Chapter 550: Standby, Main, Any Responses?
Author's Preface
Heroine-chan: "Let me think for a bit."
Iwamaki: (Silent Shaka-Pachi)
Shaka-Pachi damages the cards, so let's stop doing it!! [*1]
◇
For Rei, this was the first time in her life that twenty-four hours felt both so incredibly long and so agonizingly short. Or rather, it was the moment that record had been updated.
"C-Clothes... my hair... ahhh, m-makeup tools..."
<<Calm down, Rei-chan. No matter how much your perceived time accelerates or delays, one minute on Earth is still exactly sixty seconds.>>
"A-Actually, a minute might be passing in six seconds right now..."
<<It's not. Just listen to me, calm down, and take a deep breath.>>
"B-But there's only one day left..."
No matter how much she prepared, the moment she reviewed things, it felt like absolutely everything was lacking. On topics like this, her mother and older sister weren't even a fingernail's worth of help, so Rei herself was fully aware that she was in enough of a panic to warrant being reprimanded by Iwamaki, whom she had called for advice.
Only one day left—but still a full day. Once she went to sleep and woke up, it would be a date (confirmed), and no matter how many deep breaths she took, her violently racing heart showed absolutely no signs of settling down.
<<Listen to me. The situation took a turn that even I didn't predict, but if you treat this as an accelerated schedule, recovery is entirely possible. First of all, you don't need to cut your hair, and just doing your makeup slightly more carefully than usual will be perfectly fine.>>
"...Shouldn't I aim for higher quality?"
<<Listen, Rei-chan. Whether it's an age gap or a status gap, a date will instantaneously collapse if the two parties aren't reasonably balanced. Even assuming Rakuro-kun buys a completely new outfit from top to bottom, it'll run him 30k at most. And knowing that game-brain, I highly doubt he'll bother coordinating his shoes or hair, so we're probably looking at around 10k? Now then, Rei-chan, what's the total cost of the items you're currently trying to order online?>>
"...One hundred and twenty thousand."
<<One hund......!?>>
Iwamaki's voice cut out from the mobile device for a brief moment.
"Mana-san?"
<<...Cancel it immediately. You aren't going to a royal ball.>>
"B-But..."
<<Rei-chan, you have at least an average amount of fashionable clothes, don't you? Even if you force yourself into a brand-new outfit from head to toe, it'll just get dirty in the crowd anyway. I'm going to switch to a video call, so show me the clothes you already have on hand.>>
"Y-Yes........."
The sliding door rattled open.
"Rei, I just looked it up, and recent hotels have proper contra—"
It was silently slid shut.
<<...? Did someone just say something?>>
"Please don't mind it, it was just a Zashiki-warashi."
<<A Zashiki-warashi!?>>
"Rei, I will speak to Mother and Grandfather on your behalf, so it is perfectly fine if you wish to stay overnight, you know."
<<...That's a remarkably vulgar Zashiki-warashi.>>
"Her youth wasn't necessarily bad, but it was apparently a bit lacking in color, so she wants her two younger sisters to have highly stimulating youths or something..."
<<...Having it be bright red with stimulation isn't exactly a good thing either, you know.>>
Iwamaki never spoke about her own past, yet the expressions and tones she occasionally displayed seemed to hint at a deep disappointment in something. However, Rei never pushed for details, simply because the trust she placed in Iwamaki was massive and unshakable even without prying into such things.
<<For now, if you're going to buy anything, make it a jacket or a bag. Even with a premium ticket, you're going to JGE, so you should prioritize mobility.>>
"...Will it really be that crowded?"
<<I've heard last year was absolute hell.>>
After all, ShanFro was a super-massive title that had appeared like a comet and violently crashed straight into the earth's surface. Utopia Corporation's booth had been a literal reverse Ground Zero, creating a crowd so absurdly dense that even the monitors of other booths had to switch to broadcasting its live feed.
This year, the venue had been changed, and with the full backing of Swallows Nest—a company rapidly rising to prominence in the AR industry—an AR system had been deployed across the entire event space. Even so, it likely wouldn't be enough to solve the fundamental overcrowding issue.
<<Just so you know, the premium tickets I gave you two are magic tickets that heavily mitigate that very congestion, alright?>>
"How exactly does it make things easier?"
