Ultimately, the people in front of the screen determine the outcome of the game Part 2

"I know."

Just because we'd made a LINE chat didn't mean I'd

formed a community with me at the center. I mean, my

group had to be on the same level as Nakamura's group or

Konno's group. Also, we'd hung out as a group of four, but

the LINE chat only had three members.

"So your next assignment will be an extension of this one.

I want you to go somewhere outside the prefecture with at

least three other people, or go anywhere with at least five

other people. Please aim for one of those two options."

"Got it. Backward compatibility, huh?"

"That's right. It feels like climbing a staircase, doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

But even as we were reviewing the desired outcome of the

assignment, I wanted to ask her about something else.

The same thing I'd asked Takei and Mimimi.

"Hey, Hinami?"

"What?"

I tried to stay on the surface, as if I was touching a wound.

"I was wondering…what's your family like?"

"…What do you mean?"

"Um…"

I told her what Takei and Mimimi and I had talked about,

about how each family was so different and how that

affected people's path in life and way of thinking. I guess the

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question was too abrupt without some context.

"…So I was wondering about yours."

"Well, let's see."

Actually, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't partly motivated by

a less-than-noble curiosity about that bit of information

Kikuchi-san and I had stumbled on when we were

interviewing people about Hinami. But I'd phrased the

question so that she only had to say as much as she wanted.

And I wanted to know, both for the sake of informing my

own thoughts on life and out of simple interest in her as a

person.

"Both my parents work, and I have one younger sister. I'm

your typical little princess who grew up wanting for

nothing."

"Do people normally call themselves princesses?"

"It's the truth."

She sounded as confident as ever, and I didn't sense she

was lying or hiding anything.

But she hadn't said anything about what we'd heard—that

she used to have two sisters. If she didn't want to talk about

it, then I wasn't going to force her to. Everyone has one or

two things they don't like to talk about. Except for me,

maybe.

"My parents let me take whatever classes I wanted, and

they always praised me for whatever I made or did. Other

people might see them as overprotective. There was a time

when that made me happy, but now I find numerical results

are better proof of my own efforts. It's far better than

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praise."

"That last part was pure Aoi Hinami."

But it was interesting. I wonder if the constant praise

contributed to her ridiculous level of self-confidence. Or

would she have been super strong either way?

"As far as your future goes, you'll be fine as long as you

keep up with school right now, so you need to keep your

focus on assignments from me and schoolwork. Don't get

drawn into anything unnecessary."

"'Unnecessary,' huh?"

I caught a little on those words. I'd brought up Hinami's

family partly out of curiosity, but basically, asking various

people about their future plans in order to figure out what I

wanted was what I needed to do in terms of my life.

It would connect to fulfillment as I understood that term

—and I thought Hinami was definitely lacking in that realm.

Which is why…

"Hinami?"

"…What?"

Usually, when I use her name like that, it's the lead-up to

an annoying comment or question, which was why she was

so clearly irritated. Not my problem.

"Actually, I got this invitation."

I showed her my phone. A LINE chat with Harry-san was

open on the screen.

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The content was straightforward. This weekend, he

wanted to have a meetup with four or five well-known

players, and he was inviting nanashi. He'd promised to let

me know the next time an event happened, but only the host

of a regular meetup could have done it this quickly.

"…A small meetup. I see."

I couldn't tell if she was interested or not. I think she was

intentionally hiding her feelings.

"You must be at least slightly interested."

"Oh, I am, slightly."

She sounded vaguely dissatisfied.

"He said Ashigaru-san's coming. You know that name,

don't you?"

"…Really? The one who uses Lizard?"

"Yeah. Of course NO NAME would know."

The fact that I could casually throw a name out and she'd

know who it was proved again what a top player she was.

She didn't slack when it came to gathering intel.

"I bet we'll hear a lot of interesting stuff. Why don't you

come? …I mean, will you please come?" I said, joining my

hands in pleading.

She gave me a dubious look. "Why do you want me to

come so bad? Is this some scheme of yours?" She frowned,

taking a step back.

"I told you. I'm going to teach you how to enjoy life."

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"And that means going to an Atafami meetup?"

"Yes."

After all, the only two things I was aware of that she

genuinely liked for no logical reason were Atafami and

cheese. As far as I knew, almost everything else she did was

determined by her own brand of rationale.

But I don't think what a person wants is logical.

"You have nothing to lose by going, so why not? Right?" I

pressed my palms together again, and this time, I bowed my

head, too.

"If you're this desperate, it actually makes me not want to

go…"

"Hey," I whined.

She seemed tired of me, but all the same, she sighed and

said, "Fine, as long as I don't have other plans. What day is

it?"

That was a yes, if a reluctant one.

"You will?! Um, it's next weekend! On Saturday!"

She opened the calendar on her phone. "…Dammit, I'm

free."

"Why do you sound so upset? You're available!"

"I sure am."

I grinned. "Okay. Then we'll both go. I'll get in touch with

the details later."

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"Sigh… All right."

"Why are you sighing?"

I had plenty of opportunity to poke at her, but the

important thing was that I'd succeeded in snagging her. By

the way, I'd already gotten permission to invite Hinami.

Harry-san said that if she'd fought like that with Wigglypoff

against nanashi on stream, then she should do just fine

against Ashigaru-san.

"I have no idea what you are trying to do…"

"Don't worry about that."

Like I told her before, I was trying get her to understand

what I meant when I said "what I want." Call it a favor for

the magician who painted the world for me.

"Well, playing Ashigaru-san is kind of exciting, so it's

fine…"

"Right?"

I wasn't sure if I glimpsed a light in her eyes as she spoke;

I could only see the outside of the mask.

But all the same, I plan to keep moving toward what I

want.

* * *

School was over for the day.

"Ooh, this place is so nice!"

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Today, Kikuchi-san and I had walked to the station

together and gotten off the train at a different stop than

usual; this time, we were going to a fashionable café I'd

looked up online. Since I'd turned down her invitation to

walk to the station the day before, I wanted to make up for it

by inviting her here.

"Wow, it's just like in the pictures I saw."

The café was full of antique furniture, and the walls were

practically covered with rows of foreign books that

apparently were meant as decorations. The multiple

chandeliers, old-fashioned lamps, and other stuff like that

was actually for sale, with price tags attached in unobtrusive

locations.

"I read that they sell the furniture, too," I said, showing

Kikuchi-san one of the price tags.

"Oh my goodness…!" she replied, her eyes darting all over

the place. She was as innocently awestruck as a little girl.

"This is so fun!"

We hadn't even ordered drinks yet, and she was already

saying that. I was so glad I'd brought her here. My heart was

thumping.

We both ordered sandwiches and black tea, then settled

into our usual chitchat.

"Really? Hanabi-chan's family runs a cake shop?"

"Yeah!"

I told her about my visit to the shop, making the story as

interesting as I could. After all, I'd turned down her

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invitation because I already had plans, so I wanted to share

as much of what happened as possible with her.

"That's amazing. I want to try their sweets, too."

"I'll bring you some! She said they'd be fine for two

weeks."

"Really, you will?"

Her expression suddenly brightened. It was too bad I had

to skip walking with her that day, but if it meant being able

to tell her about all the yummy things we got and then

actually bring her said yummy things, maybe it wasn't so

bad after all.

Kikuchi-san watched me as I nodded smugly to myself.

"And…on the way home…?" she asked in a quiet voice.

What did she mean?

"On the way home?" I asked, puzzled.

Her eyes darted anxiously around the room.

"It's j-just that…the other day, you were telling me…how

you talked to Nanami-san about your future…"

"Oh yeah, I did."

"I was wondering what happened on the way home

yesterday…," she said, glancing over at me. Why was she

tiptoeing around the subject? I guess she wanted to know if

I'd made any progress, since I'd been so unsure last time we

talked. It was unusual for her to ask such a specific question.

"Well, we talked about…"

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I thought back to our conversation on the way home, and

this was what came to mind:

"I do know who I like. "

"…"

Those were the words that stayed with me most from that

day.

I knew it was one of Mimimi's mean little jokes, but even

remembering it felt like a punch in the gut—

"T-Tomozaki-kun?"

