What Yu Xiao saw was a scene of utter devastation.
Upon the architectural complex of Penglai Island, which he was already incomparably familiar with, and which carried a rather classical Chinese air, what prowled and roamed about were bizarrely-shaped gigantic crawling insects, one after another.
Those were Beta.
And the actions they committed were quite simple.
Whatever they encountered, they destroyed.
Their targets were not only reinforced concrete, but also the scattering, fleeing… crowds of people.
On the ground spread a deeply-hued liquid.
Yu Xiao was unwilling, and did not dare, to figure out just what this thing was.
He was clear about only one thing: this scene was simply an apocalypse.
And although such a realistic picture was also depicted to the fullest in SRW VS… the feeling given by the scenery before him now was completely different from the scenes in the game.
After all, back then Yu Xiao had been piloting a powerful steel giant.
Even if the Beta swarm before him multiplied several times over, he could throw himself into battle without fear.
…But now, all alone, Yu Xiao had only his own fragile human body.
So he, first of all, felt fear… Then, anger layering over it.
If he could pilot a machine, never mind a Gundam or a special machine like the Tallgeese, even the most ordinary Leo, he would absolutely fight these bugs to the very end.
Yu Xiao thought.
But a hypothesis could only remain a hypothesis in the end.
“…Damn it. Damn Beta bastards…!”
So in the end, Yu Xiao could do nothing but roar indignantly like this.
Then, with resentful eyes, he watched the Beta before him gradually close in.
It opened its powerful, bloody maw, as if it were about to swallow Yu Xiao whole—
Yet then, something earth-shattering happened.
The scene before Yu Xiao’s eyes, like a calcium-milk biscuit soaked in hot water, gradually turned illusory and diffuse.
Along with it, his vision too became somewhat distorted.
No, not distorted.
Rather, gradually, from blurry to clear.
This sight was like… like he had just woken from a dream.
…Wait, a dream?
Thinking of this single word, Yu Xiao could not help but give a start.
Then, his mind, as if suddenly doused with cold water, cleared in an instant.
That’s right.
In this world now, where was there any extinction crisis, any Beta invasion?
He opened his eyes with a bit of trepidation.
That’s right.
Before Yu Xiao’s eyes was merely…
“…Um. Yu Xiao… classmate? You suddenly made such a loud sound… you… a-are you… okay…?”
It was merely something Yu Xiao had long since grown used to in daily life.
Yet now, looking at it, the expression carried a somewhat unfamiliar, reverent trepidation.
It was just his English teacher.
…Evening.
“…Sigh.”
Perhaps it was the so-called “what you think by day, you dream by night”?
Merely because of school, he hadn’t opened SRW VS for a whole day… And so, during class, unable to fend off drowsiness, he had dreamed of the game’s contents becoming reality.
Not only that, he had even spoken his dream-talk especially loudly.
…Truly embarrassing.
Yu Xiao could not help but feel a bit dejected because of it.
He hoped the process of strolling alone on this secluded road would put his mind at ease and let him forget the shadow this matter had cast.
So he thought.
But regrettably, things always turn out contrary to one’s wishes.
Yu Xiao noticed that in the bushes ahead, accompanied by a rustling sound, something suddenly popped out.
That was a slender figure.
“Ya-ho! Good evening, Yu-kun~! I guessed right, as expected, you’d pass through here tonight!”
And speaking these cheerful words of greeting, the person who came had already made clear her purpose.
…Even in the night, Yu Xiao could actually see clearly.
The girl before his eyes was named Kabasaka Raimi.
She was Yu Xiao’s classmate, and also a resident from Fusang, separated from the east side of Shenzhou by a strip of sea.
It might sound a little strange.
But in this world it was actually quite normal.
Because the Fusang here had taken an unimagined path.
Its geographically-close, “separated only by a strip of water” connection with Shenzhou had originally been quite intimate.
And after that, the exchanges between the two countries in all sorts of aspects became even more frequent.
Because of this, walking on the streets of Penglai Island, encountering a few Fusang people wouldn’t seem too strange…
But if they appeared in the bushes, that was another matter.
No matter who it was, seeing such a scene would surely give them a scare.
