Archive of Our Own

The advent of FullDive VR technology happened much faster than anyone had anticipated. Not only that, but it was surprisingly affordable. This would lead one to believe that the tech was probably dangerous and could, for instance, trap the players in a situation where if they die in the game, they die in real life.

This was not the case, and thus, the boom in popularity in VR games was unprecedented.

Kudo Shinichi was not immune to the hype. This was, surprisingly, mostly spurred on by Mouri Ran, who had been dragged into a gaming rabbithole by one Suzuki Sonoko.

“You started the download before you left this morning, right?” Ran asked him on their walk home. “Because if you didn’t, I swear I’ll confiscate all your books and your case files until you've logged at least one hundred hours in game!” Shinichi flinched.

“A hundred hours? You’re joking, right?” Ran glared at him, her hands clenched into tight fists. She was serious.

“Is that you admitting you forgot?”

“No!” Shinichi waved his hands defensively. “I started the download, I swear I did!” He only lowered his hands again when Ran gave him a sweet smile. “You really like this game, don’t you?” He said with a sigh.

“I do, I really, really do,” Ran skipped ahead of him, smiling. “I never really thought I would be into it, but Sonoko was so insistent on me trying. At first, it was just another way to hang out with her, you know? But soon enough, I started to think that I really liked it there.”

“You do know it’s made up of a bunch of ones and zeros, right?” Shinichi asked sarcastically. Ran turned on him with a pout.

“Obviously I do! I like Pandora, but I like the real world too. The devs even implemented a system that kicks you out if you spend too long logged in.”

“Oh?” Shinichi teased, “And have you been forced out before?”

“I- Well- You see-” Ran flushed. She started speed walking, forcing Shinichi to break into a jog to catch up with her. “I fell asleep, okay? It was just really peaceful and I was a little tired, so it was an accident!” Shinichi laughed. Ran kept muttering under her breath, her cheeks rosy. Shinichi knew his best friend was perhaps one of the least likely people to develop some kind of game addiction, but that was part of the reason why he had finally caved to her begging. He needed to see for himself what had strongly grabbed her attention.

The FullReal Immersive Gaming System was a truly SCI-FI looking device. It was definitely designed that way on purpose, like a mix between a sensory deprivation tank and a cryogenic chamber. Shinichi couldn’t believe such a flashy thing was actually designed to be used for an average consumer, but the sales numbers spoke for themselves.

With only a little bit of hesitation, he pushed the release button and the top opened with a hydraulic hiss. The LED lights flashed in welcome and Shinichi maneuvered himself inside. He had only actually used the FullReal a couple times. He had done the initial set up, and then started the download process for Ran’s new obsession. The only time he had actually been in a FullDive game was during a short demo at a tech convention the Suzuki Corporation had hosted a little over a year ago. To say he was a little nervous to commit to any long stretch of time spent in the system was an understatement.

Releasing a long sigh, he shifted against the comfortable bed of the system and dismissed the popup window telling him that a game had successfully installed. The logo started back at him, the name written in a curling script. Pandora Online . He started up the program and closed his eyes as it connected to the server.

Entering a FullDive game was a lot like falling asleep. One moment, you are aware of the darkness of your eyelids, and the next the world is full of color. Shinichi had to blink a few times to shake off the dizziness that came with the sudden change of state. He stared down at his hands, grounding himself with the feeling of his fingers flexing. Once he felt well enough, he looked around.

He was standing in a void, faint ethereal light floating in the distance. A window appeared in front of him.

Welcome to Pandora Online! To begin your new adventure, please take a moment to complete our personality quiz. By completing the quiz, you will be granted unique starting stats to reflect your real life skills!

“I doubt that,” Shinichi mumbled. A personality quiz hardly seemed like the most accurate way to determine a person’s skills, but this was just a game after all. Shinichi pressed the next button, and the first question appeared. “What’s my favorite kind of ice cream?” Shinichi read aloud and sighed. Yeah, he didn’t have a lot of faith in the accuracy of the quiz. Questions of a similar vein followed. Do you prefer to play sports or video games with your friends? How much do you study before a big exam? What’s your favorite color? All superficial, small talk questions. Shinichi didn’t let himself dwell on any of the questions and just picked the option his gut liked the best. Soon enough, he completed the questions.

Congratulations! We now have a grasp of your character. Please select your race and class.

Shinichi groaned. Why did this have to take so long? He just wanted to get into the game so he could meet up with Ran. The “Race” category was defaulted at human, so Shinichi didn’t even look at the other options. He clicked on the “Class” category. It then prompted him to choose a domain of Might or Magic, so he decided he should just stick with the default class it gave him. So he clicked continue.

Welcome, Hero, to the Land of Pandora!

There was a flash of white light, and Shinichi found himself blinking his eyes open to a thatch ceiling. “Are you awake in there?” A voice called, followed by a knock. Shinichi got up and found the door. Opening revealed an elderly man with a wide smile. “Ah, good morning!” He said. “I can’t believe today is the day you’re leaving on your journey!” This must be the expository character , Shinichi thought. “It’s sad that you’re going to be leaving this village, but we all believe in you! Everyone pitched in and we got you a little parting gift.” A notification popped up that items were added to Shinichi’s inventory, followed by an explanation of how to open said inventory. “When you’re ready, meet me by the edge of town!” With that, the old man walked away.

“How wonderfully cliche,” Shinichi said, opening up the inventory like the system had told him. After following a few more tutorial windows about using and equipping items, Shinichi had a brand new “Old Set of Armor” and “Used Shortsword”.

“Don’t you look the picture of a hero!” The old man said, once Shinichi had reached him at the edge of the little village. “It’s dangerous out there, so why don’t you show me you know how to defend yourself?” Another handful of popups clouded Shinichi’s vision.

“These are getting kind of annoying,” he grumbled, hitting the X on them. Unsheathing his sword, he swung on the practice dummy in front of him, fuelled with only a little bit of annoyance. A bright red number floated up from the dummy then faded.

“Wonderful!” the old man laughed, “Looks like you’ll be just fine! Just remember to watch your surroundings and ask for help from your fellow adventurers when you need it.” With that, a little “Quest Complete!” window appeared to let Shinichi know how many experience points he earned. “Good luck on your way to the adventurers’ guild!” The man waved and walked away. Shinichi had a new quest objective in line with what the tutorial character had said.

“Great to know where I’m supposed to go, but how do I get there?” Shinichi sighed. He looked back toward the town, the old man already vanished, then toward the woods just past the edge of the village. “Nowhere to go but forward, I guess.”

As soon as his foot crossed into the forest, the atmosphere changed. While the village had felt tranquil, there was a looming unease that creeped up Shinichi’s spine under the shadow of the trees. He kept one hand around the hilt of his sword as he strained his senses for any sign of danger. Perhaps the most unnerving thing, however, was how still everything was. There wasn’t even a wind rustling the leaves. “Shouldn’t the first zone be easy?” Shinichi shivered. “Why did they make this forest so creepy?”

A bush only a few yards away started rustling. Shinichi immediately drew his sword, moving into a fighting stance. He could feel his heart race against his ribcage. Then, as Shinichi held his breath, a little blue blob rolled onto the forest path.

“Of course it’s a slime.” Shinichi chuckled to himself and felt the tension leave his body. “I should have guessed.” The little gelatinous orb rolled back and forth. It didn’t have any sort of features, Shinichi wasn’t even sure if it had any of the five senses. Shinichi took a couple steps forward. “Honestly, you’re not scary at all. Maybe a little cute even.” The ball of goo stopped moving, as if it were acknowledging Shinichi’s words. Then it retaliated.

In the blink of an eye, the slime, which hadn’t even been the size of a loaf of bread, swelled in size until it towered over Shinichi. I pulled back, like a snake about to strike.

“What the-” before Shinichi could finish his thought, the creature attacked. Shinichi managed to jump out of the way, so he re-brandished his sword and swung. Shinichi cringed as his strike cleaved through the slime’s body, the gelatinous texture offered only a small amount of resistance. Even though the slice should have cut the creature in half, the two parts reconnected before his eyes. The damage appeared over the top of the slime, revealing a health bar that told Shinichi he had only managed to hit the creature for a third of its health. Shinichi steeled himself to swing again, but there was a sudden blow against his right side that sent him flying several feet.

Shinichi groaned in pain, a hand coming to cover his certainly bruised ribs. He noticed his own health bar, a fourth depleted. “Great,” he muttered, using his sword to help himself to his feet. The slime hadn’t moved, but it was moving like it was preparing to strike harder. Ignoring the stinging pain, Shinichi rushed forward, getting close to the slime. He sliced through its body again and again, not giving the creature time to retaliate. He found himself maneuvering his weapon almost instinctively, turning the attack into a combo that left the slime melting into a pool of goo on the ground before disappearing into pixels.

Get! 10 EXP and Slime Ball

“Fantastic,” Shinichi grumbled. He let himself fall back, his chest rising and falling with labored breath. His ribs still burned and each inhale reminded him of it.

“Shinichi!” A familiar voice called.

“Ran?” With effort, Shinichi sat up and looked around for his friend. 

“Up here!” Shinichi cast his gaze skyward, only to be filled with fear at the sight of a giant creature descending through the canopy. He tried to scramble to his feet, but the rush of adrenaline left his legs too weak to stand. The creature, a wyvern he recognized, landed in front of him, staring at him with bright yellow eyes.

“Ran?” Shinichi asked. A figure he hadn’t noticed slid off of the wyvern’s back. Tall, with long pointed ears and a natural grace, this person was clearly a typical fantasy elf, but more than that, it was definitely Ran. She gave the draconic creature a couple solid pats, making the thing close its eyes in delight.

“You okay?” Ran asked, finally looking at Shinichi who was still sprawled on the ground. “Find your first monster?” She reached out a hand and helped pull Shinichi to his feet.

“I wasn’t expecting it to hurt that bad.” He hiked up his shirt to take a look at the injury. While it was still bright red from the impact, it was beginning to turn a bluish-purple color.

“Unlucky,” Ran said. “Looks like it got a crit on you.”

“A what?”

“A critical hit.” Ran rolled her eyes. “You really have no game knowledge, do you?” She asked with a laugh. “In Pandora, they want you to feel the impact of the hits, so it feels more real, but they have a pain threshold. The worst the game will let you feel is like stubbing your toe really badly, and that only happens when a creature gets a crit against you.

“Hey, let me see your stats. I can’t believe the first time you got hit was a crit by coincidence .” Shinichi opened up his character information and turned the window around for Ran to see. “Strong bonus on intelligence, that makes sense, bonus on strength too. Normal wisdom and charisma and constitution…” Shinichi didn’t really know what Ran was talking about, but with how intensely she was studying the info page he felt himself squirm. 

