"Last Boss."
The wind felt chilly.
Only the screen of a cd game player dimly lit the room.
It has been so long yet still so little time.
It is finally coming to an end.
Haruto's sunken eyes were fixed at the screen.
There is nothing stopping him from completing the game and yet... he felt hesitant.
"What went wrong? How did it come to this?"
He's already 20 years old. Left school, no job. Only wasting the leftover inheritance his parents left him.
His only comfort and escape are games.
Why? He keeps asking himself. Why that encompassed everything that happened in his life. Why him? Why them? Why live, why fight, why keep going? Why must he even try.
What is the reason? Why does he exist? Is this just a sick joke the gods played against him?
He's not their true child. Just a random baby they found somewhere.
And yet they treated him as their own.
But why... WHY MUST THE WORLD TAKE THEM AWAY!!!
Of all people that can die at that time... for god's sake he should be the one they took!
He hasn't even thank them yet.
Nor has he told them sorry for being a bitch.
He's been given so much love and yet he still finds it hard to trust people.
'It's not your fault.'
Those words keep repeating in his mind.
Yes.
It's not his fault. It's those two faced bastard friends' fault!
He trusted them. The first people outside his family he let in his life.
He truly thought they cared for him.
How foolish.
"Yuna, look out!"
Oh. The sound of the monitor with a faint buzz of static brought him back to his senses.
The screen would flicker every few second but you can still see the colorful art style of the game very clearly.
It was an anime with highschool magic fantasy themed Otome game.
Students gathered before a towering dragon under a dungeon like arena.
It's midnight scales seems to absorb light. Its eyes as fierce as a beast hunting at night, but the countless wounds betrayed its pride.
At this moment, Haruto's gaze was fixed only at one character.
He never really cared about the other characters. Much less the love interests.
He only cared for the Main Character. The girl he is playing as, Sasaki Yuna.
Orphaned since birth, living in an orphanage before getting admitted to Asterion Academy of Magic after a professor found her rare healing attribute.
He felt drawn to her. Maybe due to their similarities.
"What's that?"
The ground shook. The final boss, the dragon, released a sickening roar before releasing a deathly miasma, hoping to take them all down in one last ditch of effort.
"I feel... weak."
Every character dropped to their knees as if they lost their strength. Their hair slowly turned white with each passing second. It was taking their life away bit by bit.
In a moment of desperation, Yuna's healing magic turned to life magic. The grace of the divine restored everyone's vitality.
With the last trick failing, the dragon let out a one last cry.
It was the end.
And yet... it feels empty.
Sunken eyes, dried and chapped lips. Hand trembling from exhaustion.
Is it worth it?
It was a game his mother bought before suffering from an accident. It was the only thing that survived the crash.
Supposedly, it was a gift for him to cheer him up. Although his naive mother doesn't know the difference between games so she bought an Otome Game for him.
He finished "Asterion Academy of Magic" for 3 days straight without food and sleep.
Staring at the credits, the fierce will to complete the game collapsed. All the pain and tiredness came all at once.
His knees gave out, his vision blurry, and his life flashed before his eyes as his head struck the ground with a thump.
It was worth it.