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ACT 1.1
ESCAPE
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“What do you think it would be like to be a video game character?”
At this, the girls all turned their attention towards Chiaki. The six girls were all at Chandler Beach enjoying some "girl time" and currently taking a break which involved watermelon and soft drinks. So far the resident gamer had been quiet and fixated on the console in her hands during their break so it came as somewhat of a surprise to the others at the abrupt question. Chiaki had even refused to remove the oversized hoodie covering her swimsuit, only wading into the ocean so far as knee-deep to avoid getting it wet.
"Pardon?" Sonia asked, lowering the slice of melon in her hands. It had been her idea to enjoy a morning on the beach away from the boys. Even Monobear attempting to - unsuccessfully - lure them into committing murder couldn’t stop the teens from having fun.
“A video game character,” Chiaki repeated, eyes unmoving from the console as her fingers moved expertly over the buttons.
"Ooooh, can Ibuki be the protag in a love-love game? Let me date all the cute girls!" Ibuki cheered loudly, leaning over to embrace Mahiru suddenly. "I've already cleared three free time events with Mahiru-chan and Hiyoko-chan and unlocked the special peep event in the baths- Ow!"
"Shut up, perv!" Hiyoko snapped after shoving the idol off the pink-faced photographer.
"Um.... w-well it depends on the sort of genre th-that the video game would be..." Mikan added, tapping her fingers together nervously.
"I do enjoy video games where you are able to pet fluffy animals," Peko admitted, cheeks pink in embarrassment at her confession. Ibuki yelled in delight at the sight.
"I wanna be one of those video game characters who beats the crap out of people in the ring." Akane punched her fist into her free hand with a toothy grin. The gymnast paused before grabbing another half of a melon. "....Or one where I can eat lots of food. Is there any kind of video game where you have to eat everything to win?"
"The only thing you'll win is diabetes, you pig," Hiyoko remarked dryly.
“What’s diabetes? Can I eat it?”
“D-Diabetes is a disease in which the body’s ability t-to produce or respond to the hormone known as ‘insulin’ is impaired. T-This results in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates a-and elevated levels of glucose in the blood!”
"Um.... I do think we have perhaps become off-topic here!" Sonia cried, gaining the girls attention instantly. “Our dear friend Nanami-san instigated this conversation… so it is only proper to hear her thoughts on this matter! Nanami-san?”
The girl in question was still absorbed within her game, it was a question if she’d even heard any of their responses or not. The character on her screen failed to avoid an attack, the words ‘GAME OVER’ flashing briefly before her character respawned. Just when Sonia was about to call her name once more, the gamer spoke. “If you’re a video game character… no matter how many times you fail, you can always redo it over. If you make a mistake, you can prevent it. If you miss something important, you can go back and obtain it, maybe.
...Even if you starve, or if you’re killed, or if you meet a fatal accident… you can always start over again with the additional knowledge you’ve gained since then and use it to change the outcome and progress onwards.”
There was a moment of silence following the girl’s words. Certainly this was the most they’d heard the gamer speak the entire day.
“That is… correct, yes," Sonia replied hesitantly, unsure where Chiaki was going with this but politely responding anyway.
“I-It would be nice to be able t-to redo things over,” Mikan mumbled, averting her gaze down.
“I could go back and eat Hanamura’s food over and over again…” Akane said in wonder, drooling much to Mahiru’s dislike who leaned away with a grimace to avoid getting it on her shoulder.
“Being able to gain insight into your enemy’s strategy and weapons and then go back to use this against them would be advantageous,” Peko noted.
Hiyoko scoffed. “What does any of this matter? Video game characters aren’t even real, they’re just there to be used until you get bored and find something better to do. Who cares if they die over and over again?”
“…That’s… true.”
Everyone returned their attention to Chiaki at the sound of her soft spoken voice. Currently the girl was staring once again at her console, however her expression was tense, eyebrows drawn together and lips pressed into a thin line. She lowered the video console into her lap, gazing at an area of sand between the group. “…A video game character has a set goal and as soon as that goal is completed... the game is over and the character isn’t needed anymore.”
Mahiru frowned, exchanging an uneasy glance with Peko. Even Ibuki seemed slightly off-put with this version of Chiaki. “H-Hey… Chiaki-chan-“
“What…” Chiaki interrupted the photographer, raising her head to stare evenly at the group of girls. “What would you say to a video game character that can’t accomplish it’s goal?”
“H-Huh?” Mikan looked to Sonia for guidance but even the princess looked lost.
Noting their confusion Chiaki averted her gaze back down once again, eyes landing on the game console. “I mean... suppose a virus infiltrated the video game, intent on destroying it from the inside out and corrupting everything within the video game. The video game character still wants to accomplish its goal, and keeps trying and trying no matter what… even if it has to go against its programming to do it.
But the virus keeps trying to prevent that success and the video game character doesn’t know how to defeat this virus. All it can do is go back each time something bad happens and try to stop it from happening on another playthrough. What should it do? It just wants to protect everyone within the game but it can’t do anything to help.”
Silence enveloped the group as they soaked in Chiaki’s words, a sense of discomfort shared between the girls. The quiet only broken by Akane’s loud crunching as she bit into the rind of the melon which got her multiple sharp looks.
Hiyoko huffed in annoyance. “Jeez, it’s just a stupid video game – if it’s broken, throw it out and get a new one!”
Peko frowned at the dancers words. “Couldn’t you reset everything in the game? Isn’t that what they do with computers when they’re corrupted? They restore it to a point in time before it was afflicted with the virus.”
“Just fight the stupid thing! Punch it in its stupid face!” Akane roared, knocking her plate of melon over and sending it into an unfortunate Mikan’s lap.
“Oooh, can we interact with it? If that’s the case Ibuki will seduce it with her womanly wiles and serenading skills!”
Sonia gave a sheepish smile. “I do not think it’s possible to physically fight or seduce a virus.” A pause before the princess tapped a finger to her chin. “However, in my country when there is a threat we immediately squash it down with firepower and force. If you create an even more powerful supervirus to combat this threat to the video game character, then it will have no choice but to bow down and pledge allegiance lest it wish to be thrown into the dungeons to waste to nothing!”
“Um… I-I don’t think adding another virus w-will make it better…”
“You guys..." Mahiru sighed, rubbing her forehead. "All you need to do is install an anti-virus software."
“No way, that’s the easy way out!” Akane roared.
“And tell me again why we’re trying to go about this the difficult route?” Mahiru drawled.
“Oh, oh! Instead of seducing it, Ibuki will play dead like a possum and trick it into thinking it’s won and then at the last minute BAM!-" Ibuki clapped her hands together, causing Mikan to jump with a yelp. “-I jump out and tackle the bad guy to the ground from behind!”
Chiaki sat and watched the singer launch herself at the gymnast in a ‘display’ of her suggestion. It wasn’t long before all the girls were physically involved and the whole thing descended to anarchy between the group. Somehow… this had gone off topic.
The gamer moved her head to look out toward the ocean. None of those ideas were applicable. They would either be easily squashed by Monobear before any serious attempt could be made or worse the students welfare would be put at risk.
“G-Guys-! Y-Y-You gotta come- i-it’s really bad-!”
Kazuichi ran onto the beach towards the group, his shirt stained with blood which invoked a scream from the princess and immediate unease.
“What happened?” Peko demanded, already rushing to her feet and hand moving to her bamboo sword as she approached the mechanic with a tight expression.
“I-It’s Hinata!”
Chiaki clenched her fists, already knowing what was to come.
“He’s dead!”
She rewinded.