Peridot
I spent the next half-hour staring out the car window; no matter how far we moved away from the beach, the sand dunes just kept stretching on, and once we reached an intersection, we turned away from the capital and headed toward the nearest gas station.
"...What the hell was that, huh?" Anelise asked. "You had a whole squad with you just a day ago, where'd your communication skills go?"
"It's not that simple!" I glared at her, feeling my face burn with embarrassment. "Connecting with your comrades through duty is one thing; making actual friends is something else entirely. Besides, you didn't do much better back there! You were standing behind me, snickering like a damn specter!"
"A-At least I didn't go around acting like some cool chick who could make friends in any situation!"
I didn't answer. I couldn't.
Once again, we drove in silence, heading toward the capital after refueling, passing right through the middle of an abandoned town that was slowly being buried by sand dunes and drowning in the pools of water forming between them.
"...So, you don't have friends in the real world either?"
"I used to." It was true; I'd grown close to more than just one or two other soldiers while on missions. When you're out in the field, trusting each other with your lives, when you're all equally mired in shit and blood, some kind of connection is inevitable. It might be a friendship so honest it only ends with someone's death, or a hatred so deep it can only end the same way.
By the same token, I'd seen more than one or two friendships come to an end in the shadow of that terrifyingly beautiful machine. The sun shone behind her, and her open-armed silhouette reminded everyone that before becoming a symbol of salvation, the cross had been a symbol of death...
"So, you don't have one anymore?" Anelise ignored the complex nuances of my situation, in an irritating way. "You said you had a family. Don't you get along?"
"I wouldn't say that, exactly."
" And what would you say, exactly?"
"...My mother is an even bigger workaholic than I am; in fact, compared to her, I look like a total slacker. And my dad is someone who lets himself get carried away a bit too much, a good man who ended up in a bad place. That's why we don't live together, nor do we stay in much contact."
"Hmm. But you said you were supporting a family. I thought you were, like, married or something."
"No, I... I've been looking after my twin sister."
"Oh, you have a sister? That's cool, do you get along?"
"No. Not at all."
"...Why?"
"She's a lazy, antisocial recluse and a hedonist who cares only about wasting her life chasing superficial pleasures" I replied. When I didn't get an immediate reaction, I looked at Anelise and noticed her eyelid twitching. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. Just got a bit of sand in my eye. You know how it is, sand everywhere around here, haha."
"...Right."
"Anyway, your sister sounds like a tough nut to crack! So, you mean you two never got along? Why don't you just kick her out if you hate her so much?"
"No, it's not like that. It's not that we never got along. In fact, she used to be the most important person in my life. It might not look like it now, but back then, she was everything I wanted to protect, everything precious to me, and in return, she..." I smiled. I couldn't help it when remembering those terribly fucked-up good times. "She reminded me that there was more to life than just what the adults around us told us to do. So, I don't hate her. I never have, and I don't think I'm capable of ever hating her, even if she spends the rest of her life pestering me. Even now, if she asked me to die, I would. Even now, all I want to protect is..."
I fell silent. What was I even talking about?
"Sorry, I shouldn't be going on about this boring stuff inside a game."
"N-No, it's fine, really," Anelise said, though she avoided my gaze.
Ah, I must have been a drag with all that talk.
"Don't worry, the sappy sentimental stuff ends here. Actually, my goal in this game is to find my sister's avatar and kill her so she stops spending so much time online.
"Oh, I see, haha. That's cool." Anelise smiled at me, a smile so wide and honest that I felt I didn't deserve it after repeatedly acting so pathetically in front of her; she was showing all her white teeth, her eyes were sparkling almost like molten gold in the morning sun, and she was blushing right up to her ears.
"Ba-dum!" My heart pounded.
"Pow-Thump!" I banged my head against the dashboard, and then back against the seat, when the car braked suddenly.
"Ow!" I clutched my forehead, which was glowing neon red. "Oh, wait, it doesn't actually hurt... Still, what was that about?!"
"O-Over there." Anelise pointed toward the dunes.
Following the direction of her finger, I saw an old wooden house bleached white by the sun; it was falling apart, its paint long since peeled away, its windows shattered, and its roof a patchwork of repairs. And in front of that very house stood a group of four very familiar adventurers.
"Ugh... Get us out of here, I'm embarrassed just looking at them. If they spot us, I think I might actually die of shame."
"Are you kidding?!"
"What? What's the problem? Do you want to apologize for stealing their car?"
"Of course not! Look, Legiano, they're heading toward the capital. When they get there, they'll report the attack and the theft; we'll become wanted fugitives, and you won't be able to complete your mission!"
