Crowbar Nurse Chapter 5

Kiryū had a smug look on his face but I just didn’t understand. What did he mean by “break out of the confines of the game”?

It felt a little weird, but well, it didn’t change our goals right now and so we continued backtracking through the level.

Along the way, we taken out a few swarms of zombies and picked up some healing items before finally reaching the place where I dropped my phone.

“Thank goodness, it’s still here!”

I was so glad to be reunited with my beloved Android as I went over to pick it up.”

“The door to the room you were in doesn’t seem to open anymore… I’m certain I had to open it to find you though.”

While I made sure my phone worked fine, Kiryū examined the door leading to what was supposed to be the linen room.
… his side pockets, b.u.t.t pockets, jacket pockets, breast pocket—every single one of his pockets were packed full of medicines and herbs.
It definitely wasn’t a flattering look for him… but we had no choice as we didn’t have access to an item box.

And since my dress had no pockets whatsoever, everything we’ve picked up so far has been jammed into Kiryū’s pockets.
An item box sure would be nice. I wonder if there’s a good alternative…
Just as I was fantasizing about that, a great clank came from the door.

“—it’s no use. I can’t even pry the door open with the crowbar.”

Kiryū shook the strain off his arms as he gritted his teeth in frustration.

“Maybe the rooms disappear as soon as we leave them… how’s your phone?”
“Oh, it’s fine. It works fine but now there’s an app on my phone that I’ve never seen before.”
“A mysterious app?”

Kiryū looked over at me with a frown then I showed him my home screen.
He squinted and muttered That one? as he pointed to it. It was obvious which one was the odd one out.

“… ‘Unt.i.tled’?”
“It seems like that’s the name of the app.”
“Even the icon is all wonky.”
“What were the creators thinking when they chose to use that icon…”
“Both the name and the icon look like bad news. Did you go on some shady site?”
“I do not go on shady websites! How rude! I only go on proper sites!”
“… bulls.h.i.t. Everybody who visits shady sites say the same thing.”

He still has a frown on his face but so do I. I couldn’t help but feel very troubled by this app. I had no time to use my phone as of late nor the memory of the app ever existing.

“Still… that’s real weird….”

I looked down at the ground and then it came to me.

“—that’s right! I really didn’t go on any shady sites, but something shady happened!”
“… whaddya mean?”
“Just before I got transported to this world, the screen went dark as a stream of text was getting typed in all by itself. I think something was installing itself on my phone as well.”
“… huh?”
“And clear as day, I saw some pa.s.sword get entered! I bet that’s how this weird app bypa.s.sed the app store and installed itself on my phone. This is super sketch!”
“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

Kiryū shrieked out in confusion.
… it’s probably unlikely on a technical level, huh?

“Eek… i-is it really that unlikely to happen?”
“Yeah… that’s impossible.
It sure doesn’t sound possible, but… well, our situation right now is defying reality as far as I know.
I mean, I guess there are Android apps that can run sh.e.l.l scripts.
If your phone had been jailbroken, then maybe—juuust maybe—that might be possible…”

… he seemed extremely perplexed by what happened to my phone. Did I really say something that farfetched?

“… oh, right. If it’s any help to you, I should mention that my screen lock was my date of birth.”
“Huh?”
“And if I need a longer pa.s.sword, I usually just simply combine my full name and date of birth. So maybe that’s why my pa.s.sword was so easily guessed.”
“Wha— bu—!”
“Aw, jeez, but it’s totally normal. It’s not like anything actually bad happened before. The worst that happens is, like, my friends unlocking my phone and gifting themselves stickers…”
“… look, kid, you might not understand, but these devices can even manage your money, y’know?”

Kiryū continued explaining how painful it was to hear what I had said.

“You’ve gotta be more careful and protect yourself.”
“Fine, okay. I’ll be more careful ne—augh!”
“You don’t seem like taking me very seriously. Pro–tect–your–self!”

How did he realize I wasn’t actually listening to what he was saying? He sighed in exasperation has he gave me a noogie. Then, he glared at me.

“… change your PIN. Do it. Do it now. I can’t stand it.”
“Aww, come on…”

He was being such a pain in the b.u.t.t.
But perhaps he could see on my face, Kiryū stared at me suspiciously.

“… what? Why are you against it?”
“Oh no! It’s a zombie! It’s coming at us! Why, I ought to take care of it immediately!”

I slipped past Kiryū as I shouldered my a.s.sault rifle and blasted a zombie coming down the alley.
He quickly grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and pulled me backwards.

