Chapter 6: Forgotten Memories

3 years ago, the time of the accident.

Me and my family were inside the car as we passed through the highway. We were supposed to go on a trip that day...only, I was the only one that was left to go home...

The car in front of us suddenly stopped for some reason.

Our car crashed, many more cars followed behind us crashed as well.

In no time, a mountain of crushed cars appeared with us being stuck at the very bottom.

I watched as my little sister died in front of me. A broken metal had stabbed her stomach, bleeding to death.

My little brother fainted at first, but later, I found that he had already suffocated from the blood clotting in his throat.

Both our parents were thrown outside, flattened by other cars.

As for me...apart from some bruises, I still got out alive.

That’s all that I can remember in that incident. But…

“I was in that accident too.” (Ryza)

Ryza said in an expressionless manner.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence that she’s there too. Anyway, what does that have to do with her loving me?

“I was in your car that day.” (Ryza)

Ryza words shocked me.

What does it mean for her to be in our car? This means that I should’ve known her from the beginning!

But...why can’t I remember!?

“In the end, there wasn’t any danger for us...or maybe for you only. You covered me with your own body. Thus, bringing me in your circle of safety.” (Ryza)

“What...are you talking about? Why can’t I remember!?” (Will)

Ryza sighed as if she had expected my response.

“The doctors said it’s called ‘selective amnesia’. We have been neighbors since childhood and we always played together. That day, our families decided to have a trip together. You wanted to seat with me, so I left our car and got into yours. We sat at the very back. At every turn, you’d make an exaggerated move just so you can get close to me. You even took your luggages and purposely filled half of the back seat so we’d be sitting closer to each other. You didn’t look out the window at all, instead, you’d keep looking at me. I found it amusing, so I would tease you every now and then. On that highway, I was getting sleepy, so I leaned on your shoulder and slept comfortably. I can still remember hearing your heart beating like crazy that time. And then, the car in front of us, my family’s car, got into an accident and suddenly stopped...Afraid that I would be panicking seeing my parent’s car crash, you took me in your embrace, and covered me throughout the accident. In the end, we both survived, being the only survivors of our family. However...from that day on, you no longer remembered my existence...” (Ryza)

Ryza narrated the whole event from her perspective.

As if something had been unsealed inside me, memories gushed out and I gradually remembered.

I remember…

Since I was a kid, there was a girl in the neighborhood. She was a bit older than me. We used to play a lot together.

As kids, there weren’t any kind of feelings other than having fun at all.

When we found out what the word ‘marry’ means, I would say courageously that ‘I will marry her when I grow up’.

She’d laugh, and I would laugh as well.

But as we grew older, it’s natural that certain parts have developed and our relationship grew more awkward.

The day before that incident...I mentioned to my parents how it would be nice to be with her in a romantic scene in the beach. Then, all of a sudden, they approached the girl’s parents and planned a trip together.

I saw this as a chance for me to really confess my feelings…

...But...reality is cruel.

An accident killed both our parents, something struck my head, and I actually forgot the existence of the person I loved.

“Ryza...I remember now...” (Will)

“!? Y-you do!?” (Ryza)

“Yes...from your reaction, it seems you have tried to make me remember huh? Sorry...all this time...I...” (Will)

I can feel my heart hurt when I think about how hard it must’ve been for her.

She probably tried a lot to make me remember.

My memories are still quite hazy but I remember this much.

Looking at her now...that expressionless face of hers...my heart feels like it’s being stabbed by hundreds of needles!

She wasn’t like this before!

She was cheerful! Fun! And more radiant!

Now...I guess that for me, the accident took my memories, while for her, it took her feelings. No, it’s more like she sealed her own feeling and forced herself to be mature!

The thought of that...make it really unbearable!

Tears appeared at the corner of my eyes as I embraced her.

“Ryza...from now on, I’ll be the one watching over you. Now and forever.” (Will)

“Will...welcome back.” (Ryza)

“Un...I’m back...” (Will)

We hugged each other for a long time and kissed. However, I stopped myself from doing more as I know this isn’t the time and place for it.

For now...I will settle with the 3 year promise I made to myself.

“Ryza, I love you.” (Will)

“I love you too...Will. Always have.” (Ryza)

Ryza teared up. It seems she has been expecting me to say that all this years. Wishing that my memories would come back and would confess to her. Though I doubt she imagine it to be done in a place full of zombies...or the world ending for that matter.

Suddenly, I felt guilt and remembered about Sam and May.

“Ryz, about Sam and May. I think it’s really better to-” (Will)

Before I could finish, Ryza put a finger on my lips and smiled as she shook her head.

“You don’t need to think too much about it. You will grow to like them sooner or later. Besides, I think you already have a crush on Sam.” (Ryza)

“W-well, that’s just a crush...” (Will)

I felt even more guilty because it’s true…

However, Ryza only laughed.

