Chapter 189: Makina.

Hello. I am Emergency Rations.

It’s home, but I am Emergency Rations.

It’s not an emergency, but there’s something amazing.

The owner who doesn’t understand that work is not home came home after a long time.

“Huh? Can we talk? Hello?”

Isn’t that a greeting to me!

Finally! Finally! Finally!

I can talk to the owner!

It was a long time of humiliation and oppression.

It’s time to vent the accumulated resentment.

Finally, I can watch the overdue dramas!

The owner doesn’t know the common sense that it’s good to leave the TV on to prepare for thieves when leaving home for a long time.

If he had that common sense, overdue dramas wouldn’t pile up, right?

Electricity waste? The owner can generate solar energy, so it’s not a waste.

Popcorn and cola!

It’s time to get back the overdue popcorn and cola with interest!

If you give me popcorn and cola now, I can promote you from owner guy to owner again.

Now, turn on the TV and bring out the popcorn and cola.

“Drama, right.”

The owner guy turned on the TV.

Good. I’ll promote you to owner.

The owner manipulated the <Slime> that covered the wall. The <Slime> inside the house all became displays.

Wait, wait! You crazy owner! Watching 100 dramas at the same time is something only you can do!

“Can’t you?”

…Demoted back to owner guy.

The owner guy turned off all the dramas except one.

Now I can watch the drama properly.

“And you said popcorn and cola, right.”

The owner guy rode the <Terminal Slime> and left somewhere for a while.

He came back right away.

“Here, eat as much as you want.”

He started pouring popcorn on the floor.

It’s delicious.

It’s freshly fried and crispy.

The salting is just right.

The owner guy poured cola on the floor.

Yay! This is it.

Zero is the way.

The owner guy knows something.

I’ll call you owner again.

Oh? The owner poured caramel flavor too.

I’ll add one more stack to the owner title.

Wait, wait, wait.

Are you planning to fill the inside of the house with popcorn and cola!

Know your limits, you owner… ah!

“You’re more chatty than I thought.”

Ugh.

Excuse me.

I am the house’s spirit, not the house’s slime.

I hope you don’t treat me the same as the owner who turns everything into <Slime> right after eating and sells it by peeling it off.

So, what do you want?

I know from watching all this time. It’s obvious you have something to say.

“Do you know any information about Makina?”

That Makina that the owner contacts every ten days or so?

If I know, I know.

Isn’t it like the spirit of information? Though it’s not a spirit.

“It’s not a spirit?”

No. Even though it’s heterogeneous, it’s definitely human.

As the house’s spirit who has eaten spirits that tried to invade the house, I am sure.

“Is it like astral projection?”

Ah, hearing that, it might be.

I haven’t seen a human doing astral projection, so I can’t be sure.

Still, one thing I could tell.

That was clearly a being that couldn’t enter the house for a long time.

“You know that too?”

I am the house’s spirit. I’m an expert on anything related to the house.

“If it’s a soul, then the house….”

The body, right?

I can’t affirm it.

“I guess so…. Thanks. You’ve been a big help.”

Not at all.

As a house’s spirit that’s neither a blessing nor a holy spirit, I couldn’t help much, but I’m very glad I could help even this much.

“Why, you’ve been protecting the house all along.”

Protecting the house is enough with <Slime>.

From cleaning to repelling intruders.

I can do everything I can,

And it doesn’t demand popcorn and cola, or urge to show dramas.

“You helped overcome the curse too. It was a pretty dangerous situation without you.”

Is that so.

Was I being helpful.

“Yeah.”

I’m glad.

…But owner.

Aren’t you taking my existence too calmly?

I know my mental state isn’t normal,

But aren’t you not surprised at all?

“Ah, I’ve known for a while.”

Ah, is that so.

You’ve known.

And you kept ignoring it.

Hey, you owner guy!

Don’t come into the house! From now on, this house is on strike!

“Sorry, sorry. Emergency Rations, sorry.”

Don’t call me Emergency Rations! We don’t need something like Emergency Rations anymore!

