One-time Case Encounterer
It's a phrase that normal people would find a bit strange.
Ichijō Mirai knew: The game company knew about the situation of 'Please, another me!'
Compared to the late twentieth century, when high-tech game pods appeared, and the 'original owner' was able to do 'Please, another me!', Ichijō Mirai wasn't too surprised.
He twitched his eyebrows.
[You are 'Ichijō Mirai',] the customer service said proactively, [No matter which 'Ichijō Mirai' you are, whether it is a doctor, lawyer, police officer, programmer, etc..]
It paused, [With all due respect, based on what you've done in the game and in reality, the system analyzes that there's a high probability that you're a criminal.]
'What you did in reality'?
Ichijō Mirai's eyes moved to the next dialog box that popped up.
[Regardless of your occupation, you are 'Ichijō Mirai', and it makes no difference to us.]
[You should know what kind of person you are.]
The computer screens and sketches are cute, but it's hard to see each other's true emotions.
Ichijō Mirai adds: If only this customer service agent was human.
He did not comment on 'as long as it's Ichijō Mirai', and asked: "What is your purpose?"
It's definitely not just to pay back the money.
It's only a few hundred million yen, and if you really want to pay it back, both the players and the officials can pay it back in a day.
Customer Service: [Game...]
It stood still, and the dialog boxes above its head popped up one by one: [You are 'Ichijō Mirai', you must have collected and cracked all the clues that can be collected around you, and obtained the reason that 'the game is too real.]
According to Ishida Eiko, the reason why the 'original owner' would play 'Please, another me!' was that he thought the game was too real, so real that it was creepy, and he would not be able to distinguish between the real world and the virtual world, and he was extremely resistant.
Ichijō Mirai didn't say anything.
[This is a reason that seems a bit outrageous at first glance,] the customer service said, [but you are the former director, and many things in the game were designed by you, and some of the clever foreshadowing that are connected together are even more amazing.]
Ichijō Mirai had to declare for himself, "The police are definitely not my responsibility."
Otherwise, it wouldn't have been so crotch-pulling.
…Although from the words just now, it can be seen that the black side seems to be outrageous as well.
Customer Service: [Of course, you're not in charge of the police.]
[You opened the police chapter in the shortest time possible and carried out actions across the timeline. After system detection and analysis, you made attempts related to time. Do you have any questions?]
Of course there's a question.
But the game's customer service is not tied to the system, so you have to think twice about what you want to ask.
Ichijō Mirai deliberated for a moment, and slowly said, "'I' think the game is too realistic, is it because..."
Without waiting for him to finish the sentence, customer service replied firmly: [Not reality...]
[Although the game is 100% realistic, it is not real and will not affect reality, so please rest assured.]
"OK," Ichijō Mirai did not comment, did not say whether he believed it or not, and moved on to the next question, "The organization chapter and the police chapter are two different timelines. Since 'I' think the game is so real that I can't tell whether it is real or not, then,"
"Does the sequel to the Organization chapter that players didn't get to play exist in the Police chapter?"
To give a more understandable example: the organization chapter is Monday, and the police chapter is Friday.
On Monday, Ichijō Mirai suffers a wound to his abdomen, and on Friday, he will have the same wound on his abdomen that he had on Monday.
The question is, what about Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, which Ichijō Mirai hasn't played yet?
The computer screen glowed a little brighter, and the customer service tail wagged again, [I'm glad you noticed that.]
[Prior to this, our company has no experience in making games, the first time to try 'time', because of the lack of experience, the method adopted is in accordance with the player's persona in the plot, so that the program to run a moderate basic plot...]
For example: little Akira is a primary school student. He goes to school and listens to the lessons carefully every day, and goes home obediently after school.
When the player is on Monday, he doesn't go to school properly, and jumps around looking for clues. When the player is on Friday, he directly breaks into the principal's office and kills the boss.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, when the player is not in the game, the player's character, Akira, still listens to his lessons and goes home from school.
This is a bit...
Rigid.
It's very unusual. Even many small-scale games can beat this rigid operation by playing with "time".
Ichijō Mirai frowned, wanting to ask sincerely: Why is your company so desperate that it actually makes games?
He refrained from doing so, and pretended to ponder, "I see."
[You were responsible for running the plot with the program.] The customer service shook his tail again. [Perhaps because you invested too much effort and immersed yourself in the game for a long time, you began to resist the game very much after it ended, and even submitted a report of resignation.]
It has not forgotten the original setting. [It is precisely because of this that the company discovered that the data you reported was wrong. Although it has improved the realism of the game, it has also greatly increased the investment.]
