Everyone has different expectations about a big event

It was a Monday night, and two ninjas were racing around

the screen of the little CRT TV in my room.

"She's been at it again…," I muttered.

I tightened my grip on the controller, and my slightly

sweaty palms were making the buttons damp.

Both of the ninjas were Founds. One was being controlled

by me. The other was being controlled by NO NAME, the

second-best Atafami player in Japan—Aoi Hinami.

That's right—for the first time in ages, Hinami and I were

facing off in a first-to-five online match.

"Ooooh, nice."

Hinami's Found slid back and forth over the ground

without pausing, occasionally making short hops. She was

wavedashing, sliding over the ground with no lag while

keeping just the right distance from me. Whenever she

jumped, she used a forward-air attack to keep me from

taking the advantage, delicately maneuvering and gathering

information about my strategy to keep herself safe.

Some people take risks to avoid responsibility or use

"intuition" because they don't want to think. But her precise

maneuvering was nothing like that—instead, I could see the

results of all her obsessive, step-by-step trial and error and a

stunning amount of steady effort.

It'd been around a couple of weeks since I'd played her.

During that time, she'd definitely leveled up her ability to

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read the situation and move neatly and efficiently. It was like

she'd kept the machinelike accuracy of her playstyle but

ramped up the computing power.

I could see her in my mind's eye, her face composed and

her fingers flying precisely over the controller.

"…Which means…"

Something occurred to me.

If she was going to play the whole game based on accurate

predictions and the most productive and rewarding moves…

…what would happen if I exclusively targeted the moves

she was banking on?

It would be a metagame specially tailored to the devotee

of efficiency, a method for dealing with Aoi Hinami similar

to the one I'd used during the student council election.

Then maybe we'd find ourselves in a totally new kind of

battle.

An instant later, I jammed my thumb against the joystick.

Thanks to Found's quick run speed, I managed to slip past

NO NAME's midair swipe, but instead of stopping there, I

continued past her by a couple of character lengths.

Basically, I ran close to her and then put space between us

again on the opposite side. The end result was that we were

about the same distance apart as before, but since my back

was to her now, you could maybe say I was at a slight

disadvantage.

But that was the whole point.

When she was controlling Found, Hinami was basically

incapable of responding to pointless, risky moves, so her

attack was aimed in the opposite direction from where I was

now. When I ran in close for basically no reason, the move

with the best projected outcome was to take advantage of the

opening. She ended up missing me, but since I'd just kept

going on the other side, the ending lag was small and not

much of a minus for her. Add in the fact that I'd shown her

my back, and we were just about even.

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In other words, our relative advantages and disadvantages

had barely changed at all.

And again, that was the point.

In this moment, only one thing was different from before.

We would both need to reconsider our strategies now.

During the brief instant when Hinami was thinking, I

jammed the joystick again and jumped high in the air, my

back still to her. Then I nudged the joystick toward her and,

after it returned to a neutral position, hit B. It's a little

technique for reversing directions in midair while getting a

projectile ready. My Found was now facing Hinami with a

throwing star in his hand.

A second later, Hinami's Found was in precisely the right

spot to be hit by the star if I threw it down at a slant.

"Yesss."

Just what I was aiming for.

But my goal wasn't to hit her with the star right then.

First of all, Hinami's Found was able to move freely right

now while giving me almost no chance to land an attack. On

top of that, I'd let her see me getting the star ready, so if I

threw it right then, the chances of it hitting her were low.

If she'd figured out what I was going to do with the star,

she could guard, she could spot dodge or wavedash to avoid

it, or she could rush me, taking advantage of the lag from

charging the weapon, and intercept me before I even

released it.

If I was expecting her to guard, I could cancel the charge

and fast fall to the ground, shorten the landing lag with an Lcancel, then get in a dash grab. Or if I thought she would

interrupt me, I could throw the star early, stopping her as

she flew toward me. I could even cancel the midair charge,

then land and wavedash away from Hinami. She would

probably attack to take advantage of my landing lag, but this

way, I could dodge and then hit back.

Yeah, the possibilities at this point were limitless.

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And those limitless possibilities?

They were the reason I'd made such a high-risk move.

Hinami was like a computer, calculating several moves

ahead. That was her specialty, and her ability to combine it

with precision moves was her greatest strength.

That's why I'd reset all her predictions and calculations

with this. If I created a "flat" situation where there were no

advantages, disadvantages, or predictions on either side, all

the patterns she'd mentally played out would be reset as

well.

Now our battle and our choices would be based on our

reflexes and power of imagination—a true battle of player

skills. A fight based purely on innate ability.

I focused all my nerves, all my attention on each piece of

visual information that came at me from the TV screen.

"…What's gonna go down?"

Hinami, NO NAME, Found.

The timing, the range of her attack, the shape of the stage.

Experience, expectations, passion.

I mixed it all up and channeled it into my fingertips.

Everything beyond the screen disappeared from my field

of vision and my mind. It was a paradox, where every action

happened in both high speed and searing clarity, whirling

through my brain and making my whole body feel light. My

thoughts seemed to be moving just a tiny bit faster than the

electrical signals, linking logic and goals. It's like I can feel

the information carrying me to my objective.

I get like that a lot when I play Atafami, and I almost

never lose when I'm in that state.

For some reason, it happens during almost every game I

play against Hinami. Even when I play ad hoc matches

against high-level opponents, my winrate is only 70 or 80

percent, but I've never lost to Hinami yet. I think that has as

much to do with this hyper state as it does with the fact that

she uses the same character as me and her playstyle is based

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on mine.

With my accelerated synapses, I honed in on the

intentions and sensations I was able to pick up from her

Found—and the moves NO NAME could make in this

explosive match.

At this distance, I should be able to watch what she did,

think up a strategy based on that, and accurately implement

it.

Then Hinami's Found—made a strange choice.

"…Huh?"

Confused, I landed with the charged throwing star in my

hand. The next instant, I released it.

It hit her full-on.

While I was way out of range, Hinami's Found took the hit

and flinched.

"What the…?"

She didn't guard, dodge, or intercept. She just dashed in a

straight line away from me, widening the space between us.

With her back to me, she was obviously undefended

against my throwing star.

In other words, with almost no risk, I was able to inflict

more than 10 percent damage on her.

Caught off guard, I snapped back to reality and thought

about the situation.

"…Oh." I finally figured it out. "Is she really that

unshakable?"

I curled my lips in a smile of some chagrin.

This is what I guessed her calculation was.

A second ago, everything was reset to zero. We had the

same chance of benefiting from that clean slate.

It was a high-risk, high-return moment for both of us. We

were both in range, but there were no standard strats to take

from here.

There was a chance I'd snatch a victory then and there,

but also a chance that Hinami would win with her typical

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precision.

In terms of the game's final outcome, it was a weighty

moment that would bring big wins and losses.

And this is what I'm guessing Hinami was thinking right

then.

If I'm going to be sucked into a big gamble where I can't

calculate the outcome, then I'd rather take a sure hit now.

That was NO NAME's unshakable stance. She was

committed to making calculated decisions.

I couldn't help enjoying this.

If she'd taken the gamble, then there was a chance she

would have lost. But there was an equal chance she would

have won.

The situation favored neither of us. The odds were even,

you might say.

On the other hand, when she dashed away from me and

left herself open to a hit, she had no chance of a gain and an

almost certain chance of taking 10 percent damage.

So between a fifty-fifty gamble and a certain 10 percent

loss, Hinami chose the latter.

She was so bent on avoiding unknown risks that she was

willing to accept a definite disadvantage.

That was Hinami's playstyle in a nutshell.

She charged her opponents head-on, based on her own

precise calculations of success, and she had total confidence

in those calculations. So when she couldn't rely on them—

she would never make a move.

"Huh…"

People like her were what made Atafami so much fun.

I took a deep breath and adjusted my grip on the

controller. My brain loves these close fights, trading razorthin advantages back and forth with my opponent.

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But from that point on, Hinami steadily built her

advantage back up, and after losing four stocks to me, she

won with one stock left.

It was the first time she'd beat me in a one-on-one match.

Her victory had nothing to do with me losing my focus or

anything like that. It was the result of pure skill and

determination to stay true to her playstyle.

Still, what mattered in Atafami was your winrate, so she

hadn't caught up to me or anything. I still beat her more

than 90 percent of the time.

As I gazed at the endgame results screen, a chat message

from Hinami suddenly popped up.

[I win.]

Honestly, what is with her? She already won for the first

time, but did she really have to rub it in? I don't even know

how many times we'd played since agreeing to meet IRL that

first time, but never once had she sent me a message that

wasn't pure business. Man, she really hated to lose.

"…Shit." I frowned, imagining her proudly victorious face.

Well, I guess her first win against me did deserve some

celebration. I always pummeled her in Atafami, so it

wouldn't kill me to be an adult and give her some praise for

once.

