The D-Rank Guild Master of the No. 1 Guild

“…Rudel?”

The voice that recognized us belonged to none other than Shemarin.

As soon as I realized that, a small joy and relief spread in my chest.

Not only had we returned to our old stronghold, but we had immediately encountered the game planner.

“How… No, were you really alive?”

Shemarin walked briskly toward me.

With every step she took, I felt her shock and immense joy surpassing it.

Soon, she grabbed my hand tightly.

Always so composed, her enthusiastic welcome left me both bewildered and amused.

Before I could respond, she continued to speak in a flurry.

“…No, if it’s you, you would have found a way to survive. Anyway, you’ve come to the right place.”

“Yes, it seems I have.”

Returning to the coordinates from when we left the game had brought us right in front of the game planner.

It was the perfect scenario. I turned and exchanged a quick, sparkling glance with Lilith.

But Shemarin wasn’t finished speaking.

“What I mean is… you’ve really found the right place. Truly, truly.”

She repeated herself awkwardly, which was unlike her.

We stood there for a moment, exchanging stories of what had happened since we last met. Of course, I tailored my experiences suitably.

After we finished talking, Shemarin asked us to wait for a moment and turned away.

She quickly disappeared down the hallway.

A few moments later, I heard soft but unmistakable footsteps coming from the other end of the corridor. They approached slowly, much to my impatient heart’s dismay.

The next scene unfolded before me as if in slow motion.

He turned the corner and appeared.

“…”

At that moment, Akata was stunned. No, “stunned” didn’t quite capture it.

It was as if someone standing on solid ground was suddenly thrown 500 meters into the sky.

“Is it really…?”

The confusion on his face was visible. He squinted, trying to discern whether what he saw was a hallucination or reality.

“Is it really you?”

His lips voiced his doubt, but his brown eyes were already starting to well up with tears.

Seeing that, I found myself at a loss for words.

‘Akata… why do you look so haggard?’

No one else would think that, seeing the dignified second champion. But to me, he looked like someone on the verge of collapsing.

By the time he ran to me, tears were already streaming down his face.

His body, closing the distance with long strides, was so large that it nearly blocked my view, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit alarmed by the intensity of the moment.

At the same time, a strange emotion seemed to tickle beneath my skin.

The heat of his body so close was palpable. His arms were thicker and more solid than I had expected, which surprised me. Even his heartbeat seemed louder.

My own heart began to race involuntarily, an unfamiliar and bewildering sensation.

Was it okay for me to feel this way?

‘So that’s it. Maybe I…’

Now I finally understood why seeing Akata with Shemarin had made me so sad.

He hugged me so tightly I thought he might crush me, gasping for breath. Even though he couldn’t hold me any tighter, he kept squeezing.

He had already lost someone precious once and had to endure the same experience because of me.

Akata remembered me and our guild members completely. Yet he pretended to forget everything and played the game alone. I couldn’t imagine how he felt.

A pained smile spread across my face, realizing how cruel I had been to him.

“I’m sorry for making you suffer.”

Akata shook his head while his shoulders trembled. His low sobs pierced my heart.

“I never forgot, not for a moment.”

As I caressed his tear-streaked cheeks, I kept repeating my apologies.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Though my eyes grew moist, I didn’t cry along with him. Instead, I comforted him with a smile as I always did.

Fortunately, it seemed to calm Akata down.

Finally, he wiped his tears and released his embrace to look at me more closely.

“How… How did you survive?”

“I never died.”

Had he thought I was dead all this time? Considering he believed I had been deleted, it must have been hard for him to hope I was alive.

The guilt I felt for putting him through such pain darkened my heart.

I wanted to kneel and beg for his forgiveness, but Akata lifted me up by my waist, making it impossible.

“Is this fun for you?”

It seemed he had realized he was now bigger and stronger than me.

He clearly enjoyed knowing that if he exerted a little pressure, I couldn’t move. A broad smile replaced his tear-streaked face.

Well, if letting Akata feel better by exerting his newfound strength was what I had to do to atone, so be it…

Then I realized I had been neglecting Lilith while reuniting with Akata.

I reached out to her, and she eagerly rushed over with a bright smile.

“Hello!”

Seeing her, Akata gently set me down.

