Steph then fulfilled her duty by reading aloud the end of the letter:

“I knew you’d all betray us. Love you guys!”

“…Good job, everyone… Or, as we say—GG! ”

A hush enveloped the world. Contrasted with a stillness as if time had forgotten to flow, the glow of dawn peeked through the long night. The world slowly brightened. Ah, daybreak… It was a long, long time coming. The chirping of birds, the rustling of leaves, and the roaring of waves reverberated throughout the chamber.

“……How elegant…hee-hee.”

Steph whispered, beaming madly, despite the persistent muteness of all present. Ino chuckled as Steph reached enlightenment—or rather, resignation—and came to a greater understanding of the situation at hand.

In summary…it had been a whole load of nothing. Just like Plum, Sora and Shiro had read ahead to a certain extent about the game with the Old Deus before their memories were erased. And they’d had faith in everyone—in their betrayal, their mistrust—beyond a shadow of a doubt. While the Shrine Maiden had trusted that Sora and Shiro would certainly, better than anyone else, by means conceivable only to filthy, repulsive, twisted, broken lowlifes such as themselves, so grossly defective in personality and deplorable in both mind and face—

—succeed in betraying and beguiling everyone to win.

The Shrine Maiden had believed it. They themselves had believed it. Even Ino must have believed it. And so it was. That was all there was to it—a magnificent performance indeed.

“—Well, then.”

The two had betrayed and used them so thoroughly that it was somehow refreshing. Like everyone else, Ino squinted toward the rising sun as it started to flush the sky and thought:

That said, when it actually happens to you, it’s annoying as hell, you monkey bastards.

“Let us proceed with the game. I propose that we play Love or Loved 2. Have you no objection?”

Ino started walking with a cheerful smile on his face, and everyone else likewise proceeded with equally cheerful grins.

“No, that’s fine. But by the way, Mr. Ino, may I make a request?”

Everyone, questioner and questioned alike, kept smiling, but—

“Could we change the NPCs to resemble Sora? And as realistically as possible?”

“Why, I concur. I, too, would like to make such a request. ”

“Oh, me too! I’d be delighted to see you blow him to smithereens! ”

—behind their smiles, the four of them shared a rage that roiled within. Yes.

“Ha-ha-ha, that is no trouble at all. The game has stored specs on Sora from his last play, and from that, we can build a perfect avatar. But it would hardly be interesting if he were to perish too quickly, so let us set his endurance to the maximum value!”

Yes, we are friends. We were allies all along.

“Excuuuse me, Mr. Ino. I swear on my race we shall win this game, buuut…”

“Prince Plum, please be assured that no words are necessary between comrades in arms such as ourselves.”

Yes, now that they had gained a common enemy—

“I pledge to devote all the strength of my nation to hang King Sora up by his feet and smash him.”

—the comrades in arms walked off together as Steph and Laila saw them off.

Thus, at last the shocks from the Old Deus’s game board subsided, and the VR battle began. On that urban battleground where the continental domain and the Immanity Piece were once contested, this time the Eastern Union and a state of Elven Gard were up for grabs. Sora’s personal data from his last login was combined with Chlammy’s memory to simulate him as realistically as possible—in the form of a teeming throng of NPCs.

—Perhaps this was a mistake, Ino Hatsuse thought as he ground his teeth. Having long been away from the front lines, it was no surprise he’d lost his edge, but this—!

“Hey, old fart—I mean, man among men…”

Behind him! To think an NPC with Immanity specs could catch him unawares…

That’s what he got for using Sora’s personal data to spin up a lifelike representation. Just like the real thing, the nonplayer Soras read his movements to appear everywhere he didn’t expect. Ino clucked his tongue and spun his barrel around with lightning speed to spy…

“…Wh-what do you think…? I wanted to look like you even just a little bit. Does it look good on me?”

“Damn you!!”

There stood Sora, squirming and blushing with love in his eyes—in a loincloth. But the next instant, Ino’s fist moved with quantum quickness to deny his eyes from taking it in. That thing soared tens of meters like a cannonball and smashed into a building across the main road. That thing had eaten Ino’s fist, the boom from which, having transcended the sound barrier, was heard about the same time.

