The safe zone inside the Isaro Ruins was, in practice, a battered shelter standing alone in the endless white snow.
According to the game's setting, it had been built by the people who once lived here, back before the virus spread across the ice field. After that, everyone moved away, leaving only empty shells behind.
Virus-infected monsters wandered through the snowy fog around it. The only sound left was the cold wind. The thin shelter stood there in silence, watching over a white world that people had abandoned.
Samuro pushed open the broken wooden door, which barely had any reason to exist anymore, and stepped slowly inside.
Snow dust and old dirt filled the interior. He swept his eyes over the pale walls and dark corners, and only after checking the whole place with his nearly maxed Search skill did his steps ease.
After sliding the Peacemaker and Blue Rose back into the holsters at his waist, he waved to the partner behind him.
"Looks like nobody's here after all. This should be the safest place in the ruins to run into players, but right now it doesn't look any different from a random hut in the field."
"Isaro has a lot of safe zones, and this one is pretty deep in. That probably has something to do with it."
Samuro and Sinon kept walking deeper inside. Behind him, Sinon tried to close the door, only to find that even when it was shut tight, the icy wind still slipped in through the cracks.
"Come over here."
Samuro found a corner and crouched down. He wiped the floor lightly with one hand, leaving pale dust on his glove. The dry, cold ash scattered again with a small shake and did not cling at all. He sighed quietly, then used both hands to clear away a patch of dust.
"You sit inside."
He had Sinon sit in the deepest part of the corner and sat closer to the outside himself. That way, the two thin walls and his body blocked most of the cold wind inside the shelter.
Then took a simple campfire item from his inventory.
It was usually used at night to add a little camping atmosphere in the field, but a campfire that gave off actual warmth had value here too.
Compared with building a real fire from wood, this was almost absurdly simple. A few clicks, and the flames were already burning.
Watching the small bundle of firewood appear in front of him in just seconds, Samuro smiled before he knew it.
In the modern world, people almost never made fires with wood anymore. Something that had once been a basic survival skill everyone knew thousands of years ago might now be beyond a city person even after an hour and a pile of kindling.
Before he started making a living through games, he had worked many jobs. One of them had been at a traditional restaurant that still used charcoal and wood to cook with a more primitive flavor. Under a more experienced coworker's guidance, a younger Satoru spent half an hour failing to get the fire started.
He got scolded pretty badly.
In ancient times, people used to call someone useless if they could not work with their hands or recognize grain.
Nowadays... useless people were everywhere.
Sitting on the inner side, Sinon finally stopped feeling the cutting wind. Her whole body loosened. The sensation was too real. Even knowing it was virtual, once she relaxed, she could not help letting out a comfortable breath.
Along with Samuro's campfire item, warm firelight spread through the corner, staining the small, gray-white space red and gold. A clear, reassuring warmth followed. Sinon slipped her hands out from inside her cold-weather cloak and moved them closer to the fire.
"Rough, isn't it? Isaro is nothing like the ruin areas before."
The little campfire seemed to melt the dry cold around them. It might have been an illusion, but even the wind outside sounded weaker. Against that quiet, Samuro's voice became clearer.
The avatar named Sinon had sharp ice-blue eyes, but now they carried the yellow light of the fire. She raised her gaze toward Samuro, who sat cross-legged across from her.
He was the same as her, holding out both hands like a child warming himself. His plain features looked softer in the firelight.
The slight curve of his mouth showed that he was relaxed.
No, he was enjoying this.
How strange.
He did not feel like a simple virtual body built from models and code.
Sinon had met plenty of players, all different kinds. With most of them, she could sense some strong label attached: rough, casual, blunt, easygoing. Among all their emotions and personalities, one thing always stood out.
Maybe that was the feeling they most wanted to release in reality.
But Samuro did not have that kind of sharp, exaggerated trait.
He was cautious and focused against enemies. In quieter moments, he joked, teased her once or twice, and when an enemy went beyond his expectations, he complained with obvious frustration. Every edge he had was strangely soft.
