EBO: Resume - Chapter 1

May 15th, 2026

Hunter sat in his office, thinking over the offer from the previous day. All of a sudden, Hideo walked into the office with urgency, his briefcase in hand.

“Hunter, we’ve just received this video. You should take a look at it.”

“Let’s see it.” Hunter invited Hideo to show the video, opening up the briefcase to reveal a video player. A man in black and white with a skull mask glitched into view as he announced his plans.

“Players of Entity Burst Online. I am Genm, and I am here to deliver news to you. On August 14th, I will have access to your collective conscience. My friends have infiltrated Nexus Theory, and they will take control of the Omniversal VR Core. They will lock your consciences inside this game, and we will take over. The GMs within this game will lose their administrative privileges, and will be reduced to basic players. Leave now, while you still can. There’s plenty of time to consider leaving or staying. Those of you who wish to stay, feel free to. But know that you will trapped for a long time, perhaps even years. What we are doing is simple: we are recreating the Death Game from two years ago. SAO is to be resumed. Most of you aren’t SAO survivors, but that doesn’t matter. Know that I, a former member of the player-killing Laughing Coffin, am resurrecting the conditions of SAO. Those who die here will die in reality. We will delete your consciences from the VR Core upon your virtual death, thereby rendering you brain-dead and a lifeless husk in reality. Of course, your feeble bodies will live on in reality, forever trapped in a vegetative state. Your parents and loved ones will worry, day after day, if you’ll wake up, only to be told that you will never exist in reality again. However, I will give you a way to escape. After the death game begins again, I will become more active. I will take over Hatena, dismantle its current government, and rule over you all. If you manage to kill me, access to the VR Core will be transferred to you, and you will have the power to do as you please with it. Free everyone, rule after me, it doesn’t matter. That power will be yours. Good luck.”

“That’s the video,” Hideo closed the case. “Your thoughts?”

“They must’ve been able to plan this thoroughly. Get a person inside Nexus Theory to give them full access to the VR Core. From there, they can do as they please, lock everyone inside, delete the consciences of anyone currently connected, or just shut the entire core down now and cause a small-scale genocide.” Hunter laid out a hypothesis for Hideo to validate.

“That does make sense. But if all we have to do is kill him, then why would he bother announcing this?” Hideo questioned.

“It’s never that simple. He’s taunting us, trying to get us to die in front of him trying to save everyone. He’s going to mock anyone that tries to be a savior. He’s fully aware of the power he has, and he can do whatever he wants. Anyone who tries to fight him could just be simply deleted from the core and killed then and there. That’s what he’d do, as a former Laughing Coffin member.”

“So we can’t get close to him?”

“No, he won’t do that. He’ll let us get close. He’ll let us try and kill him as many times as possible. But he’s got a way to prevent himself from dying. Genm… I’ve heard that name before. He’s not wrong about being with LC, I’ve fought him before.”

“Where?”

“Back in… SAO... They called him Hades Incarnate because of how he fought. He used this unique weapon that had a serrated blade, and he used it to torture people before they died. It was… horrible.” Hunter shudders, remembering the past he tried so hard to forget and move on from.

“That aside… What exactly do you think he wants us to do? How will he prevent himself from dying? He’s still connected to the core. If he died, wouldn’t he be erased from the core too?”

“That’s what would happen if the deletion was on an automated setting. But he never specified if the system was manually operated or fully automatic. Knowing him, he wouldn’t want to be manually running the deletion system, he’d want it on auto.”

“If that’s the case, then how is he gonna stop himself from dying?”

“He can’t have copied his consciousness multiple times, he would’ve fried his brain copying it multiple times or even once.”

“Then how are we going to kill him?”

“We’ll have to figure that out ourselves…”

“One more thing… Why can’t we just have Nexus Theory tell all players to log out and leave the game till this is sorted out?”

“At this point, I’d assume they have a large amount of players under their control. They’d have to have someone on the inside sometime after Nexus announced the use of the VR Core in EBO. After the official EBO release, that insider would’ve had to start securing the VR Core in secret. By now, they must have a very large amount of players in their hands.”

“In other words, it’s too late.”

“Far too late. Even if we could tell the remaining few to leave the game, I doubt they’d want to. They’d want the glory and fame of having freed people from a virtual death trap. They’d want to be something like Kirito. Unless they’re smart enough to leave while they can, players are going to stay for bragging rights. That aside, it would take too long for the Nexus staff to find the mole. By that point, we’d be well into the death game with little hope of leaving.”

