In a world where one lacked intimacy, gacha games had always been my salvation.

I mean, being immersed in a world where you could grow your base and pick up girls to double as war potential and romantic companions? That wasn’t all. CyberSoft was the first developer to include a fully AI-controlled relationship management simulator into the game. Dialogues, choices, and every other action that the player did would ultimately result in new perspectives and dialogues from the characters. 

There was even a function where you could simply chat with them through a messenger app format, and they would reply to you in-character. It almost felt like they were real. …I couldn’t resist throwing my money at the game, wishing for my characters to reciprocate with their “heartfelt thanks” for receiving premium equipment. 

I worked tirelessly at a black company for a long time, all to fund my spendings in the game. I spent all of my free time looking up strategy guides and even attempting to min-max the game in any way possible. As a result, even “Synthetic”, one of the top guilds at the time, had noticed me.

From a nobody, to someone who could consider having close friends because of my connection with this gacha game. Cyber World Online filled that spot in my heart for a long time as that emotional aid. As a once-social reject, the time and care I spent into the game was definitely unmatched. Even if they were virtual characters, I loved and understood all the girls properly as if they were real.

I watched the woman carefully, as I slowly recovered from the disorientation of seeing a 2D character in 3D. Or was it  2.5D? Her feathery hair fluttering in the mind, the chains rattling off her wrists, the folds on her clothes; I couldn’t feel anything uncanny at all. Her appearance, Lunallu Verionlight’s entire presence was dreamlike.

I still don’t understand much about my ability… [Cyber World]. Just without the “Online” at the end, it felt like parts that were virtual had completely disappeared while the main characteristics of the game still remained. Did this apply to characters that I would summon too? 

Was I summoning a new Verionlight, or was I summoning the companion that I had maxed out in the game?

I stared at her status window, which popped right out before me.

Her Vitality, Energy, EX charge bars all indicated in 3 different colours. Her 4 different skills…

She was just as I recalled… She’s… real.

Reality struck me harder, as I’d actually seen the manifestation of my ability for the first time.

I subtly held my breath and prepared my words… my vision felt blurry when it came to words that I should say.

Suddenly, I felt a hand placed on the side of my cheek.

“Doctor…? Why are you crying?”

“...”

“Forgive my presumptuousness…” 

I was embraced, as Verionlight’s arms wrapped around my neck.  I could feel her body heat… her beating heart… her mounds…

“V-Verio…”

“...Call me Lu, just like you’ve always had.”

I froze for a while but slowly nodded, feeling many emotions within me.

Verionlight, no… “Lu” was a nickname that I’d given her. Knowing this, I placed my arms around one of my beloved characters and reciprocated the hug.

“Hnng…” 

“I-I’m sorry!” Was I being too rough? I hastily removed myself from Lu. She took a step forward as I did so with moistened eyes, but she shook her head.

Lu lowered her head, and smiled derisively.

“Doctor… it’s not fair.” She wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeves.

“I should be the one crying… and you should be apologizing…”

Apologizing…?

“Ever since you had abandoned us, …Lu has been on a self-discovery trip. And also, to find a way to—”

Huh?

“—H-Hold on a second… What did you say?”

Lu had a furious blush as I held both of her shoulders strongly.

“D-D-Doctor?!”

She was an augmented being who could easily overwhelm me in strength if she wanted, but she seemed to be respecting my words, as expected from her Loyalty value of 90. But still, what’s more important is…

“...What do you mean, abandoned? I abandoned you? Wasn’t it the other way around?”

My words were spoken from the bottom of my heart, as my true feelings surfaced. Frustration, regret, and the ugliness of what I’d repressed ever since I heard the end-of-service announcement. I couldn’t help it! I wasn’t given a choice!

This time, it was Lu who looked as if she felt wronged.

“...Sure, we may have pushed the Doctor with our needs too much every day but, without even a complaint… you left us for her…”

“...Her?”

“...That woman… that’s right… because of her… you left us…” Suddenly, Lu’s expression darkened, as if she’d remembered something bitter. Her face had a look that could kill.

“...She ignored the mutual agreement between all of us…!” Her teeth gnashed strongly, as her eyes started to produce static.

“Saying that the world is ending and all… she seduced you to leave us…!”

Eh…? This part of my history… I had no recollection of this mysterious girl?!

What on earth is happening… Did I experience amnesia of any kind, or was Lu lying to me?

In any case! Lu seems to be unconsciously discharging some of her powers because of her emotional state… Loyalty is… DECREASING QUICKLY?!