"Huh?!"

Kikuchi-san was acting concerned.

"Oh, s-sorry."

"Wh-what's wrong…?"

"Oh, um…nothing."

I had nothing to feel guilty about, but I also couldn't tell

her what had happened. I wasn't sure what to say.

"Really…?"

"Yeah. Um…you were asking about the walk home?"

"Y-yeah…"

I chose my words carefully. "We were just joking around

and stuff."

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"…Oh. Okay."

She nodded, lowering her head slightly, then said softly,

"Everything is okay, right?"

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Um…," she said, then paused for a moment and smiled a

little sadly. "Well, um, I was a bit worried…"

She pulled her phone out and started searching for

something.

"About what?"

"Um…actually, I was looking at your Atafami account…

and I saw this tweet."

What she showed me caught me off guard.

"…What?"

She had a tweet pulled up on her phone.

The handsome, much-discussed nanashi has a

meaningful chat with Rena (original tweet deleted).

A chill ran down my back when I saw the attached image

—a screenshot of a tweet.

You're so mean, Fumiya-kun.

It was yesterday's reply from Rena-chan that I had her

delete after one hour. That was what was attached to this

other tweet.

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"…Can I see that?"

Panicking a little, I took her phone and clicked on the

profile of the person who posted the tweet.

Their avatar was a male Ameba Pigg, and their username

was masa. Scrolling through their past tweets, I saw that

they posted really short comments about Atafami and other

video games every couple of days, and besides that, there

was a lot of stuff about current events and retweets from

content aggregators. A lot of the retweets were political, so

maybe the account's owner was a little older than me.

Most of the tweets were only a short sentence, but

suddenly, these longer extreme statements would pop up,

like The poor are exploited and become even poorer. That's

Japan. and We need a new government now! To make

things even weirder, about one in ten tweets was a retweet

from a bot called @languageofflowers that put out

information on the symbolic meaning of flowers.

"Wh-who is this…?"

I kept scrolling back and noticed a retweet that didn't

quite fit with the rest. It was one of Rena-chan's tweets, with

a selfie attached of her holding some kind of mechanical

gadget.

This is what it said:

The face massager from my wish list arrived! Thank you,

masa-san!

The pieces fell into place. So that's what was going on.

"This guy must be some weird fan of Rena-chan's…," I

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muttered, frowning. I realized Kikuchi-san was probably

confused, since my comment kind of sounded like it was

directed at her. To tell the truth, I was freaking out a little.

"Wh-what does it mean…? Is this girl…Rena-chan?"

I nodded and decided just to give her a quick rundown.

This wasn't worth avoiding.

"Um, this woman named Rena-chan was at the Atafami

meetup I went to, and I think she has some weird followers

since she posts so many selfies… My guess is that masa is

one of her 'fans,' and when he saw her acting like we were

close, he got pissed off or something."

It was true that she'd deleted the tweet right away, which

could have made it look more meaningful than it was.

"Yes, she did call you Fumiya-kun…"

"Um, yeah…"

I realized that Kikuchi-san now knew that Rena-chan was

calling me by my first name with the chummy kun attached,

which made me freak out in a whole new way. Okay, now I

had to explain that, too.

"She's a lot older than me, and that's why she calls me

Fumiya-kun…"

"O-oh, okay… I did see some pictures of her with alcohol."

"R-right!" I said, clinging to the lifeline. I'm sure Kikuchisan was forcing herself to stay calm, but she still managed to

smile, like my explanation was enough for her.

"But…is that okay? Your name is public now…"

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"To tell the truth, I don't care that much…"

Honestly, Fumiya is a super common name, and as long

as my whole name wasn't revealed, I didn't think I'd suffer

any real harm. And even if my full name did get out, I was

fairly sure none of my other personal information was

scattered around anywhere.

"I might just get some hate…but that's the worst of it.

Unpleasant but not that bad."

"Yes, you're probably right…"

She still seemed concerned, which made me want to

reassure her.

"But from what I can tell, it's just this one person. It's not

like he has a bunch of cronies."

I studied the tweet again. It had been retweeted five times

and had zero likes, which was sort of strange. I checked who

had retweeted it, and only one person showed up. The other

four must have private accounts. Puzzling.

By the way, when I checked the replies, I saw that Renachan had tweeted masa-san would you mind deleting this?

I'm sorry! She was probably trying to avoid causing me any

more trouble, but wouldn't her reply just increase the chance

of other people discovering it?

"I don't mind if people find out, so I'm not going to worry

about it. Actually, I feel like Rena-chan is the one who

actually might be in danger…"

Masa-san was Rena-chan's fan—and if she got too friendly

with anyone other than him, he'd probably go after her, not

me.

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"Um, can you wait just one second?"

"…Yes," Kikuchi-san said, nodding anxiously. I handed

her phone back, took my own out, and opened a LINE chat

window with Rena-chan.

[I saw masa-san's tweet. Is everything okay?]

After sending the message, I closed the LINE app and

went to masa-san's Twitter account from my own phone. I

saw that he had followed me. He probably followed anyone

who seemed to have a connection with Rena-chan. For a

second, I considered blocking him, but then I quickly

changed my mind.

"Blocking him…would be bad, wouldn't it? For now, the

important thing is to not upset him…"

"Blocking…?"

Kikuchi-san didn't seem to know what that meant, but I

just went back to my timeline and anxiously refreshed it for

no good reason.

Just then…

"What…?"

The Twitter app was suddenly replaced by a selfie of

Rena-chan, with red and green icons below it.

"…Oh, she's calling me."

The timing was suspicious, and I'm not used to getting

calls to start with, so for a second, I wondered if she'd been

hacked by masa-san, but that was unlikely. Rena-chan

probably saw my LINE message and decided to call.

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But…I glanced timidly in Kikuchi-san's direction. She was

looking back and forth between my face and my phone with

a vaguely uncomfortable expression. Understandably so. I

mean, she'd just seen Rena-chan's selfie on my phone. It was

a really trendy picture; seeing that on your boyfriend's

phone would not feel good.

"Uh…I won't answer."

"What? No, don't worry about it—pick up!"

"No, it's fine." I swiped the red icon, rejecting the call.

"B-but what if she's in danger…?"

She sounded worried, but I shook my head reassuringly.

"It's not like something's gonna happen today or

tomorrow, so I can ask her about it later."

Kikuchi-san glanced down, then echoed the word later.

"This is our time," I said soothingly. Kikuchi-san's

expression stiffened, but once again, she smiled. She was

forcing it.

"Yes, you're right. You should ask her about it later."

She reached for her handbag and softly stroked the

amulet we'd bought together, which was attached to the

zipper. I looked at my own bag. There was the amulet I

bought with Kikuchi-san, and the charm Mimimi had given

me and our other friends.

After a minute, Kikuchi-san suddenly checked her phone

and jumped up.

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"Oh, look at the time! I'd better head home soon."

I looked at my own phone and saw that it was already

seven. I could see her parents being worried if she didn't get

home soon, but her timing was a little odd.

"Y-you do?"

"…Yes, I have to go."

We called the waiter and paid our bill.

As we walked outside, a cold, dry wind chilled my face.

Kikuchi-san was avoiding my gaze, and her lips were pursed.

"K-Kikuchi-san…," I said timidly, but she still seemed offkilter, and I couldn't tell if she was angry or apologetic.

"Yes?"

"I was just wondering what was wrong…"

"…It's nothing!"

Her tone was slightly emotional, which was unusual. She

looked down.

"O-oh…ha-ha."

I had no clue what to do in a situation like this, so my only

option was to smile and hope for the best.

At that moment, Kikuchi-san abruptly turned toward me.

She was pouting, and her eyes were full of determination.

Yeah, I had no idea what she was thinking.

She glanced down, then looked up at me through her

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bangs.

"…Your hand," she mumbled.

"What? My hand?" I repeated. She nodded, and then…

"Can I hold your hand?!"

Wow, wasn't expecting that. Her tone was emotional

again.

"Uh…o-okay. Huh?"

A second ago, she seemed angry, and then she said that? I

couldn't keep up. I managed to stick out my hand, but I had

no idea what was happening.

