Chapter Text
Have you ever heard of an urban legend just like this?
Four players who destroy all opponents that come across them, all their scores are unreachable and unbeatable too, because their account names were always left empty, they were simply referred to as "Blank"
As Blank defeated 1,200 players in an hour, their reputation grew and more rumors spread.
Cheaters themselves accused Blank of being cheaters, using auto-aimers and auto-dodgers, hitbox manipulations as a way to make sense of how they could be beat.
See, urban legends were just like a wish.
Because the least interesting one is often the disappointing reality.
Sitting in a chair and staring at six computer screens whilst playing a videogame and controlling two players using two computer mice was a maroon haired and red eyed tall and lean young man, this is Sora, the eighteen-year-old manipulative NEET virgin.
"We won, somehow... Say, little sis, could you stop controlling the main account for Blank with your feet?" Sora asks, glancing downwards to the side of his chair.
Leaning on his chair and controlling the other two players with her feet using two computer mice while eating was his little sister, a white and pale blue haired (with seagreen tips) girl that had red eyes with golden pupils. This is Shiro, she was the smarter one, the genius.
The petite girl continued to eat as she murmured in reply, "well... I'm hungry." as if it was obvious.
She handed some of her food to a girl that was watching them play, she had pinkish red hair and golden pupils, she seemed so enamored at their game and was inputing her own opinion at some moments. This is Mizuki, she was the youngest of the siblings and usually preferred to watch and observe before countering her enemy.
Mizuki stared at her older sister for a moment as Shiro said, "Want some?"
Mizuki had always idolized Shiro, it was as if her half-sister had hung up the sky in her perspective, "Thanks." she mumbled
Sora, who was previously enamored with playing his game stole a glance at his younger siblings and took a double take because of the rations that Shiro had.
He spoke, "Never thought you'd be able to convince Haru-niisan to buy these fancy rations."
Shiro looked thoughtful as she said, "Nutrition is important."
"imouto, the human brain can function as long as it has glucose!" Sora replies, "White Bread is best in terms of cost-performance!"
"thanks for the efficiency lecture." Mizuki says, as if to answer for her older sister, but Shiro quickly adds, "but Mizuki and i need other types of nutrients too or we won't get any bigger."
Mizuki was clinging to her older sister as she played the game calmly.
Sora snorts, "but you both are already flawless beauties, you guys shouldn't worry about it."
Shiro gathers her arms together, revealing the fact that she was self-concious as Mizuki covers her face because she too was self-concious.
Sora then added, "Hey, what time is it?"
As Shiro opened her mouth to answer, she was interupted by not Mizuki, but another speaker.
"It's 8:00 AM" said a black haired and blue eyed male, he was taller than Sora and wasn't as slim as him too, he was obviously buff. This is Haruko, their sainted lucky older brother, he was so lucky that even the gods envied his luck.
"middle of the night." interjects Shiro as Haruko looks at her in horror.
"My god, Sora, what have you been teaching our beloved imoutos?" Haruko scolds him
"nothing!" Sora denies, smoothly lying as he continues to play his game, after a beat, he quickly adds, "what day?"
Haruko rolls his eyes as he sits next to Mizuki, who was watching the game with interest.
Shiro answered, "does that even matter to a NEET?"
Sora replied with renewed vigor, "of course it does! it tells you when MMORPGs are going to have new events and ladder tournaments..."
But Shiro had already dozed off as he was explaining and Haruko and Mizuki watched with amusement as Sora's voice held a panicked tone.
"wait, I know you've been up for five days-" the proof that she had been up for five days were the five empty bowls on the side, "-but if you go to sleep now, i won't have a healer!" Sora held a desperate tone.
Shiro stole a glance at Mizuki and Haruko who simply shook their heads, she then sighed as she grabbed both of her computer mice and tried to attach them (by tape?) to her older brother's feet, "you can do it." she grumbled
Sora looked a bit confused as he replied, "wait... Are you telling me to control four characters with both my hands and feet!?" he said it as if he couldn't believe it.
Shiro tilted her head as she encouragely said, "fight-o!"
Then Shiro went back to sleep, or just plain layed down.
"Wait!" Sora frantically said, "Shiro-san! if you go to sleep, everyone-and by everyone i mean /me/-will die!" then he glanced over at his two other siblings pleadingly
Haruko shook his head, "sorry otouto! but i'm afraid that i can't help you with this." he had a perfectly good reason, he didn't know how to play.
Mizuki, who knew how to play and sometimes (but rarely) played for Shiro said, "i prefer to watch."
Sora looked like he was about to disagree but Mizuki and Haruko were saved when a player attacked one of the Blank characters and Sora proudly declared, "Fine, I'll do it!!"
...
The world is chaotic, unreasonable and unfair. It has no meaning at all. It is a wish of those who realize this yet don't accept this. A wish that the world could be at least a little bit more exciting, a little bit more interesting.
That is an urban legend.
...
*Have you ever heard of a rumor like this?*
one of the tablets opened, a bright light came from the screen as a notification from an email popped up
"nii... email..." Shiro murmured, still half-asleep as Mizuki grabbed the tablet from the floor, piquing with curiosity
Sora huffed as he stretched his body, "your oniisan has been playing four characters on four different screens, i don't know what you want imouto, but i don't have the energy for it."
