Kuzu stood in front of a big door that read: Onogi Masao. After knocking twice, Kuzu entered the room.
Kuz searched around the corners first before turning to the empty ten feet long table in front of him. Kuzu turned his eyes to the balcony.
"Masao-san..."
"Ah, yeah, take a seat." Masao tapped the end of his cigarette and it went out. Masao took a swift turn from the balcony and pressed a button to close down the glass doors.
Then, Masao walked to his table where Kuzu had taken a seat. Masao did not look in Kuzu's eyes till he placed his cigarette in a holder.
"Would you like to smoke?" Masao jumped in his seat.
"Ah, no, sir." Kuzu shook his head hesitantly.
Masao was about to place his order on a tab when he stopped. "Something to drink?"
"No, sir."
"Are you sure? We have a guest coming soon."
"Uh... H-how was your dungeon hunting quest, sir?" Kuzu changed the topic, he planned to get to the main topic eventually.
"Get to the point, Erabu, we have a lot to finish."
Kuzu inserted his fingers into each other. "We lost the battle."
Masao leaned forward. "Amazake: two-fifty milliliter; Single Malt Whiskey: Five-hundred milliliter."
Masao leaned back and looked at Kuzu. "The news is all over the social media. What I want you to get at is: How did you lose the battle even when you sacrificed our Clone Dungeon?"
Kuzu gulped. He was caught. Well, he did not expect it to be this soon.
"Uh, the Trio's Turf, I was going to use the Duergars against---"
"But you failed? Is that it?" Kuzu nodded. "I am not angry about losing the battle, I want to know why we lost the battle?"
Kuzu sighed softly. "To ignite you." He raised his eyes. "To fuel your anger towards Saibai Hitori and Kamiya Jigoku."
Masao narrowed his eyes and contrasted his eyebrows.
"If Hitori kills me and I lose the battle, you will be pushed to the edge to raid his territory with everything you have got. And that will result in a much bigger---"
"But," Masao said, as he dropped his head, "you knew that it would come with a cost." Masao raised his brows.
"Penalty for losing the battle, I knew... very well. But my vengeance got the best of me."
"Oh, Erabu." Masao chuckled as he leaned back into his chair. "Do not worry. It will be bigger than your bigger plan. Much, much bigger. But before that, I need to deal with you."
Kuzu heard a metallic click when Masao jerked his shoulder. The next second; Masao and Kuzu, both were sitting; but Masao held his fist against Kuzu's chest.
Ding.
Masao pulled back his mechanically extended arm from above the table-- the table five feet in width-- and slid back on his chair.
"It is here." He grabbed a small freight elevator's knob and opened the dumbwaiter by his leg's side. Masao bent down to pull two bottles of Akmazake and two bottles of Single Malt Japanese Whiskey.
Kuzu let out a sigh, in a way he felt: Saved by the bell.
Masao placed the bottles in front of him and poured both drinks into two different glasses. "What I was---"
Ding.
Saved again. But what this time?
"Sir, you have a visitor."
"Let them in," Onogi replied without taking a look at his visitor.
Masao swiveled the glasses in his hands while concentrating on the liquids in them.
"Are you still going to drink it that away, Masao-san?"
Masao stopped. He glared at Kuzu and then smiled. "God forbids, what if I am not alive to drink this mixture tomorrow evening?"
Masao stopped and brought the two glasses close to each other. Masao raised his glass of Amazake, tilted it, and poured the liquid into the Single Malt.
When Masao banged his glass on the table, his office door clicked, and a person strode inside.
"Shame on you, seriously, fuck you all." Uragi's long hair touched his nose from the right side. "I thought you were some big shots, but you were defeated so pathetically---"
"Wait, wait, wait." Masao got up from his chair. "Take a seat first, have a drink, and we can have a long talk." Masao lifted his cup of drink.
Uragi frowned-- more than he already was-- and strode past Kuzu, who was standing and pointed at Masao. "I am not here to drink. I want Hitori's account blocked."
Masao took a sip. Kuzu was surprised by Uragi's arrogance. "Do not push your luck, Uragi, calm your head before talking to Masao-san again."
Uragi glared at Kuzu. "You keep that trap shut. You were making yourself sound so powerful and big when in reality you are nothing but a loser! You lost to a fucking amateur!"
Kuzu lifted his clenched fist but before he could hit Uragi's face, he heard a bullet fire. Kuzu stopped midway and took a step back, blood sprayed on the ground and the table.
Kuzu moved his wide eyes to a stretched arm, full of scars. Masao formed a gun from his fingers and smoke was coming from the tip of his index finger.
Masao finished his drink. "Get rid of that body, Erabu." And walked away from his table. "And fetch me every single detail you can of Saibai Hitori."
The glass doors were lifted again. Masao pulled his half-burnt cigarette and took a smoke.
"This prick's relatives will find it abnormal to die from an accident with a hole in the brain. I want you to dispose of his body down to nothing-- burn it, evaporate it, do whatever you want."
"Yes, sir, Masao-san," Kuzu said. He called his men to get the dead body and to clean the blood.
"You may leave." Kuzu nodded and left the office.