“…Dear me, I did it again… I must be more careful…”

In the heat of the moment, he’d forgotten his Lovey-Dovey Gun—and launched his fist of justice, bound to purge all the evils of this world.

Touching an NPC decreased your Love Power. This being a one-on-one battle against Chlammy, running out of Love Power would spell defeat. Though the contact had been brief, Ino ran in panic at the attenuation of his Love Power. He went to find the NPC Sora, now stuck in the wall like a stake, and pull the trigger to finish him (in a nonviolent sense, of course) and regain some energy. Ino leaped out into the street—

“Hey, you!! I never said you had to go that far!!”

—only to be greeted by Chlammy, screaming as she relentlessly fired at the raging Sora hordes.

The rules of the game, of course, had not changed. It hardly bears saying that if Chlammy hit Ino once or Ino hit Chlammy, the game would be settled. And in a one-on-one battle between an Immanity and their Werebeast, it was a given who would win—and yet—

“O—M—G! Look at that! It’s Ino! Squee! ”

“I can’t believe you guys! Weren’t we chasing Chlammy? What kind of sluts are you?!”

“What? It’s not like either of them have boobs! Go for the pecs, duh!”

Each and every Sora NPC—Sora A, Sora B, Sora C, and many others—caused quite a ruckus, all the while dressed in all sorts of outfits, from skirts to culottes to shorts. A rich variety of costumes, all designed for ladies.

—Just then, a whirlwind and a crash rushed past Chlammy, a storm she herself couldn’t even fathom.

“…Indeed, it is quite difficult not to punch them in this state… This was, after all, a mistake,” Ino groaned remorsefully as the Soras stuck into the ground and walls and soared through the air. But he smiled in inverse proportion as he shot them, blowing them away. Chlammy glared at him as she yelled, “And you didn’t really have to give them these actions and costumes, did you?!”

“I grieve to inform you, Miss Chlammy, that those are entirely the choices of the NPCs’ artificial intelligence.”

Yes, even the AI had been made as realistic as possible. In other words, even as a software simulation, Sora could not help but troll them.

And Ino could not help but punch him.

“Mr. Inooo, there’s [secret]! Kill them, kill them all— I mean, take them ouuut!”

To those outside the game, it sounded like Plum had said “secret.” Ino, however, heard “twelve Soras, eight o’clock, distance six hundred.”

“Heh, this will make sixty-four Soras. I leave the outside to you, Sir!!”

“Leave it to meee! Let’s make this as big and bad as we can! It’s so gooood!”

Ino ran off, accompanied by a shock wave, as Chlammy shouted, “Fi! I’ve still only got twenty-four Soras! How can I catch up?!”

“…I’m, just…trying to do something…! Just a bit more—”

At some point, this game had turned into a contest to see who could take out the most Soras. And it was only natural, Chlammy admitted, biting her nails.

Plum was so confident he couldn’t lose to Fiel, instead of finishing the game with a snap as he very well could, he chose to enjoy whaling on Sora first. Ino went along with it, buoyed by his trust in Plum. Chlammy couldn’t ask for more; it would give Fiel more time to get her rite through. All Chlammy could do, meanwhile, was run.

“…Honestly… I can’t believe how useless I am…”

“Yeah… Jeez, Chlammy, you’re such a dumbass.”

“!!”

One of the Soras responded to Chlammy’s self-deprecatory remark as he appeared behind her—but her reaction was a moment too late. Though she swung her gun around, he grabbed the hand holding it and pushed her against the wall. She was now trapped and unable to move, and the NPC continued. “…You drive me crazy. Don’t you realize your own competence and cuteness?”

“My—what…?”

Flustered, Chlammy tried to resist, but he plucked up her chin:

“—You’re just so innocent. Do you really think I’m the only one who’s after you?”

.

“…Uh, uh… Wha—what are you…on about…?”

He’d said all this to Chlammy with a straight face and so close that she could feel his breath, throwing her thoughts into chaos.