[Koga Suzuha: If you’re that scared, should I stay with you in real life on the 30th?]
I was quietly lying down, looking at the DM from Suzuha Koga on my phone.
I know what this means.
“…An offline collaboration.”
She’s suggesting an offline collaboration as if it’s an offer to help after forcing me to play a horror game. It’s seriously a ‘give a pill after giving a disease’ situation.
But I had no intention of accepting this proposal.
I mean, an offline collaboration means seeing each other’s faces in real life, doesn’t it? Meeting my only friend, that angel, no, that little devil, Suzuha Koga?
Now, I’m somewhat used to not seeing faces during calls, so I might feel a bit less tense, but conducting a broadcast while seeing her face? That’s totally impossible. Just imagining it makes my heart tremble.
And if Suzuha happens to see me on broadcast in real life and ends up with a bad impression of me and decides to cut off ties, I’d be left to graduate without any sort of ceremony.
I’d rather just be scared and cry alone.
Well, I made it clear how much I hate horror games, so I believe Suzuha would prepare something less terrifying.
“First, let’s refuse….”
[That should be fine (Sending)]
Ding!
[Koga Suzuha: Anyway, the game I have in mind is ‘The Dawn Does Not Break.’ ♫꒰･◡･๑꒱]
★
[Koga Suzuha: If you’re that scared, should I stay with you in real life on the 30th?]
“…There’s still no response.”
I’m sure she read it.
Suzuha often heard from people around her that she “reads the surroundings well.”
But if you ask her whether she wanted that, she’d confidently shake her head.
Her height and appearance have barely changed with age.
That would make for a great gossip topic wherever she goes, and it’s no surprise that Suzuha has developed her keen perception in that environment.
But not everything about it is a downside.
For instance, even though underground idols are usually colleagues in the same group, they often have serious conflicts for various reasons, but the group Suzuha was in had almost no quarrels.
That’s because Suzuha picked up on potential misunderstandings and subtle hierarchies that could arise because of popularity and sorted them all out in advance.
Thanks to that, even three years after her retirement, Suzuha remains close friends with everyone.
“Well, I have a decent idea of what Izumi is thinking right now.”
And in a way, it was hard to say that Suzuha’s intuition was just simple.
She analyzes the appearance, personality, hobbies, and special skills of others to predict their actions—it was almost like a kind of profiling.
Izumi trusts me to a certain extent.
So, I believe she thinks the horror game she’s suggesting is at a level she can handle.
And she seems to be suffering from social anxiety.
No matter how much she trusts someone, having a face-to-face conversation would feel burdensome.
It looks like she’s quite curious too.
Just telling her the name of the game would lead her to look it up more on her own, right?
Suzuha’s purpose is straightforward.
To use this horror game broadcast as an opportunity for an offline collaboration, getting closer to her.
But Suzuha believed that Izumi would surely decline the offline collaboration proposal.
Izumi, who has extremely few relationships, was somewhat obsessively attached to her friend Suzuha in her own way, and Suzuha was aware of that.
“Maybe she’ll think that if she shows up in a weird state in real life, I’ll be put off and reject her.”
Suzuha covered her mouth and giggled quietly.
“I actually wanted to see her cute side, which is why I proposed it.”
Then the method was simple.
[Writing message… Kai No Izumi.]
[Koga Suzuha: Anyway, the game I have in mind is ‘The Dawn Does Not Break.’ ♫꒰･◡･๑꒱]
I would just suggest a horror game that Izumi couldn’t handle alone.
I thought that if it was a horror game of a moderate level, surely Izumi would cry and say she was scared, so I just need to introduce something that goes beyond her social anxiety and reveals real horror.
[Writing message… Kai No Izumi.]
Izumi’s DM status got stuck in the “writing” mode.
Suzuha could predict that Izumi probably paused typing to look up information on ‘The Dawn.’
And that alone could already mean Suzuha’s plan was a success.
★
Twenty minutes after Suzuha sent the DM.
[Kai No Izumi: I-I’ll be counting on you….]
Seeing Izumi’s reply made Suzuha smile.
★
“…I really feel like I might cry while playing.”
The game Koga sent through DM, ‘The Dawn Does Not Break.’
I googled the teaser video for that game just in case, and honestly, just that was enough to moisten my eyes.
It was a three-minute video, and I couldn’t even last 57 seconds before turning it off immediately.
I found out it won several awards in the adventure category last year, and I wanted to ask the people who awarded it.
Why the hell do they give awards to horror games?
Isn’t a game supposed to be an art piece meant to make players happy?
Why do they highly rate a genre whose sole purpose is to terrify people?
The gaming industry needs to reflect….
‘The Dawn Does Not Break’ is an adventure game set in a zombie apocalypse world.
The protagonist has been bitten by a zombie, but for some reason, the process of turning into a zombie has stopped, hence the term “half-zombie.”
The human side leads this protagonist to defeat zombies and restore the world to normal.
The protagonist moves to develop a cure to revert his state in that process, which is the basic plot.
When I first read this description, I thought it was just an action-adventure game about defeating zombies.
I believed Suzuha chose such a game to consider my feelings.
But the teaser turned that impression upside down completely.
First of all, since the protagonist is a half-zombie, parts of his arms and legs are rotting, and players have to see that throughout the game.