Before it dropped to 80, I hugged the woman again.

“Hnngh! W-Wait… doctahhhnn…!”

Her expression turned slightly mellow, and her breathing turned more ragged.

Yes, Lu loved hugs, if I recalled. Intimacy was the window to the soul. I did so as my heart pounded strongly for various reasons. Hugging such a pretty woman… The feeling was unreal, but more importantly, I was hell-bent on not letting the Loyalty value drop any further.

If hugging was all it took to avoid this, so be it! 

“L-Let gooouu… I’m seriousshhh…”

Her eyes were watery as she protested with a slackened mouth.

Not enough…!

It was the one thing I had over this character to listen to me. If it eventually reaches zero, there is no telling what she would attempt. I still remember a player who had prioritised clearing the game content over character management.

As a result, all 17 0-Loyalty characters had a hand in "killing" the Doctor, AKA soft-locking the account into a Bad End. Yes, that’s right, this was THAT kind of gacha game. The realism of its companion system was also designed to necessitate hours of playtime to maintain character relationships.

For good measure, I blew into her ear.

“H-Hhiiiihhh!!! D-Doc—” Lu did not attempt to leave my embrace, but squirmed frantically as steam started to rise from her head.

“—None of that matters now.” I whispered, as if coaxing a child. Despite how she looked, Lu was a woman who wanted to be pampered.

From the side, I could see her ears turning red.

“Yo-You say that but… do you know how hard it was to keep going for the ten years that you were gone?!”

“T-Ten years?” My conviction was momentarily stunted at this piece of news.

What is this time difference we're experiencing?

“That’s right! Ten! Years! Idiot! Idiot idiot idiot!” I was pushed down to the ground.

“Lu…”

Lu softly pounds on my stomach with decreasing momentum, until only her forehead is pressed against my chest. She had leaned onto my body while sniffling. 

“I’ve missed you… so much…sniff…”

“I know.”

“... I still have many questions.”

“I’m… sure you do, but Lu… let’s talk about this when we’ve returned home.”

“...Home.”

“Yes. We’re in enemy territory right now. Do you understand what I am saying?”

Lunallu Verionlight’s battle instincts seemed to have been ignited at my words. Of course, it was easy to forget but… all the gacha characters in Cyber World were considered war potential for a reason.

No matter how pretty they looked, one must never forget that they were combatants made to kill.

Lu nodded strongly, and got up while wiping her face.

“Also… just in case, I’d like you to call me Ren from now on.”

“...Ren…?”

“Yeah. It’s my new identity… in this world.”

“In… this world?” Lu’s eyes glistened.

“...I understand. Both the fact that I had awakened in this capsule, and the fact that you’re here… many things seem to click into place. As expected… that woman…!”

As if forming her own conclusion for the matter, Lu grimaced. Well,  at the very least, this intentional misunderstanding with this “woman” I didn’t know of, was going to keep her going for a bit more for now. Best to direct the line of fire somewhere else for now, at least until we’ve returned to our apartment.

…Managing characters in reality… turned out to be harder than I thought. I sighed secretly.

“Do…Ren.” She said as her body started to crackle in electricity.

“My level seems to have been reset to one. It’s going to hinder my combat abilities.”

“...I noticed that too.” 

Was this going to be the trend in the future? It was a little demoralising, considering how much materials were required to max out characters. I only see a long grind ahead.

“What do you propose, …Ren?”

“First… this girl.”

Finally, the girl with headphones was mentioned. She was lying on the ground with eyes closed not too far from us. Yeah, she was the one who was too surprised to escape.

“Playing dead won’t help.” I said. No reaction?

“If you’re going to stay there, Lu here is going to electrify you to death.”

With the whisper “scare her a little”, Lu smirked and declared a little louder than normal,

“Of course… my chains are good at torturing… hehe…”

I saw a faint tremble to those words. And as the sound of heels got closer to her, headphones girl eventually gave up and quickly scurried up.

“I-I’m awake! I’m awake! Don’t kill me! Please!”

“...Feeling a little more cooperative yet?” A voice came from behind her, startling the girl.

Her face was one of frustration, fear and confusion.

I held out a hand and smiled, “Ren.”

“...”

When she almost passed introductions without replying, the crackling of electricity scared a reply out of her, albeit somewhat reluctant.

“...Jeanne.”

“Well then, Jeanne. Lead the way. We’re getting out of this place.”