Chapter 10“…Phew.”
I woke up in my second story bedroom.
I removed the headphone-style mind input device from my head and wiped the sweat from my brow. Unlike a commercial piece of hardware, this was a homemade one without any safety devices, so that ending had made my heart race.
I already heard a commotion downstairs.
They probably weren’t satisfied with that result.
I finally, heard them rushing up the stairs and Ayumi tearfully burst in without even knocking.
“Onii-chan, Onii-chan, Onii-chan, Onii-chaaaan!!”
“What? So how did it turn out? Since you’re crying, does that mean you lost?”
“Fuguu! No. I definitely won!!” She puffed out her cheeks to an amusing extent. “But you died before it was done! Before you could fully become a zombie or a vampire!!”
“…Oh, dear.”
That meant it had been a draw.
She showed no sign of noticing the pudding container on my desk, so she must have been quite mad.
And then my s.e.xy older sister with her blonde ringlet curls and pink see-through negligee showed up at my open door.
“Oh, how rude. He only died because you started shaking his head when the vampire side started winning.”
“Fugu!?”
“He had already been bitten on both sides, so when you added that extra burden, his head came right off…”
“Fuguu!! Not true!! I know what happened! Just at the emotional moment when we were going to see if he lived or died, you secretly started biting him again and again!!”
“I-I have no idea what you are talking about. Ho ho ho.”
“This was supposed to be a battle of infection, but you kept going and going: chomp, chomp, chomp!! That means this one didn’t count! If we did it again, I’d definitely win!!”
“Yes. Perhaps we should restart the simulator so I can go for a perfect victory right from the beginning.”
“Now you’ve said it!!”
“Yes, I have. Is that a problem?”
Wait, wait. Hold on.
If we start a second round now…what happens? Are we starting on an infinite loop here?
You have to be kidding!!
“Hear me out, you two. This isn’t a phone app, so you can’t restart Maxwell for a second round that easily.”
“Ehhh!?”
“Can’t you do it, Satori-kun? What if I beg? By the way, I start with my right side when washing in the bath☆”
“That confession came out of nowhere…no, wait. You remembered that!? But no matter what you say, I can’t do what I can’t do. It’s homemade and I’m kind of afraid the cooling system won’t hold up. Use the system on such a large scale in quick succession and it could overheat and set the container on fire. That’s all for today and these things are best when they’re one-time things, right!? Okay, the end! We’re back home!!”
“Fuguu…”
“Instead, maybe we can see who can secretly kiss Satori-kun in his sleep the most.”
I heard an ominous comment, but we were done for the day.
I had solved the problem, I had protected the Swimsuit Cla.s.s Rep, and I had kept my secret file set from reaching the Bright Cross Disaster Prevention Foundation, so everything had turned out for the best.
After driving my sisters back to their rooms, I breathed a deep sigh and then spoke to the smartphone in my hand.
“Maxwell.”
“Sure.”
The letters danced in an SNS speech bubble. After checking that, I made a vocal request.
“Can you prevent the results from being sent to that foundation or at least rewrite them into some decoy information?”
“I can only obey the tasks I am given. Give me the command and I will comply immediately.”
“So is there no way to do it automatically? I’m going to be up all night otherwise.”
“Is this about the Swimsuit Cla.s.s Rep problem?”
“Don’t make that sound like the Y2K problem or the AI rebellion problem. Although I guess it’s the same level of catastrophe for me.”
I fell silent for a bit.
Data on the zombie and vampire rampage would of course be sent to the Bright Cross. What would they think when they saw how their system had completely collapsed? And what would they do to me now that I had opened those unopened doors and viewed the darkness of their colosseum?
“Maxwell.”
“Sure. Ending command standby. What is it?”
“Once we finish find a way to rearrange the results to be transmitted, I want to compile a new simulation set. If you need to defrag or cool your hardware, get it done now.”
“Sure. What should I name this new file?”
“Good question.”
I pretended to think, but I already knew the answer.
The rest was a matter of resolve.
I had a vampire older sister and a zombie little sister. …How far was I willing to go for that family?
To give an answer and to take the first step up those stairs, I spoke the file name.
“What about ‘Destruction of the Bright Cross Disaster Prevention Foundation’?”
The stormy night was not over yet.
The next fight had long since begun.