I started typing into the chat box.

[You still need five to win. I'm beating you four to one.

Too bad.]

I won the next game, which meant that after some time

away from the game, our first-to-five face-off ended with five

wins and one loss for me. Sorry, but I'm a sore loser, too.

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* * *

The next day was Tuesday, and for the first time in quite a

while, I found myself in Sewing Room #2.

Hinami and I had stopped meeting in this room until the

situation with Konno and Tama-chan blew over, but after

school on Monday, Hinami announced she was ready to

start up again.

As I sat down in a chair in the middle of the room and put

my bag down on the desk, I heard that familiar voice, biting

and clear as a wind chime.

"So."

I looked up. Hinami was sitting with her legs crossed,

giving me a look that was both sexy and weirdly intimidating

at the same time. As usual, there was no vulnerability

around her at all. Her silky hair fell straight down, the ends

swaying seductively like a cat toy at the slightest movement

of her head.

"I'd like to start out by going over some facts."

I redirected my attention from her hair back to her face,

meeting her eyes.

"…Facts?"

Hinami gave a tiny nod, and there was something almost

severe in her expression. "I'm talking about Hanabi. I was

pretty busy when all that was playing out, and I think you

were as well."

"Oh, uh-huh." I nodded. Of course that's what she wanted

to talk about. I had plenty of my own questions on that topic,

too.

There had been a chain of little events, like a line of

dominoes, leading up to Erika Konno's ongoing harassment

of Tama-chan. Konno and her faction had even vandalized

the haniwa charm that Tama-chan loved so much. It only

ended when Hinami slaughtered Konno with her cold and

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calculated plan, and Tama-chan stepped in with her

characteristic candor.

For my part, I'd gotten Mizusawa and a couple of other

people involved in helping Tama-chan out behind the scenes

—but on that final day, Hinami put on a show that went far

beyond anything I was capable of.

Anyway, the notorious Erika Konno was reduced to a

sobbing mess in front of the whole class.

I thought I understood what made Hinami tick better

than most of our classmates did, but I had no idea what she

was thinking when that went down. I still didn't.

Why had she chosen such a cruel course of action?

"You planned out everything you did to Konno

beforehand…didn't you?" I asked in an intentionally serious

tone.

She nodded casually. "Yes, I did."

Her curt response stung.

"Thought so." I looked away as I offered a meaningless

reply. Winter was already here. The cold, dry air seeped in

around the window frames and chilled my fingertips.

"I made Konno think that Nakamura and Yuzu were

conspiring against her. Once I'd knocked her off-balance

with the suspicion, all I had to do was give her another little

push, and she toppled right over. That was her weak point;

she just needed a push. I exposed her for what she was

without looking like an aggressor, and then the whole mess

was over. That's all." She explained everything so calmly,

like it didn't amount to much.

I winced again. "You're saying you had to do it to make

her stop harassing Tama-chan?"

I met her eyes, and she held my gaze as she nodded.

"Yes. If I didn't, Konno wouldn't have stopped." Her eyes

sharpened as she went on. "Since, y'know, she was getting

pretty upset after what she saw," she said accusingly.

"What she saw" was probably my own actions.

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"…Sorry."

One of the things that had pushed Erika and her groupies

to cross the line with their harassment was that they'd

happened to see Tama-chan meeting with me, Mizusawa,

and a few other people in our group. Apparently, Hinami

knew about that as well.

She sighed. "So that was you…"

"Yeah," I admitted, looking away. "It was stupid of me."

She gave another dramatic sigh. "That's partly why I did

what I did." Her explanation finished, she pressed her lips

together.

I couldn't really argue with her. Everything worked out in

the end, including the damaged charm, but when I thought

about how Tama-chan had been hurt, about the permanent

scar on her favorite charm, I had to admit I'd messed up big

time.

What if I'd left everything up to Hinami from the start?

What if she'd been able to resolve the situation more

peacefully? Had my attempt to help made everything worse?

But something about that logic didn't sit right with me.

"I agree, my mistake was partly responsible for making

Konno angry. What she did was really cruel." I paused. "But

so were you. You didn't have to go that far."

"'Cruel'…I see." Hinami echoed the word almost

experimentally.

I nodded. "You used her crush to rip her to shreds in front

of everyone. To me…that was just too much," I said simply.

