“As you can see, the desired results are possible. If anyone else would care to try…”
“Well… What do you think, Wise?”
“I want to, but I don’t… These things never pay out. And we’d be trying our luck right after a jackpot… Nghhh… Oh, I know! Medhi, you try! Just once is fine!”
“No, I’d rather not. I’d prefer to use the points to raise my stats normally.”
“That’s definitely the smart option. The right decision. What are you gonna do, Masato?”
“I’m gonna play it safe and go for stat boosts, too.”
“Argh, Masato! Don’t be so boring! Are you sure that’s what you want? Are you sure this isn’t the time to test your luck? Coward! You’re barely a man! A real man would never make the safe choice!”
“Argh, you talked me into it. Okay, then! I’ll show you what I got! One hundred SP, all at once! Ten gacha pulls! Watch and weep!”
Masato blew all his SP on the gacha. He touched the magic circle, and the results…
Masato obtained HP + Drink ×10.
“Congratulations! As a hero, Masato already had very high HP, but you’ve received ten consumable items that raise your HP by a very small amount! That’s basically a total wash.”
“Noooooooooooooo! I should never have puuuuuuuulled!”
He chugged the drinks, tears streaming down his face. So salty.
With a sidelong glance at the weeping hero, Wise stepped forward with confidence.
“Heh-heh-heh! Since Masato blew it, I’m sure to score! That prize is mine! It must be mine! Breathe in…breathe out… Okay. Gimme seven! C’moooooon!”
Wise struck the gacha! The results!
Wise obtained MP + Drink ×7.
“Congratulations! As a Sage, Wise already had very high MP, but you’ve received seven consumable items that raise MP by a very small amount! You’ve self-destructed magnificently.”
“Noooooooooooooo! I should never have puuuuuuuulled!”
But Wise downed all the drinks anyway. Good girl!
“Now, that’s the end of rewards time…or it would be, but since you all fought very hard to protect parent-child bonds this time, we’ll allow a single free pull as a reward. What do you say?”
“We have to at this point! This can’t end with us getting nothing! Arghhh!”
“Ah, Masato, no fair!”
Who cared what Wise said? Masato jumped to the gacha magic circle, yelled, “I love you, admiiiiiiins!” and put his whole body into a dramatic touch! The result!
Mamako obtained Mom-Exclusive Apron.
“…Huh?”
“Oh my!”
“Oh, that is impressive! A mom-exclusive item from a child-targeted gacha! Mamako’s mom luck is clearly beyond divine! My respect.”
She could not be more obvious if she tried. She was infooormatively obvious.
This was clearly not a coincidental gacha result but always intended to gift Mamako an item only she could use. Masato was sure of it.
Masato was ready to put his entire soul into an angry protest, but…
“That means Ma-kun got a present for Mommy? Oh, how lovely! Thank you. I’ll treasure it always! Hee-hee-hee.”
Mamako tried the apron on, her smile so blinding, her joy so evident…
…that Masato just couldn’t be that upset about it.
“…Well, as long as you’re happy,” he muttered, avoiding her eyes.
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