"This is how it tends to go in the early-game. You can't be too physically weak, and you also shouldn't try to establish yourself as too much of a leader. Your tribemates will get sick of being 'bossed around' and kick you out quite quickly. Even so, you can see that their communication is absolutely crumbling."

"And saying that the other tribe is a 'weak-ass team' for like... using strategy? That's really dumb," Haruto nods. "And... then they got mad at someone ELSE for trying to pull the group together? Well. James was a little sexist, so I guess that wasn't the worst call."

"Keep in mind, also, they have next to no food or water, their shelter is ineffective against rain, and their morale is in the toilet. Cooperation would likely get more and more impossible the longer their loss streak became. And of course the edit would take advantage of that. Note how, after Jolanda gets ousted, James says that they'll win with democracy, and then the edit immediately shows them having no idea what to do with themselves."

Haruto thought long and hard about this. "Do you have enough food and water? Is your house okay?"

"Shut up!" He gave Haruto a chummy shove to the shoulder at the roundabout diss.

The season was playing on double speed. To both boys' delight, they realized rather quickly that both of them enjoyed cranking up the pace– Haruto because it helped him focus for longer, and Keiji because it was a time-saver. They were at Haruto's house yet again. Keiji hadn't expected to be back so soon.

A few more hours passed. "Damn. Stephenie really was a great person and player. It sucks that she had to go out in seventh place."

"Ehhh," Keiji waved his hand side to side a bit. "The thing is, she was the ultimate underdog. Of course she got a favorable edit. Great player? For sure. Great person? Not quite. Actually... do you care about spoilers for the next season?"

"Nope, go ahead."

"She gets to return in Survivor: Guatemala and winds up looking a lot less altruistic. Her confessionals end up seeming very catty. In all honesty, we can't possibly know what she's like in her day-to-day life. Assigning morality onto these people is akin to assigning morality onto voice actors based on the characters they play. The edit highly impacts what we see– there's even something called the Purple edit, where the show practically ignores the very existence of one of the contestants. Furthermore, the contestants are aware of this. They may very well be playing up certain aspects of their personality to prove to execs that they're entertaining enough for them to focus on. Everyone always acts to further their own ends– whether they're aware of it or not." His grey eyes stared straight ahead; he didn't face Haruto as he spoke.

"I'd never thought about that before."

"They initially promoted this show as a social experiment, but it's reality TV. The true social experiment is trying to peer beyond the veil and look past the first layer. In my childhood..." he paused. Haruto listened attentively, which spurred him on. "My parents and I liked to try and guess who would win based on the edits from the first few episodes. We weren't always right, but it was... nice." The softest trace of a smile lingered on his face.

"How old were you when you started watching it?"

"Not sure. My memories of Survivor span as far back as I can recall."

Haruto giggled, patting his lap with his hands in a cheery rhythm. "I don't think I watched anything live-action until I was like, nine! I was a cartoon kid."

"Aside from reality TV, I mostly watched documentaries. My parents generally considered cartoons a waste of time unless they were in a different language, so I rarely watched them. They weren't challenging enough. I already knew whatever they were supposed to teach. I have studied a few, though. Pop culture is one of my favorite subjects."

Haruto had no idea what to say to that. That felt very abnormal, but he didn't want to anger Keiji by making any out of pocket comments about his parents. Besides, how could he know? Maybe this was just how you were supposed to raise a genius. "My turn, now. There's this RPG I really like. If you would wanna play a multiplayer game instead, that's fine with me, but since you showed me something special to you, it feels only fair."

"You don't need to go out of your way to entertain me. Do what you want."

"At least watch."

That had always been Keiji's intention, but he wasn't about to complain about Haruto assuming the worst. "Fine." Haruto turned off the Blueray and switched on his console. The game he wanted to play was already in. He clicked through the incredibly familiar title screen and went straight for the New Game button. Within moments, he'd mercilessly sacrificed one of his own saves. "BISQUE! That was a 100% save file!"

"I know. Wait, you— nevermind!" He held his tongue even though he was secretly giddy at Keiji finally using his nickname.

"You just— It wasn't an accident?! That looked like— am I right that you'd spent nearly two hundred hours on it?!"

"Yep."

"You're a fucking maniac! I don't understand!"

"My other saves are in-progress, so it's best to get rid of the useless one I can't do anything else in, right?"

"Sure, but didn't you feel any sense of pride in that?" Keiji found it ironic. Normally, he thought that Haruto acted far too much with his heart and not his head. But now that he made a completely logical move, Keiji's own emotions were painting his argument.

