EBO: Resume - Chapter 10

December 18th, 2026

Winter had officially arrived, evident by the light snowfall outside the window. Kyoka was setting up a Kotatsu heater to keep them warm, yawning as she draped the blanket over the table. Hideo grabbed the tabletop and placed it over the blanket to secure it before plugging the cord into a nearby outlet. Once the heating implement underneath the table whirred to life, the two eagerly seated themselves at the table and sighed as the warmth underneath the table sheltered them from the biting chill of the cold, winter air. Haruko was looking through the fridge for something to drink, before closing it and simply filling up a glass of water to drink. She filled up another cup with water and brought it to Hunter, setting it on his desk before joining Hideo and Kyoka at the Kotatsu. The tapping of Hunter’s keyboard as he continued to work ceaselessly on his equipment.

“Just a week before Christmas. Crazy how time flies, huh?” Hideo noted.

“What should we do for Christmas? Big feast?” Kyoka wondered.

“Hunter… don’t you think you could take a little break from coding?” Haruko questioned as she sipped her water.

“I don’t have anything else to do outside of this.” Hunter replied without even looking away from his keyboard, taking a quick sip of water while continuing to code.

“In that case… how about we spar?” Haruko set down her water and turn to face him from underneath the Kotatsu. She had a rather smug look on her face as she waited for him to accept her challenge. When the word “spar” left her mouth, Hunter stopped typing and froze, then reached into his desk and opened a case.

“Sparring, huh?” Hunter looked through the case, rifling through several cartridges before producing a black-and-grey unit with the name “Zero Specter Origins” emblazoned on it. “I want to test the power of Level 0… You’re on.”

“Finally, a break from your computer!” Haruko pumped her fist, elated to have coaxed the shut-in coder from his desk and out into a fight. Then she looked at him again to see him typing once more. “Are you serious…?”

“Just a few more lines of coding… Gimme a couple seconds, I’m almost done stabilizing this build…” Hunter typed even faster than usual before striking the enter key and having his computer save the data to the unit. “Alright, we’re clear. Let’s see how quick it takes for me to end you!”

Several minutes later, Haruko and Hunter had gone off to a forest. There they stood, snow falling from the overcast sky above them and onto the grassy dirt the two players stood on. Haruko took out her Shining Artemis unit and activated it, while Hunter activated his Zero Specter. Immediately, a sense of emptiness and weakness leaked out of the Zero Specter as the two loaded the cartridges into their belts. They flipped the levers outwards and transformed, Haruko choosing the Artemis avatar provided by her unit while Hunter was given an avatar that resembled Hunter’s current mask with a skull design over it. The icon Hunter selected was in black and white only, which then enveloped him in a black and white aura before revealing the armor. What Hunter wore was exactly the same as his current armor, save for minimal armor and a grayscale color scheme. Even his mask glowed with a dark-gray light that had a pixelated design running over his mask in addition to the skull overlay.

“That’s Level 0? Kinda underwhelming, don’t you think?” Haruko held her hand out and selected an icon of her submachine guns, materializing both firearms in her hands.

“Appearances can be deceiving.” Hunter replied as he held out his hands. Nothing appeared for him to wield. He tried to summon a weapon one more time, but nothing appeared. “The fuck?! I got a unit that doesn’t have weapons? What the shit, Nexus?! This is my reward for all my hard work?!! You have to be fucking kidding me!!”

While Hunter rambled about the lack of weapons, Haruko took this time to start attacking, backing away as she fired her guns at him. The sound of the projectiles was near-silent, but the distinct low-pitched hum was easily recognized by the man who created them. With no weapons at his disposal, he was forced to dodge the projectiles. Time spent in previous VRMMOs had sharpened his senses, allowing him to avoid the attack without much difficulty.

“Hand to hand it is…” He muttered to himself as Haruko fired her guns in bursts, using one SMG to distract Hunter and the other to try and hit. Each time, Hunter barely dodged the attack, slowly closing the distance between them. Despite the seemingly weaker appearance and lack of proper equipment, the unit appeared to offer an increase in speed, and perhaps in reaction time as well.

“You’re not normally this fast…” Haruko noted as she continued her strategy, hopping backwards to try and maintain the space between them while toying with Hunter using the deadly bullets of her guns.

“Guess this thing provides a speed boost with the lack of everything!” Hunter growled as he dived forward, only to be shot in the shoulders by a three-round burst. He hit the dust rough and hard, bleeding through the wound and howling in low-toned agony from the pain. “Motherfucker! I didn’t know this hurt so much, urgh! How the fuck does Kuroto stand this? Is he a fucking masochist?!”

“Eyes on the prize, Hunter!” Haruko taunted as she increase their distance and fired. Hunter forced himself to roll around to avoid the bullets, finally getting up and running to a nearby tree for cover.

“I don’t know anything about this unit, there’s no weapons on hand, and my left shoulder is essentially useless…” Hunter mentally noted as he applied pressure to his wound with ragged breathing. “Better figure this thing out, and fast…”

Suddenly, the rotational bullets zipped past him, carving through part of the tree he used for cover and just barely missing his mask. Reacting to the sudden attack, he dived away from the tree into nearby shrubbery as Haruko mowed it down with her guns.

“What’s wrong, Hunter? Scared of your own creation? Do you understand how your power strikes fear into the hearts of your enemies?” She continued to taunt him as he rose up. “There you are. Come to die?”

