What a day it has been ... ..waking up on a flagpole with everything but my junk exposed to the air, failing miserably to look cool in front of the ladies, and having my records decimated by someone who has never even touched a game in her life…..

(It’s a good thing Jun or Tadashi isn’t around, those two wouldn’t let me hear the end of it)

Teaching Yulia-san the basics of PvP more or less took away the rest of the day from all of us. If Haru wasn’t around, to dumb things down for her, who knows how long it would’ve taken.

“Hayato-san, you alright?” asked Haru, noticed my slump and silence

“Maybe? I don’t think I have any more juice left in the tank after today.”

“Hmmm, what about if one of us gives you a good shoulder massage as thanks?” Haru presented a tempting offer

“Huh?, wait wait wait…. Why am I getting dragged into this?”

“Come now, Yu-chan…. He is teaching you everything for nothing in return, might as well be the least we can do”

(Massage by one of the poster girls in our clan. Well, that’s not an offer a simple guy like me can turn down…..But wait….)

As I took a second to think about it, I could imagine what most probably would happen. I pictured Haru’s terrifying aura behind me making it impossible for me to relax, and not even all the praying in the world could save me if she goes the extra mile and makes me eat her witch’s brews….. As for Yulia-san, I could easily see and hear my screams of agony along with the sounds of my shoulders cracking violently if she ever squeezes me with her brute strength.

(Ah, why couldn’t we have someone normal like Matsuri or Misha with us right now)

“For the sake of my life, I’ll pass”

“Eh?” Haru looked at me confused like a lost puppy

“Nevermind”

“Hayato Nii-chan looks like he’s just seen a ghost” a wild Akira-kun appeared from nowhere, which signified that the rest of them were at arm’s length, including Tatsuo.

“Really? He looks like Naoto trying to keep up with us during tag.” Shun-kun accounted for

“I don’t think that would be a problem anymore….if you want to put it to the test” there was Naoto-kun, and lastly….

(Wait, where’s Misa-chan?)

“Ah ha…. With all the forces meeting up back at the company of the others, the Coalition of Friendship has finally completed their mission….”

I couldn’t help but wince. Haru-san on the other hand was trying her hardest not to, putting up a forced smile…. Yulia-san on the other hand just shrugged it off after a moment

(How the hell does Tatsuo even do it while keeping a straight face)

But what ticked me off was the fact that they were still like this.

“Now, everyone has reunited… and it is now time. For some R&R before the next big deployment”

The cheer of the three kids hadn’t changed a bit……

Tatsuo turned to me now “So…how did it go?”

“Put her through the range, gave her the basic run down of utility, and Artifacter Ranked….. The rest, is upto you two” I briefed Tatsuo

“What are we working with?”

(As much as I was trying to avoid it….)

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“She demolished most of my records”

Tatsuo let out a brief chuckle “Bullshit”

“Wish I could say sike”

“I’m sorry….” Tatsuo took a step close to me with his hands in front of him “Your…records. Not mine, not anyone else's?”

“Yes!, Tatsuo!…My records!. On her first damn try!….. That so hard to understand?!”

“You are still cranky about that, huh? There’s always room for improvement. Maybe you might even beat my score later”

(And she just had to add salt into the wound)

“Yeah….scores I grinded for years straight to set” I whispered to myself

“Uhm ... .do you know what Ishikawa was called back in the pro scene?” Tatsuo asked Yulia-san

“Is this an answer I’m supposed to know?”

“He was known as The Human Aimbot. And you might’ve hit him where it hurt when you beat his score on the first try”

“Aim…bot, what’s that?”

“Of course, my score was beaten by someone who doesn’t even know what a cheater is” as much as I wanted to keep those thoughts to myself, it was all leaking into whispers eventhough I didn’t intend to

Haru stepped in “Long story short, Hayato-san was well known in his circle for his aim. And seeing him beaten in his biggest strength, might’ve broken his pride a bit….Isn’t that right, Ha-ya-to kun?”

“Maybe” I replied as Haru-san face betrayed the daggers of ice thrown my ways from her aura

“Now, how about we get going? You got your first ranked experience to prepare for tomorrow, Yulia-san”

“Eh, can’t be that big of a deal”

I’m curious to see how her rookie’s overconfidence is going to serve her, but I had another matter to deal with beforehand

“Actually uhm…. Haru-san, Yulia-san…. could we trust you with getting the kids back, me and Tatsuo have something we need to do”

“We do?” To which, I returned a glare to Tatsuo

“I mean….yeah, we do”

“You guys alright? If you need help….” Yulia-san’s attempts at intervention was quickly brought to a halt

“Ah, ah Yu-chan…. Why don’t we see the little ones back home, give the boys a bit of ‘them time’… Now come one”

Haru turned Yulia-san around and started leading her away

“Oh for crying out….. Stop pushing me for once will you?...Haru!”