“So our best bet is to just let this happen and plan our way to escape?”

“For now, yes. We’ll need to collect battle data on Genm’s death-defying equipment, and formulate a strategy to defeat him.”

“Guess there’s no other choice. Now, about the proposition...”

“Yes, I’ll accept the contract, but only so I can stop SAO from being recreated. The death game has no need to resume.”

“Excellent. Come with us.” Hideo and Hunter proceed to leave the latter’s office, on their way to the local HMP Police Corps station.

May 16th, 2026

A black and white figure stalks towards the bushes of the forest, another player lying on the ground in defeat. The black and white figure takes out another a cartridge, plugging it into device featuring a screen, an A button on the side of the screen with a double-barreled laser gun, and a B button with a short, thin sword blade on the other side. “W-who are you..?” The defeated player asks, terror evident in his voice.

“You have no need to know who I am.” The black and white figure presses both buttons on his device simultaneously, causing an ominous beeping to play from it. He points the blade at the defeated, impaling and killing the poor player.

The deceased dissipates into a black and purple mist, which is then sucked into the syringe. Pressing the B button causes the mist within to be sucked into the screen, lighting it up with a black and white glow as sparks fly off the device. The man removed the cartridge from the device to inspect its status, showing no change from before. A sigh of disapproval escapes the assailant’s masked mouth as he returns the device and cartridge to his inventory.

“That makes 36… but it’s still not done…” Another sigh. “Perhaps four more samples will do.”

May 17th, 2026

A serial murder case has been under investigation for the past few weeks now. The total amount of victims was estimated to be somewhere in the 30s. Some victims were found nearby each other, some victims found on the opposite side of settlements. Regardless of location, there was one major detail about each attack that tied them together: each victim was killed in a way that left a strange, ominous mist in the air. This black and purple mist was somehow capable of emitting faint traces of Burst potential, despite any known substances that resemble or cause such a mist not being able to do so.

No known motives could be deduced. Only a few victims were found to be friends or siblings, but only by chance. The latest report of a murder following this event was today, dialed in by an NPC hiker that saw the foreboding mist in the air. An HMP forensics team was dispatched to analyze. As part of his contract, Hunter Kasai was sent to assist in this case. When the forensics team and the mercenary arrived at the crime scene, the hiker who had sent in the report stood there, showing visible traces of fear. He lead them to the location of the mist before requesting a member of the team to get him a ride home. The investigator accepted, telling the hiker to wait by their vehicles for pick-up. After a quick thank-you, the hiker rushed off, hoping to leave quickly.

“What do we have here?” Hunter commented on the scene in front of him. The mist floated above them, an eerie cloud of darkness suspended in the air. “Do you think we can get another sample of this?”

“It’s possible, but it would be difficult to do so.” An investigator replied to the latter question.

“How so?”

“Allow me to demonstrate.” The investigator grabbed a nearby branch, then threw it at the mist. As soon as the branch was a foot away from the cloud, it was corroded and turned into rotting bark. It hit the ground and faded into glitched pixels, dissipating from the virtual reality they currently inhabited. “Anything that gets near it will just glitch out of the game.”

“How did you get prior samples then?”

“It was by chance. During one of the early cases involving this mist, our members managed to grab a few samples. The next reported case, they snagged a few more samples. After that…”

“Nothing worked.”

“Precisely.”

“When you grabbed the previous samples, were any early clouds causing this glitch?”

“The first four reports, the clouds let us get samples. On the fifth, no luck.”

“Four prior samples? What happened to them?” Hunter looked up at the mist, staring deep into it.

“After we tested them for any possibilities on what may have caused this, they just disappeared. Nothing left. It was odd, since we were looking right at the samples. They just… vanished into thin air. No auditory cue, no eye-catching visual transition. Just... gone.”

“Hm…” Hunter reached up to touch the cloud. “Ah, too high.”

“What are you attempting to do, sir?”

“I want to see if this thing will react to me.” Hunter equipped the driver and spun one of his cartridges into his hand before activating it. It announced “Mighty Longinus!” as he activated it. He inserted the cartridge into the belt, summoning forth the spinning ring of portraits. This time, he punched the picture that showed a cartoonish fighting-game character, with spiky hair before the armor enveloped him.

“Sir, one of our superiors is coming to see you w- You’re really doing this?!” An investigator stood in awe at Hunter’s decision.