“We both know that if you kill me, your progress in dealing with Kuroto will be significantly impeded.”

“I know. Just really into the situation right now, can’t help it.”

“Whatever floats your boat, I guess.” She fired again, but this time, Hunter held out his hand to try and catch the bullet. When the projectile reached his fingertips, it suddenly lost all its properties; its velocity simply disappeared, the Dynamis and Shadow damage simply vanished, and the rotation that empowered the bullet ceased to exist, leaving a simple sphere in Hunter’s hand.

“Uh… what just happened…?” Haruko lowered her weapons to try and understand what just happened.

“Your bullet just… stopped.” Hunter looked at the orb in his hand. “The Dynamis and Shadow damage are gone, there’s no more Rotational empowerment, and the velocity just ceased the moment it made contact with my fingers…”

“That sounds like your unit just—” Haruko started, only to have Hunter finish her thought.

“Negated the properties of the bullet…” He stared in amazement at the orb before letting it go and turning his attention to Haruko. “Let’s see how far this power can go.”

Remembering they were still fighting, Haruko brought her guns up once more and fired. Hunter simply held his hand out and swiped at all the bullets, sending out an invisible force that stopped all the projectiles. The orbs fell to the ground harmlessly as Hunter ran at her and swiped at her. This time, the distance between them ceased to exist, bringing him closer and allowing him to begin his hand-to-hand assault. A swift punch followed by a low kick and an uppercut, immediately followed up with a barrage of fast-paced punches that ended in a powerful kick away. Haruko couldn’t get a chance to breathe as Hunter negated the distance once more and continued his onslaught, punching her ribs and elbowing her mask with more force than he usually got out of his Level 2 forms. He seemed to have power that exceeded his Level 20’s parameters, though he wasn’t sure since he had yet to test the Level 20’s hand-to-hand prowess.

“Quite the powerful unit, huh?!” Haruko managed to get out while Hunter let out a punching barrage. Before his last punch could connect, she shot his fist with her pistol, having summoned it a split second beforehand to try and stop him. The bullet punched straight through his fist and arm, causing him to recoil in pain. “Didn’t see that coming, did you?”

“Dammit…” He held his arm as blood leaked down the ruined limb. He looked at his gauge and saw 20% remaining, while Haruko’s gauge was still at 70%. “Level 0 has some really low defense, huh…?

“On top of that, looks like your Negate only works when you consciously activate it. I snuck a shot in and nothing got erased.” She gestured to his bloody arm with her pistol.

“If you shoot me, I die… So choose your next actions carefully,” Hunter took up a single-handed melee stance, intending to continue fighting.

“If you want to keep fighting so badly…” She tossed her gun aside and took a fighting stance as well. “Then let’s do this, no holds barred!”

The two ran at each other and met with fists. Haruko’s advantage in health and both her arms allowed her to overpower Hunter, who was lacking an arm and had 50% less health than her. Each punch she connected seemed to lower his health by 5%, only to have the gauge refill half that amount each time. Hunter had learned to negate half the damage he received, though it would only do him so little good as Haruko’s attacks continued to increase in intensity. Eventually, she would manage to kick him in the center of his torso, sending him flying into a tree. Caught up in the adrenaline rush, Haruko summoned her rifle and ran towards Hunter before firing a shot straight into his chest, where his heart is.

When she noticed that there wasn’t any trace of the bullet punching through Hunter, she tossed her rifle aside and backed away. Hunter was still alive, bleeding heavily from previous wounds but no other signs of damage. He had his hands over his chest, the gloves and gauntlets of the Zero Specter armor were shredded up, there was a hole in his hands from attempting to negate the bullet, and the orb was embedded in the chest plate, but it didn’t seem to have penetrated into his body.

“0.09% health… armor breached… the bullet stopped just shy of my chest… No penetration…” Hunter spoke in between incredibly ragged breaths, relaxing his arms and letting them fall outwards.

“Oh god… Oh my god, I’m so sorry!!” Haruko rushed through her inventory to find a healing item, summoning a syringe and injecting it into the hole made in Hunter’s chestplate. The brief pricking sting was nothing compared to the pain he felt from Haruko’s rifle earlier.

“It’s fine…” He groaned from the effects of the syringe taking affect. His chestplate and the displayed gauge were ruined and cracked, rendering it unreadable. Hunter had to rely on his heads-up display to see his current health. “2% and rising steadily…”

“Oh god, Hunter, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do it, I swear!” She removed her armor, eyes puffing as tears began to fall. She was definitely sniffling as she pulled Hunter into her arms and began crying her eyes out. “I’m so sorry, Hunter! T-the adrenaline was overwhelming, and I-I couldn’t help it…!”

“Haruko, it’s ok… I forgive you...” He smiled at her from under his mask. Sneaking his hand under her figure, he closed the belt and removed the cartridge, allowing the armor to fade away as his eyes displayed a reassuring glow. Weakly, he moved his hand to wipe away her tears. “I’m lucky I managed to catch the barrel and negate whatever came next.”

Haruko continued to cry, though Hunter’s hand was there to wipe away the tears. She hugged him even tighter as he caressed her cheek to comfort her.