Kuzu rushed to the elevator and punched the Gaming Room's floor number. The elevator came to a smooth stop and Kuzu entered the Gaming room.
Kuzu's gaming card was already inserted in the slot device, all he had to do was sit on his chair before hundred of messages popped in front of him.
"Tch. Will I have to clear this shit every time I sit down?"
Players who feared the Onogi Guild were trashing Onogi and Kuzu's names-- yes, using their real names. Most of the players left Onogi's guild, there were a few attacks in the past few hours on their base-- not successful, of course.
Kuzu was clearing the messages when suddenly, his eyes fell on a message by Ryu. His hands moved instinctively and opened the chat.
[I would like to meet you for a few minutes if possible.
Alone and unarmed, please. I, too, am coming alone. My friends do not even know that I am meeting you.
I want to wrap our stuff after the battle.
So, if you are willing, meet me near the southeast coast, immediately]
And the message was sent no longer than a minute ago. Kuzu did not know why but he entered the game and headed towards the southeast coast.
The waters on the game's map stretched out eternally. No one had reached the other side of the waters and no one had ever tried either. That dark, silent sea looks scary itself, god knows what monsters resid-- maybe a Leviathan or a Noch-less monster, Kraken, and other mythological sea creatures.
We should not forget how dangerous the sea itself can be-- waves, icebergs, storms, quakes, etc. No one wanted to experience that without proper ship and supplements, or else their wild sea adventure would turn into a nightmare.
Kuzu glanced around the sea coast. A strong wind was blowing over the sea, pushing the large waves forward. And as always, the sea stretched out internally, nothing but darkness on the other side of the sapphire ocean.
There stood Hitori, facing the sea, standing at the edge. When Kuzu closed the distance between them, Hitori turned around.
"Thanks for coming," Hitori said.
"What is the agenda?"
"Uh, this little thing has been bugging me for a while." Hitori walked and stood within a few feet radius. "What did you do to that bully guy, the one who lost his memories."
"Gigi."
"Yeah, Gigi."
"If you mages can wash someone's memories, scientists can bring back their lost memories. It has all got to do with the subconscious games."
Hitori nodded. He lowered the corner of his mouth and stepped closer to Kuzu. "Now to the main point, Kuzu..." he lifted his head and looked straight into Kuzu's eyes. "After the battle, we both had to deal with heavy loss, and I do not think this is the end."
"Of course, it is not. Next time, it will be bigger."
Hitori shook his head. "That is what I do not want," he said. "I mean, why keep fighting when we can go our paths?"
"You know, very well, our paths will meet at a cross junction."
"How about you stop messing with Kamiya and leave us alone."
"Kamiya has messed with us this time."
"He rebelled. Everyone does, at a certain point. Indians did after two hundred years, French slaves did, people under the Noble rule did."
"Well, he is just a sixteen-year-old teenager, not a French rebel."
"Listen, I propose... Peace."
"Do not propose---" Kuzu stopped. He opened his mouth, amused. "P-peace. Seriously, Peace?!" Kuzu dropped his head and started laughing.
Cock.
Hitori pointed his gun at Kuzu's head. Kuzu stopped laughing. Kuzu lowered his arm and held his gun near his waist, finger on the trigger.
"Unfortunately, we can not come unarmed in the game."
"Kuzu," Hitori said, "Peace..." he bobbed his head.
Kuzu stared at Hitori and tried to come up with multiple possibilities if he accepted Peace and if he accepted War.
"You can shove your Peace up your ass, Hitori. I will be back." And Kuzu logged out since they had not engaged in a fight.
"War..." Hitori pulled down his gun and sighed. "So it is a war?"
Two weeks later in the battle, Hitori and Kamiya were done with their day at seven o'clock. They logged out and walked up to Eya for checking their cards out.
"Why early today?" Hitori asked.
"I told you to pay for only six hours," Kamiya said.
Eya took their cards and realized that Hitori still has an hour left on his account. "Hitori-san," she called, "you still have one hour left, would you like me to keep it aside for tomorrow?"
"Yes---"
"No." Kamiya interrupted. "We would not be coming tomorrow."
Eya frowned, her heart picked up its pace. "W-why is that, sir?" she asked.
Kamiya glanced at Hitori, he was as confused. "Christmas shopping tomorrow morning and we are meeting someone for dinner."
Eya's heart calmed down, she was relieved. "O-oh... I see, Christmas."
But Kamiya frowned. "Do you have the Vr-cade open on Christmas eve though? I thought---"
"Yes, yes, you are right. We will be closed tomorrow." She let out an awkward laugh. "Thank you, see you on the twenty-sixth."
"Who are we meeting tomorrow, Kamiya?"
Eya waited till they both were out of the Vr-cade and had walked a good distance before contacting her brother.
"Kakashi."
"I think I have found it, I will contact you later."
"Hitori-san is leaving."
"W-what?"
She smiled. "I mean, Hitori-san is out for Christmas shopping and Christmas eve, the whole day."
"With?"
"Kamiya Jigoku."
"Still keep an eye on him tomorrow."
"Uh... Himbo, it means we have a clear coast tomorrow. Find that anti-protection spell, this might be our chance to enter the house finally."
"Right... and-- do not call me that."
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel