The Thousand-Point Event

While the two of them caught their breath, Minel thought of the Arcade and opened the Backrooms Field Guide.

The description had not changed.

If this is real, the Arcade should be crawling with monsters. So why is there no one here?

If I focus on Wildness, will new information appear?

Minel concentrated and stared hard at the text of the Backrooms Field Guide. Unfortunately, the sentences did not change. Simply imagining something was not enough to make a description appear.

So it only reacts when I see something with my own eyes, or touch it with my hands?

Then a concept without physical form—like Wildness—can only be inferred from other explanations.

Not exactly easy.

I should hear Hina's thoughts first.

"What's your overall take?"

"It's definitely unsettling. In the Backrooms, anything kind always has something vicious waiting behind it."

Minel looked at Hina with a quiet smile. At first she did not understand what it meant—then she suddenly remembered what she herself had said.

Hina flushed with embarrassment and rushed to add,

"I don't mean you, Minel."

"I didn't say anything."

"……"

Minel slowly surveyed the Arcade. Beyond the steel door, under bright lights, countless characters were watching him.

"Wildness is the key, but……"

"We don't even know how to get rid of it. We barely know how much is building up."

That veteran's movements had been impossible to follow with the eye—speed that clearly exceeded human limits. No matter how hard Minel combed his memory, it had not looked like the effect of some special item. It had looked like pure physical ability.

Could a body become that unrealistically strong without something special like Wildness?

The man's words came back to him.

He said to suppress Wildness.

Turning that over carefully, it did not simply mean to stay away from it.

"I'm going to try more."

Hina stared at him in surprise. She had thought he prized safety above all else; she had not expected this kind of boldness.

"Are you really going to?"

Minel's cold, clinical gaze cut through the Arcade.

The difference between courage and recklessness is composure.

He ran a quick analysis of what had just happened. He roughly understood the feeling of Wildness accumulating—the intoxication of power. Like being drunk, reason going numb, an inexplicable confidence flooding in.

"We already know how to come down from it."

"What?"

Minel lifted his eyes to the ceiling. Right now, his head was perfectly clear.

"I'll rest after each full circuit."

"Do you really think that will work?"

Those two men earlier had said something about not killing too often. In reverse, that meant taking it slowly, with intervals, would be fine. If that was also an effect of Wildness, the same principle should apply to the Arcade.

Of course—

"In the end, we won't know until we try."

Even Hina could not disagree with that. She was afraid, but Minel's easy voice gave her confidence.

"All right. I'll trust you, Minel."

"No. Don't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trust me, actually."

Minel drew Silence and Noise and held them out to her. Hina looked at the two weapons without understanding, then asked carefully,

"Why are you suddenly giving those to me?"

"Insurance."

"……"

"I trust your judgment, Hina."

Hina hesitated. Just taking hold of Silence and Noise was terrifying enough. But Minel's face, looking straight at her, held absolute trust—and that gave her the courage to take his weapons.

The two of them went back into the Arcade.

Minel cleared every remaining game without hesitation. Not a single failure, not even a hint of fatigue. He played better than the first time, scoring over three hundred on every machine.

The moment he finished the last one, a sneer touched Minel's face. He rolled his neck and spoke as if it were all beneath him.

"The physical stats are synergizing with each other."

"……"

"Five hundred should be easy now."

With that, Minel strode forward, about to step back into a machine—when Hina blocked his path and shouted,

"Stop!"

At the cry, Minel tilted his head and looked back. A faint yellow light lingered in his eyes, different from before.

"Why?"

"We agreed you'd only do one circuit."

"It's fine. Just one more."

The words were barely out before Hina drew Noise and leveled it at him without hesitation.

"Minel. Are you the kind of person who breaks his own word that easily?"

"……"

"If you go into that machine, I'll assume you've turned into a monster…… and I'll shoot."

The muzzle trembled slightly, but her eyes locked on him with absolute resolve. Seeing that, Minel let out a short laugh. In his eyes, Hina was simply adorable.

"Interesting. You're going to shoot me?"

"I will. That's why you gave these to me."

"……"

Minel's expression slowly hardened. Yellow light began to rise in his pupils as well.

"You think I can't do it?"

"……"

"Is that what this is?"

Watching him, Hina clenched her teeth.

If Minel does something sudden—could I actually pull the trigger?

I don't know.

Minel was the first person she had met in the Backrooms who had been kind to her. In the days they had spent together, he had never once disappointed her. Never even made the small careless mistakes everyone makes.

How am I supposed to kill someone like that?

Hina prayed with desperate sincerity.

Please let him come back to himself.

Silence stretched. Minel's brow slowly furrowed. Just as he was about to speak, his father's voice rang suddenly in his mind.

In that instant, the yellow light in Minel's eyes faded. Hina let out a sharp breath of relief.

"You're right, Hina."

"……"

"Let's go outside for now."

Minel took the lead. Hina sighed and carefully lowered the muzzle. The two of them walked out of the Arcade without a word. Hina worried he might turn again, but thankfully nothing of the sort happened.

Once they were back in the Backrooms, Minel said flatly,

"It felt like you were looking down on me."

"What?"

"Earlier."

Hina almost denied it on reflex, then stopped. Looking at Minel's serious face, he seemed to already know it was not true. More precisely, he looked as if he were turning over for himself why he had felt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that way.

"I would never do that."

"Exactly."

"……"

A feeling like being drunk, and yet exhilarated. It was fortunate his emotional swings were almost nonexistent to begin with; otherwise he might not even have recognized the state.

