The inevitable, although undesired, defeat message appears in front of me as soon as Laura’s HP falls to zero.

  We should be happy. None of us expected we’d come so far. I mean, from hundreds, maybe thousands of teams, we not only made it to the ‘real’ tournament but we also made it to the quarterfinals.

  We’re within the best eight four-player teams in the whole tournament!

  But, despite all this, the message in front of me isn’t something anyone would ever be happy to read.

  “Haaa… This is the end. We can’t go any further than this.”

  Well, it isn’t like we didn’t have lots of fun, and it isn’t like we participated to win the tournament at all. That’s Marta’s job, not ours.

  I shrug my shoulders, shake my head, and force myself to cheer up.

  A bright light blinds me momentarily as the game teleports somewhere else. When the light fades away, there are Ricard, Laura, and Clara in front of me… or should I say ‘their Champions’?

  Everyone looks crestfallen, so it’s up to me, their leader, to cheer them up.

  I clap to get their attention. “Why the long faces? Because we lost? Who cares about that? When did we care about winning or losing, huh?”

  “But brother…”

  Clara is making the ‘pouting’ voice, and if it weren’t because her Champion doesn’t have a face and that you can’t cry inside the game, she’d be crying right now.

  Damn Abyss Champion… You’re turning my cute little sister into a horrifying monster!

  “No ‘but’s,” I cut her off. “Didn’t we play to have fun? Didn’t we play to challenge ourselves to improve? To have a chance to get noticed by the audience and other players? We never cared about winning the tournament, did we?”

  “You’re right…” Laura nods.

  “And we achieve it. We achieved everything we wanted and more! Did any of you check the forums today? Everyone is talking about us and how we defeated those Time-whatever guys, who were one of the favorite teams to win this tournament. We went from nobody to everyone’s talk! We were the dark horse of this tournament, what is there to be sad about!?”

  My words must have been effective on them, because their expressions change as I talk.

  “You’re right, brotheeeeer!” Clara jumps and places her arms around my neck. “I did my best, ehehe! You’ll pat me now, as you promised, right?”

  The tentacles, the slimy sensation… I want to run away…

  “Ugh… fine,” I reluctantly agree.

  “Hmm… You’re right. Since the tournament started, my dungeon’s efficiency has risen by more than 30%, even though I’ve been neglecting it. As soon as I update the parameters to the new influx of players and add a few ‘easter eggs’ from our tournament battles, I’m sure that the efficiency will rise at least by another…”

  Ricard starts rambling about something in a low voice.

  Just the thought of trying to understand what he’s saying gives me a headache, so I instead decide to ignore him and, still patting my little sister’s horrifyingly disgusting head, turn to look at Laura instead.

  She smiles at me. For some reason I can’t explain, her smile gives me the chills.

  “You’re right,” she says. “We should celebrate our achievement instead of feeling down.”

  Laura takes a step closer. I instinctively try to take a step back, but Clara, who’s holding me as if her life depended on it, prevents me from moving away.

  She licks her glossy succubus lips.

  “Lemon got her praise and will receive her ‘present’ later, so… Don’t you think I deserve it, too?” Placing her head right next to my ear, she whispers like a devil. “How about tonight. Just you and me, together… fufufu…”

  I freeze, like a deer in the middle of the night when a car approaches. She’s… she’s kidding, right?

  Maybe I should have ignored Laura instead of Ricard… I internally sigh, and my thoughts become all jumbled.

  The help I need to get out of this situation comes from the least expected person.

  “Aaaaaah!” Clara suddenly yells, “She’s right, I almost forgot!”

  My sister starts swinging her tentacles around, shaking my body along with them.

  “You promised you’d do anything I wanted for the next week if I did well in the tournament, brother! You’ll keep your word like you always do, right? Hehehe…”

  No. I don’t remember ever making such a promise.

  Shit… With Laura pressing from one side and Clara from the other, there’s only one way I can escape this situation without upsetting anyone. It’s time to use the last resort.

  I like to call it: operation ‘Return to Reality’.