Hinami tilted her head slightly, as if she was thinking. Or

maybe sizing me up. "But it was the only way to shut her

down quickly, right?" she replied, without any emotion in

her voice or on her face. "Once Konno got that angry, she

wouldn't stop until someone knocked her off her high horse

and made an example of her. Her engine was already

running full tilt. I had to destroy her."

Hinami's confident, no-nonsense explanation was fairly

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convincing.

"Don't you agree?" she asked me.

"Um…"

It was a challenge. I think her confidence came from all

her experience in observing and manipulating the mood in

our class. I'd only been observing that particular monster for

a little while, but even that was enough to know Hinami was

partly right.

Consider Konno's position.

To stay on top in the classroom, she had to win every

fight, and a very clear Konno-versus-Tama-chan dynamic

had been established. What would happen if Konno had

thrown down her sword after witnessing Tama-chan

hanging out with Mizusawa and Takei, two top-tier guys?

If you were fighting for the top of the class, that was

indefensible.

I could understand why Hinami thought a public

execution was the only way to end it.

"Well…you could be right."

She wrinkled her brows suspiciously. "You agree? Then

why did you—?"

"But," I interrupted, taking a deep breath, "even if that's

true…"

I thought back to the final stage of Hinami's plan—the

part I just couldn't accept.

"…you didn't have to give her that final kick, did you?"

I looked her in the eye, as I often did. But I could never

see into her heart.

"…What final ki—?"

"She was already down!" I snapped.

Konno was crying, and the mood of the class had

obviously shifted in Hinami's favor. She'd demonstrated she

was infinitely more powerful, popular, and capable than

Konno. Victory was hers. She'd achieved a technical

knockout, but she didn't stop. She had manipulated her

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well-intentioned pawn into pouring salt onto Konno's

wounds after her opponent had already succumbed.

"You didn't need to use Nakamura like that. When you got

him to offer Konno a tissue from the tissue cover Izumi

made him."

I could concede everything up until that. I still didn't

approve of the cruelty and mercilessness of her methods, but

if that was what it took to rescue her friend from the bullying

taking over her life, I could probably call it a necessary evil.

But not that last part.

"You were just adding insult to injury," I said with a bit

more force behind my words.

As I stared silently at Hinami, she gave a slow,

uncharacteristically humble nod.

"You're right."

"What?"

Her admission caught me off guard. "B-but then why…?" I

sputtered, confused.

She didn't even protest—which meant she accepted her

final act wasn't necessary to stop the harassment.

But this was Aoi Hinami, who had done whatever her

goals demanded with the consistency of a robot.

What did it mean?

"Why were you so…?"

Her eyes were filled with cold, quiet anger. "Cruel?" she

finished.

She barely moved as she spoke, and the unusual

harshness of her reply unsettled something deep inside me.

I could hear a sharpness to her breath, and my blood ran a

little colder.

"Compared with what she did to Hanabi, I'd hardly call

that cruel."

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Her speech was far slower and less clipped than normal.

The words were powerful, but instead of drawing their

strength from logic and experience as they usually did, they

filled Sewing Room #2 with emotion.

"That's…" I was surprised.

I mean, think about what those words meant.

"That's what?" She waited grumpily for me to continue.

I wasn't sure if I should go on, but I did. "You're saying…it

was revenge?" Even as I spoke, I thought about what an unHinami-like word that was.

Revenge.

On the surface, it was hard to imagine the literal

embodiment of objectivity and perspective caring about

something like revenge.

"Yes, I am."

All I could do was nod silently. If she was going to admit

it, then I didn't have anything else to say.

I mean…

…the action she took wasn't intended to get her closer to a

goal.

It wasn't intended to prevent future problems.

It was simply—an attack.

As I stared wordlessly at the floor, Hinami spoke up. I

think she wanted to escape the silence, which was unusual

for her.

"…What? Yes, I can get angry. Is that such a surprise?"

She sounded annoyed, but also unsettled.

"No…"

Once again, I wasn't sure what to say. I wasn't sure how to

explain why I felt this way, but it sounded somehow like an

excuse, like she was trying desperately to hide a sense of

guilt.

"Hanabi has a strong moral compass, and she sticks to it.

I like that about her. When Konno started harassing

Hirabayashi-san, Hanabi stood up in front of everyone and

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said she was wrong, without trying to get something out of it

or beat around the bush. I thought her strength was so

beautiful," she said with uncharacteristic passion. "So when

Konno started stomping all over Hanabi for no reason, I

couldn't let her get away with it. When I heard Hanabi say

she just wanted to escape, I decided it couldn't go on."

