I didn't realize where that came from, or what this could mean.
[TIME LEFT: 6 SECONDS!]
'Why'd a quest appear?'
For the past 10 months, I saw nothing like this.
Whether I was tortured.
Or died thousands of time.
Or killed a human for the first time.
I reasoned that me seeing this quest…
… Can't be good.
I crushed the pavement with every step as I bolted toward our apartment.
The building was in view. And in a blink I broke through the entrance lobby reinforced glass door without inputting a code.
'FUCK! I SHOULD'VE JUST JUMPED FROM THE OUTSIDE!' I thought as the timer showed:
[TIME LEFT: 4 SECONDS!]
The stairwell blurred. Two steps at a time. Four. The railing snapped under my grip; the stairs collapsed under my foot. I didn't slow. Didn't breathe.
One second before I made it to our apartment.
'FUCK!!!'
I hit the door, shoulder-first.
[TIME LEFT: 0 SECONDS!]
[QUEST FAILED!]
The lock tore free and the door slammed inward.
The smell hit me first.
Stale. Sweet in the wrong way. Like something rotting that had tried to cover itself up. Old food, sweat, something chemical underneath it all. It curled into my throat and stuck there, unpleasantly familiar like a...
'Dungeon rot.'
I hurriedly stood up from the broken door I just bashed. I was inside. I moved further in. Luckily our place was small, there wasn't much ground to cover.
The apartment was dim, curtains half-drawn, the air heavy and unmoving. Bottles littered the floor near the couch—some empty, some half-full, some tipped on their sides like they'd rolled there and never been picked up. Ashtrays overflowed. The carpet was stained in places I didn't remember.
This place used to smell like detergent. Like cheap soap and a warm miso-soup.
Now it smelled abandoned.
'...!'
I saw her immediately.
She was slumped against the couch, one arm hanging limply at her side. Her head was tilted at an awkward angle, hair matted to her cheek. There was a syringe near her fingers, rolling slightly when I stepped closer.
Collapsed posture. Discoloration around the lips. Pupils unfocused...
... No rise in the chest.
Despite never checking someone's pulse seriously before, I pressed my fingers to her neck. With the stats I have, I would feel something no matter how clumsily I'd done it, so I figured.
But there was no pulse.
And I'm not sure if this is my DEX this time but I knew instinctively that she lost her pulse a few seconds ago... Roughly, right before the quest had ended.
Her blood was still weakly flowing from when her heart had still pumped it.
I was too late…
'No. I'm not.'
I knelt beside her and took out a Super Life Elixir. My hands didn't shake. Tilted her chin gently, careful not to let her head loll back.
Poured the liquid into her mouth as I held her tongue slightly pulled to make sure the liquid went down her throat.
I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. I never force-fed anyone, nor was I a doctor.
The DEX only determined how perceptive and precise I was,
'...not how to fucking operate on a dead-'
I shook my head.
'No time to think about anything meaningless.'
'Not with her life on the line.'
The Super Life Elixir spilled down her cheek, soaking into her shirt.
Nothing happened.
Her chest didn't rise.
Her eyes stayed half-lidded, glassy. Empty.
'She's dead.'
For one second—just one—there was nothing in my head at all.
No system. No dungeon. No thoughts.
Then memory snapped into place.
The sixth circle.
The undead, and the way I've beaten the sixth circle.
'Right. I'll do this.'
Bottomless Item Storage (EX)
Description:
A bottomless item-storage that suspends anything non-living within it. Each stored item may be up to 7x7x7 meters in size.
[...SUSPENDS...]
'If her heart stopped beating a few seconds ago, then in the Item Storage, she'll be suspended in that state until I find a better solution...'
I've learned about it. That the brain keeps working 8 minutes after the heart stops. If I put her into my inventory now, she'll be suspended in that state of only a few seconds post death.
'Then I could go back to my world and find a higher-ranking potion somehow.'
'Somehow!'
I wasn't sure just what I felt at that moment. I just hoped my inventory was really that lenient.
I slid an arm beneath her shoulders and lifted her carefully, like she was fragile enough to break if I moved wrong.
Despite looking much, much thinner than I remembered, her body was heavier than I expected.
Too heavy.
Heavier than all the granite slabs I'd lifted altogether.
"I'll fix this," I said quietly as I placed her inside, her lifeless body gradually vanishing in a digital blue glow.
It worked.
Then, a new item appeared in my inventory.
[Item Obtained: Hikari Tanaka (dead) x1]
[Description: a dead human female, age 34…]
I stopped reading, turning off my inventory.
I stood there for a moment, staring at the spot where she'd been.
Bottles.
Stains.
The imprint of her sweat still damp on the couch.
The residue of her fading warmth still within my palm.
I took a deep sigh.
'I did it.'
I then sank back onto the couch beside her, beside the faint impression her body had left in the soft foam, already rising back into shape. My fingers closed around the needle she had pulled out, likely before she died.
For a second, the reflex kicked in. The urge to use Item Inspect before tossing it away.
It didn't matter.
'...I doubt there's a single elixir back in my world that comes with a neat little line saying: Cures drug addiction and revives someone who died from it.' A dry chuckle slipped out before I could stop it.