“Keep that up, and you might just hug me to death…” He groaned as she increased her grip once more, burying her face in his chest as the crying began to die down. “There, there, Haruko. There, there…”

Seeing that she wouldn’t let him go anytime soon, Hunter wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to his body, keeping her warm in the biting chill of the air around them. The wet tears that dripped onto his shirt augmented the cold climate to stinging bites of frost, but he didn’t care. At this point, all he wanted and needed to do was comfort the poor girl in his arms. He tenderly pat her head as she looked up at him with still-teary eyes, greeting her vision with a warm smile as he wiped away more tears.

“Remember that night, three months ago…?” Hunter began, staring straight into Haruko’s amber eyes. “When… I told you about my love life…?”

“M-mhm…”

“I said that I’d found a new girl to love, then bawled my eyes out in your arms…?” Haruko nodded softly in recognition of that night. “I guess you can say we’re even now…”

With those words, Haruko realized the current situation: Hunter had his arms around her, embracing her in the blistering cold. She pressed her hands against his chest, feeling the dampness of her tears and his slim, muscular torso underneath the suit and realizing just how warm he was.

“Y-yeah…” She replied quietly, blushing as she began to take the situation into her mind.

“I figured… maybe you deserve to know who that new girl is…” Hunter turned away shyly, blushing as well.

“Then… who is it…?” Haruko looked at him, an expression of curiosity with slight sniffles.

“Uh… Dammit… why are confessions always so difficult…” He muttered under his breath as his blush intensified.

“Well…?”

“It’s…—” Before he could finish his sentence, the roar of a motorcycle came a few ways from their location. It was a familiar sound, the engine of Hideo’s Ducati sports bike. He sighed as he helped Haruko up to her feet and pat her head. “I’ll tell you later, alright?”

Haruko could only nod slightly before following Hunter to the source of the noise. They found Hideo sitting on his bike with Kyoka sitting behind him. They both got off the bike and ran towards the two at top speed.

“The hell happened, man?! We got a notification that you sustained lethal damage, then it changed to say that Haruko was healing you with her emergency max-restoration! What happened?!” Hideo yelled, obviously worried out of his mind.

“I’ve figured out what that Level 0 unit does,” Hunter calmly replied, smirking a bit as he held up the mentioned unit. His blush had died down, but it was still noticeable. “Wait, emergency max-restoration?”

“It’s our emergency healing item. We use it when our health is below 1% and we’re somehow still alive. It’s one of the only healing items capable of doing that, aside from something that channels full-on healing energy.” Hideo elaborated for Hunter as he looked at the damage he had sustained. “Jeez, dude. She really did a number on you…”

“Yeah…” He inspected his clothes to see what remained. For the most part, it was all just heavily scratched and torn in the areas where Haruko had landed shots. The bullet that just barely hit him had left a scar that was slowly healing. “Knowledge really is power, if you channel it into the right medium…”

“Hunter…? Why are you blushing~?” Kyoka leaned out from behind Hideo, noticing the faint red on his cheeks.

“What do you mean? It’s cold out… isn’t that to be expected?” Hunter brushed it off as being cold, not as a result of an emotional moment with Haruko.

“Hm… so why is Haruko teary? Did you violate her in some way!? I’ll mince you up if you did~!” The sweetness of her tone masked her threat, but Hunter felt that it only amplified the menace he felt.

“W-what? N-no, of course not! I stopped before either of us could seriously get hurt!” Hunter stuttered as he tried to find a reasonable excuse.

“Mhm… suuuure,” Kyoka could tell it was a lie from the stutter, but she couldn’t quite find the truth in his look. “Let’s just get back, it’s freezing out here…”

“Right, right…” Hunter summoned his Mach Corvus and started the engine, allowing Haruko to ride with him as the two men of the group headed back, the women behind them. Somehow, Haruko seemed to be holding on to Hunter more intimately, while Kyoka just held on for the sake of safety. She made sure her head was facing away from the other pair as she smiled softly, glad that their trump card against Kuroto was still alive and about. When they returned to Hunter’s office, they found someone waiting inside. “Can I help you?”

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the legendary Specter! And in such a beat-up condition?! My, my, who was it that put you in such a state?” The teen wore a black-and-white shirt with pixels and mismatched sleeves. Over that was a black coat, worn with black pants and sneakers that followed the same color scheme as his sleeves: blue on the left and red on the right.

“Who are you?” Hunter deadpanned, annoyed at the random person in his office. The name that appeared over the person identified him as a player, and was a name that was familiar to Hunter. “Anomaly…? You’re that guy from that one Raid a while back…”

“You’ve never heard of me? C’mon, man, you’re killing me! I’m the passing-through Anomaly! Raid Infiltrator and professional gamer!” Anomaly formally introduced himself with an extravagant pose. He was wearing a headset with a small red light. The light was blinking, as if he was recording.

“If you’re recording, get out. I’m not interested in showing up on live-streams. People’s sense of privacy these days, man… It’s like it’s just flown out the window…” Hunter waved him away and walked towards his personal room to change into a fresh set of clothing.

“Aw, c’mon dude! Just a couple minutes?” He begged, only to have Hideo and Kyoka stop him from getting closer to him.

“No go, buddy. He’s a man of solitude. Don’t stick your nose into his business, unless you’re planning to put that Level 50 unit of yours to use helping us leave the game.” Hideo addressed Anomaly.