I glanced back at the adventurers in the distance, who were being invited into the dilapidated house by a toothless old woman.
"So... what should we...?"
Game Over ☠
Jade
The house's interior was just as rotten as its exterior, and pitch-black to boot. But that actually worked in my favor.
"Heh... heh... heh..." The old lady chuckled as she prepared coffee for her unexpected guest.
I know you're happy to finally see a living soul in this godforsaken place, little NPC lady, and I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, but I need them dead.
"Creeeak!" From a distance, I opened a door far from the kitchen using one of the toy cars I controlled, then hid it under a small side table.
Curious, the old lady went to investigate the sound, and I seized the opportunity to-
"João! I told you not to let that damn dog inside!" the old lady shouted toward the staircase leading to the second floor. "Get over here right now and tie that thing up before it shits in the house again!"
A scrawny, long-haired young man appeared, muttering under his breath and heading straight toward me, forcing me to retreat deeper into the house.
Shit, I thought it was just the elderly couple! I hid behind the door of what looked like a room filled with junk.
"Girls... Girls... Heh, we've got girls," the scrawny guy muttered in the hallway outside the room.
Look, as a fellow citizen of the land of shut-ins, I get the excitement of a visit from the opposite sex, but you're just going to scare them off like that I actually felt sorry for the NPC.
But I couldn't afford compassion when the scrawny guy walked right into that room looking for his damn dog.
"Huh...?" He stared at me, eyes wide. And perhaps it was the bag of bread I'd bought at the gas station, which was currently covering my face, or the knife I held in one hand, but the skinny guy's already pale face turned even whiter, and I received a notification:
[You inflicted: Fear]
"Mufh!?" The NPC tried to scream, but when I drove my knife hilt-deep into his mouth, he could only mumble and grunt.
I quickly drew a pair of new knives and slashed the NPC's face dozens of times.
"Thud!" His body collapsed onto the room's clutter, motionless.
"You'd better hope your fucking piece-of-shit dog didn't mess up anything in my house, you bastard!" the old lady shouted from the kitchen.
What a foul-mouthed old woman! I thought, though I was relieved that no one came to check on things.
Still, I need to kill those four in a way that doesn't make it obvious we were the ones who did it, just in case this gets investigated...
I crept back to the kitchen, but neither the coffee nor the old lady was there anymore.
I peeked into the dining room and saw only the wavering shadows of the four of them, cast by dim lanterns, heading in different directions: the redhead and the thief were clumsily making their way down the basement stairs; I also thought I saw the blonde warrior's boots heading toward the staircase to the second floor.
Damn it, why split up now?! Just stay at the table and drink the coffee the sweet old lady made for you! Sit tight and wait until I blow up a kilo of TNT under your chairs!
Fortunately, not everything was going off-script: the bespectacled mage was still at the table... actually, she was slumped over the table like a ragdoll. I approached slowly, but even when I stepped on a loose floorboard and made a noise, she didn't react.
AFK? I figured she might have disconnected from the game while her character was still online, a quick bathroom break or something.
"Guhuhu..." I yanked the bespectacled mage's hair, forcing her avatar to look at me. "Playing the innocent act when, in reality, you're the type who goes camping and gets wasted with men... You're exactly the kind of person I hate most!" I shouted and whispered all at once. "Pretending to be a loser when you aren't one for real... Do you think I chose to be like this?!" I shoved her onto the table, knocking the coffee cups flying. "Don't think you can fool me, you slut! Your kind... Your kind is exactly the sort who asks if I like otome games, but when I say I've beaten the entire 'Lock'n Love: Impregnation Sentence' franchise, you just laugh in my face! 'Virtual friend,' my ass, you took screenshots and posted our conversations on your secret account!!"
[You inflicted: Dread!]
Amidst the screaming, I left a knife in each of the mage's hands and one in each of her eyes.
"M-My son...?" I heard the old man who lived there coming up the stairs, hesitating.
Damn, I got distracted and made too much noise; I slipped as fast as I could into a closet near the stairs. Wait, did the little mage get terrified? I thought she was AFK?
When the old man reached the dining room, he stared at the gruesome scene for just a few seconds before slowly turning on his heel, calling out for his son in the same carefree tone as before:
"Sonny? My dear son? Are you there?" Getting no answer, he headed toward the kitchen.
Weird. Is he senile?
I took the chance to head up the stairs to the second floor.
"Hehehe! Cutie, no need to be shy!" I heard a woman speaking from behind a partially open door.
When I peeked in, I saw an obese woman facing the blond warrior, who was desperately trying to break free from the bonds tying him to a chair. The room contained a dozen male figures that fell squarely into the uncanny valley: they were made of human skin.