It’s still kind of weird how close those two have become, eventhough they only met a couple of weeks ago

Eventhough Night rules were still in effect, we still were out on an open street. And both me and Tatsuo went somewhere close by which was out of the way of the other people occupying the roads.

“I know what you are going to ask….. And I did it” Tatsuo started before I even said a word

“You did what?” I confronted him, leaning on the wall next to me with my hands in my pockets

“I…..told them.”

“Didn’t look like you did. What exactly did you tell them?”

Tatsuo paused for a second, but the fact he was hesitating gave me enough of an indication

“I told them that we were stuck here, and the only way to get out….is to rank up to Immortal”

“And?”

He hesitated again “There is no and”

(And there it is)

I looked away in frustration

“Look so far, they are taking it well… All except Misa-chan who…… suspected it earlier on…. But it’s enough…. They-”

“Enough? What exactly is enough about this, Tatsuo? We talked about this yesterday, you said you would do it, but you didn’t”

“I know!.... Before we went to the raid when you and Yulia-san were running behind, I asked Haru-san. She said the same thing you did….. Tell them the truth…. But what if that’s not what that needs to be done”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” I pushed myself off the wall in anger “Their lives are at stake and you decide to keep them in the dark…. And don’t you dare use the ‘Oh but they are just kids’ argument with me again”

“What if it’s my chance at redemption?”

I took a moment to piece together what he just said

“Redemption? For what?”

“You know what”

(He is still on about that? After all this time?”

“Oh you gotta be kidding me” I turned around, very much ready to walk away from this conversation. But I knew for a fact that I couldn’t

“What if this is a test for me? A do-over…….Mom left me responsible for taking care of them. Maybe this is….”

“It’s been a long time, Tatsuo…..”

“It’s been 6 years…. Doesn’t feel like a long time to me”

(This just got a whole lot more complicated)

“I mean, think about it” I felt Tatsuo’s presence getting closer to me even with my back turned to him “Akira’s family, Me, CG….. It’s hard to think otherwise”

I still hadn’t figured out what to say, which made me hold my silence even longer

“Ishikawa…..I know what I’m doing might be wrong. But I’m doing it for myself as much as I’m doing it for them….. 6 years and I still can’t move past it, no matter what or how hard I try. Maybe this is the way”

“If they find out…… if they find out from anyone that is not you. You are going to lose them forever. They’ll despise you for the rest of their lives”

“So be it….. as long as they get to live.”

As much progress I’ve made in this regard, I now feel like I’ve taken the same amount of steps back. I can’t blame him for this anymore, I saw first hand what that day did to him…. But that doesn’t mean I agree with what he is doing….

But I feel like I’m missing something here.

“Look, I just…need a bit more time. I’ll tell them some day….Maybe they’ll hate me like you said, maybe they’ll forgive me. But now’s not the time”

“Then when is the time?” I asked that and faced Tatsuo forcing him to answer

“Maybe somewhere in the Diamond or Nova layer”

(You got to be fucking kidding me)

“At the time, we’ll be high enough up the ladder that they would trust me with their lives. We tell them now, we’ll be powerless if they choose to desert us….. I know they can handle themselves being junior leagues and all, but they can’t get themselves to SuperNova without us, that much I know”

“And you think we can? I’ve been to SuperNova, I’ve played against the best…. You just ran away. Look at us for a moment….. Haru-san got what it takes to get to Diamond at best, Yulia-san never has played a game in her life and then there’s you and me…. How the hell are we going to get to SuperNova?!.... How are we going to get ourselves to Morpheus, beat the crap out of Tadashi and his whatever the hell he’s cooked up, and walk ourselves out of this god forsaken place?!”

My gaze dropped to the ground as I was reminded of the dire situation we were in as I continued

“I’m not even sure that we would make it out of here, and you are expecting to keep it to ourselves until high ranks…. I want to get out of here as much as you do, as much as anyone does…. I watched as my friend got him and his family killed… What's stopping that from happening to us? I am afraid that I might not see mom, dad, Nagato and Kasumi again. I am afraid of the day that I won’t get to sit at the table with everyone I care about, and talk about everything….and nothing. I’m- ”

“We will….get out of here, Ishikawa.” He had his hand on my shoulder to reassure me “I know I wasn’t there to back you up after you made it, but we did have a hell of run when we were a team….. I won’t run this time ... .we will get out, and maybe I’ll drop in for the family reunion ... .Your folks did always enjoy having me around ....”

That one memory brought out a chuckle between us over the other emotions

“But you have to trust me. Give me some time, and I’ll come around to it…. You know I will”

“Okay-” But I grabbed his arm before he let go of me “But you have to let to learn to let it go” I asked him, looking at him

“I’ll do my best”

Tatsuo raised his fist at me

“Come on, don’t leave me hanging”

I chuckled and indulged, as we put this all behind us with a up, down, left, right and straight. Our good old secret handshake.

(You asked so much from me, my good friend….. I really hope that you are not making the wrong choice……For all of our sakes)