First Boss Fight: Way Too Easy
Honestly, the boss fight was way too easy. Unlike in the original game, at least.
First off, this Mummy Man's weakness was fire. In the original, only the protagonist could exploit that weakness, thanks to the gladiator's built-in basic fire magic. The healer Umi never got a shot at it. It always felt like the protagonist was fighting solo.
But in this reality? Totally different. Not only Sassis, but Taiga too, both wielded fire-attribute Psychorobos.
"Fire!!!!" Sassis fired off the basic fire spell with glee.
Fwoosh!! Flames erupted, and Mummy Man's stance crumbled instantly. In this game, hitting a weakness breaks the enemy's stance, giving you an extra turn to attack. In a turn-based game where it's usually one hit you, one hit me, this system made battles a breeze.
"Taiga!! Your turn!!" Sassis passed the baton right to Taiga.
"Fire!!!" Taiga jumped in with her fire magic too.
Fwoosh!! Mummy Man, just trying to get back up, staggered again.
Fwoosh!! Boom!! Fwoosh!!! Flames exploded from all sides. Mummy Man was getting toyed with by the fire, no chance to recover.
Chup! Chup! With no Psychorobo of my own, there was nothing for me to do. So I just kept sucking on my thumb.
Aaah... this mildly salty flavor was basically addictive. The government should regulate it.
Soon enough, the final phase hit.
"Grraaaahhh!!!" Mummy Man's body toppled over hard.
When enemy damage builds up, you can land the finishing blow. Time for the whole party to dogpile the poor thing. Pure physical damage with no elemental resistance—universal beatdown time.
In other words, this was my moment to shine.
"Now!! Charge!!" I whipped out my steel pipe. With its physical resistance gone, it was go-time for me.
"Just keep slacking off!" Taiga grinned at me.
"Shut up!!" If I didn't make my mark here, I'd be total dead weight.
"Here we go!!! All-out assault!!" Sassis barked the order. Looked like she wanted to play leader.
Fwaaah!! We all charged in, weapons raised, straight at Mummy Man.
Bwaaaang!!! Taiga swung her baseball bat hard into its torso.
Crack!! Something in Mummy Man's body snapped, and it thrashed around.
Whoooosh!! Splat!!! Sassis slashed with her sword, crippling its limbs. Not enough to sever them, though.
"Tch. Too shallow." Sassis clicked her tongue. Her level was high, but her basic melee skills were below mine. She hadn't trained proper swordsmanship like I had.
In the end, the killing blow was mine to claim. Physical attack one-trick pony? That was me.
"Last hit's mine!!!" I greedily swung my steel pipe at Mummy Man's cracked head. Contributing here meant fat EXP rewards.
"Hyaahhh!!!" I brought the pipe down.
Splaaaat!! It cleaved clean through Mummy Man's skull.
Boooom!!! With that final strike, Mummy Man's body exploded into pieces. And just like that, it was dead.
"We win." Sassis let out a relaxed sigh. She was playing it cool, but the smug grin tugging at her lips gave her away.
"Whew... that was nothing." Taiga slung her bat over her shoulder.
"Not bad on the finisher, though. Thumb-sucker." She patted my shoulder.
Chup! Chup! Savoring the victory, I went back to sucking my thumb. This was becoming a habit. Big trouble.
"Eheheheheh! For fuck's sake, drop the stupid gimmick already! Eheheheheh!!" Taiga suddenly shook with laughter.
"Strong bunch. Is the whole town crawling with these things?" Sassis quoted her game line verbatim. Players could pick dialogue options, but Sassis stuck to her cool-guy default.
"But we've awakened to some serious power too, right? Psychorobo... that word just popped into my head." Taiga glanced at the translucent wolf behind her.
"What's the deal with this power? And why are monsters only showing up in this town..." Fitting for the protagonist, Sassis was full of curiosity.
"Anyway, today's done. It's already 1:30 a.m. Let's head home." I wrapped it up.
After 2 a.m., the Other Side and Psychorobo powers vanish anyway. Closing time.
"By the way, lame Shota didn't get a Psychorobo." Taiga smirked.
"Shut up!! I'll awaken something awesome someday!!! For sure!!" When the time comes, I'll show 'em!! That's me.
No— I have to. If I don't awaken soon, I might get kicked from Sassis's party.
"Just be our cheerleader as-is." Taiga teased with a grin.
"I'll smack you!!!"
"Uhahahaha!!"
Our chase ensued.
"Anyway, let's talk about... our activities tomorrow. Get some rest tonight." Sassis summed up like a proper leader.
I just headed home to crash.
---------
"Sigh..."
Back home, I showered and stepped out. Job done, nice and relaxed—prime sleep conditions.
"Bedtime." I closed my eyes.
That's when my phone rang.
Who the hell calls at this hour? I grabbed it.
'Umi Kiryu'
Umi. Oh yeah, we'd swapped numbers kinda vaguely last time. What was she doing up?
I debated pretending to sleep, but it might be important. I picked up.
"Hello?"
"Shota!!" Umi's loud voice blasted through.
"What're you doing up? Kids should sleep early, you delinquent." I sat up, saying that.
Nighttime call with a girl... I'd kinda hoped for this event, but no thrill. Too tired. Just wanna lie down.
"I'm not a kid!! Besides... who do you think's keeping me up..." Umi grumbled.
"Anyway!! Shota!! You... hung out with Eri?!!"
"Yeah."
"'Yeah' my ass!!! You even kissed, and... she confessed to you?!"
Eri spilled? Makes sense, they're tight. Girls love gossip.
"Oh. Yeah, I did."
"Why so casual about it?!!" Umi yelled, then hesitated.
"Wh-what're you gonna do?"
Her voice was serious. Shaky, even.
Eh...? This felt like a big moment.
"........."
I could hear Umi's tense breathing over the line.
Ah... got it. She was worried her close friend might fall for some shady guy.
"For now... I'll turn down the confession."
Not rejecting her outright. Just... priorities. I had to protect this world from the Other Side invasion alongside our protagonist Sassis.
The game was set in little Emoshita City, but if the player party didn't stop the incidents here, the world ended. The Other Side's erosion would spread from Emoshita across the globe.
Yeah. Confessions? Pointless. If we couldn't stop the apocalypse, we all died equal.
So my job was helping Sassis bring peace. How much help I'd be was another story.
Classic otaku fiction: the fate of the world in high schoolers' hands. If it's that shaky, maybe it deserves to end? Adulthood brings cynical thoughts like that.
Anyway.
"Hmm...? Why? Not that I'm curious or anything."
Umi probed persistently.
"I'd love to date her if I could. Eri's cute, right?"
Plus, sweet black gal otaku bait? Lethal combo. As a fellow otaku, zero resistance.
"Go die."
Umi's tone iced over.
Eh... did I sound too sleazy?
"But... right now, I've got stuff to do. Too busy for dating."
"Stuff to do..."
"Yeah. So I'll put it on hold for now. She's a teenage girl, right? Feelings change fast?"
Love's not forever.
"So... your feelings could change too? You might not wanna date Eri anymore?"
Umi latched onto the weird part.
"Sure, who knows with people."
I shrugged it off.
"Got it."
Her voice perked up a bit. What part of that made her happy? Teenage girls are a mystery.
"Mystery solved? I'm gonna..."
Time to hang up.
"Just a bit longer... till 2 a.m."
"........."
No thanks. I swallowed the words.
Umi's sensitive; don't wanna upset her.
After that, we chatted about random stuff. Before I knew it, I dozed off.
And so, another busy day ended.