Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed

I stared at the glowing monitor, feeling a sense of satisfaction rise from the depths of my heart that I couldn’t quite put into words.

The old CRT monitor, with its prominent moiré effect, helped me forget my unexpressed nostalgia for home.

On the screen, like a mosquito net, the 8-bit programmed “plumber” character bounced with strange sound effects.

– Beep, beep.

The crudely pixelated graphics.
The low-quality, noisy sounds.
The utmost efficiency possible.

For me, summing up this game in one sentence:

“It’s the best.”

It was the greatest.

So, there was a Super Mario in Cyberpunk too…
I felt a swell of emotion rise within me.

I started a platformer game, the retro console I bought at the antique shop in Little Shinjuku’s Vanta Market with Eve the other day.

Plus, there were still many game packs left.

I could feel my SAN Points recovering as I lived in this Cyberpunk world for so long.

Catherine pointed at a moving mushroom (a Goomba, the enemy) on the screen and said,
“Will that make you bigger if you eat it?”
“Nah~.”
I shook my head firmly.
Not all mushrooms are the same.

Andrea, inspecting the retro console with cables, asked,
“Wow, this is a years-old arcade machine. Where on earth did you find this old thing?”
“At the antique shop I mentioned last time.”
I responded while pressing the jump button, the A key.

By the way, being an old classic game,
there were just the directional keys, A button, and B button.
The A button made you jump, and the B button made you run.

Finally, Eve sat next to me and said,
“I’m connecting 2P.”
“?”
I instinctively turned to look at Eve.

A moment later, a green character, designed the same as my red character, but with a different color, appeared on the old CRT monitor.

Eve, Eve…
How did you know there was 2P?
True, there’s nothing that Super AI doesn’t know.

The monotonous BGM kept going.
Gorgeous women who absolutely didn’t fit this retro game focused on the screen.

“…….”
Uh.
It was a scene that left me speechless.
Except for my trivial issues, it was a very peaceful sight.

None of us were without something to do,
yet I couldn’t understand why they were watching me play this retro game.

I forced myself to ignore the gazes behind me and controlled the plumber character.
– Doot doo doo, doot doo doo doo~.
“Wow, it’s sparkling.”
Andrea commented on my red character after collecting a star.

Especially since Andrea is a famous singer, she must have had a packed schedule,
but she showed no signs of wanting to go back to her home on the same floor.

At this rate, she might just end up sleeping here.
I thought half-joking, half-seriously.
……
Surely, she wouldn’t sleep at my place, right?

Anyway,
that’s that, and this is this.
For now, I decided to enjoy fond memories of home.

My plumber character entered the underground, advancing to the next stage of the game.

Then,
the sight of a message popping up on my retro console, completely not fitting the Cyberpunk technology interface, caught my eye.
It was a message from the boss of No Answer.

From: ‘Natasha Petrova’
– Everything okay?
– I’ve heard about it from the others.
– I couldn’t have imagined Smile John was the chairman of Kojaka.
– We’ve prepared the next operation regarding this.
– Please send a reply when you check the message.

I couldn’t hold back my reaction.
“Oh.”
Come to think of it,
I forgot to tell Natasha that everything was over.

—

Of course, from my perspective, I didn’t have zero excuses.
Eve had appeared,
I had been on a broadcast,
Went shopping,
I had been on a whirlwind of events.

Who would’ve thought things would end so abruptly?
Who could have known?

Even when William Kojaka called me to Pete McLand, I was just excited thinking they were going to give me a new costume.
I had no idea I would meet Smile John there and everything would come to an end.

Moreover, thinking back, it wasn’t just Natasha I hadn’t explained things to.
I hadn’t explained it to ‘Drake’ or ‘Julia’ either, who knew the relationship between me and Smile John.

“…….”
I briefly contemplated skipping the explanation.
But ultimately, everyone would catch on eventually.

Before I forgot again,
I sent a message to Natasha, who made me realize that Drake, Julia, and I had all overlooked this point.
I wrote that I got an apology from Smile John, the chairman of Kojaka, and that everything was settled,
I received a substantial (a lot) credits as a reward,
and thanked her for her help.

That was the gist of it.

The first reply I got was from Drake.
From: ‘Kind Cyberware Specialty Store, available 24/7’
– ?
……
I just let it slide.

