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“You’re…FUJIMURA? How…?” Kensuke stared in shock at the avatar character in front of him. A mirrored appearance of Mamoru, but with an opposite color palette on his clothes and darker tone of skin, the avatar known as Fujimura leaned casually against a pillar.
“So you’ve finally arrived,” Fujimura said, keeping his hands idle in his pockets. “I’ve been waiting for a long time.”
Kensuke kept his guard up, ready to defend himself, but made no move to initiate the attack. Fujimura didn’t look like he was carrying any kind of weapon that Kensuke could see at least. From what Kensuke understood from Fujimura’s character database, Fujimura was more defensive rather than offensive in terms of skills. His signature skill reduction reduces everything to nothing, so there would be no point in Kensuke attacking.
“Were you the one who sent that message?” Kensuke questioned, testing the waters to see if they could talk. “I have something you treasure the most.” Kensuke repeated the message.
“So you were able to decipher the coding. As expected of your team.”
Kensuke tightened his grip on his sword.
“But the real question is, do you know what that treasure is yourself?” Fujimura asked.
“What?”
“You were so surprised to see me, yet I’ve been moving around in this game for several days actually,” Fujimura explained. “Because HE logged in.”
Kensuke wondered what Fujimura was talking about. Then he remembered what Ryota had told him before.
(“It seems the avatar characters are more active in the game when their original player logs in.”)
Kensuke froze. “You mean…Mamoru is here in the game?!”
“And I thought my player was slow,” Fujimura commented.
“Where is he?!” Kensuke demanded to know.
Fujimura shrugged his shoulders indifferently. “I don’t know exactly where he is just because I’m his avatar. But, if I had to make a close guess, perhaps he’s run into your other self.”
Kensuke nearly dropped his sword. “Yaegashi!”
Without hearing another word from Fujimura, Kensuke took off running to search for Mamoru.
In another area, Mamoru was running with all his might to avoid being cut down.
“Hey~! Come on, why don’t you hold still for a sec? I only want to play for a little bit!” Yaegashi teased. “Don’t you like playing games?”
“This isn’t the kind of game I want to play!” Mamoru complained, using his programming skills to create barrier shields in order to defend against Yaegashi’s attacks.
Mamoru hid behind a pillar to catch his breath and think for a moment. Since Yaegashi was moving, that must mean Kensuke was logged in. It was bad running into Yaegashi right at the start of the game, but Mamoru would feel worse running into Kensuke. His heart wasn’t ready to reunite with his former kouhai that he hadn’t seen back in the real world in years since they went separate paths after Mamoru graduated.
“Yikes!” Mamoru ducked when the pillar he was hiding behind was cut and half of it broke off.
“Found you~!” Yaegashi smiled.
Mamoru jumped back, but he stumbled on some loose rubble on the ground.
“Ack!” Mamoru fell backwards on the ground. He was defenseless for a critical moment.
“Gotcha!” Yaegashi went in for the attack.
Mamoru shut his eyes and prepared for the worst.
Suddenly a flash of orange light shot forward, forcing Yaegashi to pull back.
“What the–” Yaegashi nearly avoided being burned.
“Hands off, Yaegashi!” Kensuke jumped in front of Mamoru.
Mamoru opened his eyes when he heard the familiar voice.
“K-Ken-kun?!” Mamoru gasped.
“Tch, awe, we were having a fun game,” Yaegashi said as he rested the blunt side of his blade on his shoulder, but he didn’t look disappointed at all. “So the hero has finally decided to show up.”
“Mamoru, are you okay?” Kensuke looked back for a moment to make sure Mamoru wasn’t hurt.
“Ah-mm!” Mamoru responded instinctively.
Kensuke held out his hand. “Paw!”
“Eh? Paw?!” Mamoru was confused.
“Hurry up!” Kensuke said impatiently.
Mamoru quickly put his hand in Kensuke’s. Their bodies glowed with a mix of orange and purple light around them.
“Activate TEAM-UP!” Kensuke shouted the command.
Mamoru saw a system window screen pop up to indicate the TEAM-UP function activated as his and Kensuke’s HP and Skill bars combined together.
“Stand back, I’ll take care of the offensive attack!” Kensuke told Mamoru as he kept his eyes focused on Yaegashi.
“So they’ve teamed up,” Fujimura said as he teleported right next to Yaegashi.
“You’re late, Fujimura!” Yaegashi complained, but Fujimura shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
“You know physical exercise isn’t my strong point, Yaegashi.”
“I know, you’re too similar to him.” Yaegashi pointed at Mamoru. “And yet you can teleport anywhere you want.”
“Need to team up?” Fujimura asked.