Hina hurriedly returned Silence and Noise to him. She did not even want to imagine shooting him.

"Please take these back right now."

"Your turn this time."

"Ah……"

"You need marksmanship training."

Hina hesitated at the thought of going back into the Arcade—especially after watching Minel's change with her own eyes. But marksmanship was essential. Having one more person who could use a gun would be a major boost to their combat power.

"All right. But if it looks like I'm changing, you pull me out immediately. Understood?"

"Don't worry."

Hina drew a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠deep breath and went into the Arcade. Minel waited for her in front of the Digital Vein machine—and to his surprise, she cleared it quickly and came back out.

Her score was a full six hundred seventy.

Minel's mouth fell slightly open.

She can score that high from the start? Without other physical stats to support her?

"Wow! That was so much fun! Wait, you've been doing this by yourself the whole time? I feel so betrayed!"

She had gone in looking terrified. Now her eyes were sparkling like stars—bright yellow.

"I want to try the others too! I'm so happy!"

"……"

"Why are you looking at me like that? You did all the other ones yourself."

"……"

"Don't look at me like that. It's not Wildness building up. I'm just in a good mood because the game was fun."

"……"

"Oh, I get it. You're just scared I'll beat you, right? You already lost at marksmanship, didn't you? Heeheehee. Afraid I'll wipe every high score off the board?"

"……"

"Is a guy supposed to be that petty? Once your physical stats are enhanced, man or woman doesn't matter anyway."

"……"

"If I pull ahead on the scores, I'm party leader from now on. Got it? From now on you move exactly how I say."

"……"

"Let's keep training here. Grow enough, then track down that last one. There's no reason a guy like that should be allowed to live."

The yellow eyes alone were enough. Without a word, Minel stepped in, hoisted Hina over his shoulder, and lifted her cleanly. Her light weight helped, but so did his enhanced body.

Startled, Hina thrashed and screamed at the top of her lungs. From a mouth that was usually so composed, rough language he had never imagined poured out without pause.

"Ahh! What—what are you doing! Put me down! Put me down right now! I said put me down! Hey, you! You pervert bastard! Put me down this second! I'll put a hole in your head with this gun!"

Bang!

Even as he kicked the steel door open and carried her out of the Arcade, Hina kept shouting. Back in the Backrooms, Minel stood still and waited quietly. Soon her yelling and struggling gradually quieted, then slowly, surely stopped.

"You sober?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Really."

"You're sure?"

"……"

"Got it."

Minel set her down lightly. Hina's face—and the tips of her ears—were burning red. The yellow light that had been in her eyes was almost gone. Collecting herself, she could not bring herself to meet Minel's gaze. The moment she remembered what she had just said and done, she wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

"You only played one game."

Hina fidgeted, then answered in a voice that nearly vanished into the floor.

"M-my score was high. That's probably why. Just because I beat you……"

"You're still a little drunk."

"N-no I'm not! I'm not drunk at all!"

Minel laughed out loud. Hina, seeing him laugh for the first time, started to say something and closed her mouth. Using the word drunk, though, naturally sparked a thought.

"Alcohol has a tolerance, right? Maybe Wildness is the same? So I got drunk fast, and you got drunk late?"

"……"

Then it would be nice if there were a machine that raised how much Wildness you can handle.

But somehow I suspect that would be a far higher grade than Advanced.

Either way, as long as I can handle the Wildness, I want to push the scores all the way up. We've confirmed the method. From here it's just grinding.

"Let's keep going. We'll be each other's insurance."

"All right. B-but anything we say or do while drunk on Wildness, we forgive each other completely, okay?"

"Yeah."

Hina did not want to show any more embarrassing sides of herself. But she knew full well that enhancing their physical abilities was necessary if they were going to survive the Backrooms.

From that day on, the two of them took turns raising their physical stats in the Arcade. By carefully managing Wildness every time, they even developed a knack for it, and each of them reached the highest scores they could manage.

There was one catch.

Hina kept generating black-history moments, and Minel absorbed them in silence.

"I won't remember."

"……"

Three weeks passed that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way.

Hina, who got drunk on Wildness relatively easily, only chose machines that trained defensive physical abilities. She hit seven hundred points on most of them. The single exception was marksmanship—there she reached nine hundred fifty.

Minel worked without end. Competitive by nature, he poured every hour that was not sleep into training. Thanks to that, he hit the nine-hundred-seventies on every machine and secured second place across the board.

"Balan Cassel……"

The name sitting in first place on every machine. Part of him wanted to stay here a year, two years if it took, until he caught up to that man. But they only had two bottles left each of the thirst-and-hunger immunity drinks. For the next week, they would have to find food and water. Still, with scores this high, it should not be too hard—should it?

I'm curious how strong the nine-hundreds really are.

And then it happened.

An alert tone blared through the entire Arcade.

For a congratulatory message, that sounds an awful lot like a warning.

Hina walked out from the Digital Vein. The scoreboard blazed with light, and in the first-place slot her name was written in elegant letters.

Hina Amamiya.

"Wow! A perfect thousand! Isn't that amazing? I didn't miss a single one!"

It was a flawless score—higher even than Balan Cassel's, the one Minel had never managed to beat.

Then, without warning, every light in the Arcade went out, and a spotlight locked onto Hina.

The voice was friendly, but a chilling mechanical edge clung to the end of every word. And with that warning, yellow light began to flash in the eyes of every character in the Arcade.