  “O-oh, I’m sorry, both of you… Did you forget what day it is? I can’t do any of that because classes start in just–”

  “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

  A sudden roar comes from the single person whose mouth isn’t right next to my ear. And thank god, because my eardrums would have burst otherwise.

  “Don’t remind us about that now!” Ricard continues to shout, although not as loudly as the first ‘no’. “Who cares if classes start tomorrow or in a month? We’re enjoying the game now, so let’s not talk about our degree.”

  Hahaha, it looks like I’ve struck Ricard’s kryptonite.

  What are you saying now, that I lied? Was the part about ‘not upsetting anyone’ a lie?

  But, you see… Ricard isn’t a person, is he? He’s a robot wearing a human’s skin. I didn’t lie because I didn’t upset anyone. Robots aren’t included in the ‘anyone’ word, and there’s nothing you can do to make me change my mind.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  “Alright, alright, my bad… I won’t mention it again, I’m sorry,” I ‘apologize’ and quickly switch topics, to avoid returning to the previous dangerous ones. “Hey, how about it? How about going to have dinner together? A dinner party! Now that we’re free from the tournament, there’s no need to prepare for the next match. We can enjoy a leisurely meal, talk about the last match, and when it starts, we watch the other players duke it out in real time. ”

  Everyone agrees, and we start talking about the dinner party.

  “Hey, hey. Why don’t we go to a karaoke after eating? It’s been a long time since I’ve last heard his terrible singing, hehehe!”

  “Fine by me. Now I’m curious too…”

  “If we go to a karaoke, I’ll show you how good I am at singing. I know more than a hundred songs from my favorite games and anime. I like to play them when I’m gaming and sing alone. I do it several times a week, so I don’t forget the lyrics of any song. A good karaoke should have most of them, so you’ll see. I’m pretty good at it.”

  Hmm… How weird. I suddenly feel like going home after dinner. I wonder why.

  By the time Clara and I come back home, it’s pretty late. She keeps clinging to me like usual, but now that she isn’t using her Champion, it isn’t disgusting at all.

  She doesn’t let go of my arm until I take out the keys to open the door.

  “These past few days were fun,” she says with a tinge of regret. “Do you think we’ll keep playing like now in the future?”

  “Hmm… I don’t think so?”

  “Eeeeeh? Why not?”

  I flicker Clara’s forehead. “Don’t pretend you don’t know, you silly. It’s because of the classes, of course. Nobody in their right mind would put gaming over everything else… Unless you’re Ricard.”

  “He does feel like that kind of guy, hehehe.”

  He doesn’t ‘feel like’ that kind of guy. He is that kind of guy. Of an even worse and rarer breed than most people can imagine.

  I open the door, and we step inside.

  “We’re back– Oh?”

  “Hm?”

  Face to face with Marta, who’s going down the stairs, we both tilt our heads at the same time. I have a reason to do it, but why does she act as surprised as me?

  “Marta?” I ask, “Didn’t you have a match right now?”

  “Aah, yes, don’t remind me about that…” She awkwardly scratches her head. “Incognita got me well this time, and the final will start in a while, so I’m taking a break since I have nothing better to do. I won’t fall for his tricks the next time!”

  Uh… okay. Whatever you say.

  “You lost? We lost too!” Clara chimes in from behind. Well, to be more precise, she slips around me, rushing towards Marta at full speed. Upon impact, the two almost end up falling.

  “But did you know? We reached the quarterfinals!”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard. Sorry for the late congratulations, I was busy with my match.” Marta starts patting Clara’s head, trying to calm her down. As expected, it doesn’t work.

  “We came so far thanks to your training!”

  “Is that so…?”

  “It is! And this is why I think we should train again! This way, the next time we participate, we can maybe win!”

  Nooooo! Anything but thaaaaaat! Not Hell agaaaaain!

  If you’re curious why she’s suddenly talking about the ‘next time’, the fault lies with Ricard. He kept talking about participating in the next tournament, prompting Clara to join him.

  …By the way, after so much showing off, he sang like shit.

