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A dull pain shot like a bang through my head.
I have a pretty good idea why.
Ten percent of the reason is jet lag. I just came back to Japan from the US. The other ninety percent is Nico’s voice, who’s been chattering away next to me since a while ago.
After leaving CR, we headed to a certain destination to challenge Mighty Novel X.
We took the subway to the nearest station of the 6th district of Seito City and walked for about five minutes from the station.
“I miss this road. Oh, look, look! There’s a new arcade!”
Nico ran up to the game center along the road and peered into the store with unnecessarily high spirits.
I was an idiot for expecting her to round out a bit as an adult. In fact, she’s become Americanized by living abroad and is now more boisterous than before.
I thought I could live a little more quietly now that Nico was gone.
It all started with a single phone call to the hospital I run, the Hanaya Game Disease Clinic. It was right at nine o’clock, the clinic’s opening time. The woman on the other end of the line spoke after coughing a couple of times in an exaggerated manner, as if she was trying to be heard over the phone.
“Taiga~ I caught a cold~”
The tone of voice was so easy-going that it was hard to imagine someone who was sick. It was almost like a prank call.
Originally I wanted to ignore it, but as a doctor, I just couldn’t.
“How’s your temperature?” I asked her with a sigh.
“Thirty-seven point five degrees.”
“It’ll go away after you eat and sleep.”
“What? What if I die!?”
“If you’ve got the energy to argue, don’t worry about it.”
“I’m running a fever. I can’t do it anymore. It’s Taiga’s fault. Hurry up. Be here in 30 minutes.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“You’re the one who said you’re my doctor no matter where I go! I’ll be at the address I wrote on the postcard I sent you before.”
Nico hung up the phone without waiting for me to answer. Her behavior was almost gangster-like.
Three years ago, after she left my hospital, I received a postcard.
It was a postcard with a picture of the Statue of Liberty printed on it, with only my address and her address as the sender. There was no other message. It was a mystery to me what the meaning of the postcard was, but maybe it was just to let me know her address.
She still had the same thick nerves.
I had no choice but to check my passport, which unfortunately was still within the expiration date. If it had been for five years, I could have used the excuse that it had expired, but it was for ten years.
In the end, I left the clinic with nothing but my clothes on, and by the afternoon I was over the Pacific Ocean.
I was lucky to get a window seat in economy class, thanks to a seat that happened to be available.
It’s been years since I’ve been on an airplane… come to think of it, I had a window seat that time too.
In the past, I was stripped of my medical license and lost my place in this country.
Even if you have a doctor’s skills, even if you have a doctor’s spirit. Without a license, you can’t practice medicine in this country.
For about two years after my medical license was revoked, I spent my days in a slump. I don’t even remember what I was doing. I was so fed up with myself that I wanted to go somewhere as far away from this place as possible to forget everything.
I got a ten year passport and set out on a journey to the other side of the ocean. It didn’t matter where I went.
But the trip didn’t give me anything.
In the end, I came back to Japan without completing even half of my planned schedule.
In the end, I couldn’t quit being a doctor. I started to work as a kind of black market doctor for injured patients who had reasons why they could not be treated openly.
I put all the money I made into stocks except for the bare minimum living expenses.
It was just dirty money. I thought it would be a shame to lose it all.
What’s ironic is that my profits have gone up in the opposite direction, but I digress.
Now I’m a full-fledged game disease specialist. You never know what will happen in life.
“Hey! Are you even listening to me?”
Nico, who was next to me, kicked my ass as hard as she could.
“That hurt. What’s wrong with you!”
“It’s your fault for ignoring me! I’m asking you how to get inside!”
Nico pointed to one side. Looking beyond, I saw the Seito Public Hall standing tall.
Before I knew it, we had arrived at our destination.
This hall had once been the site of a national tournament for a very popular fighting game. This was the place where Nico had called herself “Genius Gamer N” and competed with Genius Gamer M for the championship.
I was the one who suggested this place.
According to Nico, at the time, Ex-Aid was a brash young man. This is because his body had been infected with Parad, and he had developed the Gamer M personality.
After the game tournament, Ex-Aid underwent an operation by Zaizen Michihiko, who was considered an authority on genetic medicine, to separate Parad from his body.
In other words, this was a place of great fate in Ex-Aid’s life.
I planned to challenge the story relying on Nico’s memory.
“Don’t ask me such an obvious question. Of course it’s from the entrance.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot? You don’t have to tell me that, I know. Look at this.”
