Game Start (Part 1)

"When's this blasted rain going to stop?" Motohama grumbly mumbled, pulling out his glasses to clean them as they had begun to fog due to the water vapor.

Cold is always a massive bitch for someone as visually impaired as he is, especially during the raining seasons or cold mornings - particularly the latter. His forehead had been acquainted to lampposts and street signs more times than he could even bother to count.

Today though was a different case as while Motohama wasn't out on the streets -that would had been an entirely different complaint- he was presently at a hospital's entrance.

He wasn't sick nor had he been caught in an unfortunate accident. Truthfully, he would have taken either of the mentioned two as they couldn't be compared to what he had been through the last 1 and half month or to the people that had no idea on the supernatural aspect of the world, 10 days.

That had been hell.

Name: Keisuke Motohama

Job: The Gamer

Species: Human

Level: 9 [Next Level: 40%]

Titles: Lucky Survivor/Perverted Scouter

HP: 750/750

MP: 450/450

STR: 15

VIT: 18

AGI: 16

INT: 17

WIS: 18

CHA: 9

LUC: 9 (10)

Stats Points: 37

Skill Points: 20

Money: 1000($)

Stifling a sigh that threatened to come out from his lips, Motohama willed the screen away as a light grimace appeared on his face.

This… System - this supernatural gift were among the reasons why he had been able to make it out of that hell alive.

It made him faster than the 'Stray Devils' and 'Monsters' that had pursued his group. Made him stronger when he had to push through large objects or punch harder just to get something to eat. The Vitality (VIT) increase and the Level Up benefits was a total lifesaver as Motohama didn't know how he could have survived when his HP had been reduced to a precarious 1.

All in all, the System had been a Blessing… As it had been a curse.

[Gamer's Mind] (Toggled OFF)

[Prevents all sorts of EXTREME mental states, allowing user to calmly think things through. Immunity to mind and spiritual impairments]

At first glance, the Gamer's Mind seems to be quite a catch. Logically speaking, the ability to control your emotions and think rationally whatever the circumstances can save one's life - it had save his more times he could even begin to count. The Immunities that comes with it was the special icing on the cake.

The curse part came from the first function of the ability; prevention of all sorts of EXTREME mental states. It sounded simple, but in reality, it was more complicated than how it appeared.

In the course of that 'Game', there were many course of actions Motohama had taken that he normally wouldn't have been capable of taking - it was like he was on drugs that dulled everything and made him one minded.

Toggling off the Gamer's Mind, Motohama could only look back at those times and shiver.

'It's like I'd become one cold, unfeeling monster.'

His hands unconsciously clenched.

'Blood. Gore. Screams for help. Fuck, even boobs! I couldn't feel anything towards them… Survive. Survive. Survive. That was the word that kept me going… That was the word that made me do the things that I did just to survive.'

The urge to just toggle on the Gamer's Mind was an appetizing one. Those nightmarish scenes, the spooky corners, the lost friends…

Her cold unfeeling body.

"Fuck this…"

Grasping his head, Motohama instantly toggled on the Gamer's Mind.

[Hysteria negated by Gamer's Mind]

[Fear negated by Gamer's Mind]

The rising panic attack doused similar to how a flame is put off by a bucket of water. The urge was gone. It wasn't like Motohama couldn't feel the dread anymore, it's just that it now feels more like an insignificant event.

It was that unfeeling attitude that was his problem with the ability.

'Heh…'Motohama couldn't help but chuckle contritely.

Despite hating the cool dousing feeling the Gamer's Mind had always brought to him when activated, Motohama was very much aware of the importance of this ability in controlling his emotions and for clear rational thoughts.

Especially in times like this.

'I'm too much of a damn hypocrite.'

"Is there anything wrong, Motohama?" Besides Motohama, a slightly plump man with thick brimmed glasses said with a fretful look. "Sho-Should we go back inside so that the doctors could run another checkup?"

Smiling, Motohama shook his head in an assuring manner.

"It's nothing serious, Dad. I was just complaining about the annoying rain, s'all."

"O-Oh." Dad blinked, "Alright, if you say so. Just hold on a little longer. The cab I booked is already on its way."

Nodding, Motohama instinctually utilized the Observe ability just to assure himself of the man before him.

Keisuke Chimon LV12

[Office Worker]

It was a succinct information, one that even Motohama could tell without seeing it. Nevertheless, it was real. The man beside him is truly his father.