Haruko was standing beside Sora, he was previously giving his little brother a few tips in defeating his previous opponent
"maybe it's from a friend?" Shiro murmured sleepily
That caused everyone in the room to freeze up
"who's?" Sora asked, no longer focusing on his game
"yours?" Shiro asked
Sora abruptly freezes as he says in a false cheerful tone, "that's funny, i think my beloved sister said something really mean and sarcastic to me!" Sora them turned to look at Haruko, as if to question if it was his friend.
Haruko then shook his head, "it's not me either! i have a personal phone for my emails."
Mizuki then spoke up, "i don't have friends.... so..."
Shiro dragged herself to sit beside her younger sister, both imoutos looking at the tablet, "should we click the email?" asked Shiro
Sora rose from his chair, dragging Haruko along as both of them sat next to the girls, it was getting a bit crowded in that corner
Before Haruko could properly see the email, Mizuki clicked it almost immediately and the four siblings read the information on the email
Sora felt his sweat drop, "what the... How does he know that Blank are siblings!?"
Even Haruko looked worried, "what do we do?" he asked his younger siblings
"is he trying to bargain with us?" Sora asked, his eyes narrowed, then a smirk was shown on his lips as he read the link, "this could be fun..."
Haruko's eyes narrowed as he said, "don't you dare click that link-"
But he was too late becase Sora had already clicked the link.
Haruko immediately facepalmed as the six computer screens showed chess boards, a plastered onto them
Heck, even Sora seemed confused as he looked at the screens, "eh!?"
Only Shiro didn't seem fazed by it, "good...night" she murmured, collapsing against Mizuki
"Wait! Shiro-san, I can't handle an advanced computer chess program like this!" Sora frantically said, "i'm certain that Haru-niisan and Mizuki-chan can't either!"
Shiro looked convinced at his argument as she sat at the chair, staring at the six screens as her three siblings crowded her.
"/Chess is a finite, two player, zero-sum, perfect-information game. Luck has no part in it. Theoretically, there is a perfect solution that will never lose. But only if you understand the 10^120 possible states of the board./" Sora thought as he observed his siblings
"*Chess is no different from tic-tac-toe*" Shiro thought as she moved one of her pawns two spaces forward
Haruko grinned as Shiro made her move, "/Shiro can do this, she's beaten a program designed to defeat grandmasters 20 times in a row, alternating between going first and second./" was the only thought that he had, proud of his sister
"Shiro-oneesan is so cool!" Mizuki enthusiastically said as she watched Shiro play chess, stars in her eyes
It was in the middle of the intense game when Shiro stopped, "but it cut off it's own piece's retreat?"
That was when Sora interrupted, "Wait, Shiro."
"nii..." was the only reply Shiro gave
"computer programs are predictable, always using the best moves possible, that's why their flawed and you can beat them, you're playing against a human right now and they're deliberately using a bad move to try and lure you in." Sora adds as an explanation.
Shiro glared at the computer screen as Sora picked her up and placed her on his lap, Mizuki followed suit by leaning against the chair and Haruko remained standing behind the chair.
"calm down imouto!" Haruko said with a stupid grin on his face
Sora placed his hand over Shiro's hand and the computer mouse as Mizuki took her other hand and said, "you and Sora-niisan both form Blank, with me and Haru-niisan, nobody can beat us."
And so the game went off almost smoothly, Shiro kept calculating the best way to win with Sora's guidance as he told her when they were trying to spook her or lure her in.
They almost lost when the enemy bishop went near their king, they had difficulty getting out of the check when Haruko had pointed out that their bishop could take out the enemy bishop and things went of smoothly from that point.
And finally, the game ended when Mizuki proposed that they replicate what the enemy had tried to do to them, so, in the end, their enemy's move caused their downfall.
Haruko patted his sibling's heads as they leaned against the chair, he too was tired because of the game.
"we won!" Sora rejoiced as Shiro murmured, "haven't fought this hard in a long time..."
"were they really human?" Mizuki asked
Before Haruko or Sora or Shiro could answer or explain, another email popped up.
Sora wasted no time and clicked it
"What!?" Sora mumbled in a disbelieving tone, sweat dropped from his face.
At that question, Mizuki's eyes faced the floor, she would admit, she didn't have a positive opinion about this world.
Shiro averted her gaze, for her, the world wasn't fun at all, for her, the world didn't make any sense
Haruko, as if noticing the mood in the room frowned and placed both of his hands atop Shiro and Mizuki's palms, as if to comfort both of his younger sisters.
"What do we think?" Sora muttered under his breath, "there's no way to know the rules or the goals, yet there are 7 million players doing whatever the heck they want."
Haruko immediately adds, "if you lose too much or win too much, there are penalties. you can't skip your turn and if you complain, you'd be ostracized."
"there are no parameters..." Mizuki mumbles, "and the genre? no one knows it.."
"the world is just a crappy game." Shiro finishes
Sora smirks as he immediately types out a reply, ""
As soon as Sora pressed the button, everything went haywire.
All of their devices showed black and white glitching screens, like they were being hacked or something like that
"what's going on...?" Shiro mumbled as she stood up, dragging Mizuki along with her
"Oneesan!" Mizuki says in alarm, clinging to her older sister
Haruko's eyes narrowed and he pulled all three of his siblings behind him, but his gaze was on the pair of hands that were coming out of the monitor
Sora quickly grabbed onto Shiro and Mizuki as a child's voice spoke up, "i think so too! you were definitely born in the wrong world, So, i'll let you be reborn! in the world that you should have been born in, my world!"
As the mysterious boy? man? child? spoke his monologue, their room, their gamer room, their solitude was breaking apart and they were falling, falling, falling.