NOVEL NEXT Chapter 67
“Hehehe….”
The target stands before me.
She seems to have a cautious personality, glancing around to ensure her safety.
But I was hiding perfectly, evading her search with my flawless disguise.
-How about calling it quits?
-If you keep this up, it might end badly.
“Th-there’s no way I can stop. Today, I need to have my blood revenge…”
In the chatroom, the Izutomo were trying to stop me, but today, I was a fierce beast.
No one could dissuade me.
“Huff…”
To prevent any possible mistakes, I took a big breath and reminded myself to stay calm as I slowly aimed at the target’s head.
And the moment she bent down to collect materials, sure of her safety…
“Now!”
I pressed the attack button without hesitation.
The bullet that left my hand sped toward her head as if it were light itself.
And with a thud! sound, she toppled forward.
“Success…!”
[That was a failure?!]
“Ah?!”
The target had somehow put on a metal helmet.
Thanks to that, she seemed almost uninjured, instantly regaining her stance and beginning to rush toward me.
“I-I have to run…”
[Too late!]
Due to carrying too many bullets, the difference in our speeds was clear.
In the end, I collapsed to the ground, bound by her ropes.
“Hehe, so, this is the end of the beast…”
[Is that the last excuse, Izumi?]
“I’m sorry…”
★
[So? Could you quickly explain what your purpose was?]
I knelt before Suzuha Koga, then calmly began to speak.
“W-well, I heard that Suzuha would be joining in starting today, so…”
[What does that have to do with shooting me with a slingshot for nearly an hour?]
“I just wanted to let you experience the thrill of war a little…”
Of course, that was a lie.
I had only made the slingshot by chance while building a house and vowed revenge for all the times I had been scolded by Suzuha after hearing she would be joining the Gray City today.
I am a healthy man with a mental age of 40.
A 24-year-old Suzuha should not be the one constantly scolding me… or so I thought.
When I first told the Izutomo about this plan, their reactions were like:
-You could just shoot her with a real gun.
-Why bother with a slingshot?
But I thought Suzuha would get mad if I shot her for real.
You don’t understand how scary Suzuha gets when she’s angry!
So I dealt just enough damage to not kill her with a slingshot and ran away.
I thought it was a win-win strategy: I could take my revenge, and Suzuha wouldn’t die, allowing her to keep gathering materials.
But why did it end up like this?
[Did you ever think that the slingshot would just annoy her instead of being fun?]
“…W-well, I didn’t think about that.”
I never saw that coming…
“Are you… mad, Suzuha?”
[A little?]
“Eek…”
Chills ran down my spine at Suzuha’s ice-cold voice.
Something’s off. Wasn’t my plan supposed to be perfect?
What on earth happened?
-Mei sometimes really confuses me.
-Doesn’t she know the distance when joking?
But what could I do? There was no one to tease like this….
If I had known, I would have just shot her once at the beginning and called it quits.
[And you said you were seeking blood revenge from the start of the broadcast. That just doesn’t add up, does it?]
“Uh, um, that’s… H-how does Suzuha know….”
[I might have watched a bit of your broadcast before starting. Well, I didn’t know that the target of your revenge was me.]
“U-uh, Suzuha?”
[So, I was someone you wanted revenge on, huh?]
“Not like that! U-uh, Suzuha. Can we talk about my side of the story…?”
What should I do?
Of course, I was just saying revenge for the sake of it, and I just wanted to joke around a little.
I often saw stories online about people losing friends because of clueless jokes, and wondered why anyone would do such things.
But it turns out that clueless person was me.
“W-well, I-I just wanted to joke around a bit…”
[I thought of Izumi as a real friend~.]
“I-I’m sorry for pulling such a weird prank…”
I don’t know.
[So when we talk every day, you think like this, huh, Izumi?]
“Huff, s-sorry…”
I wanted to apologize to Suzuha, but I didn’t know how.
[…Huh?]
“I’m sorry, sniff…”
-You’re crying?
-Don’t cry, Mei!
-Suzuha has teared up.
“Please don’t abandon me…”
A part of me, still aware of being live, knew it wasn’t a good scene, but the emotional dam had already burst.
“Huuu, waaaaa…!”
[Izumi, wait! Abandon? What are you talking about?! Calm down! I was just messing around too?!]
In the end, I sobbed for 10 minutes in front of Koga‘s broadcast and 7,000 viewers.
This is definitely going to be clipped…?
