chapter 55
55 Don’t Die on Your Own, Let Me Beat You Up
“H-hey, what are you talking about…? Double Suit is dead, right!?”
Bunny Suit gnashed his teeth and said раздраженно, “T-that guy… seems to have used up all his life before I could catch him…”
“…Now that you mention it, he did say something about using up his energy or something.”
“He seems to have used up all his life to forcibly end the battle royale and start a new experiment. That bastard… He died without even taking responsibility… He’s the one who started all this in the first place… “
In other words, Double Suit did whatever he wanted and then ran away a winner.
He’d done whatever he was pleased and left behind a huge piece of crap as a parting gift.
It pissed me off… I wanted to beat the crap out of him…
“Hey, Bunny Suit. About that wish-granting thing, does it literally mean ‘anything’?”
“Y-yeah… Double Suit and I set it up beforehand, so if I activate it, I can do things beyond my abilities… No… hey, don’t tell me…”
“Bring Double Suit back to life.”
“Wait, wait, wait! Wouldn’t it be better to wish for an end to the experiment he started!?”
“I’ll take care of that. But this is my only chance to beat the crap out of Double Suit. Grant it. My wish is ‘bring Double Suit back to life with the same specs as a human.'”
“You’re… going to use a wish that could change the world just to vent your anger?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
“You understand now, don’t you? Nothing good will come of using the Double Suit.”
“Shut up. I’m going to beat him up.”
“Y-You’re insane…”
Even a superior being without human ethics can’t seem to understand this choice.
I didn’t expect them to understand from the beginning.
“Can you do it? Or not?”
“……………………Okay, I’ll do it.”
The Bunny Suit showed more agitation than ever before, and clasped her hands together as if in prayer, then gently closed her eyes.
A gust of wind blew through.
I felt the wind pass through my body and flow behind me.
A flash of lightning.
A blinding light burned into my eyeballs, creating a white haze.
It gradually disappeared, and
“…Oh, wow.”
The Double Suit had revived in a kneeling position.
He seemed to understand what had happened to him right away, and he tried to distance himself from Ryugo while breaking out in a cold sweat.
“YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Ryugo grabbed him by the collar and swung a powerful punch at his face.
A bone-jarring sound echoed through the silent space.
“Guh!”
“You were going to have all the fun and just disappear? Like hell I’d let you!!”
“Gaah! Go…guh! Gu…gah…!”
He mercilessly punched the Double Suit, who was now coughing up Bl00d from his mouth and nose. He grabbed a heavy piece of rubble that had fallen to the ground and slammed it into his stomach.
“Ugh…!?”
He cast aside all ethics and morals in order to unleash all the stress he had been holding in.
He let his anger take over, intent on killing him.
The Double Suit probably wouldn’t die from this, but he definitely seemed to be in pain.
“If you hadn’t been such a pain in the ass from the start to the end, this sh*tty game would have been over a long time ago!!”
He kicked him in the face, knocking out some of his teeth.
His face was now a Bl00dy, swollen, and disfigured mess.
Ryugo caught his breath and looked down at the Double Suit, who was gasping in pain.
“Hah…Hah…Can you still talk about the game after all this?”
“NN-No…I didn’t expect…You to hate me that much…”
“I feel a little better now. I was pissed off.”
“I-If your stress is gone now……then that’s good……hahahahaha.”
He still had the energy to laugh, even in this state.
It was time to get down to business.
“Now, tell me everything about what you did when you were about to die.”
“I can’t tell you.
“If I don’t teach you, you’ll regret it.”
“I have to keep the fun for later. If I spoil it, it won’t be as exciting, right?”
“……Oh, I see. Then this is an ‘order.’ ‘You will forever lose interest in anything fun.'”
“…Huh?”
Double Suit’s eyes widened as he froze for a few seconds.
He must not have realized what had happened to him.
His thoughts must have come together, because his expression changed.
“W-wait a minute! Don’t do that! Don’t take away my enjoyment!”
“I already pressed it, so waiting is out of the question.”
“I’ll tell you what happened earlier!”
“Oh, that’s fine. I’m more excited to see you suffer, so you don’t have to tell me.”
“Please… undo it…!”
“If you reflect on your actions, one of your buddies will probably undo it. Right? Bunny Suit?”
Bunny Suit, who had been asked, smiled and replied.
“…Yeah. We can undo it too. But I don’t think anyone will.”
Double Suit, who had received an order that was tantamount to a death sentence, turned pale and his lips quivered.
He was a game junkie who would even throw away his life. Living without his enjoyment would be a living hell.
He deserves to be left alone for a while.
“Ryugo.”