I stared at Hinami in shock.

"I did what I had to in order to make it stop. So I crushed

Konno."

I'd never heard her talk about anything aside from games

in that way.

"That is all." She let out a short, hot breath.

"Oh," I said.

For a second, she looked embarrassed. "…What's wrong

with that?" she asked, a little defiantly.

"Nothing, it's just—"

"Then I don't see what the problem is," she said. She was

speaking quickly, as if she wanted to wrap up the

conversation. Again, this wasn't the Hinami I knew.

If I were to sum up that "off" feeling I had, it would be

this.

"Here's what I think…," I began, trying to stay as honest

as I could.

I took a deep breath and considered what to say, what she

would only hear from me.

"You did that just to hurt her. There was nothing to be

gained from it, for anyone. It's…"

I felt like my thoughts were slowly coming into focus.

"It's what?" Hinami said, as if she'd already guessed. She

crossed her arms and glared at me.

I gulped, trying not to let her intimidate me, and searched

for the right words to express that dissonance inside me.

I took those words I found at the bottom of my heart and

threw them at her head-on.

"It's not something NO NAME would think was…right," I

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said, a little sharply.

For a moment, Hinami sank into thought.

"…Well…"

For once, she was at a loss for words. I didn't see this

expression often.

Finally, she gave a satisfied nod.

"That may be true. But…"

She sighed and uncrossed her arms.

"…there are some things even I can't accept."

* * *

After my meeting with Hinami, I sat at my desk observing

the classroom before morning homeroom started.

"Did you see Mahoto's show the other day?"

"The one where he was stuck to the wall? Yeah!"

"Well…"

The conversations around me were about TV shows,

YouTube videos, and weekend events. The noise was as

scattered as usual, but I sensed at the bottom of it all that

everyone was feeling one another out.

I thought back to the day when sparks flew between the

two top girls in class.

Hinami's attitude had been calm and reasonable the

whole time, but the public face-off was itself a major event.

The vestiges of their fight were still impacting the mood and

creating little, stagnant pools in the general flow.

On the surface, nothing had changed, but I could feel

subtle differences from before. As I looked out on the

peaceful yet ever so slightly uneasy scene, I suddenly heard a

sleepy voice coming from next to me.

"Morning."

When I turned around, Izumi was holding back a yawn

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with one hand while waving the other at me. Her eyes could

strike down a normie with a single glance on the best of

days, but the way they glistened a little gave them several

times their normal power. M-man, she sure knew how to get

me.

"Oh, hey. Good morning." I still managed to return her

greeting in a natural, casual tone. It was practically a reflex

at this point.

I'd taken some damage from the sparkle in her eyes, but

the rest of me was able to respond automatically.

Interesting. The same thing happened with Atafami. With

enough practice, even when someone launched a combo I

wasn't expecting, my fingers pressed the buttons to dodge on

their own. This felt kind of similar.

"It sure is getting cold. I could see my breath this

morning!" Izumi chatted aimlessly as she set her bag on her

desk.

I might be capable of reflexive greetings, but I bet Izumi

made even this kind of small talk automatically. The road to

the mountaintop is steep, but at least now I could imagine

the peak.

"Yeah, winter is definitely here," I answered. "Hey,

speaking of which…"

"What's up?"

I was about to nudge the conversation in a new direction

by introducing a topic of my own. If I wanted to get better at

manipulating the mood, I had to build up my skills on a

daily basis. Seeing Izumi do it almost unconsciously made

me want to try even harder.

Plus, I already had a topic in mind to ask her about.

"How has Akiyama been doing since the whole…

showdown?"

I had to think on the spot and make it sound casual—I'd

learned that from memorizing conversation topics. All that

hard work had earned me more than just a long list of topics.

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Before I even got to the memorizing stage, I had to come

up with a bunch of subjects that I thought would work with a

particular person.

In other words, by thinking about different things to talk

about each day, I could work consistently toward coming up

with those subjects myself. It was kind of like taking practice

swings at making conversation.

Hinami was the only one who knew I was practicing

beforehand, but I was also gradually getting faster at adlibbing topics on the spot, like I'd just done with Izumi.

I felt like I was training to master a new kind of magic,

and it seemed like my base MP and magic power were going

up automatically as a result.

"Mika and Erika…?" Izumi pursed her lips, trying to

decide how to answer my question.

