Chapter 75
「Moving on to our next news story. At today’s press conference, Muki Muki Chemicals formally admitted to inspection fraud. Until recently, they had declared they would take legal action against the so-called ‘Orange Book’ that exposed the inspection fraud, but have reversed course, stating ‘We deeply apologize.’ What are your thoughts on this issue, Ms. Fue?」
「Yes, the scandal exposed by the ‘Orange Book’ marks the 26th such case, further increasing the credibility of the remaining contents. On the other hand, there have been no further messages from the account believed to be Orange since the ‘Infinite Horizon Conquest.’」
「Who or what is Orange in the first place?」
「What we know so far is that they are a player of the new VRMMO ‘HAO’ who has publicly released confidential information from RE Corp, Space Ignition Industries, and others. As the instigator of the Orange Panic, there are various speculations swirling, calling them a prophet, a criminal, and so on.」
「But it’s a good thing that wrongdoing and corruption have been exposed, isn’t it? I recently heard rumors that they’re a kind of noble thief, aiming to release monopolized technologies so the wealthy can’t maintain their advantage. I’m curious to see what happens next.」
「The ‘Orange Book’ has dominated the news this past month, so further developments are eagerly awaited. Next, in a surprise announcement, Space Ignition Industries and Horizon Ventures revealed they will participate in the New Technology Exhibition held concurrently with the World Expo. With just one week until the New Technology Exhibition opens – 」
It’s been nearly a month since ‘HAO’ went into maintenance. May 19th. A legendary work that offered less than 20 days of gameplay in its roughly 3-month service period. I’m genuinely dissatisfied too. It sucks that after excitedly preparing new machines and gimmicks, they became unusable after just one day. Devs, do something about this.
I had fallen asleep while working on assignments, and upon waking, closed my smartphone screen that had switched to a news program. I felt an ominous premonition, thinking I heard the word 「Orange,」 but immediately dismissed it as nothing. I’m not fond of news programs. I washed down the outlandish suspicion that the game might be connected to reality and I might unwittingly be involved in something crazy, gulping it down with the cold coffee at hand. There’s no way that could be true.
Next, I took the two pills I received during my physical with some water. Perhaps thanks to this medication, I’ve recently had the illusion that my mind is a bit sharper. The doctor said the subjective effects may be hard to notice at first, but I’ll gradually realize the impact. Maybe that’s true. It could be a placebo effect, but there’s definitely a huge difference between mid-April and now in terms of the speed I complete assignments, my comprehension in class, especially for new subjects I’m not interested in.
「F-Finally done…」
As a result, I now have a mountain of assignments piled up before me. While I aced my strong subjects like electromagnetism, my grades were terrible for general education classes, especially the midterm for German. Some are on the verge of failing.
Fortunately, the professors don’t seem eager to mass-produce students who flunk out, so for the midterms at least, many offered make-up assignments in lieu of retests. There’s no remedial option for finals, so I’ll have to figure something out, but for now, I’ve been blessed with a newly birthed mountain of assignments I must conquer. Damn, the me from before was way too dumb, letting assignments pile up. The worst. And taking advantage of online classes, I barely attended in April. Well, I couldn’t help it since I couldn’t focus for some reason.
And so, with help from Momiji and Reina, I managed to finish today’s assignments due at 9 AM and then slept soundly until 3:30 PM. I got Kana’s help too, by the way. It’s amazing how fluent she is in German and English. I sent a brief reply assuring I was okay to the several messages expressing concern for me. Reina sent like 20 notifications, which is a bit scary.
Thinking I’d grab some lunch, I stood up from my desk, opened my room door, and headed to the kitchen where, as expected, I found a lunchbox. Saying 「as expected」 makes it sound like I’ve been poisoned too much, but the suspicious girl claiming to be my stepdaughter practically lives at my house these days, and she conveniently brings leftovers (her words) from the Shiroinu household where she stays. I have no idea why it’s in the kitchen… I don’t recall giving her a key, so it’s a real mystery. Well, while saying that, I pretended not to notice, overpowered by the magic of food.
Opening the square, sturdy black lunchbox revealed quite the standard lunch of simmered mackerel, rolled omelet, potato salad, and miso soup. The lunchbox has a heat-retention function, and the miso soup is completely isolated to prevent spilling. Such features weren’t widely available in the 2020s, but recently, many products come with them for around 1,000 yen. Lately, refrigeration and freezing functions are becoming more common too.
Looking at the contents, I try to guess in my mind – the rolled omelet is slightly misshapen, so maybe Reina made it, and the potato salad tastes a bit stronger than usual, so Kana’s work? Imagining the whole family cooking together gives me a warm feeling. I thought a girl who suddenly appeared and calls a stranger 「stepdad」 might not fit in, but that concern was unnecessary. Maybe her sense of distance is just glitched with me.
The taste is quite good, no doubt thanks to Anna’s guidance, far surpassing my own male cooking skills. Nominally, they give me the leftovers in exchange for looking after Kana, but this quality is way beyond that. If anything, lately it feels like I’m the one being cared for, mainly with English and German.
And so, having overcome hell, two announcements await me. It’s no exaggeration to say I worked myself to death for this.
One is a special invitation to the New Technology Exhibition. Apparently, I can enter with priority through the Komitsu Solutions slot, and there are rumors that a real Apollyon will be on display. I’m giddy with excitement. The viral marketing (?) using confidential info was likely a flag for this. I’ve started to feel a bit uneasy lately, though. With just one week to go, I’m really looking forward to it.
And the other – ‘HAO’ Ver3.00. Finally breaking a month of silence, the devs announced service will resume today from 4 PM. Plus, a new event called 「Infinite Horizon Conquest」 has been revealed.
The Infinite Horizon. Ver1.08 Reina said it was ‘UYK’s weakness. This will likely be the stage for the grand story, with the plot finally advancing as we aim to take down the final boss. So I want to dive in early and conquer that unknown land. And I want to recover the parts and scrap I dropped in the 2055 mission. It’s like a roguelike, how awesome is that?
With such thoughts in mind, I cheerfully put on my VR gear. My vision goes dark, and after the usual login screen, it gradually becomes clear. I hope they don’t force more debt on me this time.
But something else arrived. Using my intuition honed through Sniping VR – a vague sense that I might be targeted (40% success rate) – I forcibly perform a forward roll in-game before my body’s sensations stabilize. The login completes immediately, and as I survey my surroundings, I see blood flowing from my arm, a graze from a bullet, and a restrained blonde woman.
「Prophet, we are alive! How can you not realize it’s arrogant to try to erase us?!」
「Excuse me, player… Prophet! Our staff has been extremely rude. Please allow us to treat your injury over here!」
The players who just logged in around me are dumbfounded by this spectacle. Unfortunately, the person behind me was directly hit by the bullet and died. My login should be nearly the fastest, and judging by that woman’s words and behavior…
「It’s way too shitty for NPCs to spawn-kill…」
I think the devs should consider doing maintenance again. Seriously.
‘Mishima Kana’
Officially in the custody of the Shiroinu family. She hangs around Mishima Kanji’s house and also serves as a bodyguard, having already dealt with 11 people (non-lethally) on behalf of Reina, whose movements are restricted due to the recent fighter jet destruction incident. As a ‘synchronizer,’ her skills as an agent remain monstrous.
Recently, she seems to be enjoying a game of chicken, seeing how much she can invade her stepdad’s private life before he complains.
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