EBO: Resume - Chapter 14

Unknown, 2024

Shadows yet again. An infinite darkness… In this darkness, sparks flew. A faint orange glow began to appear in the dark. It glowed brighter, and brighter. More sparks flew. A battle cry could be heard as swords clashed. Then… the darkness took shape. The orange glow turned humanoid as rock-like armor sat on it. It was… Hunter, his face determined to stop the enemy in front of him… Hades Incarnate himself: Satoshi. They glared at each other as their fists met. Hunter’s fists were covered in the same rocks as his armor, but were coated in magma that was sharpened. Satoshi’s fists… were formed from the prior darkness, contrasting horribly with the Hunter’s glowing magma before Satoshi remembered… these fists weren’t his. A ghost of pure darkness floated beside Satoshi, clashing with Hunter. The ghost pushed Hunter back so Satoshi could dash forward and stab Hunter. But before the serrated sword could make contact with Hunter, Satoshi woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily…

April 7th, 2026

Today was Hunter’s birthday, which was celebrated with a cake baked by Haruko and a quick round of “Happy Birthday.” She had made a strawberry shortcake using a secret family recipe that she refused to reveal to anyone, but it turned out delicious. Hideo had managed to buy some fine whiskey for everyone, so they drank and laughed the night away. It wasn’t until 4 in the morning of the next day when they went to bed. By that time, the whiskey was empty and the team was sound asleep on the couches. Haruko had allowed Hunter to cuddle with her, keeping them both warm in the cold nights. The last thing she thought before dozing off was how warm Hunter’s body was…

April 13th, 2026

It had been a whole month since Kairi had signed that deal with the self-proclaimed god. Not much had come out of the deal aside from the Level 50 unit, which had made his jobs too easy for his tastes. Nanaha and Kairi had taken to chatting every now and then, since Satoshi couldn’t care less about what his subordinates did until he needed them. The two of them were sitting in Kairi’s office, talking over a cup of coffee.

“We’ve never really discussed our boss’s background, have we?” Kairi asked, taking a sip of his drink.

“I don’t meddle in his personal affairs, but his older brother has told me what our employer has been through in the past. I actually met him in the hospital, the Kuroto brothers.” Nanaha stated.

“Brothers? So there’s a power greater than our mighty god?” Kairi’s baritone voice pressed on.

“I-I don’t want to say more… He might kill me if I do…” Nanaha set her coffee down, looking away with unease.

“He can’t listen in on us, can he?”

“No, but he can look through the game’s data like he’s looking at security footage. Every word we say, every action we take, every object we move… he can look back on it all and plan a proper counter. However, he did just recently acquire this ability. It seems his progression towards godhood is slow, but sure.”

“Tch. If that’s the case, we need to find a safe zone. Can you think of any blind spots? Anything or anywhere?”

“No… As far as I know, his reach is unlimited. We’d have to create a glitch that to talk freely. But even then, he’d know we’re up to no good and punish us…”

“What about your Succubus unit? Isn’t that a Void-type?”

“If I used it outside of combat purposes, he’d become immediately suspicious.”

“Damn, you’re right…” Kairi leaned back in his chair, putting his feet up on the desk and crossing his arms. “Unless… we create our own blind spot?”

“He’d be suspicious of that too. We need to find several scattered blind spots and alternate randomly so we can throw him off our trail for a bit…” Nanaha put her hand to her chin in deep thought.

“Indeed we do. Problem is getting those blind spots made and figuring out where to put them…”

“Worst-case, we can just do some sparring and I’ll pull you into the Void pocket of mine so we can talk, then I kick you back out so we keep fighting.”

“That’s… not a bad idea. We could make that work, we just need to figure out how long to converse in the void pocket so he doesn’t get suspicious…”

“We can exchange a few lines in the void pocket, then I’ll kick you out.”

“That’s… vague as hell, but whatever.” Kairi got up and stretched before they both put on their Drivers. “Let’s go spar then.”

“I know a spot.” Nanaha lead him out the door and to a forest via bike. Once they arrived, they transformed. The Succubus equipment materialized over Artemis gear in a flash of dark pink and black.

“Level 50 versus 30? Don’t know if this is worth it…” Kairi got out his Gear-Dual unit and rotated the dial over to the silver half before loading it into his Driver.