“Nope, I’ll fight solo this time,” Yaegashi said. “Sit back and watch like a good boy!”
Fujimura huffed as he stood back while Yaegashi and Kensuke initiated the battle. Although it was two players versus one avatar, it appeared Yaegashi and Kensuke were the main ones battling while Fujimura and Mamoru both watched from the sidelines.
Mamoru was torn between joining in the fight or standing back. Yaegashi was throwing direct close combat attacks against Kensuke, and since the two of them were fighting so close Mamoru couldn’t focus his programming without risking the chance of accidentally interfering with Kensuke’s attacks.
“Do you find it boring to watch?” Fujimura asked as he suddenly teleported right next to Mamoru.
“EEP!” Mamoru screamed, but Fujimura didn’t appear to do anything.
“You don’t have to keep your guard around me,” Fujimura whispered. “You would know best since our programming data are identical.”
“R-Right.” Mamoru frowned. “But why are you talking to me? Aren’t we–”
“Enemies? I wonder. Who decided that?” Fujimura asked a strange question.
“Eh?”
“Yaegashi likes to battle against players, but what’s the point? It’s not like he can gain anything from defeating them,” Fujimura commented. “He won’t get stronger that way. Is Kensuke the same way?”
“Um, I think Ken-kun isn’t fighting to get stronger,” Mamoru said honestly. “Ken-kun told me he fights to protect people who are important to him.”
“Does that include you?” Fujimura asked.
Mamoru hesitated. He wanted to say no. After all, he hadn't seen Kensuke in years. Mamoru had heard bits and pieces about Kensuke from messages he exchanged with Koki and Ryota from time to time, but Mamoru had never directly contacted Kensuke. Mamoru wouldn’t have even felt compelled to log into the game world had he not received the strange message coded in 1s and 0s from Fujimura.
“I wonder…” was all Mamoru could say in the end. “I only want Ken-kun to live his life without regrets, whether it includes me or not,” Mamoru answered honestly.
Fujimura stayed quiet.
“So we are the same after all,” Fujimura mumbled.
“Huh?” Mamoru didn’t hear what Fujimura said.
“MAMORU!” Kensuke shouted.
Mamoru blinked and saw an incoming attack coming his way. He panicked and wouldn’t have enough time to program a shield.
Fujimura quickly stepped in and held up his hand to reduce the attack to nothing.
“Fujimura?!” Kensuke and Yaegashi were both shocked to see Fujimura defending Mamoru.
“Hey! Who’s side are you on?” Yaegashi questioned.
“You were the one who said you didn’t want to team-up, so I’m considered standing on neutral territory,” Fujimura answered. “Besides, I would have been hit as well if I didn’t reduce the attack.”
Mamoru knew Fujimura wasn’t in the path of the attack and he purposely stepped in front of him.
“Fujimura-kun?” Mamoru stared at his avatar.
Fujimura looked at Mamoru and showed a rare smile.
“Seems we both have it tough with the one we like to stay close to,” Fujimura said to Mamoru.
Mamoru blinked and he seemed to understand the hidden message behind the code that Fujimura sent.
Fujimura teleported and suddenly appeared next to Yaegashi.
“Let’s call it a draw today, Yaegashi,” Fujimura said as he grabbed Yaegashi’s arm.
“What the–hey! Wait a minute, Fujimura–” Yaegashi protested but Fujimura forced him to teleport with him.
Kensuke and Mamoru watched as their avatars disappeared before looking back at each other.
“Oh! Mamoru! Are you okay?!” Kensuke snapped his attention back as he quickly ran over to where Mamoru stood.
Mamoru however held his arms out in front of him. “W-Wait, Ken-kun! Don’t come closer yet!”
“Huh? Why?” Kensuke was confused.
“My heart isn’t ready yet!” Mamoru admitted.
Kensuke blinked and stared at Mamoru before he burst out laughing.
“You haven’t changed at all, Mamoru! I’m really glad!” Kensuke sounded relieved somehow. “I was worried you had turned into an old man when I heard from Kou that you were an underground hermit!”
“Ken-kun!” Mamoru looked embarrassed. “Don’t tease me! I’m only a few years older than you!”
“I’m still taller than you though, even in cyberspace! I’m surprised you didn’t program yourself to be taller!”
“I can’t do that!” Mamoru claimed.
Kensuke laughed, but then his smile turned bittersweet. “It really is you, Mamoru?”
“Ken-kun?” Mamoru tilted his head to the side. “Hey!” Mamoru was surprised when Kensuke suddenly hugged him.
“I’ve really missed you!” Kensuke buried his face on Mamoru’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you haven’t messaged me in all these years!”
