Urbex… or ‘Urban exploration’ was a hobby he tends to drag me into. Well, there wasn’t much of other things that thrilled Daisuke besides this dangerous form of exploration.

And to put it bluntly, he’s a haikyo-maniac.

Anywhere and everywhere that was to be a mystery of this city would become subject to his own hobbies. Ruins, abandoned buildings, secret pathways… he would be certain to aim to find them al

In a certain sense, that was already pretty impressive in its own way.

But to me, that was a huge pain to my daily lifestyle. At least, I’d prefer to stay in a safer area.

Since it was a weekend, this time we were climbing a nearby hill. It was a bit far off compared to the usual, but I still tagged along.

Well, it’s better for him to not die alone in a place like this.

Apparently, there was an abandoned hospital he heard was near here, so he tried to scale the peak of this hill to find it easier. But the extreme lengths taken to travel to explore such places were still something I still don’t understand.

With him hurrying to scale the mountain, I could only barely keep up to 30 meters behind him.

“Natsuki Natsuki!” He turned back and called out to me, “Check this out!”

I preferred not to, but since it was him, I really had no choice to refuse. Also, I came here prepared to not let myself in danger.

So I followed him up and gradually reached the peak. The hill wasn’t really that high to climb, but it sure did give a sense of satisfaction. Though up here, the wind was somewhat strong enough for me to barely hear my surroundings. I shielded my face with my forearm from the wind, then took a step at a time.

“Com’on! You’re being a bit too slow aren’t ya?” He gestured me over.

Once I reach there, I dropped my arms to see the view from the peak. My eyes widened in surprise as I see the scenery of the city from here.

And to be honest, it wasn’t that impressive of a view. Almost too simple and cliché, yet also maybe because there wasn’t much in this city to start off with. Anyhow, I searched myself a spot to sit and pulled something from my bag.

“We finally got here!” Daisuke declared satisfied, “Now time for a break here- wait what’s with that book, Natsuki?”

“eh?” I replied, “Oh that. It’s a light novel, the kinda stuff NEETs read, you know.”

“Yeah, I know what that is…” Daisuke said annoyingly, “but why though? Seriously…”

I guess his logic was somewhat sound since I wouldn’t just climb a mountain just to read a light novel. But truth be told, I had nothing else to entertain me up here… no reception, no wifi, no computer; not up here on this hill surrounded by its urban wildlife.

“Well, I just felt like it,” I replied, then I asked back, “you want me to bring a handheld console along next time?”

He pushed me slightly.

I lost a bit of my balance but still managed to sit back up. But during that moment I just realized how close I was sitting near the edge, almost too close to falling off from the hill. It didn’t seem like that great a fall but should be enough to kill.

I looked back at him, and oh boy, I do hope that he knew I was pissed off that he did this to me.

“Well,” He responded to my annoyed face, “I just felt like it.”

And then there’s this long conversation, which is just listed below.

“Damn, I feel like killing you here now.” - Natsuki

“Only if it’s a double suicide.” – Daisuke

“Well, you jump first then. I’ll follow after.” – Natsuki

“Seems like I forgot how to jump, mind showing me a demonstration first?” – Daisuke

“Show me a small example first, I can’t teach you without knowing how you want me to teach you.” – Natsuki

“I’ve just said that I forgot how to jump, I seriously need an example first.” – Daisuke

“Then you jump down first; right here right now.” – Natsuki

“Oi, I’m not jumping if you don’t jump at the same time!” – Daisuke

“That’s just rude, man. Don’t you that they say ‘ladies first’?” – Natsuki

“I’m sorry but I’m a man who believes in true gender equality, there’s no way I would let- WAIT DID YOU JUST CALL ME A WOMAN?” – Daisuke

“Then,” I sighed for a moment, then continued, “I guess you can count me out.”

We paused for a moment, then both burst into laughter. Till both of us calmed down, we were somewhat close mates, if not best mates.

It was then that we had a lame excuse of keeping ourselves alive… to not die before the other in vain. But still, it was a reason to live for.

“Oh hey, I found it!!” He pointed down the cliff, where there was an abandoned ruin of a shutdown hospital. It was the type of thing you would see from a horror film, and seeing it still gave me the chills.

I shoved my light novel back into my bag to pack, then ran downhill to ditch him.

“COUNT ME OUT!” I shouted as I barely keep my feet balances while descending the hill at a fast rate.

“WAIT WHAT THE HELL, NATSUKI!”

…

I looked at the phone I was holding. On it was displaying white words on top of the blank black screen.

[WELCOME TO FREEDOM]

If I really was a beta player for such a game…

Then by default, I was a sinner.

A sinner who could barely keep his reason to keep living.