On the day of the showdown between Hinami and Erika,

Hinami had manipulated Mika Akiyama into revealing her

hostility toward Konno, the leader of her own clique. That

rebellion set off the whole incident.

From my perspective, there weren't a lot of hard feelings

in Konno's group despite what had happened. But what had

Izumi sensed from the inside? I was curious.

She thought for a few moments, a serious but still

somehow lighthearted look on her face.

"Well…girl stuff," she whispered, then gave an exhausted

sigh.

"O-oh, really?"

I'd never experienced the fabled "girl stuff" myself, but

based on stories I'd read, I could guess what she was getting

at. Lots of girls' manga talked about those messy and

awkward feelings.

"You mean like a cold-war situation?"

"Yeah…" Izumi glanced at Konno and her group. "They act

like they're getting along on the surface, but as soon as

they're apart, they start really going in on each other."

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I smiled cynically, imagining the situation. Judging from

Izumi's behavior lately…

"…And you're caught in the middle?"

She nodded, a theatrically pained expression on her face.

"Eeeeexactly." She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Ha-ha…thought so," I said, taking care not to laugh

rudely. "Sounds tough."

Izumi nodded. "But I'm the only one who can do it…so I'll

hang in there."

"Gotcha."

She was staring ahead with a determined gaze. Ever since

she started dating Nakamura, her words had a flexible yet

unwavering strength. Ah, the power of love.

Okay! Time to try something out.

I decided to tell her what I'd just thought but be a little

clever about how I said it. Yes, it was time to apply what I'd

learned about messing with people. I'd gotten steadily better

at normal teasing, so now I was thinking about raising the

bar on my technique.

"You're so thoughtful."

She looked surprised and a little embarrassed. "No, I'm

not!"

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Without missing a beat, I went on in a teasing tone.

"Especially since you started dating Nakamura."

Her face flushed even redder. "Sh-shut up!"

"Oh, sorry."

The apology came out on reflex. Ack, I didn't need to say

that. I've ripped off Mizusawa's technique plenty of times—

starting off with a compliment and then teasing them—but if

Mizusawa was in my place right now, he'd have laughed at

her reaction. If I'd remembered to do that, it would have

been perfect.

But my execution wasn't half-bad for a bottom-tier

character. I even sounded fairly normie-ish.

If I were to name this technique of getting someone's

guard down and then teasing them, I'd call it the Mizusawa

Method 2.0. Filing the outcome away in my mind, I thought

about how to direct the next turn of the conversation.

"Anyway…I'm sure it's tough right now, but hopefully,

everything will go back to normal soon. Among your group, I

mean."

"Yeah…" Izumi let her gaze drift onto Tama-chan, who

was in the middle of the classroom. "But it's definitely better

this way. I'm glad all that awkwardness is over. And I'm

really grateful for what Tama-chan did."

I followed Izumi's gaze.

"Hey! Stop sniffing me, Minmi!" Tama-chan was yelling.

"Ooh, you smell different again! Did you change your

fabric softener…? Or maybe your detergent…?"

"Why do you care?"

"Ah-ha-ha. Mimimi, you're getting on Tama-chan's

nerves!"

Tama-chan was joking around with Mimimi and some

other classmates. She didn't seem uncomfortable at all. She

had a secure place in this class now that her genuine

character had been accepted. And Mimimi was still the class

clown.

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I looked back at Izumi. "Me too. Tama-chan really saved

the day."

My guess is that if Tama-chan hadn't intervened at the

end of the showdown between Konno and Hinami, Konno

and Akiyama's relationship would have been destroyed. If

Konno had remained a permanent enemy of the class,

Akiyama would have led everyone in a charge to exact

revenge on the tyrant queen.

And if that had happened, their relationship would have

been impossible to repair. In that sense, you could almost

call Tama-chan the peacemaker between them.

"She did! I was impressed—like, I really respect her now."

"Not many people can do what she did."

I didn't mean among just high schoolers or girls, either.

That bright sparkle really was Tama-chan's strength.

Izumi tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, a world-weary

look on her face. "…I feel like I should take a page from her

book."

"…Yeah?"

Then I realized something.

Izumi was trying to break away from her habit of ignoring

her feelings for the sake of harmony, so the way Tama-chan

stood up in front of everyone and acted according to her own

convictions must have shown Izumi exactly what she wanted

to be. I bet that scene in class was very impactful for her.

"I've gotta change," she said to remind herself. "I'm still

not really happy with myself."

