Chapter 555: Dreaming with Open Eyes
Author's Preface
Cynet Mining is way too damn Takasugi Shinsaku![*1]
"I have a game... that I'm interested in."
Rei-san brought that up out of nowhere after we finished looking around the ShanFro booth.
"A game you're interested in?"
"Yes... I'm very, very interested in it."
A game addict is still a gamer. People who only play one specific game and never look at anything else are in the minority. So there is absolutely nothing questionable or out of place about Rei-san having a game she's interested in.
But her demeanor, looking as if she were heading out to a battlefield, was definitely unusual. Just what kind of game is it? Personally, just the fact that it's from the same developer who made Bakumatsu makes me curious about the early demo for *Spartan Metal*, where the phrase "A new sensation of co-op play!" feels thinner than oblaat wrapper... but well, it's not like it's my top priority.
"The general ticket holders will be coming in soon, so should we hurry?"
"Eh, ah, yes! This, AR game's..."
『『 Polaris Time!』』
"!?"
Hearing a voice coming from my pocket, I wondered what was going on and pulled out my premium ticket, only to see that rather grotesque-loving image character... Wait, hnn?
"Did... the number of parts increase?"
"On mine, too..."
Because we both went to the same place, it seemed the same phenomenon was happening. From our two premium tickets, the voices of the intensely carnivorous image character harmonized.
『『A Visit Bonus has been added! If you collect a lot of them, something good might happen at the end!!』』
"Visit Bonus... Ah, a stamp rally!"
"...St...amp?"
"...Eh? You don't know... what a stamp rally is?"
"Eh, ah, euu, is it something I have to know...?"
"Ah, no, not at all! Yeah, I guess it's a relatively minor culture..."
That can't be true, right? Rei-san just lived a life completely isolated from that kind of thing, right? Oh, the bourgeoisie? Comrade Commie-kun, should I shake hands with her with an eye to the future?
"Umm, a stamp rally is something you usually see at events where you go around multiple spots and press stamps onto a dedicated sheet..."
"I see..."
My cousin's grandfather, who passed away about six years ago, was a train maniac and collected a ton of those. The craziest one was the Trans-Siberian Railway stamp rally. Instead of a stamp sheet, it was shot glasses with bottoms that doubled as stamps lined up all over a wall... apparently, you had to chug a shot of vodka at every station you stopped at to get one. By the way, my cousin's still-energetic grandmother supposedly threw them all away.
"—In other words, I guess this means if we drop some money at any given booth, we'll get a stamp from there."
Just dropping by isn't enough, huh. In that case...
"Rei-san, the general admission people will be coming in fifteen minutes, so... where is the game you're interested in?"
"Ah, yes! It's here."
"...That's a restroom."
"Hwawah!?"
Is there something in the restroom that I just don't know about? Because of its sheer size, the Mega-Float Site has a ridiculous number of restrooms. Meaning, restrooms are placed everywhere, and by deciphering some sort of hidden rule from this, a hidden stamp will appear...?
"Th-That's wrong! W-Wait, my aim was just a little off—!?"
It was just a simple misclick. *Ba-dum tss.*
"H-Here, it's here!"
"Swallows Nest... Ah, AR games. Do you play those too, Rei-san?"
"Eh!? Umm, err... Let's just call it intellectual curiosity."
"O-Oh."
If it's the Saiga household, they could genuinely afford to install a personal AR system, so maybe her interest stems from that kind of background. Hmm, my head's starting to turn red.
"Then, how about we make a few detours on the way there? If there are any games you're interested in, we might be able to collect some stamps."
"I-I think that sounds good."
Knocking out the ShanFro booth—which is absolutely guaranteed to turn into a hellscape—first might have been a fine play... I mean, the faces of the staff inside the booth are steadily becoming more and more tragic.
They look exactly like the people left behind to hold the line in a monster panic movie. Should I give them a salute?
"Let's start with the nearby booths..."
...
......
.........
Fifteen minutes passed.
.........
......
...
Something is wrong.
"This isn't... an earthquake, is it...!"
"I don't think an earthquake would make a happy-sounding noise..."
Something is wrong. The mega-float is shaking... I remember this feeling.
It's exactly like that, right? Like when I went to hang out at the Crystal Scorpions' house, it felt pretty much like this...
"R-Run, Rei-san! Get on the bus!!"
"A-A swarm of people...!!"
Is this a General Admission Entrance!!?
Seriously, no joke, as the massive army of general admission attendees closed in while literally shaking the mega-float, the premium ticket holders—who had been exuding a sort of superior composure until now—had their faces cramp up, while a sense of resolve settled onto the tragic faces of the staff at each booth.
"Driver! Can you at least run us to the Swallows Nest booth!?"
『Departing.』
Whew! It's totally a fluke, but I love you, autopilot!!
Out of the corner of our eyes, we watched a massive crowd charge headlong into the ShanFro booth like a giant serpent diving in headfirst, as Rei-san and I headed to the next booth.
From inside the Mega-Float Site's transportation bus, we could clearly see an endless, uninterrupted wave of people—an amount incomparable to the early admission of premium ticket holders—overflowing from the entrance and spreading out in all directions.
What's terrifying is that naturally, there were people trying to go to the Swallows Nest booth first, and I couldn't shake the feeling that their gazes, or rather their "pressure," were being directed at the bus, and by extension, at us inside it.
"It might have been a good thing we took our time looking around. This is no time for a stamp rally..."
"Y-Yes..."
Naturally, the bus was faster than walking, so we arrived at the Swallows Nest booth, leaving the general admission attendees several dozen meters behind us.
Unlike the area where the ShanFro booth was, this area primarily housed AR-related game booths. As a result, the space allocated to each individual booth was quite large overall.
To name the standouts, there was a booth for a card game maker using AR holograms, a booth for a board game maker where the players themselves became the pieces... and the booth for Swallows Nest, a name I'd been seeing a lot of lately in the AR system sphere.
"Ooh, this looks legit."
Wait, are those object blocks capable of deploying holograms on their own? Those things are crazy expensive just by themselves. And there are several of them... I wonder what the total cost is.
"Welcome to the Swallows Nest booth! Would you like to try an early playthrough of Scrap Gunman, our company's proud upcoming release?"
"Is this the one you were interested in, Rei-san?"
"Y-Yes! Um, this one is... a two-player game, but..."
I see. So it's basically a zombie shooting game?
"I don't mind. Should we aim for a high score?"
"Hai!"
Was that a pun? Or is my brain just stupid?
Author's Afterword
The AR scene is mainly drawing attention from trading card games and realistic sports games.
Especially for trading card games, if they go full VR, the physical cards will stop selling, which was quite a matter of life and death. However, thanks to Swallows Nest noticeably raising their technological capabilities recently, it's become possible to create AR software for them.
You did it, Swallows Nest! This year's company trip is to Las Vegas!!
Translator's Notes
- [1] Takasugi Shinsaku: A Japanese internet pun on the word "Takasugi" (way too expensive) referencing the historical figure Takasugi Shinsaku.
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