[Havakiri Godspeed Type is seriously getting added? More importantly, um, Biting Edge... no buffs...? You're kidding, right? At least reduce the stamina drain in naginata mode... Oh, nothing?]
[A sorrowful update.]
The day of X Day.
A chillier wind blows beneath a crisp, clear sky.
Rakuro: "Guess we're finally getting into proper cold-weather season..."
If I left without telling anyone, there's a very real chance I'd be on my way home only to discover my VR system listed on an online auction.
But saying, "I'm off to appear on TV!" is a little hard to bring myself to do, so I told them I was going out to meet some friends I'd met online.
Riding a maglev that gives me a strange sense of déjà vu, I use my mobile device to look up information on the person who will most likely be my opponent, Amelia Sullivan...
Or rather, I don't.
I'm watching a video site I bookmarked a little while ago.
Rakuro: "Ahh, so that's how you move..."
My eyes and ears remain focused on the video, but some percentage of my thoughts still inevitably goes toward Amelia Sullivan.
Amelia Sullivan.
The number-two-ranked pro gamer in the United States, known by the rather violent nickname "Raptor of Dinoscull."
Apparently she's huge even by human standards, never mind for a woman, but that's irrelevant here.
As a gamer, despite favoring heavyweight characters, she's an astonishingly technical player.
Heavyweight characters are generally thought of as "slow but devastating," thanks to preconceptions and the usual rules of fiction.
And characters built that way often have rough personalities or equally rough fighting styles.
But in fighting games, because heavyweight characters so often face opponents superior to them in speed, using one actually demands a cool head.
Amelia Sullivan is someone who has taken that kind of technical player skill to its absolute limit.
At least judging from the footage I watched of her fighting Sylvia, there's no way I could use a heavyweight character to hold out that long against Sylvia Goldberg after she accelerates even further in the third round.
At some point, I categorized Katzo and myself according to whether a player "creates a rhythm" or "has a rhythm"...
Amelia Sullivan doesn't fit either category.
She adapts to her opponent's rhythm, then breaks it.
No.
More precisely—
Rakuro: "Either way, an amateur like me even thinking in terms of whether I'll win or lose feels pretty presumptuous."
Winning or losing isn't what's driving me right now.
That's precisely why I made Katzo that "proposal."
And why, even though I'd already started a few days ago, I've been cramming practice for a little "game" using nothing but slapped-together crash-course training.
I'm maintaining a pretty good level of excitement right now.
Like I've got the engine warmed up just a little.
I've got a secret weapon too...
So as for what else I can do right now...
I guess I can keep reading American comics.
Or kill time watching videos.
◆
I got inside about eight times more smoothly than I'd expected.
I'd been a little worried a security guard or somebody would stop me, but apparently human labor has been replaced by machinery, because every procedure involved in entering the TV station was handled mechanically.
The disappearance of human warmth and spread of cold machines really does inspire a certain melancholy...
Ahhh, the heating's warm.
Map apps that navigate you through places you've never been before are sooo convenient...
All right.
No time to loiter.
The restroom is...
This way.
Let's get this over with.
...
......
............
Click.
The stall door opens.
A man who happens to be entering the men's restroom takes one look at my face and freezes, his eyes widening.
But reacting awkwardly at a moment like this is the mark of a second-rate amateur.
Rakuro: "Oh, hello."
Actor: "Huh? Wha—oh. Uh... hello?"
Exactly.
Panicking just makes you look even more suspicious.
The machines already approved my entry.
So all I need to do is act like I belong here.
Assuming my memory isn't completely out of focus, I casually greet a fairly famous actor who's been appearing on variety shows a lot lately, then step out of the restroom as though absolutely nothing unusual has happened.
Rakuro: "Dressing room... this way."
Seriously.
Why am I walking through a place this out-of-place for me with a map in my hand?
Apparently, once human beings start looking at themselves objectively, their thoughts have a tendency to drift off into philosophy.
Seems I'm no exception.
Normally, I wouldn't deliberately wake up early.
I'd sleep until I felt like getting up, treat myself to a stylish late brunch, play games, eat dinner, play more games...
That should've been my peaceful life.
So why am I walking around the source of public television broadcasts dressed like some kind of cosplayer?
The stares from those two people who look like a comedy duo that did pretty well in some competition are hurting me.
Rakuro: "...This is it."
I don't wanna do this anymore...
"'No Face'-sama Dressing Room"?
I don't want to go in...
I don't want to leave behind a fact in this universe that says I entered this room...
Damn it!
Here goes nothing!!
Rakuro: "...Not like there's actually going to be paparazzi waiting to photograph me the instant I open the door."
It isn't as luxurious as the hotel I stayed at during GGC, but it looks exactly like the kind of TV-station dressing room you occasionally see on variety shows.
There is exactly one abnormality.
A mini-fridge sits squarely in the middle of the room.
Rakuro: "........."
Click.
O-ohhh...
Every variety of Riot Blood is in here...
Huh.
In that case, maybe I didn't need to bring my own after all.
Rakuro: "Hm?"
Is that a card wedged between the cans?
Rakuro: "'To No Face, from Gatling Drum Japan Branch'............ N-no. This is television. Yeah."
Something in a corner of my brain is screaming at me, but shut your eyes and keep your mouth closed, my common sense!
I refuse to fall so far that I become the kind of Riot Blood heavy user who makes instant miso soup with the stuff!!
This is just some sponsor thing!
It has to be!!
Belief becomes power!
Rakuro: "Besides, even if you give me this much, I'm not drinking all of it..."
Among Riot Blood users, it's common knowledge that anyone who consumes three or more cans in a day undergoes what they call a "Legal Fall."
Riot Blood is, of course, perfectly legal, so it's not like you're actually breaking any laws...
But...
Hmm.
The number-two player in America...
Do I do it?
A dark consumption method that grants tremendous power by consuming a perfectly legal beverage in a perfectly legal—but exploit-like—fashion.
For some reason, mixing Riot Blood with a sports drink causes the caffeine to circulate through you almost instantaneously:
"Accel."
For some reason, mixing Riot Blood with alcohol nullifies the drunkenness status effect:
"Resist."
Mix three varieties of Riot Blood together and drink exactly one can's worth, and in exchange for losing all vocabulary other than "yabai," you get wired to an absolutely outrageous degree:
"Taboo."
And alongside those three is the fourth method...
"Joint."
These four are known as the Four Heavenly Kings of Dark Consumption.
They're considered far too dangerous.
And yet, no matter how you look at them, they're still legal...
Which means they test the user's morality in the truest possible sense.
Rakuro: "O great predecessors among Riot Blood users... O heroic spirits who fell into the Sea of Legality... grant me the blessing of caffeine...!"
All right.
Here goes nothing!!
...
......
............
Staff Member: "Uh, 'No Face'-san, it's time to—whoa!?"
Rakuro: "Yeah... yeah, I know, I know. We're running behind schedule, so let's get moving."
Energy drinks are a lot like speedruns...
Meticulous time management is indispensable to an optimal route...