A game designed with such aversion cannot be normal.
When I suddenly saw a scene of the protagonist having his ankle grabbed from beneath the ground, I seriously almost fell backward.
Moreover, why is the modeling quality so high? Just their appearance alone is horrifying.
“Grrck.”
The hiccups that started out of surprise show no sign of stopping.
Even after making it clear how much I hate horror games, sending me a game like this is just unkind.
If I think back to the collaboration yesterday, it was indeed my fault, but this is way too much.
I hate Koga….
“Seriously impossible.”
I can’t do it….
I really don’t think I can see the ending of this game….
Honestly, just the teaser video I saw for a moment might give me sleepless nights, and I have to see the ending?
Should I just graduate instead?
Today is the 25th. The collaboration is set for the 30th.
I might be able to graduate within five days if I negotiate well with my manager.
Well, I have enough intuition not to directly say I want to graduate.
[Kai No Izumi: I’m scared of the horror game we’re doing on the 30th; can I take a break that day?]
…Isn’t this reasonable?
[Manager: Please stop with the strange talk.]
[Kai No Izumi: Yes….]
Hmm, I failed.
Lately, the manager hasn’t been receptive to my whining.
So it looks like I end up having to play this game, huh….
If I have to do it alone at home, I’m definitely going to faint midway.
If only Mom were here, I could get some support, but unfortunately, she left for a ten-day business trip to Korea this morning.
[Koga Suzuha: If you’re that scared, should I stay with you in real life on the 30th?]
[Koga Suzuha: Anyway, the game I have in mind is ‘The Dawn Does Not Break.’ ♫꒰･◡･๑꒱]
[That should be fine (Sending)]
I slowly deleted the message I had typed earlier and retyped it before sending it to Suzuha.
[Kai No Izumi: I-I’ll be counting on you…!]
I really had no other choice than to collaborate offline.
Hehe, am I going to lose my first friend in four days?
I’ll keep all our memories as good ones, Koga….
★
Time feels endlessly long when it’s slow but disappears in an instant when it’s fast.
Ten minutes of studying at school feels like an eternity, while thirty minutes of gaming goes by at light speed.
Simply put, the four days I had passed in the blink of an eye.
The broadcast was scheduled for 5:30 PM on the 30th.
And Suzuha said she would come to my house at 2 PM.
I wondered if there was any need to come that early, but after hearing Suzuha say we needed time to adapt to each other, I nodded in agreement.
And now it’s 5 AM on the 30th.
Not PM. AM.
Since my reincarnation, I’ve made it a point to sleep by 1 AM at the latest, but today, I couldn’t sleep due to the fear of that game and the tension of Suzuha coming to my house.
“I need to sleep…”
My body is tired, and my mind is hazy.
Still, the fear and tension don’t let my mind rest easily.
If this continues, my condition will be a mess during the broadcast.
Can I manage to wake up in time for when Suzuha arrives?
Suddenly, I thought it might be better just to pull an all-nighter.
After all, who am I?
I was a skilled otaku in my previous life, able to go over 72 hours without sleep if necessary.
Even if my stamina isn’t as strong as it used to be, I should manage just for a day.
No matter how tired my body feels and how hazy my mind is, there are countless ways to avoid sleeping.
“Yaaaawn…”
First, I’ll let out a big yawn to get my mind alert, then I sprang out of bed and rushed to my desk to turn on the computer.
“Let’s start by watching some action animation…”
Suzuha’s arriving at 2 PM.
So I’ll hold out until 2 PM, and if I really can’t, I’ll just explain my situation to Suzuha and enjoy a nap until the broadcast starts.
What a perfect plan….
★
“…Kayano!”
Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
“…This can’t be happening, right?”
Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
“Huh?”
Something outside is noisy.
I was dreaming of eating high-end chocolate, and then this interruption happens.
That sin is severe. If it’s not something important, I’ll just have to give them my most serious glare.
“Ka! Ya! No! It’s already 2:30 PM!”
Ding Dong!
Kayanoh?
If it’s Kayanoh, she’s definitely my….
“Ah.”
As I finally realized the situation and glanced at my phone, the wallpaper told me it was 2:32 PM, matching Koga’s shout.
I had over fifty DMs from Misukod and a ton of missed call notifications.
I definitely set alarms for 1:30 and 2 PM, didn’t I?!
“Re-really?!”
I scrambled up and rushed outside to throw open the front door for Suzuha, who had been waiting for at least thirty minutes.
“Sorry!”
And with my mouth still drowsy from sleep, I awkwardly bowed to apologize.
“…W-Well, I expected this could happen.”
“I, I was just….”
“Let’s just hurry inside, okay?!”
I thought Suzuha would be really mad, but for some reason, she seemed flustered.
“U-Uh, what should I do…?”
“Just hurry and get inside already?!”
“Ko-Koga…?”
“Your clothes! Izumi, your clothes!”
And in her now panicking voice, where she was casually calling me Izumi, I finally realized my state.
My pajamas were…. well, they were exposing more than a bit….
“Eek!”
Without hesitation, I slammed the door shut.
“…Get dressed quickly and open up again.”
“…Okay.”
Only after properly putting on my pajamas again could I open the door.
B-but, there shouldn’t be any dangerous parts visible, right? I mean, we’re both girls, so isn’t it fine?
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