The Observe ability while upgradable compared to his Maxed Passives had never given Motohama wrong information about anything or anyone he had used it on. This ability has helped him escape many closed calls in the first place.

The honk of their ride arriving drew Motohama from his little world.

Sighing, Motohama picked up his belongings preparing to enter the cab.

'I've really changed, haven't I?'

Was it for the better or worse remains the question.

ᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥ

As he came out of the cab, Motohama couldn't help feeling the twinge of relief upon seeing the house before him.

It was the same as it has always been. Inserted in a dense neighborhood, the two floor edifice looked exactly how Motohama had left it.

'Shit, thank goodness for Gamer's Mind.' Motohama thought, sucking in cold air. 'If it weren't for that, I'd be bawling my eyes right now.'

Leaving the cab, both father and son hurried towards the house. Upon seeing that the door was already opened, Motohama froze for a moment before instantly grabbing his Dad's shoulder.

"Hey Dad, did you leave the door open when you'd left the house to pick me up?" Motohama asked, horrid memories of opening unlocked doors only to meet face to face with a lurking monster flashed his mind.

He had sworn to never allow himself to get that careless ever again.

The confusion lasted only for some moments, before Dad's eyes widened in understanding. Nodding, he said with an assuring smile. "Oh, about that… Well, let's just get in, it's supposed to be a surprise, but with you being this…"

"Paranoid." Motohama interrupted, at the sight of his Dad's grimace he raised a hand. "Look it's not your fault… I'm just feeling jumpy at everything. As for whose inside it'd probably be Matsuda and Issei… It's either those guys or your work friends, but I'm not so sure on the latter."

"Ok Motohama, now that's just rude."

Motohama smirked, "Doesn't make my words any less of a truth."

Before Dad could shoot back a reply, the door abruptly swung open stimulating Motohama to pull his Dad back with one hand, while clenching the other into a fist. It was only until he saw who was at the other side did Motohama slowly relax his body.

"Motohama, you bastard."

With a swinging fist, Matsuda hollered bearing a face that was straight out of a warzone.

"How dare you go and get yourself missing for 10 days? Do you know how hard it is to get the perfect trajectory to peep the Kendo girls without that scouter eyes of yours?! Then there's that Issei who's gone to some camping trip or whatever... Seriously you bastards…"

With lips fumbling, Matsuda suddenly pulled Motohama into a hug.

"Don't go vanishing off the face of the earth, you hear."

Motohama wordlessly nodded. 'Seriously, you're really going to make me cry.'

It really is good to be back.

Taking a deep breath, Motohama pushed Matsuda off himself and said with a perturbed look. "Oi, don't you getting all emotional on me. It's actually kind of gross when this kind of talk is coming from a guy."

"Screw you, bastard."

"Sorry, but I don't do men. Go ask Issei."

Matsuda promptly threw punch at Motohama with the latter smoothly dodging it.

Laughing, Dad who had entered the house said. "Alright boys, come on in. And Motohama, you'd just come straight out of the hospital. Let's not try and tempt fate by staying out there in the cold."

"Yes, Dad." Motohama said with a small smile on his face.

As both boys entered the house, Motohama deliberately remained behind Matsuda's back as his smiling face transitioned to an emotionless one. With Matsuda none the wiser, Motohama used an Observe on him.

Kenji Matsuda LV14

[Highschool Student]

The mana that had been secretly gathering around his fist vanished. Exhaling in relief, Motohama couldn't help but feel like a piece of shit.

'Dammit. What would I have done had the screen had shown me something different?'

Images of empowered fist punting through flesh made Motohama to unconsciously shudder. With the Gamer's Mind toggled on, Motohama was 100% sure he would be capable of doing that.

'Shit, what kind of friend am I?'

[Gamer's Mind] (Toggled OFF)

The calmness the ability brought was replaced with a sickening feeling which Motohama wholeheartedly embraced.

After all, without the Gamer's Mind, Motohama was sure he wouldn't dream of harming his friend… Although even that might be an ostensible thought retrospectively speaking.

'I've really got to tone down this distrusting trait of mine. I'm no more in that hell. I'm amongst family.'

With that thought in mind, Motohama moved ahead, keeping pace with his friend as he formerly entered his house for after what would be a month and the half.

ᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥ

With both Matsuda and Motohama having no friends apart from Issei, who is probably screwing around with the hot ORC ladies right now (Screw that bastard!) and Dad whose acquaintances in work could only be described as unknown. The welcoming party was less of a party and more a small get-together -after all, what else can one call a gathering comprised solely of three men.

Assorted drinks, snacks, and ordered food decorated the table upon which they devoured with gusto, Motohama especially, considering how long it had been since he last had a proper meal.

"Motohama, why're you eating like that?" Matsuda said with a squirming look.

"Hmm, what's wrong with how I'm eating?"

"Are you seriously asking me that or are you pulling my leg right now?"

With food morsels decorating his lips, Motohama shrugged while bearing a bemused look. "You tell me."

"Well, first off." Matsuda said, tilting his head as bits of food flew pass him. "Stop speaking with your mouth looking that swollen, and secondly, stop making that damn slurping noise when you're eating."

To that, Motohama couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, but I can't help it. It's been a while since I'd last ate something as tasty as this."

And that was an understatement considering what he had eaten the day before could have passed as a rotten bread.

"…O-Oh" With a face that didn't know how to even reply to the spectacled boy's words, Matsuda only nodded and quietly resumed eating.

'What's up with him?' Motohama offhandedly regarded Matsuda's sudden quietness before shrugging.

Since he doesn't want to talk, Motohama decided that it wasn't worth asking either way.

.

.

.

Thankfully, that little incident didn't seem to ruin the little get-together, as soon enough, life returned to the tables. Since Motohama's Dad was present, the boys decided not to do a fondly recount on their more 'ecchi' endeavors.

Motohama's Dad wouldn't mind (maybe) but it's kind of embarrassing talking about 'that' while he is within earshot.

Although much of their discussions were spent cursing Issei who had seemingly moved up the world.

"Seriously, how did that bastard even do it?" Matsuda said with comical tears flowing down his eyes. "One day he was part of our group; the Perverted Trio—"

"Not like that got us the ladies."

"Shut up, Motohama!" Matsuda roared,

"It's the thought that counts... Anyway, once, Issei was our comrade in quest of achieving the sacred goal. Getting a Harem! Now, that bastard seems to have gotten quite close to achieving it and he doesn't want to tell us how he did it. The one time we asked him to introduce us to a girl, it had to be a damn gorilla man!"

Biting his finger, Matsuda had the visage of a vengeful ghost.

"Goddammit… Let's plan on how to bury him in rumors so that he doesn't get to spend any quality time with the ORC girls."

Giving a thankful nod to his Dad who had packed up and decided to head for bed, Motohama twirled his straw as he regarded his partner in crime. "Hah…How puerile, Matsuda. Those aren't the questions I expected you to be asking."

"Huh? Then what should I be asking, Motohama?"

"Issei's sudden luck with women began from one rather fortunate occurrence; the Occult club. So the question we're supposed to be discussing should be this."

Motohama smirked, raising three fingers.

"How did Issei get the attention of that club in the first place? Remember, they're the kind of club that doesn't ask for members -many have tried to join only to be refused. So how did Issei even do it? The second would be…"

"How to get them to notice us as well." Matsuda muttered, a small smile blooming on his face. "Motohama, you fucking genius."

[1 to Wisdom due to an apt deduction]

Folding his arms, Matsuda frowned. "Hmm… But that leaves us on how to get Issei to fess up what he did in the first place."

Dropping his fingers, Motohama said. "And that's three. The third and most important question is how to coax Issei into telling us how he'd manage to do it?"

Matsuda eyed Motohama's confident smirk. "Something tells me you've got an idea on how to get Issei to talk."

"Hmm… Less of an idea and more of just throwing stones in the dark."

"That doesn't matter. Spill."

ᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥᴥ

Motohama let out a pleased groan while lying on the familiar bed.

"Yeah, this is the life."

While due to the Gamer's Body, it is virtually impossible for Motohama to ever get tired or injured unless his HP or MP has reached an all-time low, the familiar comfort of the bed upon which he lay was one that brought a sense of emotional comfort.

No more lying on the hard ground with one eye open or spending the entire night hiding while holding his breath. While this was only temporary, Motohama wanted to just… Experience the life he had taken for granted.

Tomorrow, he would begin his plans.

