It Really Was a GOD Game
"……Huh?"
Moira?
Now that I thought about it, she hadn't said a single word this whole time.
Ding.
"……?"
Huh? The mic? I hadn't turned it on.
"……Huh?"
I stared at the monitor for a moment, then carefully opened my mouth.
"Moira?"
"You can hear my voice?"
"Ooh."
Wild. Voice recognition had always been part of the game, sure, but I hadn't known it would work like this in the group chat too.
But wait.
"Why haven't you said anything until now?"
"For what?"
"……."
What. Did the mood just get kind of nice?
"With me?"
"An important talk?"
"……?"
Outside?
I pulled my eyes off the monitor and turned my head.
And—
"……Huh?"
Something strange filled my vision. A pigeon that had been flying past the window hung frozen in empty air, locked mid-flight in the exact pose it had held a second before.
"……?"
What?
I got up and went to the window, but it wasn't only the pigeon. People passing on the street, cars on the road, even the leaves that had been trembling in the wind—everything had stopped.
"Moira……?"
"……What is that?"
"……."
Aha. Right. She'd stopped time.
…….
"You stopped time?!?!?!!?"
"That's possible?!"
……She had a point. Even so.
I looked out the window again. Everything was still frozen.
"……."
A dream? I raised a hand and pinched my cheek. It hurt.
"……."
Not a dream, then. So this was real? The thing I'd spent all this time believing was an eroge had actually been some kind of channel for talking to real gods?
Insane.
"……It was real?"
"Y-yeah?"
"……."
For a while I couldn't answer. Then, slowly, I nodded.
"……Yeah."
"Y-yeah? Ah, uh-huh! What is it?"
A pause.
"……?"
Fall?
"What are you talking about?"
"……."
What?
"What are you suddenly talking about?"
The conversation broke off. And then—
"……."
Destroy… the worlds…?
"W-wait a second. What does that mean?"
"……."
So the twelve heroines I knew would someday fall, and each of them would smash her own world to pieces?
"……."
The scale of this had gotten way too big, way too fast.
"……Moira."
"Then… you too?"
"……."
The answer was perfectly calm, as if she were mentioning that it would rain tomorrow.
"Then we have to stop it!"
"……How?"
"……Me?"
"……."
Me? Park Jinho? Twenty-eight years old. Freelance video editor. A lifelong single. Hobby: eroge. Special skill…….
"……."
Hmm. I didn't have one.
"No, no. Moira."
"I'm just an ordinary person."
"How is someone like me supposed to change the fate of gods?"
"……Simple?"
A moment later, Moira spoke.
……?
"That's it?"
"……Another?"
"……."
What.
"What is it? You said there was one more."
"……."
Hold on. Hadn't she just said twelve whole worlds were going to break? And for now I was only supposed to think about making them happy?
"Moira. Could you explain a little more?"
Moira was quiet for a moment. Then—
"Why?"
"What do you mean, it isn't time… what even…"
Come to think of it.
"Moira."
"What's with the black boxes in your nickname? A minute ago you were the Astrologer."
"……I see."
"I want to."
I said it outright.
"Why you're the only one telling me this. Why there are black boxes in front of your name. Why it has to be me, of all people."
"But, Moira."
"You have a reason for going this far, don't you?"
"I trust you."
"Aww~ What's there to thank me for~"
"Aww~ You're laying it on too thi— huh? Choose me? What do you mean by th—"
Ding.
"……Huh?"
Seira? And where did you pop out from this time?
"……."
I watched the two of them go back and forth. Hadn't Moira said she'd stopped time? So how had Seira gotten in?
"Hey. Seira?"
"How did you get in?"
"……."
"……You charge for that?"
"……."
Right. She'd always been like this.
"Yeah?"
"……Huh?"
A product that saves the world?
"Something like that exists?!?!"
"……."
No. The world was ending, and she was making a sale?
Ding.
"……."
Whoa. Room owner privileges were terrifying.
"Ah, no. It's fine, but… is Seira okay?"
"……."
Always? I see. So that was just how she was. Hmm. Thinking about it, it wasn't all that different from the way she talked to me.
"But, Moira."
"Seira heard all of that just now. Is that okay?"
…….
I always thought it, but Moira really did have it. That airheaded charm that slipped out now and then.
"Your airheaded side is cute."
"Yeah?"
Ah.
