Chapter 2: Trash Game Maniac, About to Challenge a God Game

For a short while after clearing a Trash Game, I feel like I can forgive almost anything.

Right now, I am so magnanimous that I can simply smile and let it slide when my homeroom teacher dilutes the simple advice of "Don't go too wild during summer break" into a lecture ten times longer than necessary. At the very least, his words don't contradict what he said a few minutes ago, and while long, they aren't particularly irritating. Compared to Faeria (Trash Bitch)'s super-logic—where she wouldn't hesitate to kill a mob character she was protecting just a minute ago "for the sake of the world"—this is incredibly sound reasoning.

"...And that is why, as long as I draw breath, if any of you try to make a 'high school debut' over the summer break, I will drag you into a parent-teacher conference without question. Be prepared. Dismissed!!"

With those words, the class, which had been emitting an aura of lethargy that made a horde of zombies look energetic, suddenly regained its vitality.

Let's go somewhere for summer break.This is going to be the trend this summer.I'm going on a trip with my boyfriend.This is the year I finally get a girlfriend.

At the same time I hear the topics of those enjoying a fulfilling real life, I also hear the topics of a different breed of human.

(...What should I do this summer?)

Last year... during the summer break of my first year of high school, I executed a plan to play three massive Trash Games back-to-back—a way of spending vacation that even I admit was insane. However, having just cleared Faer-kuso, a Trash Game of the highest order, I had a distinct conviction that an average Trash Game just wouldn't satisfy me right now.

(...Well, I planned to stop by anyway. I'll decide after I look around.)

Determined to head to the game shop I hadn't visited in a while due to my Faer-kuso run, I packed my bag and left school.

"........."

Completely unaware of the gaze staring intently at me.

What exactly is a "Trash Game"? As someone who has conquered countless Trash Games, allow me to define it: A Trash Game is "Unreasonable."

Elements that no amount of player skill can overcome. For example, the story. For example, the bugs. For example, the game system... I would answer that the metric for a Trash Game is just how many of these evil points are piled up. In that respect, a game that is merely stupidly difficult is different from my definition of a Trash Game. ...Well, there are deadly poisons in this world like Faer-kuso that combine "stupid difficulty" with "unreasonable elements" to create an Aqua Regia-class acid.

On the other hand, this game is the polar opposite of a Trash Game. It is, without complaint, a God Game.

"Shangri-La Frontier, huh..."

"Well, well. If the Trash Game Hunter is getting his hands on a major God Game, are tanks going to rain from the sky tomorrow?"

Thinking doesn't she mean spears?, I turned around while still holding the package to find the female owner of this shop looking at me with amusement. Since the games I purchase are exclusively the overstock surplus (Trash Games) that this shop can't get rid of, my face has become known enough to exchange small talk.

"Well, you know... Since I cleared Faer-kuso, I'm kind of full on Trash Games for a bit... It's summer break, so I thought I'd try playing a game praised by the masses for a change."

"Eh, did you seriously clear Faer-kuso? I heard that in solo play, the final boss battle takes a minimum of two hours."

"I punched it in the jaw with my bare hands and took it down in thirty minutes."

"Truly a legend of dignity. Though, I think Hizutome-kun is quite something for actually clearing it."

Here at "Shop Rock Roll," a privately owned game shop, many Trash Games lie in slumber. While full-dive VR games have become mainstream and display-based games are now called "retro," when VR games were first released, the market was chaotic. To say it was a "mixed bag" would be an understatement; games were released like a myriad of stars. If 10% were God Games, 40% were normal games, and 50% were Trash Games. The environment back then was like a soup of mud with stones and a few gems sunk in it—a sort of Age of Mythology for heretics (Trash Game Maniacs) like me.

"Still, Shangri-La Frontier is amazing. It still sells out, and I bet it'll start selling again starting tomorrow."

"What are you doing this summer, Iwamaki-san? I recall you saying something like 'This year is a bumper crop!'?"

"Yup. Starting the end of this month, this shop will be temporarily closed for a week."

"Ah..."

I figured it out. If I, Rakuro Hizutome, am an unbalanced eater who feeds primarily on Trash Games, then Mana Iwamaki, the mistress of this shop, is an unbalanced eater who feeds primarily on Otome Games. The regulars generally know the reason why Rock Roll closes irregularly (though with a certain regularity).

"Well, whatever. I'll buy this."

"Okay, thanks for your business. Make sure you use the toilet and get proper nutrition before gaming."

"And don't forget to take a break every two hours."

As two people heavily addicted to gaming, we exchanged the standard VR warnings, and I left Rock Roll. On my way home, I passed a girl wearing the uniform of my high school, but my heart was so captivated by the game in the plastic bag that I didn't care to notice who it was.

"Welcome... Oh, it's you."

"I have good news. That gluttonous gamer is finally playing a major title."

"That's right, it's Shangri-La Frontier, the one I recommended to you before."

"Fufufu, Hizutome-kun is the type to keep his Player Name consistent, so if you search, you'll probably find him, right?"

"...Man, a maiden in love is strong."

Translator's Remarks

• "Tanks going to rain from the sky": The original Japanese idiom is "Spears are going to rain" (Yari ga furu), used when something impossible happens (similar to "when pigs fly"). The shopkeeper, Iwamaki, changes "spears" to "tanks" to exaggerate the absurdity of Sunraku buying a good game.
• Gluttonous Gamer / Bad Eater: In the final section, Iwamaki refers to Sunraku as an Akujiki (someone who eats repulsive things / has a bad diet). I translated this as "Gluttonous gamer" to fit the context of him "eating" trash games, though "Trash-eater" is also a valid interpretation.