"What, wh-why…?" I sputtered.

"Um…I—I just want to!"

She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the station.

"Wait, wait, what?"

I couldn't make heads or tails of this, but I was really

happy to be holding her hand, so we walked like that all the

way to the station. A-am I doing okay?

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* * *

"Oh, don't worry. That guy won't come after me in real

life."

"Well, that's good to hear…"

That night, I was talking with Rena-chan on LINE. After

everything that happened with Kikuchi-san, I was slightly

hesitant to talk to her on the phone, but when I sent her a

text message, she called me again.

"He could see me if he came to events, right? But he never

does, so I think he doesn't have the guts to meet in person."

"So you don't have to worry about him?"

"I don't think so. Were you worried about me?"

"Of course. If I thought I was putting you at risk…"

"Thank you. That makes me so happy."

Her tone somehow sounded more grown-up than when

we'd met in person. The conversation was going very

smoothly, although I'm not sure whether it was because she

was leading me along or because I'd installed Mizusawa in

my brain. I couldn't help feeling reassured by the calm

atmosphere that contrasted so sharply with the confusion of

earlier.

"I should be apologizing to you for using your name on

Twitter!"

"Oh…don't worry about that."

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"But that's what led to all this in the first place."

"Ha-ha-ha, that is true. But nothing bad actually

happened, right?" I said, trying to sound as casual as

possible.

"You're very kind," Rena-chan said with a surprising

amount of emotion. "Can I ask you something weird?"

She was building up anticipation in the conversation. It's

a skill that confident people like Mizusawa and Hinami use.

"What…?" I asked a little defensively. She lowered her

voice, like she was telling me a secret.

"I was wondering…"

Her grown-up voice took on a silky, breathy tone as she

asked:

"…have you ever had sex?"

"Wh-what?!" I yelped. I was not ready for that.

"Ah-ha-ha. That's not so weird, is it?" she said teasingly.

"I—I guess not…"

I was getting swept along at her pace now. She was an

adult; I was a seventeen-year-old high school student. She

had way more life experience than me.

"But have you? Slept with a girl, I mean," she asked again.

She was so blunt about it, too, like she wanted to underline

the question. I'd never heard those words come out of a girl's

mouth before in my life, and they were a shock to my brain.

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No, no, no, channel Mizusawa fast!

I took a deep breath, let it out, and said slowly, "No, I

haven't."

I'd taken my time summoning my inner Mizusawa, so I

was able to answer her without sounding too shy. I bet

Mizusawa's done that already, but even if he hadn't, I was

sure he'd answer her confidently.

"Oh, you haven't?" Rena-chan's voice was slowly taking

on its usual sweet, caramelly tone. "But you must be curious,

right?"

This conversation was going in a different direction than

the ones I had at school. Each word reverberated more in my

body than my mind. I didn't even know what I should be

thinking right then.

This bug in the system was threatening to shut down my

brain entirely, so I struggled to make Mizusawa diagnose the

problem.

"If it's with someone I like," I said, trying to put an end to

the conversation.

"Really?" Rena-chan asked, caressing my ear with the

word. "Guys usually are interested even if they don't really

like the person."

"No way."

I was upset by how she was trying to define me, but her

voice was so alluring, it had the power to overcome my

discomfort.

"Okay, I have another question."

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I braced myself.

"Would you want to do it with me?"

"No. Not at all."

I instantly shot her down, which is the one thing I'm good

at, but for some reason, she just giggled. The truth was,

when she asked, I had a flashback to when she touched me—

but I managed to shake it off.

"Is that so?" she asked with seductive sweetness, then

giggled. "Are you free this Saturday, Fumiya-kun?"

"Huh?"

My heart skipped a beat. My brain automatically conjured

up an image of the scene, as if the momentum of the

conversation had taken over me. As if I wanted to know what

came next, even though I didn't like it.

"…Um…"

That desire to know was too strong to hide. Forcing

myself to ignore the images unfolding in my mind, I pulled

myself back to reality.

Then I finally remembered. "…I have plans on Saturday."

Saturday was the meetup with Ashigaru-san and

everyone.

"Oh, okay, then never mind."

"…Yeah."

She casually withdrew her offer, which was more

disappointing than I'd like to admit. I mean, I was in such

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mental chaos that I even forgot about the meetup I'd been

looking forward to.

"I'd better get going. I've got to take a bath."

"What? Oh, okay. Talk to you later."

"Okay, good night."

"…Good night."

Before I could hang up, she was gone. It was strange. She

was the one who came after me, but now I felt like I'd been

dropped in the dirt. What was with her? She was like a cat or

something.

I mean, that last line of hers!

"Did she really have to say that? …About the bath."

Especially after she half forced me to imagine that

suggestive scenario.

It was like she'd just casually pushed a button she

shouldn't have and then sauntered off.

The sensation of her touching my thigh…the warmth of

our shoulders touching…the fully displayed curves of her

body—it was all forcing its way from my subconscious into

my conscious mind, and I couldn't get it out.

"Arghhhhhh! Dammit!!"

I dived onto my bed, started up Atafami, and buried

myself in my winrate to escape.

"…God! Come on!"

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After playing for an hour, I finally felt calm again.

I'm not sure, but I had a feeling that my winrate for that

day was pretty low.

* * *

A few days passed, and the weekend arrived. It was just

before two PM on Saturday.

Hinami and I were outside Ikebukuro Station.

We were twenty minutes early. Five of us, including me

and Hinami, were supposed to meet there and go together to

a space that had been rented for the meetup.

So far, Hinami and I were the only two people there. I'd

gotten on the same Saitama Line train as her because I

thought introducing ourselves would be easier if we showed

up together, but we ended up getting there really early.

"…But honestly, are you sure I don't need to worry about

it?" I glanced at the clock on my phone, fretting over

something entirely different.

"You mean what happened with Fuka-chan?"

"Y-yeah."

"I already told you, it's not a problem," Hinami said,

sounding slightly exasperated.

Even though things with Kikuchi-san were getting back to

normal after the café incident, I still felt too awkward to ask

her what all the holding hands was about. Also, I was having

a hard time talking to her about Rena-chan after that phone

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call.

I told Hinami enough to get her advice without going into

details, and she said I shouldn't worry, so I'd been acting

normal around Kikuchi-san since then…but I wished

Hinami would tell me why.

"A-are you sure?"

"Why would I lie to you about that?"

"O-okay, I know, but…"

I swiped my message log and pulled up the LINE text

Kikuchi-san had sent the night before. Even though we were

talking about completely different topics by now, I was still

fixated on the café. But I didn't have the courage to ask her

about it.

"At the end, she said she wanted to hold hands, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"In that case, you're fine however you look at it, right?"

"I guess so…"

I nodded half-heartedly. She was right that Kikuchi-san

had asked me shyly at the end, which I guess led to that

interpretation. It would also explain why she didn't want to

talk about it.

"Okay," I said. "I believe you."

"Good. You should."

Having forced the vague worries out of my mind, I turned

to responding to Kikuchi-san's LINE message. Since we

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started dating, we'd gotten into the pattern of sending each

other one or two longish LINE messages every day, and that

slow-paced exchange was our main interaction outside

school. I'd gotten a message from her the previous night,

which meant it was about time for me to respond.

"Hmm…"

I typed and retyped for a while until I had something I

was fairly happy with. That was one thing taken care of.

As I let out a long breath, I spotted a small group of

people heading toward us.

"Nanashi-kun and Aoi-san! Hello!" Harry-san called,

waving at us. Max-san was next to him, along with one other

guy—so that must be him.

"Hey, nice to meet you," the third guy said in a quiet,

pleasant voice. There was a longish pause, although not a

nervous one, and then he bowed politely to us.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Aoi."

"I'm nanashi. It's a pleasure."

In response to our cheerful greetings, the guy raised his

eyebrows and nodded slightly.

"Right. I'm Ashigaru."

His voice was slick and aloof. He didn't strike me as

driven, but at the same time, I didn't sense any timidity,

either. The best way to put it is that I couldn't read his

thoughts on his face—but I guess that's a given so soon after

you meet someone.

