“………”
Hmm.
Right now, I was feeling a bit off.
Well, I could say I felt really bad.
And it’s no wonder…
“Whoa! I found Lindera’s underwear!”
“…Please put that away.”
“What on earth are you all doing in the room? Huh? Huh?!”
“It’s surprisingly clean in here. You must have assigned Lindera to clean it up.”
“Oh! That’s right! That makes sense!”
“Sigh…”
“…”
How did it come to this?
I already had a headache in several ways.
I had planned to binge-play a story game with the Commander over the weekend, so why…
Did we all end up in the Commander’s room?
We were clearly… talking about something in the office, and somehow…
It turned into this.
…I should have just told them not to come over.
“But Commander, is it really okay for us to be crammed in here? Lindera looks super scary…”
“…It’s fine.”
“Super scary……..?”
“I really mean it.”
Yeah, it was fine.
For now.
What we were doing today wasn’t sex, it was just a game.
“Still, playing a four-player game with just two of us… feels a bit odd, doesn’t it?”
“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter much.”
The Commander glanced at me but assured me everything was okay.
Yeah, honestly, it was just a game we were playing today.
It wouldn’t be a huge deal if someone else came by.
It just… felt a little disappointing compared to being alone with the Commander.
That was about it.
“…Let’s sit down for now. After all, we decided to do this. Everyone’s here in the room.”
With that, I sat on the bed.
There was no need to spoil the mood; no one came with bad intentions, so I didn’t have to be grumpy on purpose.
After all, the Commander was the one who called us over.
Maybe it was the weekend, but everyone showed up in comfy clothes.
Everyone was in hoodies or t-shirts or something casual.
Well… I didn’t think it was that bad.
We’d never gathered like this with the office staff before.
Spending time together like this… didn’t seem too bad at all.
“But isn’t there a chair here?”
“…No.”
There were still no chairs in the Commander’s room.
Honestly… we didn’t need chairs.
We were always sitting on the bed…
“…I guess I’ll get some cushions for the floor. We’ll use the bed.”
“Eh…”
“It can’t be helped. This is, after all, the Commander’s room.”
“That’s true…”
“…But we’re not sitting on the bed.”
No matter what, sitting on the bed felt a little wrong.
This was the place for me and the Commander.
“So what game will we play? I don’t really know what a four-player game is…….”
“Just wait. Since the Commander enjoys gaming, I’m sure he’ll pick something fun.”
“That’s true!”
Anyway… as we chatted, we each found our spots, grabbed a drink, and picked up a gamepad.
By the way, I wonder what kind of game it will be.
I wasn’t really familiar with four-player games.
-Bam…
“Oh.”
…Wait a minute.
As the Commander turned the game on, I couldn’t help but speak as soon as I saw the reflection on the monitor.
A familiar screen, a familiar title, a familiar… music.
How could I forget this?
“Oh……..”
“What do you think? I thought it’d be great for a story game since it can last a while. Is that okay?”
“……….”
The Commander smiled at me, but I couldn’t return the smile.
Was my reaction awkward? Everyone was looking at me strangely.
But… it couldn’t be helped.
This was… that game I had given up on after dying repeatedly.
The one where I got killed by hordes of skeletons, crushed by rocks, and fell into traps.
“…Are you serious?”
“Why?”
“Do you have any idea how much I’ve…”
“Hey, it’s fine! There are four of us this time! It won’t be as hard as when I did it alone!”
“…Still.”
I suggested we play, but I was worried about dying like last time.
“Don’t stress too much. I promise the story is fun, okay?”
“…Got it.”
I suggested it, after all.
Yeah, let’s just go with it.
There was no need to throw a tantrum or sob about it.
Getting killed in a game was something that had happened to me frequently in the past, so I decided I wouldn’t complain too much.
With that, everyone took their seats and started customizing their characters on the four-split screen.
“Umm…”
“Wow… you can even make your skin purple…?”
Everyone was doing their own thing.
They were really doing whatever they wanted.
Midori was making a bizarre character with purple skin, and Dolores crafted a slightly shorter handsome male character.
Well… it was a party with unique characters showing off their personalities.
I went with a plain girl character, just a regular pretty face.
After all, when I usually played games, I preferred cute girl characters or handsome male characters over tough macho types.
And today was no different.
