The school cafeteria had seating for about two hundred people, but at lunchtime it was nearly full, with the usual noise of overlapping conversations and clattering trays. Takeshi grabbed his tray, picked a table near the window with four seats, and sat down.
Aoi arrived thirty seconds later and sat to his right without asking.
Yuki arrived a minute after that, saw Aoi sitting on the right, and sat on Takeshi's left without asking either.
Takeshi looked at his tray.
'This is great.'
The chat popped up floating above the table.
[The most awkward table in the cafeteria]
[Nobody's sitting in the empty seat]
[Bet on how long the silence lasts]
It didn't last long.
"That seat doesn't belong to you."
Aoi said, looking at Yuki over Takeshi.
"There are no assigned seats."
Yuki replied, calmly arranging her tray.
"There's basic logic of proximity. I arrived first."
"By thirty seconds."
"Seconds count."
Yuki looked up at Aoi.
"Since when?"
Takeshi started eating without getting involved.
'If I say anything, they'll probably just shut me up…'
The argument continued over his head in a controlled but steady tone, never quite reaching insults, but never resolving anything either. It was a conversation whose only purpose was for each of them to make it clear she wasn't moving.
Takeshi finished eating before both of them and stayed seated with his empty tray while they kept at it.
'This is a problem…'
He had been trying for three days to find a moment alone to talk with the deity.
The problem was simple: every time he was about to be alone, one of the two showed up.
During morning recess he had tried to slip away toward the far end of the hallway on the pretext of going to the bathroom, but Yuki had appeared around the corner before he got there.
During the class change he had tried to stay behind in the classroom and Aoi waited for him at the door.
After combat practice, he had tried taking a different route to the building and both of them had arrived at the same time from different angles.
'I need to be alone and neither of them has any intention of leaving me by myself!'
Suddenly, the opportunity came.
"So what are you going to do about it? Try to kill me like in combat practice?"
Yuki said in a mocking tone, to which Aoi responded.
"Believe me, if I had been serious, I would have finished the job."
In less than two minutes the two of them were deep in an argument that had nothing to do with Takeshi.
Takeshi waited ten seconds to make sure neither of them was going to look at him.
He stood up, picked up his tray with slow movements, set it on the dirty-tray cart, and walked toward the cafeteria exit without rushing.
He turned left, then right, and entered the bathroom in the side hallway. He closed the door and checked that the stalls were empty.
He stopped in front of the mirror and waited.
Three seconds later, the voice appeared.
"What an effort just for a conversation."
The deity was sitting on the edge of the left sink with his arms crossed and his red eyes focused on him with a look of mild amusement.
"I need to ask you something."
Takeshi said.
"I know. You've been trying to talk to me all morning. Your self-appointed bodyguards are efficient, I'll give them that."
"Is there a way out?"
The deity looked at him for a moment.
"Way out? Of course, there's a back exit over there."
"I'm talking about this world."
"Ah."
The deity uncrossed his arms and rested his hands on the edge of the sink.
"Yes, there is."
Takeshi waited.
"Defeat me."
The bathroom fell silent.
"That's it."
The deity continued.
"If you defeat me, this torture ends. You'll be able to leave, and I'll even send you back to your world a few years before your death so you don't screw it up again."
Takeshi processed that.
"How am I supposed to defeat you?"
"Good question."
The deity smiled.
"Technically, you'd need a sufficient level of power to face me directly—magic, combat ability, and durability."
"Do I have to do all that?"
"Remember that you're a nearly thirty-year-old loser with sixty percent sanity, six points in the shop, and zero demonstrated combat ability."
The deity said it in a calm tone.
"In the state you're in right now, the chance is zero."
"But it's not impossible at all."
"I didn't say impossible."
The deity tilted his head.
"If at any point in this game you reach a relevant level of power, the condition would still be valid. But you've been dying for days at the hands of a girl with daggers and you still don't know how to fight. So take that information however you want."
Takeshi placed his hands on the sink in front of him and stared at the drain.
"Can I obtain that level of power here?"
"The system exists for a reason."
The deity shrugged.
"The heroines have abilities and you can obtain parts of them. There's a shop to exchange your points. The game has mechanics for a reason."
He paused.
"But going from where you are now to where you'd need to be to face me is a long road. A very long road. And with those two girls on top of you, it's going to be entertaining for the viewers."
The chat appeared floating near the mirror.
[Noted]
[The deity explaining the situation with that face]
[The guy has a goal at least]
Takeshi ignored the messages.
"One more question."
He said.
"Ask whatever you want. I'm in a good mood today."
"Why did you choose me?"
The deity looked at him and his expression changed slightly.
"Because you're the type of person who fails to achieve his dreams."
He got down from the edge of the sink and stood in front of him.
"That kind of person in this context produces good content. People want to see if someone like that can change."
"And if I don't change?"
"That's content too."
The deity smiled again.
"And a very entertaining one."
With that, he disappeared and the bathroom fell silent once more.
Takeshi stood in front of the mirror for a moment.
To get out of this place he had to defeat the deity, which in his current state was unfeasible, but the condition existed. It wasn't an endless game.
The road from where he was now to where he needed to be was long.
'To obtain someone's abilities, what am I supposed to do?'
Answering that question was a starting point. It wasn't a complete plan, but it was more than he had before he entered the bathroom.
He checked his stats one more time.
[Life: 100%]
[Sanity: 60%]
[Points: 6]
He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
When he reached the cafeteria, Aoi and Yuki were still at the same table. The argument had ended. Both of them were eating in silence and neither was looking at the other.
When Takeshi approached, both of them looked up at the same time.
"Where were you?"
Aoi asked.
"In the bathroom."
Yuki looked at him for a second and went back to her tray without saying anything.
Takeshi sat down in the spot he had left empty, between the two of them, and looked at the table.
'I have a way out and a system I can work with to beat that god.'