#threehyphens

Let me go home already… I can’t think straight anymore…

I was tapping away at an outdated computer in the nurses’ station and doing today’s documentation.

The location is Shinjuku. The time, wee hours. A hellhole of a hospital ward with a window to the night outside. The nurses of this ward start their day way too early and end their nights dizzyingly late. Even when neglecting my hunger and hygiene, I can get only four, five hours of precious sleep a day. Such are my circumstances when working hours are this long.

I haven’t really done anything at all lately. I don’t have the time to game or hang out with my friends… the only thing I’ve done other than work is scrolling on my phone…

I silently sighed inside.

Society thinks us nurses to be huge flirts, headstrong, and highly paid. I’m sure there are some out there who are like that. … not me though. I’d say I’m the complete opposite of that.

When I was a teenager, I played games all day and cared too little about looking pretty, leading me straight down the path of being a loner. By the time I did care, I was a university student busy with studying and practicum. Outside of school, my girlfriends and I would be in stupidly high heels and partying like there was no tomorrow.

Though I like talking with people, I was always too timid for my own good. Not only did my seniors always yell at me, I also have literally zero experience in relationships. … I suppose faking it and going to clubs did get me attention from shallow guys, but the thing is that I have never been popular with the opposite sex. That’s why I can’t stand people who are blessed with confidence.

… I’m completely twisted. I know. I’ll probably end up in my thirties with everybody saying that my standards are too unrealistic and no one interested in me…

I sighed out loud this time. And as for the highly paid part? That’s probably not true for me as well. My take home pay is a little over 180,000 with more than 100 hours of unpaid overtime. Still, in this “Land of the Setting Sun”, that’s probably considered well-paid.

There are all sorts of nurses, y’know?

I’m neither well-paid nor well-versed in relationships. I’m just a sham who loves her zombies. I had once prided myself on my love for nursing, but the soul-sucking work as of late led to the flames of my passion burning out. I’m simply a lifeless drone.

Ughhh, I need to let loose and wipe out some zombies… I can’t stand working anymore…

Shoving those memories aside, I begrudgingly returned to recordkeeping. Now, let me describe what a day for a newbie nurse with no time for fun or zombies is like. After five hours of sleep, I wake up and head to my ward. I look up the details of the patients I’m in charge of on the piece of crap computer. Once that’s done, I make sure all the medicine and IV drips are good to go. After handing off things to the night shift, I begin making my rounds. There’s not even a moment spare to get water or go to the washroom. Even when working such a long shift, I say goodbye to lunch breaks if it gets busy. It doesn’t matter your level of seniority, you effectively get only five minutes. If it’s bad, it’s closer to 30 seconds… I fly into the break room, stuff my face with food, and eat it while walking back to the desk. Then, I get back to logging or preparing for the midday debriefing. I’m sure… I’m sure other places are like this too. In every hospital is a ward this depressing.

… oof. Crap. Nearly fell asleep there.

That moment of microsleep was most definitely because of sleep deprivation. The steady chime of the patient monitoring system and the clattering of keyboards from other nurses working overtime fill the room. I glanced at the watch I had stuffed in my pocket—12:30, later than usual.

It’s past midnight already, eh? Still, even when everybody lives around here, Shinjuku at night is still a little dangerous.

Even then, none of us dayshift nurses have gone home yet. That’s just how things work here. I casually looked up from my PC.

Colorful neon signs and lit offices contribute to the dazzling lights in the nightscape. It shone through the window across the hallway from the nurses’ station. Low-intensity aircraft warning lights dotted countless skyscrapers. The red lights on top of the buildings were like a constellation twinkling together. Its beauty never fails to take me out of reality.

 … though I may be sleepy, even at this hour, the streets were not. The lights revealed everybody who was still awake.

Until I started working, I never knew the nights of Shinjuku were created and supported by people like me—the slaves to society.

 People are used and discarded every day to maintain this beautiful dazzling world.

… and just as that thought floated across my mind, my view of the night sky worrisomely fluttered for a moment.

 Hmm…? That’s weird.

I couldn’t tell whether my vision was blurry or that my head wasn’t functioning properly. Though what was very clear was that I was far too tired. Then, I got lightheaded for a split second. As soon as it passed and I breathed a sigh of relief, I clutched my chest in pain.