THEY'RE MURDEROUS HICKS! I finally understood.
"GYAWAWAWA!" the old man downstairs screamed. "My sonnyyy!" He had found the body of the skinny guy I'd killed.
Distracted by the sudden shout, I didn't notice when it happened, but the fat skinner was staring right at me from inside the room, her face as pale as my first victim's in that house.
"Guhuhu... D-Do you need help?" I suggested teaming up.
"Gwaaah!" The fat woman grabbed a fish knife and charged at me.
"I guess not..." I sighed. I kicked the door open just as she reached me, slamming it into the fat woman's nose.
As my opponent staggered backward, I stepped into the room and locked the door behind me.
"You bitch... Who are you?!" my enemy screamed, lashing out clumsily.
I see, these NPCs aren't actually that strong, I thought, dodging her blows. I was surprised, as I hadn't expected a mission with such a creepy atmosphere, but unless players let themselves get tricked and captured, these enemies aren't much of a threat.
"Little girl? My sweet daughter, what's happening?" I heard the old man coming up the stairs.
Still, together they could be a nuisance. Better finish this quickly, I thought. The very next instant, I fired my grappling hook at my enemy's neck and kicked her out the boarded-up window, snapping her neck like a noose.
"Daughter! Sweet little daughter, are you listening to me!?" I heard the old man shouting from the other side of the door, trying to get into the locked room.
"Click-clack!" He cocked his shotgun.
I slowly looked at the blond warrior tied to the chair; his cheeks were marked by tears that wouldn't stop streaming down, his eyes red and glassy as he shook his head from side to side in negation.
I nodded my own head up and down in affirmation, and positioned his chair in front of the door while the old man warned his daughter to step away.
When I heard the shotgun blasts, I was already outside the house, right in front of a huge, drooling dog.
Luckily, he already had a plate full of the remains of the "sweet little daughter" of the murderous hick I threw out the window. Literally.
"Huh, good boy."
I walked to the front of the house when I saw the thief and the redhead breaking down the front door, panting and with their weapons stained with the iridescent blood of the NPCs who had tried to kill them, I presumed.
"Look, look!" The redhead pointed at me.
"T-The car!" The thief indicated the old vehicle parked in the hillbilly family's garage, a van, and the two started running.
I followed them slowly, walking.
I'm starting to feel genuinely bad about this...
The pair got into the van, and the thief started using a [Skill]:
"[Hotwire]!" He pointed a palm at the steering wheel, and the ignition flashed, but the car wouldn't start. "[Hotwire]! [Hotwire]! [Hotwire]! [Hotwire]!" He used the [Skill] again and again, never taking his eyes off me, before the engine finally started to roar. "Ah, I- I did it! Let's escape!" He celebrated, finally looking to the side and noticing the corpse of his companion.
Legiano, inside the van since the beginning, was also staring at him with a bag of bread on his head.
My brother moved faster than the other player, and in an instant pierced his face a dozen times.
"G-G-Gah...!" The thief clutched his chest, his eyes bulging and covered in sweat. Then, his avatar disappeared in a white noise animation.
Uh? He was disconnected? The poor guy must have peed his pants in fear... Well, anyway, I saw the state his avatar was in before that, even if he logs in again, he'll die soon after.
"Hey, good job!" I congratulated my brother, taking off my mask.
[Congratulations! Your Relationship Level with Armadeiro has increased to: Fanatic!]
[Congratulations! You have maximized your Relationship Level with Armadeiro! As a Fanatic, Armadeiro will do anything you ask, without question. Note: requests that would harm Armadeiro may lower your Relationship Level.]
I congratulated myself on successfully taking down those outgoing players while also maximizing my relationship with the imp, but my twin brother didn't look happy at all. Instead of smiling along with me, he sat in silence, holding his face in his hands.
"...Even if this is just a game... I... I..." Legiano said after a minute of silence.
"Come on. Just so you know, those NPCs were the bad guys, okay? Like, serial killers and stuff. We might have killed the good guys, but we killed the villains too, so our karma evened out, right?"
"That's not how it works! And I'm not talking about karma, I'm talking about duty! I'm here on a mission, for a just cause! I-"
"You're here for your sister," I interrupted. Sure, I felt a bit bad about how the fun adventure I'd planned for us had spiraled out of control, but it was just a game; no one actually got hurt. Those players were more likely to share their bizarre story online and get famous for it than anything else. "You don't log in every day to please random players, do you? So why care so much about those four?"
My brother massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"...Just... Let's just get to the capital."
"Sure! At this rate, we'll get there before we have to log out again."