Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 17

Let’s Play

When he noticed it was already two weeks since he first started playing the game.

Akito paid the monthly fee because he would continue playing for the  next month. He planned to continue the game still as an orc from here  on.

He had no plan of joining the clearing group. Being an orc had many demerits but he thought that it wasn’t too bad.

He was humming a tune at his workplace Mild while sorting the cardboard boxes at the back of the supermarket.

He placed a filled cardboard box on top of another box, then he brought them to the intended places and put them in order.

Akito smiled a little.

「It got easier carrying these boxes now. Have I gotten a bit muscular?」

He tried touching his upper arm to check, but he couldn’t feel anything that change in himself.

After he finished his work at the back, Akito walked toward the storefront.

On the way he heard an exasperated voice from the room where the full-time employees were working.

『Wait Kurita-kun, there’s a mistake here.』

『I-I’m sorry.』

Today it was the female employee’s turn to work in the back office,  but she found too many mistake that she called Kurita here from the head  office.

『This is a serious case of misordering. There are also a lot of items that became spoiled. Do you understand your mistake here?』

『No, I thought they would sell, haha』

Not only Kurita made some little mistakes here and there, he also placed the wrong order.

The problem was how he left the mistake as is and didn’t tell anyone about it.

Because of that when it was another employee’s turn to come here, she found spoiled products piling up at the back.

『Didn’t you get taught that you should call the head office when something like this happen?』

The female employee spoke in exasperation. Kurita could only act humbly toward her.

『I-I thought it would be a bother.』

『What’s a bother is when you don’t report something like this! Most of the products are spoiled now!』

The delivered products didn’t sell in Mild that was just a branch store and the leftovers became spoiled.

If Kurita at least contacted the head office, perhaps they could take the items or assign them to another branch.

Akito thought.

(It’s hard being adult huh.)

Perhaps he would feel sympathy if this happened to an employee that  had taken care of him, but this happened to Kurita who liked to look  down on him.

He didn’t pay it too much mind and walked toward the door. It was then Yakumo entered.

「Hey, why are you staying so long in here? Because of that I came to check on you.」

She was a bit angry. Akito tried to make an excuse to her, but then the employee’s voice reached them.

『Never make this kind of mistake again next time! Anyone can cause mistake, but never try hiding it like this!』

『……Yes』

Yakumo guessed the situation from hearing that conversation. She  gestured with her finger to outside, saying that they shouldn’t be here.

The two left the back room and then talked to each other at the cash register.

「I heard when taking over the shift, that he was hiding the  misordered items at the back of the storage. I can’t understand just  what he’s doing, something like that can be easily found out just from  looking at the data.」

It seemed Kurita was hiding something that could be easily found out  if a full-time employee looked at the order record and other data.

「That’s……horrible.」

Akito thought that it was just like Kurita to do something like that. Then Yakumo stared fixedly on Akito’s face.

「What is it?」

「Hmm~, is it just my imagination? Sorry, forget it. For a moment there you looked like someone I know.」

Akito said Is that so? and scratched his head.

Then he sensed a customer approaching from outside.

Both Akito and Yakumo straightened their posture and greeted the customer.

*

The next day.

Akito didn’t have part-time work today, so he chatted with Riku after school.

Riku chatted with him to kill time until he had to go to his  part-time work, but he still responded to Akito’s question to him  cheerfully.

「The way to have more fun huh……I already told you everything before this.」

Akito was consulting to Riku about how his free trial period for  playing Pandora’s Box was over and what kind of fun thing he could do  now that he had decided to continue playing.

He was also thinking to ask Riku about the effective way in order to join the frontline just like Riku suggested to him.

「You mean that one about training my body? But, will that be really  effective? Besides I’m also already doing something like lifting heavy  things in my part-time work.」

Riku said that something like that didn’t count and gave a recommendation to Akito.

「Just like me, you also can’t join club, so you have time right? I  don’t have that much free time left but, if it’s you then can’t you join  a cheap sports gym somewhere?」

Fitness club.

It was recommended to train your body whether you had the talent for it or not.

There was nothing that could be done about the talent if you lacked  it, but your physical condition was the result of your own effort.