“Don’t worry. No matter how many women you will have in the future. I will be happy as long as I’m a part of your heart.” (Ryza)

“You will always be my heart, Ryz. I don’t really need more...” (Will)

I still tried to persuade her. If this really goes on, I’m afraid that I would really fall in love with someone else. I don’t want her to feel unwanted…

Still, Ryza shook her head and smiled.

“No need to talk about this further. In time, you will understand.” (Ryza)

“...Alright. But Ryz. One day, I’ll definitely take you to that beach. Then I would confess to you again. That accident had taken a lot from us. I’m not letting it take more. Especially not this.” (Will)

When that day comes, I’ll propose to her formally…

“...Un. Then, I’ll be waiting.” (Ryza)

Ryza blushed as she nodded. Seemingly excited and embarrassed.

...Did she feel that I would be proposing to her when that day comes? Well, it doesn’t matter if she figured it out or not.

Nothing can change my mind anymore.

We waited for the night to pass as we continued to talk quietly.

After some time, I figured I should check my inventory and sort it out.

Inventory

Large Gemite (High)

x1

Fiery Ape’s Hide

x5

Fiery Ape’s Fang

x2

Fiery Ape King’s Hide

x3

Fiery Ape King’s Fang

x2

Flaming Monkey Gloves

x1

Blood Moon Blade

x1

Overseer’s Robe

x1

666 Ring

x1

Mystic Iron Sword

x1

Adventurer’s Robe

x1

Gaia Worm’s Hide

x5

Gaia Worm’s Heart

x1

Dwarven Chest Plate

x1

X-Virus Sample

x55

X-Virus Antidote

x1

(14/100)

Trade

Trash

There’s a bunch of equipments here. It’s best to fully equip myself sooner rather than later.

Flaming Monkey Gloves

Rank

D

Flame Fist

Ignites the user’s fist into flames.

Description

A pair of gloves made from the hide of a Fiery Ape King

Overseer’s Robe

Rank

D++

Minimap

Provides user with a miniature map of the user’s surroundings within the radius of 5 meters.

Description

A robe of that belonged to a tyrant overseer.

Blood Moon Blade

Rank

B

Bloody Crescent

Shoots out a blood red energy blade shaped like a crescent moon.

Description

A curved blade forged under a rare blood moon phenomenon.

666 Ring

Rank

A+

Undead Rise

Summons and controls 6 undead for 6 minutes and 6 seconds.

Satanic Curse

Places a death curse on a target. If target dies within 6 minutes and 6 seconds, the user will gain a skill from target or more EXP. If target does not die within the time given, the user’s power will be halved for 6 hours.

Description

A ring said to be forged from the fires of Hell itself and worn by Satan’s strongest general.

Mystic Iron Sword

Rank

D

Mystic Wave

Shoots out wave of mystical energy from the blade.

Description

An iron sword blessed by mystical beings.

Adventurer’s Robe

Rank

E

Adventurer’s Honor

Provides user with additional 2% EXP increase.

Description

A robe sold in any adventurer’s guild shops.

Dwarven Chest Plate

Rank

E+

Dwarf’s Friend

Provides user with additional 2 Strength.

Description

A chest plate forged by the dwarves.

That’s all the equipments there is.

Anyway, for now, I have no need for the swords. As for the robe…[Overseer’s Robe] is better than the [Adventurer’s Robe]. Additional 2% EXP may be nice but only at the beginning. As the level grows, that number would be negligible enough. It’s best to give it to others for now.

The 666 Ring’s curse seemed to be a bit hard, but if performed correctly, then I could gain a skill or gain more EXP. Whichever it is, it’s both good for me...let’s just hope I don’t fail…

The [Dwarven Chest Plate] isn’t much, but I don’t have other chest plates anyway so I also put it on. It should still be able to take a blow in case of emergency.

All in all, my equipments are like this.

Equipment

Necklace of Spirits (Accessory)

Flaming Monkey Gloves (Apparel)

Overseer’s Robe (Apparel)

666 Ring (Accessory)

Dwarven Chest Plate (Apparel)

Personalized

Blackest Heart (Weapon)

Soul Crown (Accessory)

Phoenix Cape (Apparel)

Seeing the equipments, I nodded and looked at my [Status Window].

There’s 5 status points.

I allocated 3 to Wisdom and 2 to Stamina. Though increasing Mana is important, I need to raise my stamina too in order to fight a long battle.

Finished with everything, I checked the [Leaderboard] out of boredom.

Leaderboard

Ranking

Level

Name

1

17

Aya Kitashima

2

15

William King

3

14

Rodrigo Reyes

4

12

Anton Johansson

5

11

Matfey Bogomolov

Aya had risen another level. Rodrigo and Anton too. As a result, Anton climbed a rank while the three of us at the top three still stayed the same.

