Chapter 551: Running Into Each Other With and Without Composure

Author's Preface

There are way too many things I want to do and need to do.

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Taking psychological pain you can't do anything about and dumping it out on a complete stranger—a negative form of entertainment that has continued since ancient times, back when humans were chasing mammoths and grunting "Unbaba"[*1]... People call it "taking it out on someone."

It causes trouble for others and solves absolutely nothing, but the troublesome part is that it does clear up your mood a bit. Fortunately, in Bakumatsu, no matter what kind of unreasonable stress you throw at people, they'll smile and Retaliate againstForgive you, so it's nice and easygoing.

"Dammit... What a bitter way to end it."

All I did was cut down every single guy that caught my eye! For them to gather a hundred people and gang up to beat the crap out of me is just too much! Do those guys have no human decency? I think I managed to intercept about forty of them, but the commotion ended up attracting Raid Boss-san, so you can guess the rest. Well, even if an upgraded Raid Boss-san hadn't shown up, I probably would've lost anyway.

After that, I teamed up with Seaweed ScumDullahan (and Kyogoku, who was being chased around by Dango skewers) and headed out to assassinate the SYO-GUN, the absolute pinnacle of NPCs and the strongest AI-controlled swordsman... But man, it was insane. In the end, a massive horde of ninjas and Shogunate retainers accurately homed in to kill us, so it just ended in a beheading. Rumor has it the Shogun fires a beam, but unfortunately, we never got to see it...

But that's that. No matter how much you flex in a game, the absolute providence of reality is that only time marches forward. And because time has marched forward, the day of JGE has finally arrived.

I used express shipping, so the clothes made it in time. My wallet is feeling a bit lonely, but it should be fine... I haven't bought many trash games lately, so I've got some savings. In the worst-case scenario, I can always use the money I got in advance through a family plea bargain...

"Guess I'll head out."

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"............"

In her room, realizing that the meditation she had been doing to calm her raging heart hadn't had even a hair's worth of effect, Rei quietly stood up.

Would she truly be able to maintain her composure when meeting Rakuro? If she had to compare her current state of mind to something...

"Desperate situation...!"

"Rei, those are not the words of a woman heading to a tryst."

"It's not exactly a TrystDate..."

"Search and destroy, Rei."

".........I'm heading out."

Feeling the undeniable blood of the Saiga family coursing through her as she couldn't help but think, *She isn't entirely wrong*, Rei headed toward the battlefield───

Yes, to avoid ending up like her eldest sister, whose idealized youth was overly degenerate, or her second eldest sister, who showed considerable joy over winning a water heater in a cup noodle sweepstakes!!!

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For the record, the current time is 6:08 AM. The originally planned meeting time is 8:30 AM.

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We were supposed to meet at 8:30. I figured I'd get to the station early, grab breakfast at a cafe inside, and kill some time, but...

"Ah."
"Ah."

It was currently 6:30. There was nearly two hours until we were supposed to meet... yet for some reason, I just bumped right into Saiga-san.

"G-Good morning?"

"G-Goo m... I JUST GOT HERE!!"

"O-Oh."

I mean, we met at the station entrance, so obviously I can tell you just got here. I guess Saiga-san also planned to arrive early and kill time. That was close... The pattern where the player arrives at the meeting spot after the girl is an instant trigger for the "Pizza Study Abroad" ending in Love Clock. Failing to raise the flag before the route branch causes every single heroine to move to Italy—it's so absurd it loops right back around to being a gag. The protagonist just watching from the corner of the classroom as the heroines happily reminisce about Italy... It's no wonder the game was heavily flamed for about half a year.

"Either way, it's going to take a while for the Maglev to arrive, so want to kill some time somewhere? Did you already eat breakfast, Saiga-san?"

"N-No! Not yet! Yes! Um, your clothes!!"

Clothes? Ah, right. Let's see... Didn't that fiendish pencil give a passionate lecture about moderately complimenting the other person in response to this kind of comment?

