by Blitz Kiva
“It certainly is!” the campaign girl agreed. “But did you really need it so suddenly? Couldn’t you borrow it from your parents?”
“That would... defeat the point...” Airi managed. There was no way she could explain the situation that would convince her parents to lend her the money. “Win or lose, I have to do it on my own...”
“Oh, is it a competition? The life-on-the-line kind?” the girl asked.
“Sort of, yeah...” This job certainly made Airi feel like she might die in the pursuit. A whole day’s work that made her want to throw up her hands—or maybe just throw up, period—would net her just a couple of 10,000-yen bills. Holding a job for the first time had made her realize just how much money 10,000 yen was.
It was a lot of money.
A lot of money!
The weight of one of those Yukichi Fukuzawas in her wallet was something Airi now grasped, both mentally and physically. It wasn’t that she had never appreciated how precious money was, but this was her first time really grasping its weight.
“But Airi, the way you work so hard, I wouldn’t think it was your first time.” The angelic campaign girl brought a soda from the vending machine and handed it to Airi. “I think you might have a real talent for this. If you ever need more money, come back to us, okay?”
Airi winced as she accepted the bottle. This was a talent she could do without. The only talent she wanted was that of a fashion designer; getting praised in other arenas was nothing to celebrate.
Being judged on one’s talent was a cruel thing. She wondered if Megumi Fuyo felt the same way.
Despite being in the mascot suit, Airi dexterously managed to get the cap off the bottle and bring it to her mouth.
The angelic campaign girl gazed on in quiet amazement. “I really think you are a natural...”
Ah, why did humans have to be born with such unnecessary talents?
“Hi-ho! Kiryuuu!” Asuha called.
Sera Kiryu greeted Asuha’s entrance with an uncomfortable frown, then spoke a delayed, “Hey.”
“What’s with that reaction?” she said indignantly.
“Well, I didn’t think you would really come...” With that, Sera’s focus returned to the TV in the corner of the room. There were a variety of game consoles, both new and old, collected on the TV stand, almost all systems Asuha didn’t recognize.
“Ah... did you not want me here?” she asked.
“No, it’s not that,” Sera said. “I just didn’t think you’d want to hang out until you finished your homework.”
“You’ve been playing games, too, Kiryu!”
As Asuha astutely pointed out, Sera was indeed using an old mouse-gray controller to manipulate a pixelated character on the screen. It was clearly some sort of fighting game.
But Sera’s response came back lightly. “Yeah, I’m finished.”
“You are?! But it’s only July!” Asuha exclaimed.
“Yeah. Oh, I mean, I still have my diary to do...”
Sera cast a glance to the study table in the corner, and Asuha’s gaze followed. Indeed, as if to assert her friend’s methodological approach, a neat stack of notebooks sat on the desk.
Like any student, Asuha had had the notion pounded into her head every year that a good student always finished all their summer homework in July. But she had never once put it into practice. She always said, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” and the result was notebooks full of blank pages. She never seemed to grasp that after ten “I’ll do it tomorrow”s, July would reach its end, and after forty of them, summer would be over.
So, while Asuha was off shifting the burden to her future self, Sera Kiryu was actually doing it. Asuha couldn’t believe it.
“It’s true,” Sera insisted.
“But I really can’t believe it...” Asuha said.
“You can look, if you want,” her friend said without looking away from the screen.
“I-I can look?” Asuha had had an ulterior motive for coming here. She would come to Sera’s house to play, knowing her friend would be ahead of her, then copy everything she needed. But those words—“You can look, if you want”—caused those wicked thoughts to shrivel away.
Asuha hesitated, and then at last, decided to abandon the idea. She really did have to do her own homework.
She plopped down next to her friend. “How come you’re not using a flat-screen?”
“You lose response time on an LED,” said Sera. “I’d prefer a commercial cabinet, but they’re expensive. Even the commercial HD cathode ray TVs use upscale converters, which add 0.5 frames of lag. But they don’t make these things anymore, which makes it hard to get your hands on them.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Asuha said.
