Empire of Fantasy 8
That evening—in Kagehira Mika’s recreated room within the virtual reality world SHINSEKAI
Mika: Jesus Pete... I’m beat...
Shu: But we can finally rest. Honestly, this day has dragged us both through hell and back.
Mika: The difference between the last two days is like rain an’ shine... Last night I went to bed all happy-like ‘cause we won that winner-takes-all thing.
Uh, ngah? Huh, I’s thinkin’ this place was familiar... Ain’t this my room at Starmony Hall?
Sora: “HaHa~ ♪ For idols working under ES, you can only stay in a reproduction of your room if you pay an additional fee of SSG!”
Mika: Hmm, hmmmm. An’ if we don’t want our dirty laundry aired, it’s another fee on top of that?
Sora: “Yes! Everything that happens in SHINSEKAI may be broadcasted on the internet! This is clearly stated in the contract, you know~?”
Mika: I dunno ‘bout no contract, we were basically dragged into this strange new world here—VR world?—without no say in the matter.
Sora: “HiHi~ ♪ If you have any questions or concerns for the management of SHINSEKAI, please let Sora know! However, please expect to wait three to five business days for a reply, ‘kay~?”
Mika: Huh? I dunno if I can go complainin’ to some Sora lookalike in good conscience, though?
Shu: You’ve adapted to this bizarre world surprisingly quickly, Kagehira... As for me, I’m sick of it.
Mika: It’s pretty fun once y’get used to it, though? And I’m happy I get to talk to Sora-kun whenever I want if I just give ‘im a holler ♪
We’re both in Ba-barrier, but we don’t get to see each other much since we ain’t in the same agency or grade or nothin’. I’m all lonesome...
Shu: That thing isn’t even Harukawa Sora... It’s just a character in the game who happens to have the same face...
Sora: “Yes! This Sora is simply a work of fiction. Any resemblance to the actual person is purely coincidental, ‘kay~? But Sora’s likeness is being used with permission! HaHiHuHeHo~ ♪”
Shu: I feel like I’m going insane.
Mika: Ahaha, both yesterday and today were so rough it was like wipin’ your butt with sandpaper. I’m sure you’re all tuckered out, ain’tcha Onii-chan? You wanna eat some yummy food then hit the hay?
Shu: ...No. I’ve just realized, but I don’t feel the need to eat or sleep whatsoever.
Sora: “Right! Anything that would negatively impact the gameplay has been taken care of outside the game!”
Mika: The heck’s that mean...?
Sora: “It means you have an IV drip hooked up to you to provide nutrition?”
Mika: An IV? But I don’t remember gettin’ hooked up to an IV...?
Sora: “HuHu~ ♪ Anything that can’t be aired on the program has been excluded from SHINSEKAI?”
“—Oopsie daisy! God has instructed Sora not to give Valkyrie too much information, so Sora isn’t going to tell you anything else!”
“Sora is a good boy, so he isn’t going to disobey God!”
“Well then, bye-bye~ HaHiHuHeHo~ ♪”
Mika: ...He just up an’ disappeared.
Shu: At this point, I’m not even remotely surprised by such a phenomenon.
Anyway, that aside—let’s do some reconnaissance, Kagehira. I loathe being tossed about like this, so I want to think up a plan to improve our situation.
Mika: Uh, sure... Then you can take my bed, Oshi-san, and I’ll take Ritsu-kun’s. I’m sure he won’t mind if I borrow it.
Shu: This is just a VR recreation of the room. I’m sure Rei’s younger brother won’t get angry if you make a mess of this bed.
Mika: Ngah... Yeah but, Ritsu-kun has a lotta strong opinions ‘bout sleepin’. He takes real good care of his sheets an’ stuff, so he might not want even his fake bed gettin’ ruined.
Shu: Hm. So you’ve learned to be a little more considerate, have you? No, more than anything, it’s good that you’re getting along with your roommate.
Ah, we’ve gotten off topic. This VR world—this... SHINSEKAI—is much nicer than I ever would have expected. I can’t even fathom what kind of technology they’ve implemented.
Mika: Yeah, really. So long’s y’don’t look too close, you can’t even tell it ain’t real.
How’d they manage that one... They even remade all the stuffed animals I keep around my room.
Shu: Well, that’s fairly inconsequential right now. We have more important things to do than think about what makes these sci-fi mechanisms tick.
As the boy stressed earlier, the SHINSEKAI runs on SSG. Anything we want to do will cost money.
Mika: Right. And what’s worse is he said SSL$ and SSG are two different things...
They told us we’d be gettin’ all the losin’ units’ SSL$ during the Qualifiers, since we won that winner-takes-all thing.
But we ain’t been gettin’ none of it. Guess it’s ‘cause everyone’s makin’ money in SSG, not SSL$.
Shu: That’s probably correct. Which means that we won’t make any income if we just rest on our laurels. We’ll have to go out and earn it on our own.
Mika: An’ we lost all our money from before, too... Well dang, I can’t believe we gotta fuss an’ fret about money again. That brings up all kindsa memories.
Shu: Well, artists do go hand-in-hand with empty purses.