Chapter 67: Who Threatened you with a knife and told you to do that?

“Hehehe…

The target is standing right in front of me.

She seems to be a cautious person, as she’s glancing around, checking her surroundings for safety.

However, with my perfect camouflage, I was hiding, avoiding her search.

• How about stopping now?
• If you go any further, you might really get into big trouble.

“Th-There’s no way I’ll stop. I have to get my blood, blood revenge today…”

The Izutomo members in the chat were trying to stop me, but today, I am a ferocious beast.

No one can stop me.

“Ugh…”

To avoid any possible mistakes, I took a deep breath to steady myself, then slowly aimed at the target’s head.

And when she lowered her head to gather materials, confident in her safety—

“Now!”

Without hesitation, I pressed the attack button.

The bullet that left my hand flew toward the target’s head at a speed like light.

Then, with a thud, the sound of impact echoed, and she collapsed forward.

“Success…!”

[That’s a failure, you know?!]

“Ah?!”

The target had somehow put on a metal helmet over her head.

Thanks to that, it seemed like she wasn’t seriously hurt. She quickly regained her posture and started charging

toward me.

“D-Dammit, I have to run…”

[It’s too late!]

Because I was carrying too many bullets, the difference in our movement speeds was clear.

In the end, I collapsed to the ground, bound by her rope.

“Hehe… So this is how a beast meets its end…”

[Is that your last excuse, Izumi?]

“I’m sorry…”

[So? Can you quickly explain what the hell you were trying to accomplish?]

I took a knee in front of the Ko-Ga Yang, mimicking a motion of submission, and began to speak calmly.

“Well, it’s just that… today, I heard Ko-Ga Yang is joining us…”

[What does that have to do with you shooting a slingshot at me for almost an hour?]

“Yesterday, I… I just wanted to give a taste of the thrill of war…”

Of course, it was a lie.

I had simply made a vow of revenge after hearing that Ko-Ga Yang was joining us in the Ashen City and after all the

times Ko-Ga Yang had scolded me.

I am a man with the mental age of a 40-year-old.

At 24, there’s no way I should always be getting scolded by Ko-Ga Yang… or at least that’s what I thought.

And when I first told the Izutomo members about this plan:

• You could just kill her with a gun.
• Why go through the trouble with a slingshot?

There were many reactions like that.

But if I killed her with a gun, I felt like Ko-Ga Yang would get really mad.

You guys don’t know how scary it is when Ko-Ga Yang gets angry.

So, I only intended to injure her a little, just enough to not kill her, then run away.

I could take my revenge, and Ko-Ga Yang wouldn’t die, so we could keep gathering materials. It felt like a win-win

strategy.

But why did things end up like this?

[Have you never considered that the slingshot might be annoying enough to make things less fun and more frustrating?]”

“…Is, is that so?”

I didn’t expect that at all…

“Are you… mad, Koga?”

[A little.]

“Yikes…”

The coldness in Koga’s voice sent a chill down my spine.

This is strange. Wasn’t my plan perfect? Why did this happen?

• I sometimes think Mei-chan might really be a fool.
• She doesn’t know the right distance when joking.

But what was I supposed to do? I had no friends to joke around with like this…

If I had known, I would’ve just shot her with a gun from the start.

[And you said it was a blood revenge from the beginning of the broadcast. Doesn’t that contradict itself?]

“Uh, well… how did you… Koga, how did you know…”

[I watched Izumi’s stream before starting the broadcast. I didn’t know the target of your revenge was me, though.]

“Uh, that… Koga?”

[So, I must be someone you hated enough to want revenge on.]

“That’s not it. Um, Koga, let me explain…”

What should I do?

Of course, revenge was just something I said; I just wanted to mess around a bit.

I’ve seen stories on the internet where people lose friends because they didn’t know when to stop joking. I thought, “Why do they do that?”

But now I realize that it was me who didn’t get the hint.

“U-um, I just wanted to mess around a little…”

[I thought of you as a real friend, Izumi.]

“I-I’m sorry for the weird joke…”

I don’t know what to do anymore.

[So you were thinking that way when we talked every day, Izumi…?]

“Sigh… I’m sorry…”

I wanted to apologize to Koga, but I had no idea how.

[…01?]

“I-I’m sorry… hic…”

• Is she crying?
• Don’t cry, Mei-chan.
• Suzuha made her cry.

“Please don’t abandon me…”

Even though part of me knew I was live on the broadcast, my emotions completely took over, and I couldn’t stop

myself from crying.

“Sniff… Waaah!”

[Izumi, wait? What do you mean by ‘abandon me’?! Calm down! It was just a joke!]

In the end, I cried for 10 minutes in front of 7,000 viewers, including Koga’s broadcast.