He flipped the belt open as his Level 2 armor quickly materialized before another screen passed over his suit, opening the chest harness to replicate the pattern of his unbuttoned coat. A blue muffler which wrapped itself up to create a shoulder cape on his right shoulder materialized and flapped in the wind while black and dark silver armor appeared on his arms and shins, with red lines flowing down the armor as the shin armor merged with his armored combat boots before the knee armor sharpened to a point. His mask was now dark silver with a gold mouthplate, with his X-shaped visor still pitch black.

“It’s fine. It’ll help me counter higher-level enemies, player or not.” Nanaha readied her 10mm pistols as Kairi twirled his energy pistols briefly before they aimed their weapons at each other.

“Let’s see how you perform now, darling.”

“Try not to get too close, dear~” She teased before they both opened fired on each other.

Energy collided with brass as all of their projectiles knocked each other out of the air. The brilliant silver fired from Kairi’s energy pistols would disperse and melt the metallic alloys that formed Nanaha’s bullets. Sparks flew as their attacks would cancel out as they encircled each other rapidly, jumping off of trees and rolling across the dirt of the forest before they ended up right next to each other. Kairi had his barrels pointed at the bottom of her chin and her ribcage while Nanaha had hers pointed at his chestplate where his heart was and his ribs as well.

“Do it.” He pushed her forward as she opened the Void pocket behind them, causing them to fall into an empty abyss and disappear from Satoshi’s ability to see all. “Now tell me… who’s our god’s older brother?”

“What was his name again…? Dammit, uh… Oh, Souichi! Souichi Kuroto!” Nanaha exclaimed while lying on her back. Her arms were spread out, her legs pushed together as if covering up. Kairi lay above her, keeping her pinned to the ground.

“Souichi, huh? Tell me everything, darling.”

“He’s pretty handsome, a hot-shot businessman. He’s notorious for his deals, which have just the right amount of incentive for the other side while maintaining minimal losses for his side. Some say he’s like Mephistopheles, offering irresistible deals to companies for his family business.”

“Ho? Interesting… I’d like to meet him one day…”

“If we can find a way to leave this world, I’m sure you’ll be able to meet him. He’ll probably come looking for his brother one way or another.”

“So… how did you meet the god and his devilish brother?”

“First, we spar. We need to keep up the illusion, after all!” Nanaha kicked him out of the pocket and reloaded her guns before firing at him.

“Right, right. Forgot about that!” He rolled out of the pocket and onto the dirt, slowing his momentum down in a kneeling position before returning fire and knocking the bullets out of the air.

Nanaha jumped out of the pocket and holstered her pistols before generating a set of void energy gauntlets as she punched Kairi. Her punches wouldn’t land, as Kairi kept side-stepping and dodging each strike with elegance and grace befitting such a renowned thief. Pure black would swing at Kairi, but he would hop back and duck under the blankness that barraged him before firing his pistols at his opponent. With a groan, Nanaha would drop to her knees before channeling the energy from her gauntlets into another void pocket before Kairi tackled her inside.

“Picking up where we left off… how did you meet the two of them?” He asked her as he pinned her to the ground again.

“Uh… Y-you see, I was at the hospital when I met them.

“What for?”

“Well… I used to be a total tech lover… My dad taught me how to code at a young age, and I just shot off from there. He said I was a natural at it, so I wanted to test how good I really was. I started hacking into people’s phones, computers… I even managed to hack traffic lights. But that attempt with the traffic… it got my cousin in major trouble… I set the lights to go haywire, and a car ran into my cousin… It was a terrible accident, and I turned myself in out of guilt…”

“...Damn.”

“My cousin had to have his leg amputated from how much damage it had received from the accident… My parents bailed me out of jail just so they could punish me by making me watch the surgery and help my cousin with rehab…” Nanaha had begun to cry as she recounted her past to Kairi, tears streaming down her face under her helmet.

“I’m… so sorry to hear that…” Kairi put his hand to her helmet’s cheek in an attempt to comfort her.

He found a button that caused her helmet to collapse and fold up onto the collar of her suit, which allowed him to wipe the tears from her face. He removed his own helmet as a sign of respect, tossing it aside as he hugged her to him. Instead of stopping, the tears came flooding out of her eyes as she relived her painful past in her mind. The hot, salty tears wouldn’t stop coming, soaking into Kairi’s chest. He didn’t mind. The poor girl had no one to talk to about this, and now she could finally let the stress of her past flood out in her tears.