“Yes, I am.” He flipped the lever to the right, projecting the screen as the belt announced “Level up!” As the screen gravitated to him, Hunter dashed through it, jumping upwards into a cutscene-like transition as the outer armor expelled itself before Hunter turned around in his sleeker Level 2 form. “Well, let’s see how this goes…”

“I wouldn’t recommend that, sir!” the investigator’s plea fell on deaf ears as he watched Hunter jump towards the cloud. The cloud dissipated as soon as Hunter touched it with his fingertips.

“Dammit,” Hunter landed on his feet, dusted off the lower half of his coat, then cancelled his transformation. “It’s gone now.”

“That’s odd… the previous clouds didn’t immediately dissipate like that,” The analyst noted it down for future reference. “It seems these clouds are progressing through differing stages. Ah, Ms. Amachi, welcome.”

“Thank you.” Ms. Amachi turned to Hunter questioningly. “And you are?”

“I’m Hunter Kasai, nice to meet you, Ms. Amachi.” Hunter held up his hand for a handshake. He was met with a reluctant reply from the officer.

“I’ve been sent to make sure you remain on task during this investigation.”

“You’re supervising me?”

“Yes. We’re not sure how you’ll turn out if left to your own ends, so I’ve been assigned as your overseer.”

“I assume you’re part of the Special Crimes unit I’ve been assigned to, then.”

“Correct. For now, address me as Ms. Amachi. We’re on duty.” Ms. Amachi went over to the rest of the crime scene.

“Oh, GODDAMMIT!” Hunter punched a nearby tree that wasn’t a part of the crime scene.

“What?! What happened?!”

“I destroyed the evidence!!! Fuck!!” Hunter punched the tree some more to vent his rage. “Shit, shit, shit!”

“Evidence? Ah, the cloud!” Amachi smacked him upside the head. “You idiot, what were you thinking?!”

“I just wanted to see how it would react!” Hunter rubbed the spot where he was hit. “It slipped my mind that I’d be tampering with evidence!”

“Idiot!” Amachi was about to kick him over when two laser beams were heard being fired. She turned around and ducked just before they hit her, barely grazing her avatar. “Ow… what was that?!”

A black and white zombie of a player walked towards the two, holding a dual-barreled laser gun connected to a device with a syringe on the other end. Said gadget was connected to a grip piece that allowed it to be wielded as a laser gun. The player took a menacing pose, staring the two down in a way that gave off the feeling that Hunter and Amachi were nothing more than prey for him to tear apart.

“Who are you?” Hunter got up and equipped his Driver, activating a Cartridge and changing into his level 2 Mighty Longinus armor. The only reply from the zombie was another laser beam. Hunter tackled Amachi to the ground to keep them both safe. “Sorry about that!!”

Hunter got back up and immediately engaged the zombie in hand-to-hand combat. Having no intent on fighting with fists, the zombie fired at Hunter again, forcing him back. A quick switch to Sniping Specter with the addition of his Sylph Reaper cartridge, and Hunter was armed with a pair of sub-machine guns and additional green armor. A simple scoff was emitted from the zombie before more lasers were fired at Hunter. Quickly, Hunter countered with his own guns, firing small bolts of electricity that were able to disperse the lasers. The two engaged in a fire-fight of lasers and lightning, before the zombie decided to end this now, activating another cartridge of his own. It announced “Unleashed Kerberus!” before being used to advance its master to the next level.

Black armor and gauntlets merged to its summoner’s body, a black flame exploding behind the enemy as the sequence completed itself. The Level 3 Kerberus punched his fists together, spewing black flames from the collision as he readied himself for battle.

“So now you wanna fight hand-to hand… Fine, let’s go.” Hunter switched back to his Mighty Longinus armor, with the addition of his Ifrit Slasher cartridge to augment him with his own flame-imbued gauntlets. “Let’s dance.”

Both rushed each other at the same time, fists colliding together in sparks and flames. Brilliant red and orange clashed against ugly black and purple. The impact of their punches and kicks could be heard the moment contact was successful. Their bulky armor prevented them from attacking each other at high speeds, but the force behind each of their strikes more than made up for it. One punch from the combatants made contact with their chestplates, imbued with enough fire to send each other flying in opposite directions. Hunter landed by the crime scene he was originally sent to investigate while the other disappeared into the forest. The former got up to look for his opponent, but no one could be found. It was as if the Kerberus user had vanished into thin air.