"This is the second time we've seen each other in casual clothes, right? You were wearing a kimono last time, but today it's Western-style... Yeah, I think it looks good on you."

"Fugyu.......................................... R-Rakuro-kun, I THINK it looks good on you too."

Ah, she's loading. But she recovered relatively quickly.

Standing around would be awkward, so we decided to enter a coffee shop that was open early in the morning, which naturally meant we ended up sitting face-to-face at the same table.

"Coffee... coffee, huh."

Chugging Riot Bloods consecutively in Polite SocietyReal Life would be a bit much, so this isn't bad... What's on the breakfast set menu? Ah, this looks good.

"Excuse me〜, I'll have the original blend café au lait and this Seafood Egg Beredict..."

I bit my tongue.

"Ah, then... um, I'll have... a Wiener coffee, and the Veggie Egg Benedyu..." [*2]

Saiga-san flubbed it too.

"........."
"........."

A brief silence. As Saiga-san and I sat there utterly defeated with indescribable expressions, the middle-aged waitress looked at us with incredibly lukewarm eyes.

"Fufufu... A Seafood and a Veggie Egg Benedict, yes? Please wait just a moment."

Gah, it's shaping up to be a hard day right from the start... "Egg Benedict", what kind of special-attack-sounding name is that?

"Ah〜... To think we both tripped over the exact same word."

"R-Right... Um, about JGE... where should we go first?"

"Eh? Ah, hmm... Was there anything special going on at the ShanFro booth?"

Well, since it's a game we both play, and seeing as it currently sits at the absolute pinnacle of the Japanese gaming industry, there's no reason not to visit its booth.

I've basically lived my life in the underground, niche, minority side of the gaming community, so I either don't recognize any of the developers or games exhibiting at this festival of light known as JGE, or the ones I do know don't spark my interest at all... Ah, but the NephHolo booth is pretty huge. I feel like a parent bird watching its chick leave the nest; to think that underpopulated game has grown up to be so magnificent.

"Apparently, they have an artbook... based on drawings made by the in-game NPCs."

".........They really are good at flying diagonally above your expectations."

In-game NPCs, you say? Not real-life designers? Besides that, apparently they also have an event where you can scan your account into a dedicated machine to have a portrait of your character drawn... The power of science is amazing.

"Is there any developer you're... particularly interested in, Rakuro-kun?"

"Eh? Ah? Uh, well... yes."

I mean, yeah, I do. There's the completely brand-new title from a developer who spectacularly blew up their numbered franchise; the developer reputed for having garbage game balance because they spend 90% of their development effort on character models; the developer who announced a new title with a completely harmless look on their face despite maintaining that fishbowl of carnage known as Bakumatsu......... Oh my, there are more places I want to go than I thought.

"Thank you for waiting, here is the original blend café au lait and the Wiener coffee......... Are you two on a date today?"

"A da............!?"

"Hahaha, she and I are just gaming friends. Today we're heading to this big event called JGE..."

"Oh, is that so... have fun, alright?"

"Yeah, we plan to............ Saiga-san?"

Ah, it's no use. She's completely frozen.

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Author's Afterword

Q: Rei-chan seems to have a red face all the time, so why doesn't Rakuro notice?
A: Ever since middle school, every single time Saiga-san entered Rakuro's field of vision, she was blushing. Thus, he assumes that is her default state, and like Nietzsche, it never even crossed his mind that he was the one being gazed at. [*3]

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Translator's Notes

• [1] Unbaba: Equivalent to "Ooga Booga" in English
• [2] Wiener Coffee: The Japanese name for Vienna Coffee (coffee topped with whipped cream). It has nothing to do with sausages.
• [3] Nietzsche: A playful reference to Friedrich Nietzsche's famous quote: "And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." Rakuro never realized the "abyss" (Rei) was actually looking right back at him.