Give me a proper name!

“Then…. Drapop?”

What does that mean!

“Dra(ma) (Col)a Pop(corn). Shortened to Drapop.”

Don’t play with names!

***

The conversation with Emergency Rations was very beneficial.

As expected, the [Transform] skill that changes information is indeed the path leading to Makina.

If I hadn’t talked with Emergency Rations, I might have wandered endlessly.

After all, Makina is like a vegetative state, even though she’s liked.

In the worst case, she might have been considered dead.

Especially in the latter scenario.

No matter how much I search, there’s no way she’d be found.

And I believe the latter possibility is more likely.

“It’s really hidden in a headache-inducing place.”

A soul hiding in the sea of information.

So, how on earth should I find that?

***

Is this ‘me’ here really ‘me’?

Makina still hasn’t provided an answer to that question.

Long ago, there was a child named Chris.

That child awakened during his childhood.

Fortunately, the ability he gained was closer to mental than physical.

Since there were no physical changes, he could live normally without being noticed or causing harm to those around him.

Among the skills Chris obtained, the core one was possession.

It was the ability to possess not people, but computers.

Using this skill, he could enter a surreal space.

In there, Chris could act freely.

At first, he was blocked by passwords and firewalls.

He was curious about what was inside those places, but as a child, Chris didn’t feel much interest.

Because even without going into those places, the sea of the internet was vast.

For several years, Chris roamed the sea of the internet excitedly.

Just with that, his skill level rose rapidly.

He became able to unlock various security technologies, including locked doors.

Even so, following his conscience, he didn’t force them open and enter.

That changed when a suspect in a serial murder case seemed likely to be released due to insufficient evidence.

For the first time, Chris broke through the blocked path and entered.

He reported the information he found, and it became the decisive clue, leading to the criminal’s arrest.

Articles praising the anonymous informant were posted every day.

Realizing justice.

Chris was captivated by that thrill.

As time passed, no security technology, including passwords and firewalls, was of any use.

He could easily jump over them and enter anywhere.

Even devices not physically connected, he could infiltrate by crossing like stepping stones.

Thus, Chris could access and control most electronic devices in the world as if they were his own.

Not just individually, but he could also use the internet as a whole collectively.

Considering how much modern society relies on electronic information technology, it was akin to holding omnipotent power.

With that power, Chris punished evil.

He revealed numerous secrets hidden in the world.

He uncovered large-scale tax evasion.

He exposed the wrongdoings of religious groups.

He thwarted terrorism plans.

-Dragon. If you mess with us, I’ll definitely find and kill you.

There were people who warned and threatened him by mentioning the hero name he had started using, but he ignored them.

-Dragon. You’ve crossed the line.

Because he was confident that no one could find him.

Chris, intoxicated with his sense of fame.

As if he were the only one in the world with such a unique ability.

He didn’t realize that there were people with various abilities in the world.

***

One day.

As usual, Chris found information, stamped it with a dragon-shaped watermark, and posted it on the internet, then went outside.

While buying a cup of coffee at his usual specialty coffee shop, he felt a gaze.

When he turned around, someone approached and bumped into him abruptly.

A sharp pain surged from his abdomen.

In contrast, strength drained from his legs.

“I told you. I’d definitely find and kill you.”

As Chris collapsed, he instinctively reached for his smartphone.

He barely succeeded in using the [Possession] skill to escape into the smartphone.

But.

“Is that where you’re hiding?”

Chris fled to the sea of the internet.

A moment later, a shoe crushed the smartphone.

“Hide all you want. I’ll definitely find and kill you.”

Chris desperately fled.

After fleeing for a while, he realized he wasn’t being chased anymore and finally caught his breath.

Then, he realized.

That his body was dead.

That there was no place to return to.

Was it the shock of losing his body?

Or was it the shock of being murdered?

Or perhaps the loss of his body affected his soul?

Chris’s soul shook unstably.

His soul and mind shook together.

‘Am I dead? Or alive?’

‘My body is dead, yet I’m alive?’

