Paying to Win in a VRMMO: Volume 4

by Blitz Kiva

  Iris stood there in silence. It was finally dawning on her how dangerous it was to have Amesho siding against her. The girl who had been speaking flippantly before now turned so pale it actually reflected in her character model.

  A battle she was starting to think she could actually win under her own power felt like it was once again slipping from her grasp, and all based on the charm of the model. It was hard to believe that Megumi Fuyo would ever do such a thing, but the fact that Amesho was going to be the model did appear to be the truth.

  Even so, it really wasn’t like her at all. Megumi Fuyo could crush her with sheer skill alone. Then, just when Iris had found the faintest ray of hope, she brought down this finishing blow. The circumstances were truly harsh.

  “Wh-Wh-What will I do, Mr. Kirschwasser?!” she exclaimed.

  “How am I to know?” he replied.

  “Calm down. You’ll just have to fight allure with allure,” Edward said, assuming the air of Iris’s chief advisor. With that reassurance, he flicked his gaze to Felicia.

  “Huh? Uh, m-me?” Felicia’s eyes widened as she was suddenly pointed out.

  “Allure with... allure?” Iris looked at Felicia, too. She was pretty sure she really was a girl of middle school age, and the way she acted and spoke was appropriate to that. That did give her a certain natural allure. It could work. If she went up on stage with the same manner she used when doting on her “beloved Itchy,” she could possibly compete with Amesho.

  But would she agree to be made a spectacle of?

  “Huh? Huh? You want me... to be a model? I... I don’t know...” Felicia trailed off into giggles.

  It wasn’t looking like a problem.

  Edward gazed at the giggling Felicia.

  “What’s wrong?” Iris tilted her head.

  The Machina’s expression was even more unreadable than usual. “Oh... nothing. It’s just an image I like...”

  “Hmm?” Iris asked.

  They still hadn’t even actually asked Felicia yet, but the girl was already acting like it was a done deal, grinning while twisting back and forth.

  “Well, it looks like all that’s left to do is to think up some gimmick armor that would look good on Felicia.” Iris put her hands on her hips and nodded.

  Kirschwasser glanced past her for a moment, then inquired: “Do you feel like you can meet Master Ichiro again?”

  “You bet!” Iris had returned to her usual triumphant expression, and she let out a little snort. “I won’t let the young heir get to me. I won’t lose heart again, either. And I won’t run away.”

  “Mm, very good,” a voice said.

  Iris let out a squeal and leaped aside as she realized the young heir himself was standing right behind her.

  Kirschwasser bowed reverently in his usual practiced way, and said, “We are honored by your presence, Master Ichiro.”

  Edward was silent. When he wasn’t speaking, it was impossible to tell how he was feeling.

  It really was the young heir, the Dragonet, Ichiro Tsuwabuki, stylishly wearing his Radiant Morpho Jacket, with the butterfly brooch on his lapel. Iris didn’t know if he had walked there, or had flown most of the way, but either way, he was now standing there calmly, smiling a smile of true satisfaction.

  “Y-Y-Y-Young heir! H-H-How did you get here?!” Iris stammered.

  “I told Bossman I wanted to go in through the back door, so he let me,” Ichiro said.

  Edward, who seemed to dislike the young heir quite a lot, tried to silently walk past Felicia (who was still wriggling gleefully) and escape into the workshop. Either intentionally or by coincidence, however, Ichiro just happened to change position very slightly so that Edward couldn’t get past. Eventually, Edward just slumped his shoulders and sat down nearby, as if giving up.

  “Itchy! I’m gonna be a model, maybe!” Felicia said, still beaming, giggling, and twisting.

  “I see,” he said. “I hope you will give the task everything you have.”

  “I will!” she said, then trailed off into tittering. Even the young heir’s muted encouragement had Felicia over the moon.

  Ichiro turned back to Iris. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better. I won’t apologize, but I was a bit worried about you.”

  “You could at least try to act like it...” Iris muttered.

  “I thought that I was.”

  How, exactly? she thought furiously.