“Ah!” She shouted, then looked up at Shinichi, eyes wide. “How did you manage this?!”

“Manage what?” He walked to Ran’s side so he could look at what she was pointing at.

“That!” She was pointing aggressively at the line that read ‘Luck’. Next to the word were three red minus signs. “Three? I’ve never seen someone have a stat boon or bane of three before! I didn’t even think it was possible! Did you take your quiz seriously?”

“The personality quiz?” Shinichi was baffled. “You mean that it actually did something?”

“Shinichi, that quiz is the foundation for the whole game. Here, look.” Ran opened up her own window, comparing it against Shinichi’s. She had two green pluses on strength, a green plus on both wisdom and constitution, and no modifiers on her other stats. While Shinichi didn’t really know what they meant in context of the game, it seemed like it made sense.

“How come you don’t have any banes?” Shinichi scrunched his nose, a little annoyed.

“Because the quiz determined I don’t naturally have any. It adds or subtracts based on your real self, as long as you are honest on your quiz.”

“So, the game thinks I’m naturally unlucky?” Ran looked at him like he was a creature in a lab.

“Well, you kind of do just happen to run into dangerous criminal activity uncomfortably often,” Ran muttered, more like she was explaining it to herself than Shinichi.

“And how is that my fault!” He felt himself blush, a little embarrassed.

“It’s not, but it is pretty unlucky.”

“But I’m a detective, it’s a good thing I’m at the scene of a crime.” Ran gave him a look that meant she thought he was being obtuse.

“You know that 99% of the time, a detective is called to the scene of a crime a while after the crime happens, right? They’re not there immediately after or as the crime is happening. You know that, right?”

“Well, yeah, but-” Ran held up a hand, silencing him.

“Shinichi, just because you made your luck work for you doesn’t mean it’s actually good.” Shinichi sighed, defeated. She had a point, loathe as he was to admit it. “So, that means we just have to find a way for it to work for you in game too!” Ran said, punching him lightly.

“Ow,” Shinichi said. And it was meant to be a joke, but a little red number told him that Ran had just hit him for a non insignificant amount of HP. His shoulder now ached slightly. Both of them just stared at the little number until it disappeared from sight. Ran then scrolled through a couple menus before Shinichi had a pop up.

“Accept the friend request. We need to party up. You can’t damage your party members. I don’t want to give you a hug or something and break your spine.”

“Yeah,” Shinichi agreed, only a little humiliated. “That sounds good to me.”

Sonoko, of course, found it hilarious. “You’re telling me the detective nerd is one of, if not the unluckiest player in all of Pandora?” She let out another hearty chuckle.

“Yeah, so make sure we’re partied whenever we’re together, just in case, you know?”

“Sure, sure,” Sonoko waved her hand, still stifling a laugh. “Aren’t you a lucky one,” she gave Shinichi a grin, “You get to walk around with two beautiful elven escorts. And they’re a tank and a healer to boot.”

“You know I don’t know what that means.” Shinichi grumbled, avoiding her mocking gaze in favor of looking around the tavern they were sat in.

After Ran found him in the forest, she had helped him onto her wyvern mount and took him directly to the main hub city, which held the adventurer’s guild. They met up with Sonoko in a cozy little tavern several streets away from the claustrophobic activity center of the game. There were only a couple other parties seated at tables or booths. They were casting curious glances over at their table, no doubt because of the unhinged cackling of a certain heiress. Shinichi lifted up his wooden mug and took a long swig of his drink. The refreshing taste of oolong washed over his tongue. It was all digital, he knew, but it did wonders to help him relax.

“It’s so nice to be the smartest in the room.” Sonoko smiled. “Listen up, nerd! You’re getting the great Suzuki Sonoko’s crash course on MMORPG basics, so you better be grateful!” Shinichi rolled his eyes, but buckled in to listen.

“This is a cooperative game, meaning that you can’t get away if you don’t work with other players. You have your own class, in this case, swordfighter, lame choice by the way.” Sonoko stuck out her tongue in disgust. “A human swordsman? Really? As basic as basic gets.”

“Sonoko,” Ran said gently, although she didn’t deny it.

“Anyway!” Sonoko continued, “As a swordfighter, your job is to get close to the enemy and deal as much damage as possible. You would be classified as DPS because your job is to do as much damage per second as you can.”

“Isn’t that what everyone is supposed to do?” Shinichi asked.

“Yes, but no.” Sonoko shrugged. “Take Ran, for example. She’s a paladin, so that makes her a tank. She has a much higher base health than either of us so she can take more hits. Her job is to keep the enemy’s attention and be a damage sponge so you can better focus on all the hacking and slashing you have to do.”

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Shinichi shuddered thinking about the bruise that was just about healed on his ribs. 

“It does,” Ran nodded, “but nothing that hits me is even close to some injuries I’ve gotten in karate.”

“Her defense is strong naturally, plus her class increased it. I don’t think she would even feel it if the little slime that attacked you hit her.”

“That’s not fair, Sonoko, I’m way too high a level now for that to be a fair comparison.”

“I get, I get it, I’m a weak little newbie.”

“Exactly,” Sonoko grinned. “You’re weak, so it’s inevitable you’re going to get hurt. Especially with that abysmal luck of yours. Your health still hasn’t recovered completely, right?”

“Yeah, I’m still a few points shy of full.” Shinichi checked his HP bar, which had slowly been refilling since his slime encounter.

“Here,” Sonoko said, holding out her hand. A light wind seemed to blow around her, then a cool, soothing sensation settled on Shinichi’s injury. He took a breath in, expanding his lungs to their capacity. As he breathed out, it was like he could feel every ache or pain he ever had leave his body. He pulled up his shirt to check his bruise, but it was like it was never there. His skin looked healthy.

“Cool, huh? Being a healer means I’m basically in charge of life or death in the party. I’m kind of a big deal.”

“Sonoko,” Ran said, testily, “do I need to remind you how bad you were when we first started? I can’t even remember how many times we wiped to that one boss.”

“That wasn’t my fault!” Sonoko retorted. “Those randos we were grouped with couldn’t figure out how to not stand in the giant glowing danger zone.”

“Ok,” Shinichi interrupted, “You’ve lost me.” Sonoko took a swig of her drink, grumbling under her breath. “Basically, I see a monster, I attack it, yeah?”

“Basically,” Ran smiled, “Attack as much as possible, dodge whenever you can. It can get a little more complicated, but we’re here to have fun so don’t sweat it.”

“And the best way to learn is by doing!” Sonoko jumped to her feet, her eyes gleaming with something that sent a shiver down Shinichi’s spine. “I think it’s about time Shinichi tried a dungeon!”

Shinichi quickly decided that he did not like dungeon crawling. It wasn’t that Shinichi found combat to actually be all that difficult, in fact, with Ran leading the charge through the mossy cave Sonoko had dragged them into, Shinichi was barely even targeted for attacks. It was just how dedicated to realism the game continued to be.

“Why would you ever decide to create such a lifelike giant spider!” Shinichi yelled, dodging out of the way of one of the spider’s legs. He swiped it with his sword as he did, causing the beast to make an awful hissing sound.

“Sonoko!” Ran cried, “I know this is a beginner zone, but did you have to pick this dungeon! Zombies? Fine. Bats? No problem? Throw anything at me except the spider!” Ran had her shield arm locked in place in front of her as she swung her sword wildly. All of the cool confidence she had carried them through the tunnels with evaporated when they entered the arena they were currently trapped in and the spider appeared.

“Ran, I am begging you to please open your eyes. You’re missing half of your swings,” Sonoko called back.

“Easy for you to say when you can just stand all the way over there!” Which was true, while Shinichi and Ran had to physically hit the creature, Sonoko was just casting her spells as far away as the arena allowed her.

The spider beared down on Ran, trying to pounce on her, but, even with her eyes closed, Ran intercepted with her shield and pushed back, causing the beast to lose balance. It stumbled and fell after putting too much of its weight onto its damaged legs.

“Slice it up, Shinichi!” Sonoko shouted from her comfortable distance.

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Shinichi called back, already rushing to bring his sword down on the spider's soft back. The rhythm of his movements was strange but satisfying, each swing easily flowing into the next, creating a combo that finally brought the boss’s health to zero. With one last horrific cry, the creature disintegrated into pixels.

“Is it gone?” Ran called, her eyes still squeezed tight.

“Yeah,” Shinichi said, “all clear.

“Thank goodness,” Ran blinked her eyes open, “I seriously hate running this dungeon.”

“But you were so cool, Ran!” Sonoko ran up behind her and gave her a hug. “Even when you’re cowering in fear you can stagger an enemy no problem! With you, I bet we can totally beat Pandora’s Box. I bet we can even defeat the demon lord!”

“Jeez, Sonoko, I’m not that good. You can’t praise me that much for defeating such an early dungeon. The Box is still way out of our league.”

“The what?” Shinichi looked at them quizzically, finally catching his breath.”

“Pandora’s Box.” Sonoko stared at him in disbelief. “You know, the whole reason why the game is called Pandora?” Shinichi just stared dumbfounded in return.

“Did you not read any of the game’s info pages or anything?” Ran said, bewildered. “It’s, like, the whole premise of their marketing?”

“You guys wanted me to play, so I just downloaded it,” Shinichi shrugged, “It didn’t seem necessary.”

“Alright, I’m too tired for this.” Sonoko let go of Ran and started for the glowing dungeon exit. “But you’re not getting out of this, Shinichi. Be prepared to take notes.” Sonoko disappeared, and Shinichi just sighed.

“Is it really that important,” Shinichi asked.

“Well, kinda,” Ran smiled, grabbing his hand and herding him towards the light. “And it might make you more invested in all of this, you know?” Shinichi groaned, but allowed himself to be pulled out of the dungeon. Shinichi closed his eyes against the intensity of the light, and when he blinked them open, they were standing at the mouth of the cave once more.

“So it’s settled then,” Sonoko was grinning. “We’ll meet up at that cute cafe I’ve been meaning to try. Of course, it’ll be your treat Shinichi, since Ran and I are doing you the favor of explaining all this to you.”

“You can’t just decide that on your own!” Sonoko didn’t bother responding to him, she just started skipping back towards town, her long caster’s robes flowing in the wind.

“C’mon, let’s head back to town. Logging out here would just be a pain when you log back in.

They said their goodnights after making it back to the tavern, and Shinichi pressed ‘Log Out”. His vision slowly faded to black, and he felt lightheaded. The sounds around him also faded, getting quieter and quieter until he was left in silence. It was then that Shinichi realized that he had closed his eyes. He opened them to the gently glowing home screen of the FullReal.