「That thing about being better in the game if you can also move your body well in RL? Is that really true?」

If someone exercised physically in the real world, their movement would also become sharper inside the game.

That was a simple rumor that spread among players but, there were  also a lot of people who felt it for real so it couldn’t be said that it  was just a mere rumor.

Riky sighed.

「Someone like you who learned to dance inside a game is saying that  now? Besides, now two hours of your life every day are set aside just to  lie down on bed. It’ll be far better if you do some exercise to make up  for it.」

Akito thought that Riku had a point. He decided to exercise.

「But, sports gym isn’t a place where you can learn how to move inside the game.」

In Akito’s mind, a place where he could learn something like that might be at kendo dojo.

But he once heard that some amount of talent would be required in order to join that kind of place.

Place that didn’t have that kind of requirement would be like a sports club where adult gathered.

In such club it was fine even if you were unskilled or had no talent for it.

Certainly sport club where such people gathered existed, but he heard  that the difference in skill would be clear to see if such club had a  practice match against a legitimate dojo.

Riku seemed to remember something and took out his tablet.

「Now that you mention it, the dojo that I went to before was  apparently demolished and became a fitness club now. It said here that  it also has tools and pool, and also teach martial arts.」

His tablet’s screen was showing a website’s home screen.

The place seemed to be really cheap-looking, but the location wasn’t  too far away from his home and the fee was also within his range.

「Hmm~, I can’t do it this month but maybe I can next month.」

This month he had to pay for the monthly fee of the game and there  was also how he bought the “business-use VR machine” from Riku not long  ago, so he was just barely scraping by this month.

Riku looked disappointed when Akito said that he couldn’t go because he had no money.

「What, even though I thought I would try going there if you find the place good.」

「Don’t make someone else into guinea pig. More importantly, how much stronger I should get if I want to go to the frontline?」

Riku crossed his arms and thought for a bit, and then he muttered.

「It might be impossible for you this year.」

So it would take that long.

A voice called to the two of them while he was thinking that.

「You two are still here?」

It was the president Maya, carrying a thin tablet in her hand. She looked at Akito and Riku with a bit of exasperation.

「You don’t have part-time work Naruse-kun, so you should head home quickly. Or perhaps you have other plan?」

Akito felt slightly hurt from the president’s words.

「I don’t have anything to do anyway. ……Eh? Did I ever mention to president that I don’t have work today?」

Maya sighed in exasperation to that.

「I simply remember. I checked it before. I also know that Aoba-kun  has work today. I remember the shift of everyone in the class in  general.」

It seemed she remembered the schedule of everyone in the class  because some used their part-time work as excuse to run away when she  pressed them to submit the required document.

Akito was honestly impressed.

「You’re amazing president.」

Maya brushed up her hair and averted her gaze slightly. It seemed she was a bit embarrassed.

「M-more importantly, what were you two talking about?」

Riku showed his tablet’s screen to Maya.

「Fitness club? It’s the one that just recently opened isn’t it?」

It seemed Maya had also heard about the place before. She talked about that fitness club.

「Perhaps because it just opened, it’s quite popular and a lot of  people go there. Apparently you can practice martial arts there as  sport. Are you two also going there?」

Riku shook his head. Akito answered 「I’m starting next month」.

「It’s for game. Ah, I’m referring to the game called Pandora’s Box.」

「R-right.」

Maya made a slightly troubled expression.

(Aa~, is she not good with this kind topic?)

Akito regretted it but, he already started explaining so he continued.

「It’s a VR game, so there is this talk that exercising your body in  RL will be good for it. Apparently even though it’s a game, people who  exercised will have sharper movement in it, and my body will also lie  down unmoving the whole time I’m inside the game, so exercising will  also be good for my health.」

Maya looked slightly happy when she heard that.

「I see. Naruse-kun, do your best starting from next month.」

Maya said that and went to collect her belonging before leaving the classroom.

Riku watched her back while,

「President seems cheerful recently. Even though before this she always had this slightly cornered look.」

Akito also agreed.

「Come to think of it, before it was like she was putting up a wall  around her. Well, isn’t it a good thing that she became cheerful?」

Riku nodded and grinned suggestively.