“That’s because I was really busy with work! And I’m sure you were really busy too! Kou-kun and Ryo-kun told me!” Mamoru slipped his tongue.
“You’ve been messaging Kou and Ryou?! Mamoru, I feel so betrayed!” Kensuke whined. “They never told me!”
“It was supposed to be a secret! I wasn’t ready to meet with you yet!”
“Why?” Kensuke let go and crossed his arms.
“W-Well, because it’s been years and…I’m sure we’ve both changed since we graduated-” Mamoru fumbled excuses, playing with his hands like he always did back then.
“For the record, Mamoru-senpai, I’m still single, I still like mikans and playing soccer, and I still have all the embarrassing photos I took of us when we were in school together on the phone-”
“You still have those photos?! Even the ones from the cross-dressing event?!”
Kensuke grinned. “Yup! But if you don’t believe me, you’ll have to hunt me down in the real world to find out.”
“Ken-kun! That’s not fair!”
“Mamoru-senpai is unfair first for not telling me you’ve been logging into cyberspace and messaging Kou and Ryou,” Kensuke pointed out.
“Urk-guilty…” Mamoru pouted.
“So what’s the real reason?” Kensuke questioned.
“Huh?”
“There’s another reason you weren’t ready to meet me, right?” Kensuke guessed.
Mamoru made a face.
“I can’t tell you here Ken-kun!” Mamoru declared. “What if it gets overheard in the chat database?”
“Hum, then I guess I’ll have to find you in the real world then to hear it,” Kensuke decided.
“Ken-kun!”
“Don’t worry, it won’t take me long if I persuade Kou and Ryou,” Kensuke was confident. “I'm 110% positive they’ll help me out since they’ve been wanting to meet you again too!”
“Geh-I can’t win against the three of you!” Mamoru was close to defeat.
“Oh, and if you try to change the programming to block your address, I’m definitely going to call Shiki-san for help in cracking the code,” Kensuke pointed out.
“Even Shiki-san?!”
“Tsubasa-san owes me for helping him clear a boss level,” Kensuke mentioned. “So I have connections.”
“I really can’t win any game against you, Ken-kun!” Mamoru accepted defeat at this point.
“Be prepared for the next level, Mamoru!”
….
MAMORU ENTERED GROWTH PRIVATE CHAT ROOM.
Pachira_Fairy1005: I lost against Ken-kun…
RYOTA ENTERED GROWTH PRIVATE CHAT ROOM
KOKI ENTERED GROWTH PRIVATE CHAT ROOM
PINK_Macaron0606: I told you he would find out sooner or later.
Cooking_Prince0522: (laughs) Ken hasn’t changed at all like I told you, Mamoru
KENSUKE ENTERED GROWTH PRIVATE CHAT ROOM
PUREMikan_boy0930: YOU GUYS ARE ALL TRAITORS >: (
PINK_Macaron0606: Excuse me, who are you calling a traitor? (fire eyes)
PUREMikan_boy0930: I’m sorry, Ryo-sama, not you. It’s Mamoru, Mamoru is the traitor.
Pachira_fairy1005: I’M SORRY??
Cooking_Prince0522: (smile) Ken, go easy on Mamoru. You were happy to see him again, right?
PUREMikan_boy0930: Of course I’m happy! But Mamoru, please don’t keep me in the dark next time!
Pachira_fairy1005: I’ll try…OTL
PINK_Macaron0606: Stop flirting in the group chat.
Pachira_fairy1005: We’re not flirting! Ken-kun and I are not even dating yet, Ryo-kun!
PUREMikan_boy0930: Yet? YET?? You mean there’s still hope? (sparkle eyes)
Pachira_fairy1005: (shocked face)
MAMORU LEFT GROWTH PRIVATE CHAT
Cooking_Prince0522: Oh.
PINK_Macaron0606: He ran away, Ken.
PUREMikan_boy0930: MAMORU! Come back!! :(
…..
MAMORU LOGGED OUT
Mamoru sighed as he stretched his hunched back, leaning back in his desk chair too far, and falling right out of the chair onto the floor.
“Game over…Ken-kun. It’s your win.”
…..
“You’re absolutely sure this is the correct address?” Kensuke questioned.
“Positive! Shiki confirmed the information himself,” Tsubasa answered.
“Got it. Thanks, Tsubasa-san, give my best regards to Shiki-san,” Kensuke said before he ran off.
“No problem! Help me out with the bonus boss level next time when you and Mamoru-kun are free!” Tsubasa said.
Kensuke entered the address on his GPS attached to his bike and smiled to himself.
“I’m not gonna lose you this time, Mamoru!”