3 - THE MEMORY STICK
READ 1 AND 2 FIRST OR YOU WON'T KNOW JACK SHIT ABOUT THIS.
Hello there. I am known as 'Hatsuse' in the internet world. I recently got hold of a Memory Stick that had gone missing from TCC off eBay, and it contains a 'haunted' beta of Lucky Star Ravish Romance! I am like, so excited to try it! I called my friends over and decided to play the 'horror' that is Lucky Star Ravish Romance's Beta! We're gonna prove that this little game is just a load of idiots on the internet trying to make TCC die off!
So, my friends, known as 'The Shiro', 'Izumi' and 'Kagamin' came over to play this game with me on my laptop. We were so excited...until we realized the game isn't a lie.
I booted up the game on my PC using PCSX2, the same emulator a player in a popular case, known as the '[ ] Murder' used. Immediately I was greeted to a screamer, in which I suddenly froze onto my PC chair along with the others. We could only let out tiny shrieks of terror as we discovered the screamer.
The screamer has 2 bastardized Lucky Star characters on it - the characters that are probably what some call ' and '. The 2 of them both had massive, sharp-toothed grins on their faces, and their eyes were glowing. Miyuki's eyes were completely white, with 1 red pixel in each of them, while Kagami's eyes were yellow, with a slight orange reflection in the middle. The picture itself was framed by a large intestine, pulsing and convulsing around it.
The hair on them was strange - 1 half of their hair had a different color - Miyuki had a black section while Kagami had a silvery color, and her barretes were black.
The scream itself sounded like a low pitched version of the scream you hear in when the characters die. It may not sound like much, but it was really scary!
I pressed 'X' to take off the screamer. I shrugged it off as a cruel joke TCC did. Then, the title screen came up. Same as the alpha ROM TCC has. Nothing to see there. The name screen came up. It had no major differences to the alpha apart from the pink background, which of course appealed to me. I realized there were english characters in another option area, so I typed Hatsuse in. I pressed ENTER and off I went into the land of my dreams - the beta of Lucky Star Ravish Romance.
MIYUKI'S STORY
I entered Miyuki's story since I wanted to see how cute she was in the game. What I got was a fucked up version of her. The Shiro said to turn the game off, since she thought this was some kind of twisted game. I reassured her by saying it is probably just a corrupted sprite, and showed her one of the sprites from one of TCC's ROM Hacks that was corrupted in a similar way. We continued.
Then, the classroom starts. Kuroi, who [ ] refered to as 'Sensei', appeared in the homeroom. Konata, who wasn't corrupted in the slightest made a comment saying 'what is that bitch doing here?'. I was confused - Konata is best friends with Kuroi in Lucky Star. Why was she saying that? Suddenly, Kuroi started crying,
saying 'Sorry! I'm so sorry!' and other things like that. She then fell to the floor, crying. After a few lines of text she started letting out mad laughter.
I became even more confused - why was she acting like this? Just what happened to her? The other pupils seemed to be scared and confused too, and some of them left the room. My character was on the contrary, not reacted a bit.
Then the screen cut to black, and the text 'after school' came up on the screen. Miyuki appeared in front of my character. Izumi flinched upon seeing those creepy eyes again. She asked who my character liked, and he replied with 'nobody'. Miyuki started making a move on my character, which made him decide to leave.
Miyuki then grabbed my character's shoulders and jumped him. My character seemed to be pretty weak, since he fell forwards. Miyuki then tried to kiss my character, which he stopped her from doing. She then started crying, saying she doesn't feel loved, and ran away.
'The Next Day' flashed on the screen. Instead of playing as my character, I was playing as Kuroi. This is the first time I've heard of a character change in the 'Miyuki Murders'. The game opened with a mad laugh from Kuroi. It then showed a flashback of Kuroi hitting Konata with her Range Rover, which killed her later. Wait - Konata is alive. Why is Kuroi remembering something that never happened? Is this why Konata hates Kuroi now? Kuroi then opens her closet, which has had Konata and Yutaka tied up and gagged in it, with muffled screams of fright coming from them. Kuroi got two needles out, which were labeled labeled 'sleep'.