Shinichi felt sluggish, like he had been forced awake at the prime of sleep. He flexed his fingers, feeling the way the muscles tensed. While he had felt that the experience of FullDive was as close to real as possible, he could definitely feel the weight of his real body. It was comforting.

Shinichi turned the system off and stumbled his way through his nightly routine. He had missed dinner, and was more than a little hungry, but his need for actual, restful sleep outweighed it.

By the time they had placed their order, Shinichi was already exhausted. Not only had he been woken up bright and early by Megure for a case, but Ran and Sonoko were chatting back and forth at a pace that Shinichi just couldn’t keep up with. He usually didn’t mind the chatter, he wouldn’t have been hanging out with the two girls since preschool if he did, but after being through into a new world last night then a murder first thing in the morning, his brain felt like cotton.

“Shinichi,” Ran lilted. Shinichi was resting his head on the table, eyelids heavy. Ran took the opportunity to run her fingers through his hair, lightly scratching his scalp. Shinichi felt the tension melt out of his body. “Bad case?”

“Mmm, not the worst,” Shinichi mumbled into the table, “Kinda gorey though.”

“You can keep that to yourself,” Sonoko stuck out her tongue, “I don’t want you saying anything that could ruin my lunch.”

“If I’m the one paying for that lunch, I can say anything I want.” Shinichi gave the heiress a half-hearted glare.

“Nope, you’re paying for this lunch because you’re so uninformed, remember?”

“Is it really that big of a deal? I’m just playing because you guys want me too.”

“Exactly! If we’re going to conquer Pandora’s Box, we’re going to need 100% of your nerd brain!”

“Okay! Fine!” Shinichi sat up, heaving out a sigh. “But what is this box you guys keep mentioning?”

“It’s the ultimate dungeon,” Ran said, excitement sparking in her eyes. “We still have no idea how deep it goes, because no one has reached the end yet.”

“So it’s a really hard dungeon? If no one has beaten it, doesn’t that mean it’s just unfairly made?”

“Wrong,” Sonoko interjected. “The people making these attempts are all max level and really good at the game. They haven’t reached the end because it’s not just about fighting monsters.”

“The end of each floor is guarded by a difficult boss,” Ran continued, “but also a special door. And the keys for these doors aren’t easy to find. They only appear as loot in special areas called treasure caverns, and even then the drop rate is really really low. If you manage to get a key, you can’t give it to anyone else.”

“So, it’s all down to random chance?” This did get Shinichi interested. It was a clever way to keep players engaged, making them continuously explore the map and interact with the world in a way that didn’t rely on pure strength.

“Basically, but it’s more than that. If you die after collecting a key, the key disappears from your inventory, and you have to find it all over again.” Sonoko was bouncing in her seat, her excitement uncontainable.

“Can’t you just be revived? Like when I reached zero in that dungeon we did last night. There was that timer for me to be revived.”

“Normally, yes,” she agreed, “but there are certain times where when you are killed, you don’t have the option to wait for a rez. The first is if you participate in PVP battles in the arena. The second is if you're player killed in the treasure caverns.” Sonoko had a wild grin on her face. She quickly replaced it with her usual polite smile as their waitress came back with their food.

As expected of a place that the Suzuki heiress would pick, the food was delicious, and it was a balm on Shinichi’s soul. It also gave Shinichi enough time, and brain power, to digest the girls’ excited rambling.

“So,” Shinichi picked the conversation back up after a while, “This ‘Pandora’s Box’ is, like, the end game, but no one has been able to beat it because they haven’t found all the keys or got wiped on the way through it?” The girls nodded, happily continuing to munch on their meals. “And the way to find these keys is to find all these ‘treasure caverns’ and get lucky enough to have the key spawn?” More nodding. “Not only that, but these caverns are dangerous because they are the only place where a player can kill you. But why would they? I mean, do they do it just because they want to be the first one to beat Pandora’s Box so they just deny other people the chance?”

“Sometimes, if someone is just a bad apple,” Ran scrunched her nose, disgusted at the idea of such abysmal game etiquette. “At this point, most people just want to see someone succeed. But, the real truth is that treasure caverns are also the only place in Pandora where you can steal from another player.”

“The game lets you loot someone’s corpse?” It was a bit morbid for Shinichi’s taste.

“Only the stuff from the treasure caverns, but it was a real problem for a while,” Sonoko sighed, “if you weren’t confident in your abilities, you wouldn’t dare try to go looting. That’s how the game was for a while, before the demon lord appeared.”

“I know that there were some pretty demon looking designs of the monsters, but I didn’t think any of them were actual demons.” Shinichi racked his brain, trying to think if anything he had encountered last night had been called anything like that.

“Oh, the demon lord is just what the community calls him. We don’t actually know what he’s called.” Ran said, cheerfully.

“Okay…” Shinichi gave her a confused look. “Why don’t we know? Are the developers keeping a secret for lore reasons or something?”

“The devs haven’t acknowledged him at all. At first, everyone just thought that he was another player, someone who just happened to be good at PVP. Then, it seemed like all of the hardcore treasure hunters had the same story, a solo player showed up, managed to wipe out whole parties, and rob them blind. Made people a bit more hesitant about engaging other players in combat. Now most just take what they can get and what for the loot to reset each week.”

“So, this person is a player?” Shinichi felt more confused.

“I hope so,” Sonoko sighed. “He’s just so cool. Being able to solo some of the best parties in all of Pandora. And, after he basically became an urban legend, if anyone was unlucky enough to cross his path, he wouldn’t steal their loot, just any keys to the box.”

“Most people believe that he’s a secret antagonist NPC, one that’s made to blend in with other players.” Ran took over, giving Sonoko’s lovestruck expression a smile. “No matter how good you might be in combat, it’s unbelievable that he can continue to take down so many skilled players.”

“That does sound improbable,” Shinichi brought his hand to his chin, brow furrowing in thought. “It would be simpler to believe that he’s simply a program that can’t be taken down. Does he simply attack other players, or has he actually spoken to them? Obviously, the NPCs are able to speak, but most are just scripted voice lines. The ones that can respond can’t comprehend any subject that would break the fourth wall.”

“I think I’ve heard that people have, but who knows how much is pure rumor.” Ran traced the rim of her glass, her brows furrowed. “People also have varying descriptions, so most everyone agrees he’s able to disguise himself in some way.”

“Wouldn’t it be more logical to assume that it’s multiple people? Maybe it’s a team who are trying to collect the keys?”

“Of course you would think that, Shinichi,” Sonoko scoffed. “You just can’t comprehend how cool the demon lord is. Even though every story is different, everyone always says the same thing. The last thing they see before they respawn are purple eyes.”

“Purple? I thought the player’s avatars are based on their real selves?”

“That’s why it’s so significant!” Sonoko was vibrating in excitement, “That’s how we know it’s all the same person! There isn’t any cosmetic or ability that is able to change eye color like that, so we know it’s unique to the demon lord.”

“Isn’t it fascinating?” Ran nudged him, “No one knows why he’s doing this, and we can’t even be sure if he’s a real person.”

“Last night, Sonoko, you said you thought we could ‘defeat the demon lord’. What did you mean?”

“Exactly what I said,” Sonoko said nonchalantly, “I want to take him down.”

“Even though you’ve been gushing about him?”

“It’s because I’ve been ‘gushing about him,’” she rolled her eyes, “I want to know what makes him tick. I want to know what he really looks like, so obviously I can’t let anyone else capture him.”

“So, you want to find this elusive ‘demon lord’, fight him, and defeat him, just because you’re curious?”

“Yep.” Her grin was knife sharp. “And you’re going to help me.” Shinichi rolled his eyes. Just like the little heiress to not even ask. But he couldn’t deny that all of this was starting to itch in his brain.

An area of a popular game that has yet to be uncovered, and a mysterious man that seems to be preventing the attempts to do so. Shinichi couldn’t deny it was causing no small amount of curiosity. The fact that there was no real threat of danger, and that he could investigate all of this alongside his two oldest friends was also incredibly appealing.

“Alright,” Shinichi let out a sigh for dramatic effect, “where do we start?”

Their plan had been a simple one, just go looting until one of them came across the demon lord’s path. What happened after that was up to them individually. It had been weeks, and there were plenty of skirmishes with other looters, but no solitary, purpled eyed man.

Shinichi had gotten pretty good at soloing treasure caverns. It certainly wasn’t what he was supposed to do, and he had to pathetically beg Sonoko to come revive him more than once, but he could feel how much progress he had made.

Shinichi twirled his sword with practiced ease, slicing through a monster like it was air. As the beast fell and dissolved into pixels, Shinichi sheathed his sword, content.

“Looks like you’re too high a level for this cave, friend.” The voice had appeared suddenly behind him, soundlessly. Shinichi whirled around, his hand resting on his hilt. “Easy there,” the new figure held up his hands, “I’m not picking a fight.”

“Could have fooled me,” Shinichi eased up, but not completely. He assessed the newcomer. He was clearly another player as no NPCs could enter a treasure cavern. He was human, Shinichi’s height, and dressed in light armor. He had a knife strapped to his leg, but no other visible weapons.

“Didn’t mean to sneak up on you,” the stranger shrugged, “I’m just naturally light on my feet.” He walked toward Shinichi, a relaxed smile on his face and a hand extended. “Kaito,” he said. Shinichi took the offered hand.

“Shinichi,” he replied. While he couldn’t get accurate deductions inside of Pandora, what with players’ bodies existing unaffected by their real world counterparts, he found that he could tell a player’s skill based on their hands.

New players' hands were soft, without any calluses or scars. Players who dealt in martial weaponry, like Shinichi and Ran, had incredibly rough hands. Casters lacked the defined calluses that came with repeated use of a weapon, but often it was their palms, rough from their magicks. That and, if they were like Sonoko, covered in rings to enhance spell potency and mana recovery.

This Kaito’s hands were interesting. They had signifiers for both groups of people, yet he wore no rings nor showed any signs of weaponry outside of the dagger. He held himself with confidence too. Of course, anyone who wanted to solo a treasure cavern, with their beefy monsters and potential PVP threat, had to be. Confident either because they were secure in their ability, or because they were incredibly stupid. This man very much seemed like the former.

“It’s rare to find someone else soloing a place like this,” Kaito smiled. “These days, it’s almost always full parties with decked out gear.” His nose crinkled, like the idea disgusted him.

“Ah,” Shinichi crossed his arms, relaxing into Kaito’s playful atmosphere, “You’re an adrenaline junkie then.”