As usual, when the subject was video games, Sera could speak with great fluency. Asuha could also detect clear passion behind her friend’s usual monotone calm.
As befitting the master gamer that Sera was, each game concluded with a no-miss, flawless victory. Asuha couldn’t quite tell if her friend was enjoying it or treating it like work, but either way, the intensity on the young gamer’s face suggested that she really shouldn’t interfere.
Even so...
“Want to try it, Tsuwabuki?” Sera asked.
“Huh? Me?” Asuha asked.
“Yeah.”
Asuha hesitated as Sera offered her the controller. She had never held one like it before, but it had only a D-pad and four buttons, so it seemed easy enough to figure out. She chose a random girl character from the select screen, and started a battle against a computer opponent.
“Hrgh! Hah! Hwooo...” Asuha whipped the controller around and tilted dynamically side to side. Just pressing the buttons would be enough, she knew, but she was the kind of player who couldn’t help but react with her whole body. “Ah... ah, huh?! Crud! Hey, how do you do that? Hey, hey... ah! Ah... ahhh, no, stop! Hey, you—ah! Ahh, ahh, ahhh!”
But at the end of the day, she was still just a newbie, and she’d reached the natural end for a middle schooler who didn’t even know the input for a Hadoken.
“Oh, well, I lost... Kiryu, why is your face red?” Asuha asked.
“No reason...” Sera whispered, hurriedly looking through a plastic case all the while. “Let’s try some co-op. Like Final Fight 2...”
“Yeah, I don’t know that one, but it sounds good,” Asuha said.
Sera put a different game cartridge in the slot and turned it on. A screen similar to the one from the fighting game appeared. Asuha picked the female character, as usual, while Sera picked a stern-looking old man with a beard.
The controls for this one didn’t seem as complicated as the ones from the fighting game earlier. Even with Asuha’s crude play style, it was easy for them to have fun and make progress. She also enjoyed the way that Sera’s old man character sometimes spread his arms wide and spun around.
“Oh, by the way, Kiryu... I’m gonna be a model,” Asuha said.
“Huh? You don’t seem like the type.”
“What was that?” Asuha snapped.
“Ah, hey, stop it!” Sera cried. Asuha’s character had started punching Sera’s from behind. “A model for what? What are you doing?”
“I mean in the game,” said Asuha. “Iris is having a fashion competition.”
“Ohh...”
Asuha explained the broad particulars of the situation, which was simplified a bit by the fact that Sera, as King Kirihito, had seen part of the beach incident unfold the other day. Sera listened with a manner that suggested disinterest, belied by the asking of an occasional question.
Once Asuha finished her explanation, Sera responded with an “Oh, I see,” and then continued, “Matsunaga told me about that. He wanted me to be a judge.”
“Huh? What the heck?” Asuha burst out. “Are you friends with Mr. Matsunaga?”
“He tends to arrive in places before I do when I’m playing solo,” said Sera. “I don’t know how he does it.”
“W-
Wow...” Asuha had had a few experiences with Matsunaga, and while she knew that he really wasn’t that bad a person, she still didn’t like him. What she didn’t recognize was that her dislike was the result of a self-righteousness particular to middle school girls. “What do you mean, a judge? Do you know anything about fashion, Kiryu?”
“Of course not,” said Sera. “It’s probably just for fun. And King Kirihito is famous, so...”
When talking about NaroFan in real life, Sera had a strange habit of referring to the avatar “Kirihito” as a completely discrete entity. Even the name “King Kirihito”—which her friend had originally dismissed as “lame”—was now standard parlance for Sera, which suggested even further detachment between the two figures in the young gamer’s mind.
The near complete change in personality wasn’t just Sera roleplaying, she didn’t think. King Kirihito seemed to be the embodiment of the ideal self that existed in Sera’s mind.
“But if you’re going to be the model, I might think about it...” said Sera.