In real life, that would not be unusual.
People grew through events and relationships. They learned tact, restraint, patience.
But in a game world built for chasing what reality did not have, a place where people could vent what they usually suppressed, someone like him stood out.
"You look pretty satisfied," Sinon said after a while.
"Rest after hard work is always wonderful." Samuro nodded as if that were obvious.
"Sitting in a place like this barely counts as rest."
The concrete beneath them was cold and uncomfortable. The small campfire could not drive away all the chill. And this peace could break at any moment, if some stranger suddenly logged in here.
"Why not? This is a safe zone. One of the most peaceful places in the game world. Every time I reach one, I end up sighing in relief." He smiled and looked toward the broken doorway a little ways away. "Besides, this one even has a little hut. It's much better than those outdoor safe zones that are just circles drawn in the wild. You can't even hear the beasts howling."
"So reaching a safe zone feels like coming home...? You make it sound like you live in the game," Sinon muttered.
"For a hardcore internet addict, that's not entirely impossible. Haha."
For some reason, Sinon sighed again.
Maybe it was because she had relaxed after the long trek. Maybe it was because the person in front of her made that cold attitude feel unnecessary.
"It's just a game," Sinon said quietly. "For people, it's only an accessory to the real world. A tool."
"That's true," Samuro said. He did not argue. "But sometimes, games are freer than reality. More beautiful too. Most people forget that from time to time. Some people might even escape into worlds like this. That happens a lot."
Sinon paused.
"Escape?"
"Games are usually built from people's ideal visions. Otherwise, no one would play them. Leaving aside deep, difficult competitive games, not many people go looking for something made purely to disgust them, right?" Samuro spoke slowly. "So these worlds people long for gradually become a refuge for some of them. The rules and systems suit them perfectly. Which makes sense, because that's what they were made for."
"And once they feel they belong, it starts."
"After that comes the need for validation. Ordinary people achieve things in games. They get that joy of success, the feeling that effort brings reward."
Samuro continued.
"Everyone is different. Some people just smile and move on. Others sink deep."
His smile faded.
"The virtual account. The real self. Once a gap opens between them, even though both are you, you start judging them separately. In the end, you throw away reality and choose the virtual world, because success is easier there."
Sinon listened and pressed her lips together.
"But the freer self inside the game can also become a source of courage for the real self, can't it?"
"Maybe," Samuro said. "But if someone dives into a game to escape the pain and trouble of reality, they might get it backward. If they cling to the feeling that the virtual world is a rebirth, a second life, they might build an incredibly strong character. But in the end, they still have to leave the fantasy."
"And when they open their eyes and see the same muddy world waiting for them, the disgust only gets worse."
Samuro lowered his gaze.
"For people like that, the only thing that gets stronger is a pile of data some programmer could wipe clean at any time. Outside of that, they haven't grown at all."
An unkempt teenager sat hunched before a thin computer screen.
The screen had been left on, casting the cold light of another world over his exhausted body. His eyes were bloodshot. His hair was greasy and tangled. Within reach were empty drink cans, food containers, cigarettes, a lighter, and an ashtray.
There was no doubt what he looked like.
A miserable, burned-out mess.
He fell into a heavy sleep.
And what he dreamed of...
Was a sky as blue as a stage backdrop, and a vast green plain like an ocean. He wore a coat or heavy armor, sword in hand, stepping over monster corpses and into the Demon King's chamber.
A strong man. A hero. Praised by everyone.
When the dream ended, he paid no attention to his thin body. He only reached for the device and returned to the world where he was a hero.
"Dreams and reality. Cruel as it is, you have to keep them separate." He smiled.
"No."
The quiet girl answered with stubborn certainty.
"...What?"
"If my virtual self becomes strong, then my real self can become strong too! Because they're both me!" Sinon clenched her hands, as if trying to prove something, and spoke with fierce insistence. The gentle yellow firelight in her eyes faded. In its place, the ice-blue will grew stronger.
