Volume 1 Chapter 13 Mean Villainess, Dreaming
I instantly realized this was a dream.
Because the scenery was Japanese.
And right in front of me, my past self was sitting there.
Since it was my first time experiencing a lucid dream, I felt a bit excited.
I was excited, but I also somehow sensed that this wasn't the time for that.
"Hey, why are you playing the game by yourself after calling me over?"
My past self said that with a hint of annoyance.
The setting is the room of my friend, a gaming enthusiast.
Even though I was there, the owner of the room was playing the game alone.
Moreover, the game they were playing was a dating game, also known as a gal game.
"No, sorry, sorry. But I think I'm finally getting this right, so just wait a moment."
"Well, it's fine I guess. By the way, you mentioned something about a difficult, sadistic girl that's hard to win over."
As my past self said that, I picked up the instruction manual of the game.
There, several sparkly and cute girl characters were illustrated.
"You remembered? To win her over, you need to evenly max out the parameters of intimacy, appearance, intelligence, and stamina. Plus, random interruptions happen along the way, making it quite..."
As I shifted my gaze from the instruction manual, my past self would respond with a disinterested "Hmm."
"Do you like girls like that?"
I asked, shifting my gaze from the instruction manual to the TV screen, and the game fanatic shook their theyad in denial.
"This guy is only playing to challenge the highest difficulty. Personally, I prefer cool beauties, and it's the best when they're cool yet occasionally clumsy."
"Thank you for explaining in detail."
I didn't really want to know, though.
"Wow, I might actually be able to drop this."
"Seriously? Go for it!"
"No, but you're making me wait."
"It's fun to watch, so it's fine. By the way, romantic games aren't just about being pampered by cute characters, are they?"
"Well, that's true. In reality, just being good-looking doesn't necessarily make you popular."
Hearing the words of the game enthusiast, I nodded vigorously.
Well, no one could see me anyway.
However, in my previous life, I hadn't nodded that much.
"There was that guy who was popular just because he was good-looking. Remember, the handsome guy who was in the same class as us in sophomore year?"
"Ah, I think I remember someone like that," I murmured before the game enthusiast could respond.
Well, I mean, no one could hear me anyway.
"Ah, but that guy wasn't just good-looking; his parents were rich too."
"Oh, you knew that. Actually, I played games with him the day before yesterday."
"Huh?"
The game enthusiast, who had not shifted their gaze from the game screen at all until now, saw my face from my previous life for the first time.
"Last week, that guy came to my part-time job, you know?"
"And he was at a used game store that was on the verge of closing down."
"Yeah. He's at the used game shop where the owner's family is complaining that it should just go out of business already."
Certainly, the management of that shop was on the brink of failure.
However, I had just been fired from another part-time job I was juggling, so I hoped it would not close down if possible.
It was also quite comfortable there.
"Which game?"
"This one."
In my previous life, I picked up a game from the shelf of a game enthusiast.
It was a refreshing action game where you could smash enemies left and right.
"Where at?"
"At his place."
"Hey, do you really go so easily to a guy's house when you are not even dating?"
"Aren't you the one who called me here today?"
The game enthusiast could not counter the logical argument and momentarily lost his words.
While I was fiddling with my phone, the game enthusiast was at a loss.
"So, I got a message saying, 'Yesterday was amazing! Thank you! Let's do it again!' And it even had a heart emoji at the end."
"What kind of message sounds a bit suggestive depending on how you listen to it?"
"Haha, that's true. But I didn't feel that great."
"Was it all just his selfishness?"
The sharp tsukkomi from the game enthusiast landed perfectly.
"You know, he said he's too strong and there's no one he can play with, so I thought it might be fun, but it totally wasn't. I guess since I've been gaming with you for so long, I've kind of stepped into being a game fanatic too."
"Not just a foot, you've got both arms in it too, you know."
"What do you mean by that? Are you saying I'm crawling on all 4s?"
The two of us were laughing together, clutching our stomachs.
At that moment, I couldn't help but feel a little sentimental, thinking how much fun it really was.
Back then, I wished that this kind of relationship could last much longer.
"If I were to get married, someone like you might be just right."
"...Huh? Then let's go out."
"Ah... hmm, I don't have enough parameters..."
"Don't mess with me."
I actually liked him, but for some reason, at that moment, I did not regret turning him down.
"This is good enough. Thanks for the ride. See you."
"Yeah, see you later."
In the end, I witnessed the highest difficulty level of a dating sim being conquered, and while playing fighting games and party games, it started to get dark outside, so it was time to go home.
It was on that way home.
