Fate/Ludonarrative

Chapter 2 - Security Concerns

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Mister Winning Personality moved on from the trivial matter of magicians fighting in the street to something more important, notably the economy and public health, and after a minute of talking about the "quarantine measures" he shuts up through the power of the mute button. By now I've thrown out the time travel theory for the possibility of not only a multiverse, but parallel worlds, parallel Earths, and even with the power of infinite parallel processing it just doesn't make sense. I crunched the numbers, based on my misadventures the chances of me slipping and falling through time and space to a planet kinda like Earth, back to mine and then another Earth should be next to impossible.

    Someone should tell math that it fucked up.

    Either way, at this point I need more information and knowing anything my best bet would be the Internet. But where to find a computer...

    The audio cuts back in and I almost jump, gather my bearings. Kousuke's sat at the table watching that spider tank show while noodles abound the air. Oh yeah, Kousuke. He's bound to have a computer. Hell, he'd know what's up.

    And before you say anything, no, I wasn't thinking of eating him. I got enough of that bullshit from Sir.

    "Hey kid."

    He turns, noodles hanging from his lips before sucking them in. "Finally, I thought you'd crashed or something." He gave his full attention to me, muting the show, dropping his fork and turning my way. "What do you need?"

    "First things first," getting down to his level, "I need to use your computer."

    I get a look like I'm selling him snake oil and a long, "uh?"

    "Relax, I won't go snooping around your homework folder, I just need to look up a few things. A few things seem to have changed since I've been here and I'd like to get up to speed."

    "Sure."

    "And speaking of which: think you could help me with that." I nod at the TV, hoping he gets the memo.

    "You mean 86?"

    "No, that virus thing on the news." The Suit's databases only log general information on the coronavirus family alongside SARS, MAES et al. "People can't be going crazy over the common cold, so what is it, some kind of zombie or chronic-wasting-disease virus?"

    "No, no, it's it's a respiratory virus."

    That doesn't sound right. Quarantine measures for effectively a common cold? "That can't be everything."

    "Oh it's not, it's novel, having recently evolved from bats and people with underlying health issues are most at risk."

    "Right, that makes sense, it's still recent so everyone's still trying to get an idea."

    "I wouldn't say it's recent, it's been around since 2020."

    I give up. "You know what, I'll get a better idea reading about it," standing up, "so about that computer."

    "Sure," following my lead, "but it's getting late. I wouldn't mind if you had a bath before me."

    This kid almost received a knuckle sandwich for his last meal until I remembered those Yakuza earlier splattered a bit. Or a lot. I wasn't paying attention, but it'd be bad if I wind up smelling of blood everywhere either way. Of course, bathing is easier said than done in Japan, the bath itself is segregated by a utility room and the act is more an ascetic ritual but it weirdly works: the antechamber is separated yet adjacent by related function, allowing privacy without completely locking out all the utilities of the water closet, while using a bucket as a makeshift shower is efficient, though it doesn't hurt that I have friction wrapped around my finger. It smells more like swimming pool ceramic than mouldy towels, which is surprising for a student living alone.