"If I can't overcome my fear, then I'll defeat it. Destroy it... My real self just doesn't have that chance, so I'm borrowing the virtual world. Once I'm certain I've become strong, that belief will take root deep inside me!"
The girl leaned forward slightly, carrying enough force to almost overwhelm Samuro.
Samuro looked surprised for a few seconds.
"That may be possible..." he said after a moment of silence. "But if you have that conviction, why take the long way around through the virtual world?"
"Being strong in the virtual world may not mean much glory in reality. But someone who shines in reality can find their way anywhere. I'm not looking down on the virtual world. It's just that someone who can overcome hardship in their first life has no reason to surrender so easily."
At least, I myself had strayed far from that.
"That's just your personal opinion. As long as I defeat everyone and become the undisputed strongest... it will definitely work," Sinon said sharply.
Samuro.
He really was strong.
That awareness, that ability to see both worlds clearly, was something she still did not have.
But.
But...
Sinon stared at the person in front of her.
He had already lost to her once.
Yes.
That meant he could no longer be her obstacle.
Samuro felt the atmosphere suddenly drop, charged with tension. He gave a small bitter smile as he looked at Sinon, this doll-like avatar, delicate and small, yet now radiating a cold sharper than the snowstorm outside.
Everyone had their own worries.
These were only thoughts he had formed from his own experiences. Forcing them onto someone else would be wrong.
"I used to do a lot of work. Overnight shifts at convenience stores, warehouse work, waiter jobs, taking orders, helping other people with odd tasks. Small jobs. I also worked as an assistant at a late-night restaurant. You know the kind. Tiring and boring."
Samuro did not argue with the girl anymore. He spoke as if they were simply chatting.
"The people who came in to eat late at night weren't energetic students or salarymen in neat suits," Samuro said. "Most of them were people being squeezed by life."
He paused for a moment, as if sorting through old memories.
"I saw a bankrupt owner come in and drink with his head down. I saw someone who owed money get found by debt collectors, knocked to the floor, and laugh like he'd already given up, telling them they might as well beat him to death."
His voice stayed calm, but the words carried a weight that did not quite match his tone.
"I also saw customers coming from host clubs and hostess bars. Stylish hosts, heavily made-up women, all eating with blank faces. One regular woman came in with a bruise on her face. The host with her quietly ordered one extra dish for her, paid, and left."
Sinon did not interrupt.
"There was also a father and son who ordered only one bowl of meat-and-vegetable soup. The father gave all the meat to his son, and the son put it back in his father's bowl."
Samuro gave a faint, distant smile.
"I had a coworker back then. Still young, probably just out of college. He seemed to like a woman who often came in for a late-night meal around two or three in the morning. He always gave her extra portions."
"Did she know?" Sinon asked.
"Probably. She teased him and told dirty jokes just to watch him blush. He never knew what to say."
"And then?"
"Later, it seemed she changed jobs and stopped working at that kind of place. He quit too."
"Back then, I thought all of those things were troublesome and unpleasant. I only saw my own gray self. Aside from thinking the world was probably just like that, I had no other thoughts."
Samuro shook his head.
"But now, when I think back on it, I feel like I can see things I couldn't see then. Even when it hurts, there is always a little warmth in it."
"What are you trying to say..." Sinon shrank back again, and the force from earlier faded without her noticing.
"Well, I just thought it might be better to talk about something else."
"How pretentious..."
"Really...? Do I give off that smell?"
"Yeah. The second it's a girl, you start acting careful. You're just like the rest of them."
"I've never had much luck with girls, ever since I was a kid." Samuro's tone held no regret. Only resignation.
"If you put it that way, I guess you're just the usual gentle type." Sinon glanced at him. "You're a smoker, aren't you? But aside from when you had one in your mouth when we first met, you haven't taken out another. Were you worried I wouldn't like the smell?"
"The scent simulation is pretty realistic." Samuro smiled.
"You didn't have to. Still, you're better than those rough guys puffing on big cigars."
"Those rough guys would be heartbroken."
Samuro opened his inventory and began taking out prepared food and water.