I decided this was a good time to tell her what I was

thinking, in my own way. Not using the Mizusawa Method

or anything like that—right now, I was saying what's on my

mind, according to the Tomozaki Method.

"…I think you've changed a lot lately."

She had. Remembering how she was before the Nakamura

incident or the sports tournament, I could see the

transformation.

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When I was first starting my training, one of my goals was

to get the people around me to tell me I had changed, as a

way of measuring the results. If I'd noticed a clear difference

in Izumi, she must have grown a lot.

"Even I can see it," I added a little shyly, being careful not

to talk down to her.

To my surprise, Izumi gave a modest little nod. "I know,"

she said, looking at me solemnly. "I've been thinking that

myself lately."

"…You have?"

She nodded again, then took a hand mirror from her

pocket, fixed her hair, and stood up. "Okay, I'm going over

there! See you in a minute!"

She raised her hand up to her face and gave me a perky

little wave.

"Okay, bye." I copied her cute gesture. She walked toward

the window where Konno and Akiyama were standing. She

had work to do as a mediator, and it was work that only she

could do.

I lowered my hand and sighed.

Talking one-on-one with a natural-born normie was

exhausting, but I definitely didn't dislike it. I felt like I was

getting EXP, but more importantly, I'd said what I wanted to

say and asked what I wanted to ask.

As I got better at maneuvering through life, I was having

more fun playing the game. As they say, life imitates art—

and video games.

* * *

The bell rang, and morning homeroom started. Kawamurasensei, our teacher, stood in front of the class and started

talking in her usual listless but somehow also forceful tone.

"So the school festival is coming up. This week, we'll start

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getting ready for it after school, so I want you to think about

what our class should do. Keep in mind we'll have a lot of

guests and kids from other schools attending."

"Wow, it's that time already!"

The words school festival evoked a passionate response

from Takei, who threw both his arms into the air and shook

them around. Takei is nothing if not consistent.

That sparked a similarly excited response from the rest of

the class, with everyone shouting "Yay!" and "Let's do this!"

Apparently, Takei is also contagious.

"This year, it'll take place on December twelfth. As usual,

the festival and the Christmas party are both on the day of

the closing ceremony. Think of this as your last chance to

have fun. After that, you'll be studying twenty-four seven."

The school festival really snuck up on me.

Sekitomo High's festival took place a little later than most

schools', and it was one of the livelier festivals in the

prefecture, which was unusual for a college-prep school. Part

of the reason it was such a big event was because we

combined it with the Christmas party.

Not only that, but it also took place at the end of the

calendar year and the end of second semester. For us

second-years, who would be organizing the festival, it was

the last, crazy celebration before we went into study mode

for our college entrance exams. Knowing we wouldn't really

be able to cut loose like this later motivated us to make it as

fun as we could. I think the general intent behind timing it at

the end of the year was to help mark the transition. In that

sense, I could understand why such an academics-focused

college-prep school had such a big school festival.

"The third-years won't be taking part because they're

getting ready for their exams, so the bulk of the work is up to

you. During Wednesday's long homeroom, we'll be choosing

a few girls and a few guys to serve on the organizing

committee, so if you're interested in participating, start

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thinking about that. That's about it for today. Okay, all rise."

Everyone stood up, chatting noisily with anticipation. As

soon as we'd recited the salutation for the end of class, we all

split off into our cliques and excitedly discussed the festival.

Huh. In my previous culture festivals, I was totally out of

the loop, but this year would probably be different. The

festival had some loose connections to the class pecking

order, yes, but more than that, I was certain Hinami planned

to give me some kind of super-Spartan assignment related to

it.

"Braiiiiiiin!!"

"Whoa!"

My thoughts were interrupted by an extremely cheerful

voice and my shoulders being sandwiched to death.

"Ow!!"

Turning in the direction of this undeserved attack, I

unsurprisingly found Mimimi standing next to me. She was

pressing both her hands against my shoulders. What, so now

her standard thump on the back involved two hands?

Mimimi Attack 2.0, huh?

She giggled. "Hee-hee-hee. You'll never escape me now."

"Yeah, 'cause you snuck up on me!"

"I'll give you that."

Actually, this version was probably easier to evade

because it was so much bigger.

"Geez…"

I waited for Mimimi to go on, but for some reason, she

just stared silently at me. A few weird seconds of silence

ensued.

"Um…what?"

What was she pausing for? She must have had some other

reason for shouting my nickname and running up to me

aside from making a Tomozaki sandwich.

"Huh? What do you mean, 'what'?" For some reason, she

looked puzzled.

