I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 590

"Last year around this time, time just melted away like ice cream left out on a summer day, but now that I'm not playing, there's not much to do. Watching and analyzing the matches gets old after a while..."

"So you came here this year. Ah, I thought our youngest wasn't going to show his face until the end of the year..."

"Well, that’s why I came here."

New York, Central Park HQ.

The pro players went off to play their matches, and Lorentina, Logan, and Olivia were off doing their own thing. With nothing left to do, I ended up visiting another world, and the first one to greet me was Logan, acting dramatic and playful with no sign of any resentment.

As usual, today, like many times before, I had arrived via the breakroom door as a gateway, expecting a warm greeting from the familiar faces, but surprisingly, Logan was the only one in the breakroom, lying on a bed with only a blanket over him, and that’s how I came to meet the polar bear for the first time.

The room wasn’t exactly messy, but it wasn’t exactly tidy either. It had changed quite a bit since my last visit, mainly because there were now several bunk beds placed around.

Logan, who had grabbed a box of chocolates that appeared to belong to Lorentina, opened it and said:

"Let’s eat and take a walk."

"...Is it okay to just eat like this?"

"Don’t worry about the aftermath. I’m too lazy to think about it."

This is the thing with those who have awakened abilities—they're ruled by instinct rather than reason...

Of course, I said that because I also casually grabbed a chocolate and ate it with Logan. (It was easy to tell it belonged to Lorentina by the shark designs on the blanket and mattress cover.)

As the sweet taste filled my mouth, Logan, who seemed to have just woken up, brushed his hair aside and noticed my wandering gaze.

She spoke:

"You were wondering where the others are, right?"

"Yes. I was quite curious as to why it was just you, Logan."

"It’s the end of the year. Oh, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not off having fun. It’s the opposite. I’m just helping out with small tasks. Carrying supplies and acting as a coach. I was up until 4 AM moving stuff and then I slept."

"Ah... But don’t humanoids or dedicated staff handle those things?"

"It’s the end of the year."

Ah.

Clearly, there was more to Logan's words than I initially thought. It wasn't just about the end of the year—it sounded like a kind of... festival involving the operators too, something like that.

The time was around noon. By now, the box of chocolates had been reduced to nothing, and after Logan closed it, he checked the time and scribbled something on a piece of paper. In summary, it said: "I ate your chocolates with the youngest. They were delicious!"

I feared the aftermath, but anyway, I went outside with Logan.

At that moment, I could immediately sense why she had said that—especially with my sense of smell.

"Where's that barbecue smell coming from? Why are there so many food trucks around here? Didn’t really need to go to them."

"It’s nostalgia. Back in the day, Central Park was surrounded by food trucks, and we wanted to recreate that atmosphere. I’m from an Alaskan backwater, so I don’t know much about this, but I do enjoy helping set those up."

"Also, you managed to get a bite too, didn’t you?"

"Of course."

It seemed just as I thought.

As we entered mid-December, the trees in Central Park were decorated like Christmas trees, and people in the civilian residential area were making snowmen, happily skating on the huge ice rink where Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir used to be.

The Gear was using its power to convert into cold energy, freezing the entire reservoir, so there was no worry about falling in, or so they claimed. I wondered if the underwater demolition practice structures still survived.

My gaze, which had glanced at that spot, didn’t go unnoticed by Logan, who added:

"Do you remember when you last did underwater infiltration training there?"

"...I think it was about three years ago?"

"Has it really been that long? Now, prospective operators are training there. They’ll be doing that for a few years."

"That makes sense."

At the same time, I shifted my gaze to another direction.

The research lab studying Mecha Youngest, Gray House, and the newly built government buildings were decorated with LEDs twisted into snowflakes and candy cane shapes, flashing brightly.

The area where the roads should have been was instead neatly paved with Central Park HQ’s signature brick pathways, and there were groups of children and their parents walking around, smiling or laughing.

It seemed like people were slowly starting to smile. I added:

"It’s definitely a good move to dig up all the roads under HQ... why are you looking like that?"

"Look over there."

"Over there? Oh, it’s... eh."

It was the place I had seen earlier—the children wearing red Santa hats, walking around and enjoying the outside air. As my gaze shifted toward a particularly crowded spot, I saw three Mecha Monnani, wearing red Santa hats with white fur pom-poms, mingling with the kids, laughing, and walking around with the children.

"AAAH!"

"Haha! That’s the funniest reaction I’ve seen from the youngest."

"Hoo, well, they’re seeing Christmas for the first time. The kids around here seem to like it too. I guess everyone likes robots when they’re young."