“It’s okay, Nanaha… Satoshi may not be there for you, but I’m here… You can tell me whatever you want… I’ll listen to you, darling…” He pat her head gently as the crying began to die down, slowly reduced to sniffling as Nanaha looked into his eyes.

“Thank you… Satoshi… he’s never there. He doesn't care. He doesn’t care at all!! He always treats me like I’m lesser than him! Like I’m some disposable tool! He doesn’t consider my feelings at all!” She bursted, hugging Kairi tightly as the crying restarted. “All he wants is this stupid death game! He only wants to kill everything and everyone here! It’s his only reason for doing any of this! He’s a homicidal psychopath who can’t stop killing after tasting its satisfaction in SAO!”

“Wait, SAO?” Kairi looked at her with a serious expression.

“Mhm! Satoshi is an SAO Survivor! He was a part of that infamous Player Killer guild in that death trap, and he slaughtered so many people! To him, it really was just a game! He doesn’t care about lives! He doesn’t care about people! He only cares about his own bloodlust! No matter what we do, Satoshi has this system rigged to kill us all! If he gets bored of this, he’ll log himself out and purge the Nexus Core keeping our consciousnesses in the game! He’ll be committing genocide!! If someone kills him, then the Nexus Core will purge anyway! He’s rigged this entire game to kill us all no matter what!” Nanaha sobbed.

“So… you met them at the hospital while you helped your cousin with rehab… and they brought you in because of your hacking skills…” Kairi muttered to himself as Nanaha nodded her head. “Do you think there’s any way of freeing us at all?”

“Our only hope…” Nanaha sniffled, calming down a bit. “Our only hope is with Hunter. He has that Level 100 unit that can resist Satoshi. I’ve been considering joining with them, but Satoshi would just purge my mind from the Nexus Core the moment he saw me working for them. He’d do the same to you if you betrayed him…”

“So we have to keep working for him until Hunter and his crew figure out a way to stop him and free us…” Kairi rocked Nanaha in his arms gently, as if cradling a baby who had been crying all night long.

“That’s right… B-but… I saw one weird gap in Satoshi’s plans… He’s obsessed with Hunter for some reason. He’s programmed the system to release us without killing us if Hunter manages to defeat him… I couldn’t begin to tell you why he’d want to be defeated by someone he hates so much, but that’s what he’s programmed it to do. If Hunter defeats Satoshi, the Nexus Core unlocks and we can be safely released.” Nanaha elaborated in between sniffles.

“Hunter, huh…? Why would our homicidal god want to be defeated by his greatest enemy…?” Kairi, pondered while still holding Nanaha in his arms.

“I couldn’t think of any possible theories. It’s… so bizarre.”

“There’s probably some philosophical bullshit involved somewhere in there. I’m calling it right now.” Nanaha actually giggled a bit from his comment.

“You’re probably right. Something about how they’re ‘two sides of the same coin’ or how ‘Hunter completes Satoshi’s existence and gives his life meaning.’” She sniffled and giggled, Kairi chuckling softly with her.

“I could totally see that corny bullshit coming from him when it’s the final battle of the entire game and it’s just those two. We’re down on the ground, badly beaten, barely any health. It’s raining. The two of them are in their final forms, armor completely broken and barely worth any defense. They’re staring each other down as they have a philosophical argument about the morals of this shit while they prepare their finishers. I’ll put on some melancholic music for us if the Game Devs don’t overlay some for them.” He chuckled a bit louder this time as Nanaha started laughing louder, hugging him tightly.

“It’s sad how true that sounds.” She smiled, more of a melancholic smile than a smile of joy.

“Yeah… But if Hunter really is the key to unlocking us from this virtual prison, then we have to support him while supporting Satoshi…” Kairi returned to the main topic at hand.

“We’ve been in this void pocket for way too long…” Nanaha noted.

“Guess we’ll have to postpone this type of discussion for a while so he doesn’t get extra suspicious.” Kairi stood up, offering his hand out to Nanaha. She accepted it as he lifted her up to her feet. “Our god is a homicidal maniac who couldn’t care less about people’s lives… And our only hope lies in the Crimson Specter.”