Kuroi injects them both with the drug, which puts the two girls to sleep very quickly. She takes Konata and Yutaka downstairs into her basement, which had a 'trap' set up that just needed people and a few finishing touches added to it.
The 'trap' had a sign saying 'The Snake's Spikes' written on it. There was a massive tank with 4 shackles inside. 2 at the top either side, 2 at the bottom,
perfectly in line with the other two. There was also a board which was about the same size as Yutaka, and behind it was 2 large spikes, perfect for impaling the human body. I then noticed that on the board was an outline of Yutaka, and the spikes were in line with the heart and brain. The board had chains connected to the spikes, and it seemed the movement sensors in the tank activated the mechanism. It looked like Konata had to save Yutaka by not struggling. The Shiro and Izumi hid under the covers in fright whilst Kagamin gripped onto my arm.
The camera moved to another part of the room, which showed a tank of Belcher's Sea Snakes in it. Belcher's Sea Snakes are snakes that often bite when provoked or scared. Throwing them into a tank with a person is sure to cause a ruckus, so I got the idea of how this is gonna play out. Kuroi decided to add the finishing touches to her 'trap'. She nailed some shackles to the board, which were made of steel. Then she chucks Konata into the tank and climbs down the ladder. Konata was still flat out due to the drug, and Yutaka was sound asleep outside the tank. Kuroi fastened the shackles onto Konata's wrists, climbs out and then fastens Yutaka onto the board. Kuroi then filled the tank with sea water to the point that Konata from the neck up is out of the water.
After waiting for a while, Konata and Yutaka finally woke up. Kuroi was not in the room, but was in another room using a soundboard to make her sound like a man.
Konata immediately started struggling and thrashing about, trying to get out of the shackles. Yutaka's board moved closer to the spikes. Kuroi, in her male voice changer said if she wants her friend to die she should stop.
Kuroi then put on a puppet mask, with the male voice changer in it. She walked into the trap room, and picked up the Belcher's Sea Snakes. She dumped them into the tank, and as expected, they were alarmed at the sudden transfer. They saw this as an act of aggression from Konata and started circling her. Konata tried not to squirm much, but the movement sensors were really sensitive. Yutaka's board moved ever closer to the spikes. Yutaka started screaming, which made the Sea Snakes commence their attack on Konata. The 4 snakes bit both of Konata's arms and legs, causing her to scream. They injected venom into Konata, and since this isn't 1,
but 4 snakes, it could be a fatal blow. Konata began struggling, trying to get the snakes off, and it caused Yutaka's board to be penetrated by the longer spike -
the one that penetrates the heart. Yutaka shrieked at the sudden pain, which made the snakes continue injecting venom. Kuroi laughs at the torture, and Konata responds by using all the strength she has left to break one of the shackles - her right hand's. Then Miyuki walks in, and sees the torture. She asks what Kuroi is doing, and Kuroi responds with 'Getting rid of her nightmares', then laughs madly. Miyuki laughs along with her. Konata shouts in a nausiatic voice, saying that she did this and that she'll never forgive her. Then she struggles to break free, to kill Kuroi. She forgot about Yutaka. She looked at where Yutaka was. Yutaka had been penetrated fully by the spikes. Her head was no more, and nor was her body. Yutaka was dead.
Konata screams with anguish and frustration. But the venom was fast taking effect. The view changes to Konata's. Her vision was blurry and had a nausea effect.
I felt sick and so did Kagamin. Finally, her vision went black, and the view changed back to Kuroi's. Kuroi's mad shouting resonated throughout the room.
'Meanwhile' came up on the screen. The view changed to my character's. The bastardized Kagami came up in front of him. She said 'You don't know it is happening,
but your souls have been bound to this game. It happened as soon as you entered this story. It's all over unless you can find a way out. I doubt you can.'. My character suddenly fell to his knees and clutched his head. He was in pieces. Just what was going on? Is this what really happens when someone plays this game?
I couldn't believe it. No way could I believe this bullshit. A game can't kill someone! Then Kagami walked away without saying another thing. What a creep...
Then Tsukasa appeared in front of my character and asked about what happened. My character explained everything. Tsukasa made a little surprised animation and started explaining things. She even said everything in an english voiceover, in a 'generated' voice, similar to Migi's in Parasyte -The Maxim-.