"For me, at least it’s a relief that there’s no shark in that group."

"I totally agree."

I wouldn’t be surprised if the shark, who acts way too young for their age, was somewhere there, enjoying itself.

Anyway, we spent time walking around and chatting. Logan first informed me that Central Park HQ was getting ready for a full-on Christmas festival—something that wasn’t possible in the past—and so I had to share what was happening on my side as well.

And, as expected, the talk about the Final Championship definitely grabbed the attention of the polar bear.

An experienced operator, who could connect one piece of information to ten, would naturally know.

"So, they added one more match this year. If they intentionally cranked up the combat density to the max, everyone will be wiped out after each match. By the way, the kids you’re raising, are they all girls?"

"Yes. I’m sure Logan knows that."

"Yeah, those ones. The ones with the weird-colored hair. With that kind of group, even if you’ve taught them, they’ll probably start running out of strength toward the later rounds."

"Exactly. But they usually don’t fall out of the top 10, so I think they’ll stay solid in the top ranks."

Logan, too, started to remember things as I explained, tossing out key words and phrases that cut straight to the heart of the matter.

"That green cat-like one, was she the one who handles bombs well? Having someone like that in the squad makes things a lot easier. I wouldn’t want to do it myself... but anyway, that’s not the point. The terrain can drastically change the win rate."

"So I’ve been making sure they practice shooting a lot."

"That’s the best way. Operators need that kind of training... Anyway, I’m getting hungry from all this walking. Let’s get something to eat."

Of course, I nodded in agreement.

Thus began our tour of all the food trucks around Central Park HQ. Naturally, most of the faces of the people in this small neighborhood were familiar to me. Though, I didn’t know everyone, most knew me.

After about two hours of eating, I heard that the actual ball drop event would be happening in Times Square on the 31st, right after the last match.

It was likely that we’d be preparing for the New Year after all the matches, so some arrangements would need to be made to participate in both events.

With our bellies full, we happily chatted about Henry’s antics as he planned to attend the awards ceremony, and then returned to the breakroom.

"Hehehe... came back and saw that the chocolate box was empty. Looks like two little mice showed up and helped themselves, huh? Hehehehe..."

"...Ah."

"Well then, youngest. I don’t know what it is, but you better start preparing for your punishment."

Lorentina and the rest of the team were waiting for us inside.

Despite the box being flipped over, it was now only crumbs and the wrapping paper. Lorentina, holding it by her thumb and forefinger, approached us with a devilish smile as though she had personally fetched it from hell.

Choosing to visit this world today was definitely a mistake.

"Yujin, we've returned... W-what happened to your head!? Did you get into a fight with someone!?"

"Mina. There's no way Yujin would fight like that. Not when a single punch could cause a face to cave in."

"...Do you want to experience that face-caving firsthand?"

"Ugh, no."

• "Why are you threatening someone with face caving, haha!"
• "Why does Byam look like a dumpling now? Lol!"
• "Did you do 6 hours of nonstop survival training or something?"
• "By the looks of his face, it seems like he's been doing 4 or 5 days of sleep-deprived training, haha."
• "Did he fight with Lorentina or Logan? Lol."
• "Breaking news: Byam turns out to have terrible sleeping habits…"

After being trapped by the shark for about 6 hours, I finally escaped, but my appearance was truly a mess.

The shark’s aftermath was brutal.

"The Final Championship is just around the corner, so I have something sudden to announce."

"What is it?"

"My parents in Manhattan told me that to celebrate the end of the 4th Final Championship, they’ll be providing unlimited access to the Icarus Residence Hotel Times Square suite rooms until the Ball Drop event on the night of the 31st. They also invited you all to dinner."

Thud.

The heads of everyone in the room suddenly snapped around so quickly that you could hear it. Those who had been with me in Hawaii last time looked utterly stunned, as if they couldn’t believe the absurdity of what they were hearing, while those who didn’t know were simply confused, their heads filled with question marks.

At that moment, Lorentina’s eyebrows twitched. Logan and Olivia had the same reaction. Shark already knew because we had eaten together, and Logan must have heard it from Lorentina, while Olivia had been half told when I left last time.

So, out of all the people in the debriefing room (also known as the AAR room), the ones who had no idea what I was talking about were likely Kato, Summit, Michael, and Gambit.

It seemed that others were thinking the same thing, as they started looking towards those four.

"Eh, what’s going on? Why is everyone looking at me?"

"Wait, is this some sort of accommodation lottery?"

