[INTERLUDE] The Wonderful Woe of Being an Online Gamer

Takes place shortly after the previous two missions, which means RC 381 and RC 🤘 are trapped together. In which a drastic development in a certain video game about swords leaves three of the Four Demonly Kings wondering…

Contains spoilers for a very major Touken Ranbu event.

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All video games explicitly named in this story belong to DMM, with Touken Ranbu co-produced with Nitroplus.

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"Kaguya-sama, please tell me this isn't true," Momoka pled rather desperately; she sounded on the verge of tears. "Have you seen the closing credits in that TouRabu event? Why are there closing credits? Please tell me the game isn't about to be…"

This wasn't the first time Kaguya had seen his maid act this way – she said roughly the same thing after Bungo to Alchemist rolled out that one major update. This didn't mean he didn't sympathize with her, or didn't also feel that twinge of fear in his stomach. Staying calm for her sake, he said, "Yes, I've seen it. Didn't it say this is the end of 'Chapter 1' after that credit sequence? Besides, didn't you see the full update schedule? A host of mystery events are coming, not to mention a new Osaka Castle Underground. The game is not going away any time soon, I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, but da closin' credits, man," Urato piped in, despite not seeming anywhere as distressed as Momoka. "This is smellin' hella suspicious, I'm telling ya."

"The game still has a big fanbase, stage plays and musicals are still coming out on the regular, that Switch game just came out not so long ago, and so did the international version," Kaguya continued talking to Momoka, ignoring Urato entirely. "Not only that, there are still so many swords who haven't gotten their kiwame yet, Dōjigiri Yasutsuna still hasn't come out yet, and the identity of that fox-man still isn't revealed, among many things. The game is still too profitable and there's still too much content for the company to pull it so suddenly."

"But why are there closing credits?" Momoka said. "Not only that, this event is long and detailed and even has a cutscene, it has more work put into it than all the events up until now. I still get the feeling this… this is the grand finale. What am I gonna do if it is about to close? I'm pretty much used to seeing games get shut down by now, but… this is TouRabu. It holds a special place for both Kaguya-sama and me. If it gets pulled, I don't know what I'll do, and I'm worried about you and what you'll feel too."

Kaguya seemed visibly saddened for a moment, but the look on his face was soon replaced by a gentle smile. He said, "If it does go down, which I'm still sure won't happen, you know what I'd say. Even if we can't play it anymore, the story, the setting, the characters are still there. The continuum will continue to exist, and we will continue to love it and protect it with our bodies and souls. This is what we've joined the PPC for."

He then added – with a thoroughly heart-stealing wink, "And, as always, if you're too saddened by its closure, don't be afraid to cry about it to me."

What a touching moment indeed, which was sadly disrupted by the fact Urato was also there. Of course, he took Kaguya's invitation to mean it applied to him also, which turned Kaguya's attitude a complete one-eighty degrees. "I am not talking to you, you clown," he deadpanned.

In the face of all this, Inasuke simply sat further away and cranked up the volume of the ballet he was watching to drown out their discussion. There was a reason he no longer played online games.