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This was the pro gamer who used Lizard.

He looked like he was in his mid to late twenties. He was

on the skinny side, wearing a basic outfit of blue jeans and a

black trench coat, and his longish hair was parted on the

side to reveal a good chunk of forehead. His eyes were sharp,

but more in an intelligent way than a threatening way. I'd

seen his photo online before, but my first impression in real

life was that he didn't look like a gamer. A brilliant young

entrepreneur was more like it.

"Anyone else coming?" Ashigaru-san asked Harry-san

casually. Harry-san said this was everyone, to which

Ashigaru-san replied in the same casual tone, "Then let's get

going," and started walking. I'm not sure if living at his own

pace is quite the right expression, but he definitely had a

distinctive tempo.

"Sounds good. It's over this way, nanashi-kun and Aoisan," Harry-san said.

"Okay," we answered, and the five of us set off toward the

venue.

* * *

"Are you two together?"

"No way!"

Ashigaru-san's question made it sound like that was the

obvious conclusion, so I was very forceful in my denial.

Hinami snickered. If you're gonna laugh, then tell him

yourself!

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"Oh, no? Well, I wouldn't want to date another Atafami

player, either. I'm sure we'd be fighting all the time,"

Ashigaru-san said flatly, with just a hint of humor. His tone

was somewhere between talking to himself and having a

conversation, but somehow, it was clear that the comment

was directed at us. Maybe the best way to put it is that he

was talking to himself with the intention of being overheard.

"Ah-ha-ha. You might be right!" Hinami said pleasantly

and smiled.

We were in a multiuse space a few minutes from the

station. A couple of monitors were set up on a long, white

table, with folding tables lined up in front of them.

Apparently, a lot of people use the place for small

tournaments, since all you need to bring is the console.

Incidentally, since there were only five of us today, they'd

only brought one console. I had to remember to thank them

for supplying it.

Harry-san briskly plugged the console into one of the

monitors, and a moment later, the opening screen for

Atafami popped up on the screen.

"All right. Should we start by testing everything out and

then playing some games?"

"You don't waste much time, do you? Can I go first?"

Ashigaru-san asked.

"Be my guest. The truth is, I think everyone here today

wants to play you," Harry-san answered.

"That's a heavy burden to bear…," Ashigaru-san replied,

raising his eyebrows as he slowly walked over to a folding

chair and sat down.

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He craned his neck around to look at us.

"Who wants to go first?"

"I will," someone said without missing a beat.

That someone was the one and only—

"Oh, nanashi-kun?"

Yup, it was me. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw

that Hinami's hand was raised to around belly-button level,

which made me think she might have wanted to go first

herself. Too bad, my windup was faster.

"I've been wanting to play you for a long time."

"Ha-ha. Of course the guy who makes me the most

nervous has to be first."

Ashigaru-san scratched the back of his neck, like I'd

beaten him at something, but I didn't detect any panic or

nervousness in his face.

"What should we do about rules? Rock-paper-scissors to

decide who gets to choose the stage?" he asked. I gave him

my most serious look.

"No…," I said quietly, but with determination.

After all, I hadn't come here out of pure curiosity.

"I'd like to use the rules from pro tournaments, like the

ones you play in. Where we can anyway."

I looked him straight in the eye. He nodded, his face

blank.

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"Hmm…" His eyes remained uninterested, but his mouth

formed a smile. "Why's that?" he asked bluntly.

"…Uh…"

I felt vaguely resistant to saying the truth out loud.

But the guy in front of me was a pro gamer who actually

played in that world.

This wasn't the time to crawl into a protective shell.

"I want to know how I'll do playing a pro using pro rules."

I definitely hadn't managed to express all my feelings or

thoughts. But Ashigaru-san nodded and slowly shifted his

serious gaze toward the screen.

"Then you better be ready to play hard," he said.

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* * *

The match between Ashigaru-san and me began.

We were playing by the rules they used at the higher levels

of international tournaments—the first person to win three

games would win the match.

I chose Found as usual, and Ashigaru-san naturally chose

Lizard.

To decide the stage from a limited number of

predetermined options, we did rock-paper-scissors. The

winner got to rule out one stage, then the loser ruled out

two, and the winner chose from those remaining. That's how

they do it at international tournaments. The predetermined

options are slightly different in Japan, which always makes

me wish everyone would get on the same page.

"Here we go."

"Yup, here we go."

By the way, since I'm constantly battling for my online

winrate, I almost always play on either the Ends of the Earth

or the Arena. Sometimes, when I play Hinami, we choose a

different stage, but my guess was that I had way less EXP

than Ashigaru-san when it came to stages.

I won at rock-paper-scissors and ruled out Buono

Volcano, and Ashigaru-san ruled out the Arena and

Battleship Claycia. From what remained, I chose the Ends of

the Earth. It was a little bigger than the other options and

notable for its total flatness and lack of platforms. I had a

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hard time knowing what would give me an advantage

against Lizard, and my priority was going with something

familiar.

"Three! Two! One!"

As the announcer counted down, a ninja and a lizardman

descended to the stage.

This was my first offline match against a pro, so I was

pretty tightly wound up.

"GO!"

The game began. At the same instant, Ashigaru-san

started turning the stage into a minefield. Lizard's

firecrackers are essentially projectiles that go off at a fixed

time. One was at the approximate midpoint between Lizard

and me, and another had landed right next to me, creating

an advantageous situation for him.

I calmly evaded the firecracker with a short hop, then got

a throwing knife ready and launched it at the right moment,

hitting Lizard. Even though the damage was minor, it would

stack up.

Lizard kept me in check by firing skyrockets (his UAttack) and laying steel traps, while at the same time doing

low-risk pokes like down tilts.

My Found withdrew, then turned around at the right

moment and threw a knife, scoring some damage. At this

point, both of us were only using projectiles.

"Throwing knives can be a real pain when you're walling

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each other out."

"Yeah, 'cause they're so fast."

Harry-san and Max-san were chatting as they watched us

play. Compared with when they were broadcasting, they

sounded calmer and didn't talk as much.

By walling out, I meant how neither of us was going in for

a melee attack. Instead, we were keeping each other at bay

with a bunch of projectiles and trying to bait each other into

attacking. Found and Lizard use different but equally

powerful types of projectiles, so both are good at zoning this

way.

I spotted a firecracker, moved to a safe position, then got

a throwing knife ready.

The key when you're up against a projectile character like

Lizard is to make it risky for them to just drop a bunch of

explosives and wait for them to go off.

Since projectiles let you attack your opponent from a

distance, you're not very vulnerable to counterattacks.

Although it doesn't allow for direct attacks, it's a no-risk,

failproof move.

If you want to prevent that, you can create risk. If tossing

out projectiles and waiting results in taking damage, then

your opponent has to attack.

I was using throwing knives to do that. Since they're fast

and hard to dodge, they're tough to avoid after you see them,

despite how weak they are.

Even if they cause only a small percentage of damage,

they still put pressure on a projectile player and limit their

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options.

"What do you think of this matchup, in terms of

compatibility?"

"I wonder. Found is probably having a tough time because

he's good at hand-to-hand combat, but his opponent can use

projectiles to escape. And Lizard is in a bind because the

throwing knives are putting him at risk at long distance… I

give it five minutes."

"Yeah, these two characters have totally different fighting

styles."

Found wants to use the enemy's lag to swoop in close and

deal heavy damage with combos while skillfully reading

them, while Lizard wants to keep his distance and control

his opponent by showering them with projectiles, gradually

racking up damage while maintaining the advantage. In a

sense, their fighting styles are polar opposites.

"With this matchup, each player is trying to use his usual

strats and keep his opponent from doing the same. Of

course, reading each other on a detailed level is still

important, but a broader perspective might be even more

crucial."

"Interesting."

In a game like this against a projectile character, Found

was the one more likely to carry the psychological burden.

After all, at any given moment, some sort of enemy projectile

was going to be on the stage, so you always had to be

thinking about how to deal with that. Meanwhile, because

Found's opponent could constantly create an advantageous

situation, they were able to control the game. What I had to

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think about was how to break down the situation he'd

created.

