6 - Epilogue

Just to stand in front of the school gate took considerable courage. Sera stood there, fists clenched, with just enough courage to make it there and, surprisingly, much less trembling than expected.

Sera, King Kirihito, had been unquestionably the strongest player in all of NaroFan, a strength earned through the relentless hunting of monsters. Sera had never felt any doubt about this being the proper course of action. It had all been in the interest of becoming stronger.

Everybody loses sometimes.

Those were the words of the person who had taught Sera about how gaming worked, and learning that one loss wasn’t the end of the world was somehow a relief in itself.

To someone like Sera, who had learned a bit earlier than other children how cruel reality could be, how spiteful people could be... that person had offered a way to escape. To that person, Sera felt gratitude and — despite the embarrassment of showing it outwardly — no small amount of filial piety. Of course, that person suffered from severe virtual sickness, and so had not been able to accompany Sera into NaroFan. As a result, in a very real way, that world had belonged to Kirihito alone.

If you can fight alone and lose, and still not feel pathetic, then maybe it’s time to stand and face reality. That was what Sera’s self-styled master had said.

The only thing left to do was to try it.

“Yoo-hoo, Kiryu!”

Sera turned to face the cheerful voice. “Tsuwabuki.”

“Wow, I still can’t get used to the sight of you in a uniform!” Asuha cried.

“Hey, knock it off...” Sera squirmed as Asuha tugged on her friend’s uniform sleeve, grinning.

“Hey Kiryu, are you mad Itchy beat you that way?” Asuha asked as Sera smoothed out the wrinkles she had made.

“Well, from the first time I saw him in the dungeon, I realized he was that kind of person...”

The lag attack had been unexpected, but it was a time-honored old MMO PvP technique, according to Sera’s master. Back in the days when everyone’s connection had been slow, MMO players whose houses happened to be closest to a relay station would get deep into PKing, apparently.

If you whined over losing to a technique like that, it was just a sign that you needed more training.

Sera clenched a fist. Next time, I will win. Next time, I won’t lose. I will pound Asuha’s “big brother” into the ground.

“Kiryu, you...” Asuha gazed at her friend’s profile, murmuring. “You look like you’re really interested in Itchy now.”

“Oh, you could tell?”

“No, I just said it to tease you.”

“...Hey!”

“So you finished it off with a lag attack, huh?” Sakurako asked.

It was several days later. Sakurako had been disappointed when she’d heard the details.

“No, I just finally invoked my full power,” Ichiro said.

“You call that your full power? Spending tons of money, overloading the server to cause lag and beat your opponent... you can’t really want that to be your ‘full power’!”

“Nonsense. Money is a reflection of my genius, so using a lot of it is using my full power,” he said calmly.

As the two talked around each other, they were sorting out their Bon Festival gifts.

Ichiro didn’t need them, of course, but politicians and company presidents sent them to him as a formality. Ever since he had sent out a memo requesting non-perishable items, he had received many fine jellies, juices, and occasionally wines. They would take at least six months to go bad, and by that time, he’d be receiving New Year’s gifts. It ensured that the Tsuwabuki estate never lacked for such things.

Of course, dealing with Bon gifts was part of Sakurako’s job as a servant, but Ichiro had decided on a whim to help her. It was that kind of day.

“What if the way you chose to beat Sera has just twisted her even more?” Sakurako demanded. “Making her decide she needed to buy microtransactions to get stronger... Sending her into the dark side of microtransactions...”

Ichiro looked unbothered. “I don’t think King is that kind of person, personally... Oh, this gift is from Matsunaga.”

“Oh?”

Ichiro murmured as he checked the name on the latest gift. Sakurako turned back and peered at it. Indeed, it was an address she didn’t recognize, but the sender line contained the phrase “Leader of the Dual Serpents,” which seemed to remove all doubt.

“It would be easy enough for him to find out my identity, and I don’t exactly keep my residence a secret... A polite man, isn’t he?”