“Nothing quite like coming within an inch of my digital life,” he nodded solemnly. Shinichi let out a laugh, bringing back the stranger’s grin. “But I could say the same of you, couldn’t I? A lone swordsman in a medium difficulty cavern, that’s gotta get your blood pumping.”

“Maybe,” Shinichi said with a shrug. “It’s all practice more than anything else.”

“Oh, hoping to beat the box, are you?”

“Eventually,” Shinichi shot him a grin of his own. “But my healer is adamant that we have to catch the demon lord first.”

“They think you can?” Kaito laughed, “Either you are a lot stronger than I thought or you’re delusional.”

“A little bit of both. My healer is a very determined woman. I think if i don’t search every square inch of the map, she’ll strangle me irl.”

“Sounds scary,” Kaito’s voice lilted.

“Oh, it is.” Shinichi kept his tone mirthful, but the idea of what would happen if Shinichi didn’t find even a hint of the demon lord’s existence for Sonoko made him shudder.

“Well, c’mon,” Kaito walked ahead, “There are only a couple more chests. Let’s see if one of them summons a demon lord.” Shinichi rolled his eyes, but followed dutifully.

“You’re not scared of him?” Shinichi asked. He had run into other groups in caverns before, as well as making some inquiries at taverns and the like, and the consensus among the players seemed to be that the demon lord was either a hoax, or a monster who couldn’t be stopped. 

“He’s just a guy,” Kaito chortled.

“Is he?” Kaito glanced back at him, an eyebrow quirked.

“You really believe he’s some immortal killing machine the devs made?”

“Not really, but I’ve no evidence to the contrary. It’s all hearsay after all.” The cavern divided into two separate paths, but both boys turned right without a second thought. They then simultaneously ducked, avoiding a log that swung down from the ceiling.

“Been running this cavern for a while, eh?”

“Just enough to have this nonsense memorized.” Shinichi let out a huff. His forehead throbbed with phantom pain.

The pair stopped at a dead end, a mossy stone wall before them. Sitting to either side, largely obscured by the cave’s dim lighting, were two small chests. “Would you mind if I try my luck at one?” Kaito asked, “I know I didn’t clear any of the monsters, so it’s cool if it’s a no.”

“Nah, I don’t mind,” Shinichi replied, heading toward the chest on their left. “I don’t actually care about any of this junk. If it’s not a key, I’m just selling it all anyway.” He kneeled down before the box’s worn wooden surface. Last week, it had graced him with a perfectly useless golden chalice which he had promptly handed off to a guy who wanted to fill an entire room in his guildhouse with them. Shinichi didn’t question it, just gladly took the money.

“Count of three?” Kaito had likewise kneeled before his chest, his fingers drumming the sides of it.

“Sure.”

“Three…Two…One.” With near simultaneous clicks, the lids of the treasure chests popped open. A bright popup window appeared, congratulating them on their prizes. Shinichi heard Kaito sigh. “Another chalice. I thought the drop rate on these things was supposed to be rare. Any luck over there?”

Shinichi didn’t respond. Couldn’t respond. He was absolutely gobsmacked at the floating little box in front of him, and the even smaller picture of a key that was inside of it. He exited out of the window and quickly pulled up his inventory. There, under his ‘key items’ tab was a dull bronze key. It had no name or description, it was just simply there.

“...Did you get something good?” Kaito’s tone lacked the jovial, warm feeling it had carried since he appeared. It was enough to shock Shinichi back into the moment. The detective was suddenly very aware that he was in a PVP zone.

“No, it was just something that I hadn’t seen before, so I wanted to read it’s description.” He kept his voice even as he slowly stood. He turned to face his companion with an easy smile on his face. Kaito smiled back, but there was a small, almost imperceivable way that it played on his face that left Shinichi with an intense unease.

“The loot table has the funniest way of dropping items at the exact worst time.” Kaito sounded normal again, but goosebumps were still rising on Shinichi’s arms. Shinichi laughed and started to head back the way they came. Keeping an easy pace, portraying as casual a stride as possible.

“Doesn’t it?” He kicked a rock and listened to it echo down the cave walls.

“You must have really bad luck, huh Shinichi,” Kaito trailed behind him, his arms behind his head, walking lazily. “I mean, to have scouted this cavern enough times to kill all of the monsters with ease, and evade all the traps without a second thought, to not have seen all the possible drops?”

“It’s true,” Shinichi chuckled, “It’s my worst stat.”

“That’s a shame. It’s my best one.”

“I’m jealous, the pain threshold might be limited, but it still sucks to get crit on all the time.”

“Oh, yeah, that sucks. Sorry.” Kaito actually sounded a little sorrowful, and Shinichi was about to make a joke back. The reentered the main section of the cavern, a touch light making it easier to see. Shinichi turned, a comment on his lips, when he felt a familiar pain slide in between his ribs.

Glancing down at his chest, Shinichi found Kaito’s dagger pierced perfectly through his ribs and into his virtual heart. Shinichi coughed, involuntarily, and blood sputtered out of his mouth, metallic and hot.

“Oh, wow, you weren’t kidding.” Kaito still sounded casual, even as Shinichi's knees buckled and he fell to the floor. “I know that was a sneak attack and everything, but I really wasn’t expecting a one-hit KO.” Shinichi’s head hit the stone, the pain not even registering as his vision started to fade. Kaito squatted beside him, his eyes focused on something Shinichi couldn’t see. Shinichi had no doubts about what it was though, Kaito was stealing the key off of his body. “I honestly wish I could just pickpocket it off of you, but c’est la vie.” Kaito shrugged, closing out of the menu. He stared down at Shinichi, his smile a little more sinister. “You’re fun, Shinichi. I really wish we could have talked some more.” Shinichi squeezed his eyes shut, another wave of dull pain shooting through his body. He opened them again to find Kaito frowning. It was for only a brief moment before that smile returned to his face, not quite reaching his eyes.

His eyes. Shinichi’s own widened when he realized they were different now. “I’ll see you next time,” Kaito said, his purple eyes crinkling with delight just before Shinichi's vision went completely dark.

Seconds later, the detective shot awake. His heart was pounding against his ribcage, his breath shaky and heaving. It took him a moment to realize where he was, Sonoko’s in-game residence, because of course she would also be rich in a digital world. It also happened to be the last bed he interacted with, making it his respawn point. The familiar sight gave him some relief, as did the faint sound of laughter and voices echoing through the floorboards.

With adrenaline still dancing like lightning in his veins, Shinichi bolted off of the mattress and out of the door. He raced down the stairs, making enough noise to wake the dead, before stopping in front of the ornate dining table where Ran and Sonoko were seated. Both women looked entirely confused.

“Shinichi? When did you get back? We’ve been waiting here for you for ages,” Sonoko nagged. Ran, however, remained tense, her eyes scanning Shinichi’s face, taking note of the rise and fall of his chest.

“You just respawned, didn’t you?” Sonoko turned to Ran, her eyes widening in surprise. Shinichi just nodded. “Was it one of those ‘hunting parties’ again? Because I swear, if they used some dirty, underhanded-”

“I met him,” Shinichi interrupted, finally able to force words past his lips.

“Him…” Sonoko echoed, mind turning. “The DEMON LORD?” She jumped up, excitement clear on her face, ready to grill Shinichi for all he was worth before Ran held up an arm to stop her.

“And he killed you?” Ran’s tone was bone-chilling. Shinichi nodded again, more hesitant this time. Shinichi knew that tone, and he was glad it was not directed at him. Ran’s eyes darkened, still watching the way Shinichi was working to catch his breath, the traces of adrenaline making his hands shake. “When I get my hands on that-”

“Wait,” Shinichi interrupted again, “You should hear me out first.” Shinichi explained how his time in the treasure cavern had gone. That he hadn’t run into any players until Kaito seemingly appeared out of nowhere. How he never once threatened Shinichi, and how overall genuine he seemed to have been the whole interaction. Until he realized that Shinichi found a key.

“You found a key?!” Sonoko couldn’t contain her outburst. “You, Mr. Unlucky, actually managed to find a key?”

“Only to then be oneshot with a knife in my heart, yeah. I think I live up to my reputation,” Shinichi snarked back. A hand massaged where his wound had been, still not quite believing that he had been able to wake up perfectly fine.

“But he didn’t take any of the other loot you got?” Ran asked, much calmer after being forced to sit back down and drink some tea. “There are at least fifteen different chests to loot at the location you were at.” Shinichi shook his head. He confirmed it while he talked, but everything else he had found was still in his inventory.

“He’s the demon lord, he’s been stalking those treasure caverns as long as we have known about them, he doesn’t need anything else.” Sonoko huffed, like it should be obvious.

“But still,” Ran shot back with a frown, “Even if you have no use for the drops, they can make good money. And even if he didn’t need the money,” Ran held up a finger, silencing Sonoko before she could object, “It would be easier to just take all of Shinichi’s loot.”

“What do you mean?” Shinichi cocked his head.

“Well, in a treasure cavern, when your opponent gets KO’d,” Ran started, then a look of realization crossed her face. She pursed her lips and her cheeks went red.

“Ran,” Sonoko’s voice was full of disbelief, “have you been fighting the players you run into?”

“Only when they start it!” Ran immediately defended. “If they don’t want my sword in their face they shouldn’t talk to me like that!”

“Not even in self-defense. Mouri Ran I cannot believe it.” Sonoko threw a hand over her forehead, scandalized.

“Probably did deserve it though,” Shinichi muttered.

“Oh, for sure,” Sonoko agreed.

“Anyway!” Ran’s face was bright red, “The point is, the menu that pops up when you down someone A) shows you every item you can take from the player and B) prompts you with a ‘take all’ button. If you want to be even a little choosey with what you want, you have to click on the individual item and drag it into an open inventory window.”

“He did make some comment about how he would rather have pickpocketed me,” Shinichi’s brows furrowed in thought. “So it seems like his goal isn’t to just inconvenience other players. He wants in the box.”

“Everyone wants in the box,” Sonoko retorted.

“True, but it would still be strange to attempt the game’s hardest content seemingly by yourself. Unless he knows something that everyone else doesn’t.”

“What would that even be?” Ran asked.

“Only one way to find out.” A smirk played across Shinichi’s lips. This was turning out to be far more interesting than he had ever imagined.

The next time he encountered the demon lord did not go to plan. Fool me twice and all that.

In the detective’s defense, he didn’t realize how unique Kaito’s abilities were. So, while he was hesitant when he ran into another solo player in the new treasure cavern he’d been canvassing, he let his guard down when he realized it was an elf woman.

She had been cowering in an alcove about halfway through, and Shinichi definitely didn’t have a mini heart attack when he saw the tall silhouette where he didn’t expect it.