Found was hit by several fireworks and knocked back

slightly. I wanted to land on the stage, but more fireworks

and Molotovs flew around me, blocking my way. I remained

calm and observed my opponent, looking for moves that

resulted in lag and calculating where I'd need to be to punish

him, managing my distance. By rattling my opponent now

and then, I undermined his footing.

"I could never do that. I lose my cool when I'm that

outmatched."

"Ah-ha-ha. But that's the worst thing to do when you're

playing Lizard."

"I guess that's true."

"You're right that it's tough when your opponent always

has the advantage, but think about it another way. Your

opponent has to constantly be tipping the game in his favor,

right? And there are always openings when you can break

that down."

Dancing in midair, Lizard tossed out two firecrackers.

Then, in order to prevent me from attacking when he

landed, he launched his skyrocket U-Attack. It's a distinctive

type of move where the rocket is released into the air and

falls back down to the ground after a moment.

This was my chance.

I made my play during his ending lag. Underneath the

falling skyrocket, Found grabbed Lizard. Basically, the

fireworks would come down after a delay directly above the

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two characters. Since I was the only one who would take

damage, this situation wasn't good for me.

"But he's going to be hit by the—"

Before Max-san could finish his sentence, I waited a beat

and then input the command for a down throw.

The fireworks dropped directly onto Found—but my

character took no damage, instead smashing Lizard onto the

ground so he rebounded into the air.

"…Huh?" Max-san asked, confused, while I transitioned to

a true combo. I could read Ashigaru-san perfectly, and all at

once, I inflicted so much damage that it made up for all the

firecrackers that had hit me.

"Like I was saying, it seems like there's no lag, but there

actually are opportunities to break him down."

"…But what just happened? It looked like he took a direct

hit from those fireworks…"

"You don't know about that? When you go from a grab to

a throw, all characters get a few i-frames. Not many,

though."

"Oh yeah…now I remember."

"He dived under the fireworks his opponent launched,

then right as the rocket was about to hit, he got the

invincibility from the throw. Seems impossible, but he made

it out. Of course, it's really difficult; only a highly skilled

player could manage it."

Lizard's skyrockets come with lots of ending lag, but since

the attack itself hits during that lag, it's risky for the other

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player to take advantage of it. It's a unique move. If you do

manage to take advantage of it, Lizard gets hit by your

attack, but you get hit by the rocket. And since the rocket

packs a lot of punch, you usually end up taking more

damage than you dish out.

But if you're able to use the invincibility from a throw at

that moment, you can make the most of the lag without any

damage. It's even more effective for characters like Found,

who's got some really good combos that start with the throw.

I wouldn't call it no-risk since you can mess it up, but it's

definitely a low-risk, high-return strategy.

"Wow…amazing."

"You can say reads are like rock-paper-scissors, but there

are also things only very skilled players can do. It makes

watching a lot more fun when you think about the battlefield

experience you need to get to that point and the guts it takes

to do it."

"Man, there's a lot to this game."

After that, I kept on using strategies that depended on my

skill as a player to seize control of the match.

And—I won the first game.

* * *

"Well, that was interesting."

Ashigaru-san didn't seem upset at all after this first loss.

"…Phew."

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I took a breath, soaking in the situation.

I was playing a pro gamer. A real pro who played all over

the world.

But I hadn't fallen behind, and I'd even won the first

game.

I'd been unsure, but now I was almost certain that I—

"How long have you been playing Atafami?" Ashigaru-san

suddenly asked me.

"Uh, I've been playing since it came out, but I got into it

more…about two years ago."

"Wow, you're really good considering that. You know the

game inside and out."

"Y-you think so? Thank you."

"Of course, I probably shouldn't be on my high horse,

since I just lost."

"No, not at all…"

We both laughed a little.

"You said you want to play with tournament rules, right?

What do you plan to do after this?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, although I had a guess.

"About Atafami. I was wondering if you wanted to go

pro."

Rubbing his chin, Ashigaru-san casually dived into the

heart of the matter. It was something I'd pretended not to

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think about, but that was the world where this guy lived.

"Um…I do have some interest in it."

Maybe because it was Ashigaru-san, I'd given an honest

answer without even realizing.

"Uh-huh."

"But I don't know if I have what it takes…not that I lack

confidence in my ability. More like…?"

"It doesn't feel like a real option?"

"Yeah."

He was helping a little, but I was managing to explain my

feelings.

"And that's why you wanted to play by pro rules?"

"…Yes, I think so."

"Ha-ha-ha. Sounds like you don't quite know what you're

thinking." Once again, he hit the nail on the head in that

casual tone. He looked at me, then went on. "In that case—

your best bet is to give it a try."

"You mean…playing as a pro?" I asked, my voice shaking a

little.

"No, not that…," he said.

"Then what?"

Rubbing his chin must be a habit of his because he did it

again when he answered:

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"Play under the same conditions as a pro."

"Huh?" I asked, caught off guard. "Isn't that what we just

did?"

I'd gone out of my way to ask that we use pro rules for

choosing the stage and declaring a winner, and I thought

that's what we did.

But Ashigaru-san shook his head. "Nope. I mean yes, the

rules were the same."

"…The rules?" I was so lost.

"Okay…I'll give you an example." He glanced behind him,

then called out to Hinami. "Aoi-san, you said you're a friend

of nanashi-kun's, right?"

"What? Yes, b-but…"

I looked back at her. She appeared slightly confused at the

sudden question. She didn't seem to get his point, either.

"Do you know any embarrassing stories about him?"

She paused for a moment, considering this unexpected

question, then smiled impishly.

"Loads."

"Hey!"

I didn't know why we were on this subject, but Hinami

was running with it.

"Ah-ha-ha, great," said Ashigaru-san. "Okay then…Harrykun."

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"Yeah?"

"You know lots of embarrassing things about me, right?"

Harry-san scratched his neck. "Uh, yeah…including some

I can't talk about."

"That's not good…"

Ashigaru-san was talking to all of us in the same elusive

way, and I still couldn't figure out what he was getting at.

"So…why are you asking?" I asked him. He raised his

eyebrows.

"Okay. The first person to lose three games gets an

embarrassing story told to the rest of us."

"What the heck?!" This was pointless; what was he doing?

"What? Not following?"

"Nope."

Also, this could get really bad considering the secrets that

Hinami and I knew about each other. I was sure she could

tell embarrassing stories about me all day.

"Well, you'll understand once we do it. Of course, we'll

count the game we just played, so you've got to win two

more, and I have to win three."

"All right, fine…"

And so I was swept along into accepting his conditions. If

an actual pro gamer was saying this was analogous to how

pros played, then it must be true. I guess. It was terrifying to

think about what Hinami would reveal if I lost, so I just had

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to win.

"Go, Ashigaru-san!" Hinami said.

"Hey!"

She couldn't wait to tell some particular story about me; I

could see it in her eyes. What the hell was she planning to

say? I was already filled with dread.

"All right, ready for the second game?"

With that, we restarted our match, this time with

Ashigaru-san's mysterious rule added to the mix.

* * *

"Uh-oh! We're in overtime now."

For the next three games, Ashigaru-san and I took turns

winning, so we each had two wins under our belt—and I still

didn't understand why he'd brought up that odd rule.

"Damn, I wanted to end it there! Well, next game's the

last," I said, letting my emotions show. I was playing an

adult, but through Atafami, I felt like I could relax and enjoy

myself like we were both kids again. Of course, I was still

technically a kid myself.

Two-to-two in a three-win setup. The next game would be

the last, whether it ended in joy or tears. By the way, in the

four games we'd played so far, I think I had the edge by just

the tiniest bit. When I won, I won fairly easily, but when

Ashigaru-san won, it was usually a close win after a tough

fight. If I played the way I had up till now, I had a good

chance of victory.

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But I felt strange.

"I thought I'd be crushing it a little more at a meetup like

this. Nanashi-kun, what's your strategy?"

"Uh…it's a long story."

If I got into the situation with NO NAME, it would go on

forever. Also, I couldn't reveal anything about her.

"Ah…"

I couldn't tell if he was interested or not. The distinctive

way he phrased himself left me unsure where he was

headed.

