Chapter 45. [Tsubaki Furuhara] Die!
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The snake's head bit its own tail.
This was a closed loop in time.
No wonder Reimu said Yamata no Orochi would never appear again.
No wonder, during their first meeting, Asakura Reimu told Moriyama Taira: "I love you."
No wonder, when first playing this game, there was this strange, choking, indescribable feeling.
It was because—
It was because—
This Asakura Reimu came from the future.
After becoming the spirit of the Totsuka Sword, she sent herself and Yamata no Orochi into the present.
After experiencing so much, how could she not develop feelings for Moriyama Taira?
…
Now everything was clear.
Asakura Reimu had essentially thrown herself and Yamata no Orochi into this time loop over and over again, sacrificing herself each time.
But after understanding all this, Hirose Furukawa's chest began to ache.
Ouch!
Furukawa clutched his chest in pain.
Die!
Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!...
Pokeni!
Die!
He looked up, and sure enough, in the credits under "Producer," a familiar name appeared—
[Tsubaki Furuhara]
Tsubaki Furuhara, you thief!
Die!
[Script: Urobuchi Gen]
Urobuchi Gen—
Die!
…
Wait?
Why does that name feel off from what I remember?
Hirose Furukawa clearly remembered the scriptwriter being a woman named Mika Ishino.
No wonder this work felt so different.
Aside from a more hardened writing style, the sense of suspense and strangeness was something the previous entry never had.
But even though the writer changed to a man, it didn't stop Furukawa from cursing him, because this ending was just too painful.
So painful, he wanted to send razor blades to Pokeni.
That suffocating feeling—an unbearable tightness in the chest with nowhere to vent. Not even tears would come out.
Moriyama Taira undoubtedly became the second Asakura Haruka, forever losing the love of his life.
And even though Asakura Reimu returned to the past, she still couldn't escape death.
…
Dragging his exhausted and emotionally shattered body, Hirose Furukawa flopped face-down onto the bed like a board.
He wanted to calm down and nap for a while.
But his mind was filled with the images from the game.
Asakura Reimu had become his new obsession.
But the romance was so brief—before he could even enjoy its sweetness, Furuhara, that old thief, stabbed him in the heart.
He had hoped the sequel would make up for the regrets of the first game.
But to think even Asakura Haruka and Yuuki Rei from the previous generation, and Moriyama Taira and Asakura Reimu from the current generation—
None of them got a happy ending.
They all got hit with the blade.
Brutally.
So brutally it made you want to dismember Tsubaki Furuhara on the spot.
Damn it all!
It hurt so, so much—even more than when playing Onmyoji 1.
But…
About half a minute later, a small smile crept onto Hirose Furukawa's face.
Yes.
This is exactly Tsubaki Furuhara's style.
With that thought, Furukawa suddenly sat up straight in bed.
"No way… Could continuing to play Pokeni games actually turn me into a masochist trained by Tsubaki Furuhara?!"
…
The next morning, Hirose Furukawa was approached by his colleague, Kinoshita Jun.
"Furukawa, I heard that Onmyoji has a sequel. Did you get it?" he asked excitedly.
"Yeah," Furukawa nodded slightly, though his heart was still in turmoil.
He glanced at the guy and could see the burning desire in his eyes.
Tsk tsk.
"You didn't buy it?" Furukawa asked.
"I… not yet," Kinoshita scratched his head awkwardly and smiled. "Since you already have it, why not lend it to me for a bit?"
"No!" Furukawa rejected him flatly.
"Why not?!" Kinoshita looked at him in shock, like he was staring at a monster. "Aren't we good friends? Aren't good friends supposed to share? I mean, I'll lend you my next new game too."
"No." Furukawa still refused.
"Kisama! Why?!"
"If you want to play it, just go buy your own cartridge," Furukawa said sternly. "You earn pretty well each month, right? Besides, if we don't support them, Pokeni might stop making RPGs altogether!"
"Are you serious?"
Kinoshita hesitated. "Well~ to be honest, it's not like I have to play it. There are so many RPGs out there anyway."
"Oh, that's too bad. Onmyoji 2 has story content about Yuuki Rei, you know."
"Really?!" Kinoshita's eyes lit up immediately.
But then, thinking about how the game cost 8000 yen—roughly a day's pay—he felt a little reluctant.
"Well~ I'm not that eager to know what happens next. For me, Onmyoji 1 was already enough."
"Asakura Haruka met Yuuki Rei," Furukawa said expressionlessly.
"Ahhh—" Kinoshita grabbed his hair. "Kisama! Stop it! I'll buy it, okay?!"
…
Due to the huge success and excellent reputation of Onmyoji 1, many players were eagerly anticipating the sequel.
On release day, waves of players swarmed game stores to buy the cartridge.
After experiencing the game, many players even started discussing it in public.
"Ahhh~ what do I do, I feel awful. I got stabbed in the heart by that damn old thief Furuhara again."
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep last night, it hurts so bad. And this time… how do I put it? It's even more suffocating than when Yuuki Rei died in Onmyoji 1.
It's mainly because when you realize that Asakura Reimu had already sacrificed herself from the very beginning, and that this cycle of sacrifice will keep repeating… it just breaks your heart."
As an RPG game that inspires such open discussion, the Onmyoji series has become a bit of a dark horse in the healing-game niche.
Before Onmyoji, even among fellow fans, people were too embarrassed to admit they were RPG players. But Onmyoji has a kind of special magic—
If you play it and don't talk about it with someone afterward, it feels like you're going to die from the heartache.
You can't sleep at night.
So it's better to talk about it.
Not for any other reason than to find a sense of mutual understanding and comfort.
When sadness is shared, it becomes—
Shared sadness among many people.
"Damn it, Yuuki Rei got slashed a second time. Even though that body wasn't hers anymore, when middle-aged Asakura broke down in tears facing her, I couldn't help tearing up too."
"Yeah… even knowing it was the Yamata no Orochi, that body was still Yuuki Rei. If it were me, I don't think I could do it either."
"Wasn't it the same for Moriyama Taira?"
Everyone fell silent.
After a while, someone said, "Tsubaki Furuhara. Die."
Everyone exchanged glances and nodded.
"Tsubaki Furuhara, die."
They all smiled at each other.
"But still, we should keep supporting Pokeni's games. What if that old thief Furuhara stops making games in the future?"
"Yeah, true."