  She had made the conscious decision, though, not to argue with every single one of the young heir’s obnoxious acts and statements. The time she could spend on that would be put to much better use creating new armor designs. She mulled over the conversation she’d had with Edward.

  Armor designs not concerned only with fashionability, but which integrated her personal style... She could also probably ensure rather good functionality at her current level, too. This time, she would make a new armor that really looked good on Felicia.

  “Young heir, I’m going to do it,” she declared. “Even if I’d never show it at Tokyo Girls Collection, I’m going to make an armor design that seizes the hearts of the NaroFan players.”

  “Mm, good,” Ichiro said. There was a real happiness mixed somewhere in the young heir’s standard noise of approval. “I look forward to seeing your efforts. I shall not interfere again.”

  With that satisfied-sounding murmur, he sat back in one of the chairs set up in the lobby. Kirschwasser produced a tea set from nowhere in particular, and poured tea for him. The young heir took the teacup offered and brought it elegantly to his mouth.

  “Acting superior as ever, I see...” Iris sighed.

  “My comportment is merely the result of self-confidence,” said Ichiro. “I do not believe myself to be superior, nor inferior, to anyone in particular.”

  “But you do believe you’re the best, in a general sense,” Iris argued.

  “Well, yes.”

  Yes, that was the kind of man Ichiro was.

  It was his usual sort of answer, and Iris couldn’t help but lament how comfortable she was starting to feel around it. People liked to say “everything changes” and “all things are transitory,” but Iris had a feeling this man’s mentality would remain the same even five billion years from now, after the sun had expanded and burned up the Earth. There was something reassuring about that sort of permanence, even if it regarded something as odious as him.

  “I see you were helping Iris, too, Ed,” Ichiro commented.

  “Yeah... Do you have any advice to offer?” Edward asked as he took the tea from Kirschwasser.

  “I don’t believe so,” said Ichiro. “I just want her to make whatever she wants to make.”

  Edward slid his face plate open and poured the tea through his mouth slot. The young heir merely smiled meaningfully.

  Edward cast a glance at Iris, then continued, with an air of hesitation. “Can Miss Iris win by making what she wants to make?”

  “That is not up to me, nor should it be.” Ichiro used his usual breezy way of speaking. “To say that she can or cannot would be to limit Iris’s potential. All I want from her is to see her doing what she wants. I believe she knows that, as well. Don’t you?”

  The last “don’t you?” was meant for Iris. She nodded, as if to say, “Of course.”

  Yes, that was true. To run, to fail, to beg... Iris was permitted to do any of them. The escape route was always there. If she took it, she’d be greeted with the young heir saying, “Ah, I see,” with his usual cool expression. Nothing more. Nothing else would change. Yet that was a far more terrifying thing to her than being disappointed or being betrayed.

  The young heir’s eyes were always set on distant heights above. By building a foundation of sand, she could just barely keep her eyes on the same heights. But if that footing ever crumbled, she could never hope to ascend to the same heights ever again. That was why Iris could not afford to so demean herself in front of the hateful man.

  At the least, right now, he was acknowledging her. The wretched youn
g heir, who likely had money and position and fame beyond anything she would ever achieve in her life, would treat her as an equal, here in the game. She didn’t want to ruin that.

  “Young heir, earlier, you said you wouldn’t do anything,” she said. This one competition she had to carry out herself, without any help from the young heir.

  “Yes, that’s right,” he said. “I promised I wouldn’t interfere, so I shall not act unless you ask me to.”

  “That’s right,” she snapped. “You’d better not offer up any help, or money.”

  “Of course, I respect your decision,” said Ichiro. “I shall not offer any help, nor any money.”

  “Good.” Iris nodded in satisfaction, but then Edward interjected.

  “Wait a minute.”

  “What?” Iris asked.

  “Does that mean you’re going to pay all the funds for the graphic overlays, too?”

  “W-Well, yeah...” Iris said.

