Fate of the World Session 9

And so here you find yourself in front of Holly's house.

It'd been another few things and things were still pretty quiet on the supernatural front. Work had been...work, though there had been some rumors going around the office about you and Renee since you'd both show up to work in your car.

Because That's what you needed right now. Rumors.

Speaking of Renee, she had to call this little get-together off. She claimed that something 'really big' had come up and so she was off doing who knows what. She didn't even join you for breakfast this morning, instead grabbing some bread slathered in jelly before dashing out the door. As curious as you are, you decide not to dwell on it too much as you're sure that Renee will tell you what's up.

Without further to do, you ring the doorbell and wait for an answer. Sure enough, it's Holly's Uncle Karl giving you that trademark leer of his, clearly trying to instill some fear in you. Well jokes on him, he isn't wearing armor and punching your lights out on the moon.

He continues staring for a moment before leaning his head back "Holly, your company's here!" He calls out

"O-oh! H-here I come!"
You wait as your hear the shuffling of feet and you're met with a smiling Holly. "H-hi Mr.Hero, I'm glad you could make it! Oh where's Ms.Renee?"

"Something came up, so it's just me, I hope it's okay."

"O-oh..." She replies looking a bit downtrodden before perking back up "Well, that's okay! C-come on!" she exclaims pulling you inside.

You're brought up to her room where she doesn't think twice about letting you in. You'd figure that Holly would be a bit more reserved about it, but she happily lets you inside and you have to admit her room looks nice. There's a decent computer, a flatscreen tv and hot damn Holly's got all the latest consoles hooked up to it.

>Nice Room
>Alright. You. Me. Mario Kart.
>You sure you aren't uncomfortable letting me in here?
>Other/Write-in

>Alright. You. Me. Mario Kart.
>Hiro(59)
>Holly(55)

You take one look at that Nintendo Switch and you know exactly what to say "Alright Holly, You.Me.Mario Kart."

"Y-yeah!" Holly replies

You both grab a controller and start the game up. Once on the character select screen you decide to pick Toad. You've always liked the little guy, even if his voice can be annoying sometimes. Holly, opts to pick Baby Rosalina. Eh, could be worse.

The first track you end up on is the Boo's Haunted House level and at first things are going pretty smoothly, you've got a decent lead with Holly not far behind...and then the computer controlled characters manage to not only hit Holly with a red shell, but you as well. Needless to say, things go downhill from there. You struggle to try and get back to first place, but there's no chance, you get hit by too many items.

"D-Darn..." Holly grumbles as she's hit by a wayward green shell

"This is hectic..." You say as you come up on the final lap, it's not too much better, with you getting hit by someone activating a bullet bill. That pretty much ruins any chance you had of coming in even fourth place and when the race is done, you're in 6th and Holly follows up in 7th.

A-at least you beat her right?

"Wow...t-that was some awful luck." Holly mutters

"Yeah, tell me about it. Sometimes I wonder about the sadastic thought processes that goes into making these games." you

"S-should we go again? We-we can play something else!"

>One more game!
>Let's play something else

>Hiro(30)
>Holly(78)

"One more game!" You say to her

Holly ques up another track after you change your character to Koopa Troopa. You're sure to win with the little guy. You know it!

You in fact, do not win with Koopa Troopa, in fact, you do worse. Right out of the gate, you mess up your starting boost and end up in 12th. You try to make a comeback, but you only managed to get to about 8th and suffer too many setbacks to get out of it. Things ranging from Green Shells, Red Shells, to even the goddamn star aren't enough to help you.

Meanwhile, Holly is cruising along just fine. She doesn't finish in 1st place, but she's able to secure a safe 3rd place finish while you amble along, suffering one final hit right before the finish line to knock you down to 9th place.

You notice that Holly has a smile on her face and...it's actually pretty damn cute, in all your time knowing Holly, she's never really smiled without nervousness behind it, but this is a genuine happy smile on her face, and it really does serve to make Holly look really cute.