“Ahh, what a paiiiiiin,” Anomaly backed away and twirled to the couch, whimsically plopping down on the couch. “You guys are no fun…”

“I’m sorry. We’re trying to save the several thousands of players trapped in this game by a psychopathic zombie! It can’t be helped that we’re taking this matter seriously, considering this game is now Sword Art Online reborn!” Haruko snapped at Anomaly’s light-hearted nature. “Your life is at stake here! You could die when your health hits zero! Remember that!”

“Geez…” Anomaly shrunk into the couch, obviously frightened by Haruko’s outburst. Even Hideo and Kyoka backed up slightly, also alarmed.

“You okay, Haruko…?” Kyoka asked with concern for her friend. Her response was a sigh as she walked towards their rooms.

“I need some time to myself. Excuse me…”

“Take your time…” Hideo squeaked out, still a tad startled.

“So… are you two free?” Anomaly turned to the two remaining members of the group.

“We’ve got a fort to hold down,” Hideo answered as he sighed and walked to the corner, finding a broom and dustpan to start sweeping the floor with. Kyoka silently crept to the kitchen, looking through the fridge for a snack while Hideo cleaned the floor.

“Ahhhhh. Who knew that the legendary Specter would be such a prude? Well guys, I guess that’ll be it for today’s stream. Sorry I couldn’t get anything good for you today, but I promise I’ll make up for it in tomorrow’s stream! Goodbye, all!” With that, Anomaly left the building and tapped his headset. The light blinked once more before shutting off.

“The hell is up with him…?” Hideo asked to Kyoka, who he knew was sitting on the couch eating. “And help out a bit! You can’t just snack all day!”

“Today’s not my turn to clean.” Kyoka responded, eating a bag of potato chips.

“You said that yesterday. And the day before that.”

“Okay, it’s not my week for cleaning duty.”

“Which is what you said last week…”

“But I did clean the week before that!”

“Whatever… You’re on cleaning duty for the next two weeks after this.”

“No fair!”

You got two weeks off. I deserve two weeks off as compensation.”

“Hmph… Fine…” Kyoka pouted, but conceded to Hideo’s point. While the two bickered about chores, Hunter paid Haruko a visit in her room. At this point in the day, the sun had began to set, and it was getting dark.

“Haruko?” Hunter knocked on her door. “May I come in?”

“Sure…” Her voice carried sorrow, as she was still distressed about earlier. The door opened and Hunter entered in his usual bodysuit and coat before closing it behind him.

“If it’s about nearly killing me, I forgive you. Honestly. I should’ve called it quits before things got out of hand…” Hunter sat down next to her on her bed.

“I-I just… kept fighting. I got so lost in the thrill of battle, I didn’t give you a chance to call it off.” Haruko had her hands in her lap, hunched over and beginning to tear up again.

“It’s no big deal. I was testing Level 0, and now I understand the fragility of it. It may have that neat negation trick, but that won’t be enough. But that’s not the biggest concern right now. I promised you that I’d tell you who I liked, didn’t I?”

Haruko perked up a bit, curious beyond belief to figure out who it was. “Y-yeah… you did.”

“Well… it’s…” Before he could say anything else, he heard the door creak slightly. “Goddammit, can I not be interrupted during a confession…?”

“Maybe we should leave the office for a bit. Get out and find something to eat. I’m feeling a bit hungry.” Haruko smiled at him, even though a single tear snaked its way down her cheek. Hunter wiped it away with his finger and smiled back.

“Sure.” When he opened the door, he looked outside to see Kyoka on the couch eating a bag of chips and Hideo suspiciously close to the room, sweeping the floors for dust and whistling. “What’s going on in this neck of the woods?”

“Hm? Just cleaning, that’s all. Kyoka’s dropping chores on me this week.” Hideo replied, still sweeping.

“Not eavesdropping on our conversation?”

“Pfft. Me? Eavesdropping? I wouldn’t do that unless I needed to collect sensitive data.”

“Like the identity of my current crush?” Hunter leaned against the doorway, knowing exactly what Hideo wanted to know.

“Well, I’d love to know that, but… that’s not worth eavesdropping.”

“Uh-huh. So why are you this close to Haruko’s room?”

“I swear, it’s a huge coincidence.”

“Well, you weren’t there when I said it, and your bike’s engine probably drowned it out, so there’s no way you’d know…” Hunter backtracked through the events before they returned to the office.

“You told her already?! Duuude, I gotta know! It’s killing me!!” Hideo dropped the broom and clapped his hands together, practically begging Hunter to tell him.

“You’d be dead by now, then.” Hunter walked past Hideo and pat him on the back as he grabbed his mask off his desk. Haruko followed promptly, shimmying past Hideo as he turned around and followed the two.

“Do I at least get to know…?” Kyoka looked over to Hunter with an innocent look on her face. “I didn’t try eavesdropping. And even if I did, I would’ve done it right, being an assassin and all.”

“This is just for Haruko. Don’t try to follow us.” Hunter put on his mask and walked out the door, followed by Haruko who was wearing clothing she’d normally wear in reality: a blouse, a white coat with a dual-layer collar/hood, leggings, and knee-high boots. Her coat had fur lining to keep her warm in the winter climate.

“Are those two…” Hideo started.

“Going out on a date…?” Kyoka finished for him. “Never thought I’d see either of them go on a date, much less the two of them going with each other.”