"Yeah... it feels a little bad getting rid of the world where everyone is as happy as possible. And I probably wouldn't be able to do that for every single game, cause some of them lay the guilt on super thick. Like, ow, I'm super sorry for messing up your lives for my own selfish entertainment! But I can do it for this game. Every time I play this game, it's a new and beautiful experience! And I know I'll 100% it again. I'll change their lives for the better all over again! Besides, I love showing this game off to my friends!"

Keiji took time to absorb the words, but didn't refute them. "We talked through like half of the opening cutscene. I didn't get any of that."

"Ah, crap. Okay," Bisque sighed. "Let's reboot the game."

They started over and Keiji got to learn about the world and plot properly. Haruto got up and did some stretches, and when Keiji gave him a glance, he saw that he was mouthing the words with a blasé expression. "Are you... bored? We just started!"

"Mm. I've watched the intro five gajillion times by now." The rest of the cutscene played out, and once it had concluded, Bisque continued. "The main story in this game is amazing, but it's not really the part that feels magical to me."

They pressed onward for a while, with Haruto giving Keiji a bunch of tips for combat and easier navigation. Keiji acted annoyed, but adopted each new direction briskly. For all his appearances, smugness was practically radiating off of him. Haruto hummed along to the music with a contented smile, pleased that his friend was having fun with it.

Eventually, they made it to the first main town. As the character Keiji was playing took bold steps forward and a brief cutscene showed off the locale, Haruto beamed. His eyes took on a warmth and a tenderness. "Go talk to that woman over there! The one with the red dress!" Keiji complied. The digital woman explained that her son was always getting into trouble around town.

"Why did I do that? It didn't even give me a sidequest."

"Patience, Mr. Ants-in-your-pants. Go in that direction... and talk to that blond kid." He called out his mother as a nag, and a little sound rang out. "Now check this menu, like sooo..."

"Hey! Don't just yank the controller out of my hand!"

"Look! Now there's a link between those two characters! And if you check it, it'll show that they're 'exasperated mother and son!' This is part of what I love so much about this game— NPCs know each other and have ties to one another. Their relationships can be changed for better or for worse based on the sidequests we take and stuff like that! It's so amazing, because it really makes the world feel like a living, breathing place! Sometimes, chains of sidequests will run into each other and you have to choose who to help, or sometimes you can't carry on unless you've met the right people! The sidequests aren't just like, 'Hey, stranger, go find me a bunch of these berries.' They all have wants. We can... I can actually do things to help them." His words barreled out of him with the force and speed of a hurricane. He was leaning forward and his legs were flailing a little whilst he rambled, but toward the end, he slowed down and tilted his head down shyly.

"That's a very intricate system. I'm surprised I haven't heard of this before."

"The world is so jam-packed... It's kind of like the opposite of Survivor. There, the world looks real, and pretends to be real, but everything is filtered through the lens of TV, like you said before. Here, we know the world is fake. These people don't look like we do. But I care about them just the same. And I feel like I know them. This game feels so... honest."

Keiji looked inward and found that void again, deep in his heart. No matter how much Haruto loved these lines of code, they would one day all just disappear. The hundreds of hours he'd freely given to them would cease to matter. His art... his art would matter. After he died, nobody would know that Haruto Gima was so passionate about this. They would know what he contributed to the real world. That was what meant anything.

With the silence ever growing, Bisque once again filled it. "You know, I... I was always such a problem-causer when I was little. I had a bunch of energy, and before I tried pottery, I had nowhere to direct it. So I was rowdy, and I broke a lot of things. Sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose. One time I even cut a strand of a girl's hair. I can see why people thought I was a bad kid..." the last sentence was in a near-whisper, and his Adam's apple bobbed. Sensing his own dip in mood, he brightened considerably. The volume for the next few words was a bit too loud to feel natural. "But here! Here, I was always able to make people happy. Even if I was running away from the main story and chasing whatever I wanted, it usually helped me complete quests later. So I could be the hero, in my way!"

It made perfect sense. The way Haruto laid it all out, his wholehearted voyage into escapism felt not only appealing, but right. As though something other than his legacy mattered. As if there was something more to life than leaving a mark on the world. And that opinion filled Keiji's stomach with utter dread. He saved the game and stood up immediately. "It's late. I need to be going. I've spent several hours here and I'm falling behind on my workload."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"NO!" The word was blurted out immediately, and with a ferocity Keiji usually reserved for insults. "No. I'm fine. Your concern is..." he squirmed a bit, "appreciated. I truly do just need to catch up on my responsibilities. It was my own fault."

"O-Okay. See you later, then."

By the way, Keiji wanted to say but couldn't, you were never a bad kid. You just hadn't found the right outlets yet. He hoisted his bag onto his shoulders and hastily left.