“Are you alright?” he asked, noticing the way the girl was shivering. When she met his eyes, they were wet with unshed tears.

“My party,” she sniffed, “They thought it would be funny to leave me in here.” Her lip was quivering and she clung onto her staff like a lifeboat. Even though the woman stood taller than Shinichi, she was hunched over, appearing like a frightened animal. Her long blonde hair falling in front of her face, hiding everything but the tips of her long, pointed ears. The detective had no choice but to want to help her.

So, he coaxed her out of her corner and led her through the rest of the cave. He took down all the monsters that crossed their path, while his escortee hung back and gave him the occasional buff or heal. While she was a coward, Shinichi could tell that she was a high level. Her spell potency was on par with Sonoko, who grinded the game like a mad woman.

It was also an interesting experience to party up with someone who wasn’t Sonoko or Ran. They didn’t make much conversation, the girl instead preferring to squeak and eep at every monster's appearance or nod or shake her head to Shinichi’s questions. Even then, it was clear that she could read the combat situation well. She could cast healing spells to land right after Shinichi took a hit and buff Shinichi right before the start of the largest dps part of his rotation.

It was natural, then, that Shinichi split the loot with her too. They took turns opening the chests they came across, the elven healer always looking grateful when Shinichi stepped aside for her. The good karma seemed to get him some pretty good drops too, no keys, of course, but still things that Shinichi could sell for a high price.

Like the previous treasure cavern, this, too, ended with a set of two chests. “I’ll take the left and you take the right?” Shinichi asked, allowing his companion room to object. She just giggled and nodded her head. Shinichi grinned and approached his chest. “Three…Two…One!” He counted down, throwing his lid open, the sound of another chest opening beside him. Shinichi was feeling good. He had become pretty good in combat with all the time the girls were making him spend on this game, but there had been an ease that he had only been able to achieve because he wasn’t alone. While he would solo treasure caverns until he got to the truth about what was going on with the demon lord and Pandora’s Box, he couldn’t deny that it had been much more fun with someone beside him.

He glanced over at the elf girl, smiling happily at an invisible window telling her her spoils. Shinichi turned back to face his own and-

“What the?” His eyes grew wide. The statistical improbability of what he was seeing left his brain buffering. It had only been two weeks since he had lost the first and only key he had found, and yet here it was. An old bronze key, waiting to be put into Shinichi’s inventory.

“Are you for real?” The voice shocked him. The girl beside him sounded incredulous, much different than her original weepiness and not a hint of the cowardice she showed in battle. Shinichi turned to face her, confused. That confusion only grew when she started laughing. Holding her stomach, loud, echoing, laughing. Shinichi’s brain just kept buffering, her reaction far too abnormal. A sense of danger prickling on Shinichi’s skin. “Shinichi, you are unbelievable,” she laughed out.

“I didn’t tell you my name,” was all that he seemed to be able to come up with.

“Of course you did,” she giggled. She stood, wiping invisible dust off of her skirt and smiled down at him. “You told me, two weeks ago.”

Shinichi’s veins felt like ice. He thought the girls said that it wasn’t possible to so drastically change your appearance, but clearly that hadn’t been true. Shinichi hadn’t even gotten an inkling of this person’s true identity when he found her, but now, watching her blue eyes shift into an unmistakable shade, he couldn’t deny it. The moniker slipped out on a shaky breath. “Demon lord.”

“Please don’t call me that,” the voice was Kaito’s, which was startling. “It’s honestly a little embarrassing.” Shinichi watched, mystified, as the demon lord’s fingers seemingly grabbed onto the skin at the hinge of his jaw and ripped it off. Instantly, the illusion disappeared, revealing the man he met two weeks ago. His purple eyes sent a shiver up Shinichi’s spine and a phantom pain in his chest. Apparently, the demon lord noticed the spike in Shinichi’s heart rate, and smirked.

“I know I told you I would see you again, but I didn’t think it would be so soon.” Kaito casually opened a menu and began scrolling through it. Shinichi, for his part, began forming an escape plan. Clearly, this was gearing up to be a repeat of last time, and Shinichi would rather like to keep a hold of this key, thank you very much. As innocently as he could, Shinichi shifted his position, readying himself to make a run for it as soon as he had a solid opening. “You might just be my lucky charm, Shinichi!” His tone was cheery, which complimented the way a shortsword materialized in his hand horribly. 

“Wow, I’m honored.” His dry response got a short laugh. Shinichi’s heart pounded harder as Kaito’s eyes crinkled with mirth, twirling his sword like it wasn’t a deadly weapon. The detective wasn’t so sure that ‘demons’ weren’t actually in the game.

“As you should be, you’re the only one who’s seen my actual face. And twice now, at that.”

“What?” Shinichi briefly forgot about his plan to run, too tempted by this new information. “Why?” Kaito shrugged, like they were in the midst of a completely normal, casual conversation.

“I guess you’re just lucky?” Quick as lightning, Kaito brought his sword down on Shinichi. Miraculously, Shinichi managed to roll away so that none of his vitals were hit. Not so miraculously, instead of his stomach, the blade managed to slice through his achilles. Shinichi swore at the pain, but mostly at the ‘slow’ status effect it caused him. Shinichi didn’t have the time to lament over it. He managed to stand and started to run, as fast as he could while the game forced him to drag one of his feet uselessly.

Kaito was actually shocked that Shinichi managed to dodge what was supposed to be a killing blow. His amazement of that fact caused him to watch Shinichi in surprise while the demon lord’s injured prey tried to escape. He shook it off eventually, and started his pursuit.

Shinichi couldn’t decide whether it was insulting or petrifying that Kaito decided said pursuit would be a steady, confident walk after him. Each time Shinichi glanced back, his pursuer was only marginally closer, an easy smile on his face and a determined look in his eyes. Yep, Shinichi decided, definitely a demon. Kaito was clearly toying with him, enjoying the fruitless attempt Shinichi was making. Shinichi was praying that his awful luck would work in his favor.

The sound of voices started to echo faintly down the cave walls. Behind him, Kaito tsked. Shinichi breathed in to start to shout for help, not that he thought he would actually receive it. From the sounds of it, it was a full party worth of people, who would be all too happy to take an easy kill and Shinichi’s loot. He just wanted to make Kaito’s life harder. Before he could make a sound, however, a hand covered his mouth, sword pressed against his throat.

“Annoying,” Kaito huffed out. He released the hand over Shinichi’s mouth, somehow confident that his captive wouldn’t try anything. And for some reason, Shinichi didn’t. He just turned his head ever so slightly to watch Kaito’s face. He was especially enraptured as Kaito pulled something from his inventory and pulled it across his face. In seconds, he once again looked like the elf woman. The annoyed sneer looked odd on her face, as did Kaito’s smile when he noticed Shinichi watching. “This will just take a second,” Kaito’s voice said to Shinichi before he cleared his throat into the higher register the elf had spoken with. “Hello? Help!” The feminine voice echoed. The voices stopped, then the sound of running feet.

A group of about eight appeared from the dark. “Are you alright?” A man in heavy armor asked, concerned. A few other members of his party shared the same sentiment, but Shinichi could clearly spot the ones who were eager to pounce on a vulnerable target.

“My friend can’t walk.” It had the same sad warble that had fooled Shinichi. It probably would have fooled the newcomers if Kaito hadn’t brought his sword down across Shinichi’s other tendon. Shinichi yelled, of course, collapsing to the ground as his status morphed to ‘immobilized’. He would have sworn at Kaito, but a chorus of voices beat him to it.

The armored man, their leader by his behavior, held up a hand to silence them. “Who are you with?” He unsheathed his greatsword, shifting his stance. Kaito giggled, high and feminine.

“Does it seem like I’m a part of one of your silly little groups?” He twirled his sword, and, while it was probably imperceptible to the group, Shinichi saw the way Kaito shifted onto the balls of his feet, adrenaline causing him to impatiently bounce.

“No way,” one of the group members, a mage, took a cautious step back. “There’s no way that this girl is…”

“Hm?” Kaito tilted his head, the long blonde hair of his disguise seemingly bright in the torchlight. “Go on, who do you think I am? I bet you’re not wrong.” His wicked grin returned.

“Demon lord,” the leader replied, clearly signaling his party that it was time to engage. They scrambled to draw their weapons and ready their stances, but Kaito was already moving.

It was more than a little terrifying, watching him absolutely demolish what should have been a difficult, if not impossible, fight. He dashed through the group with speed Shinichi hadn’t seen before. He gave the party no time to adjust, quickly identifying the group's healers and slashing cleanly through the neck of one. Shinichi watched the number appear above the girl’s head along with the proclamation of ‘Critical Sneak’. The poor girl touched the glowing red line that had appeared across her neck and fell to the ground. Shinichi was immediately glad that the game didn’t actually go so far as the sever injuries.

The other healer didn’t go down as quickly, but he did go down. As did the rest of the party. Kaito managed to dodge nearly all of their attacks, and the ones that did hit were only ever ‘resisted’ damage. Shinichi couldn’t tell where his skill ended and his luck began. The way he dodged and weaved through the group was graceful and confident. Worst of all, it looked like Kaito was having fun. The sound of metal on metal and shouts of pain decreased little by little until it was silent.

Shinichi observed the carnage. Bodies scattered in the tunnel, their owners just barely conscious as they waited for the victor to collect his spoils. Kaito stood above them, sword in hand, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. That, at least, told Shinichi he was actually mortal.

Wiping invisible sweat from his brow, Kaito got to work, visiting each body, seemingly not looting any of them, just dismissing the window so the game would let them respawn. As the last one faded into pixels, Kaito finally turned back to Shinichi. He had the nerve to give him one of his charming smiles. “Told you,” his eyes crinkled, “That didn’t take too long.”

“You’re…” Shinichi shook his head, unable to find the right word. “Why didn’t you just kill me?” He asked instead.

“Why…” Kaito had to think about his answer, “Probably because you’re fun to talk to?” He stalked closer, crouching down so he was at eye level with Shinichi. “And I knew you couldn’t escape, so I might as well give you a show.”

“Murder isn’t my favorite form of entertainment, but I appreciate the consideration.”

“Hey,” Kaito frowned, “Don’t make it sound so cruel. This is just a game after all.” Shinichi scoffed.

“To you, sure. I don’t think you realize how intimidating you are on the other end of the blade. Feels pretty real to the fight or flight instincts, I assure you.”

“Okay, so maybe it’s a little fun to be scary, sue me,” he shrugged. “You sure seem pretty blasé if I’m so intimidating.”

“Like you said,” it was Shinichi’s turn to shrug, “It’s just a game. And it isn’t the first time someone has come at me with killing intent.”