“Trapped inside a video game with a psychopathic zombie overlord, his assistant is a sniper with a curvy body in a revealing outfit, and Haruko and Hunter dating. I think I really have seen it all…” Hideo sat down next to Kyoka as if he were dealing with an existential crisis. “Does that mean…?”

“I don’t think you’re gonna die just yet. Unless that sniper you mentioned gets you…” Kyoka looked away from Hideo and pouted, as if jealous that he brought up Nanaha and her body. Then… she looked down at her own figure. “Those curves could kill you…”

“What was that?” Hideo didn’t catch the last phrase.

“Nothing.” Kyoka pouted once more as she turned further away from him, holding the chip bag closer to Hideo unintentionally. He used this opportunity to steal a chip without her seeing, but she caught him in the act and pinned him to the couch. “Who said you could have a chip?!”

“I’m sorry!! A-ah! H-hey, quit it! I said I was sorry!”

“Sorry won’t cut it! Do my chores for the next two weeks!”

“What?! That’s not fair at all!” While Kyoka and Hideo were locked in mortal combat over their chores and the chips, Hunter and Haruko had taken off to a restaurant on the former’s bike.

They drove in silence, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. It was a comfortable silence, a moment of peace as the two rode through the cold bite of the winter winds on Hunter’s bike. It didn’t take long until Hunter parked in front of a small sushi bar.

“This is one of my personal favorites. I usually hang out here whenever I need to get out of the office for a bit and think.” Hunter cut the engine on his bike and removed his helmet.

“It’s a bit small, but I guess it’s a cozy place on the inside, right?” Haruko removed her helmet as well and hopped off his bike.

“Yep. It’s a quaint little sushi bar. And they’ve got alcohol, so…”

“You’re not planning on getting me drunk, are you?” Haruko asked with concern as they entered the bar. An NPC greeted them and led them to a pair of seats at the sushi bar itself before offering them hot towels. They thanked the host NPC and accepted the towels.

“No, no. I drink the occasional beer or cocktail every now and then, but I don’t get drunk. I’m my own ride, after all.” Hunter took the menu from a slot in front of them and handed it to Haruko.

“Worse comes to worst, one of us can drive the other home.” Haruko accepted the menu and browsed through while Hunter ordered what he wanted to eat and drink. A bartender got to work mixing a cocktail while the sushi chef began rolling up Hunter’s order. After browsing for a minute or two, Haruko settled on a chef’s daily special selection while Hunter’s fried-shrimp roll and Inarizushi came on two separate platters. “Whoa… that looks good…”

“If you want, you can have some. Itadakimasu,” Hunter separated a pair of wooden chopsticks and guided a piece of the Inarizushi to his mouth.

“If that’s the case… Itadakimasu…” Haruko repeated Hunter’s actions, using the chopsticks to take a piece of Inarizushi to eat. After swallowing her bite, she spoke. “This is really good…”

“I’d like to learn how to make sushi myself, but I don’t think I’d have the patience to do it.” Hunter admitted before consuming another bite of Inarizushi.

“You making sushi?” Haruko giggled at the thought as her plate of sushi arrived. A delightful platter of fatty tuna, salmon, egg omelette, and fried shrimp was placed in front of Haruko, who thanked the server before digging into her food.

“Ridiculous, right?” Hunter replied as his cocktail was delivered to him: a fresh root beer and bourbon cocktail. He thanked the bartender and took a sip. “Ah, delicious, as always.”

“What’s in that…?” Haruko inquired, intrigued by that Hunter drank alcohol so casually.

“A spice blend of sarsaparilla, allspice, illicium verum, nutmeg, powdered caramel, and cinnamon mixed with bourbon whiskey, a hint of chilli-infused vodka, some water, fresh lemon juice, and grated ginger.” Hunter listed off the ingredients as if he had the recipe for the drink memorized. “They shake it up with ice before carbonating and serving it.”

“So… you drink cocktails outside the office?”

“Yeah. It’s personal preference, really. I’d rather not have bottles of alcohol in my office.”

“Interesting. I’ve never drank before, but…”

“It’s an acquired taste. I wouldn’t immediately pick up a hot-buttered chartreuse and sip it like it’s a daily occurance.” Hunter set down his drink carefully. “I’d recommend a light drink, maybe a beer or mojito.”

“Mojito…? What’s in that?” Haruko set down her chopsticks.

“White rum, mint, lime juice, sugar or simple syrup. Served in the same glass it was made in with crushed ice and topped with soda water. It’s a refreshing drink.”

“How do you know this much about alcohol and cocktails?”

“I developed a habit of watching videos about cocktails. I lived a weird life.”

“Indeed you do… But I am parched, so… one mojito please!” The bartender acknowledged her request and began to build her drink.

“You’re really gonna do this? We don’t know your alcohol tolerance, and the drinks tend to mask the alcohol pretty well.” Hunter finished his Inarizushi and began to eat his fried-shrimp roll.

“If you can do it, I can too!” Haruko pouted.

“I’ve had a while to get used to alcohol. Not only that, but I’m one of those people who doesn’t show their intoxication… You, on the other hand… We don’t know what could happen if you got drunk. You could get angry, start throwing up, spill your entire life story, get flirty, start rubbing your hands all over me… There’s a lot of different kinds of drunks.”