  “So…” I change the topic before it’s too late. “...how did your match go? Since we participated in the 4vs4, everyone wanted to watch the semifinals of our category. We sneaked a peek or two at your match, but that was all we’ve seen.”

  Marta waves her hand to dismiss the topic.

  “It doesn’t matter, you can watch it anytime. It isn’t much different from the other PvP matches I’ve had against Incognita. I don’t like it, but you can’t always win.”

  Ooh, how mature. Look at us, disheartened by losing our match, when she’s perfectly calm even though she was participating in the 1vs1, the most competitive category, and the one with the most viewers and expectations.

  I guess that’s the mentality of a pro. They’re used to both winning and losing. Nothing can affect them.

  “Anyway. Congratulations on getting so far. You didn’t let me down. Oh, and did you tell our parents you’re back? They were asking me if you would eat with us or not.”

  “I’m proud of you, too, Marta!”

  Clara starts rubbing her face on Marta’s chest, but she gently pushes her away.

  “Ah, Andreu, um…” Marta hesitates. “Clara, can you leave us alone for a while? I have something to talk to him.”

  “What? Why? I want to know!”

  “Clara, please do as she says.”

  It’s unusual for Marta to want to talk with me alone. Or to want to talk with me at all. There must be something important she wants to tell me.

  “You treat me like a kid. I’m not a kid anymore!”

  “Clara, you’ll be a kid while you keep acting like one.” I insist. “Please, leave us alone.”

  “Muuuuu! Fine, but you’ll have to do whatever I say for an extra day!”

  Again with that?

  With a pout, Clara reluctantly starts climbing the stairs. She stops and turns to look at me several times, making puppy eyes, but I hold firm.

  It’s hard, but I hold. The tactic I use is to overlap her Champion with her current self. Ahaha! All that suffering paid off! Now I have a tactic to avoid falling for her ‘little sister’ tricks!

  Marta and I awkwardly look at each other, waiting for Clara to walk away. We both wait until there’s no sign of our sister, and then Marta opens her mouth to explain. But before she starts, I raise a hand to stop her.

  Why? Because there’s a head popping out of the stairs, from an angle Marta can’t see, but I luckily do.

  “Clara…!” I say, sounding slightly angry.

  “Eeeek!”

  Making that weird shout, Clara’s head disappears from the top of the stairs, followed by hushed steps and the sound of a closing door.

  Now, she’s truly gone.

  “Alright, she’s gone. So… what’s up?”

  “Um, I… I heard from Clara. I heard that you received a proposal from a TV show.”

  “Ah, you’re right.” Don’t tell anyone, but I completely forgot about it. Even though it's pretty important.

  “I believe it was the Mystical & Dangerous Monsters & Dungeons show, am I right?”

  “Yes, that’s the one.”

  Marta fiddles with her fingers, uncomfortable. She looks… worried? Worried for me? When was the last time I saw her like this? Was it before I was born…?

  “Be careful.”

  “Careful?”

  “Yes, careful. I’ve known plenty of players who ruined their lives due to a bad agreement. Those who got lucky just lost their game accounts and had to start from zero with a new nickname, but there are also some whose real life was affected. I haven’t heard anything suspicious about M&Dx2 yet… But you can never be sure.”

  “I see...”

  When a professional gives you a warning, you must listen to them. Still, the mere thought gives me the chills… I wonder if I should refuse.

  “But there’s no reason to say no before learning the terms. Isn’t this what you wanted? A chance to show your dungeon to the world?”

  She’s right. This is what I hoped for.

  Marta pauses and takes a deep breath. Then, without a single pause, her voice fading as she goes, except for the very end, she adds.

  “What I meant is that, you can, you know… ask me… for anything you need… and… and I can help you... A-anyway! That’s it, I’m leaving!”

  And like that, Marta goes up the stairs, leaving as quickly as Clara had when running away. No one can say they don’t look alike.

  “They’re… they’re a handful. Both of them. Sigh…”

  Why am I the only normal person? Why are all my acquaintances so… ‘special’? Why am I the only normal one?