“Mhm…” Nanaha proceeded to kick Kairi out of the pocket before jumping out and closing, falling to her knees to make it seem like she had been heavily wounded in a fight inside the pocket. In reality, it was just lack of energy from her outburst.

“Was that really necessary…?” Kairi asked with a groan.

“Yep.” Nanaha sighed as she got up and pointed her pistol at him. “Yield?”

“Yield…” Kairi cancelled his transformation and stood up, dusting himself off.

“Were you going easy on me again?” She cancelled her transformation as well, putting the cartridges away and summoning her bike.

“Maybe…” Kairi summoned his own bike before mounting it and riding off. Nanaha sighed and followed him as they returned to the former’s office to find… Satoshi waiting.

“Decided to stop by and check up on my two subordinates. Where were you two?” Satoshi asked as he looked at them, red and blue eyes staring at a pair of brown, and a pair of amber.

“Sparring. Nanaha suggested it. She wanted to see how well she could handle herself with a lower level unit.” Kairi replied coolly, walking into his office and hanging his coat up on the rack.

“Turns out, I can handle myself quite fine.” Nanaha added as she walked into the bathroom.

“Hm… How smart of her to suggest that. Good on you two for bettering yourselves. You should be ready to face my enemies soon enough. Keep this up, and I’ll unlock your Gear Dual’s hidden potential, Kairi.” With that, Satoshi left the building and faded into the shadows.

“...As expected of God…” Kairi muttered before sitting down at his desk.

Nanaha returned from the bathroom, having washed her face to hide the tears she had shed earlier. She decided to pull her chair up next to Kairi and sat beside him before resting her head on his shoulder.

“I’m tired…” She mumbled sleepily with a yawn.

“From the fighting or…?” He pat her head gently.

“The overall sparring session.” She replied, nuzzling up to him. “You’re the first person I’ve been able to actually talk to about my true feelings… It’s such a relief to finally get all that off my chest.”

“That so?” Kairi looked over to her as she closed her eyes and smiled softly. “Do you think our boss will care that I’ve stolen your heart?”

“No language on Earth would have a word to describe how much he doesn’t care. A quantum supercomputer, calculating for a thousand years, could not even approach the number of fucks he doesn’t give. The-”

“I get it, darling.” He pat her again as she giggled.

“I do have something else I’d like to get off my chest…” She pulled him up and towards the bedroom.

“Sorry, darling. I make it a point to at least go out on a couple of dates before I go there.” Kairi stopped her at the door, pinning her to the wall in traditional anime fashion. She blushed, looking up at him shyly.

“T-then… why are you pinning me against the wall like this…?”

“Only to stop you from messing up.”

“This is just a game, you know… It’s not like what happens here will transfer to our physical bodies.”

“Unless we die.”

“Still… not like having a little fun in bed will transfer to my real body…” She looked to the side, feigning innocence.

“Not gonna work on me, darling. If you want to sleep in my bed, have at it. I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.” Kairi stood up properly and dusted his hands off before unlocking the door and opening it. “I mean, it’s the middle of the day, but if you wanna nap, have at it.”

“Mmm…” Nanaha put her finger to her lips, contemplating if she really should take that nap. “I suppose I’ll take you up on the offer. A true gentleman you are, Kairi.”

“Thank you. I’m gonna head out for lunch, so I’ll lock the doors up. Worse comes to worst, call me and I’ll get back as soon as possible.” Kairi let her into the room before heading out of the office to get a meal.

Upon entering the bedroom, she took notice of how neatly organized everything was. The bed was simple, with pale blue sheets and white pillows on a mahogany frame. A mahogany wardrobe sat in the corner, along with a nightstand beside the bed. The bed was neatly made, and the dresser was slightly open. She couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at how neat the room was. She was expected a bit of a mess, in all honesty. Pacing around the room, she looked out the window and saw rain clouds coming in. Another yawn escaped her, reminding her of how tired she was. She lifted the covers before dressing down into a simple purple nightgown before diving under the sheets. The pillows were divine, as soft as a cloud and fluffy like an adorable puppy. The blankets were thick and kept her insulated from the approaching cold. She was perfectly content with this warmth, and happy that she had found someone she could confide her deepest secrets in…