'Then again… Maybe there is.'
'I did put my dead mom inside my inventory.'
Silence followed.
I stared at the dark, stained floor between my legs, letting it stretch.
'Now what? I still have… Quite a bit of time left. Should I clean for when I revive her?'
I thought, looking around the apartment. My gaze landed on another needle that was nearby on the sofa.
'Just… Where did she even get that from?' I wondered. My gaze fixated on the still present liquid inside.
'Why'd she use it?'
I scratched my head.
"You…" I swallowed. Taking a breath.
"You lectured me about taking… energy drinks once." I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper as I picked that other needle up.
"You said that it makes you unstable." A chuckle being let out.
I twirled the needle in my fingers.
"Even though I told you everyone was doing it to be able to study, you had this…" I narrowed my eyes, "Paranoia about my health, and health in general. Where a single pizza or burger from WackDownalds' could clog my arteries." I exhaled via my nose.
Silence again.
"So why this?" I raised my head, looking at the trashed apartment.
Waiting for an answer.
"You had the world, you dumb… fucking whore." I sighed.
Blinking harder than usual.
"You no longer had to look after me."
No response.
"You were young and beautiful. Coulda found yourself a man, maybe."
No response.
"Fuck," I looked down, letting out a chuckle, "maybe even made yourself a new kid that isn't a bullied trash you have to constantly worry about and pay for."
No one replied to me.
"You…" I took a breath. It was shakier than I'd intended, "Should've improved your life. Not…"
My chin shivered.
I tried to swallow it.
But it just climbed back up again.
Nonetheless, I swallowed.
"Not…" Another shaky breath,
"... Not this." I looked away from the needle to the darkly-stained table, an empty bottle almost rolling off at the edge. Next to it was a picture of me from a long time ago.
My elementary school photo, smiling, gap-toothed.
"Stupid whore."
I shook my head slowly as I tossed the needle away. Both my palms on my face as I leaned on my elbows, rubbing my face.
I could hear the familiar ticking of the clock in the darkness.
One tick.
Second.
Third.
Fourth.
I remain motionless in my position, staring at my own photo next to that empty bottle.
'How much time do I have left in this place?'
I opened my status window.
{[DURATION: 2:45:12] Until [Recess] is over!}
As I looked at the time, I waited for one hour to pass.
{[DURATION: 2:45:11] Until [Recess] is over!}
Seeing only one second change instead, I waited for just one minute to pass.
{[DURATION: 2:45:10] Until [Recess] is over!}
Then, I just wanted it to pass slightly faster, if only by a fraction of a second.
{[DURATION: 2:45:09] Until [Recess] is over!}
But it didn't.
Despite everything, one second was still one second to the universe surrounding me.
Our apartment still smelled like shit.
The needles didn't fade out of existence.
I couldn't taste her miso-soup no matter how much I wanted to. If just for one more second.
"Makoto,"
'Oh,' I rolled my eyes.
"I'm home, sweetie!"
'Fuck this.'
"What should I make you?"
'Fuck everything.'
"Haha. Haven't you grown tired of that soup just yet?"
I spread my arms wide.
"Alright, then…"
Chanting [Hard Swing]...
"... Just leave it to mommy!"
Crushing my head with my fists.
I died.
….
….
[ERROR!]
….
…
{[Recess] ended prematurely!}
…..
….
….
{[Recess] ended before [DURATION] has run out!}
…
…
…
{Condition [Locations will not be saved]: NULLIFIED!}
….
…
…
[Location…]
…
[... SAVED!]
…
Darkness.
Whatever I felt earlier was all gone. I'm clear now.
'... Well, I did destroy my head. Maybe it's that.'
'I'll just start doing that whenever I—'
[Steel must be subjected to extreme heat
to be shaped into its final form,
then quenched in the cold to set its strength.]
'... Hm? A message?' A familiar blue digital glow appeared before me in the darkness.
[Too much heat will cause steel to lose its shape.]
[Be wary.]
I blinked awake, lying in my school uniform. Finally back into the dungeon where I belong. On the dry granite floor of the 6th Circle.
[Recess (EX+) has been used!]
That message echoed in my mind.
"...."
"... Is anyone there?" I spoke.
No response.
"Oh well," I sighed, getting back up, walking back to the Seventh Circle.
As I entered, the orange glow welcomed me back. Familiar warmth in my face.
I could feel my shoulders lower. My chest loosening just as much to allow for a satisfying, complete pull of air.
I was Van Hellix again.
"Time for Circle 5."
A long hallway made of granite, and an end that is not in sight. Branching paths along the way with doors on each side
Enemies yet unseen...
"My north... Is that way." I said as I pointed forward, taking my first step into the level.
'Ah. Right.' I stopped myself, taking the envelope my mother wrote for me out of my pocket, placing it into my inventory.
'I should hold on to it…'
[Item Obtained: Note from Mom (x1)]
___
At that point in time, I hadn't even considered it.
My [Rotting Soul] respawns me at my last visited safe location.
Earth was my last visited location.
But I didn't respawn there.