"So should we get started?"

For some reason, I didn't feel like I was winning as we

chose the stage—the Ends of the Earth.

I'd won the first game on this stage—but Ashigaru-san

was the one who had chosen it.

Yeah, I had no idea what his thought process was.

"Here we go."

As our audience looked on with bated breath, the final

game began.

* * *

The game got off to a quiet start.

Whoever won this one would win the whole set.

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Whoever lost here would lose overall and have an

embarrassing secret revealed.

Maybe it was the pressure of the setup, but each action

felt weightier, and my level of concentration changed, too.

I'd been leading by one game up till now. I took the first

game, he pulled even in the next, and I pulled ahead in the

one after that. At that point, I only needed one more win, but

he pulled even once again, and now here we were.

In other words, I was within reach of defeat for the first

time.

"Nanashi-kun is being cautious."

"Agreed."

The words filtered through my consciousness and

abruptly entered my head. It was Max-san and Harry-san.

Of course I was being cautious—I had to be. Naturally,

being overly cautious wouldn't give me more abilities than I

normally had, but I needed to concentrate and reduce

whatever risks I could. I needed every bit of help I could get.

I turned my attention to Lizard, who was scattering his

fireworks. Ashigaru-san was playing cautiously, too—but

Lizard was the type of character who controlled the situation

and then waited, so he didn't go on the offensive to start

with. In that sense, you could say Ashigaru-san was playing

like he had in the previous games while I was playing more

carefully. The game as a whole was much slower than before.

"Ooh! He shielded against a throwing knife and got

grabbed! Nanashi-kun really knows how to keep his cool in

these situations."

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"He's so good at reading the other player… It's like he

grabbed him the second he shielded."

"Ah-ha-ha. That might be an overstatement. But I get

your point."

Threading between the fireworks and steel traps using

dashes, short hops, and fast falls, I feinted a knife throw,

then canceled immediately, dashed again, lured him into

shielding, and grabbed him. Since Found is a ninja, he runs

in a crouch, and he falls pretty quick; so as long as I didn't

mess up the inputs, it was possible to nimbly avoid Lizard's

projectiles.

Once I grabbed him, I threw him, then hesitated over

which combo to go for. There were two standard options: a

reliable one with slightly lower damage, and one that that

wasn't a true combo but could become a much higherdamage string if I made the correct read. Up till now, I'd

been playing it safe for a high expected return and basically

chosen the first, but this time, more from instinct than logic,

I chose the latter.

"Huh…"

"—Nice!"

It was a good choice. After a successful read, I inflicted

major damage on Ashigaru-san.

"Wow! Look at that damage! Is this where he takes

control?" Harry-san shouted enthusiastically.

But Ashigaru-san was calmly moving Lizard around. He

wasn't panicking even a little as he threw out more

firecrackers. It was like nothing had changed for him. Yup,

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he's a pro, all right.

But I was riding the wave now. Found readied a throwing

knife and swiftly jumped, then released the knife at a

downward slant toward Lizard. After provoking Lizard to

shield, I landed and approached for a simple read.

That's when it happened.

I heard a loud noise.

The knife disappeared, and Ashigaru-san stopped

shielding.

"No way! A perfect shield!"

Shit. He got me.

By releasing your shield in tandem with your opponent's

attack, you can shorten the lag from shielding. It's a difficult

technique that lets you quickly transition into your next

move.

It would be hard enough to perfect shield a landing aerial,

which is easy to predict in terms of timing, but to do it

against a throwing knife that takes only an instant to reach

its target, you have to basically read your opponent's mind

perfectly.

So did he know what I was planning?

He got me after I released the knife, landed, and started a

dash attack. At that point, I lost a read and took several hits,

which easily undid my lead from the first combo.

Yeah, he's a pro. The usual tricks don't work with him.

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After that, we went back and forth for a while until we

each had only one stock left.

I'd taken more damage than him, so if I was hit by a move

with enough knockback, I'd lose. But Ashigaru-san was in

danger, too. If either of us was hit hard enough, the game

would end, and the winner would be decided.

Right now, I was at the edge. I couldn't fade back any

more, which put me at a disadvantage. I was close to the

blast zone, too, and since Found is light, it would be easier

for me to be killed than him.

Ashigaru-san was throwing out heaps of firecrackers to

keep me from gaining ground on the stage. He wasn't trying

to hit me with them; he was destroying my pathways in. As I

waited to avoid them all, he came right up next to me and

shot off a skyrocket.

It was like the first game.

We were right next to each other. A skyrocket launched by

Lizard was over my head, falling toward both characters. We

probably had a little over a second until it landed.

If there was a difference with the first game, it was that

we'd both taken a lot of damage—in other words, whoever

suffered a major hit now would lose.

I traced the path of the rocket with my eyes, thinking

deeply and quickly with both instinct and logic.

What should I do?

The rocket is descending. I'm the only one who'll take

damage, so if I don't do anything, I'll get hit, the game will

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end, and I'll lose. Meaning I've gotta protect myself.

The easiest option is to roll quickly toward the middle of

the platform. Rolling brings an instant of invincibility and

will take me a certain distance, so if I use it now, I can dodge

the rocket and retake some ground.

But that option is fairly predictable, and rolls take enough

frames that if my opponent is paying decent attention, it

won't be impossible for him to take advantage of it even if he

acts after I start moving. At my current percentage, an up tilt

alone would be enough to kill me, so this option is slightly

risky in my present situation. At the very least, it's not

something I'd choose unconditionally.

Then another idea flickers across my mind—the move I'd

made earlier.

Grab my opponent, throw him, and weather the explosion

of the rocket with the i-frames. It's a difficult technique.

But it combines offense and defense, and if I do it well,

there's not much my opponent can do to defend against it.

The only problem is—the difficulty.

If I mess it up, the game ends then and there.

Matching up the invincibility from the throw with the full

length of the explosion only allows a few frames of leeway.

Of course, I've got a high likelihood of succeeding, and I did

it in the first game like it was nothing.

But—is it the right choice in such a high-pressure

situation?

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Like I said, it's a great move that combines offense and

defense, but at this percentage, I don't have a way to directly

kill Lizard after throwing him. Of course, if I throw him over

the edge and then edge guard successfully, I could end up

winning, but if I mess up, it's certain death. Defeat is a very

real risk now. I don't think the choice is worth it.

Another thought comes to mind.

Earlier, in a similar situation, I used the invincibility from

a throw and went into a combo.

It was the move that Harry-san and Max-san were so

surprised by.

I'm certain it's carved into Ashigaru-san's memory as

well.

Meaning he's probably considered the possibility that I'll

grab him right now. And if he lets me do it a second time,

he'll be at a disadvantage. Found will end up edge guarding,

which he's really good at.

In other words…

…right now, Ashigaru-san is likely going to anticipate a

grab. Of course, this is a read, and I'm unlikely to do the

exact same thing twice. I'll probably switch it up in order to

throw him off, like you switch up rock-paper-scissors, so I

bet that's not the only thing he's preparing for. But I doubt

he'll leave himself vulnerable to a grab either way.

In which case, the options open to him right now are to

spot dodge, step back, or do some other defensive move that

would allow him to dodge a throw or an attack at the same

time. Or if he decided I was definitely going to go for a

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throw, he could do a forward tilt or something in my

direction, going for a melee option. Those are the two most

likely scenarios.

Assuming he's read me that far.

Then what I should do right now—is shield.

Shielding will give me a draw or better in either case.

If he chooses to attack, I can safely use his ending lag to

throw him.

If he chooses to spot dodge, I still shouldn't have to read

him at a disadvantage, and at the very least, it won't lead

directly to a KO.

Most of all, unlike the option of using the invincibility

from throwing to weather the explosion, things will play out

in a more predictable way. I can't lose the game by screwing

up the move.

In the space of an instant, all those logical and instinctive

thoughts ran through my mind, and in the end, I decided to

shield.

All that was left was to watch Ashigaru-san carefully and

cope with whatever he did next.

"Gotcha."

I heard Ashigaru-san's cold, sharp voice.

The next instant, his Lizard was grabbing my Found.

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"…What?"