"S-should we play again? I-is something wrong Mr.Hiro? You're staring...d-did I do something wrong?!"

"Huh? What? No! No you didn't! I was just a bit uh...miffed I lost."

"Oh...w-well um...one more? I'm sure you'll win this time!"

>ONE.MORE.TIME.
>Let's do something else

>ONE.MORE.TIME.
>Hiro(60)
>Holly(83)

"One more!" You reply with a fist pump

And one more race you get it! And...you still do pretty badly, you're doing much better than the last round that's for sure. Still, it's not a lot better and you manage to maintain 5th place, while Holly gets into the zone and manages to come in second place with ease. The items really came in handy for her as she was able to block any oncoming attacks that came her way.

Well...that was certainly a game of Mario Kart.

"L-let's move on..." Holly mutters switching the game off, no doubt she's doing that for your sanity so that you don't devolve into a snarling ape.

Holly really is a good girl...

"O-oh I know! I have Smash! W-we can play that too!"

Not surprised about that one really...

"You got all the DLC?" You ask

"Y-yeah! S-So you wanna play?"

>Hell yeah
>Maybe later

>TIME TO SMASH
>Hiro(100, my god)
>Holly(55, also my god)

"Let's play!" You say with a smile

Holly goes and switches the games and within the next minute or so, you're both playing smash, you decided to go with the man himself: Captain Falcon. He's got good speed and power so you *know* you'll be in good hands with him. As for Holly, she surprisingly picks Snake, not something you'd expect from her.

Holly decides to throw in some random CPU opponents just to help liven things up a bit, and once the matche starts, you clean house. The other characters attack you, but you manage to dodge effectively, while dealing great damage to them and Holly.

They try to keep up with you, but you're doing great this round, with fantastic edge guards, rolls, grabs and some perfectly timed Falcon Punches.

It's so good in fact, that you don't even lose a life throughout the entire battle and within 3 minutes the battle is over, far sooner than either you or Holly anticipated.

"W-whoa...you're good Mr.Hiro." Holly says in surprise

>I try
>Lets go again
>I'm done for now
>Other/Write-in

>I try
>Once again
>Hiro(96)
>Holly(77)

"I try." You say with a laugh "wanna go for another round?"

"Yeah! Sounds like fun!" Holly says going back to the character select screen. This time, you decide to pick Captain Olimar. He was mostly a 'for fun' pick for you, but you know for a fact that Olimar, in the right hands is a very scary enemy to face. Holly decides to go with Princess Peach this time, and once the stage is selected you both go at it. The computer players once again don't give you much trouble, the only difference is this time you actually do die once.

And only once.

You're able to maintain your 4 life lead by playing Olimar how you always play him: A grappler. Olimar actually has a bit of range on his grabs since he sends the pikmin out to grab enemies instead of doing it himself. This is able to allow you to trick the CPU(and Holly) into letting their guard down so you can get in close and deal some damage. A lot of Olimar's attacks are also multi-hit so you build up damage fairly quickly

It's only a matter of time before you win the battle against Holly and the CPUs and she lets out a sigh.

"Wow...Smash is really your game Mr.Hiro."

"Nah, not really, I just played it a whole bunch. Think I've got like 400 hours clocked on my Switch back home."

You're both about to get ready for another match, when you hear Holly's uncle call for her. She leaves the room for a moment, and comes back telling you that her Uncle needs her to run to the store and she'll be a few minutes, in the meantime, she'd like for you to talk with her uncle and get to know him some.

Oh great...

You can't really deny her and so you're led downstairs with Holly heading the out the door while you're left in the living room with Holly's Uncle who is sitting on a recliner. You can't help but just stand there awkwardly for a moment.

"Take a seat at least." he says gruffly, and so you do, though the quietness doesn't go away

>What do you say?

>Sooooo, what do you do for a living?

Okay, you gotta break the ice somehow. You aren't sure what to say though...well gotta find something right? Maybe his job?

"Sooooo, what do you do for a living?"

