Bonus: A Player’s Story (Shadows)

"────Haa... I got completely absorbed for a moment. It’s a strange feeling for me... So, is this what they call an 'FPS'?"

Elara's voice broke the digital trance, returning Kaelen to the reality of the luxurious living room.

"If Miss Elara had fun... then I suppose that’s the only thing that matters..."

Kaelen replied in a low voice, his gaze fixed on the young woman's hands.

(Should I tell her...?)

He wanted to correct her, to explain that a tactical combat simulator was much more than just three letters on a screen, but the right moment seemed to slip through his fingers like sand.

"... Haaa."

If he allowed her to cling to that erroneous knowledge, he feared that in the future, when she tried to connect with someone in the vast online world, she might be exposed or find herself in awkward situations.

(Tick... tock... tick...)

But it was at that very moment, while Kaelen was racking his brains trying to find the right words without sounding pedantic, that the harmony of the room was shattered.

(BAM!)

The door burst open, allowing a burst of childish and chaotic energy to enter.

"Ah! Big sister is using Sera's controller without permission!"

A little girl burst into the room, her cheeks flushed and her brow furrowed.

"Eh...?"

Watching her in shock, Kaelen quickly came to a conclusion.

(... Maybe... Is she the younger sister Elara mentioned... The video game fan?!)

However, Kaelen was surprised by how much of an opposite she was compared to her older sister's crystalline serenity.

"Sera... I told you a guest was coming today, remember?"

Meanwhile, Elara tried to maintain her composure, but the little one didn't seem willing to give in to protocol.

"No... this has nothing to do with big sister's guests... The most important thing is that you give me back my controller!"

In this way, the situation began to grow tense.

(Scritch...!)

Noticing this, Kaelen—feeling the air grow heavy and that his presence was starting to become redundant—made a move to stand up, gripped by his characteristic social anxiety.

"Miss Elara... I... I think I should go home now. I feel bad for causing trouble..."

Because of that, Kaelen was about to quietly withdraw, fearing the family dispute would worsen because of him.

(Fshhhhh!)

However, before he could take a single step toward the exit, a figure materialized from the shadows in the corner.

"Wait, please."

Lyra, the snow-haired maid who had remained as motionless as a porcelain statue, intervened with surgical precision.

"I foresaw that a conflict situation over the hardware might occur, so I prepared an additional unit for young Miss Sera."

Without altering her impassive expression, she pulled a second controller from a hidden pocket in her apron and held it out to the girl.

"Yes! That’s why I love you, Lyra!"

In response, the girl's face lit up instantly, transforming her anger into overflowing joy.

"Lyra... I'm so relieved... Thank you."

After that, Elara watched as her little sister grabbed the controller with eager hands and retreated with the same speed she had entered, disappearing down the hallway.

"It is not necessary, Miss. I was simply fulfilling my basic duties as part of the domestic staff..."

In turn, Lyra, with her usual mechanical coldness, gave a brief bow and returned to her silent watch at the edge of the room.

(Fuuuuuuuu...)

Once she was out of sight, in a simultaneous movement, both Elara and Kaelen looked at each other for a moment.

"I'm so sorry... Sera has been a bit difficult to deal with lately..."

Finally, Elara sighed, letting her shoulders drop slightly as she watched the door through which her sister had left.

"She used to be very quiet, but since she started middle school, her personality took a turn... she became impulsive like this."

In response to those words, Kaelen watched her with curiosity.

"Is there... something wrong with her?"

"My Lady..."

However, before he could continue, Lyra's voice sounded from the corner like a warning.

"...."

And with a slight shake of her head, urging Elara not to delve into private matters before a stranger, she looked at her.

"Actually... our father passed away a few years ago."

But Elara, moved by a sincerity that bordered on dangerous, stopped Lyra's warning with a gentle wave of her hand.

"Probably Sera doesn't want us to worry, or maybe she's just faking this strong character to protect herself from the pain... In any case, her behavior doesn't come from malice. Please, swear to me that you will forgive her."

At her words, the air in the Vance living room seemed to cool by a couple of degrees.

(Ba-dum... ba-dum...)

After hearing that, Kaelen was left speechless, feeling the weight of a confession he wasn't prepared to carry.

"Are you sure about this? Telling someone like me... who is barely a classmate?"

He hesitated, feeling like an intruder in someone else's family history and bowing his head, confused by the blind trust she placed in him.

"You are a kind person. I know you aren't the type to spread rumors through the hallways."

In response to the trust she placed in him, Kaelen could only nod, feeling overwhelmed.

"I... yes. Thank you for trusting me..."

That went beyond simple courtesy; it was living proof that Elara Vance had been raised with infinite care, protected in a glass greenhouse where the cynicism of the real world had not yet managed to seep in.

