Game Market 1983

Chapter 100: Pilgrims...

With the beginning of the "Afterword" and the appearance of Miyuki, I was left speechless.

The protagonist's death, two years later.

First, her long hair had been transformed into a short bob.

Her lifeless eyes and pale appearance made me doubt if she was really the Miyuki I knew.

"As the Afterword of 'The Empty Streets' suggests, it tells the story of her being left alone in the city, just as the title of the game implies."

"...."

In Miyuki's Afterword, unlike when played as the male protagonist, she had no choices, and there was no dialogue with anyone else.

"Why isn't she saying anything?"

At first, her silence left me with a strange feeling.

Her emotions in every situation were only expressed through monologues, and she missed the protagonist terribly.

The red marks on the map indicated the streets we had walked together.

And as I walked the streets we had shared one by one, I realized.

"She must have suffered from aphasia..."

Shocked by the death of the protagonist, she lost her ability to speak. At some point, she even accidentally bumped into a child, causing them to drop a balloon, but she couldn't even apologize to the child.

"Damn it... This isn't the story I wanted..."

I wanted to see her living happily just as before, even without the protagonist, but what was this?

The story of the Afterword was progressing in the order of events we had shared.

The hill where we first met...

"Yeah, I had to carry Miyuki when she hurt herself trying to avoid a bicycle here..."

The second was the path we always walked together.

The place where we first held hands.

The third... The park in front of her house where she mustered the courage to confess her feelings...

Only a couple of days ago, I played with a joyful heart on these streets. Now, each of these places was filled with pain.

Every time she reminisced about our memories, Miyuki would smile faintly, but it was short-lived.

Once again, realizing that she was alone, she shed a tear and moved on to the next location.

"Enough... I can't watch this anymore."

Now, only three places of memories remained... Among them, the last place was the waterside where the protagonist took his last breath.

"What's going to happen if we go there?"

I swallowed hard and focused on the screen.

I was mentally exhausted, on the verge of collapse, but I couldn't bring myself to end the game.

Finally, the last date location, Tokyo Tower, and the day after, the waterside we visited.

In her hand, there was an envelope with a letter.

And in the other hand, a brown glass bottle...

"What the!? What is that!!"

At that moment, the thought of 'suicide' crossed my mind.

"This can't be happening!!"

I tried to press the directional keys to move Miyuki's character to a different location in the hope of changing her path. But something funny happened next.

"The directional keys aren't working..."

That's right.

In the previous events, you could manually move the character to the marked location on the map, but now that there was only one place of memory left, she was automatically walking towards the final location.

"No way... This can't be happening. Please!!"

In the end, she sat down on the bench where the protagonist had taken his last breath and began writing something on a piece of paper.

I flipped my blanket over my head, desperately trying to stifle my sobs.

What the hell has she been doing all night, into the early morning...

And a little later... after writing the letter, her profile close-up appeared, revealing her plump lips. Then, her monologue came to mind.

"Everyone told me that with time, I'd be able to forget and feel better... but Setsuna-san, and Nanase... I'm sorry to have made this choice."

That's when it happened.

Her voice came from the TV I had been absentmindedly staring at.

-As I thought, I still miss that person so much.-

... Huh? Did I just hear what I think I did? A game character talking, can it be?

Hearing a character's voice for the first time in my life left me bewildered. Auditory hallucination?

Then, as if on cue, the second line of dialogue played.

-Now... I'm coming to meet you.-

The sensation I felt then...

It gave me chills all over my body.

"Voice data!? This can't be!!"

It wasn't a hallucination.

The director who had written this insane scenario had undoubtedly implanted voice data into the cartridge.

As the voice that I had only imagined so far became a reality, my chest crumbled once more.

It was just two short lines, not a long monologue, but it was more devastating than any other dialogue.

"Aaaah!"

In response to my scream, my neighbor from the next room pounded on the wall.

In the end, I had no choice but to choke back my sobs under the blanket.

Damn it... damn it...!!

On the screen, a brown bottle rolled out of her hand as she slumped over on the bench.

"Suicide, really... this can't be. Miyuki can't die... this is just a game... right? Huh? Where's this in the game? Where's this!!"

A little while later, after the ending credits of Afterword had passed, I finally regained my composure and clenched the controller once again.

"That's right... it's my fault for playing poorly... I messed up and got the worst ending... Let's start over from the beginning. There must be a solution if I start over."

Should I go to the hospital as soon as the game starts? If we detect the illness early, it might be treatable. Yeah, that's right. Maybe that's the path to a happy ending... Haha...

To regain my composure, I slapped my cheeks a few times.

"Okay. Let's start over."

After the end credits, I pointed the cursor at "NEW GAME" on the main menu and pressed the confirmation button.

"Huh?"

And now I realized.

Why there was only one save file for "The Empty Streets."

In the end, to start over, I had no choice but to delete the existing save file.

"There's no other way. To save Miyuki, I have to do this."

I clenched my teeth and pressed the delete button for the save file.

And a while later, after seeing the screen asking if I was really going to delete the save file...

I heaved a long sigh.

"Seriously, the director who made this... you'll get your punishment. You..."

On the screen, the choice menu displayed all the event scenes we had experienced as Polaroid photos piled up... and on top, it was written:

[Will you forget the memories with Hasegawa Miyuki? Event Clear 95%]

... How do I delete this?

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