The simulator was finally ready.
A truck arrived to deliver the units, so I hopped into some Humanoid Heavy Machinery to help with the installation. That was when I ran into Thomas.
He flashed me a bright smile.
And just like that, he extorted one of the units from me.
I managed to get two set up for our own use for the time being.
"I just had a thought," Fairy-san said. "Should we add a cooperative play function instead of just a versus mode?"
"What? That sounds like fun."
She updated the software based on that whim. Almost immediately, a transmission came in from Thomas.
"This is amazing!"
He’d hopped on it already. It really was a fun game—mostly because of how ridiculously unfair and brutal it was.
"Hello, sir. We’re actually in the middle of updating it for co-op play right now."
"What! Can you give me more of these?"
"Well, the space and the budget are a bit..."
These weren't built for commercial sale, so they were incredibly expensive. We could manufacture them using the Shaping Printer and the Machine Assembler, but they probably cost a hundred million credits a piece.
"I’ll take twenty," Thomas declared. "Add whatever you guys need to that order as well. My squad will cover the costs."
He didn't even ask about the price?!
I caught a terrifying glimpse of how true celebrities lived. Come to think of it, Wifey basically never asked for a price tag either. Could I really survive in this world of the elite?
"O-Osu. Uh, Fairy-san, if you would."
"You got it!"
I had Melissa and Claire test the two units we’d already installed. Seeing them, the boys—who had far too much free time on their hands—began to itch for a turn. I knew the feeling. They were dying to play a brand-new game.
Two days later, the full order was delivered. We ended up with twenty-five units each.
I’d wondered where we were going to put them all, but Thomas used his authority to have the gymnasium handed over. The Commander looked like he was about to snap, so I read the room and brought him a bottle of expensive Japanese Sake. It came out of my own pocket. It was the kind of stuff that usually had a two-year waiting list for pre-orders, but one look at Wifey’s letter of introduction and I was able to buy it on the spot. Power is a scary thing.
When I gave the gift to the Commander, he patted me on the shoulder. "You've got it rough too, don't you..." he murmured.
I didn't quite know what to say to that, but I felt like we’d reached a moment of mutual understanding.
The gym had effectively been turned into an arcade. Thomas’s squad took the first floor, while we occupied the second. I adjusted the settings so we could cross-play with the Augmented Reality group and integrated the simulators for every branch of service into one system. Players could choose their class after starting the simulation. We estimated that it could handle simultaneous co-op play for up to two hundred people.
And so, we were now able to openly play games during work hours. Of course, we still handled our mundane chores and regular duties properly.
But what happens when you give a brutal death-game to a bunch of idiots in their teens with nothing but time?
"Protect those three with your shields! They’re the core of our offense!"
The boys formed a defensive line around me, Melissa, and Claire.
"Lord Groom! We’ll provide cover!"
The Sniper Squad moved into position to assist. There were probably several hundred enemies right in front of us. A terrifying number of humanoid fighters were swarming us from every direction at once.
The moment the boys' shields hit their limit, I lunged forward.
"Alright! Dodge those beams!"
Shouting whatever came to mind, the boys threw aside their broken shields and started firing. Several of them managed to successfully evade the incoming fire. I dodged the beams as well.
"Oraaa!"
I clove one unit in half with my blade and kept on crushing the enemies. But there were just too many. We were slowly being pushed back.
"Ah!"
A beam caught Melissa’s machine. Claire, being more accustomed to the high difficulty, was still in the air. But I’d reached my limit. I was surrounded by a swarm of missiles.
Yeah, this is impossible. I can't dodge this!
Boom.
"Ginyaaaaaaaaa!"
"Leo’s down!"
"It’s over! We’re done for!"
My allies were picked off one after another until the entire formation collapsed. We were helpless against the sheer weight of numbers. It was a different beast entirely from fighting the Zork. Brute force didn't carry the day here. Brute force still worked against the Zork, after all...
We’d been stuck in this loop for about three days.
"Alright, review meeting time!"
The boys had the same manic energy they’d shown during the ball games tournament. They were growing stronger by treating every failure as a lesson. I caught a glimpse of that athletic-club obsession with victory.
"Seriously, the fact that you guys can even hold out this long after only three days is insane," Fairy-san remarked.
We weren't satisfied, though. Just putting up a fight wasn't enough. We wanted to absolutely dominate.
"To think we'd use the machine data from the Massacre Night just to get beaten into the dirt like this..." I muttered.
It shouldn't have been a surprise. Once you fought long enough, the Linear Blazers appeared—multiple units at once. But we got so close every time! Every run felt like we were just one step away from clearing it, only to get pulverized again the next time.
"Damn it! Does everyone really have to be Ace Class to beat this...?"
"Look, I told you," Fairy-san sighed. "I’m scaling the difficulty to the number of players, but I haven't balanced it. It’s literally just spawning [Single Player Enemies] times [Number of People]. I've said this like ten times..."
Her voice didn't reach us.
"The shield strategy is no good against missiles. Next time, everyone bring mid-range weapons!"
"YEAH!"
"I said, listen to me!"
Fairy-san clutched her head in the corner of the screen, exhausted by our antics.
"They're a bunch of idiots... Being a muscle-brain is one thing, but this is just absurd..."
Claire watched with a permanent wry smile. "Well, Leo and the boys are all battle junkies, so..."
Actually, Claire, it wasn't just us. You only had to look at Ren and Melissa to see that.
"Grrrrrr!"
Ren was practically vibrating with motivation.
"The problem was the delay on that attack... so if I do this... then that..."
Melissa was muttering to herself, deep in her own solo review.
The girls were total battle junkies too. Even Nina-san was smiling while she tweaked her machine’s loadout. Even Kevin, who looked on with total revulsion, was helping out as a spotter in a radar vehicle. Since everyone else wanted to be on the front lines, his support was a lifesaver.
...Was everyone in my unit a berserker?
"Ah, time to clean the building... Alright, cleaning squad, move out!"
"Ehhh..."
The boys grumbled as they headed off to their stations. I was on the laundry squad today. As I headed toward the laundry, I realized the lines between reality and the game were starting to blur.
Dangerous. Very dangerous. I had to make sure I actually worked.
As I headed downstairs, I crossed paths with Thomas’s squad.
"Good morning!"
Whether it was noon or midnight, the greeting was always "Good morning!"
Thomas stepped in front of me. Wait, what now? Why was he smiling like that?
"Let’s train together."
I’d specifically kept our servers separate for a reason.
"Can I finish my mission first?" I asked.
I had a battlefield of infinite ironing waiting for me, not to mention the struggle against the filthy sheets from the communal sleeping room.
"Of course! Men! Leo Kamishiro’s squad is joining our training session!"
"UOOOOOOH!"
The sheer intensity of their morale was staggering.
Fairy-san... I think you’ve created something truly terrifying.