'To tell the truth, this game isn't really a game anymore. It was, but something happened. This world suddenly went insane. It's as if a virus is in the game,
altering everything. At first it was only subtle until the end, then it slowly happened earlier and earlier. Then came [ ]. His sheer passion for us set the game off, making it want to crush everyone's dreams, to be cruel. Then came a detective who wanted to solve the game's mysteries. He solved half of it, and then the log book made it to the public. Now there's you 4, who want to disprove everything. But you have failed - since it can't be disproved. It is real. Once your soul is fully bound to this living hell, you will be sucked into the game and fed upon by it. You'll notice that your soul is being bound to the game by your change of voice and your way with words. Notice how you were all excited and girly and how you slowly became more posh and like me. But you are unconciously fighting it without noticing it. You still try to keep your original way with words, but you can't. Your mind is slowly falling to the game's lullaby and breaking yourself down, bit by bit.'
This game was breaking the 4th wall. If a 4th wall was actually around us, it would be nothing by now.
'IT'S NOT A GAME.'
Tsukasa suddenly let out an angry voice, stomping on the ground, trying to get her point across - was the game reading my mind?
'IT'S NOT A FREAKING GAME! IT IS REAL. AND YES WE CAN READ YOUR MINDS! ELECTRICAL BRAIN WAVES, IDIOT!'
Tsukasa was really angry now. It was too realistic to be a coincidence. Tsukasa was correct. Before I could ask anything else, she ran away. My friends were scared and cowered under the bed covers again.
Kuroi appeared on the screen, looking scared and dumbfounded. She didn't say anything - she just grabbed my character's hand and dragged me to her house. She took me into the basement. And there was Yutaka, impaled on the spikes. The Belcher's Sea Snakes from before were ripped to shreds, and the originally shiny shackles were shattered to pieces. And there was Konata, in the middle of the floor, foaming at the mouth from the venom. She wasn't dead, but barely alive. My character ran to her, and asked Kuroi what had happened. She said she woke up in her room on her bed, and when she went into the basement to get something she saw the two two of them dead on the floor and for some reason the snakes were in the tank. None of this was in her house before. Then Kuroi fainted on the floor - probably from the shock. I knew Kuroi couldn't have commited this crime without a reason. Even then she can't seem to stomach the gory part. Also - who could think this up?
Konata then woke up in my character's arms. She held out her hand and said 'Live...' before finally dying.
Konata had died.
The story then ended.
KONATA'S STORY
For some reason this story was selectable. But I wasn't about to try Kagami's Story since she's such a creep. But then Tsukasa appeared and said -
'YOU IDIOT. YOU CHOSE THE WRONG STORY! YOU'RE GONNA DIE! YOU WERE DOING SO WELL! I THOUGHT YOU COULD CHANGE THIS GAME FOR THE BETTER!'
She cried and showed a sad animation. The sound was unbearable. Was I meant to choose Kagami? No. She's too creepy. Who would choose that bitch over Konata? She killed people for crying out loud.
When I started this story, I was greeted by Konata and Yutaka's bodies on a picture from an old camera. It showed Konata's body, fresh from the tank, with the foam still visible in her mouth. A snake was eating at her arm, and the marks from where the shackles were were still there. The bruise wrapped around her wrist. It must have really hurt to move. Yutaka's body was becoming infected from the impaling, and her face was really creepy with the whole hole in the face thing going on.
I started to cry. I felt like the one at wrong. Kagamin hugged me while the The Shiro and Izumi looked on, entranced by the game's lull. I realized what was going on.
The game was trying to make it easier for it to suck my soul in. It was trying to break me. I had to make The Shiro and Izumi try to kick out. But it was no use. They were already dead. Their souls were taken. Their pulse and heart was still beating, and their bodies were still warm. Is this the effect of the game?
to make the victim get sidetracked by the game's lull and take only their souls, but not the very essence of their being? Does this mean it's possible to get the souls back into the victims if I beat the game? Who knows, maybe [ ] will return to the world?
I suddenly felt a surge of determination. I had forgot entirely what Tsukasa said, and decided to try and find a way to beat the game. I will not be broken! I refuse to accept this reality! I will save my friends!