(Is she one of those who believe in the innate goodness of everyone?)

However, unfortunately, tragedy was not something waiting for them in the future... but something that had already begun to take root in that home much sooner than any of those present could have imagined.

"I'm very sorry for keeping you here so late..."

But still unaware of this, time passed until finally the voice of Elara's mother, soft and velvety, floated through the foyer's air while the wall clock marked an hour Kaelen rarely saw outside his room.

"If you wish, young master, you may stay for dinner. The preparations are ready."

At the same time, the maid Lyra, whose presence remained as discreet as a shadow, subtly added.

"No! That would be... really too much."

But despite the intention, Kaelen waved his hands in front of him with nervous energy, feeling deeply embarrassed.

"Perhaps next time..."

The mere thought of sitting at the table with the Vance family made him feel as if he were trying to enter a level 99 zone while being a mere beginner.

"... If that is what you think... Well... see you later, Kaelen..."

That night, Elara said goodbye with a small bow, her eyes shining with a gratitude that Kaelen didn't quite process.

"Eh... yes... see you later."

But just as he was about to smile and return the gesture, the maid's voice cut through the air with its usual icy precision.

"Next time, I will personally teach you the appropriate dress code for social visits of this category..."

"Yes!!!"

"Lyra! I'm so sorry..."

In the end, Elara blushed immediately, rebuking her maid while the latter remained impassive, as if her comment were a necessary universal truth.

(Ha... ha...)

Recalling that moment with an ironic smile and his heart still pounding, Kaelen walked across the mansion's vast garden.

"—Ha... ha... wow... I was so nervous I thought I’d faint..."

Upon reaching the exit, he placed a hand on the iron lamppost that marked the property's boundary and let out a sigh that seemed to drain all his energy.

(Ba-dum... ba-dum...)

His thoughts inevitably drifted from that moment to the possibility that maybe there was a real chance with her.

"See you later..."

Those words from Elara echoed in his mind, sparking a thought he himself considered perverse and out of place.

(Slap!)

Nonetheless, he quickly gave himself a sharp slap on the cheek, chasing away that fantasy before his system could collapse.

"... No, no, no."

With those words, he adjusted his backpack and hurried back to the refuge of his home in Central City.

(Fuuuuuuuu... Time flies...)

In this way, time passed and six months went by with the inevitability of a loading bar reaching its end.

(... It’s cold.)

The weather had turned frigid, forcing the students of Saint-Valerie to take refuge in heavy coats.

(... I wasn't supposed to get my hopes up... And yet...)

During that time, Kaelen had managed something he once considered impossible: creating an environment where he didn't have to travel to see Elara.

(Bzzzzzt... Connection established!)

Thanks to the voice chat function, they now shared an isolated digital space.

"—Miss Elara! Be careful with the area over there to the right... there's movement."

For Kaelen, this place felt strangely intimate—a private server where Central City's hierarchies didn't exist.

"Yes... I see it."

An enemy was lurking among the shadows of the virtual buildings, exactly where Kaelen had predicted...

"I did it!!"

Elara focused; her movements, once clumsy, now possessed a lethal elegance, thus winning the exchange.

"That’s incredible... You've improved so much since last week. You really are a genius."

It wasn't an empty compliment.

(Clang! — Splat!)

At first, she couldn't even distinguish an ally from an opponent, but her learning capacity was terrifying.

"Oh nooooo!"

However, that sense of relief and pride was Kaelen's first mistake in the match.

"Are you okay?!"

A surprise attack, executed with a cunning Kaelen didn't see coming, eliminated him instantly with a headshot.

【ELIMINATED】

Kaelen's screen turned gray as his avatar fell.

"It’s okay... don't panic. You can win this! I'll guide you."

Only a few teams remained on the map, and on theirs, Elara was the sole survivor.

"Please...!"

Through the voice chat, Kaelen could hear her heavy breathing; it was the first time she faced the pressure of being the last hope.

"Listen to me... first... lie down in that patch of grass right on the edge, off the main path."

"But... the safe zone is closing. We have to move now or the damage will catch us..."

"It’s okay... trust me. Stay there one more moment."

"I understand... I trust you."

Elara nodded to herself, suppressing the urge to run toward the center of the map.

The "safe zone" system was relentless, and the map was gradually shrinking, forcing players to kill one another, while staying outside meant taking constant damage—a digital poison that drained life second by second.

(Vruuuuuuum!)

Thus, the force field began to advance, surrounding Elara's position while she remained at the edge, trapped between the enemy fire waiting in the center and the pain of the zone closing behind her.

"..."

There were less than ten seconds left on the clock—a countdown that resonated with the coldness of a sentence.

"Not yet..."

However, Elara did not move.

"... Gulp."