This is definitely going to be clipped, right?

[[Gray City] Starting from Building a House! #KogaSuzuha#StarsFlow#GrayCity]

[That kind of joke is just annoying…]

“Sorry…”

Suzuha sighed and apologized.

Of course, it was all my fault for starting this, but Suzuha wasn’t cold enough to say that to someone who was crying.

More importantly, Suzuha had expected me to cry to some extent when she made that joke, so her guilt grew with each passing second.

[But… I’m sorry too. I thought it would be fun…]

“…Actually, it was fun. I just wanted to mess with Izumi.”

[Really?]

“Yeah.”

I really can’t hate Izumi.

To be honest, Suzuha had gotten a little irritated earlier.

Trying to enjoy a new game, but constantly being interrupted by someone.

It wasn’t a deadly injury, just a slingshot wound, but the time it took to heal meant I couldn’t pursue the culprit,

which ate away at Suzuha’s nerves.

It was easy to guess that the culprit was Izumi.

Even knowing that, she couldn’t help but get frustrated. And though she had used it as an excuse to mess with me,

that didn’t erase the irritation she felt earlier.

However, seeing Izumi cry, Suzuha realized she wouldn’t be able to make Izumi feel the same way.

But Izumi understood that her joke had gone too far and immediately apologized.

“Am I quick to pick up on things, or slow…”

[I think I’m pretty quick to pick up on things…]

• If you were quick, wouldn’t you have avoided making such a joke in the first place?

Suzuha pushed the question that had crossed her mind out of her head.

“…Yeah.”

With a hollow laugh, I answered like that.

[[Ashen City] Today’s Reaper Mei-chan is resting #KainoIzumi #StarsFlow #AshenCity]

“Then, I’ll head to my base…”

[Yeah. Be careful, though, you might be an enemy next time we meet.]

“Please don’t say that…”

With that, Koga-chan left to gather materials for building a house.

I wish we could have formed an alliance, but Koga-chan already made an alliance with Akabane-chan right after the start.

In Ashen City, you can’t form multiple alliances, so for Koga-chan and me to form an alliance, either she’d have to

break her alliance with Akabane-chan or I’d have to join their alliance.

Koga-chan said she felt sorry and that it wouldn’t work, and since the leader of the alliance, Akabane-chan, wasn’t

here, it was impossible.

“Guess beasts are destined to be lonely…”

I was left alone, and although I said that to erase the embarrassment from earlier when I cried…

• Beast (laughs)
• There! Suzizu is
• Suzizu Teetee…
• Crying while seeking bloody revenge, sob sob
• So cute
• Cry more
  The Iztomos were busy teasing me.
  But I know.
  Reacting half-heartedly in situations like this would only make them enjoy it more.
  Instead, I need to act confidently at times like this.
  “Earlier, Koga-chan got mad because of you guys…”
• ???
• What do you mean?
  “I told you to stop earlier!”
  I said it, didn’t I?
• I told you multiple times.
• It was Mei-chan who didn’t stop when you said bloody revenge.
• Passing the blame to the viewers again?
• This is definitely a prank.
• Who threatened with a knife for revenge?
  “No! It’s your fault for not telling me more clearly! I’m innocent…!”
  Guilt? I don’t feel any of that.
  The Iztomos tease me when they’re bored, so I’m just passing the blame, right?
  I’m definitely, absolutely not at fault.
  “Well then, since I’m innocent, I guess I’ll go back to my base…”
• In the end, you’re innocent.
• So unfair.
  Shut up.
  As a super-beautiful girl and the owner of the Arkana Shooter Purgatory Clear, I am always right.
  ★
  Returning to my base, I thought about what I should do next.
  ・I guess the best thing is to conquer Ashen City’s content step by step?
  Ashen City offers an immense variety of gameplay options.
  From simple travel to a vast range of technological advancements, including creating alien technologies, multiplayer wars I’ve fought, various gambling, and amusement rides.
  What I originally planned to do today was travel.
  While survival in a ruined city is the main goal in Ashen City, the final scenery you can see after unlocking the entire map is incredibly beautiful.
  This scenery is considered ‘old content,’ so probably none of the Iztomos have seen it.
  In fact, the way to view it changes periodically, so even when I tried playing, I could only see it once after several attempts.
  …I didn’t choose this content thinking I could do everything alone.
  “Then, I’ve decided my Ashen City goal from today is… Okeanos.”
• Okeanos?
• What’s that?
• Going for the end right from the start, huh?
  Although it’s in-game, I started to feel excited as if I was going on a trip.
  I’m sure it’s going to be a great broadcast.
  And I trusted that instinct without a doubt.