A Gamer Applies to Leave the Red-Black Showdown

One-line summary: Moriarty, but a gaming otaku; Colonel Moran, but a mecha girl.

Ping Tsuji has two great pleasures in life: games, and getting every achievement in a game.

In the dialogue-based mystery game Moriarty Simulator, players take on the role of a criminal consultant and help NPCs pull off the "perfect crime."

The game has over a hundred achievements across seven categories, organized by type of murder, waiting to be unlocked.

NPC #1: I want revenge for my father.

Ping Tsuji: Sure.

NPC #2: I want to kill my wife and collect the insurance money.

Ping Tsuji: Get lost.

NPC #3: I want to rob a billion yen.

Ping Tsuji: Oh?

NPC #4: I want to steal intelligence on undercover agents from every country.

Ping Tsuji: Well, now...

*

A rumor about "Moriarty" begins to spread through the underworld.

They say he knows everything, is devious and unpredictable, and does whatever he pleases.

He saves some people without a second thought, and kills others just as casually.

To him, the world seems to be nothing more than a game played inside a glass sphere.

Ping Tsuji: That's all true, but nobody told me...

Ping Tsuji: I'd get transported into the manga world adapted from the game!

*

System: Congratulations, boss! You've entered the Detective Conan world as the number one player on the server, meow. Please balance the Red and Black sides' strength in real time, and fall over the waterfall alongside the "Holmes of the Heisei Era" on the condition that the Red side wins, meow.

Ping Tsuji: Felynes aren't allowed to talk like people.

Ping Tsuji: Also, who is this white-haired, red-eyed, expressionless mecha girl?

System: After crunching all the data online, we custom-built her just for you, boss: your #otaku dream girl#, a childhood friend and Colonel Moran, meow.

Ping Tsuji: An otaku's top priority should be uninstalling Persona 3 and stopping himself from thinking he's Yuuki Makoto.

*

#Conan, run! That otaku next to you who looks completely harmless can give Gin orders#

#Hot take: Is the otaku on the Red side or the Black side?#

#Hot take: Is the otaku really 99-year-old Renya Karasuma, and did he become young again so he could get more headshots in FPS games?#

System: Boss, we've got a UI and achievements, a forum and bugs. Just treat it like a VR game, meow.

Ping Tsuji: You'd better not be tricking me into playing SAO.

*

The boy shuts off the system and steps into Class 2-B at Teitan Middle School.

Ping Tsuji: Well then...

Ping Tsuji: Let the game begin.

1. No romance pairing. Ping Tsuji is wholeheartedly on the Red side, even if his actions are pretty Gray and other people think he's Black.

2. Full of gaming commentary. Ping Tsuji really is a gaming otaku (...!).

Theme: Put down the butcher's knife and become a Buddha.