“Damn, he got away…” Hunter cancelled his transformation and took a breath. “What was with his equipment…?” His punches were hitting way harder compared to something else like that... And his mask… that was Genm alright. He must be behind this murder case, but why is he killing now? He won’t have full access until August. Unless that was just a fluke, and he’s testing out his plan.

“What in the world was that…?” Ms. Amachi approached Hunter from behind him and tapped his shoulder.

“Hm? Oh. That’s our enemy. He’s the terrorist that threatened to trap everyone inside.” Hunter replied and returned to the crime scene to examine anything else.

“So he’s supposed to be Genm?” Ms. Amachi asked.

“I take it you’ve seen the video. Yeah, that’s Genm. And he’s probably the one behind these serial murders.”

“I see… But why would he is doing this? It’s pointless.”

“That’s what I’m thinking. But there must be some reason to do this. How many murders are associated with this case?”

“Um… There’s about 35… 36 murders I believe. Why?”

“There’s a possibility that he might be doing these murders to test something.” Hunter suddenly remembered something. “I need to collect more data for that too…”

“Testing? What could he be testing? And what do you mean ‘collect more data for that’?”

“Hm? Oh, don’t worry about the last part. He might be trying to test his plan and see if the system he has set up is working.”

“Then why is that mist left behind as a result?”

“Maybe just an unforeseen side effect of the system. Testing is meant to perfect a system, after all.”

“So he’ll eventually find a way to kill without a trace?”

“That’s most likely the plan. But there is another possibility...” Hunter thought back on his fight. “His HP gauge. It was depleting throughout our fight. When I punched him, the gauge would flash to indicate that damage was taken. Take enough damage and a bar is depleted. I managed two bars before he levelled up and the armor covered his gauge.”

“Didn’t he say something about killing him to get access to the VR core? If he told us to kill him, he’d need some kind of defense mechanism to keep him from dying easily.”

“Or maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

“Maybe he’s setting himself up to not die. Think about it!” Hunter exclaimed.

“I… am so lost. How did you think of that?” Ms. Amachi was confused at the thought.

“He’s killed 30-ish people by now. Each body evaporated into that strange mist. That device he had on his arm had a syringe-like blade on the other end. I bet he’s using that thing to collect the dissipated remains of his victims, and find a way to counter in-game death.”

“There are a number of ways for players to die in-game. How could he counter it entirely?”

“He’s not worried about beasts killing him. He’ll be operating from a safe area. You said there were 36 murders, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s 36 samples of in-game death. He’ll have 36 ways of avoiding death. I’m assuming that device will allow him to cheat death entirely after it collects enough data.”

“You’re saying that, after he collects enough data on death, Genm will be able to create a system to cheat death?”

“There you go.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Ms. Amachi scoffed at the idea.

“There’s only one other alternative here, and that’s to test out his death game. I highly doubt that the death game thing is what Genm is really after. It would be pointless to do so if he can’t find a way to keep himself alive long enough to enjoy this nightmare he’s set up.”

“You can believe what you want. I’m going to go with the death game testing theory. By the way... You mentioned something about collecting data earlier. What was that about?“

“Don’t worry about it,” Hunter brushed off his side comment and went back to see the investigators packing up and preparing to return to base. “It’s nothing to concern yourself with.”

“No, don’t just brush it off. Anything goes at this point, and I need your full cooperation here, Hunter.”

“Tell me your name.” Was his simple reply.

“I… I beg your pardon? You already know my name, it’s Ms. Amachi.”

“No, that’s part of your name, unless your actual name is ‘Miss Amachi.’ Tell me your full name.” Hunter’s random demand had caught her off-guard and made her slightly uncomfortable as a result.

“I… uh…” She fidgeted, reluctant to respond. Finally, she murmured “Haruko…”

“I couldn’t hear that.” Hunter goaded her.

“It’s Haruko…” She blushed slightly from having told him her full name. “But remember! You’re to call me Miss Amachi while we’re on duty!”

“So I can call you ‘Haruko’ when we’re off duty, right?” Hunter turned around and looked into her eyes through his mask. The mask’s red pupils glared into amber eyes, causing slight discomfort to the lady.

“I- I guess you can…” She averted her eyes, avoiding the off-putting gaze of Hunter’s mask.

“Alright then,” Hunter quickly pulled out a cartridge and activated it. “Mach Lighter!” was announced as a red and black motorcycle appeared. “Need a ride?”

