/
“You have died.”
The warrior slumped to the ground in a distorted manner, having been surrounded and killed by too many monsters. Bloody words appeared on the large crystal LCD display television screen.
“This path is a trap. I should have taken the right side,” Seiji reflected.
“This trap can probably be jumped over by using a high-speed jump.” Hisashi adjusted his eyeglasses.
“That’s too risky. Let’s try the right side instead.”
The two otakus were currently playing a very difficult dark-themed action game. They had died many times already.
‘Why are you playing such a video game at this time!? Isn’t this incredibly jinxing!?’ Mika commented in her mind as she watched them.
Shika calmly sipped on her tea as she also observed the two boys.
One hour had now passed after everyone returned from the Inner World.
Hisashi arranged a car to take Kazufuru home. Other than Kazufuru, everyone else remained at the Juumonji dojo to wait for Hoshi to return.
Just waiting was boring, so Hisashi had some underlings move the television and video game system from his room to the dojo. He hooked up the system and started playing a new, excellently-reviewed video game while also having servants bring tea, confectioneries, and so on.
The two boys played for a while and appeared to get completely absorbed in the game, having forgotten their original purpose here.
“There’s an ambush here. Retreat!”
“This humble one can handle something of this degree! Ohhh!!”
“Don’t force yourself, hurry and throw a smoke grenade!”
The warrior on the television screen was currently fighting against three different monsters. He managed to kill off two of them by running and rolling around, slicing in every direction. Unfortunately, he wasn’t careful enough and was viciously slashed by the third monster. A fourth monster then descended from the ceiling and assassinated him!
“You have died…” Bloody words appeared on the screen once again.
“There was actually an ambush from above? How underhanded.” Seiji sighed.
“This humble one made a mistake with the controls… No, I overestimated myself.” Hisashi sighed.
“We need to be more cautious.”
“As expected of a famously difficult game. It’s so easy to die if you’re not careful.”
“Can’t you guys play a different game?” Mika finally couldn’t help herself. “Isn’t it unlucky to be seeing so much ‘You have died’ on the screen?”
“Why’s that?” Seiji and Hisashi looked at her in unison.
“Because… Hoshi’s currently…”
“The game’s a game, and Hoshi is Hoshi,” Seiji responded.
“That’s right. The Knight of Light won’t be affected by this game,” Hisashi stated.
“Although that might be the case, wont this jinx things?”
“If that was really the case, not only should we not be playing this game, we should all be sitting here properly praying for him, or immediately going to some shrine to donate money for his safety,” Seiji spoke calmly. “But, I’m too lazy to do such a thing… It’s that idiot’s fault for making his own decision to wait there by himself for his death.”
His calm words contained a noticeably deep anger.
Mika didn’t dare to say anything else after hearing this.
“This humble one thinks the same… besides, the Knight of Light even went to the trouble of refusing my request at the end, which makes me especially angry,” Hisashi also spoke in a calm tone that revealed his anger.
It was as if dark flames were beginning to burn on the two otakus’ bodies.
Mika realized that neither of them had forgotten why they were all here in the dojo. They weren’t playing the game because they had forgotten the situation. It was intentional on their part!
‘Amami-san… hurry and return! If you come back too late, something scary might happen,’ Mika thought to herself.
Seiji and Hisashi continued playing the video game.
The warrior on the screen continuously died over and over again. Most of the deaths were due to careless player mistakes.
Seiji, who was calmly observing, had easily noticed that although they seemed to be seriously playing the game, they weren’t focusing at all.
One hour passed.
Another hour passed.
The warrior from the game had died more than one hundred times already. Mika felt that he was incredibly pitiful. She was also even more worried about Hoshi.
At this moment, a red light suddenly flashed as a person materialized in midair!
This person was Hoshi!
He had come back! He really returned!!
Mika was delighted and astonished, while Seiji and Hisashi stood up in unison. Shika put down her teacup.
The beautiful boy stood there with his eyes closed. He had a calm expression. There were some new tatters on his combat uniform, with some patches appearing corroded, some patches appearing pierced, and other patches appearing to be sliced… but it seemed that he himself was basically uninjured.
“Hoshi!” Seiji ran to his junior. “How are you!?”
There was no reaction.
“Hoshi… wake up!” Seiji shook Hoshi on the shoulder.
“Urm…” The beautiful boy slowly opened his eyes, slightly creasing his eyebrows. The look in his eyes appeared rather hollow.
“Hey… what’s the matter?” Seiji shook him again.
Only after this did Hoshi’s eyes return to normal, as if he had just woken up from a daydream.
“Senpai…”
“It’s me. You’re back in reality.” Seiji took a good look at Hoshi’s face. “Are you injured? Does anything feel wrong anywhere?”
Hoshi blinked as he looked at himself.
“I… what’s going on?” Hoshi had a confused expression upon seeing all the tatters on his combat uniform.
The last clear memory he had was of being surrounded and attacked by countless sticky fluid monsters in front of the giant stone door.
What happened after that…?
“This… I don’t remember how this happened to my clothes.” Hoshi rubbed a damaged portion of his clothing that seemed cut off. “I can’t remember… what I experienced…”
“Can’t remember?” Seiji and the others were confused.
“Do you remember who we are?” It would be bad if Hoshi lost his memory.
“Of course…” Hoshi looked back at Seiji and then everyone else. “Everyone… I’ve returned.”
Hoshi smiled movingly.
“Welcome back, Amami-san,” Mika spoke sincerely.
“It’s good that you’re alright,” Shika told him.
Hisashi adjusted his eyeglasses and didn’t say a word as he looked at Hoshi’s smile.
Seiji slightly narrowed his eyes.
“Hoshi, are you certain that you’re uninjured?”
“I don’t think I am… I don’t feel like I’m hurting anywhere.” Hoshi checked his own body again.
“Excellent.” Seiji started smiling. He then took off Hoshi helmet and made a fist…
*Dong!* An iron fist smashed into the top of the beautiful boy’s head.
This was a scene that hadn’t occurred for such a long time.
“Ouch… Senpai…”
“Call me Team Leader!” Seiji knocked Hoshi on the head again. “You idiot that made such a decision on your own!!”
“I’m sorry…”
“You still did such a thing despite being sorry!? Staying there by yourself!? Did you want to die!? Who do you think you are!?”
“Heehee…” Hoshi clutched his head and giggled foolishly as he sensed that Seiji truly cared for him.
“Why are you laughing, you idiot!!!”
Seiji gave the idiot a very good lesson.
“This humble one is quite angry as well. I adamantly refuse your refusal, Knight of Light.” Hisashi stared at Hoshi. “You’re definitely going to wear maid attire!”
“Eh…?” Hoshi was stunned at this.
“Could I see that as well?” Mika’s eyes were sparkling.
“No problem. Please enjoy to your heart’s content.”
“Team Leader…”
“This is something that you brought upon yourself.” Seiji rolled his eyes at Hoshi.
Seiji hid just how relieved he was… it was wonderful that this idiot had returned safely.
But, he had to ask…
“What do you mean by saying you ‘can’t remember?’ What exactly happened after all of us were teleported out?”