Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 352

Defense Specialization and Overcoming

After finishing the dungeon with Maple, Sally returned to the guild home and sat deeply on the sofa with her eyes closed. Her face looked very serious and she seemed to be thinking about something.

“What is it? It’s rare to see you so deeply in thought.”

“Kanade? Ah, well, yes. Sort of…”

“Are you thinking about the next PvP battle? You know, since you got your new skills.”

Not just Maple and Sally, but Mai and Yui had also gained new powers. Mai and Yui were happily swinging their eight great hammers on the field today as well. They wanted to get accustomed to their weapons while also increasing their kill count.

“By the way, how are things going with you and the others?”

“I’m saving up on magic books while observing the other guilds. Just like you said, I wasn’t able to find any information about the tamed monsters for those two ‘thunder storm’ players.”

Kanade’s battle ability changed through the use of single-use magic books. Aside from them, he didn’t have any special skills, so repeatedly fighting in order to raise his level was not something he was suited for. Because of this, he spent a lot of his time observing other players.

“I see. We’d be able to plan on how to deal with them if we only knew.”

“But they sure are interesting people. And since their style is so flashy, we’ll easily know when they are close by.”

If Velvet and Hinata were around, the area would be filled with lightning, there would be cold winds, and objects would likely be levitating in the air. They stuck just as much as Maple did.

“I think that I’ll go look at ‘Rapid Fire’ next.”

“Yes. It would help if you can learn about them.”

“Well, just keep your expectations in check.”

However, even as they talked, it was clear to Kanade that something was bothering Sally. And he wondered what it could be.

“Hmmm. If you’re troubled over something, why don’t you talk to Maple about it? Anyway, see you later.”

Kanade said with a wave of his hand, and then he left the guild home.

“Talk to Maple, huh…”

Sally thought about it for a moment and then jumped to her feet as if she had made a decision.

The next day. In the real world after school. As Risa prepared to go home, she closed her eyes and sighed. It was just then that Kaede ran up to her.

“Risa. Let’s go!”

“I was thinking about stopping by at the game store today.”

“Oh! Was a new game released?”

“No, that’s not it…”

Kaede saw how hesitant Risa was, and she tilted her head in puzzlement.

“Would you mind…coming with me?”

“…? Of course, not!”

She saw that Risa was not her usual self, and was a little worried as the two walked to their destination.

“I’ve gone a few times now, so I know the way!”

“Huh. Well, you should visit sometime. There’s lots of interesting things to see.”

“Ahaha. But I don’t know what is good, so I’ll probably just look.”

“Well, that’s one way to enjoy it, you know?”

The packaging was like the face of the game, and just by seeing it and reading the description, you’d know if it interested you or not. And so it was quite fun to just browse the store and look at things that looked good.

And so they found themselves walking towards the store. However, while Risa would usually quicken her pace when they got closer, her feet seemed to be heavier than usual.

“Risa. Are you okay?”

“Uh, yes…I’m fine.”

But she didn’t look fine. But even though Kaede suggested that they could go back, Risa stubbornly insisted that they keep going. And so while Kaede was still worried, they entered the game store together.

“What did you want to see today?”

“Yes, about that…”

Risa walked slowly and then stopped in front of a certain shelf.

“What!?”

Kaede looked towards it in shock. The packaging made it very obvious what kind of games they were. They were horror games.

“A-are you sure?”

“Yes. I-I think that it’s about time I got over it.”

Recently, she had found herself useless during battle, and unable to explore the 6th layer. Even on the other layers, she had to avoid places that had such monsters. And so she had decided that she wanted to overcome her fear.

“I don’t think you should do that. You might not be able to sleep at night!”

“Oh…”

There was a difference between a scary area in a normal game and a full on horror game. Someone who ended up so weak in the former would not survive. Kaede had seen Risa make decisions like this in the past during their long friendship, but it was always defeat after defeat.

“I won’t stop you if you really mean it…but…ummm…”

As they had only been on the 7th later the other day, Maple had guessed that something like this would happen.

Risa thought about it for a moment and considered different things before making her decision.

“I-I’ll do it! I already decided that I would do it this time!”

“Do you know which game?”

Kaede asked, and Risa picked up one of the games.

“V-VR? A-are you sure?”

Seeing things appear on screen was a lot different than going inside and actually experiencing them. But Risa was so adamant about doing it this time. It was like she had become high on the idea, which was almost convincing. However, Kaede had seen her like this before. Clearly, there needed to be some other added element that allowed Rise to maintain that high tension until the very end.

“And this game can be played by two people…”

“Huh? Ah!? You’re pulling me into this…”

“Of-of course, I intend to finish it by myself, okay? But…um…you…know?”

“You… Oh, fine. I do wonder if you can really play until the end.”

“Just between the New World Online events.”

“I hope things go smoothly. It says right here that it’s really scary.”

Kaede didn’t exactly dislike horror, and so she took the package from Risa and read the details on the back.

“Alright, I’m going to buy it now… Phew…yes.”

Risa said as she calmed herself down and then marched off to the counter.

“You can do it!”

“Y-yes.”

She had said that she would finish the game by herself, and so she could no longer suddenly ask for help. And with that, Risa returned with the game in a bag and a renewed eagerness.

“Let me know when you beat it!”

“Yes. I’ll just start playing it.”

Even if she didn’t finish the whole game, she should be able to advance a little in the story. And while it was possible for two people to play it, it was mainly a single player game.

As they would meet again at school tomorrow, she could tell Kaede about how much progress she made.

They walked back towards their houses and separated where they always did. After a while, Risa looked at the bag she was carrying and her expression became worried again.

“I can do it. I can do it… I decided that now is the time to overcome it…”

As she had decided to start the game as soon as she got home, she did not rush back like she usually did in order to play a game. If anything, her feet trudged along heavily.

“I’m back.”

Risa went to her room and put her things away before getting changed. Then she took out the horror game and put it on her desk.

“I guess…I’ll play it after dinner.”

As it was a game that would take some time to finish, Risa decided that she wouldn’t play it yet. First, she would finish whatever she had to finish that day.

“It’s not that hard once you figure it out.”

As long as she could concentrate, her homework wasn’t very hard, and so Risa went through it very quickly.

She had an idea about why she was able to concentrate so well, but pretended not to know as the time passed.

As she finished one thing after another, the sky became dark outside, and she heard a voice from the first floor saying that dinner was ready. As Risa had just finished her work, she left her room and went downstairs.

After she had eaten and taken a bath, Risa returned to her room. This was the time that she usually played games. But just as she was about to start playing, she noticed that there was something else in the room.

“…Uh, I will play it…I will…”

However, she only picked it up to put it back down again. And more time passed without playing it.

“Well, I can’t play it at night… I’ll play it when I get back tomorrow. Yes.”

Risa decided. And with that, she gave up and played a completely different game.