“Huh…” At last, the mojito arrived. A garnish of mint laid upon a pile of crushed ice next to the straw. Muddled mint leaves and lime slices could be seen throughout the drink. “Moment of truth?”

“Uh… take small sips. And be sure to space sips out every few minutes. The alcohol takes time before it takes effect, so drinking all of it in one chug is a terrible idea. Take it easy.” Hunter cautioned as she took a sip. Then another. Followed by one more…

“This is really refreshing…” Haruko said after taking a large sip.

“I told you to space your sips out and keep them small.” Hunter took a bite of his fried-shrimp roll as Haruko took a bite of her salmon.

“Does anyone else know about this spot?”

“Nope. It’s just me and a select few other players. We don’t usually talk to each other, we just sit here and let the bar play its music. They’ve got a really nice jazz selection here.”

“I see… So, about the… you know…” Haruko had finished her plate at this point, eagerly awaiting the identity of Hunter’s crush to be revealed.

“Third time’s the charm… It’s… you.” Hunter confessed as he stared at his nearly-empty plate, drink in hand.

“...Maybe alcohol wasn’t the best idea. You said that… it was me?” Haruko asked one more time before Hunter nodded yes. He finished his plate, set down his chopsticks, and thanked the chef for the meal before pulling his scarf up to hide his blush. “Hehe~ The Specter prefers the officer, hm~?”

“Are you a flirtatious drunk then…?”

“That’s not my biggest concern. Tell me~ How did it come that you fell for me?”

“You… remind me a lot of Mikako… Thoughtful, disciplined, serious when you needed to be. At first, it bothered me. I didn’t really want to be near you because I’d feel anxious and angry with myself. Then I thought one day, ‘Maybe this is a second chance. A chance to keep it together and not let it fall apart.’ So, as we worked together for a while, I started to feel love. That precious little hint of warmth from being near someone you could… get close to. Then, that feeling grows from a sliver of warmth, to a cozy little flame, and from there, it just gets warmer.”

“Like a fire…”

“Exactly…” Hunter finished the rest of his cocktail in one small sip before asking for the bill.

“Well, we’ve had some time to ourselves… shall we head back?” Haruko finished her cocktail as well, yawning as she looked out the window. “It’s dark out.”

“I’ll take care of the bill first. Gimme a sec.” He paid the bill and left a tip before leaving the restaurant with Haruko. “Let’s be responsible and fast-travel back to the office…”

“S-sure…” Haruko’s face was flushed as she clung to Hunter’s arm, as if she would collapse without him supporting her. Hunter had to use his other hand to initiate the fast-travel sequence that would teleport them both to his office. It took a couple of seconds, but they arrived at the front door without a hitch, save for Haruko falling asleep during the fast-travel.

“Great…” Hunter had to carry her into the office, not caring about whether or not Hideo and Kyoka noticed.

Fortunately, by the time they had returned, Hideo and Kyoka had gone to sleep. Quietly, Hunter crept towards his room, but stopped in front of Haruko’s room for a moment as if contemplating whether or not he should let her sleep by herself. Perhaps… it would be better if he was by her side when she woke up, so he could help her with any hangover effects. With that decided, he continued onwards to his room, setting her down on the bed. Once he had dressed himself in pajamas, a simple long-sleeved shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, he placed a body-sized pillow by Haruko before laying down. The next morning, Haruko woke up with a bad headache and Hunter drinking a glass of water and offering her one as well.

“Hm…?” She groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She sat up clutching her head as the sheets fell from her shoulders. Her clothes from last remained intact, though her boots were tucked off to the side and her coat was hung from a coat-rack beside Hunter’s.

“Morning, sleepy head,” Hunter finished his water and set it down on the nightstand beside his bed. “Drink the water, it helps. Even if you did have a light drink, it’s still a good idea to drink water. I have some milk thistle tea brewing in the kitchen, so drink this while I finish making that.”

“I see… thank you,” Haruko accepted the cup and took a gulp of the water, feeling her headache dull in pain a bit. Once she had taken the water, Hunter left the room and turned to the kitchen, where she could smell eggs frying and tea brewing. She left her room to enter the kitchen, seeing Hunter making breakfast after pouring two cups of tea.

“Take it easy, Haruko. Just relax for a bit, breakfast will be ready in a couple minutes.” Hunter announced as he served her the tea. Immediately after, he returned to the frying eggs and cut the heat on the stove, placing the eggs on a slice of toast and seasoning with salt and pepper before serving to her. “Here, eat up. Don’t worry about whether or not it works, I’ve done this multiple times in the past and it works every time.”

“I see… Itadakimasu,” Haruko began eating her egg and toast, sipping on the tea as Hunter received a notification.

“What now…?” The notification stated that someone had spotted Kuroto on the move, fighting a group of players. “Damn, he’s on the move…”

“What?! Then, we have to stop him!” Haruko set down her half-eaten breakfast and stood up, but her headache smashed her right back into her seat.

“I’ll stop him. You need to deal with your hangover. Drink the tea as needed, take my cup if you have to. I’ve poured the remainder of the batch into a thermos on the counter, and there’s an extra egg on toast if you want. I’ll take him myself.”

“You’ll need a sniper… his assistant is probably lurking around somewhere nearby, you know… She’s a sniper, I’m a sniper. That’ll be one variable cancelled if you take me with you!”

