Chapter 5

Staring at Eiji's lifeless body was...strange.

"Why isn't he respawning?" I murmured.

I decided to check for myself. I left the arena and headed towards the respawning point. I couldn't grasp the fact that Eiji might be dead.

When I arrived in the area, I didn't see anyone there. It was empty. "...Eiji..."

"Gin!" A woman cried behind me.

"Where is Gin? Wasn't he supposed to respawn?" Another person with the woman asked.

"Where's Caleb?"

"David?"

It seemed as if others are having the same problem.

I decided to walk up and ask them, "Who's Gin?"

"He's my brother. He was attacked by an enemy, but then he died. He was supposed to return here like the game developers said in the guidebook..." The woman began to tear up.

Then that means...Eiji won't come back...

I fell to my knees in realization.

"Don't tell me. Is Gin really..." The woman couldn't finish her statement before bawling.

I ended up staying on the ground. My whole body felt hot. My head felt dizzy. I just met Eiji earlier today, and now he's dead. I was just invited into his guild, and he's gone.

He even died right in front of our eyes. The whole crowd's eyes. What is going on?

"Gin!" The woman screamed at the top of her lungs.

I decided to go back to the arena. After a few minutes, I arrived. The crowd was still there. Instead of them in the audience section, they were surrounding Eiji's dead body.

"Why didn't he disappear?" Yazoyo asked with a confused expression.

"He's not moving." A person said after looking at Eiji for a while.

"That's because he is dead," I announced to the crowd.

Everyone turned their heads and looked at me.

"What? Does that mean...that..." The person looked over at Yazoyo.

"What? I didn't mean to kill him! I thought everyone was supposed to respawn when they lost!" Yazoyo screamed. He then covered his ears and dropped to the floor. "I didn't kill him...I didn't kill him..." Yazoyo continued repeating to himself.

I looked at Yazoyo and walked closer to him. I laid my hand on his shoulder. He then looked up at me. Of course, before coming here, I had to take my time to think about this situation.

"It's not your fault, Yazoyo. It was accidental bloodshed."

Everyone then looked at me with shocked faces. It seemed as if they were all surprised by my response.

However, Yazoyo's expression surprised me put of all of them. He started to cry.

"I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to..."

"What are we supposed to do now?" A person from the crowd scratched his head.

"I guess leave?" Another answered.

"I guess so."

After that, everyone in the arena left, leaving Yazoyo, the tavern girl, and me. I looked at the two and saw how pale their faces were.

"I was supposed to be the one dead..." The tavern girl swallowed, trying to stop herself from crying.

"But I was the one who killed him..." Yazoyo choked. It seemed as if he cried so much he had a hard time making out words.

Though I was sad about what happened to Eiji, it wasn't their fault. Mostly, I feel that something is going with this game. Why did the game developers say we could respawn when one of us ended up dead? To me, it feels as if it was done purposely and not accidentally. We were kept in this game for some reason...or so my thoughts tell me. It can't be for sure.

"Hey, guys," I said to the two.

They both looked at me with guilt in their eyes.

"Would you guys like to join my guild?"

They both looked at me with shocked faces, as if I were the crazy one. "Are you sure?" The tavern girl asked.

"Yes, I am sure. Since some of us died in this game, we can't be too sure how powerful other people are in the game. They may be ten times stronger than any of us. If we form a guild together, we may be able to survive." I explained.

"But...but I'm a murder." Yazoyo covered his face.

"That doesn't matter right now. All that matters, for now, is that we have the will to survive. We don't want any more dead. Right?"

The tavern girl and Yazoyo looked at each other and agreed. "Alright." Yazoyo nodded.

"Invite me." The tavern girl said with confidence.

I sent both Yazoyo and the tavern girl invitations to the guild.

"The Powerhouse?" Yazoyo chuckled.

"Shut up." I snapped back.

"Um...thank you for the invitation." The tavern girl smiled.

"Oh yeah. I don't think you have ever told us your name yet. What is it?" I asked the tavern girl.

"Oh? My name is Sakura."

End of Arc 1