"Wow, the moment we got back to school, it started raining. So lucky!" I looked out the window, watching the raindrops fall one by one.
"Peter, help me with this!"
"Ok."
The two of us started nailing things in—of course, Harry was the one doing the hammering. If I did it, this thing would be wrecked.
But we'd only gotten halfway when Harry's phone pinged with a message.
"Are you kidding me? Who's texting—oh."
Seeing Harry freeze, I leaned over to sneak a peek at his phone.
Four messages from Lee.
Lee: What do you like?
Lee: I can buy you some stuff. I'm pretty rich, you know.
Lee: But if you say no, it's fine. I'm okay with that.
Lee: But if you want anything, just text me back.
"..." I turned to look at Harry. He had no idea what to reply.
Usually, guys ask girls out first. You have to take the initiative.
Plus, he's from a rich family, so girls usually flock to him—but they wait for him to make the first move.
Too bad... he turns them all down. He knows they're after his family's money, and the fact that he's good-looking.
But... this is the first time a girl has asked him out like this.
"Looks like someone really likes you, huh?"
"Really? I don't even know what kind of person she is yet..." Harry scratched his head.
"Just meet her a few times. Like... invite her to the school or something."
"GOOD IDEA!"
These two have zero dating experience. Sure, Peter has Gwen, but... she's a little special.
"Done! I wonder when she'll text back—oh, that was fast."
"Dude, she's totally head over heels."
**Lee:** I'll come when your school holds the sports festival.
"She's a student too?" Harry scratched his head.
"Yeah... she's from Xavier's school."
"Huh?! For real?!" Harry looked genuinely shocked. He really didn't see that coming.
While we were chatting, a guy opened the classroom door and walked in.
"?" Harry and I both looked over and recognized Ned.
Harry had assigned Ned a task too. I'd noticed he was a pretty good artist, so he was in charge of drawing.
"...Done."
Ned handed Harry a beautifully painted wooden board.
"Wow, you're talented."
"...Thanks."
With that, Ned left, leaving just Harry and me.
"...Should we hire him to help with the arts?" Harry asked me.
"Definitely."
After a while, a few other guys showed up and handed over their work.
A few hours later, Harry and I stood admiring the richly decorated wooden gate.
"Alright, now let's have the teachers check it, then we can set it up at the school entrance," Harry said, stretching.
When a few teachers came by, they inspected it for a bit before approving.
Then I, along with a bunch of other guys, carried it over.
...Honestly, I could've done it alone, but better to hide my strength for safety.
"Heh." Everyone looked at the finished product, all smiles.
"Now... time to set up the stalls," I said.
"Yeah! The other classes are almost done, but our class ran out of time. Let's go, everyone!" Harry shouted to the group, and everyone followed with enthusiasm.
The school opens in three days, so we have to move fast.
[Man, why do I feel like my dialogue is getting less and less? Sometimes I don't even show up.]
'Who are you talking to?'
[The reader.]
'Who's that?'
[You don't need to know.]
***
"Ugh..."
I flopped onto my bed after a shower and grabbed my phone.
The number of players in my game has dropped. If I don't keep the momentum now, when I release a new game later, barely anyone will notice.
That's bad. I don't have time to prep a new game right now. Losing players means no mon— I mean, no chaos.
"Speaking of which—hey!"
[Huh? I thought I was out of lines?]
"What are you talking about? How do you feel?"
[Feel about what?]
"Creating chaos."
[Oh, pretty chill. This world's already good enough that I don't need to do anything.]
"Yeah, thanks to you: Tony hates humanity, Bruce and Hulk are twins in one body, Hawkeye's a girl, and Gwen acts like Gwenpool."
[What about Moon Knight?]
"He was already crazy."
[Hehe, if you think that's the limit, don't worry—there's way more coming!]
"...I'm not looking forward to it."
[No problem! I can spoil it if you want.]
"Go ahead."
[Captain America is Steve Rogers.]
"...I hate you."
[Pfft, I didn't lie! Gahahaha!]
I sighed, got up, and sat at my desk.
After making a ton of money from my game, I decided to buy a PC.
That way, even if I can't go to Harry's place, I can still work from home—and even play online games with him if I want.
"...Online games, huh."
I thought for a moment, then an idea hit me.
"Why not... make an online horror game?"
But I brushed it aside.
"Nah, no time right now. And I don't have a solid concept yet... Let's just focus on single-player games for now."
I checked Baldi's player count.
"...What if... I let players mod it?"
Simple idea, but guaranteed success.
Mods have always extended a game's lifespan.
Take Skyrim—tons of mods, especially skin ones.
...Or the sex mods.
A-Anyway, if I let players mod my game, it'll live longer. Maybe even thrive!
"There's that saying: as long as you have a dedicated fandom, your game will live like an elephant."
But there's a problem in this world.
If you mod a game without the developer's—or the publisher's—permission, you get sued.
Worse, if you make a mod for someone, it legally belongs to the publisher.
Yes, this place is *more* capitalist than I thought.
That's why moddable games are usually super old ones like Doom or Mar*o 64 (I don't want Nintendo suing me).
Surprisingly, even Skyrim is considered "old" now. I feel old.
"So I'll be the trailblazer... Damn, that's wild."
I went to the Steam community post section and wrote one:
[Hello everyone, we are the devs of Baldi Basics.
We've realized our game is missing something it should have had from the start.
Your creativity.
I know how much you love a game and want to do more with it—and modding is one of those things.
But modding comes with a lot of issues, mostly from publishers and studios.
So, we've decided: from now on, for this game and all future ones, you can mod freely—as long as it follows community guidelines.
No copyright strikes, no lawsuits. We promise.
Because I'm a gamer too, and I stand with gamers.]
After posting, Aunt May called me down for dinner.
"Eh, hope this post gets attention."
[It definitely will. Your indie horror game is leading the pack right now.]
"Really? That's awesome."
I opened my door and went down to eat, leaving the PC on.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
A flood of notification sounds came from the computer.
All comments.
...Looks like Peter's post just blew up.