Estimated reading time: 7–9 minutes
Chapter 6: Welcome. You’re Not Allowed in Here.
This Old Osaka City is unnecessarily wide, and there are still many unexplored areas even including underground. But it is roughly divided into
・Industrial District
・Commercial District
・Residential District
Like a baumkuchen, the residential district is in the very center with the industrial districts making up the outer layer. In the middle is a central tower that oversees and manages the entire town. So the place we’re heading to now is the commercial district.
「I feel like I haven’t heard you talk about your passion for giant robots in a while.」
「There just aren’t that many robot games coming out lately. There’s a decent number of SRPGs and indie titles though.」
「What about robot anime? 」
「I tend to strongly love or hate anime… There’s this feeling of being forced to sit in front of the screen for 30 minutes, of it not letting me watch at my own pace.」
「Couldn’t you just watch it sped up? When it comes to movies, that’s what I do for stuff that’s popular but I’m not personally interested in.」
「But the timing and sound and all the other direction gets ruined. I don’t like that.」
「Well sure, there is that. But on the other hand, condensing the content sometimes makes it more interesting. Like, try watching hentai sped up next time. I bet it suddenly gets way more intense.」
「Yeah that would definitely be pretty crazy, but don’t tell me to try it, go watch it yourself!」
「But if I did something like that, it would ruin my innocent maiden image! 」
「Rather than innocent, you’re more… hard to put into words. Like spaced out? Apathetic? With some ‘anything goes if it’s interesting’ mixed in there.」
「…Meaning? 」
「Not innocent. ARGH, STOP! Don’t strangle me! I oppose login restrictions! 」
「…Meaning? 」
「…..Innocent.」
We chat about silly stuff as Reina and I head towards the commercial district. There aren’t many people around. One reason is probably because even though the city is so big, there aren’t very many NPCs. I wonder just how many players they designed this space for.
We take a still functioning elevator to what seems to have been a station concourse. Half of the large open room that was on the 2nd floor has collapsed, probably due to an earthquake or something, and bullet holes can be seen everywhere. More players start to appear as we get here.
An esper player sitting on the stairs first ogles Reina, then shoots me an unpleasant look… jaw dropping in disbelief. Orange stream was pretty popular after all. Can’t blame him for reacting that way. I want some more raw reactions from people in the wild to fix this, but getting banned was a blow.
But there still aren’t any NPCs here. Reina answers my confused expression:
「All the NPCs around here have been killed by players」
「Do beastkin have mind reading powers or something?」
「No, but I can tell from your gazes. You were looking for something that wasn’t another player or a building.」
「Creepy. So does that mean you could also tell when I was ogling your chest that one time you bent over?」
「I might not have noticed if you didn’t say anything.」
「Digging my own grave!」
「Pervert! Well I knew already. Even if I can’t see, I can still sense people’s gazes.」
「As if you actually can, idiot. I don’t believe in sixth senses.」
「Quick draw!」
「Guuhh…」
The humiliation of my 50-loss quick draw losing streak flashes through my mind. The horror of Reina finishing shooting by the time I spot her back turned to me and try to pull my trigger. Thanks to that, I got sucked into this dying game when I was just about to quit after first trying it.
But anyway, according to Reina, the NPCs around here were killed on the first day. Behind it was the players’ desire – to try out the R18 game settings. So there was an endless stream of people targeting the NPCs around here. Though after the first day many players joined the security forces, so their numbers have apparently been decreasing.
Leaving what was once a station behind, we arrive once more among collapsed buildings. While there are more buildings I don’t recognize from when I visited Osaka than ones I do, I get the general gist. Yodobashi Camera – still in one piece vertically!? What happened?
「This way, over here!」
A main street. A row of shops stand relatively undamaged there. Many look to be makeshift stores set up in former shops, like a weapons shop clearly placed where an ice cream parlor used to be.
Looking in a nearby shop, it seems to be a restaurant but only has ration packs and questionable looking vegetables and rice. Glancing up, the glass is still shattered everywhere and all the shops look armed to the teeth, but feeling vestiges of civilization in this game brings some comfort.
「The trick is to not actually eat the rations but consume them via commands. They taste nasty.」
「No meat around here?」
「Animals were the first to die when oxygen got low. Rich folks can still get chicken though, I hear.」
「Would have thought they’d at least have synthetic meat around.」
「I heard the equipment got wrecked. Well, there’s always plenty of human meat to go around.」
「Absolutely no way.」
As we chat, we arrive at the largest shop. Decked out with various parts added on to make it seem imposing, the sign says “RE Corp. Osaka Branch.”
Lots of players and NPCs are coming and going inside the shop. I get excited to go inside but then a silly squawk blares from the ceiling. Some security guards rush over from inside.
Glancing at Reina, she looks like she’s struggling not to laugh. Yup, there she goes. As we draw the attention of those around us, two middle aged guards with assault rifles approach. They operate a tablet, comparing my face to something on the screen.
「Excuse me, you were involved in the confidential information leaks related to the Orange Book in the past, correct? Well I suppose age-wise you’d be around 40 now… Anyway you’re on our blacklist so you’ll have to come with us.」
…Huh?
◇
「This sucks…」
「Pfft, hilarious, pfft!」
I hold my head some distance away. I tried talking back to them a bit but they wouldn’t listen and kicked me out. Just for uploading a picture, I get banned from the biggest weapons shop in town and penalized this much!? Isn’t that overkill!?
「Well of course, you don’t get how desperate RE Corp is, do you?」
「I only uploaded photos! 」
「Yes yes, for you that’s all it was. Pfft, expectations turning to despair in an instant, pfft…」
…This is starting to piss me off. I lightly kick the giggling Reina with tears in her eyes, but she nimbly dodges. Don’t hold your stomach, don’t get loud when you’re excited, I know other’s misfortune is sweet nectar but come on!
This is aspect #2 of her personality – weird triggers + intense laughter. Poke one of her weird spots and she’ll keep laughing for a while unable to stop. I don’t mind if she’s having fun but she’s laughing at my misfortune here so no good.
「So what now? Like this we can’t even buy power suits, let alone repair parts…」
「Did you forget the update? About new AP models? 」
「Oh right, if new APs were added then so were shops for them huh.」
「Yup. With the monopoly gone, other corps started handling AP stuff too with their branches left as weapons shops. I scouted out 3 others yesterday so let’s check them out.」
I see, so that option existed. In a normal game, shop functions would be consolidated but in this game with such perfect realism, this kind of thing happens too I guess. …So your reason for going to the RE Corp shop, it was just to see this!?
「…Pfft, heh heh!」
「Hey come on, stop laughing already.」
RE Corp. Osaka Branch
Due to gun control laws, it only started functioning as a weapons shop after the world’s destruction. Though their monopoly collapsed, their high technological capabilities still give them major influence militarily. They also employ a blacklist system – their in-store cameras can detect blacklisted individuals and immediately alert staff to kick them out.
Incidentally, me getting refused entry here later became a huge topic of discussion on the boards.
A VRMMO where I’m the only one refused entry to the starter town shop.
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