"A-ahem."
"Ahem! Ahem! Please, do go on."
"……."
I thought it over. I still didn't understand everything. No—honestly, I understood almost nothing. But one thing was certain. In all the six years Moira and I had talked, she had never once lied to me.
I swallowed.
"……If I do that, can I really change your fate?"
"All twelve of you?"
"……."
How was I supposed to put it. It was an incredibly heavy thing to be told. Twelve goddesses. The world each of them ruled. And the words that said I had to change all of that fate.
And yet.
"Make them happy… that's what you said……."
Right. In that case.
"Okay."
"I'll try."
"Do you have any idea how much I love you all? If you're going to be unhappy, there's no way I can just sit still!"
For a while, no reply came. Then—
A short line appeared.
"But, Moira."
"What about you?"
"Yeah. You're one of the twelve too."
"Then what do I have to do to make you happy?"
What? No answer?
I waited like that, and in the space of a breath—
"……?"
Her turn? What turn?
"Moira. A turn—what does that mean?"
"……."
No. How soon was soon.
"Yeah?"
"Huh? Why?"
"……."
What was this feeling. I was sure I'd understood something, and now I knew even less than before.
"Huh? Wait. Moira?"
Ding.
Tick.
"……Huh?"
The second hand of the clock began to move again. The people frozen outside walked on as if nothing had happened, and the pigeon simply flew away.
More importantly—
"Moira? Wait! I still have something to ask—"
"……Yeah?"
"……Huh?"
"……."
Oh, right. The mic. Moira had switched it on herself a little while ago, hadn't she?
"Huh? Y-yeah! It—it's on? Haha……."
I flinched.
"……?"
"……!"
Sylvia?
"No—how do you even know that?"
"Ack."
"……."
What. They could tell too?
"……."
No. What? Why were they so calm? Moira had stopped time. Seira had even been kicked. She'd even said the worlds were going to be destroyed.
"……."
Oh, right. She'd asked me to keep it a secret from the others.
I clamped my mouth shut. Huh? Wait. If the others just scrolled up, wouldn't they be able to see the chat?
I spun the mouse wheel in a panic.
But—
"……Huh?"
Gone. I had definitely been talking with Moira until a moment ago, and yet her messages, and the log of Seira coming in and getting kicked, had all vanished.
"……."
Whoa. Room-owner privileges really were terrifying.
That was when it happened.
Ding.
"……?"
The webcam, this time?!
I looked at the little window that had appeared on one side of the monitor. In it was a man with his mouth hanging wide open.
"No, why is this on too?"
"……."
"H… hi? No, that's not it! I didn't turn this on!"
"……Why?"
"What?"
"……."
"……."
I looked out the window again. It was finally starting to feel real. Moira stopping time. Seira barging into that frozen moment however she pleased. The mic and the webcam switching themselves on.
"Um……."
"So…… you all…… really are gods?"
"……Outer Gods?"
"And what's that supposed to be?"
"……."
When we meet? Ah, right. They'd been saying since earlier that they were coming to see me.
"……."
I stared blankly at the monitor, and then a question occurred to me.
"Um. But……."
"Then who on earth made this game?"
"Of course!"
"Th-that's……."
I looked at the game title floating on one side of the monitor.
"……Haa."
There was still a mountain of things I didn't know. But this much, at least, I could be sure of.
So that was it. They were gods. The women I had spent six years clearing were real, existing gods. All twelve of them.
It had been strange, now that I thought about it. Across those six years they had never forgotten a single conversation, and they had spoken like people who were truly alive.
No. From the moment Moira stopped time, this had stopped being a situation where game or not even mattered.
"……."
I thought for a moment. Then another question rose up.
No, wait. Before any of that—why were a bunch of goddesses getting themselves captured in an eroge?
At that instant—
Ding!
Dimensional travel preparations are complete.
Twelve divinities are scheduled to descend upon the Human Realm.
Huh?
In that instant—
RUUUUMBLE—!!!
The ground began to heave.
"!?!?"
……Huh?
"Wha???????"
No, wait.
"Wait!!!!! Hey hey hey hey!!!!"
I shouted into the mic, but the two of them were so thrilled they weren't hearing a word I said.
No—were they even listening to me?!
I hammered the keyboard in a panic.
Ding.
Poof!
"Huh?"
And in that instant, right before my eyes—
A chest appeared.