<<You don't have to wait in lines, merchandise is specifically set aside for premium holders, and you get priority selection for the best seats.>>
"That's incredible..."
<<But none of that matters right now. Listen, Rei-chan, and listen closely. The phase has already advanced two steps ahead of schedule, which means your quota has automatically changed as well.>>
"M-My quota........."
<<Are you aware that Swallows Nest is releasing a new game specifically tailored as content for AR studios?>>
"No........."
<<It's a game called 'Scrap Gunman'. Your objective is to play the demo of this game together with Rakuro-kun.>>
"...? Is that all?"
<<Yes, that's all. However, it must be co-op play.>>
"............"
She had a very, very bad feeling about this. Feeling a ferocious sense of dissonance over the fact that Iwamaki of all people was specifically mandating multiplayer, Rei kept the call connected while searching up "Scrap Gunman".........
"KyO-RyOku, PlAy dE-Su-Ka."
<<Yes......... co-op play.>>
Swallows Nest's latest confident release, the new content "Scrap Gunman"... Billed as an AR gun-shooting game where close coordination with your partner was the key to victory, the promotional website was plastered with highly intimate images of players calling out to each other, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and even pressing their backs against one another.
"............!!"
<<Rei-chan?>>
"H-How cruel...!"
<<It's not like I'm ordering you to assassinate a family member or anything.........>>
◆ Meanwhile
"Fuhahahahahaha!! You idiot, do you really think something like 'trust' exists in this land?! It's thinner and more fragile than shoji glue, Divine Punishment!!"
"Impossible, why would you slash me, we're... allies...!!"
"The fact that you're perfectly dropping a death poem right now means you're just a hardcore Bakumatsu loyalist wearing the skin of a pacifist protagonist! Get filleted into three pieces and sink into an unmarked grave!!"
"At least take my sword to the pawn shooooop!!!"
◇
"How cruel... This is... just too cruel........."
<<So even a late-bloomer mentality more fragile than sand can become harder than rock if it piles up over the years, huh.........>>
"This burden is too heavy..."
<<Come on, don't go moping over something this trivial! He was just putting on a rare show of acting like a decent human being, and since Rakuro is normally an idiot with a trash-game cartridge jammed into his brain, he won't be taking this nearly as seriously as you are!!>>
It was an incredibly harsh way to phrase it, but the sheer myriad of emotions loaded into those words was enough to physically overwhelm Rei through the phone, causing her face to twitch.
<<Listen, Rei-chan, the scouting phase to gauge exactly how much of a decent human being that game-brain is has ended. From here on out, it's the turn to advance the main camp... Breaking a flag you've already raised? The Gods of Heaven and Earth, the Buddhas above, and the Ten Kings of Hell below might forgive it, but I won't! Your time of looking at things through pure logic is over! Take hold of your Love! Love is a sword! Love is a stone! Love is a gun!!>>
Somehow, the atmosphere was starting to get suspicious.
"Um, Iwamaki-san?"
<<What is up with this bottle!? Is it defective!? It's emptying way too fast!!>>
"Eh, um, are you perhaps drinking while...?!"
<<Love isn't something you let age for three or four years! What the hell is a ten-year vintage!? Once it goes into your stomach, it's completely gone in half a day anyway!!>>
"Iwamaki-san! Let's drink some water instead of wine! Okay!? Ahh, take your hands off the corkscrew!!"
<<Love circulates through the entire body faster than fireee!!>>
"The only thing circulating is alcohol!!"
Author's Afterword
Bakumatsu is a capitalist society traded in lives, so Commie ideals like "let's all get along" don't fly there at all...
This is a personal matter regarding the author, but I saw an energy drink with a scorpion on it and couldn't help but feel a sense of destiny, so I drank it.
Shouldn't it be a little less sweet, with stronger carbonation, and more of that bitter caffeine aftertaste??? (Gazing with pure, innocent eyes) (Will buy again) (My tongue has been domesticated by the Red Bull)
Translator's Notes
- [1] A reference to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. "Standby, Main, anything?" is the phrase turn players use to announce the transition from the Standby Phase to Main Phase 1, asking if the opponent wishes to activate any quick effects. "Shaka-Pachi" is Japanese TCG onomatopoeia/slang for the habit of aggressively and loudly shuffling/flicking the cards in one's hand.
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