“Hey, don’t go killing so many of them! It’s only changing your pa.s.sword! Why are you so against it?!”
“Nuh-uh! It’s way too much work! You’re not paying me enough to go through that much trouble!”
“Six digits! That’s all there is to it!”
“No way I’m changing it! It’s six digits too many to remember again!”
“Stop being such a brat! Just ta— just tap the settings icon! Shut up and do it!”
“Nooo!”

I was resisting as hard as I could. Then before I knew it, Kiryū was on top of me, pinning me down. With one hand, he tried to get me to change the settings on my phone. With his other hand, he skillfully slugged and killed an incoming zombie.
That’s amazing… how does he kill a zombie with a single punch?
There’s definitely something odd about this guy.

“… argh!”

Unsurprisingly, it seemed like that hurt him too. Kiryū stood up and shook his head in vexation.

“… it looks like you’re not willing to play nice about this…”
“That’s right! I’ll never change my pa.s.sword! And I know we said we should try to kill as little zombies as possible, but it’ll take forever for us to level up…”

I escaped Kiryū by the skin of my teeth and got up from the ground.

“There’s no point in staying here any longer. Let’s head towards our next target.”
“You’re right. Oh, and by the way, Sera…
You see that mob of zombies across the street? What are those two gigantic things?”

Kiryū made a face as he looked down the alleyway then I looked the same direction.

“I can tell they’re huge even from this distance.”
“Huh… gah! That’s a minotaur and a tank.
They showed up even when we don’t even have any good armor… that’s just awful luck.”
“Minotaur? Tank? What is this? Are we in some kind of fantasy RPG?”

Being new to the DMC series, he was bewildered by these zombies.

“How rude. DMC is a proper zombie game. There’s just a few things here and there that aren’t entirely realistic…”
“Yeah, no kidding…”

Kiryū suspiciously eyed the two special zombies.
The minotaur is, well, a minotaur the size of a building. The other one is the tank with a tentacle snaking out from its barrel. I mean, yeah… it’s a bit of a stretch for a zombie game.

“If I remember correctly, the story behind the tank was that it’s created by a zombie-type monster hijacking an army tank along with its crewmen.”

I looked over at him as I sniped a few zombies.

“And then, the minotaur was originally a poor cow that escaped from a pharmaceutical company… or something like that. They’re both ‘pretty strong’.
They rarely show up unless you grind too hard or power through the levels too much, kinda like a punishment monster? Ahh, I’m getting a little nostalgic.”
“Is this really the right time to be getting all sentimental? We won’t be able to get to where we want to go unless we go through them… doesn’t seem like we have much of a choice.”

Kiryū heaved a sigh as he gripped the crowbar. I’m glad to have him on my side.
He was kind enough to take on the zombies for me so that I don’t overlevel.

“Please, hold on. Let me take care of them. Normally, I would be spamming my grenade launcher at them, but… well, I don’t have one.”

I couldn’t help but feel very troubled.
No matter how you put it, we have no choice but to go back to the starting area of the game.
We haven’t gotten any strong weapons either.
We have to kill them to get through and I’ll definitely be leveling up from them.

Ah, c.r.a.p… I’ve never had to backtrack before like this. I’m really getting knocked off stride…

I really don’t want to, but I have no choice but to wager this bet. It’s dangerous, but I can’t think of any alternatives.

“… honestly, I’d be restarting the game here. But since there’s a bunch of zombies around the tank, let’s see if I can’t do anything…”
“Sera, what were you mumbling on about earlier?”
“Umm, Kiryū. It’ll get a little dicey, so try to get as far away as you can.”
“What? Hold your horses. Is there nothing I can do?”
“… there is a lot I could use your help with, but those guys are enemies we’re barely strong enough to kill right now.
I know their patterns well though. That’s why I’ll have to use myself as decoy and get them to kill each other…”

Kiryū was even more worried after seeing how I wasn’t happy about it either.

“Using yourself as a decoy is too dangerous, isn’t it?”
“But there’s no other way. If I manage to pull it off and smoke starts pouring out of the tank, then I’d like you to back me up. Until then, please stay behind.”
“… ‘kay. If it seems like it’s too much, come back right away.”
“Okay.”

With Kiryū staying back, I rushed to the other side of the alleyway and into the swarm of enemies.

■Sera’s phone

It is a rare sight nowadays. Though this Android smartphone may be old, it still functions. Instagram, Twitter, and social network games have been downloaded, but there seems to be a link to an old disused personal blog as well.
Sera isn’t the tech-savviest person ever, and so her pa.s.swords are predictably simple.

: // // // // /ch005/ /next/