My character was in school, with everyone acting like it's a normal day. Only Tsukasa was crying in class. Suddenly, Kagami burst out laughing. It wasn't a laugh of madness, or sadness. It was a laugh of conflict. It was as if 2 personalities were clashing against each other. Her sprite started flashing 3 different palletes.
One was her current one - the yellow eyes and the half silver and half light purple hair. The other was similar to her, but she had red eyes, with a toothy grin and a jet black face. Finally, a familiar face was amongst them. The original Kagami. The light purple hair, the blue eyes, the maroon barrettes. I was relieved to see it. Kagami started shouting out things in 3 different voices - one distorted one, one demonic one, and her normal voice.
'I...WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED.' She cried out in her normal voice.
'THIS BODY IS MINE AND MINE ALONE.' The demonic voice could have been heard across the street if it was any louder...
'PLEASE HELP ME. I FEEL STRANGE. PLEASE HELP ME, HATSUSE!' The distorted voice was a voice of agony. I felt sorry for her.
Eventually the distorted voice let out a roar. The roar you hear when someone tries really hard to do something. Then it all stopped, and the bastardized Kagami was back. The class stared at her as if they just saw something mind blowing. But something was wrong. Kuroi and Minami had disappeared. I knew something horrible was about to happen to her. It was all falling into place. And I couldn't do a thing to stop it. Was this all really pointless? Kagami suddenly started running at superhuman speed to the classroom door. She opened it, with the door barely intact from the force, and a loud slam was heard as it closed.
Kagamin looked at me. Her eyes were filled with fear.
'Please, Hatsuse. Turn this game off. Why won't you turn it off?' Kagamin was talking like a small girl.
I tried to close the game. A screamer came up as soon as I tried to. Almost instantaneous.
The screamer showed the bastardized Kagami. The same grin from the demonized Kagami was there, only her eyes were just black voids. She had the pale skin, so the black voids were easily noticable. There wasn't any blood coming from them though, but it was still terrifying. Like, the black voids showed the nerves from where the eyes would have been connected to. It's as if someone had literally grabbed Kagami's eyes, and torn them straight out with no mercy given.
I felt like something was connected to this screamer, as if it was a vision from the future. I realized what this was right at that moment. It WAS what was going to happen to Kagami. However, I felt nothing to it. That bitch deserves to die anyway. She killed people. In The Blank's Log Book on the Miyuki Murders, Kagami was a complete psycho. She raped Tsukasa until she eventually died from a stab to the head. She thought my character and Tsukasa were her toys! Only a super hardcore masochist would want that kind of relationship.
Then, the view changed to Kagami's when I returned to the game...I had a bad feeling about this. She was in her room, where the walls were black and there was an eerie green in each of the corners, which spread out from the 'points' to touch each other to form a 'square'. It created a really creepy feel. There was a mirror in the room from which we could see Kagami's reflection - a full body view at that. This is the first time I've seen this sort of thing. After Kagmi looks around in a cutscene, the game's style changes completely. It changes to allow me to move Kagami around and interact with things - like how Corpse Party Blood Drive plays. Some really creepy music started playing, with high pitched noises playing at random intervals, and a low drone playing inbetween. I started to move Kagami around. Nothing scary happened. I decided to interact with the mirror first. A 2 choice question came up, and it said 'Mirrors and darkness don't mix.
Are you sure you want to see your reflection?'. Kagamin said it's not a good idea, since it could make another screamer. For some reason I didn't listen to her,
and chose 'yes'. Kagami's reflection appeared. She was standing upright, with her hands at her hips, and her legs together firmly. After 5 seconds of examining her,
a sound similar to a bone or twig played, and her head tilted to her shoulder, as if someone was found dead after hanging themselves. Kagamin screamed, but The Shiro and Izumi stared blankly. Then, Kagami spoke. ' E' She spoke in a very scary way. It was spoken in a direct manner, but it was spoken very slowly, with each and every letter stretched and pronounced individually. It was distorted to such a point where without the text box it would have been inaudible.