The second was from Julia.
From: ‘White Rabbit’
– I’m glad to hear that…
– But…
– I heard some construction noise the other day…
– And it sounded like multiple voices coming from your house…
– Can I come visit later?
…Hmm.
It felt a bit unnerving for someone on the NCPD’s wanted list to say that.
This was a different kind of creepiness than with Drake.

I replied to Julia without addressing her question,
just saying, “Thanks for worrying about me.” and sent the message off.
I figured things would work themselves out later.

The last message I received was an unexpected one from Natasha, who messaged me first.
From: ‘Natasha Petrova’
–
There was nothing in it.

Moments later, a new message arrived.
– I’m sending Smith now.
– Let’s talk at No Answer.

No matter how much I didn’t want to leave my house,
I couldn’t send a rejection message saying I wouldn’t go.

So,
that’s how it went.
“I had to explain everything.”
I finished explaining to Natasha.

A brief silence followed.
As I continued my explanation, my throat became dry.
I raised the cocktail that I hadn’t taken a sip of yet to wet my dry throat.
Explaining everything from the time we kidnapped the Vice President took longer than I anticipated.

The taste of the nearly melted cocktail greeted my tongue.
I felt the faint alcohol scent as I set the glass down.

“……”
Natasha, with glasses, tapped her fingers on the fancy ceramic table.
Today, unlike the China dress she wore last time,
she was dressed neatly in a suit.

I was personally curious about why she wore glasses,
but I wasn’t dense enough to ask that in this atmosphere.
Natasha’s gaze slowly shifted.

I had said it was okay to come alone,
but her eyes focused on Catherine, Andrea, and finally Eve.

Drake told me,
he wouldn’t explain about the Super AI, Eve to Natasha, so I should do it properly later.

My relationship with Natasha wasn’t shorter or thinner than I thought.
Because of that,
I had just explained everything I could to her.

“…So, that’s Eve?”
“That’s right.”
Natasha’s blue eyes met Eve’s white ones, staring at each other as if in confrontation.
Rumored to have a sharp gaze, the boss of No Answer, Natasha’s eyes did not seem less imposing than Eve’s expressionless ones.

I opened my mouth to shift the mood.
“…Especially if it weren’t for Eve, I probably still wouldn’t have gotten an apology and would have been fighting Smile John.”
I continued defensively since it seemed she was suspicious of Eve.

After a while,
Natasha stopped tapping the table and turned her gaze from Eve back to me.
“…Well, if that’s your choice, then so be it.”
“Uh?”
I tilted my head, confused by the sudden unexpected comment.
Why would she say that?

But it seemed I was the only one who found it strange.
Catherine and Andrea behind me nodded in agreement with Natasha.
Everyone shared the same sentiment toward her words.
What’s up with this atmosphere?

“No, I could be wrong…”
“No.”
“……”
Their tone was laced with certainty, denying my thoughts.

Why do they trust me like this?
It must be because Natasha thinks that my mission success rate so far is 100%.
That was quite a burden for me.
I was merely following the contents of a ‘sub quest’ from the ‘game’.
I only knew the hidden secrets, and I remembered the flow.
And then,
when my thoughts reached that point,
I felt a chilling sensation.

My whole body felt heavy.
‘…Ah.’
Memories I wanted to forget came flooding back.
I’m just an ordinary guy.
Is it right for me to gain their trust just because I played a ‘game’?

The reason I had attached myself to Catherine was largely because I realized she was the ‘hero’ of the game and was trying hard to be with her,
so I could at least get some crumbs falling from the table.

Even hiring the captured Drake and comforting Andrea, who had been kicked out of a bar, telling her she’d surely succeed as a singer, was all because I knew the future.

In reality, I hadn’t done anything.
It was all predestined, and it was going to happen regardless of my involvement.
I don’t even know what expression I’m making now.
I felt ashamed to receive their trust
and felt a wave of self-loathing.

I could feel the unpleasant emotions and nausea rising within me.
Ah, this isn’t good.
Even though I realized it,
I couldn’t stop the self-blame.
The cold feelings felt like a chill.

I carefully clutched my coat, pulling it tightly around my face.
It made sense.
This wasn’t my place.
I realized that fact.

It was just cold.

—

“What’s going on?”
Drake said.

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