  Whether the item creation process failed or succeeded, it still cost money to overlay a graphic onto an original design. It was crap (though Iris would never use that word) system design, and it still hadn’t been fixed. Iris had numbed herself to it by now, but every piece of trash she had ended up creating had been paid for by Ichiro’s own real-life funds.

  The young heir had seemed to enjoy it, so it didn’t matter. But this time, things would be different. This was Iris’s competition. If he paid for the item creation, it would lose its purity.

  “Gimmick armor has a high crafting difficulty level,” Edward said. “What’s your Create Armor level right now, Miss Iris?”

  “U-Um...” Iris averted her eyes. She felt a replay of the same awkwardness she had felt when Edward had first burst into Iris Brand and challenged her.

  “It’s okay if you can’t answer,” said Edward. “But given the givens, you’re probably going to churn through a lot of failures on this.”

  “I-I’ll tap into my New Year’s money, or something...”

  “Will that be enough?” he said. “You’ll need to throw money at it the same way Mr. Tsuwabuki does.”

  “I’ll get a part-time job if I have to! One that pays by the day! And pays well! I’ll work at a construction site if I have to! But if he hands over one red cent, it loses all meaning!” Iris struck the table as she stood up, her expression contorting into something almost demonic. It was a combination of her grief at the reminder that you couldn’t do anything without money and her anger at the devs’ negligence for failing to fix the crap (although Iris herself would never use that word) system design.

  “Iris is scary...” Felicia murmured.

  “But it’s good to see her rise to the challenge,” Kirschwasser replied as they leisurely sipped their tea.

  Don’t act like it’s none of your business! Even though it isn’t! Iris thought furiously.

  But Edward remained tenacious. He seemed to be honestly worried about Iris, which he demonstrated by willingly addressing the young heir he hated so much.

  “Mr. Tsuwabuki, say something,” he demanded.

  “I suppose I should.” Ichiro closed his eyes, took a sip of his tea, and then said: “There are three days until the competition. Iris, you must complete the designs and craft the armor before then. If what Ed says is true, you will sink significant quantities of money into failures before you succeed. I do not know how much you have in savings, but a part-time job may truly be necessary. And you’ll have to get one within the next three days.”

  Iris groaned. Three days. Yes, she only had three days. The reminder of the time limit caused her to realize how unrealistic her proposal must sound. Still, she couldn’t let that drive her to ask that man to pay...

  Edward crossed his arms and nodded encouragingly. “That’s right. So in this one case, I think you should just ask Mr. Tsuwabuki—”

  “Iris, I will arrange a part-time job for you,” said Ichiro.

  “What?!” Edward shouted back in response to Ichiro’s words.

  Iris’s eyes went wide. “Um, a... a job?”

  “Yes. You wanted one that paid by the day, and paid well. I know of one that just happens to take place in one of the next three days... though I think that the wage will be realistic.”

  “I-I’ve never actually held a part-time job before...” Iris stumbled. “I’m not sure I can do it...”

  “And you said you’d get one, despite that? You surprise me.” Ichiro’s surprise sounded genuine, if mild. Maybe she’d managed to exceed his expectations sooner than expected.

  Good job, me, Iris thought. Normally she’d take a victory lap over that, but the reason being what it was, Iris merely blushed.

  From a little ways away, Kirschwasser spoke up. “Master Ichiro, are you suggesting... that?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Huh? What? Is it something dangerous?” Iris found herself feeling a bit anxious all of a sudden.

  “Well... it certainly would be a rigorous job for somebody without any experience.”

  She groaned again. The odd gravity behind Kirschwasser’s words was beginning to inspire a timidity in Iris. Just what kind of work was he going to arrange for her? What did he do for a living? Was he really in a position to get her a job?

  Her mind was racing in circles. But what ended up sealing her interest were, of course, the hated man’s words.

  “Of course, no one will force you...”

  It was surely not intended as a challenge, nor as an enticement. There was likely no deeper meaning behind it at all; it was simply what one said in such situations. But to Iris, it was the ultimate provocation.

  “I’ll do it! You know I’ll do it!”