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"I just thought…you wanted to talk to me about

something?"

Her eyes went wide with realization, and she pointed at

my face.

"What?" I said.

She kept looking at me earnestly. "…Uh, what was I going

to say?"

"Oh, come on," I teased reflexively. Going with the flow is

a way of life for her. "I swear…"

I was searching exasperatedly for a new conversation

topic when Mimimi suddenly said, "Oh yeah!" and clapped

her hands.

"Huh?"

"I remembered!"

What the heck? She really is a free spirit. At least it

makes talking to her easy.

"I was wondering if you were going to volunteer for the

festival committee!"

"Oh," I said, thinking for a second. "…I'm not sure."

Honestly speaking, I wasn't so integrated into the normie

world that I'd actively volunteer for a role like that myself,

but I had a feeling Hinami was probably going to make me

do it anyway. I was mentally bracing for it.

"Really? But I was looking forward to seeing the Brain in

action again!"

"Um, how…?"

"I know my Brain; whatever you'd come up with would be

super fun."

"No way, I can't do anything."

"Still so modest…"

Mimimi smiled and poked me with her elbow. What in the

world was she expecting from me? She thought too much of

me. Okay, I was proud of the effort I put in during the

student council election, but in the broader game of life, I

was still just barely out of the tutorial phase. Plus, a

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legendary Nen user once said people who call themselves

intermediate-level players get into the most trouble, so I

wasn't about to let my guard down.

"Anyway, I sure am looking forward to the festival,"

Mimimi said innocently.

Looking forward to it, huh?

I thought about that phrase, and about the school festival.

It goes without saying that last year, I was too much of a

loner to have fun at the festival at all. I also had zero positive

associations with it since the beginning of junior high. I even

remember leaving right after attendance was taken,

probably so I could go home and play video games. What

can I say? That bright and cheerful atmosphere is toxic to

loners. I lost five HP with every step I took.

But this year, I genuinely meant what I was about to say

to Mimimi.

"…Yeah, I am, too." I surprised myself saying that, but I

went on. "The truth is, I've never looked forward to the

school festival at all before, but this year, I kind of do."

"…No way!"

Maybe since I'd never had fun in the past, I'd be able to

experience it even more fully this time around.

Unlike last year, I'd found a comfortable position in class.

I had friends who I liked talking to, and most crucially, I

wanted to have fun.

Of course, I don't think going home to play video games is

wrong, necessarily, but a little variety in my entertainment

never hurts.

"Well, good! You can replace your bad memories from last

year with better ones!"

"Yeah, guess so," I said, briefly considering Mimimi's

optimistic words. "Although, they aren't bad memories."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Going home to play video games was

super fun, too."

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"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

Mimimi grinned at my direct answer. "Spoken like a true

gamer! Once a gamer, always a gamer!"

She squeezed my shoulders between both her hands

again. Owww. Enough with 2.0 already. And now she was

doing it for virtually no reason.

But I was honestly grateful that she accepted my way of

thinking without prejudice. She even smiled when she heard

it.

"It would be more accurate to say I don't remember the

festival than to say I didn't have fun." I was so relaxed now

that I was starting to babble.

"You don't remember? But it was just last year."

She looked puzzled. Yeah, I could see how a normie would

find that hard to understand. I decided to explain the way of

the loner. "It's like… Okay, so we've had school festivals

since junior high, right?"

"Um, yeah…" Mimimi tilted her head, waiting for me to go

on.

I continued confidently. "That means I've been to four

school festivals total. But I never had any friends during that

time, so every year was the same experience for me. And that

means—I don't really remember what happened when."

"Why do you sound almost proud of that?" Mimimi

cheerfully teased. I guess this time, my confidence only

made my sad story sound sadder.

"Well, it's kind of like how middle-aged guys can't keep all

the new celebrities straight. To a loner, all those big, fun,

crowded events look the same, so all the memories kinda

run together."

When I finished explaining my gloomy logic, Mimimi

gazed at me with pity. "…Well, not this year."

"Huh?"

She pointed cheerfully at the sun pouring in through the

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window. "This year, let's do everything we can to make it a

blast!"

She sounded very hopeful. I knew she was trying really

hard to cheer me up, and her positivity was contagious on

any day. The word fun was made for her.

"…For sure!" I answered, thinking about the coming

weeks.

Yeah, she was right.

If we have to do it anyway, we might as well enjoy it, I

thought, and I meant it.

What would this school festival be like for me?