 I’m going to die… oh yeah, I’m totally dying.

As my heart stabbed with every pulse, I took a deep breath only to find my head spinning again.

… frankly, I’m not doing so well.

This has been a frequent occurrence lately. I hold back the wave of nausea as I struggle to form sentences in my head… then suddenly, the exhausted head nurse rushed over to me in a panic.

“—the management is coming around! Hurry, hide yourself in the linen room!”

Once I realized the head nurse was shouting at me in a quiet voice, she stood me up by my shoulders. And before I knew it, she shoved me into the linen room at the far end of the nurses’ station and slammed the door shut.

… ah, not this again…

I subconsciously sighed. This happens every day in our ward. Basically, it’s to conceal the fact that us newcomers are forced to work overtime. If the head honchos of the nursing department find out, they would chew out the head nurse.

The directive of this sweatshop of a hospital is supposedly to eliminate overtime and, officially, newcomers aren’t forced to do so. That’s why when the head of the department swings by, us newcomers get spirited away.

That’s fine and all, but… damn it. The computers automatically logout after 10 minutes of inactivity, so there goes all my unsaved data…

Looks like I’ll have to redo everything, which means I’m stuck here until at least 1:00. I squatted down and subconsciously sighed again. Guess I don’t have much of a choice but to sleep until they come get me. As I shut my eyes close in exhaustion, I felt a strange vibration coming from my pocket.

 … huh? A notification? I thought I turned off my phone…

I doubted myself as I reached into my pocket. When I took a look at my phone, the screen was pitch black but oddly enough, some text was showing.

… hmm, what’s that? Is that English?

The excessive number of symbols made me question whether it was really English or not. It may have been pitch black, but it was just bright enough that I could tell the screen was on. That and the green text showing clued me in on that.

… what’s all this about? Did some super hacker breach my phone? Wait, are there people who hack smartphones in the first place?

I looked down at the screen in confusion… hmm? What? Hold on… The green text scrolled past at a blistering pace. The line practically disappears as soon I tried to read it!

 “… what?!”

I was fully awake when I reflexively cried out loud but was still too late to cover my mouth shut. The directors should have still been out there on their patrol. I hope they didn’t hear me.

Whaaaaaaat. Huh?! Augh! What’s going on?!

A scene of pure sci-fi unfolded in front of my very eyes. Talk about a complete one-eighty from my depressing daily life.

No, seriously, am I being hacked? Is this what it’s like? This looks more like magic to me though!

Unfortunately, a Neanderthal who can’t even do basic addition on Excel like me had no idea what was happening. I don’t get it… but I knew that this wasn’t supposed to happen.

sudo…? apt-get install? Hey, hey, hey, hey! Don’t go installing anything weird on my phone without my permission! It’s now asking for a password… and it’s being filled in!

My eyes went wide as ••••• popped up in the password field.

But… I didn’t even do anything…

I was speechless. Then, while my jaw was still on the floor, the door violently swung open… as someone came barelling through.

■Protagonist

The protagonist is a super overworked rookie nurse who was on the verge of dying. Once you get her on the topic of zombie games, she'll yap on for even longer than the intro to The Final Countdown—though it's not an opportune moment right now.

contents: /ch001/ /next/

Heaving a sigh, I stood the assault rifle up against the wall then sat on one of the dining chairs… one that the old man wasn’t. I know I’m in a game, but I’m still not about to sit in the old man’s seat.

Still, why is this even happening…? Because my phone glitched…?

Thoughts ran through my head as I was trying to figure out my situation. It was then I noticed the desk to the side… the key was on the desk, just as I remembered reading about on the walkthrough site.

Might as well take it.

Kiryū looked understandably bewildered as he watched me take the key.

“Umm, hey… Sera? What’s that key do?” “It’s super useful and since I don’t have a pocket… would you please hang on to it? Anyway, what did you mean by that? Sera?”

I looked up at Kiryū. He looked back at me with a troubled expression. He knows my name, even though I’m sure we’ve just met.