“Let’s start! I’m done making mine!”
“What do we do in this game? I haven’t really played before.”
“You just defeat monsters and progress. Umm… it might be a bit hard, but with four of us, it should be fine.”
I said that right before we started the tutorial.
Since I had died a lot previously, I was sure the others would find it challenging as well.
Even if I was just bad at games, the game itself was also supposed to be hard.
“Everyone can choose whatever weapon they want. Personally, I think wielding a one-handed sword with a shield is a good choice… Wait, you’ve already chosen?”
“Yeah, what about a great sword?”
“That’s fine… it just has a slower motion…”
“Commander! How about a dagger? It’s super cool?!”
“That’s also… good, I guess…?”
Well… everyone was picking whatever they wanted to start.
Weapons, classes, and character designs were all vastly different in this completed party.
We were finally ready to start the tutorial.
Our goal for today was to clear the game, so it was about time to get going.
“Woohoo…”
“I’m a bit worried since this is my first time playing such a game.”
Everyone seemed a little anxious and excited, likely since this wasn’t something we did often.
Well, since the Commander was adept at such games…
Surely, he would carry us through, right?
Of course, I’d die first and wait until the others cleared it…
“Oh! Each button has a different action!”
“This is dodge… and this is basic attack…”
Since the two new players were experiencing this game for the first time, they were focusing on learning the controls.
Honestly, the controls weren’t that hard.
It didn’t take long to get it down…
And thus, we began playing.
-Squeak…
“I got one!”
“………”
“I’ve defeated all the monsters over here. Does anyone have a potion?”
“……..”
No.
For sure… everyone was new to this game, right?
As I watched my monitor turn black and white while the screen was split into four, I began to feel sad.
Everyone was sweeping through the monsters, while I was… dead again.
Of course, we were still just beating up monsters in the first area, but… something felt off.
*
-Whoosh!!!
“Whoa…! Why is the axe damage so strong?!”
“You should roll right into the center…”
“Center? Got it!”
Listening to the Commander, Midori rolled right into the boss monster and started dodging attacks before attacking again.
Even though her weapon wasn’t top-notch, the damage from just one hit wasn’t too high…
-Whoosh!
-Whoosh!
-Whoosh!
-Whoosh!
“…….?”
Just moments ago, she was struggling with dodges, but as soon as she took the Commander’s advice, she began dodging every attack.
I distinctly remembered just fleeing from that monster…
It was an open-world game, but we were all out hunting monsters together.
Then, out of nowhere, Midori ran off toward a large monster, enthusiastically beating it up alone.
But the problem was… this wasn’t just any large monster; it was a boss monster roaming around the field.
One that had high health and damage making it difficult to defeat in the early stages… I had just walked past it without bothering to fight!
“Commander…”
“Yeah?”
“…I’m just going to stay put here in the tutorial area.”
“…Huh?”
“…I don’t think I’ll be of much use anyway… considering how Midori’s taking it down by herself… it should be fine.”
I spoke seriously to the Commander.
To be honest, Midori and Dolores were performing exceptionally well.
Unlike me, they were easily dodging around the skeletons and chopping them down repeatedly until there were none left.
Unlike me, they were managing to play the game with such ease even though it was their first time.
This couldn’t be that hard of a game.
It was rated difficult online yet here they were, excelling effortlessly. I found it hard to believe.
I felt a mix of disbelief and self-doubt.
“…I think I prefer to just do this.”
I casually tossed my controller to the bed and laid my head on the Commander’s thigh.
After all, I wasn’t really good at games, and it seemed the other three would clear it without me.
Less than 20 minutes in, they had already defeated all the basic mobs and even the boss monster…
“Nice! We got it! Yay!”
“……..”
“Umm… Lindera?”
“Just play comfortably. I’ll just stay here.”
It was true I was awful at the game, but I didn’t dislike watching.
Yeah, umm… it felt better to just do this.
“…I also want to be good at games.”
“I’m… sorry…”
“That’s not it. It was my fault. The Commander didn’t do anything wrong, right? It was also me who wanted to play a long story game…”
I felt down.
…It’s not like I wanted to be bad at games.
I swear I was a little better back then.
At least I wasn’t this hopelessly awful…
One thing’s clear; once this game is over, I would need a way to relieve my stress.
Eating something good, sleeping well… anything at all.
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