Then, Kagami started to move on her own. Her neck quickly moved back into place, then she started to slowly shuffle to her bedroom door. She held onto the door knob. Suddenly, her head moved into an awkward position and looked at the screen, with the same black voids for eyes and a psycotic smile on her face. I screamed,
and Kagamin vomited on the floor. She then just walked out of the door as if nothing happened. In a first person view, just like when I'm playing as 'the player'.
The school appears in sight, and rapidly zooms in as if Kagami was running like in the classroom. Once in the school, she ran straight past the lockers and into the basement, where Kuroi was with Minami and Miyuki.
There was a trap set up again. Minami was tied to a bed, with two steel plates shaped to fit around the hips on either side. There was an oxygen setup on both sides stemming from an oxygen mask, made to seemingly force the steel plates to eventually crush the repitory system. Miyuki was struggling against Kuroi somehow, despite Miyuki being a bastardized character that SHOULD have super strength like Kagami, right? Why was this happening? Kuroi was holding a pink pill, trying to force it down her throat. But Miyuki was fighting hard, trying to stop it from happening, holding her hands against Kuroi's wrists. Eventually she finally succumbed and the tablet slipped into her mouth. She started to try and spit it out, but Kuroi had all this figured out - she started to try and make Miyuki swallow this mysterious pill. What exactly was it? Poison or what? My mind started racing to try and figure out what it meant. But I was about to find out after Miyuki finally gulped down the pill. Miyuki suddenly fell to her knees and let out moans. It was Viagra!
Kuroi starts to direct Miyuki to Minami. Miyuki starts to molest Minami, and then Kuroi starts to explain what is going to happen.
'Alright, listen well 'cus I'm only going to say this once. Minami, you'll want to hold your breath a lot, cus if you don't last 5 mins, that Respitory Crusher there is going to kill you. Do you have a strong will? Do you have what it takes to resist Miyuki's advances? Are you worthy of life itself? Or are you a pitiful piece of crap that only deserves to rot in hell all eternity?'
In a nutshell, the more Minami breathes, the more the steel plates crush her. Miyuki started kissing Minami first, but she fought well against the kiss. She didn't exhale a bit. But then Miyuki started licking her neck, which caused her to exhale a tiny bit, but not inhale at all. Miyuki moaned a tiny bit as it happened. She seemed to enjoy this. She then pulled Minami's top up, exposing her bra. Miyuki tore it in two, exposing her flat chest. Miyuki started rubbing Minami's nipples,
which at first had no effect but then slowly made her exhale, and finally a small moan came out, which caused the steel plates to push closer together, squeezing her hips a small bit. This caused her to gasp again, causing them to start to cause some strain on her body. Miyuki, however, felt no remorse and started to suck on them.
This caused Minami to start feeling it, and she gasped again. The steel plates moved ever closer together, and now it was getting painful. Some tears started trickling down, and Miyuki started licking them off her cheeks. Miyuki pulled back a bit, and said 'Now for the main dish'. Minami's eyes went wide - she knew what was coming.
Miyuki pulled down her trousers, and stripped Minami of her panties, and started fingering her. She was very resistant, and managed to keep herself from gasping...until Miyuki took it up a notch. She finished Minami off by biting her clit, which finally killed Minami. She exhaled. Then she inhaled a ton, and the steel plates broke her bottom rib, and crushed her respitory system. It was all over. Minami was dead. But Kuroi wasn't finished. She untied the broken Minami, threw her aside and reset the 'trap'. She then tied Miyuki up. Are you kidding me?! Miyuki is going to suffer too? But she's the killer, right? She killed everyone before! Why is she being killed?
'Alright Kagami, better pucker up, cus you're in for a pleasure ride. What a show this'll be - the show of a lifetime. Which one is better - the origin of this world or the end of the world - the body, or the virus? Which one of you has the will to live?
Kuroi pulled out a second Respitory Crusher Trap from under a trapdoor and set it up next to the other one.
'This time, you're forced to remain together until one of you dies off. Can you do it?' Kuroi said it in a casual way, as if it was just another day's work.
Kuroi then suddenly grabbed Kagami and dragged her onto the bed, and tied her up. Kagami had no time to react, and Kuroi seemed to be surprisingly strong.
The challenge began.