“… I’m not sure if you realize it yet, but right now, physically, you’re Sera Harvey, the protagonist of Dead Man’s Conflict 2.” “Are you for real?” “I swear. I’ve never played any zombie games before, but I’ve seen this series at the game show in Tokyo before.” “… that’s… very surprising…”

As stupid as I may have sounded, I had no other words but those. Subconsciously, I began looking at my hands… and then my feet.

My long, fair legs were peeking through the bottom of an adorable green sundress. My hair was in a shade of dark bluish black. And tipping my small, slender hands were my fingernails in pink.

… this is definitely not my own body. This body belonged to the beauty who contrasted the deplorable battlefield of Confi City, the stealthy one-man army of Dead Man’s Conflict—Sera Harvey.

“… I’m Sera…”

I shook my head in denial as I finally realized who I was.

“What the heck happened to me…”

The truth was sickening, troubling. This situation was all too ridiculous. Kiryū, as if he understood how I felt, began his explanation.

“From what I can tell, you’re just an average Joe who got dragged from the real world to this side.” “… that’s what it seems like. I swear, I was just a rookie nurse working free overtime in a sweatshop they called a hospital… Kiryū, this is some sort of a dream, right…?”

This would be strange topic if I were in a dream, but I still had to ask… I still needed that small glimmer of false hope for consolation.

“… it’d be nice if it were a dream.”

Kiryū shrugged as he spoke, sounding just like a doctor giving a patient bad diagnosis. He continued with a heavy heart and gently broke the news to me.

“… but I don’t think this is simply a dream. I don’t know how else to describe it, but we’re inexplicably trapped in this world.” “No…” “I feel you. It’s hard to accept. But have you ever been dog-tired and out of breath in a dream before?”

I couldn’t help but shake my head and answer with no.

“… I haven’t had a dream like… that… I suppose. Isn’t this a little too unrealistic though? Zombies only exist in fiction. The concept of the reanimated dead just doesn’t make sense. It goes against the laws of physics. They show all signs of being dead, you know? And how can they produce any adenosine triphosphate to move? I don’t even know how I got here in the first place… to this world…”

I was at my wits’ end by now.

—I opened a door to another universe by working overtime and getting my phone hacked.

No one would believe that. It’d make more sense if it were just a dream. Or maybe I’m in some sort of web novel. They say the hit genre right now is about getting reborn into a game world. Even my brother mentioned he was into that sort of novels and anime. I felt more and more ill as I think about all of this. To begin with, I was on the brink of death at work up until moments ago.

“… real life blows. Were you working overtime too?”

Perhaps he could sense my mental state, Kiryū forced a small smile and began to sympathize. His words seemed a little cool yet gentle. I slowly looked up at him. Kiryū looked as shallow as he did handsome, but the way he spoke was more than genuine.

“Me too. Just now—rather, hours ago, I was stuck at work debugging with the whole team.” “… what’s that?” “You play a game thoroughly to make sure that it’s free of any bugs. It’s a time-consuming process in which gotta play the game over and over again. People from other departments would get on your case and check in with you too. I really thought I was gonna kick the bucket. Then, before I knew it, I got trapped in this ridiculous world.” “I see…” “… I guess I should apologize too. I might look like a real stud, but inside, I’m really an old fart. I’m just like you, from the real world. Except that I’m a 30-year-old software engineer working for a game dev company.”

I let out a slight giggle in spite of myself. At first, I assumed he was a little too serious and awkward, but he’s actually quite kind.

“You can’t call yourself an old fart yet when you’re just 30.” “I appreciate that, but you’ll feel it too when you turn 30. People younger than you will make fun of you for everything, so you gotta be prepared for it.” “Hah, that sounds rough… oh, by the way, do you know who your character is?” “Kiryū Sōichirō, right? I’ve, uhh… seen it at the game show.” “Oh, so you do know!”

Letting his guard down a little, Kiryū laughed with me. He looked like the world’s hottest playboy, but I’d be no better if I said that out loud. We’re both adults who are sick and tired of their jobs, but we certainly don’t look the part.

“I’m glad you’re smiling again. I wouldn’t know what would happen to me if I hadn’t found you too.” “… what do you mean? Were you with someone else?” “Yeah.”

His smile faded into a frown.