“Huh?!” Kaito’s eyes went wide. Apparently, he hadn’t been expecting that as a part of their banter. It felt good to break Kaito’s composure, and Shinichi couldn’t help but smile.

“What, never met a detective before?” Kaito rubbed at his temples, like the word gave him a headache.

“Of course you are. That makes total sense.” That certainly wasn’t the reaction that Shinichi had been expecting. Shinichi would have asked, but more voices suddenly echoed through the cave. These ones less jovial, more aggressive. “Cat’s out of the bag,” Kaito said toward the voices, “Looks like they had backup. Sorry about this, detective, but I’ll see you again soon, yeah?”

His grin was insufferable as he plunged the sword through Shinichi’s stomach.

Sonoko had been almost inconsolable when Shinichi told her and Ran about his second run in with the demon lord. Then, she came to the conclusion that Shinichi’s awful luck had something to do with it. She decided that only Shinichi had to go to the treasure caverns from then on, letting the two girls off the hook. Shinichi couldn’t argue with her.

So, over and over again, he ventured out to all of the known treasure caverns. To his displeasure, Sonoko was proven right. He managed to cross paths with Kaito more times than not.

The third time they met, Kaito had appeared at the entrance of the cave, completely casual. He and Shinichi had worked through the tunnels together, splitting the loot like they always had. It was even better than when Kaito had pretended to be a healer. Besides his incredible skills in combat, his callouts were on point, adding an ease to combat. So when Shinichi managed to pull yet another key out of the final chest, he couldn’t even be mad when Kaito bludgeoned him in the temple with the hilt of his sword.

The fourth time, Kaito was disguised as an older human man in full plate mail. When Shinichi immediately addressed the man as Kaito, the signature grin certainly did not make Shinichi blush. He also didn’t blush when, after they cleared the dungeon without a key, Kaito had told him ‘see you next week’ and disappeared.

Shinichi probably shouldn’t have been so okay to hang out, week after week, with a boy who ended almost every meeting by killing him. He knew he shouldn’t, but something about Kaito seemed to draw Shinichi to him like a magnet. He couldn't place his finger on it. The demon lord was clearly charismatic. And skilled. And funny. But also still so mysterious, even if he seemed to lower more and more walls around Shinichi.

“You have a crush on the demon lord.” Ran looked deadpan, absently doodling on her open notebook. Shinichi made a strangled sort of noise, choking on his coffee. Some of Poirot’s other customers looked over with concern.

“What?” Shinichi rasped, still coughing.

“Shinichi, I love you, you’re my best friend, but you can be incredibly dense about your own feelings sometimes.”

“That’s ridiculous though. I barely know the guy, and he has literally murdered me in cold blood.”

“Seems like your perfect man. A mysterious criminal? What could be better.” Her deadpan expression couldn’t hold up against the whiney ‘Ran’ that followed. “I’m kidding. Sort of. So he’s good at PVP, doesn’t reflect on his real self, does it?”

“No, he definitely is that skilled IRL.” Shinichi leaned onto the table, holding his head in his hands. “The way he moves, he clearly has some gymnastics training at the bare minimum.” A flick to his forehead made him pout.

“You are so obvious.” Ran’s voice was fond. “Let’s get on back track.” She turned her notebook so it faced Shinichi. It was a rough sketch of the world map with little ‘x’s where the treasure caverns are located, along with check marks next to where Shinichi had found, and subsequently lost, keys.

“Only two more, huh?” Shinichi stared at the pencil drawing, tapping the little unchecked x in the lower left corner. “And we’re focusing on this one next?”

“As long as the demon lord doesn’t have those two keys next, yeah. It’s more likely he doesn’t have that one. It’s probably the cavern with the highest difficulty. Randomized traps and highly mechanical monsters.”

“Makes sense. And you think, with my luck, I’ll be able to survive?”

“Don’t act like that now, Shinichi.” Ran shot him a look, “Like you haven’t managed to adapt.” Shinichi huffed out a half-hearted laugh.

“Just because it’s less likely I’ll get hit now doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hurt when I do.”

“Poor Mr. Negative Three, so unlucky that he keeps running into the boy he likes and helps him collect the super rare item he really wants.”

“For the love of!” Shinichi buried his face in his hands. “I’m going to kill you. In a video game.”

The ‘hardest treasure cavern’ might also be the prettiest. Instead of being an actual, literal cave, it was a dense mass of forest accessed through a natural stone archway. Unlike the creepy vibes of the forest Shinichi started out in, this stretch of woods had abundant natural sunlight and the soothing sound of bird song. It also had an undisguised demon lord relaxing on the forest floor just past the entryway.

“Good morning,” he grinned.

“It’s the dead of night.” Shinichi grinned back.

“That’s Japan time. I live in Pandora time.” He stood, dusting off his pants.

“I hope you enjoy your thirty minute day cycles.”

“I do.” The demon lord’s little chuckle forced color into Shinichi’s cheeks.

“Let’s get this over with.” He marched ahead, forcing himself not to think about the conversation he had with Ran. It didn’t help that Kaito laughed some more.

“Want to get rid of me that badly, huh?” Kaito caught up with him so they were walking side by side.

“Maybe I’m just excited to explore in the sunlight for once.”

“That’s true,” Kaito leaned forward, scanning Shinichi’s face, “I haven’t been able to see you in natural light before.” Shinichi leaned back, certain his face had to be tomato colored at this point. He also refused to acknowledge that he was doing the same. Noticing how soft Kaito’s brown hair looked in the leaf-filtered light. How his usually dangerous looking purple eyes shined like amethyst.

“You’re such a flirt,” Shinichi tried to say casually. Like the banter was just platonic. Because it was. Thankfully, Kaito couldn’t get in a witty response, as a huge, plant-like monster erupted from the ground. The two shared a look, excited and adrenaline-inducing, before they rushed into battle.

The beast, while certainly tough, wasn’t a threat against the two of them. In just a couple of minutes, it dissolved into pixels, revealing a chest. “You can take it,” Shinichi said, wincing as he pulled a large thorn from his arm. “I’ll take the next one.”

“You’re such a gentleman, detective.” Why did that word sound like a term of endearment out of his mouth? Kaito kicked the chest open, eyes scanning the contents quickly before he wandered back over to Shinichi’s side. He held a hand over the wound and a warm, tingling sensation had Shinichi breathing out a content sigh.

“What even is your class?” Shinichi wondered. “Strong in physical and magical skills. The fact you can heal. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone else do that.”

“You’d be surprised at the kinds of things the devs hid behind seemingly boring side quest chains.” Kaito removed his hand, revealing Shinichi’s healed skin. They started walking again, sunshine warm on their skin.

“I haven’t had time to do those even if I wanted to,” Shinichi complained. “I’m either too busy IRL to log in, or Ran and Sonoko, mostly Sonoko, are ordering me around. Demanding I find the demon lord.”

“Apparently, it’s not that hard.” Kaito stretched and crossed his arms behind his head. “But once you're free from that awful task, I highly recommend hunting those down. Lots of interesting stuff.”

“Like your disguise magic?” Shinichi sensed an opportunity to dig for information, and he was a detective before anything else.

“Maybe,” Kaito winked at him, “the crafting system is a lot more in depth than people give it credit for.”

“It seems like a strange thing for the devs to put into the game,” Shinichi mused, “Like, what would the purpose be for it outside of how you use it?”

“It’s more like I lucked into creating an item with the ability. Probably because I can actually make prosthetics.”

“You disguise yourself in real life too? Are you sure you aren’t a criminal?” Shinichi joked, but this new piece of information just built the burning curiosity he had to know the real world Kaito.

“Rude! I just like to have a little fun is all.”

“That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.” Kaito opened his inventory, nose scrunched, he scrolled until he found what he was looking for. A stack of cards appeared in his hand. He stood in front of Shinichi, stopping the casual pace they had been walking with.

“Watch and be amazed.” Kaito looked eager, like he did right before combat. His hands moved with all the precision and grace he had in combat, too. The thick, medieval looking cards flying through his fingers in a way that was nothing short of mesmerizing. Finally, Kaito stopped, held a card in front of Shinichi, the ace of spades before, with a twist of his hand, the card turned into a flower in a little cloud of smoke.

“Magic?” Shinichi smiled as he took the offered daisy.

“The real life kind. I’m a magician.”

“That certainly is an interesting skill set to transfer into a fantasy world.”

“You’re telling me. Do you know how offended I was when the game recommended I start as the thief class? I only use my pickpocketing abilities for good, I will have you know. And you can’t even steal in this game! Should have just called it rogue.”

“Oh, so you are a criminal after all,” Shinichi smirked, putting the daisy in his inventory. He gave Kaito a pat on the shoulder and continued onward.

“Only in a video game!”

The treasure cavern was a breeze. Yes, it would have been incredibly difficult if Shinichi had been by himself, and he probably would have died, but he wasn’t alone. The final fight against one very big, angry bear cleared the way into a bright, round clearing with two large chests.

“You take the left, I take the right?” Kaito offered.

“Like you read my mind.” Shinichi strolled up to his chest.

“Three…Two…One!” Simultaneous clicks had the lids of the chests creaking open in tandem. “And it’s another chalice! This sucks! That guy doesn’t even take them anymore!” Shinichi let out a sigh. He turned to Kaito, who was pouting in a way that totally didn’t make Shinichi's heart skip a beat or anything.

“Hey,” he interrupted the demon lord’s childish fuming, “Duel me.” Kaito’s eyes turned sharp, finding Shinichi’s. He clearly understood what Shinichi was implying.

“A duel? When you’ve never been able to escape me before?”

“That was only the first two times,” Shinichi huffed, “I let you kill me all those other times.”

“Sure,” Kaito gave him a sly smile. “What do you want, then? To steal all of your keys back? Here, you could.” Shinichi shook his head.

“Let me challenge the box with you. With Ran and Sonoko too. This clearly isn’t your first time collecting all of these keys, and I don’t doubt that you’ve challenged the box by yourself every time. Clearly it isn’t working.”

“You don’t have to spell it out like that, detective.” Kaito sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I have my reasons for wanting to do it solo, you know?”

“But it’s not like it had to be done by yourself, right?”

“How do you figure that?”

“Just a feeling.” Shinichi shrugged. “I don’t think you’d let yourself hang out with me like this if you really had to complete everything solo.”

“Alright,” Kaito said, a resigned smile on his face, “if you beat me, I’ll let the three of you try the box with me. Just once, though. If we don’t clear it there are no redos.”

“Fine by me.” Shinichi took several paces away from Kaito and drew his sword. His heart was racing in his chest, but his determination kept him steady. Kaito grinned back at him, casually drawing his own weapon.