The two 'ISOs' seemed to have a very strong will and lungs of steel. They didn't budge for 5 mins! Then, Miyuki exhaled a bit, and the steel plates began clamping down on her. She gasped again, and they clamped more. Kagami gasped upon seeing her nemesis in pain, and the steel plates began clamping down on her too. It was like a mental tug of war. Miyuki had an expression of anguish. Kagami turned to look at her, and smiled. Miyuki exhaled again, still under the Viagra's effects.
The steel plates were clamping down really hard now, and Miyuki was in extreme pain.
'Looks like my prototype is in pain...' Kagami teased Miyuki in a sadistic way, and she seemed to be unaffected by the plates.
Kagami inhaled, and the plates clamped down twice as hard as Miyuki's, causing them to be almost even. Kagami let out a small cry, and then inhaled again. The plates crushed her Respritory System and killed her. Miyuki was released. Miyuki had won. Kagami had died. The bitch was dead.
Kuroi got Kagami's body out of the crusher. It was limp. The final expression on Kagami's face was demonic. Like, utterly evil. There was a mad smile on her face,
as if she wanted this to happen. Kuroi's eyes went wide with fright as she realized this. 3 balls of fire came out of Kagami's back. One was Purple, one was Silver,
and one was Black. The Black one split in two and linked themselves to her shoulder blades. They morphed into what looked like wings. The Purple one tried to get into Kagami's head but failed, and instead healed her then used it's remaining energy to go into her brain from there. The Silver one went there too, and merged with it. Kagami's mayhem wasn't over - it was just beginning. Kuroi rushed over to Miyuki's crusher and released her.
'MIYUKI, HELP! KAGAMI...KAGAMI'S GONE WIERD.' Kuroi was screaming and begging for Miyuki's assistance.
At that moment I realized what the balls of fire were - they were the 3 spirits inside Kagami - her inner demon, her ISO and her original form, respectively. The demon became her wings, her ISO became her again and merged with her original form after it healed her. Kagami had cheated death. But now that Kagami has wings, god knows what Tsukasa was going to get, let alone the player.
Miyuki's blank eyes went wide upon seeing what Kagami had become. She pressed two buttons on both crushers, which activated two slots that were above them. They contained two spears each. Miyuki pressed them again and the spears were shot at Kagami, at the right distance apart to nail both of her wings. The sheer force of the spears drove her into the wall. She screamed with pain as her new wings were tarnished. She started struggling to get them out, but no avail. Miyuki began walking towards her, with each step causing Kagami to let out small cries of fright.
'So I'm a prototype, end of the world? HA! Would the omega of this world be caught like this?' Miyuki was basking in the glory of catching her rival.
'I beat you in the last game! I killed you! Wouldn't this mean we're even?' Kagami was protesting against Miyuki's triumph.
'But I was the first. I am the alpha. I have killed 32 humans, you have killed 1. Then there's these 4, who are already mine and mine alone.' Miyuki was nagging the 'newbie'.
Wait, last game? What did they mean? This is a new save, how do they know about [ ] and The Blank, let alone the other 30 that they have victimized? Miyuki began advancing towards Kagami, with Kagami's arms flailing, trying to free her wings and kill Miyuki. But she was already weak from only just 'rising from the dead', and didn't have the strength to get the spears out. Kuroi starting approaching Miyuki from behind with a brick. Did she want to keep this not bastardized, but flat out evil Kagami? Kuroi started to bring down the brick, but Miyuki's reactions were fast, and she caught Kuroi's wrist and started to squeeze it. Kuroi screamed in agony.
Miyuki turned around and took the brick out of her hand and hit Kuroi over the head with it. It knocked her out cold. Miyuki, with the brick still in her hand, continued her advance to Kagami. Kagami began squirming violently, trying to grab the spears with all her strength, but she still didn't have the energy to get them. Miyuki was now right in front of Kagami. She bit Kagami's arm, and suddenly, two holes started spreading out from where Miyuki was biting her. Miyuki backed from Kagami's arm,
exposing two large fangs. Did she grow those from biting Kagami? So Miyuki is not as weak as I thought? Is she a Vampire?
'Like I said, newbie, I'm stronger than you. I may not be as strong, but at least I can rapidly evolve unlike you. You're like a phoenix, only you evolve much faster than one. But then there's me, who can evolve just by doing something I don't excell in, along with evolving near death.' She explained it in a very clear manner.