She remained prone, camouflaged among the virtual vegetation, placing blind trust in Kaelen's words.

"...."

On the map, the tension was absolute: only two teams remained. The outcome was shaping up to be a final duel between Elara and the last enemy stronghold, whose exact position and numbers remained a lethal enigma.

(Tick... tock... tick...)

The silence in the voice chat was as dense as the air before a storm. Not a step, not a trace of fire.

"Run now!!"

Then, when the counter hit 7.5 seconds, Kaelen's shout ripped through the static.

"Yes...!"

Elara reacted instantly. Her fingers executed the order with a coordination that bordered on perfection.

"Alright... don't stop! Straight toward that tree on the hill!"

Just as Kaelen had foreseen, the enemy revealed their position, opening desperate fire from the rear.

"..."

It was a single shooter, but their rate of fire was terrifying; bullets whistled near the camera, and Elara’s health bar began to drain, tinting the edges of the screen in a flickering red that she herself no longer noticed.

(Rat-tat-tat-tat!)

She had submerged herself in a state of absolute concentration, moving through the battlefield with a mechanical coldness, as if her mind had finally synchronized with the game's code.

"For now... we've reached the safe zone."

Suddenly, the gunfire ceased.

"But... what do we do? We're cornered..."

The enemy had been forced to interrupt their attack to adjust their position against the relentless advance of the radioactive zone.

"Take it easy. We’ve already won."

And before she could process the answer, the sound of the zone closing was replaced by a triumphal chord.

(Vruuuuuuum!)

Accompanied by an explosive sound, the word 【VICTORY】 materialized in golden letters over the virtual landscape.

"Eh?"

Elara stood frozen in front of the screen, unable to celebrate, not understanding how the chaos had turned into triumph in the blink of an eye.

"You see, the enemy was determined to resist outside the zone to ambush us, calculating they would withstand the damage longer than you. But I had you move along the route of least resistance in the terrain; you got out of their range faster than their calculations allowed. By the time they tried to react, the damage over time eliminated them."

Responding to the bewildered Elara, Kaelen explained in an unusually calm tone.

"But... wasn't that just a coincidence?"

"Well... this map is a mountainous area with constant irregularities. Ballistic spread and movement speed vary according to the incline. I just adjusted the route to get the best result."

"You can't be serious... do you actually know the location and physics of every object on the map by heart?"

"Well... not everything, but... to a certain extent..."

"That’s incredible! You truly have a gift..."

"...."

With those words, Kaelen fell silent, unable to accept the praise with sincerity.

(... Maybe... Really...)

He knew he was getting too involved, that his obsession with games allowed him to see patterns where others only saw chance.

"Big sister... it’s time for dinner..."

But at that moment, interrupting the scene, Sera's voice filtered through Elara's microphone, breaking the bubble of digital intimacy.

"Sera! I told you to knock before coming in... Ah, I'm so sorry. I have to go. I’ll ask you more about that tactic next time..."

If things had ended like that, everything could have been avoided...

"Wait!"

As Elara was about to log off, an electric, almost suicidal impulse coursed through Kaelen's nervous system.

"Yes? What is it?"

In that moment, Kaelen had made a decision.

"Eh, I... I’d like you to come to the classroom after school one day next week... at the same time as last time."

... A decision that would define their destinies.

"If you need something, I can listen to you right now through here..."

If only he had waited longer, if only he had tried harder...

"No... this is... it’s a serious matter. I need to tell you in person."

The conclusion everyone would reach wouldn't have ended so badly.

"...."

As a result, there was a brief pause on the other end of the line, a silence heavy with an uncertainty that made Kaelen’s chest ache.

"Alright, I understand. I'll see you there after the weekend. Goodbye..."

Everything was sealed.

(Click!)

Thus, the connection was definitively cut, and Kaelen dropped the controller, covering his face with his hands, feeling cold sweat on the back of his neck.

"Ha...! Ha...! What on earth am I saying?"

Regret hit him with the force of a critical error. He felt as if he had been possessed by an irrational impulse, but the reality was simpler: she had taken over his mind.

"I must be brave..."

He could no longer endure the agony of observing her in silence from his seat, positioned diagonally behind her, limiting himself to being a spectator of her radiance.

"... Phew."

The words had been sent, and the event was scheduled on the calendar of fate.

"If there’s a possibility... Then..."

She was pure, as pure as the freshly fallen snow on the peaks of Central City, and that purity was precisely what terrified him most.

"...."

He knew she likely saw him as a classmate, a guide in a world of pixels, and nothing more.

"... I'll tell her."

He had repeated to himself like a mantra to protect himself: "She doesn't see me that way." But the memory of her laughter, the way her voice softened when pronouncing his name... they were hooks that dug into his heart and wouldn't let go; this triggered a sense of inferiority, almost like a stalker caught in his own web of insecurities. But even knowing that if the rest of Saint-Valerie Academy found out about his feelings, he would be nothing more than the laughingstock of the semester.