According to the information board nearby, there was an event going on in the hall.
Matchmaking in a haunted house! A new kind of marriage hunting party!
A haunted house…?
I can’t say it out loud, but I’m not a big fan of ghosts.
In fact, when I was a radiologist at Seito University Hospital, I saw one once in the hospital at night. I’m not going to tell you exactly what I saw. I don’t want to remember. It’s just that I’ve been traumatized ever since.
The hardest part of being a doctor is the hospital at night. I still can’t get used to that.
“It’s true, haunted houses are hard to get into…”
“No, no! That’s not what I want you to look at.”
“What?”
“It’s a marriage hunting party!? It looks like you can’t get inside the venue without entering. It’s super awkward! I guess we’ll have to sneak in through another entrance.”
“That would be trespassing.”
“What do you want us to do then!?”
When I looked at the reception desk at the entrance, I saw a staff member calling out for people to jump in and join the event, as if it hadn’t reached capacity yet.
“We’re gonna have to join in.”
“What!? Are you serious!?”
“We’re just going in. What are you so conscious about?”
“…Nothing. I’m not conscious at all.”
We made up our minds and headed for the reception desk.
The reception desk was divided into two sections, one for participants who had already made reservations and one for those who applied on the day.
At the reservation counter, there was a line of participants ranging from young people to middle-aged men and women who were looking to meet someone.
When I was about to head for the open window for onsite registration, Nico grabbed my arm.
“Wait! There’s a bunch of creepy old men staring at me!”
“That’s what they’re here for, so what the hell. Let go of me.”
After I told the attendant at the counter that I wanted to participate and paid the entry fee, I was given a profile card and forced to fill out the necessary information.
Registration number, name, age, address, blood type, star sign, height, occupation, workplace, annual income, hobbies, personality and favorite type.
Of course, I’ve never been to a place like this before, but I was surprised to find out that they ask for so much detailed personal information.
I guess it’s only natural. It’s a life-altering issue.
I quickly filled out the form.
I had filled in most of the items, but the last thing that troubled me was “personality”.
I couldn’t quite decide what kind of personality I had.
Nico looked at my card and said, “Oh, that’s where it stops, isn’t it?”
“Don’t look at me like that!” I put my card down.
“Then why don’t we write down each other’s personality?”
“You’re just going to write whatever you want.”
“Come on!”
Nico forcibly exchanged our cards, and I had no choice but to accept.
Well, sure enough. Her personality would be easy to write.
I ran my pen over Nico’s profile card and we exchanged our cards after we finished writing.
When I saw what Nico had written about me, I was surprised to see such a coincidence. Both of us had described the other’s personality as “not honest”.
“You know, in a place like this, you’re usually supposed to show off your strengths! Why are you writing something bad!?”
“I’ll return your words exactly as they are.”
“…Enough. Just write it down and get it over with.”
I agreed.
I looked at the card again and realized that the biggest challenge was waiting for me at the very end.
My favorite type.
I’ve never really thought about what my favorite type of person would be like. Well, there’s no need to think about it seriously. I wrote down “honest person”.
“Hey. Are you being sarcastic?” Nico looked at my card again.
“It’s not sarcasm. I’m just stating a fact.”
“That’s annoying.”
“Let me see yours.”
“Absolutely not!”
Nico hid the card in her pocket and didn’t show it to me.
Well, I guess it’s not something that I should be pursuing. I’ll leave it alone.
The procedure took an inordinate amount of time, but we were finally able to enter the venue.
We can’t fool around anymore. The slightest slip of the tongue and it could be game over.
I don’t care if it’s just me, but Nico is with me. There was no way I was going to let her lose the game.
We followed the instructions of the attendant and stepped into the waiting area of the venue. The participants all looked at us with a glare.
I understood Nico’s feelings a little better now.
The way they looked at me, trying to evaluate people based on first impressions, felt like it was piercing my whole body.
We should leave this place as soon as possible.
I’ve heard from Brave and the others about the conditions for participating in Mighty Novel X.
I borrowed the Gamer Driver for Nico from CR. It was the one that Genm was using. Nico refused to use it at all costs, saying she didn’t want it because it was gross. So I had no choice but to give her mine, and I had to use Genm’s driver.
As soon as we put the drivers on our waists, the game’s system sound echoed out of nowhere, just as we had planned.
“Mighty Novel X! Event Start!”
Our surroundings distorted into a mosaic.
The mission had begun.