★
[【Gray City】Starting with building houses! #KogaSuzuha#StarsFlow#GrayCity]
[Th-that kind of joke isn’t welcome…]
“I’m sorry…”
Suzuha sighed as she apologized.
Of course, the root cause of the incident was all on me, but Suzuha wasn’t the type to say that to someone who had just cried.
Moreover, she had kind of expected me to cry, so her guilt only grew in her heart.
[But still, I… no, I’m sorry too. I thought it would be fun….]
“…Honestly, it was fun. I just wanted to tease Izumi a bit.”
[R-really?]
“Yep.”
Honestly, I can’t hate Izumi.
To be fair, Suzuha was a little upset at first too.
In this first-time game, it was hard to enjoy when someone kept interrupting.
I wouldn’t die from slingshot damage, but it took time to heal, making it impossible for me to chase down the culprit.
It was easy to infer that the culprit was Izumi.
Of course, knowing that didn’t make the annoyance disappear, and even though Suzuha tried to turn it into a joke, it didn’t mean her earlier frustration vanished.
But since Izumi was so worked up that she shed tears, Suzuha doubted she’d be feeling that level of frustration toward Izumi.
Yet, she realized her own joke had gone too far and promptly apologized.
“Am I quick-witted or slow to catch on….”
[I-I think I’m quick-witted….]
…If I were quick-witted, I wouldn’t have played such a joke in the first place, would I?
Suzuha pushed that question aside from her mind.
“…Yeah.”
She chuckled softly and replied.
★
[【Gray City】Today, Mei the reaper is taking a rest #KainohIzumi#StarsFlow#GrayCity
]“W-well then, I’m going to head to my base…”
[Okay. Just be careful; you might be my enemy next time!]
“Please don’t say such things…”
With that final remark, Suzuha left to gather materials for building her house again.
I wish we could have formed an alliance, but Suzuha already said she joined an alliance as soon as Yukari Akabane started.
In the Gray City, forming multiple alliances is generally not possible, so for Suzuha to join me, she would either need to break her alliance with Yukari or have me join it.
The former option seemed unlikely, as Suzuha would feel too guilty to do that, and the latter was impossible since the alliance leader, Yukari, wasn’t present at the moment.
“Indeed, I guess the beast is always lonely…”
In the end, left alone, I tried to dispel the embarrassment of crying earlier with such words, but…
-Beast (laughs)
-Suzuizu is here!
-Suzuizu Tehe!
–Waaaaah! Waaaaah! Blood revenge.
-So cute!
-Cry more!
The Izutomo were buzzing with laughter, having a grand time at my expense.
But I know.
Being wishy-washy in this situation will only entertain them even more.
It’s better to be bold during such times.
“The reason Suzuha got mad earlier is because of all of you….”
-???
-What’s that supposed to mean?
“Y-you should’ve told me to stop earlier!”
-You told me to stop!
-I’ve told you several times!
-You’re the one who kept going despite saying it was blood revenge!
-Are you passing the blame to viewers now?
-This is definitely Yeo-sang territory.
-Who’s threatening to take revenge while holding a knife?
“Not true! You should have been clearer about it! It’s your fault! I’m innocent…!”
Guilt? I feel none at all.
The Izutomo tease me all the time; I can throw the blame back at them when it’s like this.
I’m definitely not, absolutely not in the wrong.
“Now, innocent me must head back to my base….”
-So they’ve decided I’m innocent after all.
-I feel wronged.
Shut up.
As a super cute girl and the owner of the Arcana Shooter’s Purgatory Clear, I am always right.
★
Returning to my base, I started to think about what I should do next.
…Maybe I should steadily conquer the content of the Gray City.
The Gray City offers an immense amount of gameplay options.
From simple travels to unique tech developments that can create alien technologies, and if we’re talking about multiplayer, I can have wars like I did before, along with various games and amusement rides.
And what I originally wanted to do today was travel.
Surviving in the Gray City is the primary objective, but reaching the end of the map reveals truly beautiful scenery.
Seeing that view is basically ‘content for the seasoned players,’ so I doubt many of the Izutomo have seen it.
To add to it, the methods to periodically catch that glimpse change, so although I’ve attempted it several times while playing, I only managed to see it once.
…I didn’t choose it because I could definitely do all the content alone.
“W-well then, my goal for this Gray City starting today will be Okeanos….”
-Okeanos?
-What’s that?
-Starting at the beginning, huh?
Even though it’s just a game, the feeling of going on a journey made my heart flutter.
It’s bound to be a great broadcast.
And I trust that instinct without a doubt.