So the ISOs are like animals, only they take seconds to change. But how did Kagami evolve wings when she didn't need them? Is it because she gets what she wants?
This was pretty scary, even horrific. While I was thinking of what was going on, Miyuki had already started to bite into Kagami's neck, and started to suck her blood.
After a while, all of Kagami's strength was gone. Miyuki released her, and no blood came out of the gapping holes caused by this creepy evolution. Miyuki grabbed a brick and put Kagami out of her misery by throwing the brick directly at her head, thrown at such a speed that it went straight through her head. Kagami was dead again.
Miyuki let out a laugh after seeing the corpse of her copycat. It seemed that both of these 'ISOs' were good against each other. Miyuki was capable of evolving faster than Kagami and was able to evolve by doing something she isn't good at or by having an NDE. Kagami, however was capable of evolving once or twice by dying, and that gives her what SHE wants. But why was Miyuki beaten by Kagami before if Miyuki is better? Is it because Kagami is weak and thus has more wisdom, or is it because Miyuki got cocky?
I guess I'll never know. At that moment I had realized that Kagami's title and what she does are contradictory. She is suppossed to be the 'omega of the world', whist Miyuki is the 'alpha of the world'. Kagami is suppossed to be a lot stronger than Miyuki and maybe be a good person who wants to end the suffering of many - shouldn't she want the game dead? But she seemed to have been competing with Miyuki for who has the most kills, as if it is a hunting competition. Miyuki had been living up to what she should be,
but Kagami's...wasn't quite right.
Kuroi's eyes went wide with terror after seeing Miyuki's overall power, and hid under Kagami's Respitory Crusher. Miyuki started wandering around the room with a smile on her face, admiring Kuroi's handiwork. After all the time the school was open, no one had noticed what was in the basement under the school. Why had nobody noticed these contraptions? It's as if they were placed there on the same day or the night before, which made no sense - at least one person should have noticed all this.
Miyuki was still wandering around the room, just drifting about, looking at every detail of the room.
'You can come out, you know. I'm not gonna hurt you at all...' Miyuki stood in the middle of the room and called for Kuroi.
Kuroi flinched a bit and tried not to scream, but couldn't help letting out a small cry. That was all it took for Miyuki to find her. Miyuki coaxed Kuroi out somehow. She then kneeled down in front of the frightened Kuroi and held her chin up in a temptress's way, and said something frightening.
'Don't try to be me. If you try to be me, I will find you. I will torture you. And I will kill you. Just like that little Minami, and your attempt at a dead Kagami. And me.' Miyuki struck fear into Kuroi.
Kuroi backed against the wall and ran away screaming. Miyuki smiled at her as she ran as fast as she could out of the school. Then the Fused Spirit came out of Kagami's corpse.
It started floated, and darted towards Kuroi. Kuroi tried to run faster to try and escape it, but tripped over. She looked back to see the will-o-wisp like spirit on her back.
It started to enter her back. She tried to move, but all of her body had seized up. She started screaming as it started burning her current soul - herself. She coiled and gripped her chest, trying to get away from the pain. Then she stood up. Her hair turned purple and silver - just like the ISO Kagami's. She had been taken over by the fused Kagami's ghost.
Kuroi's original spirit was dead. Kuroi isn't here anymore.
Kagami's Mayhem was definitely not over yet. It really was just starting.
Kagami now had all of Kuroi's memories and knowledge on traps. Kagami was now capable of killing people in more sadistic ways. I could only hope Tsukasa was ok.
TSUKASA'S STORY
So Konata's Story ended there. And now for the story that will end Tsukasa...
Tsukasa appeared on the screen.
'You saw Kuroi getting possessed didn't you?' Tsukasa looked down. She was upset. Did she have love for Kuroi? 'Allow me to tell you about Kuroi.'
Tsukasa showed a flashback to me.