Suddenly, Bunny Suit bowed deeply. Her long, beautiful hair cascaded down.
“I’m sorry. This incident was caused by my incompetence. As an accomplice, I will eventually be severely punished as well. I won’t make excuses. It’s true that I initially agreed with Double’s proposal to start the Experiments, and that I couldn’t stop his assault.”
“I’m not forgiving you either.”
“If there’s any major damage caused by the Experiments, we were supposed to fix it with our abilities. That means that, without fail, the local people… anyone other than the players would continue to live their peaceful lives no matter what happened. .”
“But now, because of Double Suit, it’s impossible to fix it, right?”
“That’s right. Now that it’s come to this, it can’t be fixed. Ryugo. Please. End this last game. If this were an Experiment that I had prepared, I could have forcibly ended it, but it seems that outside interference is impossible.”
“Very well. That was my intention from the start.”
“I will provide as much support as possible. Let me know if you need anything.”
Bunny Suit tied up Double Suit with a special rope. It wouldn’t open without external code authentication.
“I’ll send you back to the hilltop where you were.”
“Thank you.”
In an instant, light turned the surroundings pure white. The scene changed to darkness as if a switch had been flipped, and reality returned to his vision.
Ryugo was on the hilltop.
There was no one around.
“Huh? Where did Misato and Aira go…?”
He checked the sensors, but the sensor menu was gone. It was probably because the battle royale had ended.
Two choices appeared in his mind.
Misato had taken Aira with her and left of her own accord.
Something unexpected had happened, and they had disappeared.
“Seriously…”
He tried calling, but he couldn’t reach Misato.
A terrible premonition began to surge within me, and it’s likely correct. I don’t want to think about it, but…
With a sigh, I tried calling Aira’s contact.
The electronic tone rang out. Unconsciously, I had held my breath, and now I took a deep breath through my nose.
“…Yes?”
It was Aira’s voice.
She was able to move freely. At that moment, I understood the gist of what had happened.
She hadn’t been completely knocked out by the punch from the double suit and must have attacked Misato at an opportunity.
Still, it’s a wonder she won from such a dazed state. That was the only mystery.
“Aira. Where did you… take Misato?”
“She’s with me. But you should start running, shouldn’t you?”
“Where to?”
“Somewhere deserted would be best. So, she’s at the abandoned factory that Enka used. Now, if you know your destination, run, run. Otherwise…”
The voice coming from the phone turned dark and malevolent.
“Aira’s minions are around, but who knows what they’ll do to her? She might end up with scars that never fade, both on her body and heart.”
The sound of my patience snapping echoed in my ears.
She must be saying this just to anger me. That’s what the last bit of my rationality, hardly useful, deduced.
While trembling with breath, I somehow managed to suppress my uncontrollable anger and muttered.
“…I see. Wait for me. I’ll kill you.”
“Okay. Come on. It’s a promise.”
With a cheerful tone as if proposing a date, Aira ended the call.
I took my face away from the silent phone and let out a sigh.
This is a moment for anger management.
Identify the cause of the anger, articulate why I’m angry, and think of a way to dissipate it—
“aaaRGH! I’LL KILL YOU!”
The anger surged back immediately.
Anger management is crap after all. The best way to relieve stress is to let it out in anger.
“Tanuki!”
The voice that called out from behind was,
“…Kouki. And Seito, Enka too.”
Regardless of the two behind me, Kouki, whom I hadn’t even called, seemed to have come for some reason.
Come to think of it, Seito was supposed to be under Aira’s “slave” hypnosis.
“Seito, can you move?”
“I don’t know why, but I can tell the hypnosis is gone.”
Perhaps the double suit forcibly starting a new game caused some malfunction. Maybe something like all hypnosis being lifted…
Either way, it’s good to have more hands on deck.
“Sorry for being late.”
Kouki said with a sarcastic smile.
“I was planning to just watch at first. But then I received a rescue request from Enka.”
I looked at Enka, who was battered and bruised.
She had come all this way without going to the hospital, covered in Bl00d. But she could barely move. If a fight were to break out, she’d only be a hindrance.
“…Tanuki-kun. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“First, get to the hospital.”
“Even if I die, I won’t die right away. Besides, if I can help Tanuki-kun, then I don’t mind dying.”
Determination dwelled in Enka’s round eyes. It was gentle, yet emanated a certain bright glow.
It seemed that her only reason was to be of use to the person she admired.
Even knowing her body couldn’t handle a fight, she was ready to charge in with reckless abandon.
“…Can I trust you?”
“Yes. You can.”
“I understand. I’ll transfer the app’s authority to you.”
Kouki and Makoto let out cries of surprise that could have echoed through the night sky.