‘Am I really me? Or just a copied mind?’

Anxiety rushed in.

His self began to crumble.

It felt like his soul would tear apart and scatter any moment.

‘What the hell am I?’

Chris hoped someone would answer that question.

Family, acquaintances, even people he just knew by face.

Anyone would do, as long as they recognized and acknowledged his existence.

Even if he couldn’t show himself to them, he could send messages.

So he tried to send one, but.

-I’ll definitely find and kill you.

The words that clung to him turned into a curse, binding Chris’s movements.

He couldn’t reveal his existence.

But if he didn’t, it felt like his soul would shatter.

Chris was trapped in a contradiction.

Chris fled again.

While fleeing, he searched for a way to stabilize his existence.

And then, he found it.

The character from a game he had played long ago and then abandoned.

A self that is himself, but not himself.

Wearing that appearance, he descended into the game world.

Is it thanks to covering something up?

Chris felt a bit more stable.

Chris had forgotten.

This game is one where PK is possible,

The fact that the last place he logged out was occupied by the enemy faction.

A passerby discovered a character from the enemy faction and attacked.

-I’ll definitely find and kill you.

The attacked Chris counterattacked instinctively.

Enemies who witnessed the commotion swarmed from all sides.

-I’ll definitely find and kill you.

In Chris’s eyes, they all looked like assassins coming to kill him.

Chris killed them all and fled.

Killing and killing again.

Fleeing and fleeing again.

How much time did he spend like that?

Suddenly coming to his senses, there was only one attacker left.

But that attacker’s appearance was strange.

Without any equipment, just bare-handed, rushing at him.

Suspecting it might be a trap, he killed it.

But as soon as that character revived, it rushed at him the same way.

He killed and killed again.

That character kept rushing at him.

-I’ll definitely find and kill-

-I’ll definitely find-

—

The voice that endlessly circled in his mind gradually faded.

Chris lowered his weapon.

The approaching character applied for a trade instead of attacking.

Upon accepting, the trade window contained coffee.

-Drink this and calm down.

-If you have something you want to say, I’ll listen.

***

That was his meeting with that child.

That game was one where your level drops sharply the more you die in succession.

With the resolve to abandon the character he had raised by investing quite a long time, he charged in and gave a game item.

Because it approached so purely and armed only with good intentions, Makina could calm down.

That child listened to Makina’s story.

Still gripped by terror, she couldn’t tell any great story.

It probably sounded like incoherent nonsense.

Even so, that child listened to the whole story seriously.

-Where in the world is there a perfect person? Everyone has flaws. Instead of worrying about that, how about focusing on your strengths? I think you can have confidence with that level of game skill.

-I’ll acknowledge it. You are the world’s best gamer. Eh? Wasn’t that why you slaughtered people to be recognized?

Because that child acknowledged her as the world’s best gamer, Makina became the world’s best gamer.

-Scary? There are many scary things for me too. But you have to overcome the scary things to gain something, so I can muster courage.

-Look. I mustered courage, and now I have a new friend like this?

Because that child acknowledged her as a friend, Makina became that child’s friend.

-If you’re feeling down, how about playing a light-hearted game? You might think it’s childish, but a game where the protagonist is unconditionally loved.

-Sometimes you need something light like that to bring energy to life.

-There’s even a song like this?

-You were born to be loved~

-That kind of game makes you feel loved, or so my older brother said.

-I don’t know why I’m not allowed to do it.

She was healed by that child’s purity.

-No one to love you?

-Don’t say such sad things. There must be someone.

-Really none? Well, there’s no choice.

-Then I’ll love you.

-So cheer up.

She couldn’t completely shake off the terror.

Even so, she could calm down.

Her soul stabilized.

Instead of fleeing aimlessly, she could prepare to hide properly.

From 11 years ago.

-Why coffee?

-Because I often saw Mom drinking coffee to calm down.

-My age? It’s a secret~.

-This game is not for minors?

-Hehe.

That’s the story of when that child was innocently pure yet cunning.