He tried to save the fallen girls, but they came after him instead.

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But Jackie remained frozen in place, offering no response, her eyes vacant once more.

This extremely abnormal behavior completely shattered Ayako's will and her mental defenses.

Various memories are awakened, including those from the real world, those from this world, and even those from previous lives when Shirakawa wasn't around.

Intertwined and entangled, like a jumbled mess of code, all mixed together.

"I...I don't want to go back," Yako murmured to herself, as if pleading.

"People always have to face reality. Here, you're just repeating your past and staying in the same place."

"No, no."

"Is reality really that bad? Even if you can't make friends, you still have me and Jackie, right? Wouldn't it be nice if we played games together and had fun?"

"Here, here I can also play games happily with everyone," Ako murmured.

The world began to fall apart again, and large black cracks appeared on the walls of the club activity room, through which lay endless darkness.

Shirakawa looked at the pitiful girl who had collapsed and sighed helplessly. He sat on the blanket, gripped the controller, and entered the King of Fighters character selection screen.

"Yako, let's make a bet using a game."

"What?" Yako looked up, and the tremors of the world began to subside.

Using games as stakes clearly piqued her interest.

"If you win, you can live freely in this world, and I won't care what you do anymore. But if I win, you have to go back to the real world, apologize to your worried parents, and apologize to Jackie who was worried about you. So, are you willing to bet?"

"This bet is meaningless; you can't beat me."

"why?"

"In this world and the real world, all the time I've spent playing games combined has accumulated to be a hundred times more experience than yours. You can't possibly beat me."

"Playing for a long time doesn't mean you're good. I already said it, you're just standing still."

Play games, practice, the world restarts, memories disappear, and it's just a repetitive cycle.

“You said it yourself.” Yako’s expression changed from hysteria to firmness and ruthlessness.

Whether it's virtual or real, whether it's staying or leaving.

She absolutely cannot lose when it comes to games!

“Hey, Airi, shouldn’t you return my power to me?” Shirakawa asked.

When he transmigrated to this world, his body completely disappeared, which means that he came to this world in human form. The blood in his body should still contain the power of passion with Maki. It is likely that Airi used some method to shield his power.

Ellie was also caught in a dilemma.

Her methods were simple: she affected Shirakawa's memories and senses. That strange power had always remained within Shirakawa's body, but Shirakawa couldn't perceive its presence.

But if the shield were truly lifted, Shirakawa, now possessing power, might be able to rebel against him...

"Although I just said a lot of nice things, if you don't return those powers to me, I probably won't be able to win," Shirakawa added again.

Ako was completely confused by their conversation, but her primary goal now was to organize the tactics and maneuvers she had practiced from her memories, rehearse them repeatedly in her mind, and do her best to defeat Shirakawa.

Alice pondered for a moment.

If Shirakawa is not given power, he will lose, and Yako, whose mind has stabilized, will be unable to leave.

If Shirakawa is given power, he will win, and Ako will leave. She can be with Shirakawa forever, but because of that power, he might also rebel against her.

Just when she was unable to make a decision, she remembered the scene of Maki and Shirakawa embracing and falling in love.

Ellie has loved many people, or rather, as the consciousness of the Book of Love, it is her duty to love every person and every user.

It wasn't until she actually witnessed the loving behavior between Maki and Shirakawa, and Maki's almost pathological love for Shirakawa, that she understood.

She also wanted to experience true love.

“Okay,” Alice agreed.

As soon as he finished speaking, Shirakawa could feel the power of lust, and his eyes flashed red again.

My body became lighter and more agile, and my reactions were several times faster than before.

Yako took a deep breath and asked, "Is it best two out of three, or...?"

"One round determines the outcome."

Thus, in a world of memories on the verge of collapse, the two engage in a final battle to decide Ako's fate.

238. Ako's Departure

The blue-haired ice girl chosen by Ako has cornered and brutally beaten up the yagami chosen by Shirakawa.

Since the start of the game, Shirakawa hasn't been able to touch Ako even once, and Ako's HP is still full.

Each attack was evaded by Ako with skillful dodging, and then countered with an attack.

This is the experience she has accumulated.

Shirakawa didn't reply; he was just staring intently at the screen, watching every move of the Ako character, including every light strike and throwing technique.

I memorized all the pre-attack animations of her various attacks and knew them by heart.

At the same time, he adapts to the power of desire within his body, transforming it into his own abilities and improving his reaction speed and responsiveness.

"Hmph." Yako laughed. "I already told you, you can't beat me."

Shirakawa's Yagami has been reduced to low health, and only 20 seconds remain.

"The outcome is still uncertain."

Shirakawa laughed.

The allure of esports lies in the fact that you can never predict what will happen next.

In an instant, Shirakawa's Yagami dodged out of the corner and came behind Ako.

Coincidentally, Yako's skill also showed its aftercast delay at that moment.

This is an excellent opportunity for a combo attack. If Shirakawa makes no mistakes in the transitions between his various skills, he can recover most of the health.

However, Shirakawa's Yagami only lightly tickled her.

superficial.

The HP was almost full, only slightly reduced.

"Hahahaha!" Ako burst out laughing at Shirakawa's clumsy mistake. "Shirakawa, are you admitting defeat?"

Shirakawa smiled without saying a word, continuing to tickle Ako's ice maiden with light taps.

The stun duration of a light attack is minimal, making it virtually impossible to execute skill combos.

With a simple dodge, Yako unleashed a ranged attack, the Frost Breath.

However, Shirakawa easily dodged this ranged skill that covered half the screen.

Then I scratched her again.

Was it luck? Ako felt something was off. Just now, she was the one suppressing Shirakawa, but now it seemed like they had switched positions, and she was the one being suppressed.

However, seeing Shirakawa's HP dwindling like a candle in the wind, she didn't think much of it. She simply clicked the controller and unleashed a light punch, intending to defeat him directly.

Shirakawa easily dodged again, while also creating some distance between them.

This happened repeatedly, which infuriated Ayako, causing her to unleash her skills indiscriminately.

He's down to his last bit of health. If any of these skills touch him even once, they'll kill him, even if he's defending!

All that could be seen was Ako's Ice Maiden leaping and bounding about, attacking haphazardly without any strategy.

Shirakawa smiled faintly, and where Ako wasn't looking, a spider-like leg extended from Shirakawa's lower back and quietly hooked onto the handle.

Although humans have ten fingers, when playing games, we only use six fingers in total: the thumb, index finger, and ring finger.

Shirakawa added a spider leg, which, although not as flexible as a human finger, only requires pressing a button.

Dodge button.

Shirakawa's Yagami is like an eel, constantly rolling, jumping, dodging, and maneuvering to perfectly evade all of Ako's attacks.

They would also take the time to scratch or kick their legs, using these seemingly harmless light blows to bleed them.

Shirakawa knew Ako's unfathomable gaming experience. If he rashly unleashed his special combo and Ako blocked it, catching him in the recovery animation, he would basically lose.

Since all of Ako's attacks and movements can be anticipated by his superior reaction ability, he might as well "boil the frog in lukewarm water".

The longer the fight went on, the more at ease Shirakawa seemed to be.

Yako became increasingly agitated.

We were so close, so close to winning!!

There are 5 seconds left.

Yako was worn down to half health by Shirakawa.

In those brief five seconds, Ayako abandoned her attack.