For better or worse

In an unprecedented turn of events, Hikaru uncovers the reason for Katsumi Yura's villainization in the form of betrayal. So as a means of preventing her from turning into the rotten villain she was in the game, he takes on a mysterious route. Something he's unsure of but as logic has it great risk comes with a much higher return compared to his other choices

[System: You stand before a boss! Due to it being [Hidden], their difficulty is greater than a mere mini-boss

Status: You're suffering from a life-threatening injury! Would you like to activate the [Recovery band-aid] effect?

Outcome: The injury of your right arm is small but if it's irritated for even a little you'll suffer the deadly debuff [Bleed] in response]

(Be careful he's much more dangerous than the soldier you fought on top of the mall everything about him is cold)

'You're telling me that a guy with no form of training is much stronger than an excommunicated soldier–'

"What are you spacing out for? This is the fight to the death. But im not as kind as to let you live after you bear your fangs," Luke only felt his presence after he felt the sharpened knife lodge in his throat sealing his first death in a matter of seconds

[System: You've died! Due to a special rule applied, you can only respawn at the start of the match. Respawn in 3, 2, 1!]

"You sneaky little snake!" Upon respawning Hikaru tilted his head to the right and then went deeper as he reached the waist of his foe

"This is for my arm–" Just when he was about to land a devastating blow his chin was struck by Aoyama's knee

"You're too predictable! This kind of tactic won't work on me. You're ten years too young to ever beat me!"

His first respawn quickly ends after Aoyama lodges his knife deep into his eyes till reaches the edge of his brain. Hikaru then realizes why he's that much of a threat compared to the villainized Katsumi Yura due to his battle prowess. At the end of the first main story, Yura is indeed difficult but her attack pattern is repetitive whilst Aoyama is adaptive

(Hikaru it's the thirtieth respawn! At this point, you have to admit. We're still green, we can't beat a monster like him)

'Oh about that I already knew that after I died for the third time. He's rather difficult seeing as he can adapt to my attacks. Whoever made his AI wanted to give me a challenge and they knew exactly how,'

(So why aren't you surrendering? If you knew this all along and still kept on trying then aren't you insane? Just why the hell are you trying to die over and over for no good reason?)

'I just wanted to test his aggro. Just as I thought no matter what I do his focus is all on me. That means I can finally put it to use,'

(What do you mean by it?)

'My plan...?'

[System: You've now respawned for a total of 31 tries. Would you like to forfeit the match? The player declined to yield!]

"Hahahahaha... you better prepare yourself, Aoyama. Because I'll finally get serious in a long time since then," The air around Hikaru grew heavier in an instance, and Aoyama who witnessed this ahead of the rest grew wary

"Ready or not here I come!!!" He equips such a psychotic smile and sprints to his spot and instead of attacking he prepares to block

'This kid... why did the air around him suddenly change? Is that the reason why the boss was fond of him? Is he a hidden monster as well? I shouldn't lower my guard not even a little bit or else I might easily lose my neck. Bring it on kid. Show me whether you're a tiger or a feeble bug. Unleash your fury. So that I can eradicate your will to fight–'

Hikaru moves his injured right arm which confuses Aoyama but he feels that his next attack is different from the rest. "Secret technique; Nigerundayo!!!"

Aoyama's intuition was once never wrong he felt that the attack was different from the rest he ever encountered and he wasn't wrong. Because his irregular movement wasn't an attack he sprinted at his side running for dear life so he wouldn't get caught. That angered Aoyama and proceeded to follow tail as his targets were incapable of escaping and he couldn't stand the mockery he was dealt

(This is your ultimate plan? Running away from your problems? You're only preventing the inevitable!!!)

"Shut up Fazrael! I'm still alive, aren't I? Now open the Gacha! I need to do some pulls before he comes and kills me!"

[System: Welcome to the shop what may I help the host wi–]

"Gacha!!! Open the Gacha!!! Take all my money right now!!!"

[System: The wishes of the host are heard now commencing consecutive 10x pulls on both skill and weapon Gacha!

