A/N: I've had some lovely reviews, thank you all for being so understanding. I'm going to try my best to continue, and as suggested, I may include what remember of 10 Days with my Devil... Kakeru is a sweetie really. xD
Reset button
Picture this. You had the same impulses when you were younger as a every other teenage girl who wasn't obssessed with make up and putting on a show: You wanted to be in love, and you fell for fictional characters. You discovered anime games purely by accident, curiosity got the better of you, and of course, you indulged. Oh, the desire that rippled through you as you saw the handsome faces of those characters. The blush that stained your cheeks at the scenes they didn't pan away. The unadulterated excitement of another episode, voices, otome actors, it just intensified with every passing month. The more you played, the more you wanted, spilling your innermost cravings to these fictional crushes, each making you fall in love with them in their own way. Every storyline more thrilling, shocking, intense, than the last.
Perhaps you went for the sweet one at first, a safe story, romance, flirting and cuteness. Or maybe you chose the bad boy, like I did. Mischevious, naughty, or often cold at first, the tsundre of the game. You didn't think anything of it, and why would you? They were your little secret, nobody else would understand anyway. You used to giggle to yourself as you made decisions, knowing you hadn't been wholeheartedly honest, because these situations in reality would be overwhelming. You don't know how the MC even stands all these complications and intimate moments, without just wanting to run and hide. Though it excites you. Of course it does. There's no danger, but you get all the thrill of the adventure. It's not a sin to enjoy a game that can get a little racy.
I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
"Okay! Okay, just calm down... calm down." I raise my hands in frustration, looking around at the three anime boys as they stand in my room. Their faces reflect a blend of confusion and anger. Ota's hands are clenched into fists, his golden eyes narrowed into a sharp glare at Miyabi, who's ignoring him, his own gaze fixed on Takuto. The Black Fox is tapping away at my laptop, not that I recall giving him permission, but when his eyes do lift from the screen, it's only to give me a disapproving look before returning to skimming his slender fingers across the keyboard. "Ota, Miyabi, Takuto, listen to me. You need to forget everything you know about your lives, because it was all just coded into your games. This doesn't seem scientifically possible, and if you weren't standing in front of me, I'd laugh at the idea myself. But somehow, you've ended up in reality, and if you don't start behaving, I'm going to..." I pause, having literally no clue how to even remotely threaten them. "I'm going to hit the reset button." I finish, knowing that the reset button doesn't even exist, but if it calms them, it's worth a try.
"Forget everything?" Miyabi murmurs softly, his golden eyes briefly meeting mine. "So... in this world, I don't have Kitsubi? My world didn't even exist? Then... there is no special human. I don't fall in love..." His ears drop as he realises that his whole existance seems to be pointless. Ota sighs quietly, "Baba? Eisuke? Soryu? Tasha, they broke the code. You're telling us to forget? You need to forget the generic storyline. You have to remember what you did within the game." I raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Broke the code?"
A deep frustrated sigh of pure annoyance draws my attention to Takuto, his piercing eyes now staring me down. "Idiot. I've traced the game code using a backdoor hack of your iTunes account and located the encrypted code that scripts our lives. It took mere seconds to decrypt it. The game that Ota was coded for, has no mention of Eisuke or any of the others, turning against the player. They're all super nice and romantic. Tch. As if."
As much as I hate being patronised, I'm still confused, and forced to ask him to elaborate, causing another overexaggerated sigh. "How stupid can you be? We broke the code and escaped the game, right?" I nod softly and he continues, "Well Ota has told you about a storyline that you remember, but it wasn't a written one. The codebreak must have happened before we escaped, which is why Eisuke and the others had the ability to turn on you, going against their script. If we could get out, so can they. Better watch your back."
An involuntary shiver runs through me, and I swallow uneasily. "I remember them trying to kill us. Takkun, is there any way to lock them in?" It's a slip of the tongue but I instantly regret it as he gives me a look of malice. "Never call me that again. In order to lock them in, we'd have to fix the code, and that would mean binding us back to it. We'd be trapped again. That's not happening, so..." A light smile meets his lips, "Bring me a bowl of pork noodles and pray that none of the other characters figure out the code is broken."
Miyabi and Ota have been quietly listening all this time, but now they come alive again. "Baba also came through that door, Tasha. Shouldn't he be here? If we don't somehow stop the connection between this world and the virtual one, then Eisuke, Soryu, Mamo, and even Hikaru will be able to leave the game." Ota's concerned voice is taken over as Takuto adds, "So will the rest of the Black Foxes, so that's not neccesarily a bad thing. We'll need them to fix this mess you created." Thinking this through, I add quietly, "However, it also means the characters in Miyabi's game will be able to get loose too. They're pretty dangerous, especially if they're not following a script. Who knows what they'll do?"
The Black Fox sounds amused now. "They don't have powers here, what are they going to do, have imaginary battles?" His tone is so cynical that I have to hastily grab Miyabi's arm to stop him lashing out. He growls under his breath, but settles again. Suddenly I'm pulled roughly into the Kitsune's firm chest as he closes around me, almost protectively, dragging me out of my room, my feet no longer touching the floor as he and the other two boys quickly leave my house, now standing in the stone-based front garden in its shadow. Confused, I look up at him questioningly, opening my mouth to ask why he and the others just retreated without explanation...
Seconds later, the window violently shatters as a fierce burst of fire and smoke explodes from my room.