With one arm behind his back, he approached Lilith and gave her a polite hug.

Lilith, unaccustomed to such affection from Akata, was startled.

“…!”

Previously, he had been so indifferent to her, but now he warmly embraced her. Even I felt moved by his transformation.

It seems that one truly appreciates the value of someone only in their absence.

Just as I had realized my true feelings after losing Akata.

Akata went a step further and said to Lilith,

“I’m glad we met again.”

“Me too! I’m so relieved you didn’t forget Rudel!”

Akata gave a bitter smile. Even though it had been an act, the fact that we misunderstood him seemed to weigh heavily on his heart.

Regaining some composure, Akata asked me, “By the way, is it really okay for you to show yourself like this?”

“Oh, that,” I said, pointing to the ceiling with an awkward smile.

“The thing is, I need to ask for your understanding. We’ve been live-streaming our reunion from a little while ago.”

There was a reason I had been so eager to meet the game planner.

A game planner is recognized as another GM, so their videos are not broadcast without their consent.

They can only show themselves to the viewers when they choose to.

This means that game planners can freely broadcast to the viewers at their discretion.

If I hadn’t met them, I was planning to modify the cameras used for the ‘Guild Interview Special!’ to show the revived Agasa to the viewers, but things went smoothly.

Thanks to Shemarin’s cooperation, as soon as we met, I got her consent to start a live broadcast with her authority.

[Event Video: First Broadcast of the Game Planners!]

As long as the viewers were watching us live, even Mijon couldn’t harm us right away.

Thanks to Shemarin agreeing to my request…

[“I’m sorry for making you suffer.”]

[“I never forgot, not for a moment.”]

Our intense reunion drew in a massive audience.

Play Points: 0

Play Points: 3,838,347

The Play Points for our Agasa guild, which had reset to zero upon our deletion, surged in real-time, indicating the success of the live stream.

* * *

Afterwards, I announced that I would brief everyone on the plan, and Shemarin left to gather the others.

“Shall we go, my darling?” 

For some reason, Shemarin took Lilith with her, leaving just Akata and me in the living room.

“So, how was it with Shemarin?”

My sudden question caught Akata off guard, making him gasp. It was the most intense emotional reaction he had shown in a long time.

He bit his lip like he did when he was a child and stammered,

“I-I’m not dating Shemarin. I only thought you were dead and wanted to destroy the system… so we faked a relationship by mutual agreement. I’ve never even been within 10 meters of her bed.”

His face grew redder with each unnecessary explanation he gave, and I couldn’t help but turn away, feeling just as awkward.

To think that Akata almost became the greatest villain in the game in my absence was a bit chilling.

I’ll have to arrange for Akata to get some mental health support later. To think he was in such a state without me.

However, Akata seemed to interpret my silence differently.

“You’re not… angry about that, are you?”

Akata continued to fidget nervously, so I decided to just smile to ease his tension.

“No, I actually suspected it was fake.”

Akata’s surprised expression made me laugh for real this time.

“Well, I guess more than suspecting, I wanted to believe it was fake.”

I slipped in a bit of my true feelings.

I could feel Akata’s intense gaze on me, but I pretended not to notice and continued talking.

“Even if you really didn’t remember me, I planned to convince you… And to be honest, you two always seemed like a show-window couple.”

“What? I thought we were fooling everyone,” Akata said, his eyes wide.

Now that I looked, his surprised expression was just like when he was a little boy. His once sharp eyes would round and look cute.

But soon, a sense of solemnity washed over me.

I still vividly remembered Akata as a child. I could even picture his young face alongside his current one in my mind.

And now, the first person I was aware of as a man was him.

Akata’s eyes softened, turning serious.

“You said you wanted to believe that what Shemarin and I had was fake. Why?”

He stepped closer, closer than ever before.

“I want to know.”

I finally frowned.

“Don’t get so close… like you did when you were a kid.”

I regretted speaking immediately, as my face flushed with heat.

A peculiar light flickered in Akata’s eyes. It seemed he had just realized the confusion I was feeling.

And judging by the unapologetic smile curling his lips, he had been hoping for this reaction all along.

Then I remembered that we were still live-streaming.

…Damn it.

I hoped my face didn’t show any sign of change.