“… I found you as I watched my friend get eaten by zombies.” “Like, in a cutscene?” “No… he was a real person. He lost his cool and tried to clear a horde with his bare hands.” “That’s such a movie cliché…” “I don’t get it either. He was saying we’re not going to be rescued anyway… I guess he was at his limits couldn’t handle it anymore.”

Kiryū looked down at the ground and heaved a sigh.

“… please, be strong. For me. We’ll think of some way to safely break out of this world. We can do this together. So please, promise me…”

As his voice trails off, I looked down at the ground and felt a wave of anxiety building up in my chest.

—is he saying we might die in here like his friend…?

But what did he mean that he wasn’t going to be rescued? Does he know something we don’t…?

Silence fell in the bloody, musty room. … then, I remembered something very important and I grabbed the assault rifle. Shit. Christ. This is bad. We can’t afford to be just sitting here.

“—Sera, wait! Let’s talk about this some more!” “There’s lots I want to say too, but I just recalled something really important. In this game, we’re in danger until we reach a safehouse.” “… we’re in danger?”

Kiryū now looked very serious.

“… you mean, they’ll keep spawning and respawning, coming at us?” “That’s exactly it.”

I’m glad that Kiryū, being a game dev, quickly understood what I’m talking about, but I can’t rejoice yet.

“The longer we stay at a location, the more enemies will spawn.” “Ugh. That sounds like the whole world is gonna get laggy… but I get what you mean. It’ll be dangerous if we stay here any longer. We’ve gotta keep moving so they don’t form too big of a horde…” “That’s right. We should head to a safehouse ASAP. But, before that…”

I stopped in the middle of my sentence to rack my brain. There was so much we should be doing.

—what are the locations of this game like?

Are there any places where I can’t return?

Are there any key items that I should get before I leave?

 “… before we head to the safehouse, there are two things we have to recover.”

I walked towards the exit as I explained things to him.

“First, I need to pick up the ‘smartphone’ I dropped earlier. Second is the ‘Vital Watch’ that gets dropped in the beginning of this level.” “Vital Watch?”

Kiryū followed behind me.

“It’s critical to our safety that we get that watch. Have you… never played any DMC game before?”

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders no.

“They say you can do whatever you want in these zombie killers, but they aren’t my thing.” “I see. In that case… umm, the Vital Watch looks like an Apple Watch.” “I see.” “It’s a gadget that… how should I explain this? In short, it’s kinda like a status screen that you can wear around your wrist.”

I grabbed my left wrist with my fingers to demonstrate to Kiryū.

“It fits right around here, and it displays your vital stats, the currently time, and other basic info like that. DMC3 holds your hands throughout the game so that it’s easy to get into it. I think we should be able to find it in this world too.” “I see… diagetic UI, eh?”

Kiryū nodded along as if he completely understood me.

“It sounds like we should definitely get our hands on that Vital Watch. … but your phone? Is it really worth the risk it to get it back?” “Definitely. It was because my phone glitched up that I got sent to this world. It’s very likely a key item, don’t you think?” “Your phone glitched…?” “I’ll tell you the details once we get moving. We can’t sit and chat here anyway.”

He seemed really interested about what happened to my phone.

“In any case, we should definitely go back to get it. We must. I just have to post these pictures online, y’know?” “… what was that?” “Nothing at all. You’re hearing things.” “No shit?”

I digressed but brushed it off with a clap of my hands.

“Well, that’s not important right now. We should get hurrying though! Oh, and where’s your phone?” “Oh. I don’t have it with me.”

Kiryū scratched the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders again.

“I fell asleep at my desk… and when I woke up, I was lying face-up in this world. My phone is probably still on my desk at work.” “Alright, then for now, let’s go retrieve my phone.” “Gotcha.” “Then, we’ll go get the Vital Watch.” “Yep.”

—and so, that was our plan.

First, the phone. Then, the watch.

… the Vital Watch should have dropped after the first section of the game… it should be our first item. Right now, though, we’re at the end of the first locale—Downtown. That means we’ll have to backtrack through the stage.

—… “we’re not going to be rescued anyway”…

That phrase kept coursing through my mind. Nothing but bad feelings welled up in my chest as I looked downwards.

… but now’s not the time to get all depressed.

If we stay here any longer, the game is going to spawn too many zombies. I shook off my anxiety and I tried to cheer up both Kiryū and myself.