「Yeah. Well, she’s cuter when she’s like this compared to when she  looked sullen. Now I have something that I can look forward a little  when coming to school.」

Having a cute classmate was something to be welcomed.

Akito said 「Right, right」 to Riku who said such thing.

*

It was the first time he logged in since the free trial period was over.

Ponsuke appeared in the plaza of the Capital of Hope and looked around.

「Yep, I have gotten completely used to this.」

At the beginning he would be at a loss seeing the huge fountain and  the huge half-transparent bulletin board surrounding the plaza.

Even now there were some players who looked like that. They reminded him of how he was used to be.

The experienced players would take a bit of distance when they saw players who were wearing beginner equipment.

It was so that they wouldn’t collide on each other.

It wasn’t that the experienced players were avoiding the beginners.  They did that simply to make it easier to walk. That was also the  expression of their consideration for the beginners.

The beginners who didn’t realize that would start walking to  somewhere. Their avatar would look unsteady perhaps because they weren’t  used to it yet.

(Perhaps the people around me at the beginning also acted considerately to me like that.)

It made him felt embarrassed when he imagined that, but then he  decided that he would also make path like that when seeing a beginner.

His back got tapped at that moment.

「Ponsuke!」

There was Mariela there when he turned around. She was standing there  with a new look that she managed to afford from the money obtained from  subjugating red ogre.

「Mariela! So you also logged in.」

「Naturally. Did you think that I’ll only play during the free trial period?」

Mariela said that before she take a look at Ponsuke’s appearance.

He wasn’t wearing mammoth vest, but a metal breastplate.

「It feels lacking somehow. You need to have a wilder look, Ponsuke.」

Ponsuke refused.

「Don’t wanna. I keep telling you that I’m normal. Or rather, there is  this equipment that I want, so what I’m wearing right now is just for  placeholder.」

Mariela knocked on Ponsuke’s breastplate while saying.

「Ee~, then you should go with barbarian style more for the next one. What if I choose it for you?」

「No way.」

Mariela kicked at him when he answered instantly like that, but Ponsuke nimbly dodged it.

Then they saw Alfie approaching them while waving her hand.

「You two seems to be having fun. Let me join.」

Ponsuke made a displeased face.

「Eh, what? Have you awakened to your S nature after getting involved  with those orcs? Stop it. After all I’m normal. Do that kind of play  with those four. ……Ouch!」

This time the two of them attacked Ponsuke after he said that with a serious look.

Ponsuke crouched in pain at plaza. The two girls looked down at him with their hands on their waist.

「Don’t mention those four!」

「That’s right. Before I realized it those four started calling me queen――」

Alfie was looking displeased, but Mariela looked at her coldly.

「No, that’s just you reaping what you sowed. More importantly, what are we going to play today?」

Ponsuke stood up and scratched his head.

「Hmm~, perhaps we will go outside. I want to check the performance of  this new armor. And tomorrow I want to go to the dance practice. I got  the feeling that it helped with increasing my Counter’s success rate.」

Ponsuke wished to do dance at the second day. It seemed that the practice was giving result.

Well, the dance was just workout dance though.

Mariela puffed her cheeks to show her displeasure.

「Ee~. I’m okay with going outside but, let’s go to the lake at the  second day. We couldn’t ride on boat before, so I want to try get on one  this time.」

Alfie jumped with her red and frilly dress while waving her hand.

「In that case we gotta go to amusement park no matter what! And also  zoo! Rather let’s just play until we drop for two days straight!」

An idea flashed in Ponsuke’s mind after he heard those scattered ideas.

「Then, we three should split up――guhah!」

This time the two’s clenched fist dug deeply into Ponsuke’s stomach.

There was no damage to his HP, but the pain was transmitted.

The warning about attacking another player popped around them.

「W-why? Isn’t that the perfect idea? All of us will go outside  together, and then at the second day we will split up to do what we want  by ourselves. That’s the perfect solution.」

Ponsuke trembled while holding his stomach. Mariela and Alfie sighed at him.

「Don’t you understand how that will be boring?」

「That’s right. It’s only fun if you come with me Ponsuke.」

「Oi, why did you cut me off there? Say it!」

Mariela grabbed at Alfie’s collar. Ponsuke thought that these two  were at it again and started to break them up from their quarrel.

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