Therefore, the company directly pursued as a huge amount of money owed, and limited to a certain period of time to pay off, forcing the 'original owner' can only enter the game to work to pay off the debt.
[You are a genius, there is no doubt about that,] the customer service said, [most of the plot was written by you, and you resigned when the game was just finished and not yet perfected. We have no choice but to ask you to conduct internal testing and help improve the plot.]
"In other words," Ichijō Mirai tapped on the desktop, "I'm the only beta player."
Customer Service: [Of course.]
"You trust my abilities," he added, "so much so that whichever 'Ichijō Mirai' it is, thinks it has the ability to perfect the plot."
Customer Service: [Of course.]
Ichijō Mirai nods slowly, "I trust myself as well."
He said coldly, "So, your so-called 'running a moderately basic storyline with a program' wasn't actually run by a program at all, it was run by 'me', right?"
The customer service dialog box disappeared.
Ichijō Mirai calmly stated, as if he hadn't noticed anything unusual. "I spent at least three or four years in a game that was exactly the same as reality, and frequently interacted with NPCs who were too intelligent. No wonder I would be so reluctant to enter again."
Reason would say: the game is fake.
But people are emotional creatures.
"The above," Ichijō Mirai added as an important premise, "is my assumption based on the fact that 'I'm a rather indecisive person'."
If he hadn't been so indecisive, Mr. and Mrs. Ishida wouldn't have stayed, and they wouldn't have been terrified and even close to each other.
He liked this dessert shop so much that the 'original owner' designed to make those blackmailers have a car accident. The 'original owner' can just kill the original owner and become the new owner, or buy it for $100,000.
Leaving them alive and living together as a family is really a bit indecisive.
But it's interesting.
Ichijō Mirai thought for a moment, then added, "If even the players in the dataset were run by 'me' when they were children, it wouldn't just be three years, it would be over ten years..."
"No, the time between the game and reality is one to one..."
A dialog box popped up, interrupting Ichijō Mirai's words.
[The game cabin can set the flow rate ratio, the maximum can be set to 100:1, and the longest continuous online time is seven days.]
[The watch in the express box is the second watch. In addition to the balance, you can temporarily log in to the game for up to seven hours. The time flow rate is fixed at 1:1 and cannot be changed.]
Ichijō Mirai: "?"
Ichijō Mirai: "..."
No, aren't you going too far? This isn't the end of the 20th century.
At a time when the cars on the street are bulky, there's a holographic game that flows 100:1 from the game to reality, and you can temporarily log in with your wristwatch.
It's outrageous.
"OK," he said, reluctantly ignoring the flawed setting and continuing to speculate, "that means 'I' spent at least thirteen years in the game, from the age of seven to the age of twenty."
"It's normal to resist re-entry."
[Yes,] the customer service popped up a white dialog box with black letters, [You said that you can't do anything to modify the past under normal conditions.]
So 'Please, the other me!' Right?
Ichijō Mirai knocked on the table again. "If I pay off the debt and end this superficial reason, will 'I' come back?"
Customer service: [No...]
A very short answer, black letters on a white background can only be seen as cold and short, can not see any emotion.
Ichijō Mirai didn't comment, didn't say whether he believed it or not, only knocked on the table again, casually pulling over a small question that could be asked or not to cover up his own thinking, "By the way, what's the 'One-time Case Encounterer' prop?"
This is not a detective game, is it?
Customer service was silent.
...
"I've decided," Suzuki Sonoko gritted her teeth, "Today, I must hand in the letter of commission today!"
"Damn it, that blond gentleman really told Mr. Mirai something like, 'Oh, Mirai, there was a lady wearing a headband who liked you very much. She even laughed out loud while putting her hands on her hips when talking about you at the ramen shop.'"
"He hasn't shown up lately!"
"I should have killed that guy!"
Letting your secret admirer know your infatuation is like sitting in the driver's seat after drinking three bottles of liquor, looking up and seeing a smiling traffic policeman, showing your computer in court and letting others view it publicly, and running into a corpse dumping site just after jumping into the yard to rob.
In short, you can consider quitting
"Ahahaha," Mouri Ran laughed dryly, somewhat helplessly, "Keep your voice down, Sonoko, if you shout to silence someone like that, others will misunderstand."
Although it looks like a cat with exploded fur, it is very cute.
She pushed open the store door, "Are you sure you want to invite Mr. Mirai to the Valentine's Day party..."
"Huh, Mr. Mirai?"