“We don’t know anything about our situation, nor do we know anything about how to get back to our world… but let’s keep playing this game. That’s all we can do.”

■Sera

Sera is a rookie nurse whose real name is unknown. Also, a bright and cheerful wild child. She grew up with her brothers—one older and one younger, both two years apar from her. From her grade school days and up till year one of university, she had been obssessed with zombie games. Now, she is suffering the consequences.

contents: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /next/

“Is something the matter?” I slowly lifted my head up to look at her, but Elizabeth was focused on bringing the truck to a halt.

“It’s them. They were there.”

“Who’s ‘them’?”

“The Administrator!” Elizabeth let go of the steering wheel and plastered her face to the driver’s side window. She was dripping with absolute terror. Her sight was fixed on someone in a pink dress... Or rather, it was on the monster that the person in pink was battling. It wasn’t very like her to be in such a big shock.

Before I knew it, I was already standing up and squinting into the distance to where Elizabeth was pointing.

“The Administrator is that...thing?” I realized I was scowling at it.

Well, that thing sure is big.

It was the size of a big pickup truck, maybe even a cube van. Tanned—and oddly enough—slimy. Protruding out its flank were its ribs or something. And it had eight, no, ten reddish eyes on its body.

What a mysterious amalgamation of human bodies…

“I wouldn’t have expected that thing to know how to code a game.” My eyes were half-closed as I vomited my inner thoughts.

“It sure doesn’t look the part,” Kiryu nodded along to my stream of consciousness.

“Right? I suppose that thing breaks code more than it does make code.”

The three of us stooges all had our hands and faces pressed up against the windshield.

“Wait, is that thing not a monster from some game? It definitely looks like it’s something out of a mid-90’s Super Fam RPG! It’s called the Last Evil Demon or something or other.”

“Come on, that’s way too cliched,” Kiryu shook his head in disapproval. “And there’s no way you’re old enough to be in the Super Fam generation.”

“You’re correct. Most likely, I had only watched my older brother play it. The Super Fam was already so old by the time I was old enough to play. I could never get the cartridges to save, so I never really got into it myself.”

“Oh, that’s probably ‘cause the back-up batteries were probably dead is why. You gotta take apart the cartridge and then swap out the button cell inside to fix that.”

“You do realize that now is not the time for this?!” Elizabeth snapped back, cutting short Kiryu’s retro game trivia corner. “Anyway, no! Listen! That thing was more…humanoid before. I have the feeling that it used to be able to speak! I swear, I recognize the faces stuck on it!”

“You have a…a feeling that it could speak before?” Kiryu furrowed his brows.

I snapped to attention too when I heard Elizabeth shout. So what she’s saying is that thing used to be human before it turned more and more monster-like?

Before I could ask, I was interrupted by the truck shaking furiously.

“Eeek! Wh-What was that?!” Elizabeth shrieked out with her head between her knees.

Kiryu was more proactive. Looking out the window and clicking his tongue, he reached over to arm himself with his crowbar. “Damn, the bastards are climbing onto the truck!”

Mere moments after, a Heart reached in from the window with one of its tentacles.

“Gaaaah!” Elizabeth curled up in the fetal position as she screamed for her life.

It took Kiryu a split second to react, striking the slithering appendage and knocking it over.

I looked out from the window on my side too. A number of Hearts and zombifying monsters were crawling up towards us. No doubt this is because we stopped the truck.

“Oh no, no, no! Gotta get them off of us!”

With the stock of the rifle nestled in my shoulder, I pointed out and down from the truck and started blasting. There was quite a good handful clinging on, not to mention that we didn’t have the help of the Army from Hell either. We had to quickly get them off of the truck before their numbers overrun us, so I asked for help. “Elizabeth! Grab the extra rifle over there and lend us a hand!”

“H-Huh? Umm, uhh…okay!” She seemed a little hesitant retrieving the gun strapped onto the seat. And then as if imitating me, Elizabeth pointed her gun out the window and started firing.

But…

“Augh!” A single shot from the assault rifle was enough to send her tumbling backwards and onto her behind. “Sera! I can’t! I can’t do this! The recoil is far too strong for me!”

“Huh?”

“How the heck are you strong enough to handle it anyway?! Did you grow up shooting like an American or something?!”