Status: Due to having no input on how much you want to spend we'll stop once your digits reach 10, 000

Outcome: Your total digits are 450, 000 upon taking Lou Qing's request and the payout of serving Karin Hashimoto]

Just as the saying goes Gacha was hell as most of his draws were unfit to assist with his predicament. The weapons he drew were powerful but required conditions he was incapable of fulfilling and the skills as well. Most of them were for recreational activities and some had no use as he doesn't possess the things for them to trigger

"You're dead meat you hear me–" Aoyama thrust his knife for the kill but rather than killing his foe it was caught and with no means of retrieving his arm he got punched

"Is that all you got?" Aoyama proceeds to attack but Hikaru takes little to no movement to evade his attack and counters with a left hook

"Why the long face aren't you gonna kill me? Try it then. I dare you,"

[Skill Gacha result:

Skill enhancement: 174x

Cleaning (R): 3x

Intoxicated (C): 4x

Martial art (A): 1x

Sluggish (E): 1x

Cooking (UR): 1x

Studying (UR): 1x

Uppercut: (C): 5x

Roundhouse kick (R): 5

Left/RightHook (C): 5

Weapon Gacha result:

Weapon enhancement: 140x

Darts (C): 30x

Molotov (R): 5x

Sprinter shoes (C): 8x

Taser (E): 1x

Uzi (Ur): 1x

Pepper spray (C): 10x

Firecracker (R): 3x

Katana (Ur): 1x

Pencil (S): 1x

Skill Combination: The following skills: Sluggish, Intoxicated, and Martial arts have created a skill only unlocked through combination: Drunken style (SS)]

His new skill made him move like a drunkard making his movement impractical, unreadable, and most of all tipsy. While Aoyama did land a few hits the nature of Hikaru's skill forbade him from landing a vital strike causing him to be infuriated. On the other hand, Hikaru dishes out a full-on attack with random and unreadable strikes until he felt a gaping hole in his chest

"Puehahahahaha! You nearly had me... but that man proved to be quite useful. The drug he gave me allowed me to surpass my limits," Hikaru stands up once the recovery band air takes effect which heals the injury he sustained from the fight

(You good?)

'I'm barely holding on but im fine,'

"Bring it on you punk!"

[System: You feel the air around Aoyama has grown heavier than ever and makes you wary of his attack

Status: Just standing before Aoyama raises every hair within your body as if he's the embodiment of death

Processing zone: Your life is gravely in danger as you're marked by the deep resentment of a hidden boss]

It began to rain which made their fight even more overly dramatic as the rain fell they continued with their bought. Aoyama slashed away through his flesh leaving small cuts for his body to bleed whilst Hikaru had sent blow after blow. The victor of the match shall be decided either with Aoyama knocked out or Hikaru losing himself for his loss of blood

"The both of us are tired... but aren't you in a much-weakened state? By now you'd be nauseous by your lack of blood,"

Aoyama charges for the final time, Hikaru has no strength left so he gathers all that remains and parries with the Taser. He pulls the trigger which sends out a shock throughout both their body and once he's all tapped out he pierces Aoyama's hand with the pencil. As they both suffer from the shock and Aoyama is in no condition to wield his knife he instead throws a punch

"Are you stupid or what?"

Hikaru took the full force of his punch but upon doing so the tracksuit was alerted of the near impact. It lessens the force and sends out a powerful shockwave neutralizing Aoyama and giving him the shock of his life. Just like what had occurred upon clearing Karin's story he received another letter from the creator of the game

[Alert!!!: A message hidden by the creator has been triggered? The host clearing a newly discovered route had triggered the message!!!

Hidden message: Oh my I didn't think you'd reached this far. But please don't stop... even if the feelings aren't mutual, please. Once this game is over, and you see the last coded message I placed... give me an answer. You might think this is stupid but I have known you since before so maybe after all this can you please remember me!]

'Just spit it out already. I want to know who you are... I want to go back to my life. When it's all normal. When I wasn't known and lived the life of an orphan. The problems here aren't something im good at. So please... reveal yourself, but I guess im asking too much, your memories must have been altered to match your character,'

"Hikaru! Hey, wake up!! Hikaru!!!" When the young lad was about to fall to the ground he felt the warm embrace of Yura as his vision finally darkened