Gods Are Nothing Special-One Kick and They Fall

A grating screech came from both sides as the pockmarked concrete walls began closing in.

"Classic crushing walls. Isn't it time for a hero to save the damsel?" Linnai whistled.

Sigelica went pale.

"Where's the exit?"

"We'll make it in time for the cafeteria to open." Zhou Yu shone his flashlight on the gear tracks driving the walls and turned down the corners of his mouth.

"They used cheap lubricant on the tracks. At this speed, the owner's a penny-pincher to the bone."

Holding Dania's hand, he strolled down the passage at an unhurried pace.

The walls came together a meter behind them with a dull crash.

The final room.

The high, broad dome imitated a starry sky. A cold sacrificial altar stood in the center, surrounded by concentric rings of silver markings.

Dania's feet rooted to the floor.

All ten fingers gripping Zhou Yu's wrist tightened, her nails digging into his flesh and her knuckles turning white.

Dania: (இдஇ;)

"Scared?" Linnai leaned closer, keeping her voice soft.

"It's just a model," Sigelica said, though her own voice had gone half hoarse.

Chisaki adjusted her glasses, her gaze settling on the three-meter-tall statue at the center of the altar.

It had no features, only a blurred face.

"A scale replica of the conceptual image of Aleph One, with a margin of error below three percent."

Zhou Yu glanced down at Dania.

She wasn't crying or trembling. She had simply stopped breathing altogether, staring blankly at the statue, the silver markings reflected in her pupils.

He had seen that expression before.

She had looked the same when she was pushed toward the sacrificial altar on the Lahai-Roi Defense Line.

He reached out with his other hand and gently rested his palm on her head.

Dania looked up.

Zhou Yu said nothing. He simply pried her fingers from his wrist one by one.

She refused to let go.

"Yaya."

Dania bit her lip, her fingers tightening once more. Then, slowly, one by one, she let go.

Zhou Yu turned and walked toward the statue.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sigelica's voice rose.

He pulled a neatly folded sheet of A4 paper from his work pants pocket, shook it open, and slapped it onto the statue's inscrutable face.

The heading was in bold red Song type.

"Notice of demolition within a specified time limit for an illegal structure (statue) on the Lahai-Roi Defense Line."

Below it was a crudely carved stamp bearing the words "Flamebearers' Academy Logistics Department."

Linnai's laughter echoed beneath the dome.

"Mr. Zhou, you've got quite a range of duties!"

"Just doing my job."

Zhou Yu stepped back twice and loosened his ankle.

"Are you crazy? That thing is solid!" Sigelica shouted.

He raised his foot.

The kick looked gentle, his toe tapping an inconspicuous spot on the side of the base.

Crack.

A faint, crisp snap came from inside the stone, followed by a chain reaction as the structure fractured.

Rumble.

The three-meter-tall statue began crumbling from the base. Its enormous body lost its balance and toppled forward, its arm smashing through the main cable behind the altar.

Sparks flew, and the lights flickered twice.

The synthesized voice over the speakers stuttered out one final line.

[Detect...ed... critical prop... physically damaged... ruling... players... cleared by force.]

In the control room, the owner stared at the shattered statue and the thirty-thousand-credit bill for the damaged prop on his screen, then slammed a palm onto the console.

"I'm not playing with you anymore! Give me back my designer!"

Inside the escape room, Dania stood in a daze.

Pieces of plaster littered the floor. The demolition notice drifted down through the air and landed at her feet.

She stared at the pile of fragments for a long time.

Her shoulders began to shake.

Pfft.

A very faint bubbling sound.

Then came laughter she couldn't hold back, welling up from deep in her throat.

She doubled over laughing, tears streaming down her cheeks. One drop landed on the crude red stamp on the demolition notice, spreading into a small wet blot.

Linnai watched her laugh and broke into a grin herself, nudging Aimis beside her with an elbow.

Aimis leaned against the door and didn't move.

She watched Dania laugh until she was crouching on the floor, then looked away and stared at the neon tube on the ceiling. Her lips moved, but she made no sound.

Chisaki put away her tablet. Her gaze swept back and forth between Dania and the pile of fragments twice from behind her lenses, her finger hovering above the screen. In the end, she recorded no data.

The escape room door opened.

A staff member poked half his head in. He looked at the wreckage covering the floor and the red-lettered document lying amid the rubble, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Um... could someone pay the bill?"

Sigelica closed her eyes, pulled her student card from her pocket, and handed it over.

Beep.

Payment successful.

She glanced at the number on the terminal, tucked her student card back into her pocket, and turned and walked away without a word.

Linnai hurried after her.

"Xixi, are you okay?"

"I'm writing my own eulogy in my head."

"That bad?"

"Six figures, Linnai. Six figures."

Sigelica forced the words out between her teeth.

"What on earth did I owe Zhou Yu in my last life?"

"Hard to say about your last life, but what you owe in this one is pretty clear." Zhou Yu's voice drifted over from behind.

Sigelica didn't look back. She quickened her pace.

They stepped out of the game room into sunlight spilling across the ground.

Zhou Yu bought two cans of iced cola from the vending machine by the door, walked over to Dania, who was still rubbing her eyes, and pressed one against her cheek.

Dania sniffed and looked up.

Her cheeks were flushed from the sun, and droplets still clung to her eyelashes.

She took the cola and held it in her hands, the cold aluminum can resting against her palms.

Zhou Yu opened the other can for himself, tipped his head back, and took a big gulp.

"See?"

He tapped the bottom of the can against the vending machine's metal casing.

"Gods are nothing special."

Dania looked down at the cola can in her hands, droplets running down between her fingers.

She popped the tab and took a sip. The bubbles caught in her throat, making her wrinkle her nose.

"Zhou Yu."

"Hmm?"

"Next time." She raised the cola can and squinted against the sun.

"I want to kick it myself."

The cola in Zhou Yu's mouth nearly sprayed out.

He coughed twice, wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, and turned to look at her.

There was no fear or emptiness in Dania's eyes, only sunlight and the taste of fizzy water.

"Sure."

He tapped his cola can against hers, the aluminum meeting with a crisp clink.

"I'll leave it for you next time."