I couldn't figure out what was happening. That should've

been impossible. A grab? Here?

I mean, if I'd chosen to grab him—which was the biggest

risk on his end—I'd have gotten him before he could get me.

I'd already shown him I could do that difficult technique, yet

he'd completely ruled out my performing it again. Why?

This wasn't among my standard tactics. It was an insane

choice.

He was still holding me but not doing anything else.

Because his goal wasn't to throw me.

"Shit…!"

I started shaking the stick around and pressing buttons to

get out of his hold, but I already knew.

At this percentage, it was impossible.

Once Found was in Lizard's grasp, he couldn't do

anything.

The helpless Found would be hit by the powerful

skyrocket.

I would be blasted off the stage.

And—game.

* * *

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"Whew. Good game."

"G-good game…"

I was staring at the controller in a daze.

The familiar background music for the character-selection

screen was playing over the speakers of the monitor. I felt

vaguely empty.

"That was close," Ashigaru-san said, then stopped. He

didn't seem to be seeking any response from me, so maybe

he was trying to be gentle.

"…Um," I said, still staring at the controller.

"Yeah?" he said in the same tone.

"At the end…"

"Oh, that."

He seemed to understand from those few words. Just to

be sure, I finished my question.

"At the end, when you grabbed me…was there a reason?"

I mean, most ordinary players wouldn't make that choice.

The most typical moves for me to make in the situation

would have been to short hop and quickly do a neutral air, or

simply roll onto the stage, or even pull out the offensivedefensive move that I'd done before.

A grab would lose to any of those moves—and he'd chosen

it anyway.

"It was like—"

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The move that no one would ordinarily make was—

"It was like you knew I was going to shield."

Ashigaru-san answered my question casually. "Yeah, I

definitely knew."

"…How?" I mumbled.

He sank into thought before he found the words. "That's

what it means to be a pro."

"Oh…"

What kind of logic was that? I've got an intuitive side to

me, but I could hardly believe that was something you'd

"just know."

"You mean since you're a pro, you knew intuitively?"

"Oh, no, that's not what I meant."

"So…"

Ashigaru-san nodded. Then he lightly flicked the control

stick in his left hand with his thumb.

"I knew that if you played under the same conditions as a

pro, that's what you'd do."

The click reverberated quietly through the room, striking

my eardrums meaningfully.

"It's like this." He tilted his head, as if what he was about

to say pained him slightly. "If you and I played a hundred

times, I think you'd probably win the majority of the games."

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"Huh?" I looked at him again.

His face was serious, and I knew he wasn't just saying it to

make me feel better.

"I mean, you sensed it, too, right? When it comes to

movement and precision, or even your ability to update your

strategies midgame, you're honestly better than me. By one

or even two notches."

"Uh, um…"

It was hard to answer a question like that, but he was

right that I'd held the lead for longer in our match, and until

the last game, I'd even thought that I'd win if I could keep it

up.

"But I'm the one who lost."

"Yes. You did." He grinned. Then he brought his hand to

his chin and slowly continued. "You probably realized this,"

he said, tapping my controller. "But the last game was our

fifth, after we'd each won two."

"…Uh-huh."

Then he shifted his gaze from my controller to my face

and said pointedly:

"You were playing differently, nanashi-kun."

He said it very clearly.

And he was right.

"…I know. In that last game, I was being cautious."

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"Yep." His voice was emotionless, aloof, and challenging.

"Were you nervous?"

"Um…yeah."

He smiled again.

"Of course you were. Your first set against me was

hanging on that game, and whoever lost would suffer

consequences."

I nodded silently. I've hated to lose since the day I was

born, and if I lost, who the hell knew what Hinami would

reveal about me. I was more nervous during this match than

I'd ever been before.

"You wanted to win, and you couldn't afford to lose that

last game. The nervousness and worry threw you off. When

you panic, you want to end the game more quickly. Instead

of waiting it out, you attack as an escape. All the same, in a

read where your own death is on the line, you can't even

bring yourself to take the risk you need to take."

"What do you mean?"

"Still not with me?" he asked, then seemed to remember

something. "For example… Yeah. In the last game, on your

first stock, when you went into a combo from a throw.

Usually, you go into a true combo, but in that instance, you

chose a read with more damage on the line, right?"

"Yeah…I did."

It was like he was looking right through me. I nodded,

thinking back to the game. But that choice had worked out

well, and I'd been able to inflict serious damage.

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"When I saw that, I knew you were escaping."

"…Escaping?"

"Yeah. A classic example of attacking to escape."

I was starting to understand his point. "From the

pressure, you mean?"

He nodded.

"I bet you've seen the same thing in a lot of online games.

Your opponent is nervous to play you, and they can't attack

because you've put pressure on them, but they also can't

bear to wait for an opening. Eventually, they break down

and do an easy dash throw or something even though it's not

the time for it."

"…Yeah, I've seen that."

That's usually when I'm able to take control of the game

and dominate until the end.

"They just want to be free of the pressure as quickly as

possible. They want to win. That's the kind of mental

weakness that gives rise to impossible attacks for the

purpose of escape. And this time, you did that."

"…Damn."

He'd critiqued me in very clear terms, but I didn't have a

word to say in my defense.

"If you lost here, you lost overall. And then you'd have

something embarrassing said about you. Regular online

games don't carry that anxiety, so you wanted to escape the

pressure, and you reflexively leaped for the possibility of

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landing major damage from a single combo, even if it was a

less reliable choice."

He was precisely describing my unconscious actions.

At that moment, I hadn't had any special logic for my

decision—I just made an instinctive choice. The result was

that I had won the next read and damage, but that was just

hindsight. The motivating factor was a desire to escape, and

that wasn't praiseworthy at all.

"I seemed to be attacking…but the truth is, I was running

from the slow and steady fight," I said, making sure I

understood.

He nodded. "Right. That's why I knew that at the very

end, you'd run away again."

"You mean…when I shielded?"

"Uh-huh."

That last showdown on the ledge. I'd thrown him in the

first game, and then I tried to outwit him by shielding.

But I'd thought it was a coolheaded, safe choice to avoid

the risk of screwing up the input.

Ashigaru-san looked at the ceiling pensively.

"You've probably practiced that move—the one where you

made it through Lizard's fireworks with the i-frames from a

throw—plenty of times in training mode, right?"

"Yeah, I have."

I'd used two controllers and practiced it obsessively until I

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was satisfied.

"Given who you are, your chance of success was probably

better than ninety percent, right?"

I nodded wordlessly, then realized his point. "…Oh."

"Yeah."

He nodded, too, and I put the thought into words myself.

"I was so afraid of that single-digit risk of failing…that I

ended up shielding when I shouldn't have."

Ashigaru-san grinned. "And there you have it. Since I

knew from your attack earlier that you wanted to escape, I

knew you wouldn't try grabbing me."

It felt less like he was doing a postmortem of an Atafami

game and more like he was talking about me as a person.

"But you know what? That wasn't where I felt your urge to

escape most strongly."

What he said next really got to me.

"It wasn't…?"

Because his next words truly were about me as a person.

"Remember what you said after the first game? You said

you weren't sure what you wanted to do."

He was right. I did say that to him.

"And that conversation…influenced the final read?" I

asked, stifling my frustration.

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"Of course."

He'd noticed—not nanashi's weakness or confusion, but

Fumiya Tomozaki's.

"So I was pretty confident," he said piercingly, then gave

me a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"That's what it means to play under the same conditions

as a pro."

I finally got it.

It could be an embarrassing story, or it could be anything

else.

In fact, the penalty we were trying to avoid this time was

too light.

The conditions pros played under?

On their battlefield, they had to win that game or else.

When Ashigaru-san played, he and his opponents weren't

just facing the possibility of an embarrassing story being told

—they were betting something more important.

It wasn't just their skill as a player on display; it was their

mental state.

Their ability to face themselves without running away—

their strength as a person.

"Playing with the weight of the game right in front of your

eyes…is that it?" I asked, feeling as if my own human

weakness were on a rampage. Ashigaru-san smiled.

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"It's like competing for the best winrate over the course of

a hundred games versus winning the game you're playing

right at this moment. Those two things seem similar, but

they're not."