“No, I can handle myself.” Haruko reached to her waist, and drew a card from the book-like device on her belt. She crushed the card in her hand and summoned a black and white sports bike, customized specifically for police use. “Follow me, the Special Crimes unit has been assigned our own base of operations.”

The two drove off to their newly-assigned headquarters, Haruko’s black and white bike leading Hunter’s red-black bike. It wasn’t too long before they arrived, pulling up to a building very familiar to the mercenary in tow.

“Hey, this is my office!” Hunter parked by his usual spot and put away his cartridge, causing his bike to fade into pixels.

“It is? The higher-ups just told us the address and said this was our base.” Haruko parked behind Hunter’s spot, getting off her bike and cutting the engine.

“Would’ve been nice to get this notification beforehand…” Hunter pouted under his mask just as Hideo arrived with his partner Kyoka close behind.

“Ah, Hunter!” Hideo greeted him after parking his bike. “I wanted to tell you about this sooner, but you were already on an assignment when I got here earlier.”

“You didn’t think to send a message?!”

“I didn’t want to interrupt your investigation. Speaking of which, how’d it go?”

“He destroyed the evidence and fought who we believe to be Genm.” Haruko briefly summarized their assignment and entered the office.

“You fought Genm?! How did it go?!” Hideo asked, ecstatic, as the remaining three entered his office.

“Started with a firefight, then we punched each other away. He disappeared after that.” Hunter went to sit down in his chair, only to find Haruko already there. “Uh… that’s my chair.”

“Oh, it is? Sorry.” Haruko got up and let Hunter sit down.

“I have three chairs on the other side of this desk, and some couches if you’d like. Sit wherever.” Hunter let the three choose a spot to sit down at. “How does this on-duty off-duty thing work? Is there a certain time-frame per shift, or…?”

“Technically, we’re always on duty from the moment we wake up to the moment we sleep. Though our assigned shift starts at 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM.” Kyoka informed Hunter of their shifts.

“I see.” Hunter glanced at the clock. “It’s almost 5 PM. What are we gonna do when our shift ends?”

“We can do whatever. It’s free time after all.” Hideo replied.

“I see…” Hunter stared at the clock for a little longer, till it was past 5 PM. “I need to go test something, I’ll be back.”

The others were curious about what Hunter was doing, so they followed him quietly. He entered a room and locked himself inside. The others couldn’t follow from there, but they could hear repeated attempts to activate and utilize a cartridge unit; each attempt was a failure, as evident from the painful groans they could faintly make out. They soon gave up on figuring out what Hunter was trying to accomplish after the umpteenth groan of pain. After a while, Hunter returned to the main office to see Hideo and Kyoka on their way out. Haruko read a news article on the couch. Upon hearing Hunter return, Haruko turned around to greet him.

“Hello,” She said.

“You’re still here? Why not go home for the night?” Hunter sat down at his desk, and relaxed.

“I just wanted to stay here a little longer. Is there a problem?”

“No, no. It’s fine. Just curious, that’s all.” Hunter sighed, his mask still on his face despite having his signature coat hanging on the coat rack. All he wore now was the aforementioned mask and his black bodysuit adorned with zippers and buttons. “Do you have a particular reason for staying?

“Well, I am curious…” Haruko got up and approached Hunter, leaning towards him over his desk.

“Curious about what?” Hunter backed up due to Haruko’s actions making him slightly uncomfortable.

“Why keep the mask on? You don’t need it anymore, do you?”

“I don’t know. I just like keeping this on. Gives me a way to monitor the virtual world we currently inhabit. Also helps to hide my face.”

“Why hide your face?”

“I have my avatar set to appear just as I do in reality. I wear the mask to keep people from finding out what I really look like.”

“You can’t be that bad, lemme see,” Haruko leaned over some more and proceeded to grab Hunter’s mask. After a slight struggle, Haruko was able to open up the mask and take it off. “H-Hunter… You’re… uh…”

“What?” Hunter looked at Haruko shyly, not used to being unmasked in-game. He avoided looking at her directly, thus making him oblivious to her slight blush.

“Wow… You’re not bad at all…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Hunter tried to grab his mask back, but Haruko moved it away from his reach.

“Don’t worry about it! If you want this, you’ll have to take it back!” Haruko ran down a random hall in the office.

“What else am I supposed to do to get it back?! Ask you nicely?!” Hunter followed after her.

