Back Alive
The time in the game was just after 5:00 in the morning, but in reality it was just after 8:00 in the evening.
The time spent on reloading the game was too much, and the time spent in actual combat was even longer, almost throughout this game login. When Ichijō Mirai chose to exit the game, he was still a little tired and dazed.
He couldn't help but give a thumbs up to Gin and Vodka: Thanks to the two good colleagues who relieved his mental fatigue and made his body and mind healthier and happier. The police officers have good-tempered comfort dogs, and he has colleagues with even better tempers.
Thank you for the gift of nature!
This time the exit is a normal exit, different from the last instant exit, there is a loading screen before exiting.
First, a thick black fog swept in, quickly filling the entire field of vision and covering the living room.
In the thick darkness, fluorescent words appeared, similar to the prompt Ichijō Mirai saw when he first entered the game: [The past is not yet over, and the
Underneath the fluorescent writing, the darkness swirls and clears, revealing three dimly lit rectangular outlines that look like black doors.
The first rectangle is relatively clear. Ichijō Mirai sees himself on it. To be more precise, he sees himself after saving the game and logging off. It shows him lowering his head the moment he logs off. His face is then shrouded in darkness. His eyes are inexplicably cold and his temperament is just like the words displayed next to him:
[Newcomer to the Organization].
The second rectangle was a bit more blurry, and instead of a figure, the card showed a gun, a rather small gun.
Ichijō Mirai was able to recognize it as a police gun by its size.
The unclear gun occupies the center of the blurry rectangle, with a slightly clearer star in the upper right corner.
The third rectangle is the blurriest, almost entirely dark, and Ichijō Mirai could only make out the outline of what looked like an identification card even when he looked closely.
Of the three rectangles, the first had white stripes on all sides, and the face of the card was illuminated by the white stripes.
The second rectangle also had lines on its four sides, but the color was darker, a dark gray that couldn't illuminate the card surface. It was like a poorly connected loading, surging slowly, sometimes surging faster and brighter, sometimes surging slower and darker again.
The third rectangle has no lines on its four sides and is quietly hidden in the darkness.
Ichijō Mirai: "This is..."
Referring to the three rectangles, he speculates, "Three camps?"
The first rectangle of steady bright light is, obviously, Ichijō Mirai's current organization, which he doesn't yet know the name of, except that it's a rather conscientious black organization.
The second rectangle of unstable light was the police.
What does the flickering light bar mean?
"Is it because I've done something a little bit too much," Ichijō Mirai tried to hypothesize with so few clues, "that the police camp has developed a fluctuating hostility towards me?"
"Fluctuating because they found out that the real identities of those dead people were actually criminals-... ahem, undercover police agents in a black organization?"
He exited the game completely.
The capsule slowly rises, and the bathroom scene comes back into view.
Everything in the bathroom is almost the same as it was before Ichijō Mirai logged in the game for the second time, except for the addition of a white sticky note on the pod.
The sticker was left by Ishida Eiko, reminding Ichijō Mirai to go to the first floor for dinner if he quit the game before nine o'clock, and to go to the refrigerator to get a separate meal from the freezer if he was hungry and he quit the game after nine o'clock.
She also thoughtfully added that she had bought all the kitchenware a few years ago, so if Ichijō Mirai didn't know how to use it, he could go to her.
She's got a good temper.
It's clear from the sticky note that Ishida is just as good-tempered as his coworkers.
But why were the two coworkers 'good-tempered', as we all know, but what about this Aunt Ishida, who had been so fearful from the very beginning?
Ichijō Mirai tore off the Post-it note, balled it up and threw it in the trash, saying to herself, "I'll be suspicious if the fear is too obvious."
The time on the sticker was nine o'clock, and it was now almost nine o'clock.
The dessert store was closed, the kitchen had another table set up, and it was dinner time, but there was almost no movement, only the sound of the TV.
Ichijō Mirai controlled his footsteps and descended the old wooden stairs as silently as possible, the slight creaking of the wood he created blending in with the sound of the television without attracting attention.
The TV was showing a program about eating at a restaurant, which was relatively quiet compared to other variety shows, and the diner was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, chubby, who was seriously enjoying the grilled meat.
While the sound of the grill is loud, the kitchen is quiet, and the two Ishida's are already seated, but they have no intention of eating.
They sat at one side of the table, waiting quietly, watching the TV in silence, not communicating with each other, as if they were two stone statues that didn't interfere with each other.
The food on the table was covered with a dust cover to keep it from getting dusty and cold.
In the midst of the TV and the silence of the kitchen, Ichijō Mirai stood at the end of the stairs, gazing into the kitchen for a long time before smiling and walking over.
He increased his pace, "I'm coming."
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Mr. and Mrs. Ishida were visibly startled, Ishida Eiko tried to turn her head to the stairs that creaked loudly when she stepped on them, wondering why there was no sound this time, but quickly responded by raising her smile and going to lift the dust covers from the food, "Just in time."
"We just sat down not long, think you are young, eat some food while hot is good for the body, so I waited for you."
"We'd have started if you'd come a little later," Mr. Ishida added with a smile, gesturing to the TV, "There's some barbecue on there, and I'm getting hungry."
Ichijō Mirai sat down, "Really?"
"Don't even think about it. You still want to spend a lot of money to eat barbecue," Ishida Eiko pretended to be angry and scared Mr. Ishida for a moment, then smiled and gently advised like an elder, "Mirai, don't go either. It's unhealthy."
She had a basis for her words: "Look, that person above is Mr.
Detective?
Ichijō Mirai stared at Ishida Eiko for a couple of seconds, and after she paused for a moment with her hands busy lifting the dust cover, she smiled and took up the conversation, "I didn't realize it was a detective."
"I thought it was a star."
This kind of variety show was usually attended by a variety of celebrities, especially Ichijō Mirai, who was promoting a drama, and Ichijō Mirai glanced at the TV, reaffirming the detective's special status.
"Shukuzen-san's full name is Shukuzen Ogami," Ishida-san briefly introduced him as he lifted the dust cover, "If you're interested, you can check the news, and you might come across him while solving a case."
There was a lot of laughter in the kitchen, and Mr. and Mrs. Ishida came back to life.