“Huh. Good point.”

There was a painful icy feeling seeping into my chest. Why hadn’t I been aware of it before? There’s no way a tiny young girl like Sera would be able shoot a rifle like this. But the thought had previously crossed my mind. Of course there’s no way a regular person would be able to control the recoil of an automatic rifle. I suppose my excuse is that in the heat of battle, and with so many things to panic over, the concern simply disappeared from my mind.

I had another terribly uncomfortable gut feeling.

Elizabeth had said that the Administrator was originally human, and it was able to converse too, right? Who’s to say that my body isn’t changing the way like how the Administrator’s is? What’s happening to me and my body?!

“—Save the fretting for later, Sera! Concentrate on getting to You!” Kiryu called out to me in between swings of his crowbar. His voice somehow always calms me down, always brings me back to the moment.

“You’re right… Let’s get them!”

“Good. You focus on eliminating the enemies! Elizabeth, try and shake ‘em off! I’ll step on the gas for you!”

“G-Got it!” Elizabeth threw herself over to the steering wheel in a fluster and the truck shunted forward. Wriggling through the window and onto her hand was another tentacle. And as soon as she squealed, Kiryu swung his crowbar and pitched the monster away from the cab.

“L-Let’s go!” Elizabeth roared and the truck did too.

“Elizabeth! Steer the truck right into the Administrator! We should be massive enough to take the impact straight on!”

“Okay!” She might said it with conviction, but Elizabeth’s face reflected her anxiety as she braced herself for what was about to happen. The truck surged ahead, on course to hit our target.

We all had our tasks and there was something I needed to do. Something only I can do.

As I leaned out of the window and tossed my infinite ammo rifle onto the hood of the truck, Kiryu barked out, “Sera?!”

I paid his panicking no heed. My skirt fluttered in the wind as I hopped up on top of the truck.

I really am physically changing, aren’t I?

My first priority was securing my rifle. And as I stood up onto the hood, I couldn’t help but ruminate.

My body is changing.

Never have I had the physical fitness to climb on top of a speeding truck.

Just what is going on with my body? But it’s no time to be pondering to myself right now.

I absorbed my surroundings to shake the thought off my mind and realized that we were in a do or die situation. I knew I had to take care of the monsters climbing onto the truck.

Did I have a plan B? What? Hell no! It’s not every day you get to use the Hammer of Dawn!

A few got thrown off when the truck sped forward, but there were more zombies still clinging on. What’s worse was that some of them were gunning for the driver’s seat. With a rifle in one hand and a crowbar in the other, I did what I had to get them off.

I took a quick glance at the Administrator. We were close—just another ten, fifteen seconds until impact.

Wait. What?

It only took the quick second or two, but I had realized when I looked at them. In her pink dress, You was firing all the heavy weapons she had at the Administrator. Her weapons tore up the buggy neon ground, exposing a differently colored world beneath. However, it didn’t seem like the monster cared at all.

The Administrator’s ignoring You…because he’s focused on something else?

I knitted my brows, but I knew I had no time to dwell on it right now. There were still three, four enemies left to deal with—all of them Eaters too. But we were on rough roads and the zombies had poor footing, sending back down to the ground as soon as they stood onto the hood.

The Administrator was only a stone’s throw away. I climbed back into the cabin and braced for impact. “I got rid of the pesky ones! Time to get the big one, Elizabeth! Oh, and try to miss You if you can!”

“Gee, I wouldn’t have— Never mind, get ready!” she yelled at the same time as we made contact.

The crash of the impact and the detonation of the airbags shook us to our cores.

“Ngahhh!”

■ Administrator An amalgamation of many human faces. This kind of creature can be seen in many types of games, perhaps revealing the lack of originality of its creators.

According to Elizabeth, it seems as though the Administrator had the ability to speak Japanese. However, it does not seem to be mentally all there yet. What does the Administrator manage? Does it actually have the ability to govern anything? Or perhaps, is someone else responsible for everything? Find out…in the upcoming chapters.

Author’s notes: A bit of a digression, but the whole “Plan B? Hell no!” bit is from Gears of War, Act 5 Chapter 7: Train Wreck. It’s become quite the meme amongst Japanese PC gamers.