The gloomy curtain of rain had gradually dissipated.
The morning sun rose, casting moonlight upon the land, and then a new day arrived.
The people of the city repeated their unchanging daily lives.
To them, horror stories did not exist; there was no death game, no grotesque creatures. Everything they saw and heard in their daily lives constituted the entirety of their world. Perhaps nothing significant would ever change until the day they departed from this world; perhaps such days would come to a sudden end one day, but the vast majority of people around them would continue to repeat the same melody, operating the world like parts of a machine.
However, for those who already existed outside of the everyday, such days were long gone.
Their lives were often measured in months. The death game woven from rules-based horror stories was staged once a month, and surviving every time was likely no easy feat for most players.
Although he had yet to formally make contact with the so-called player community, Gao Hai felt that this speculation of his was probably not far off the mark.
At this moment, four days had passed since the end of the Shirakawa Apartments instance. And counting from the information Maki and Kaguya had found on the television station, it was now the third day—the day the player market was to be held.
Gao Hai stood at the entrance to an old, abandoned district on the city's outskirts. Its water, electricity, and gas had been cut off; basically, no one except the homeless would ever linger here. After waiting for a short while, he saw Maki, dressed in casual clothes, emerge from a nearby intersection.
"Good morning, Maki."
Gao Hai greeted the girl with a perfectly composed demeanor.
"...How can you greet me so casually?"
Maki narrowed her eyes and stared at Gao Hai for a long moment before finally huffing and walking over to join him, falling into step beside him.
After the awkward situation three days ago, Gao Hai had called Maki and sincerely apologized. After some hesitation, the girl didn't actually start distancing herself from him, but she did state very seriously that he was absolutely forbidden from getting handsy with her the next time they met.
At the time, Gao Hai had really wanted to ask what the specific parameters for 'getting handsy' were, but considering the girl was still fuming, he had wisely chosen to keep his mouth shut.
After that, Maki's anger subsided rather quickly. Perhaps, in a way, she herself felt a little guilty, as she had to admit she had gotten somewhat lost in their progressively intense deep kiss.
Could it be that she was actually a bit of a wanton girl?
That question troubled Maki for a whole day, but she eventually came to terms with it. Ultimately, she was now trapped in this thing called the Sacrificial Game and had already established an inseparable bond with Gao Hai. That being the case, rather than constantly fussing over such things, it was better to look forward and think about what to do in the next mission.
Although she said it as if she had figured it all out, when she truly met Gao Hai again, the girl couldn't help but revert to her usual tsundere demeanor.
"By the way, that earpiece... does that mean Miss Shinomiya has been listening in on our situation?"
Gao Hai glanced at the tiny earpiece Maki wore in one ear and asked.
"Yeah. My grand-aunt's upbringing is very strict. She can't go out freely like I can, so this is the only way she can participate as much as possible."
Maki nodded lightly. She wouldn't adopt a tsundere attitude when discussing serious matters.
"Have any other players tried to probe you these past few days?"
Gao Hai thought for a moment and asked another question.
"No, not after the first day. There haven't been any more attempts. At least, none that I could detect. Perhaps the other party has decided to wait and see. Right now, we're out in the open and have no way of knowing if the person hiding in the shadows is friend or foe. We can only hope it's not an opponent like Lao Guo."
Maki shook her head slightly, her gaze quickly flicking to Gao Hai beside her before looking away. A moment later, she glanced at him again, then quickly looked away before his eyes could meet hers.
After repeating this three times, she finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked in a low voice.
"You... haven't run into any trouble these past few days, have you?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Maki frowned, feeling that she had chosen an overly mundane topic of conversation.
"The last few days have been okay, I guess. Aside from those things that start appearing every evening, I haven't encountered anything else for now. By the way, I heard that underground market is quite cold. Will you be okay?"
Gao Hai said, his gaze shifting to the pair of long, slender legs revealed beneath Maki's skirt.
For a long time now, Gao Hai had found the practice of wearing short skirts in cold weather in Japan to be rather strange. He wasn't sure if it was just a stereotype from anime or if many Japanese people really liked to do it.
"I'll be fine. I'm not so thoughtless as to overlook something like that. They may look thin, but these are thermal stockings."
Maki said, lifting her skirt hem slightly to let Gao Hai see the white stockings she was wearing.
The sunlight was quite pleasant at this hour. Under its warm glow, the two figures, one tall and one short, passed through the boisterous boundary of civilization and stepped into the old district, which was piled with all sorts of trash and debris, its buildings' exterior walls peeling and overgrown with weeds.
Though separated by only one or two streets, this place felt like another world, causing both Gao Hai and Maki to feel a sudden chill upon entering.
"By the way, what's the reason this place was abandoned?"
Gao Hai turned his head and asked the girl beside him.
"Well, it's quite complicated. This area was built many years ago, originally intended to be an economic zone, but problems arose during construction, and many of the supporting facilities weren't done properly. Later, the leadership changed, and there were issues with the handover. On top of that, this area never managed to attract residents, and with Japan's economy in decline, this place was eventually abandoned. Basically, no one comes here anymore. Well, except for some homeless people and criminals, I suppose? I probably wouldn't have come to a place like this in the past."
Maki explained the situation to Gao Hai as she walked forward.
Both of them had studied the map of the area before coming, so there was no need to worry about getting lost. They headed straight for their destination.
Sunlight pierced through the rows of derelict buildings, shining through broken windows and casting specks of light onto the dim street.
Gao Hai turned his head, watching Maki walk slowly beside him. After a moment's thought, he stepped closer, reached out, and took her small hand, and they continued forward, hand in hand.
"Wh-what are you doing? Didn't I tell you not to get handsy?"
Caught off guard, the girl's face flushed slightly as she immediately looked up and asked hurriedly.
"Let's just walk together holding hands."
But Gao Hai just smiled and said, feigning innocence with his sunny, cheerful, boy-next-door grin.
"You... you're quite good at teasing girls, aren't you?"
Knowing he wouldn't let go easily, Maki muttered under her breath and, giving up the fight, allowed him to hold her hand as they walked forward together.
The unease in her heart seemed to fade just a little.
It was only then that Maki realized she had actually been faintly afraid, harboring a sense of dread about the unknown underground plaza.
Could he have noticed that and insisted on holding hands because of it?
The thought made the girl sneak a glance at Gao Hai, only to see his usual calm expression.
I can't figure him out. Sometimes he seems to be playing dumb, and other times he seems genuinely clueless.
Well, the only thing I can be sure of is that he's a true lecher, the kind who takes a mile if you give an inch. I have to be careful. He's far too dangerous.
As she was thinking this, Maki suddenly noticed a figure appear ahead.
It was a young woman.
A girl with long pink hair, carrying a guitar on her back and wearing a tracksuit. She was very pretty, but for some reason, she had a somewhat gloomy air about her.
In this empty, silent, abandoned district, this girl, who looked completely out of place, walked out from a street corner. Judging by her direction, it seemed she, like Gao Hai and Maki, was also heading for the underground shopping plaza mentioned on TV.
Maki had already pulled her hand back and was watching the other girl cautiously.
Gao Hai, however, after a brief moment of recollection, quickly recognized the girl before him.
Isn't that little Bocchi?
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