"Hey, Motohama." Lying on a futon near the bed, Matsuda said in a somber tone. "This might just be me being stupid or something… But did something happen during those 10 days when you'd been missing?"

Motohama didn't turn to look at his friend, keeping his gaze on the ceiling, he said. "What do you mean by that?"

"Hah…" Matsuda let out a frustrated exhale.

"It's just that, well… You are like a totally different person. Yes, that's it. Your every actions feel kind of hollow - like you're just going with the flows. You didn't even show any reaction when I'd given you the Serara-tan AV you had always been hankering for! Come on, man. Do you know how weird it is to see you look at the AV like it's some kind of ordinary disc?"

Motohama huffed in amusement. "So you suspected something had changed just because I didn't jump for joy when receiving a porn disc?"

"Am I wrong?"

Shaking his head, Motohama couldn't help but laugh. "Maybe. Maybe not. Does it even matter?"

"Of course it does." Matsuda stood up to take a look at his friend, feeling a bit spooked at the blank look in his friend's eyes. "I'm sure even Issei would call you out on the way you're behaving right now… Motohama, did something happen during the past 10 days that you refused to tell your Dad and the cops?"

'What am I supposed to say?'

Motohama satirically thought,

'That the 10 days that you all thought that I'd been missing had actually been almost two months. Two months where I had been placed in some kind of Outlast x Agony x Resident Evil fun land with some special kind of individuals - who were Magicians, Yokais, Exorcists, and even Devils by the way. That everyday had been hell. That everyday I'd got to see someone die in a gruesome way. That I'd had to do things that I thought I would never do. That at the end of it all, the only reason I survived was all on the whim of that 'Bastard'. That the Motohama you knew had basically died when he had committed his first murder…'

It was all too easy to say those words – with the Gamer's Mind toggled OFF, there was nothing preventing the bubbling compulsion to just share what had happened during the past 1 and the half months. To at least, tell someone that the people he had gone through that hell with had existed at some point.

But Motohama wouldn't. Maybe in another World, if he had been granted powers comparable to those 'Longinus' that he had heard so much about. While objectively speaking the System too could also grant him that kind of power, the factor of if he could live long enough to grasp that kind of power is up to luck.

⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙

{'Hmm… Because you interest me Human, I'll give you 3 months. Get stronger in whatever way or form you like, and after 3 months. I'll be coming for you and all that you love… Show me if that mysterious providence that had carried you throughout this experiment of mine would save you from my hands.'}

⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙⸙

Motohama let out a shaky breath.

'I've already wasted too much time as it is.'

Just spending the entire day doing nothing already tilts the balance in the enemy's favor. Nevertheless, Motohama had decided to at least use this day to rest to see that the mundane life he had lived actually existed…

He wouldn't tell him. Motohama could not afford to drag Matsuda into this kind of world where the only requirement to actually survive is power.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told my Dad and the cops." Motohama looked at his friend straight in the eyes and lied. "I can't remember anything. Well, apart from entering a bus and then… Waking up in the hospital."

Matsuda regarded his spectacled friend for a minute before nodding in acquiescence. "Alright if you say so… Just know if anything pops up and you want to talk about it."

[Passive Skill (Lying) has gone up a Level: 55-56]

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Motohama waved his hand and turned around on his bed. "Just go to sleep."

"G'night, bastard."

"Same to you, bald bastard."

…

Name: Keisuke Motohama

Job: The Gamer

Species: Human

Level: 9 [Next Level: 40%]

Titles: Lucky Survivor/Perverted Scouter

HP: 750/750

MP: 450/450

STR: 15

VIT: 18

AGI: 16

INT: 17

WIS: 19

CHA: 9

LUC: 9 (10)

Skill Points: 20

Stats Points: 37

Money: 1000 ($)

ϞϞϞϞϞ-Passive Skills-ϞϞϞϞϞ

[Gamer's Body] (MAX)

[Gamer's Mind] (MAX)

[Low Mana Affinity] (MAX)

[Detect Bloodthrist] (20/50)

[Physical Endurance] (40/50)

[Lying] (56/100)

[Stealth] (60/100)

ϞϞϞϞϞ-Active Skills-ϞϞϞϞϞ

[Observe] (LV 29/50)

[ID Creation] (1/20)

[Unarmed Combat] (17/50)

[Foraging] (10/100)

[Skill: Mana Manipulation] (LV 15/50)