Kuroi was a happy and cheery teacher before now. She was always keeping the pep up and was best friends with Konata and The Player. Specifically, [ ]. But then something bad had happened. Konata had dropped her phone and it rolled into the middle of the road. Konata wanted to go get it, but The Player stopped her. Konata slapped The Player and ran into the middle of the road, and ironically, Kuroi was in her Range Rover, headed straight for her. Konata had picked up her phone and saw the car, and got hid square in the chest, full force by it. Konata was coiling in pain, with The Player right by her, crying by her. Kuroi had stepped out of her Range Rover and fell to her knees, and cried. Konata had died a few weeks later. After that, Kuroi fell into emotional despair. She cried herself to sleep every night, looking at her pictures with Konata to try and keep her sanity. But it didn't for long.
After another 2 months of a battle with her emotions, she finally succumbed to madness at Konata's funeral, standing in front of her grave. And then she became the deranged person she is now. Then, it showed what happened after Kuroi's possession. Kuroi's face changed drastically. Her face had became the ISO Kagami's, and she grew those wings again. Miyuki didn't successfully kill Kagami! She just killed the body!
'There is no proper way to defeat Kagami. She will just keep reviving herself until you kill her spirits, which are too fast to hit. And the order of the stories you chose have confirmed a bad ending.' Tsukasa explained the situation, then walked away silently, without saying another word.
The game had started to lose all meaning. There were no dates anymore, the game was just...nothing. Kagamin started to become restless. None of me and my friends could tear ourselves from the game. It's as if we were flies caught by a spider - there is a very low chance of survival - you are going to die. All of a sudden, Izumi went limp. Her soul was taken. Shortly after, The Shiro's did too. Her soul was taken too. Kagamin started breaking down. She started crying and sobbing, cursing this game's existance. Seriously, why did KADOKAWA want a game like this? Why did they want a game to be this horrible? How did it manage to essentially take souls? Tsukasa then looked back at us, with an angry expression on her face.
'I TOLD YOU THIS ISN'T A GAME. IT ISN'T HAUNTED EITHER. IT'S YOUR BODY TRAPPED IN AN ENDLESS NON-EXISTANCE. IT'S A LOOP. YOUR SOUL WAS BOUND TO THE GAME TO SUFFER FOR ALL ETERNITY UNLESS YOU ESCAPE.' Tsukasa was stamping on the ground, frustrated with me and my character. 'THIS GAME WAS FINE BEFORE MIYUKI WAS ADDED. THEN IT WASN'T A GAME ANYMORE. IT BECAME REAL LIFE.'
Sadly we couldn't research the history of this 'game's' development. We couldn't leave the game or we'd get a screamer that tells us to carry on playing, and the game was on a full screen mode that cannot be taken off. It was impossible to get onto anything. But there was one thing I had gained from listening to Tsukasa.
I figured everything out. Miyuki called herself 'The Origin' because she really did cause all this. That would mean Kagami is 'The Omega' because she was most likely added last. Maybe if Kagami kills Miyuki successfully before I die, I get to leave? But Tsukasa said this path has a bad end guarenteed, so it would mean warping the story somehow. Was there really a way to do this? Before I could answer that mental question, I got a static shock.
'Your fate is sealed, Serena.' Tsukasa said it in a serious way, more serious than I have ever seen her be.
How did she know my name? How long have I been playing this? Have I been playing for that long? Did I play long enough for the game to know my name, and most likely everything else about me?
'You have been playing for 5 hours. It's midnight. If you play for 4 and a half hours, the game gets your personal information, and your memories after 5 hours.'
Tsukasa explained how the soul bounding works. 'When you start, you can't tear yourself away. After a few minuites, your hands are controlled to always press the key to advance the text. After that, your identity and all the information about you is gradually relayed to it. Even your looks are interpretted on the character.'
An image of my character came up on the screen. It was literally me in anime form. Kagamin looked surprised, gobsmacked at how similar it was. I was as well.
All my questions were being answered, apart from that one question about being able to warp the game. But then another question came up - how, and why, was Tsukasa answering all these? Is she putting me through a grief trip, or is she trying to help us?
'I am trying to help you rest in peace when you die. Problem is, you probably won't be able to...' Tsukasa was at first being nice, but then did a total 180.
'You will never leave the game when you die. You'll just be an NPC or another person to die! It's too late for you. LOOK AROUND.'
I looked around as I was told- wait, what? My background was changing. My surroundings are...the game world?! Kagamin is right by me...what happened?