However, despite the logic being so…
“…Popping out from such a secluded place again, Kaimi. Careful you don’t get taken for a weirdo.”
Yet judging by Yu Xiao’s response, he seemed accustomed to it.
This too was something that couldn’t be helped.
Yu Xiao still remembered, when he had just come to this world, still a stranger to everything, he had often received the hospitality of this overly-enthusiastic classmate before his eyes.
From history knowledge to geographic environment, he had troubled her quite a bit with this and that.
Thus the relationship between the two had grown overly familiar because of it, which was probably the so-called natural course.
“No no… isn’t making an entrance like this pretty cool? It feels like a ninja in an action movie, or something…”
So Kaimi’s response, naturally, could not escape being teased a couple of times by Yu Xiao.
“…With the female ninjas in those movies, there’s no escaping the classic scene of being caught red-handed. You’re not… hoping to become like that, are you…?”
“Ugh. What’s that supposed to mean! Don’t treat humanity’s beautiful ideals with such prejudice, okay!”
“The only one in this era who’d make becoming a ninja their life’s ideal is you…”
While joking, Yu Xiao also seriously turned his gaze toward the girl.
There’s a saying, “clothes make the man, the saddle makes the horse.” Seen this way, the girl named Kabasaka Raimi might just be its greatest counterexample.
Although she wore the Penglai Island High School’s unified sportswear-style uniform, so often teased as a red-and-white plastic bag, she did not look dispirited in the least. Follow the newest chapters on novelping(.)com.
On the contrary, paired with the high ponytail bound by her vivid red hair at the back of her head, it further highlighted the fiery youthful vitality unique to the girl.
“…But seriously, Yu-kun was strange today too. During class you even yelled something like ‘Damn Beta bastards~!’… even Shioni-chan seemed to get a huge fright from you.”
Brushing a hand over her head, she shook off a few green leaves still stuck to it, caught unwittingly while lurking in the bushes.
Then Kaimi lightly stepped forward, advancing shoulder to shoulder with Yu Xiao.
The long, slightly curled ahoge on her forehead swayed along with her pace.
Only, her words had unintentionally made Yu Xiao a bit choked up.
“Ah… um. That… I really did do her a bit wrong… but, I’ll find a time to apologize to her.”
Having been poked at today’s sore spot, he could only respond somewhat haltingly.
…Shioni-chan.
With this form of address, Yu Xiao was quite familiar.
After all, this was the nickname of the teacher who had been startled in the daytime by his sleep-talking in class.
Of course, limited to Kaimi’s mouth.
For him, it was better to honestly call her teacher.
Her name sounded foreign, and in fact, she seemed to be a teacher who came from elsewhere.
In short, a so-called foreign teacher.
…Though saying that, she didn’t have much dignity either.
Rather, although one could tell that during class she tried hard to put on a stern face.
The moment she encountered something, it would break in a second.
Showing a panicked, flustered expression was also commonplace.
It was precisely for this reason that she was treated as a mascot in the class… Yu Xiao mused.
But then Kaimi’s next words pulled his thoughts back to the present.
“By the way, Yu-kun. Want to come to my house for dinner? I asked, tonight my family’s making curry. Fragrant beef curry. How about it? Compared to going home alone and chewing on dry instant noodles, as expected, I think it’s still…”
It was an invitation too kind to refuse.
Coming from Kaimi’s mouth, it wouldn’t be too strange either.
After all, she was that hospitable type.
“…Thanks. But I, as expected, will make it next time.”
Yet to this, Yu Xiao only shook his head in response.
And once again, the girl pointed out the reason he couldn’t say aloud, with a slightly subtle look of disappointment.
“…Oh. Could it be that again? The game.”
“Yep. It’s that.”
Asked crisply, answered crisply.
To Yu Xiao, the Real Battlefield of SRW VS now tickled his heart like a bug.
So making him go be a guest, forget it.
Yu Xiao thought silently.
“I see…”
And, after advancing shoulder to shoulder past the next intersection…
“…Then, see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. See you tomorrow.”
Leaving behind only two light exchanges, the two waved at each other, and then parted ways.
Though the meeting had been inevitably startling, in the end there was no overly grand farewell.
After all, this was just an ordinary day in ordinary daily life, hardly a rare one, right?