"Ugh, if Kato had come to Hawaii, none of this would have happened."

"...Is this my fault?"

Well, it wasn’t exactly his fault... but come to think of it, Kato almost came to Hawaii. I heard he chickened out, but the bus had already left by the time he decided.

Honestly, I thought it would be easier just to be direct, so I added:

"Well, it’s not that surprising, really. My parents are high-ranking executives at Icarus International. Actually, more like de facto CEOs, because they basically control the board."

"...What?"

"You don’t need to explain it like that. These guys already had the light drained out of their eyes."

"Hey, hey. Pull yourself together. You’re going to dislocate your jaw."

Was this such a hard thing to accept?

In these moments, thinking from someone else’s perspective, I could see how it might be hard to believe. The parent of someone you know turns out to be the head of the company that made the game you’re playing? That would definitely be hard to wrap your head around.

After waiting for about ten seconds to give everyone time to absorb the truth, four people, who were still trying to process it, finally spoke.

"...Why is no one else surprised?!"

"Because everyone except you four already knew."

"Wh-what...?"

"Oh no, Kato’s lost his ability to speak."

But with enough physical effort, a person’s mind can be forcefully awakened, and Kato regained his senses thanks to my tail-attack. I didn’t hit him, I just wrapped my tail around him and shook him.

Meanwhile, without me noticing, Logan had slyly climbed up to the podium and started manipulating the screen, quickly displaying my parents’ faces on the projector.

I realized what was going on when everyone started pointing behind me—despite the changes to my appearance, my parents' distinctive sharp features were still present on my face.

And that was apparently the final confirmation.

"...Wait, now that I really look at it, Yujin, you really do look like them."

"Right? We already knew."

"Yujin’s parents are so handsome too."

"...Stop gilding my family’s story!"

I could feel my face turning red, wishing I could just bury my embarrassment in gold.

Anyway, now that everyone was starting to quiet down, I’d accomplished my goal of sharing the information, so there was no need to drag this out any longer.

Logan had swiftly returned to his chair, and I returned to the podium, marking the location of the Icarus Residence Times Square on the screen. Yes, ironically, that was the same place where we had watched the Ball Drop event last year.

I’d heard that the restaurant we visited back then, the one specializing in grilled food, was about to open soon. That itself was a clue—it turned out that it was actually the hotel restaurant.

Once the truth came to light, I wondered if some strange conspiracy theory would start circulating, saying "The world is controlled by Byam!"

Pushing away unnecessary thoughts, I shut off the projector and added:

"It wasn’t a big deal last year, and we had some unexpected guests, but this year, we’ll be able to enjoy ourselves a little more. This is my last gift to you all this year. I hope you enjoy it."

"Wow! Yujin! Yujin! Yujin! Yujin! She’s a goddess!"

"Ah, but I do expect all pro players to perform well in tomorrow’s final matches and the awards ceremony. I don’t think any of you will waver, and I believe you all know what you’re lacking, but still, I think you can finish strong and make it to the top ten."

At the same time, I made eye contact with them.

Since it was among those with awakened abilities, no one else noticed, but considering what I had just said, it was easy to guess what the seniors were thinking.

"Wait, did you not tell them the president would be handing out the awards?"

"...Really?"

Summing up the conversation, it was about this.

It wasn’t that I wanted to see the winners’ surprised reactions, but thinking about it from the other side, there was no real need to reveal who would be putting the medals around their necks. Plus, telling them in advance might have put pressure on the five of them.

As I checked the score tally, I added:

"DICE is probably going to take first place tomorrow if things go as they are. Mina, though, will have to put in a lot more effort to make it into the top five. But I believe she can do it."

"Yes!"

"Summit, Gambit, and Michael... well, they’ve already established their playstyles, so there’s not much I can intervene with. But that means you all will have to handle the tough conditions yourselves. I hope you can finish strong and make it into the top ten."

"Thank you."

"Alright then, that’s it for today. Get your rest, since there’s really nothing left to do."

Clap, clap!

With two claps, the projector turned off, and everyone was about to disperse when...

"DICE raised his hand."

"By the way, Yujin, I have one question."

"What is it?"

"Are the Mecha Youngest included in this gift?"

At that moment, the awkward silence hung in the air... we exchanged glances, but no words.

I sighed and added:

"...I’ll tell you later. But stop bothering the Youngest. I might issue a no-entry order."

"Ughhh—!"

"Hah, I didn’t say anything!"

I sighed, wanting to give them a playful smack on the head.

Why is everyone around me like this.