“Oh, you want to come see?” Asuha asked.
“Hmm... I’m not sure. I guess I’m curious...”
They both kept their eyes on the screen as they talked.
“Well, I think I’ll probably go... maybe,” said Sera.
“I see!” Asuha cried. “But I bet it’s gonna be pretty suggestive! Like the swimsuit I wore before!”
“Why do you have to sound so happy about that?” Sera whispered, with a slightly troubled expression.
Asuha and Sera’s characters proceeded smoothly through the stage and finally arrived in the boss fight area. Around this time, their conversation quieted down so they could focus more on the gameplay.
A little while after, Asuha remembered something, and she spoke up. “Speaking of which, Kiryu.”
“Hmm?”
“Next week, I’m going to Itchy’s house in Tokyo to hang out.”
“Oh?” Sera asked.
“Want to come with?” Asuha asked. “Itchy would love it.”
The old man Sera was controlling in the game stopped. But just as Asuha was wondering if her friend had been shaken by the news, the avatar used its spin attack to clear out all the small enemies that had clustered around it, suggesting it was just part of Sera’s play style.
Asuha went to Ichiro’s house once or twice a year. Even if they were related, the thought of a girl in middle school going to stay at a twenty-something bachelor’s house was a somewhat questionable prospect. But perhaps because Ichiro was above such notions, her parents didn’t object. So this time, since they knew each other, she’d decided to invite Sera, too.
Sera remained quiet for a while, then, after defeating the stage boss, spoke up again. “I’ll think about it.”
“Master Ichiro, this is Special Investigator 4396.”
“Ah, yes...” That day, the Dragonet Ichiro had left town alone for the first time in a while to take a stroll through the field.
With Iris and Nem’s competition coming up, Ichiro had a few concerns still to rectify, chief among them the question of who was limiting the sale of Warp Feathers to hinder travel through the game. This strange act seemed to carry very little reward given the effort it took, and as a result, that seemed to make it clear that someone must be doing it for some other purpose. Thus, Ichiro had left town to investigate.
He had an idea of who it might be. After all, there were only a few people capable of accomplishing something like this, and he also had some idea of what they might be getting out of it.
While Ichiro was investigating, at the same time, Sakurako was also seeking out information in Starter Town at his request. To go from Glasgobara Merchant Town, where Iris Brand was located, to Starter Town or Manyfish Beach required one to cross two vast fields: the Volgund Volcanoes and the Vispianya Meadows. There were towns and villages along the way, but the maps in the VRMMO were of a realistic scale, for better or worse, and so it wasn’t easy to trek back and forth between them.
Sakurako had just made her second character, so he had asked her to confirm a few things for him in that area. Since new characters began the game in Starter Town, the timing was perfect.
“So, how are things over there for you... you?” Ichiro hadn’t yet asked Sakurako’s second character’s name, but he couldn’t call her “Sakurako-san,” either, so for once, he felt a bit stymied in his form of address.
“Hmm, there’re a surprising number of mid-level players here,” said Sakurako. “It seems like they came here to play on the beach when the Warp Feather buy-out started, so they just can’t get back to their usual home bases. Of course, the fact that they’re still here after three days suggests most of them are pretty laid-back about it...”
“I see,” Ichiro said.
Perhaps that stood to reason. Even Matsunaga’s blog was commenting on the standstill caused by the Warp Feathers. With most NPC shops sold out of Warp Feathers, many mid-level players had set their sights on the beginners’ shops in Starter Town. These shops were usable only by low-level players, but they did sell a very small number of Warp Feathers.
Some of the mid-level players left behind at Manyfish Beach would visit Starter Town to try to bargain with the beginner players that could still use these shops, asking them to buy them Warp Feathers in exchange for a round of power leveling, or items that were hard to acquire at low levels. After all, Warp Feathers were of little use to beginner players who hadn’t been to many places yet, so it was a good deal on both ends.
