"I…" Emilia hesitated, the feeling in her heart making her ponder before giving Ryu her answer.
For all the time she had known him, Emilia could feel it. She could feel that Ryu was hiding things from her. The contradictions in his words and actions. It was plainly obvious that he was selective of what to and not to tell her. But at the same time, she knew that he had never directly lied to her, not even once.
"We continue," Emilia's answer came out, her unwavering gaze and clear tone making Ryu grin as he saluted her like a soldier with an "At your service!"
"Don't wanna ruin the moment, but does that mean we gotta follow this chain thingy that's coming out of my body?" Asaru asked, pointing towards his chest.
"Well, yes and no," Ryu replied, scratching his left cheek. "It's true that we gotta follow the chain, but that's only for you. After a while, the chains will become invisible to us. And that's where you come in."
"Oh? Tell me more," Asaru seemed to get more excited as Ryu continued his explanation.
"Okay, but first, let me warn you that what you're about to hear might be shocking to you," Ryu's gaze became piercing as his eyes locked onto Asaru's, making him gulp a little.
"Go on."
As the words left Asaru's mouth, the tension in the air suddenly became thicker, making Emilia also wait in anticipation.
"You're not the real Asaru Takayoshi," Ryu's declaration cut the air like a knife through butter, making Asaru's eyes widen in confusion.
"Eh? What the…?"
Emilia had been barely surprised by the revelation, but for the young man to whom those words were directed at, it came as groundbreaking shock.
"Hah. Hahaha," Asaru chuckled in disbelief. "Wow. Being told you're not your real self is one hell of a bombshell to drop on someone."
After a deep breath…
"So, what am I?" Asaru asked a question, making Ryu slightly surprised.
"Well, you're Asaru Takayoshi, but at the same time, you're not. You're more like remnant of him that's been existing inside Ace's subconscious all this time."
"Okay," Asaru took Ryu's revelations almost too calmly. So much so that Emilia couldn't help but lose her composure for a slight moment.
"Is that really all?" Emilia questioned Asaru, unable to comprehend how he could keep his calm like he did. "That's really the only thing you can say after being told that?"
Asaru felt uncomfortable as he was being asked those questions, noticing that normal people would probably view his reaction as unnatural.
"Uuuh… I get what you mean, but it does make sense to me," Asaru started before explaining himself. "While we talk it out, how about we start getting a move on? Walking is a good way to clear your head."
"Okay," Emilia followed after him, Ryu still floating beside them like a haunting ghost.
As they descended the stairs, Asaru started explaining his worldview to Emilia.
"You know lady, I might sound crazy for saying this in the middle of this kind of conversation, but I like games more than anything in the world."
"Games?" Emilia muttered, the word feeling like a puzzle piece that fell into her mind.
"Yep!" Asaru grinned happily as he turned his head towards Emilia. "Doesn't matter if they're board games, card games, RPGs, FPSs, MMOs or even RTSs, I enjoy gaming more than anything else in the word. That's probably why I always viewed life as a giant game."
As they continued their way down the stairs, Emilia had noticed how Ryu remained completely silent, her eyes bouncing off the sign that indicated they were on the 5th floor of the building.
"For me, whether it'd be in my school life, interacting with others or even my relationships, I always approached them the same way as I would a game. And maybe because of that, there was nothing that I couldn't figure out while processing everything like a game. Pretty messed up, am I right?"
"I don't think so," Ryu cut into the conversation.
"Then you must be as weird as I am, haha!" Asaru followed up.
"Who cares. Everyone has a unique way they view the world around them. It's like a coping mechanism you use to continue living in reality. After all, there are things in this world that are far uglier and messier than what you could imagine."
Emilia noticed Ryu's gaze on her, making her reflect on the darkness she herself had witnessed in the past.
"Humans are the product of their environment. With their ability to learn, grow and adapt, whatever experiences they had becomes a part of them, and through them, they obtain a specific worldview."
"Yeah, I guess you're not wrong," Asaru spoke up as the crew finally reached the ground floor and exited the building, now walking down the streets.
"To me, life is basically a game in hell mode. There's no clear strategy to complete it, and there's no winning conditions that would help you get a good ending," he continued, momentarily stopping before he felt a pull within him caused by the chain which now guided their steps.
"So quite frankly," Emilia and Ryu continued to follow behind Asaru silently, the blue-eyed girl trying to relate to his words in the mellow atmosphere that seemed to surround them. "With life being such a bump in the road of ups and downs, you just gotta enjoy the playthrough."
The meters turned into kilometers as Asaru simply continued his sharing.
"Go through the main quest, get good or bad drops depending on your luck, do side quests here and there to chill out, and then stay at your save point and sleep before going onto the next day."
Asaru turned his gaze back towards Emilia with a bright and almost serene smile on his face.
"That should just be the best way to go about life, don't you think? After all, a game is supposed to be fun no matter how hard or frustrating it is. So even on hard days, just get by with what you have for now and live to see the next sunshine."
In Emilia's mind, Asaru's words and mindset felt as if a puzzle had been almost complete.
"Ryu," she muttered, the spectral boy hearing her. "I think I get it now. This world… it's actually his, isn't it?"
Ryu simply nodded silently, a feeling of unexplainable calmness washing over her as Ace came to her mind once more.
'Could it be…?' her thoughts were interrupted as Asaru's voice rang out.
"It's here!"
Emilia raised her head in surprise as her gaze then darted around them, noticing that buildings that once surrounded them were now far into the distance.
'What?'
"Hey, lady! We're finally here! This is my home!" Asaru ran straight inside, the door of the 2-floor house opening up easily even without the keys.
"Wait!" Emilia ran after him, Ryu remaining behind.
'Guess for now, this is as far as I go. Stay strong, Emi. What you're about to see now is without a doubt the answer you've been looking for. And it's probably… the final piece you'll need to save Ace.'
"Hey! Wait up!" Emilia also entered the house, finding shoes, Asaru's, in front of the entrance.
Without removing hers, Emilia stepped in, a strange feeling clutching at her heart.
'It's strange. What is this feeling?' she noticed her ring glowing lightly, and as if understanding what it was trying to tell her, she followed her heart, leading her upstairs.
With every step upwards, the feeling within her chest grew as if she was being led to an inevitability, and when she finally reached the last stairway, she moved towards the second door on her left and turned the doorknob.
When the door opened, she immediately recognized the room as the one she was in when she first entered Ace's inner world.
'This place?'
"It's so strange. Everything is exactly like normal, but even though, it's my own room, it feels like it's been ages since I've seen it," Asaru's back was faced towards Emilia, his index finger tracing the collection of games on his shelf.
"Asaru?" the strange feeling in Emilia's heart grew to the point where she couldn't ignore it anymore.
But the only thing that Asaru did was fade into a cluster of digital pixels leaving only a desk with a game controller and a pc with a screen that had only one message displayed:
[Would you like to replay backed-up data?]
The only options laid out before her were an O and an X.
"Ryu?" she tried to look towards Ryu for answer, only to notice he had already vanished.
'He's not here.'
She looked towards the screen once again.
Ryu's words coming to mind.
"Remember what I told you? This place is like Ace's subconscious, and everything within it is an undeniable truth that exists within his very being. Our new friend Asaru is also the same. Just like the kid earlier, he is a part of Ace, but what he represents is something we will have to discover for ourselves."
'Ace… Is this your way of showing me the truth about you? If it is, then…'
She took the game controller and selected the O button, the room starting to glitch into digital pixels as the light from the PC screen blinded her.
'…I'll come and find you.'