They stood, eyes locked on one another for what felt like forever. Shinichi was the first to make a move, rushing forward to close the distance between them. Kaito met him in the middle and their swords sang as they clashed together. Shinichi managed to push back and made a stab for Kaito’s midsection, but the demon lord rolled back into a handstand, kicking Shinichi’s sword hand and sending the blade flying. Swearing, Shinichi chased after it, all too aware of the presence on his heels. He made a dive for the blade, managing to roll out of the way as Kaito’s sword plunged into the dirt where he had been. Shinichi carried his momentum into a crouched position, ready on the balls of his feet as Kaito pulled his sword from the earth.

“Have you been holding out on me, detective?” He asked, eyes shining.

“I just wasn’t caught off guard this time, that’s all.” Kaito hummed at his response.

“Maybe your luck isn’t as terrible as I thought.” Kaito’s sword dematerialized in his hand, only to be replaced with his dagger. Simultaneously, fire began to curl around the fingers of his off hand. With some small amount of panic, Shinichi dashed out of the way of an incoming fireball. He gained distance before turning back around to face his opponent.

“How is that fair!” he shouted across the field, “You know I can’t use magic!”

“That’s not my fault!” Kaito called back, launching another fireball at Shinichi. “And you never said we had to just use swords!”

“So ungentlemanly!” Shinichi counted the seconds, watching how long it took for the fireball spell to cool down. After the next fireball, he began closing back in. He knew Kaito would opt for his physical weapon as soon as Shinichi was close. He had timed the spell correctly, leaving himself enough time to change direction each time a fire came hurtling towards his face. In no time, he was in range. He sliced his sword upward, managing to graze the demon lord’s torso, ripping open the linen shirt and causing a bright red line across his skin. Kaito’s eyes were wild, an animalistic smile on his face, like he was thrilled Shinichi managed to hit him. Shinichi primed himself for a followthrough, but Kaito roundhouse kicked him, forcing him back. He had no time to recover as Kaito slashed at him with his knife. He cut into Shinichi’s shoulder and onto his collarbone before tossing the blade in the air to change his grip, allowing him to cleanly make another cut against the forearm of Shinichi’s sword hand. Shinichi maintained his grip and brought his knee up and into Kaito’s stomach. He stumbled back, allowing Shinichi time to correct his stance. Kaito brought up his dagger, eyes searching for the next hint of movement. Shinichi lunged again, aiming to duck down for a low blow, but Kaito stepped to the side, aiming past Shinichi’s blade. He stabbed into his sword hand causing Shinichi to once again drop his sword. Next, Kaito swept Shinichi’s legs, causing him to fall back onto the ground. Shinichi’s head bounced against the hard dirt, sending pain rippling through it. In his daze, he had no time to move, allowing Kaito to pin him down, sitting on his chest, dagger against his throat.

“Not bad, detective.” Kaito was panting, a satisfied smile on his face.

“Not good enough, though.” Shinichi was panting too, his chest heavy with the extra weight of Kaito’s body.

“What did you expect?” Kaito asked, his tone teasing. “I am the demon lord after all.” Shinichi didn’t respond. They were trapped staring at one another for a tense moment. “I appreciate you finding the final key for me, detective.”

“Are you really going into Pandora’s Box by yourself again?” Kaito frowned and pressed his dagger a little harder against Shinichi’s throat. “I don’t care what sort of prize is at the end. Sonoko and Ran don’t really either. I can easily convince them that you can have whatever it is.” Shinichi sounded desperate, he knew, but the thought of not being able to help Kaito finally achieve whatever goal he had been working toward all this time made his heart ache.

Kaito’s frown deepened, brows furrowed. His eyes were everywhere but on Shinichi, seemingly deep in thought. The demon lord seemed to find his answer, his face releasing its tension. The dagger eased up, too, until it was just its tip, lightly tracing a line up to Shinichi’s chin, forcing the detective to tilt his head upward. Kaito smiled, the one that Shinichi loved oh so much before plunging the blade into flesh.

Shinichi instantly coughed out a splattering of blood as his HP depleted entirely. Another critical hit, of course. He watched as Kaito pulled the key into his own inventory before he removed his knife. He set it down beside him, leaned over Shinichi’s face, wiping blood from the corner of Shinichi’s mouth, and said, “See you next week, detective.” Then, ever so carefully, he held Shinichi’s chin and brought their lips together.

Shinichi’s brain short circuited, and his vision went black.

He logged out immediately after respawning. The interior of the FullReal was illuminated only by the launch menu for Pandora Online. Shinichi powered off the system and lay in the dark. His hands covering his mouth, his face feeling far too warm. It took him about ten minutes before he stumbled out of the virtual reality machine and stumbled downstairs and into the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of water and sat at the table, staring at it, in disbelief. His reverence was interrupted by the sound of his front door opening.

“Shinichi?” It was Ran’s voice, a little hesitant, a lot concerned.

“In here,” he called. His voice was raspy and he finally took a drink of his water.

“Are you alright?” Ran appeared in the doorway, swiftly making her way to his side. She took his head in her hands, turning it this way and that. “You didn’t regroup with us like normal, Sonoko and I were worried.”

“Uh, yeah, sorry.” Shinichi took another long sip of his water. “He got the last key.”

“Your luck is crazy,” Ran sighed, finally taking a seat. “Did you two fight about it or something?”

“Kinda? I challenged him to a duel. He won, of course.” Shinichi scowled down at his glass.

“Well, duh, he’s the demon lord.” Ran rolled her eyes. She really was too fond of this detective. “You asked him to take us with him to the box if you won, didn’t you?” Shinichi looked at her like a deer in headlights.

“How did you know?”

“Because I know you, stupid. You always want to help. Especially if you like the person.” Shinichi ducked his head down again, embarrassed. 

“I lost, and he killed me again, but…” Shinichi could feel the heat in his face, burning all the way to his ears. “Right before I respawned he, uh. Well, he might have kissed me?” It was Ran’s turn for her eyes to go wide.

“What?!” Shinichi’s shoulders hunched, wanting to hide. “Way to go, Shinichi!” Ran punched him in the arm. It was meant to be playful, but it hurt.

“Ow,” Shinichi said, rubbing his arm. It made Ran sigh and then smack his arm. “Double ow.”

“Stop trying to deflect. The guy you like likes you.”

“But I only know him in game! And I lost!”

“Just because he’s not going to take you with him to the box doesn’t mean that you’re never going to see him again.”

“But what if he beats the box this time! And then he has no reason to play the game again! It’s not like we-” Shinichi cut himself off, suddenly remembering the moments just before the kiss that had caused his brain to malfunction.

‘See you next week,’ he said. Like normal. Like he was planning on Shinichi being there.

“Hey, Ran. How prepared are you and Sonoko to try Pandora’s Box?”

A week later, Shinichi and the girls were standing just paces away from the doorway into Pandora’s Box. The entrance was like the entrance to a mausoleum, located in the dead center of Pandora’s world map, in the heart of its main city. People milled around it like it was a tourist attraction. Some people jokingly pushing one another toward the stone entrance. Others using it as an opportunity to hawk their crafted wares, promising any adventurer a surefire advantage if they should challenge the game’s hardest content.

Sonoko was looking around like she was an expectant fan, waiting for her idol to arrive. Well, that wasn’t far off from the truth. “I can’t believe I’m about to meet the demon lord!” She squealed in excitement. Ran just placatingly patted her head. “He’s going to be so cool, Ran! And handsome!” Ran looked knowingly at Shinichi, who turned away from her, fighting against the red that seemed to have permanently stained his face.

“He’s just a guy, Sonoko.” Shinichi still refused to turn around, but he had no doubt at the kind of face Sonoko made at him.

“A guy who can take down whole parties by himself. He killed you more than a half dozen times with ease.”

“I let him do that!” Shinichi finally turned back to face his party, ready to fight with Sonoko. He stopped himself when he saw a new, third person, standing just behind the two elven women.

“You see, my lady, Shinichi is gentlemanly in that way.” The voice caused Ran and Sonoko to jump, and the voice’s owner had to dodge out of the way of Ran’s fist. “Sorry,” Kaito laughed, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“If you don’t want to scare people, don’t just appear behind them, you creep.” Shinichi couldn’t help the fondness that crept into his voice before his eyes found themselves locked onto Kaito’s lips. It was a realization that made Shinichi want to crawl into a hole, and he looked away far too conspicuously.

Thankfully, Sonoko was a wonderful distraction when she realized who this new comer was. She bounced up and down with excitement and the first syllable of ‘demon lord’ left her mouth before Ran managed to cover it with her hand.

“Please don’t announce, in the busiest part of map, that the rumored demon lord is here,” she admonished. Sonoko was a reasonable girl, so she nodded. Ran removed her hand.

“I’m a big fan!” Sonoko said instead, her voice now a far more reasonable volume than it was about to be.

“I’m flattered,” Kaito gave her one of his smiles and a little bow, “it’s an honor to have such a lovely lady like you as a fan.” Shinichi rolled his eyes at the fangirl squeal Sonoko produced. “But, before we go in, I want to tell you why I want this so badly.” Kaito’s voice lost it’s showmanship, his gaze serious, and solely on Shinichi. The detective flushed at the attention, but nodded. This was important.

“This game was in development for a long time,” Kaito began. “More than a  decade of it, in fact. The development team always had big plans for the game and its world and searched for sources of inspiration everywhere. One of the many creative consultants they brought on was my father.

“He was a magician. A good one. If I told you his name, you would know it. They thought he could help give the world the kind of feeling a good magic show could. Like you can believe in the impossible. In fact, it was my dad who encouraged the devs to work on the game alongside the then in development VR technology, hoping to give players the most immersive, magical experience they could.

He died in an accident about halfway through the game's development. It even went on pause for a while because of it, but when it finally released, the development team made sure to reach back out to my mom and me, giving us a copy of the game. They told me how much the team looked up to my father and appreciated his work both as a magician and on the game. They told me to try my best to challenge Pandora’s Box.” Kaito's face was soft with memory. Sonoko grabbed onto his arm, eyes misty.

“We're going to get you your clear.” Her voice was determined. Ran nodded in agreement. Kaito looked touched. Shinichi sent him the party invite, and he couldn't hold back his smile when Kaito's name appeared in the party list.

The inside of Pandora's Box was just as somber as its outside. Themed like a crypt, bones lined the walls. The monsters were just as creepy. Each floor they descended, it got worse. Each door that creaked open when Kaito used a key was met with a chorus of monstrous screams. The demon lord didn't seem phased, however. He just forged ahead into the darkness.