After that definitive statement, Ashigaru-san set the

controller down on the desk with a clatter.

* * *

It was ten or fifteen minutes later.

Ashigaru-san and I had handed over our seats to Hinami

and Harry-san, and we were standing behind them, chatting.

"So how do you feel now that we've played? Did you

decide anything?"

"Uh…"

Again, I didn't know how to answer.

Up till now, I'd been groping in the dark, but now I felt

like I had the compass I needed to move forward. What did I

want? What was I seeking? What did I enjoy doing?

I'd realized something when we went to Tama-chan's

house.

When it comes to career paths, what you want isn't the

sole deciding factor.

"This is a really practical question…but if you become a

pro gamer, is it…?"

"Is it enough to live on?"

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"Uh…y-yeah." I nodded, embarrassed.

"I get your concern. I mean, this job didn't even exist until

recently. Those practical issues are incredibly important. We

pay a lot of attention to them."

"I b-bet."

He rubbed his chin in his customary way. "When it comes

to working as a pro gamer, of course you've gotta be good at

the game. But that's not all."

"It's not?"

"For instance, it's also important to create a character for

yourself. In a sense, it's a popularity contest."

"Huh…interesting."

I'd seen some of that myself. When I started checking out

the Twitter and YouTube accounts of pro gamers and

commentators after the last meetup, I noticed that they each

had their own strategy for managing their image. It was

similar to making sure your cakes didn't just taste good, but

that they looked good, too.

"And if the game gets updated and your usual character

suddenly sucks, you can't just give up and say, I can't win.

You've got to practice using a new character you can win

with again. Or find a way to win with that weak character.

You have to be able to adapt to a constantly changing

environment."

"I can see how that would be true."

It's the same online.

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"And another thing. There's a mental aspect to it.

Experience counts for a lot in this world, but you gotta have

the personality for it, too. Will you be able to play as well as

usual even in a totally different environment or a foreign

country? Will you be able to stop yourself from panicking?

Those things are important."

"Like I panicked today."

Ashigaru-san nodded, smiling wryly. "Exactly. In a way,

being good at casual matches is different from being good at

tournaments… If you don't have the mental and emotional

ability to produce steady results over time, you won't make it

as a pro."

"Huh…"

As I listened, I felt like the hazy jumble of thoughts at the

back of my mind was slowly being brought into focus.

It was partly from the game we'd just played and partly

from the practical conversation we were having.

Or maybe it started the second I came face-to-face with

this actual pro gamer.

So I decided to ask him point-blank about something I'd

been strangely unwilling to put into words before.

"Um, I'm in my second year of high school right now,

and…"

I decided to see what Ashigaru-san had to say about the

thought that had been in the back of my mind.

I still knew practically nothing about this world—so I'd be

best off asking someone who did know. That's what I've

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always done.

"…do you think I should consider trying to become a pro

gamer without going to university?"

Ashigaru-san's eyes widened in surprise, and he paused

for a second like he was unsure what to say.

"Well…I wouldn't recommend that."

"…Why not?"

I hadn't expected that response. He went on in his usual

aloof and even tone.

"Some people might say that if you genuinely want to be a

pro, you won't have time for school. But you could also say

that you don't know how well or how long you'll be able to

support yourself as a pro, so it's best to go to university."

He rested his hand on his chin.

"Personally, I think it'd be hard to dive straight into being

a full-time pro."

"Um…because it doesn't pay enough?"

"Of course, that's part of it, but…"

"But?"

He answered like he was speaking from experience.

"…unless you have a certain level of numerical data to

point to, the people in your life won't be supportive."

"Ah…"

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Ashigaru-san looked to the side, hesitating. "Obviously,

the most important thing in deciding your career is what you

yourself want, and if that doesn't match up with what other

people in your life want, I think you should still go through

with it. But you're still in high school, right?"

"…Yeah."

"Then you're probably dependent on your parents…and

you can't just graduate from high school and immediately

support yourself as a pro gamer, right? You wouldn't have

enough income."

That reminded me of something.

When I went to Tama-chan's house with Takei and

Mimimi, we'd talked about something similar. When you're

choosing a career, you're depending on the support of other

people. You can't decide completely on your own.

"That means that you need to be just as serious about

gaining their support as paying the bills. I guess that's kind

of inevitable, since gaming as a career is in a transitional

period right now."

"Interesting…"

"It's tough," he said with a tired smile. "If you don't go to

school anyway, you'll have to get a job to pay the bills and

squeeze in your practice whenever you can, so you'll end up

having the same amount of time as if you were in university,

right? Maybe even less."

"…That's true."

His words were rooted in reality—and I'm pretty sure he

was talking directly from his own experience in that world.

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This was reality. This was life.

An innocent, happy expression came over his face.

"But making a living playing video games really is a kid's

dream," he said.

"Yeah. I've always wished I could do it as a job."

I bet every kid who loves gaming has had that thought at

least once.

"Right? And now that industry is being created."

"…What a time to be alive, huh?" I couldn't help smiling.

"But that's exactly why I want you to remember one

thing."

"…Yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded, his expression tightening.

"Because it's a dream, you have to be all the more realistic

about how you get there."

Finally, he smiled kindly.

"Moving toward your goal one step at a time. That's how

we gamers do it, right, kid?"

* * *

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing each other in

various matchups and finally headed home at night.

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In terms of who won the most games, I think the order

was me, Ashigaru-san, Hinami, and then a bit behind us,

Harry-san and Max-san. But partway through, Hinami

started playing with characters other than Found, so it's

questionable whether that order really reflected our relative

skill levels.

"Thanks so much for inviting us today!"

"Yes, thank you!"

Hinami politely thanked Ashigaru-san and the others, and

I followed her lead.

"You're welcome. I had a great time. I never would have

guessed that nanashi once trounced a classmate at Atafami

in front of a big crowd. Like a bunch of kids!"

"Okay, let's not talk about that."

Ashigaru-san was teasing me about the story Hinami had

told the group after I lost. Friggin' Hinami had to choose the

perfect Atafami-related story to entertain them with, of

course…

We all walked to the station together and went off toward

our various trains. Hinami and I were the only ones taking

the Saikyo Line toward Omiya, so we split up from the other

three there.

"Well, nanashi-kun, the pro world is waiting whenever

you decide to join us," Ashigaru-san said casually.

"…Yes, I'll give it some serious thought."

"You seem like you've already been doing that."

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With that, the meetup ended.

Hinami and I were on the train together.

When I glanced at her phone, I noticed she had Twitter

pulled up. She was probably checking what people were

saying about today's meetup. It's not good to read over

someone's shoulder, though, so I swiftly looked away. It was

true that she'd been using Found quite a bit today.

"Hey, Hinami."

"…What?" she said, throwing me a quick glance while

continuing to do something on her phone, then looking back

at the screen.

"Did you have fun today?"

She smiled wryly. "What are you, my dad?"

"That's not it. I just…"

She was right, though. I did feel a little like a dad taking

his kid to the science museum.

"Well…that is why I invited you," I said simply.

Hinami turned down the brightness on her phone and

stared at the black screen. I'm sure she was looking at her

own reflection.

"Let's see…"

The train wasn't really crowded, but there wasn't room for

us to sit next to each other. The periodic clanging of the

wheels filled the space between us.

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"I did. A normal amount of fun," she said bluntly.

I didn't sense that she was lying.

"Atafami's a good game," she said, gazing out the window.

The outskirts of Saitama were already dark. I could see

Hinami's reflection in the window; the smile on her lips was

slightly amused, but the image was too hazy to tell.

"…Yeah, it is. I'm glad you had fun."

"Geez, you really are my dad."

She sounded fed up with my insistence. Well, I don't care.

I'm going to insistently make you have fun from now on.

"I'm not your dad. I'm your apprentice."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, brushing me off. Then she looked

at me and, just for a second, gave me a genuine smile. There

was something childlike about it, instead of the beauty she

usually used to hook people.

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I thought about teasing her, but just for today, I decided

to let it pass.

Soon, the train heading from Ikebukuro to Omiya was

going to pass Kita-Toda Station.