  She wasn’t the kind of person who could turn something down after a line like that. Besides...

  “Besides, I said I’d use my New Year’s money, but I actually spent most of it on clothes and stuff, so I need money either way!”

  “And knowing that, you still insisted you’d pay for yourself...” Edward groaned, with palpable strain in his voice.

  “You really do surprise me,” Ichiro whispered once more. But once again, Iris couldn’t be as happy about it as she wished she could.

  4 - Noble Son, Scheme

  That day, Ichiro Tsuwabuki attended a party held by an acquaintance of his. It was the sort of party he was always called to, one that brought together great men and women from all over the world. In other words, trivial nonsense. Ichiro wasn’t so magnanimous as to show up just to bolster his acquaintances, and it would have been easy to refuse them. But just this once, on a whim, he decided to attend.

  After the usual boring greetings and announcements, the mingling began, with a standing buffet. The tables were set with luxurious dishes prepared by the hotel’s top-of-the-line chef, and as he looked all around him, he couldn’t help but think how amusing it would be to have Asuha there.

  Among the attendees, Ichiro saw a face he knew very well. With a wineglass in hand and no timidity whatsoever, he approached her.

  “Hello, Megumi.”

  Megumi Fuyo trembled as she saw him. “I-Ichiro...”

  “There’s no need to be so afraid,” he said.

  If Sakurako had been there, she would have said, with a sigh, “You’re the only one who thinks that.” But right now, she was in a car in the parking garage, no doubt fervently browsing the NaroFan wiki. It seemed she was finally intending to use the present he’d gotten her for her birthday. She had asked his opinion on choosing a girl for her second character, but lacking any opinion on the matter, he had ignored the question.

  But for now...

  For now, there was Megumi Fuyo. She had likely picked out her own dress. It was rather subdued, for her, but it was a fine quality dress that displayed her usual excellent taste.

  “I heard that you met Iris,” he said.

  “Yes,” Megumi replied after some hesitation, lowering her eyes.

  “She’s had her share of difficulties, but she seems intent on hitting you with ever
ything she’s got,” Ichiro said. “What about you, Megumi?”

  “I...” Megumi seemed less than enthusiastic to see him. Or perhaps it was more that there were emotions piling up in her heart that she hadn’t yet figured out how to deal with. Perhaps she couldn’t express herself clearly because she hadn’t expected to see Ichiro today, and hadn’t yet figured out how best to interact with him when she did.

  The source of her awkwardness must be their most recent interaction in the game, Ichiro guessed.

  He had nearly ended things with “Nem” then. Of course, he had not really wanted to lose a friend in such a way, but her selfishness had been causing trouble for his other friends, and he simply could not have allowed that to continue.

  But then the one Nem had made the most trouble for, Iris, had stayed his hand. She had said she wasn’t bothered, and furthermore, that “this problem is between me and her, so stay out of it.” As a result, Ichiro had managed to avoid having to cut Megumi off entirely. He wasn’t sure how much Iris had thought those words through before she’d said them, but he did feel grateful to her, at least.

  Meanwhile, Megumi likely had complicated feelings to work through. She wasn’t stupid. She must have known what Ichiro had been about to say.

  Thus, he decided he should make himself clear. “If it’s about that, then don’t worry. I think of you as a very dear friend, Megumi. Iris’s statement has allowed our relationship to remain unchanged.”

  Upon hearing those words, Megumi Fuyo finally raised her head. “A... friend?”

  “Yes. A friend. I hope I have made it clear that I do not wish for anything beyond that.”

  “You’re as cruel as ever,” Megumi said with a smile. He could tell it was a bit forced, but still, it was a more genuine smile than he’d been expecting. “Ichiro, this party venue is the place we first met. I wonder if you remember that...”

  “Yes, it was ten years ago,” he replied without hesitation, flipping back to one bookmark in his memory. “And ever since then, Megumi, you’ve always chosen your own clothing, haven’t you? Though at the party where we next met, you were wearing an extremely uncontroversial dress.”