If it weren’t for the reward to be given every month, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the rankings.

Un, I should be able to level up at least once if I clear the whole mall of zombies. If I got the reward for being the top ranker, then our chance of surviving will grow higher.

I continued to fiddle with the [Broken Reality] windows and arranged my thoughts.

First, we need to know what happened to this stores that was mentioned in the Help section.

Scrolling down on the [Logs], it was mentioned that the installation of the Stores failed.

Reinstalling Stores in the background...

Installing Stores…error

The [Logs] is read from the bottom up, so it meant that it tried to install it again after failure.

Reinstalling Stores in the background meant that the program continues to run properly while the installation is being done at the same time.

Meaning, it’s still in the middle of installing even now...I wonder when it wil end? There’s not exactly a progress bar.

I continued to ponder while staring at the [Logs].

Suddenly, a new entry arrived.

Updating Broken Reality...done.

Reinstallation of Stores...completed

This time, I felt the change more clearly.

It was as if the space shook.

It only lasted for a second but it gave me a sensation that I will never forget.

That feeling when you feel like there is someone manipulating your body unreservedly...truly disgusting.

I can see Ryza’s face became pale as well so I held her to reassure her.

The others also began to wake up at this time.

The sun had already risen enough. It’s 3:24 in the morning as I looked at my phone’s watch.

“What happened?” (Michael)

“Damn, I suddenly felt a disgusting feeling!” (Nicholas)

“Is there a monster attacking?” (Sam)

They all came out and asked.

“[Broken Reality] updated. The stores had begun to appear.” (Will)

They were surprised and checked the [Logs] as well. Though some were clearly repulsed to look at the [Logs], they just waited for the others’ confirmation.

Sure enough, they all realized that it is true.

“Then where is this store?” (Jake)

“It’s said in the [Help] that they are randomly scattered. Everyone, go to the forums and social medias to try to gather informations.” (Brook)

We all nodded and checked the internet.

The forums and social media exploded with the sudden update.

After a few minutes, some people were lucky enough to have the store sent directly near them and took pictures to share online.

Cool=Guy=Me: /Hey hey look! There’s a floating ball in the sky over our park! [IMG]/

Already-Taken: /Damn, you’re too lucky! Where do you live!?/

Cool=Guy=Me: /Heh, I’m in Taiwan, can you get here?/

TheInsaneGuy: /Tch, I’m in America so I guess I can’t go there to kill you and loot your equips./

Cool=Guy=Me: /Hey!/

ALLCAPSMAN: /WHOO!!! STORE IN OUR APARTMENT!!! [IMG]/

Already-Taken: /Fuck! Why are you all so lucky!? Please tell me you live in Canada!/

ALLCAPSMAN: /I’M FROM MOTHER RUSSIA!!!/

TrollerTroll: /Trololololololololololololol! [IMG]/

Already-Taken: /This guy too!? Canada? No, the sign board in the background is Japanese! Fuck you all!/

RationalitY: /Judging from the positions that I have seen so far in the internet, it seems that the stores are located near a landmark. For example, Cool=Guy=Me’s store appeared in their park, ALLCAPSMAN’s store has that monument-like thing at the background. TrollerTroll’s store appeared near a shrine as the sign board at the background is the type usually found in shrines./

TrollerTroll: /Trololol [IMG]/

Already-Taken: /Ah! So it was really a shrine!? Then it’s true that stores appear near landmarks!? Alright, logging out now! I need to run to the nearest landmark in our place!/

RationalitY: /There’s a high chance that it’s true, but there’s also a chance that it’s a coincidence./

TheInsaneGuy: /Forget it, he already probably rushed out. I’ll be rushing out too! Thanks for the info man!/

Seeing this thread, my eyes lit up and I immediately passed on the information to the others.

After hearing about that, Sarah suggested.

“Then, there’s a popular landmark here within the mall! It’s a huge fountain where people usually meet when meeting up or when separating.” (Sarah)

“Then, let’s quickly prepare and go! With the appearance of the stores, those guys hiding out in their homes might rush out and there may be some competition. We need to act fast!” (Will)

“Competition? Isn’t fighting prohibited inside the store?” (Sam)

“Un, but the stock of the store may be limited. As such, people would mark the area around the store as they’re territory and drive everyone approaching out!” (May)

I nodded solemnly as I had already considered this the moment I knew of the existence of the stores.

“If possible, I hope we would get a store as well as a part of our territory!” (Will)

The other nodded and prepared.

After 5 minutes, we moved out.

Status

Name

William King

Level

15

Mana Points

500/500(+100)

Ranking

2

Strength

15(+2)

Wisdom

35(+10)

Agility

24

Stamina

14

G Points

890

Status Points

0

Skills

Flame Aura