“Nope! Catch me if you can!!” Haruko teased him after running into one of the rooms in the hall.

“I need that!” Hunter dived into the room Haruko had hid in, tackling her to the ground to grab his mask back. The two stared at each other in awkward silence for a moment before Hunter grabbed his mask and got up, offering a hand to Haruko. “Don’t do that again.”

“Jeez, can’t you take a little bit of teasing?” Haruko accepted the help up with a pout. “I figured you’d be able to understand some joking around.”

“My mask is not something to joke around about. It took a long time to get this made, and it’s very important to me.” Hunter walked back to the main room with Haruko following him.

“Why do you hide your face?”

“I told you already, I don’t want people to know about my-”

“That’s not it. There must be more to that mask than just hiding your face. Why wear it?” Haruko interrupted him as they both sat down on a couch next to each other.

“There isn’t anything more. I hide my face because I don’t want people to see my real face.”

“You’re not bad-looking, why hide your face?”

“Identity reasons.”

“Are you implying you have Dissociative Identity Disorder?”

“What? No. That’s ridiculous. I’ve worn this mask in-game for so long, I just get uncomfortable without it on… It’s like a superhero wearing a mask, to hide their true identity from their enemies while also finding a way to map their alter ego to an object that allows them to face the hardships of what they do.”

“That was… profoundly philosophical…” Haruko was slightly shocked at Hunter’s response. Her impression of him was ‘greedy mercenary,’ not ‘profound philosopher.’

“When you’re a person like me, you constantly reflect on the things that have happened in the past and why they happened. Which then lead to a separate train of thought about life itself, which transitions into an existential crisis that leads up to one question: Among all the personas I display to people, which one is really me?’ Being an SAO Survivor usually leads to being profoundly philosophical after some time.” Hunter sighed as he began doing exactly what he was talking about, reflecting on his past and questioning his identity.

“Hm… I see.”

“What about Genm's threat video? What are you gonna do about it?”

“We’ve decided to release it to the public and make players aware of the situation. Normally, there’s millions of EBO players. After the video went public, those couple million players dropped to a couple thousand. The GMs are waiting until player count stabilizes before a set number can be determined. It seems most people have common sense and are taking the safe route. I can understand that some people want fame and glory for saving people from the next death game, but the more important question is…”

“Is it really worth it?” Hunter finished her thought.

“Exactly. Is fame really worth the trauma of being stuck in a virtual reality game? They think it’ll take a few months at most, as if this was a short-term thing. They don’t think it’ll take more than a year.”

“They don’t understand anything… We spent months in that damned game… Fighting for our lives, planning, dealing with betrayal and emotions… It’s more than they’ll ever imagined...” Hunter grit his teeth as he spoke before putting his mask back on, pushing it up so it rested on his spiky black hair. “The only way to get them to understand the gravity of the situation is to have them experience everything first-hand. They need to experience what it’s like fighting for your life, and never being able to come back. They’ll witness death, and loss. Then they’ll finally get it…”

“Hunter…”

“I’m sorry. I was just thinking out loud…”

“You’re a little cynical, aren’t you?”

“Try getting stuck in this game for two years while fighting for your only life. Lemme know how that works out.”

“I get where that comes from now…”

“It’s getting late, we should log out and get some rest. Tomorrow, we’ll meet here and start planning our investigations and all that.”

“Sounds good.” Haruko stood up and began walking towards the back of the office.

“Where are you going?” Hunter followed her.

“I have this strange habit of having the system automatically log me off by falling asleep in-game. I used to do it by accident, but then it slowly developed into this weird habit…” Haruko sheepishly replied. “I mean, I take care of all my personal hygiene before doing this, brushing my teeth and showering and such…”

“...Okay then. I didn’t need to know that last part, but I’m sure someone else does...” Hunter shrugged off her odd habit, showed her to a guest room, and bid her goodnight before going to his own in-game room and logging off. Upon waking up in the real world, Hunter sighed as he sat up and removed the Nexus-Gear. “I should visit the Nexus Theory HQ tomorrow. Ask if I can set up in one of their long-term dive rooms for this whole situation. They’ll take care of everything I need, but the others… They’re on their own. I should have access to their LTD rooms, I’m technically their employee… Maybe I’ll even run into Haruko tomorrow like in an anime or something.”

Another sigh escaped his lips as he realized just how lonely he currently is.

“Why did he have to come back? Why does he continue the death game…?”