“Then, are you ready to see his full power?” Hunter glanced at her over his shoulder, dark red eyes narrowed.

“He’s almost there… Right…” Haruko continued to ponder what to do while she ate, finishing her meal before standing up with her tea in hand. “I’m going. Get the others ready.”

“Take the rest of the tea with you then. Drink it on the way there.” Hunter left the kitchen to grab his equipment from his room, as well as Haruko’s equipment.

Haruko leaned against whatever she could as she made her way to the thermos, finishing her cup before drinking directly from the larger container. The headache was definitely receding, and she felt a bit closer to her normal status. A few more gulps of water, and she had changed into her usual uniform. By the time she was ready to go, tea in hand, Hunter was waiting outside for her, already in Level 10 even though he had the Level 0 unit stored on his belt’s holster. Quickly, Haruko transformed using her Marksman and Artemis units, but when the armor enveloped her, she felt more power than usual.

“It’s at Level 20. I upgraded it when I woke up using the data I collected, finetuning it and whatnot. Unfortunately, Hideo and Kyoka are still at Level 10, since I haven’t had the opportunity to fight them one-on-one and collect data. You should be able to outclass Kuroto’s pesky sniper now, at least in terms of raw combat parameters.” Hunter explained for her.

“I-... Thank you, Hunter.” She smiled underneath her helmet before storing the thermos in her inventory, hopping onto the back of Hunter’s bike, and riding towards the location provided in the message about Kuroto. When they arrived, they found Kuroto stalking towards a four-player party, who were stumbling backwards and away from Kuroto.

“N-no… Stay away, you monster!!” One of them screamed, wearing yellow and black samurai armor and holding a weapon that seemed to be a bow, yet looked as if it could separate into a pair of scythes.

“You thought your puny Level 4 party could stand against my immortal Level 10?” Kuroto scoffed, holding what appeared to be the same device attached to his belt buckle. Instead, it was mounted to a handheld grip that allowed it to rest on his forearm, with the energy blade facing forward and glowing a menacing purple. “You thought wrong. All I need now is to reap one of your lives, and I shall achieve my most powerful form.”

“And I just finished making my Level 20 unit…” Hunter interrupted, firing a bullet from his Ifrit revolver in between the party and the zombie. “You’re already abandoning your Level 10?”

“You’re too late, Hunter. In fact, you only have yourself to blame, having challenged me to a fight and beating me this far ahead. You really are an idiot, Hunter. A very busy idiot.” Kuroto pressed a button on the side of his weapon and removed the platform from the grip. The energy blade dissipated and shrank back into the main body as he rotated it so that the twin barrels were facing forward.

“Eh, you do you. I just wanted to see how far your body would go,” Hunter simultaneously discarded his weapon and closed his driver, activating the charge for Level 20 before swinging his arm across his waist to flick it back open. “Dual up.”

Hunter split in half as the gathered energy formed the missing halves of both bodies and solidified, creating two bodies for Hunter and Specter to inhabit. On the left was the green body that the Specter controlled, while the red body on the right summoned the two swords he used when he first levelled up into this form; this time, they seemed to have a slot installed in the guard to accept cartridges.

“Get the civilians out of here, I’ll deal with the zombie.” Hunter tossed one of the swords to the Specter, who nodded in confirmation before heading to the party, only to be stopped by a sniper bullet.

“There she is…” Kuroto and Hunter noted in sync before turning to face each other and firing their weapons at each other. Purple energy blasted away a brilliant vermilion flame as the two encircled each other and continued to discharge powerful attacks at one another.

Meanwhile, Nanaha was trying to line up a shot on Hunter, but her thoughts kept distracting her. Why was she stuck with Kuroto? She didn’t have to be with him, and she certainly lost the excitement she once had being with him like this. Supporting him from afar, that’s what she normally did, whether it be making him a meal while he worked, or providing cover-fire for him. After Kuroto had finally set up their base and gained his immortality, he began to treat her more like a nuisance than anything, only asking her for food or cover-fire. Surely, she could leave him and work to stop him, right? No… If she betrayed him, Kuroto would hunt her down as well, and considering how dangerously close he was to reaching the next stage of his plan, it wouldn’t end well for anyone… At this time, it was far too late to leave Kuroto’s side. It was either stay and be treated like a pest, or brutally murdered by an immortal zombie or worse…

“Nanaha? Nanaha?!” Kuroto yelled at her through their comms channel. Currently, Hunter and Kuroto had their blades locked together in a clash, red and purple sparks flying off their blades. “Where’s the cover fire, dammit?!”

“R-right… Sorry…” Nanaha looked somberly through her sniper scope and prepared a shot, aiming for Hunter’s heart. When she pulled the trigger, she expected him to drop dead, only to see a green version of Hunter standing in the way with his sword out. The Specter had cut the bullet in half before it moved to help its partner. Black outlined in purple wafted away from the blade before it turned to cut Kuroto.

“That useless bitch!” Kuroto spat as he clashed with both the Specter and Hunter.

“God, you’re such a dick!” Hunter kicked him while the Specter pushed forward, effectively knocking their opponent off balance before they both impaled him with their swords. The gauge rose slowly, but surely, to completion. The gauge remained filled as the final orb bursted with a pale white light, cracking the gauge even further as Satoshi rose upwards, imitating a zombie rising from the dead.