Of course, bad ideas well up quickly, too, so even on the first day, you had players buying up large numbers of Warp Feathers from beginners at a low price, then scalping them.
“I’ve been asked about that, too,” Sakurako said. “Matsunaga put warnings on the wiki, but I bet lots of beginner players are still selling them.”
“Neither monopolization nor scalping is against the terms of use, after all,” said Ichiro. “It’s all up to how players think, and selling your Warp Feathers to an experienced player in exchange for early game funds is an understandable strategy.”
“Well... well, yes, I suppose.” On the other side of the phone, the self-named Special Investigator #4396 seemed to be mulling that over.
“So, what will you do? Have you been leveling up already?” Ichiro asked.
“No, I’ve finished my investigation, and I more or less have the pulse of things here, so I’ll re-log in as Kirschwasser. Once Warp Feathers are back on the market again, I hope you’ll take some time to help me level up.”
“Hmm, understood,” said Ichiro. “I’ll be in Delve.”
Special Investigator #4396 then hung up.
Unlike Kirschwasser, Sakurako’s new voice didn’t seem to be sampled from an actor or voice actor. It sounded relatively close to her own. The way she talked was unfiltered Sakurako, too, so either her second character was not meant to be for roleplaying, or she just hadn’t decided on her personality yet.
Ichiro had left Glasgobara, crossed the Sandsea, and had arrived in Martial City Delve. The town had once been a hive of undead monsters in a field known as the Necrolands, but with the Devil Zombie grand boss defeated, it had been “settled.” It was now a city map. It still had lots of underground dungeons, and it was the closest town to the frontier fields, so most of the Achiever guilds had moved their home bases there.
Ichiro waited a while, and soon, a cheery melody sounded out, indicating that Kirschwasser had logged in.
“That was fast,” he said.
“Ah, I just arrived in Delve yesterday myself,” said Kirschwasser. “I was looking for Warp Feathers.”
She had changed her speech patterns quickly, too.
“I suppose you couldn’t find any?” Ichiro asked.
“Yes. It’s to the point where I couldn’t even find any scalpers,” said Kirschwasser. “The top guilds spare no expense, after all.”
“That stands to reason.” Ichiro didn’t necessarily need new Warp Feathers, either, but if it b
ecame necessary, he wouldn’t hesitate to spend what he needed to. He was flush with money, both in the game and in real life.
Ichiro and Kirschwasser walked down Delve’s main street. It was lined with guild houses of the top Achievers, but the atmosphere was different from the lively businesses of Glasgobara. It wasn’t exactly strained, but there was an odd tension in the air.
“Hmm, isn’t this nice,” Kirschwasser commented.
“Really?” Ichiro asked.
“Yes. Everyone here is a core gamer, like me.”
After walking for a little while, they came to a large guild house. The flags hanging from it were marked with an emblem of a rising sun. This building was home to the game’s largest Achiever guild, the Red Sunset Knights.
As Ichiro and Kirschwasser stepped closer, the heavily armored soldiers standing on either side of the door crossed their extremely long spears (modeled after the sarissas used by the Macedonian phalanx), blocking their way.
“This is the Knights’ guild house,” said one. “Outsiders aren’t permitted to enter.”
“Our guild leader has insisted that no one should enter.”
The two seemed to have an elaborate roleplay going on.
Ichiro decided to ask and see. “Is that actually true?”
“Please, try to make a little more trouble,” the man on the right whispered.
Ichiro and Kirschwasser looked at each other and shrugged. “What shall we do, Sir Kirschwasser? I’ve never made trouble before.”
“Master Ichiro, are you being serious?” the Knight sighed.
“There’ll be no talking your way around this. I cannot let you proceed.” It seemed the guards were going to keep the scenario moving, regardless of the responses they got. It was a good thing, really. Perhaps they didn’t want to force a role on someone else.
Kirschwasser, beside him, let out a cough. “Our business is with your leader, Lord Stroganoff. I see there’s no convincing you, but if I may speak to someone higher—”