"Real Estate, pay's good but god if the people I have to deal with aren't a pain half the time."

"What kind of people?"

"All sorts. You get your prim and propers. You're genuinely good, and your shady people who are *too* clean. Varying levels of nice to be around too. What about you?"

"I uh...work in a call center."

At that his eyes actually blink in surprise as he stares at you "And you...*haven't* contemplated suicide yet?"

"No...and I don't think anyone else working there has yet either."

"There's at least one, trust me."

Right, best to keep that in mind...

>Anything else?

>Holly mentioned she was staying with you while she went to school, that pretty nice of you to take her in so she doesn't have to pay for a dorm...

Right, let's keep this up. You've broken the ice at least...

"Holly mentioned she was staying with you while she went to school, that was pretty nice of you to take her in so she doesn't have to pay for a dorm."

"Thanks...that girl deserves it. Though...believe it or not, she was dorming there."

"What? Why?"

"Come on kid, you've been hanging around Holly enough to know that she's not the most...social of butterflies."

Well you can't deny that...

"Okay, but I don't follow you."

"There's...a long story behind that. But the long and short of it is that Holly has been badly abused nearly her entire life. She was bullied at school and beaten at home. My shitheel of a brother...god you'd have to have seen it." he says starting to shake, it's clear he's barely holding down his anger as he recounts everything.

"I wish I'd found out sooner. But see, one day I came to visit Holly. She was only 11 and her face that day...I'll never forget it: She was black and blue all over and my brother was coming at her to tear into her some more. It's all such a blur, but next thing I know, he and I are sitting in a jail cell while the girl is crying her eyes out. "Don't hurt my uncle! Don't hurt my uncle..."

>Uh...well...shit, but how does this tie into the dorm thing?
>Pardon me for saying, but who the fuck would want to beat on Holly?!
>Where's her dad now?
>Other/Write-in

>Pardon me for saying, but who the fuck would want to beat on Holly?!
>Uh...well...shit, but how does this tie into the dorm thing?


"Pardon me for saying, but who the fuck would want to beat on Holly?!"

"I know right?!" Karl spouts  "I don't know what the hell happened with my brother, but he was beating on her like no tomorrow. Kid, she's got scars on her body from all he did to her, and the reason she stutters? Because if she spoke out of turn, she'd get the belt or worse."

"Uh...well..shit man, but how does this tie into the dorm thing?"

"Holly is 20 years old kid. 20 fucking years old and she's still recovering from it all. She knows she's got problems and that's why she tried to socialize, break herself out of that fragile little shell she's in. That's why she was living on campus, though she stopped by on occasion. She kept telling me things were going fine, but I don't know...something was off, especially with that boyfriend of hers."

"You met Damien?"

"Sure as hell did. He seemed nice...but I worked in real estate long enough to know when something was off. Ya see, sometimes people, when they're lying, they act too nice, try real hard to butter you up. It was the same with that kid, Holly claimed it was okay, but I could see it in her eyes...same look she had while living with her dad. Something was off, and I was gonna check it out."

"Why didn't you?"

"That attack on the college. Couldn't get through the cop's blockade, but then you and that pink-haired friend of yours comes pulling up with her in tow. So I suppose I can at least thank you for that."

"No problem."

"That said kid...what's Holly to you?"

>Well?

>She's my friend, and shooting range buddy

"She's my friend and shooting range buddy."

At the mention of shooting range, Karl perks up "Wait, Holly likes shooting guns?"

"Yeah, pretty good at it too. Nearly beat me when we went to the range the other day."

"Huh...well I'll be." Karl said rubbing his chin "Well anyway, even if you become more than friends, you'd best look out for her, you go that?"

"Sure, I don't plan on hurting her."

"That's good, cuz if you do, you'll have to meet Ol' Bessie."

"Ol' Bessie? The hell is that a cow?"

Without saying anything, as if out of nowhere, Karl reaches to his side and whips out an old looking shotgun. Most likely used for hunting.