"The dice are cast!"

Even so, he did not back down.

In this way, time continued mercilessly until it struck five in the afternoon on that fateful day, when darkness seeped through the windows, devouring the desks until everything was wrapped in a shroud of mechanical shadows.

"..."

Back then, Kaelen Thorne remained seated in his usual corner, like a piece of furniture forgotten on a disconnected server, waiting for that verbal promise to meet in the classroom as he watched the sky turn from gray to absolute black and fear began to stealthily seep into his mind.

(... Everything is going to be fine)

However, deep down, Kaelen knew those worries were groundless. Not because he had confidence in himself, but because he knew Elara Vance was, by nature, incredibly kind and incapable of ignoring anyone, not even someone like him.

(Clack... clack... clack!)

And so, finally, the sound of heels broke the hallway's silence, approaching with a cadence that made Kaelen's pulse skyrocket.

"I’m so sorry for being late... the student council work took me longer than expected."

She entered the classroom like an apparition of light.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Around her neck, she wore a scarf of a red so brilliant it was reminiscent of fresh blood, contrasting with an immaculately white coat.

"Ah... um... Miss Elara... I'm sorry... for making you come all the way here in this cold..."

Suspecting nothing, she placed her bag on the table with innate elegance, fixing her sincere gaze on him.

"Don't say that. After all, it was your request. I don't mind at all."

Standing before her, an inner voice screamed at Kaelen to just let it out, to stop making absurd detours.

(Ba-dum... ba-dum...)

But his heart beat with such violence that he feared the sound was audible in the empty classroom.

"Perhaps you have a fever...? Your face is very red..."

Noticing no such thing, she stepped a little closer, her floral scent mingling with the cold air.

"Really? Haha... I think it's the same as always... nerves."

"Alright then, but..."

"..."

An eternal silence followed.

"?"

Elara tilted her head, confused by her companion's evasive attitude.

"!!"

For his part, Kaelen felt the urgency; aware that he had to act before she decided the meeting was over.

(Zas!)

So, slapping himself, he struck his cheeks with both hands in a sudden gesture that startled the young woman.

"Miss Elara... there’s something I have to tell you. I’m not good with sappy words or beating around the bush, but... I... I like you. I really like you."

The silence that followed was absolute, or at least it seemed that way until...

"I like you too."

... Expecting the impact of rejection, he was surprised by the one thing he least expected to hear.

"What? Really?!"

Kaelen's eyes widened, feeling a wave of euphoria he had never experienced before.

"Isn't it already too late to admit it?"

Had fate granted him a miracle?

"Then... we can go on dates and do all sorts of things from now on, right?!"

But such a thing, obviously...

"Dates? What do you mean by that?"

... Was nothing more than an illusion.

"Eh?"

In that instant, Kaelen felt the ground disappear beneath his feet.

"Eh... so... does 'date' mean... a romantic relationship to you?"

Elara's smile froze, and a trace of confusion clouded her crystalline gaze.

"Eh... yes... that’s what it's about..."

Please, stop doing this, his mind pleaded. It couldn't be that everything was an illusion.

"I... I like you. You're kind, you taught me the world of games, and you always try to make me laugh. That's what I like about you, as a companion. So... can we still be friends?"

But in that moment, Elara finally seemed to realize the abyss that had just opened between their interpretations, too late.

(Crack!)

On that day, something broke inside Kaelen.

"Why...? I know I'm not good enough for you... but is there another man? Is that why?"

The sound wasn't physical, but it hurt more than any wound.

"It’s not that... It has nothing to do with compatibility, and there is no one else..."

He knew that struggle was futile, that clinging on would only make him look more pathetic, but he couldn't help himself.

"Then! Why? Do you really hate me so much that you can't even give me a chance?"

The pain was transforming him into something bitter.

"It’s not hate... it’s just that..."

A crack had opened through which malice could enter...

"I see... I understand perfectly. Fine... I’m sorry... for forcing you to put up with this stalker. I'm leaving."

... That was the moment where everything changed for both of them.

"Wait!"

Elara reached out to stop him, but Kaelen spun around with a violent movement.

"Don't come near me!"

"H-hii...!"

At that outburst of rage—something she had never seen in the withdrawn Kaelen—Elara let out a muffled cry and stepped back, terrified.

"Leave me alone..."

The boy regretted it instantly upon seeing the fear in her eyes, but the shame and self-loathing were so suffocating that he couldn't stay a second longer, running away without looking back.

"Kaelen..."

In this way, what he would find beyond his path would only be...

"Damn it!!"

... A deep darkness.