“And I have no words to express how idiotic you are! I just need to kill someone, and everything will be complete!!” Kuroto laughed maniacally, arms thrown in the air. No matter how many more attacks Hunter or any of his allies threw at Kuroto, he was complete immune to them. “Anyone will do, but you’ll be the most fun to eviscerate, Hunter!!”

When Kuroto moved to dash at Hunter, the Specter intercepted the tackle and held him back. Hunter then spun around and prepared to slash at Kuroto, only for an energy arrow to fly right past his mask and embed itself in the back of Kuroto’s head. Turning around, Hunter saw it was the player wearing the samurai armor who shot Kuroto.

“I’m not done with you, dammit…” the player uttered, clearly beaten but determined to finish his fight.

“Ah… so Mr. Chambara Sword-Master returned to die, hm?” Kuroto turned around to face the armored player, but was struck by a beam of golden light. He fell over as smoke wafted off his back. “Dammit… what the hell was that?!”

“If the zombie feeds off of damage received, what would happen if the zombie was hit with energy that restored damage?” Hideo walked into view, arm raised and removing his Apollo cartridge from a slot installed in the arm-mounted crossbow. Kyoka peeked out from behind him, also wearing her Level 10 armor.

“We noticed you two were gone when we woke up, then we saw the fight on the news while we ate breakfast. We rushed over here as fast as we could after.” Kyoka elaborated for them.

“You bastard…” Kuroto pushed himself upwards and checked his gauge. The recently-acquired cracks had repaired themselves, and he had lost 5% from his previously-filled gauge. The final orb had dimmed into the blood red background of the chestplate, as well. “You reset my progress! I’ll take your life instead!”

“Hunter, do something!” Hideo placed his Apollo unit back into his belt quickly and opened fire with his machine guns to try and slow Kuroto down.

“No! I’ll take care of it!” The samurai-armored player rushed at him with his bow, splitting it into a pair of scythes to attack Kuroto with.

“I truly am surrounded by ignoramuses…” Kuroto loaded an empty cartridge into his handheld Dual-Visor before pressing the A-Button. Purple energy began to charge around the blade end of the weapon, which then infused itself into the blade as Kuroto tapped the B-Button. The weapon announced “Critical Reaping!” in a menacing tone as Kuroto swiftly turned and slashed, cutting the samurai player in half and reducing him to a slowly-fading mass of pixels. Instead of disappearing completely, the pixels were sucked in by Kuroto’s Dual-Visor, who had removed the weapon from the grip so that he could aim the barrels at the cloud for suction.

“Just like in the days of preparation for this glorious takeover… And I will use this death data to upgrade myself. Enjoy being left in the dust, Specters. I will come for you once I have the final components compiled.” With that, Kuroto disappeared just as the game announced “You Died.”

“Well… at the cost of one player’s life, we’ve managed to get Kuroto’s final form ready…” Hunter noted. The rustling of bushes from above could be heard, but they paid no mind to it as they walked away.

“We couldn’t save that one life, Hunter?” Hideo grabbed Hunter’s shoulder and turned him around so that they faced each other. “We really couldn’t keep that player alive?!”

“This is Kuroto we’re talking about!! He was going to do whatever it took to get to that final form, and he was going to want at least someone to die! Whether it was by his hand or not, he needed data on someone else’s death! That one death was inevitable! I’m sorry we had to sacrifice that one player, but their sacrifice won’t go in vain, dammit!! We’ve got Kuroto finalizing his end-game equipment! We’ll have our counters for it done soon enough! The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few here, Hideo!” Hunter yelled at him, then suddenly froze up. His hands shook as he closed his driver and removed the cartridge. Unarmored, he took a few steps back, then bowed his head. “I-I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to yell at you, I just…”

“It’s… it’s fine,” Hideo lifted Hunter’s head and removed his armor as well. “I-I’m just…”

“N-no… it wasn’t necessary to yell at you…” Hunter stood up, looking down at the ground.

“Let’s just… head home…” Kyoka suggested to the two as she and Haruko removed their armors. They all left in silence, heading the same direction at first before all four of them split off, heading their own separate ways for a while.

December 25th, 2026

By the time Christmas had arrived, the group had reassembled after a week apart. Hunter had made a cake to celebrate, and they all brought gifts, which were mostly just items for use in combat or support items. It was a joyous occasion, indeed, but there was a sense of division in the group.

At the same time, Kuroto sighed as he compiled the data into his two newest units: Conquering Chronos and Threatening Thanatos. Both were named for the Titan of Time and the personification of Death. Holding the Thanatos unit up, he grinned as he placed it to the side and stared at the Chronos unit.

“Death is no longer my concern. Now… I hold the power of time in my hands,” Setting the Chronos unit aside, he looked over at the new Driver he had recently built: his Shinigami Driver now featured two slots that resembled an X in placement, as well as a new color scheme of silver with cyan overlays as opposed to the original’s black with dark amethyst overlays.

Nanaha approached him, holding two plates in her hands. In one hand was a plate of chicken karaage, some pickled vegetables, and a bowl of rice. In the other… a slice of strawberry shortcake with a chocolate medallion that said “Merry Christmas!” on it. She placed them both on Satoshi’s table, then turned and walked away without another word. Kuroto said nothing at first, but… he stood up, approached Nanaha, and told her one quick phrase that filled her heart with joy.

“...Thank you.”