When I was left alone after being dropped off partway by the game enthusiast, a girl who seemed to have been lying in wait appeared out of nowhere... or at least, back then, it felt like she came from nowhere, but now that I look at it objectively, she seemed to have been ambushing me.
The girl grabbed my arm and forcefully turned me around.
"Hey, what is this?"
What was thrust in front of me was a mobile phone.
On it was the same text I had been laughing about with the game enthusiast earlier.
"It's an email."
"What do you mean, acting all calm after making a move on someone else's boyfriend?"
To begin with, I had never heard that he had a girlfriend, but it turns out that a handsome rich guy wouldn't be single after all.
The game enthusiast had also mentioned that, depending on how you look at it, the message could seem questionable, so I must have been misunderstood.
"I didn't send anything, I didn't send anything."
"Are you saying you were sent something?"
Her imagination is rich.
"No way"
"This email is irrefutable evidence! Plus, your scent was left in his room!"
Unbelievable sense of smell.
"If you want to interrogate someone, interrogate him. I just played a game with him."
"I interrogated him! He only said the same thing! But it's impossible for a boy and a girl to play a game alone in a room, right? We are not elementary school kids!"
Huh?
It is possible, you know?
I wanted to say that, but I was not allowed to argue.
Because in my past life, I was pushed by her.
I was standing with my back to the road when she pushed me hard, causing me to lose my balance and catch my heel on the curb.
There were no guardrails, no signs, not even any trees along the street, and not a single helping hand in sight.
I was utterly helpless.
I had no courage to look beyond that point.
Even without looking, I remembered.
A dull sound of thuds echoed a few times, along with the scream of that woman or witness.
Ah, now that I think about it, my cause of death was blood loss from being hit by a car.
After a while, I heard the sirens of an ambulance.
I feel like I can also hear the sirens of a police car.
I vaguely registered the noise of onlookers, but stood there frozen, trying not to look at my body.
I wondered when this dream would end.
Since I died, I thought the current me would wake up, but it seems that I am surprisingly sound asleep.
I ended up having to watch my own funeral.
I was watching my family sobbing over my sudden death from the very back of the ceremony hall.
As for my previous life, I was sitting cross-legged on top of my own coffin in a spiritual form.
It seems that both my current self and my previous self had rather thick-skinned nerves.
I thought to myself that watching my own funeral was not something one should do.
Just then, a particularly unsteady and precarious-looking man entered the ceremony hall.
Seeing the man, who was sniffing and staggering towards the coffin, my previous self finally uncrossed her legs and turned her back to him.
Perhaps it was because it was my first time seeing the gaming enthusiast cry, but I might have been a little unsettled.
"...Hey, I'll make sure to take you home next time, so please come back... I'm begging you..."
My previous self kept murmuring, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," over and over again.
Of course, he could not hear me.
The coffin containing my body was being carried out.
As I thought, "So this will be cremated later," the scene suddenly changed.
The abrupt scene transition was so sudden that I thought it felt like a dream.
Well, it is a dream, after all.
As I was looking around wondering where this place was, I spotted the back of my previous self a little ahead.
The scenery was no longer Japan.
Before I could confirm where this was, my previous self hurried into a large building, so I rushed to follow her.
Once inside the building, there were countless books lined up.
It seemed that this was a library.
It resembled the library at school, but it was even larger than that.
I was curious about what kind of books were on the shelves, but my previous self was walking briskly ahead, leaving me no time to even think about it.
Clearly, this isn't Japan, so why am I able to walk so briskly as my previous self?
I have no recollection of this place at all.
Speaking of which, I do have memories from my previous life, but I don't have any memories from after I died.
I only just remembered the moment of death when I saw it a moment ago.
While I was thinking about such things, my previous self had stopped in front of a shelf all the way at the back of the library.
And there, she sat down and took out a book from the very bottom shelf.
Just as I thought she inserted something that looked like paper into the book, it began to emit a soft light.
Wondering what kind of light it was, I was about to move closer when my previous self looked over at me.
I was surprised that we made eye contact for the first time, and when I froze in place, her mouth suddenly moved.
"Do your best"
I couldn't hear her voice, but I felt as if she said that.
* * *
"Lady, Lady"
"...Hmm, hmm"
"Good morning, Lady"
When I opened my eyes, there was Rolus.
He was looking at me with a curious expression, peering into my face.
"Good morning, Rolus. What are you doing with a handkerchief?"
"Lady was... having a nightmare..."
"Huh, did you wipe my sweat? I'm sorry"
"No, it's not sweat, it was tears."
"...I'm sorry"
Ah, it was a long, long dream.
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