"Ol Bessie." He says calmly

"Right...Ol' Bessie." You reply

At that moment, Holly returns with some small bags in her hand "I-I'm back! U-Uncle Karl I got everything! I ho-hope you and Mr.Hiro got along!"

"Thanks Holly and we had a nice talk, just introduced him to Ol' Bessie, may go on a hunting trip someday."

"Oh! I-I hope you both have fun then! C-come on Mr.Hiro, let's head back upstairs."

"Sure."

"You kids have fun!"

You both begin heading back upstairs and as you do, Holly turns to you "So...so what did you and Uncle Karl talk about? I know he can be a bit scary s-so I'm sorry!" Holly exclaims as you both enter her room

>What will you say?

>First of all! I think you can drop the "Mr" part of Mr.Hiro, and I'm sure Renee would be fine if you dropped the "Ms" too.
>Secondly you may need to go to the shooting range with your uncle at some point.
>Thirdly, your uncle's a nice guy, you don't need to apologize to me for his company

"Well, first of all, I think you can drop the "Mr" part of Mir.Hiro, and I'm sure Renee would be fine if you dropped the "Ms." too."

"O-oh okay...sorry Mr-I-I mean...Hiro."

"Secondly you may need to go to the shooting range with your uncle at some point. He'd probably be impressed with your skills."

"Oh...um...okay."

"Thirdly, your uncle is a nice a guy, you don't need to apologize to me for his company."

"O-o-oh! I-I'm sorry!" she replies again

"It's fine Holly."

She really is gonna keep apologizing if you keep this up

"How about a movie?"

"S-sure! Um, anything you wanna watch?"

"It's your house, go ahead and pick."

"O-okay...um, I like this one!"

Oh crap it's a romantic comedy.

You're stuck, there's no way you can escape!

You're stuck watching as the two main characters get into some wacky hajinks that are clearly meant to elicit laughter from the audience, but all you can do is suppress your need to groan. After all, if you did, Holly would probably be upset and blame herself.

"E-er...Mr-I-I mean Hiro...c-could I ask you something?"

"Sure Holly. What is it?"

"W-well um...do you...do you think I could ever be like the people in this movie? C-Could I have a happy ending? A-am I  worthy of that?"

>What will you say?

>It's not a matter of being worthy, it's a matter of finding the right person who finds value in you.

You think for a moment on how best to respond to her. At first you want to say that she has to work for it. But Holly has already been doing that. For years now if what her uncle said is true, so you toss that line of thought away. It takes you a few moments before you can finally speak.

"It's not a matter of being worthy, it's a matter of finding the right person who finds value in you."

"O-oh...I...I think I understand. So um...t-that is..."

"What is it Holly?"

"W-well do you think I'm of value? T-that's the best way I can ask..."

Man, she really knows how to throw things back at you, even if it's unintentional...

>Your Response?

>Ruffle her hair
>Everyone has value
>I haven't known you long, but even I can see your value as friend I can count on

You let out a sigh and ruffle her hair as you smile

"Everyone has value Holly, I haven't known you long, but even I can see your value as a friend I can rely on."

"R-Really?"

"You're my friend?! You're really my friend?!"

"Uh...yes? Holly I'd say after everything that's happened, we're friends."

You don't have any time to react before Holly has wrapped you in an extremely tight hug

Squish

Dear good she is stack-NO, NO MIND DO NOT RUIN THIS MOMENT!

"I'm so glad! I-I-I'm so glad! I finally...I finally have a real friend! It's been so long...I thought...thought I'd never..."

She's actually visibly crying. Smiling, yet crying. You really don't know how to react, so you just pet her head some more while she lets it all out.

>Hiro has helped Holly realize that she has value as person and re-established her self worth. Holly gains the trait "I Matter!" Holly's Affection can now be increased further!

As you and Holly continue sharing this tender moment, you're shocked out of it when your COMP goes off

"Hey Hiro! This is Hanekoma, I need you and Holly to move your ass. Renee is stuck in a UG area! I don't know how much longer she can hold out!"

>End...