Chapter 1454 That Heartbeat and the High-Pitched Blood Tide Part 1

––– If you have managed to get yourself cornered right after you tried to escape, then where could you possibly try to escape to next?

* * *

I am really tired at the current moment. Or is it that my emotions are simply taking the better of me? If I had to choose something here, I would honestly go with both of those choices, because they all seem to be pretty accurate.

「………]

The dimly lit sky that I was looking at right now was clear and without a single trace of clouds in it. Oh yes, I know –– it feels as though my heart was getting tired from all the emotions that were rocking it in every possible direction as of late.

「……No matter what I do, it’s simply no good.]

Nothing but unwanted songs, nothing but undesired policies. Being in a slump like that is already bad enough, but when all of your ideas get mercilessly shot down in the office, you only end up feeling even worse about it.

The lyrics simply don’t come to mind. Not to mention that I wasn’t able to sit down at the piano and be able to compose anything for days now.

The trigger that caused this slump was but a single failure. At the current moment Shuu Kansaka was sick and tired of the stage of the current generation…… The stage itself as well as the criticism it was throwing his way. The anger and dissatisfaction that has accumulated in him for a while now has reached its limits, and the bad things that he would eventually need to overcome if he was ever to move forward just kept on piling up one after another.

Then as a natural response he decided to escape into the world of ShangriLa Frontier, a world where he could finally be himself, not being held back by the limitations of Kansaka Shuu.

But even though he still called himself Shuu in this world, and decided that he would be different from his real world self, he still avoided getting involved with anyone else…… Strictly speaking, he was always afraid of seeing someone else’s ugly parts, and so he chose to play entirely on his own.

He knew deep down inside that if he does not improve himself, his conditions would only get worse and worse with time. The feeling of being reluctant towards people eventually became outright dislike. What started as a mere solo play would eventually become an over-the-top retreat. He ended up living with a gorilla for some bizarre reason, but at least the gorilla doesn’t slander him on social media at every possible opportunity.

That’s why he felt like he had thrown everything away here…… and fell in love with Shangri-La Frontier instead. Even as a singer, who should have been able to capitalize on his dreams in real life, chose to come more and more to this virtual reality rather than the real world……

And it was at that time that he met a small girl with white hair and red eyes.

Her appearance was already more than enough to make him fall head over heels for her, but her short temper and abusive streak turned out to be an added bonus once he got to know her as well…… And it turned out that this was exactly what he was longing for all this time…… A dream he has been aiming for since he was just a small child, singing as he pleased. However, unlike myself, who is tied up with the shackles and refrains of societal obligations that increase as he grows older, she was able to say every single thing that he wanted to say out loud, and she was sounding so natural while doing so in the first place!

That’s why he started to call that small girl his “Lady”, and just by following her around he discovered that a completely new door started to open up deep within him.

Even though this girl was nothing more but an AI created by the game, as long as she was conducting herself like any other real person out there, he chose to believe that she was real.

That is why…… Yes, that’s why he intended to do his very best for his beloved “Lady” who bears such a harsh fate.

「…… Pathetic.]

But what about the results of those actions? It was only one merit of this whole situation, that they managed to fight and live through the ambush that was laid on the three Goldunines and their respective companions. But aside from that, all that he managed to do there…… was to attract the attention of twenty or so Poison Maidens. And what’s worse, he was unable to handle them properly and both of them got really messed up because of that as a result.

And as a result of that failure, his “Lady’s” legs were lost, and her genus Amphie died. But because Shuu was a Player, he managed to emerge from this situation completely unharmed.

This only made him feel even more miserable than he already was. The thing that they were going against was like a natural disaster in physical form, a thing that going against is only going to make you want to laugh in despair. But even though “Lady’s” legs were gone, she still chose to keep the shoes that he gave her as present, which only served to deepen Shuu’s sense of guilt and regret.

「………]

This situation was making him want to run away again. However, escape from reality and escape from the game are two separate things…… Where on Earth could he possibly escape from a video game? Every time he looked back at himself, the only thing that was accumulating within him was disgust. And he had no longer any courage to just run away once more. But at the same time, he had no idea how he could possibly look his “Lady” in the eyes. …… But he also realized that moping about that would be of no use to him.

It was at that exact time.

「I finally managed to find you…… And don’t even get me started on where I had to look first…… And you would think that someone like Goldunine would be rather memorable and stick out like a sore thumb, huh……?]

「And you are……?]

That appearance, that voice.

「It’s been less than two weeks, isn’t it? But it feels like it’s been quite a while……]

「…… Who are you?]

「Well, isn’t it terribly nice of you?]

He knew that voice. Even if he might be considered a failure, Shuu is still a singer, and if there is one thing in which he takes pride to have in greater abundance than the rest of the people, it would be the “sound”. However, on top of that, the “figure” and the person inside of his memory did not connect at all. By that time…… Yes, that person was downright strange.

「Hmm? Could it be my looks? It’s the cosmetic problem? No, I mean, you should be able to tell just by looking at my Player’s name alone……]

「Ah, aahh…… I’m sorry. When you are like that I can’t exactly see it all too well…… So rather I should say, umm…… Yeah, that’s not all that helpful……]

「You do realize that admitting to something like that is in extremely BAD taste, right?]

「No, rather than calling it bad…… Wouldn’t it be more accurate to just call it Horror-like……?]

Although he was taken aback by the strange appearance right in front of him, he quickly wondered who that someone was, especially since that someone seemed to have known him quite well.

After all, it was one of the factors that accelerates Shuu’s self-loathing, and because of that someone’s rather impactful appearance, even if he have met sometimes in the past, it would still take quite a lot for his memory to be jogged properly.