章節 30: 30 Blessing Day
Author Note: Truth be told, I am a little bit unsatisfied with the previous chapter. Like, my writing skills deteriorated when it was already bad that even Grammarly can't save it.
- Side Story 2 The Game-Ending Bug -
It is said that at some point, humans will develop the ability to understand themselves in the name of self-awareness, and day by day they understand themselves more.
To me, it was my wife's death, which brought this farce to a close for me.
It was under the rainy weather as if the entire world were crying for the loss of the beautiful girl, that I embraced my wife as she leave her lifeless body.
During that day, I developed the self-awareness which I failed in my 25 years of life.
I am empty.
To compensate for the lack of color in my life, I proposed to a woman whom I didn't even love and based the reason for my actions on her.
'I wish I could say 'I love you' before you are gone.' is what I thought but even that thought is a mere distraction to sidetrack my mind into justifying that I loved my wife.
However, my cold expression which shed no tears even in front of my wife's inanimate form said everything.
Living a stable life, becoming a professional player. I accomplished my dream through effort but what remained past that was nothing.
Nothing when the source of my motivation is gone. Somehow at that moment, I felt that life was incredibly boring.
"Let's die in the process of trying to conquer the whole universe." Not wanting to live but not exactly wanting to die, I decided to pursue a goal that I knows I won't ever accomplish.
=====
"I'm so glad you're awake," on my wake I was embraced by a soft body.
After adjusting my blurred vision although I didn't need to, I noticed it was Chloe, and based on her reaction, and the unfamiliar white interiors around, I find out that I was unconscious for a while.
"How long have I been unconscious?" I said terrified but convinced myself that it shouldn't have been that long based on my wife's appearance.
But then, I remembered that she has been keeping that peak appearance of her for the last 5 years and will probably retain it for at least 15 years in the future.
I also arranged my ambiguous memory and remembered that I burnt myself in the game. It was probably the room setting of my house in real life that called an ambulance for me.
"10 days... I don't know what I would do without you... So glad," in the end, I was suppressed by my wife's strong embrace with nothing to do for the next 10 minutes.
This is why I hated dying before my wife. Silently, I thought that dying at the same time as her would probably be the perfect time to die.
I nonchalantly processed my mind to pass the time as well as pat my wife's back to calm her emotions in mess.
It was a blessing episode that rewarded me with an expression of my wife that I don't know of.
***
"Ha? If you want to separate the pork cutlet into 5 parts, don't you have to cut it 5 times??" my wife said with a baffled face.
After being discharged from the hospital, my wife insisted on making dinner for me and since she was willing to do it on her own will, I agreed to her call.
I readied myself to eat even a black matter made of an unknown ingredient but she was unexpectedly a good cook. I wondered where she learned to cook those.
What she made was a Japanese Pork Cutlet and she was supposed to cut it in five pieces but she cut it one extra time, causing the meat in the tail to be extremely little compared to other pieces.
"Are you an idiot? If you cut it 5 times, it will obviously be separated into 6 pieces," I rolled my eyes over Chloe.
"Huh? Why? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6!?!? Why the heck?" Chloe counted her considerably well-made pork cutlet.
"Okay, here's the thing. So if you cut something, it will split into two, right?" I demonstrated it through the pork cutlet she prepared for me.
"I understand! Wait a minute, then, shouldn't the pork cutlet be split in 10 instead of 6?" my wife said with an even more perplexed expression.
I impatiently, patiently, both combined, explained to her the principles behind it, and took a bite of the fairly delicious pork cutlet that day.
"That was delicious," I said in blessing. Although it was a tiring and rowdy time with a wife that always make me panicked, it was a good day to take a breath and forget about the outside world.
"Chloe, wanna take bath together?" In my happiness, I suggested to my wife causing her face to turn red.
'Heh, of course not. She'd probably prefer over making babies with me rather than take bath with me.' I agreed with myself inwardly and went to the bathroom without waiting for her response.
That day, I was surprised to see my wife reluctantly enter that bathroom after I shampooed my hair.
***
7/20
"Heard you had heatstroke. Were you trying to learn Amaterasu or something?" Once I arrived at Itan Highschool, Hajime greeted me.
Where did he hear that news though, this guy is from a different classroom and I am not as famous in the real world as to be on TV just because I caught heatstroke... or so I believe...?
"Actually, it's the opposite. I was trying to learn Tsukuyomi," I responded jokingly. My experience being a high schooler made me capable of joking with my friend.
This was astounding growth compared to my old self-paced self.
At the same time, I also missed what Hajime talked about. I assumed he was talking about Japanese Mythology while in truth, he was talking about Naruto's technique.
Amaterasu in Naruto was a flame that will never be extinguished and Tsukuyomi was one of the highest-level Genjutsu in Naruto.
Meanwhile, Amaterasu in Japanese Mythology was a goddess of the sun, and Tsukuyomi the god of the moon married his sister, Amaterasu.
While Amaterasu, the sun goddess was accompanied by fire which caused me to misunderstand and assume the topic, Tsukuyomi was the god of the moon, sometimes accompanied by 'colds' or 'ice.'
My mentality was still green.
---
I set foot in the classroom and found Komi-san standing right before me holding a pouch bag. Noticing my arrival, Komi-san bowed while handing over the pouch bag.
"Thanks." Despite widening my eyes, I accepted it without waiting for her words because that was unnecessary.
Simply said, inside this server, words were unneeded for me to understand her. Although the gaze of my classmates pained me especially now that I could get the gist of what they were thinking.
I opened the pouch bag only to see the chocolates inside it and the letters. Curious, I sat down on my chair and read the contents of the letter.
Dear Shirasaki Karma,
I hope this letter finds you well. I wanted to extend my sincerest congratulations on overcoming your recent heatstroke. Your strength and determination are truly inspiring.
As a small token of my admiration, I wanted to give you this gift. It may not be much, but I hope it serves as a reminder of your incredible resilience and perseverance.
I have been truly touched by your benevolence and kindness throughout our time together, and I know that you will continue to make a positive impact on the lives of those around you.
With warm regards,
Komi Shouko.
At this point, not even 5 seconds have passed but I finished reading the content of the letter and was moved. I decided to treasure this letter with neat and tidy handwriting in it.
Some classmates that were peeking at the letter could only read the part [I hope this letter finds you well] before I closed the letter but that was their problem.
I gave a portion of chocolates to Tadano as we talked and ate it together.
"This chocolate is not bad," I said in a small voice so that my classmates nearby won't hear me and accuse me of 'undervaluing' Komi-san's chocolate.
創作者的想法 
R4IN
R4IN Yes. The letter is AI generated but after reading it through, I was surprised to see that Komi-san may write something like that.
So I shamelessly put it here.
I also hesitated whether to write Shion's side-story or Villain Karma's side story but ended up with Villain Karma's side story because I like 'what ifs'