Their synergy as a party was even better than when it was just Shinichi and Kaito. With Kaito able to fully focus on dealing damage, his callouts were even more quick and accurate than before. Even though the other three had never seen any of these fights before, it allowed them to anticipate mechanics that they otherwise absolutely would have failed. The demon lord's luck seemed to rub off on them, too. Ran and Sonoko landed more hits than Shinichi had seen in the months he had now spent on the game. He, too, was luckier than normal. More than half of his hits actually landed like they were supposed to. He even got a couple of crits!

The final chamber was the most unsettling. The fleshy walls pulsed with life, tortured screams echoing from somewhere. The boss was a gangly, uncanny humanoid. It's eyes too wide, it's limbs too long. And of course the thing had a second phase where it turned into a giant, rampaging demon. Shinichi joined when Kaito's callouts slowed down until they eventually stopped. They gotten further than Kaito had ever seen.

That fact clearly scared him, his movement becoming a little more hesitant. More cautious. Overthinking was dangerous.

Shinichi was watching Kaito more than he was the boss. The magician was usually so sure-footed, so confident, that Shinichi couldn't help but worry. So, of course, he saw the signs of a heavy hitting attack targeting Kaito. He saw how Kaito seemed to notice, but faltered on the best way to deal with it. He saw the beast start to move. “Sonoko!” Shinichi shouted, “Rez me!”

“What?” Sonoko shouted, turning her focus off of Ran. But Shinichi was already running. He threw his body against Kaito. Pushing him out of the way. Shinichi's body was crushed by the giant's fist. Everything ached. His vision went spotty. He could barely make out Kaito’s horrified expression. Funny, the demon lord had seen Shinichi KO’d plenty of times before. By his hand, no less.

As predicted, his HP hit zero, but before the countdown timer even appeared, a burst of magic hit Shinichi’s body. The aching stopped and his vision cleared. “You owe me, Holmes Nerd!” Sonoko shouted. Her hands were shaky, but she didn’t linger on Shinichi, turning back to Ran and casting another heal. Shinichi knew he MP must have taken a hit, a feeling that left magic users a little weak in their arms, but Sonoko didn’t waver.

Shinichi stood and retook his fighting stance. “C’mon,” he smiled at Kaito, who still looked shaken, “You really think I’d let a little thing like death stop me?” The tension in the magician’s face melted,a laugh escaping past his lips.

“No,” he replied, “It certainly hasn’t.”

When the creature finally fell, the room fell silent. The entire party was exhausted. Ran’s armor was scratched and dented, a visible cut on her cheek. Sonoko’s robes were singed and the shaking in her arms was worse. Shinichi felt the burn in his muscles, his sword almost too heavy to keep holding. Kaito was still, his eyes transfixed on the slowly disappearing corpse. His gaze moved to the door that lay on the other end of the room, now accessible as the fire that had surrounded the arena disappeared along with the boss.

“We did it!” Sonoko’s voice broke the silence. She threw herself onto the floor, as she let out a long-suffering sigh. Ran walked over to join her, harmonizing with her own stressed sound. Shinichi looked at the two fondly. “Please tell me that we for sure have the key to that door? And that there won’t be another floor after this one? I am so tired.”

“There shouldn’t be.” Kaito retrieved the final key from his inventory. Shinichi recognized it as the final key he had found only a week ago. It did seem to have some air of finality, it being a muted gold color compared to the bronze of the previous keys. Kaito looked at Shinichi, an unsure expression on his face. Shinichi’s face softened, and he gave him a small nod.

Hesitantly, Kaito approached the door. He held the key out to the door. The key dissolved into pixels and the door groaned open. Instantly, all four of them were awarded an absurd amount of EXP as well as an achievement. None of them acknowledged it, however, watching instead as the dark room before them lit up with torchlight.

The other end was still shrouded in shadow. As they stepped past the door, the next set of torches erupted to life, letting them see just a little further. This continued until the door seemed small in the distance, where they were stopped by yet another door. This one was less dramatic than the previous ones. A simple, wooden door with a round door knob. Kaito reached out and turned it.

The door didn’t budge.

“You’re joking.” Sonoko looked like she could boil over. “We got an achievement and everything. Are you seriously telling me there is one more, secret door, with some key hidden somewhere?”

“That can’t be possible,” Kaito shook his head with disbelief on his face as he tried the knob again. “I searched every corner of Pandora. I’ve completed every single quest. There’s no way that I wouldn’t know about an eleventh key.” Shinichi reached out, brushing Kaito’s hand gently aside as he tried the doorknob. It turned completely in his hand, as if the latch was undone, but still it wouldn’t move.

“If we did all of that work, and I don’t get a single cool piece of treasure I’m going to lose it,” Sonoko continued to rant.

“Sonoko,” Ran sighed, “That’s not what the point of this was, right? If the devs told Kaito to get to the bottom of Pandora’s Box, there must be something related to his father, right?” Sonoko grumbled out an agreement, looking a little embarrassed.

The wheels in Shinichi’s head turned. An unlocked door, but one that they couldn’t open all the same. Shinichi also believed Kaito when he said that there shouldn’t be a key for the door. Shinichi stared at the wood, oddly modern compared to the rest of the game’s aesthetics, like it was from a different place entirely. “Maybe…” Shinichi mused, not entirely confident, “we could try knocking?” Tentatively, he brought up a hand and gave a solid couple of knocks. It was silent for a moment, before Shinichi heard the faint sound of a chair creaking. “Hello?” Shinichi called, but no other sound was heard. “I really thought that might be it,” Shinichi sighed, disappointed.

“There was some sort of response,” Kaito reassured him, “so you’re clearly on the right track. Kaito retook his place from Shinichi in front of the door. He placed a hand on the wood, a smile falling across his lips. “This actually reminds me of a prop my dad used to use. It was part of a disappearance/reappearance. After he vanished, an assistant would roll the door onto the stage and knock. Then, he’d open the door with gusto, like my dad was supposed to be on the other side, but he wasn’t there. The assistant would close the door and try again, each time getting more frustrated, until-”

Kaito cut off the memory, eyes wide with realization. Turning his hand to rest his knuckles against it, he gently tapped a familiar rhythm. ‘Shave and a haircut’ he rapped.

‘Two bits’ the other side of the door replied. Kaito turned the knob again and the door opened inward.

The room was certainly out of place, especially after the hellish atmosphere the rest of the box had been. The room was illuminated by a few electric lamps and a gently flickering fire in a fireplace. The floor was short, thick carpet and the walls had a deep green wallpaper that was barely visible past the large amount of full bookshelves that lined them. In the center of the room was a desk, the chair accompanying it rolled to one side. The desk was clear, with an inkwell and pen placed to one side with a lamp on the other, casting light on the simple piece of paper lying in the middle. Kaito picked it up, holding it just right so that Shinichi could read along beside him.

Congratulations, Adventurers.

You have arrived here, at the bottom of Pandora’s Box. You faced the terror willingly and bravely. You have preserved past things that made you doubt your abilities and shudder with fear. You defeated these demons, not because you were the strongest, nor because you were the smartest, but because you did so with your companions beside you. You believed in them and they believed in you. You will continue to have to face demons, here in Pandora and out in your lives. Do not despair, for your companions will be there once again. Place your hope with them and let them entrust theirs to you. When you open Pandora’s Box again, and face horrors more terrible than you think you can handle, know that, even should you find yourself at the very bottom, you are not alone. Hope is there, waiting for you to find it.

Kaito handed the paper over to Ran and Sonoko. Ran took it tenderly, eyes scanning the paper. “My dad wrote that.” Kaito’s voice had a slight warble. “I’m certain of it.”

“It’s lovely,” Ran said, punctuated with a little sniff from Sonoko. The heiress rubbed at her eyes.

“How cliché,” Kaito chuckled, “The real treasure was the friends we made along the way.”

“It’s true,” Sonoko sobbed, grabbing Ran into a hug. Shinichi rolled his eyes. She could be such a slave to sentiment.

“Your father’s words, the thesis of the entire game. I can see why the devs wanted to be sure you saw this.” Shinichi placed a hand on Kaito’s shoulder.

“Would have been pretty lame if I had actually ended up clearing the box solo. I’d go against what my old man wanted people to do.” He took the note back from Ran, eyes scanning over the ink. “A magical world that brings people together.” He shook his head, a soft smile on his face.

Just then, a new item materialized on the desk. It was a small chest with ornate gold trim. The four of them shared a look before Kaito lifted its lid. Shinichi suddenly had a popup window informing him of new items added into his inventory. A complete set of ‘Box’s Swordsman’ armor. Taking a quick look, he noticed Ran and Sonoko looking pleased at a similar window.

“This gear looks cute!” Sonoko cheered. “You guys didn’t get healing gear, right? Did you get paladin armor, Ran?” The tank nodded.

“It looks so cool. I can’t wait to put it on!” Shinichi looked over his gear, a handsome set of light armor decorated with shining jewels and a long, flowing cloak. He took a peak at Kaito. He couldn’t deny the itch to know what exactly his class was. Kaito noticed him and gave him a smirk. He turned his inventory window around so that Shinichi could see it.

“That looks a little flashy for a thief,” he said, clicking on the item’s description, “And not very demon lord like at all, it looks more like a-” The description window popped up, proudly displaying the gearset’s name. ‘Pandora’s Magician.’ Kaito absolutely beamed.

The rumors of the demon lord didn’t disappear. In fact, they only got worse when the entrance to Pandora’s box was updated to bear the user IDs of the first party to clear it. Ran, Sonoko, and Shinichi were all hunted down and made to retell how they cleared it over and over again. That, and to be grilled on who the mysterious fourth person was.

They all kept mum, of course, but that only fed the rumor mill. That was the thing with online communities. Word spread fast and evolved frequently. Shinichi didn’t mind it. He liked hearing people tell new stories about the mysterious solo player they ran into. A man who saved them from an entire party of looters in a treasure cavern, dressed inexplicably in a white suit and top hat.

It was also fun to hear the other side of those stories. To have the mysterious demon lord hold his hand as they sat next to one another at a tavern table, his treasured white suit replaced with a more inconspicuous garb. To go on dungeon runs with him, only to have the thief make a game of finding the most outrageous places to steal a kiss without Ran or Sonoko noticing. To be invited to an IRL cafe, finally deciding to meet one another properly after months of only getting to know one another online.

Shinichi was nervous when he opened the door to the small coffee shop. Thankfully, the alluring aroma of the signature drink brought instant, conditioned, relief. As did the all too familiar call of “Shinichi!” from a table near the back of the store. The  detective turned, finding a pair of striking, unmistakeable, purple eyes.

As it turns out, the demon lord was just as stunning in real life.