“Hisahide Matsunaga,” she said. “Is that his real name?”

“I don’t know. I wonder if it’s a tea kettle... Oh, it’s a ham.”

“If it were a tea kettle, I’d have to look out to make sure it didn’t explode,” she said.

It wasn’t a very expensive present, but pleasant enough. The accompanying letter thanked him for the chaos he had caused the other day. It didn’t sound like it was sarcastic.

The truth was, ever since Ichiro’s duel with King, Matsunaga’s blog had exploded with hits as Matsunaga had written articles casting Ichiro as a villain. Ichiro had anticipated something like that, so he didn’t mind. Perhaps that was part of what he was thanking him for.

“Even so...” Sakurako put the ham received from Matsunaga in the fridge and returned. “After you finally got into NaroFan, I thought we might be able to play together... but we’ve barely played together at all.”

“We hung out for the first week when I was leveling up. Afterward, I had Asuha’s request to attend to.”

“Hmm,” she said. “I kind of miss it. I don’t suppose we could keep playing NaroFan together?”

“No need to worry. I’m going to keep playing NaroFan,” Ichiro assured her.

Ichiro Tsuwabuki had truly enjoyed his time playing Narrow Fantasy Online. He had never known a more stimulating ten days in his entire life. He had encountered so many things he had never before imagined, and there were surely more things yet to be enjoyed.

But he had spent the past few days completely immersed in that fictional world, and he was beginning to feel a bit under-exercised. After spending the day working up a sweat in his indoor pool and indoor gym, he’d made up his mind.

“Iris will be back next week,” he added.

“Oh, that’s right. Iris’s tests will be over!” Sakurako’s expression lit up. “Iris Brand will open its doors once more! Shall we invite Felicia, as well?”

“That’s up to Felicia... ah, it’s from my uncle in Nagoya,” Ichiro murmured as he took up a new box.

“Oh?!” Sakurako lit up far more than she had for Matsunaga’s present. “From Asuha’s family?”

“Yes, there was a letter with it. Asuha is so polite, too, isn’t she? If she just wanted to catch up after all that, she could have just sent an e-mail.” As he spoke, he felt Sakurako’s gaze urging him on, so he opened the letter.

It was written in a big, looping, feminine hand. Asuha’s letter began with an apology to Ichiro (and also Sakurako) for asking them to indulge her selfishness. Sakurako looked a bit depressed over being treated as an add-on. But then, Asuha partly perceived Sakurako as a rival, so perhaps it was inevitable.

Then the letter talked about Sera Kiryu.

According to Asuha, Sera had brightened up considerably from before. Asuha often went to Sera’s house to hang out now, and despite the latter still refusing to come to school, they often played games together. The plan at the moment was for Sera to attend school the day of the term’s closing ceremony, then start coming seriously during second term.

“Sera’s going to declare war on the bullies, it says,” Ichiro finished.

“That’s very extreme,” Sakurako commented. “The closing ceremony is today, isn’t it?”

Reading the letter, Ichiro realized for the first time that Sera was trying to become stronger. Sera had thought that acquiring the power of King Kirihito, the strongest player in the game, would be enough to face real life again. Not even Sera was sure if that had happened or not, but according to Asuha, her friend was grateful for the chance to fight with Ichiro. Also, she said, the rematch was still on the table.

Ichiro was thrilled by the prospect.

He turned over the letter to find a picture on the back. It was apparently Asuha and Sera, standing there in their uniforms. The person who must have been Sera was facing the camera with a rather awkward smile. Very different from King Kirihito’s cocky indifference.

“Ichiro-sama, that picture... is that Sera Kiryu?!” Sakurako burst out.

“I suppose,” he said.

“So... is it a boy... or a girl?!”

Why is Sakurako so obsessed with that question? Ichiro wondered with slight bewilderment. And then he replied:

“Nonsense.”