Whisper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
whisperscrawls) wrote2023-05-05 03:00 am
whisperscrawls) wrote2023-05-05 03:00 am
Entry tags:
Shuuen no Shiori 4: Chapter 1 Part 2
Our Days II —Carbonated Retro—
Insert scene change, and here I am in the school building again.
Over here, a bunch of the rooms had been converted into exhibits.
Each club had its own myriad of displays, programs, and festivities that they were presenting to the public.
There I saw another familiar figure.
“Hey, A-no!”
“Oh, E-ki! Nice work!”
A-no called my name, raising her hand in greeting.
With slightly tanned skin, spandex shorts worn beneath a skirt cut short for ease of movement, and a short, evenly-cut hairstyle, she gave off a fresh and cheerful impression.
And, as always, her lean figure that offered no air resistance was—
“Die!”
“Whoa!?”
With no warning whatsoever, A-no let loose an immensely sharp punch towards my face.
No, seriously, it’s good that I avoided that!? What was that about!?
“...W-What was that for!?”
“You were looking at my chest and thinking something rude like ‘no bumps or air resistance whatsoever’, weren’t you!?”
“...Huh!? You can read minds!?”
“You said it out loud!!”
And so occurred our usual back-and-forth.
“Oh, right. What were you up to?”
“Hm? Oh, there was this one exhibit I was interested in~”
“Which one?”
“It’s over here~”
There I saw a sign saying “Organized by the Gaming Club: Retro Game Tournament”.
Oh, I kinda have a bad feeling about this...
“A-no...? You wanna enter this?”
“Obviously! What kinda retro gamer would I be if I didn’t? Wanna enter with me, E-ki?”
Ah... This is foreshadowing, isn’t it?
It is, right?
Some weirdos are gonna show up again, aren’t they?
As I thought that, we headed over to the registration booth.
“Buhahahahaha! A girl like you intends to join our tournament, huh?”
“...Ready to swiftly die?”
...What’d I tell you?
What is going on!? Do weirdos just gather at our high school for some reason!?
The one wearing a weird hat was so plump you’d hardly assume he’s a high school student.
The one wearing glasses was a scrawny little guy who seemed like he’d never look you in the eye.
“The rules for this match are simple! With your team of two, you shall battle us, from the Gaming Club, in Bomb Man! I waited too long to introduce us, huh? I am the president of the Gaming Club, Meijin Yamada!”
“I will introduce myself... I am Kouta Yoji...”
“Buhahahaha! This guy’s character is to only speak in four-word sentences! Sorry if it’s hard to understand!”
So they really are just acting, huh.
And they’re even apologizing for it.
“...Hey, A-no... Are these guys... famous?”
“Huh? How should I know?”
“Oh, okay~ ...By the way, there aren’t any legends about you, right?”
“Wh—What? Legends? N-No, there aren’t...”
Ahh, there it is, there’s that thing strong people always say.
Well, whatever. I’ll just be over here casually enjoying playing a game again.
Anyway, Bomb Man, huh?
That’s one nostalgic title.
There’s a limited time until each bomb explodes, and while you choose the strength with which you want to kick it, you need to time it so that it makes your opponent explode. That’s how you win. It’s simple, but that’s what makes it so intense.
Looks like it’s a really old version of it, too; it’s on a console I’ve never used before.
“Oooh!! It’s a FamiPlay! Look, E-ki, it’s a FamiPlaaay!
“This console’s called a FamiPlay?”
“Yep! It’s a retro game treasure that came out before the Super FamiPlay!”
A-no was getting really excited about it.
I do feel like there are a lot of old games that are enjoyable in their simplicity, yeah.
It’s true that I’ve never played this version of Bomb Man before, but I’ve played another one in the past, so maybe I can be a bit helpful here...!
“Alright! We’re here, so we may as well try to get a victory!”
A-no, a retro gamer, is here with me, so it’ll be fine!
“Okay~! Don’t hold us back, E-ki!”
A-no’s fired up too; we can do this!
“Heh... I’ll match... your desire to win!”
“...How foolish of you.”
Without a moment’s delay, the game began.
The scene that blinked to life before me was a familiar one.
Walls were positioned around us to form a sort of maze.
In this game, figuring out how to drive your opponent into a corner is key.
It’d been so long that I’d forgotten the controls, but I gradually remembered how to play.
But...
“Fuhahahaha! If you just play as you normally do, there’s no way you’ll beat us!”
“...You can’t win alone.”
The Gaming Club members were able to fight skillfully together.
If you throw the bomb when there’s still time left before it explodes, and your partner kicks it, you can confuse your opponents on when and where the bomb will fly, so it’s a pretty clever trick.
I’ve been just barely dodging them, but I can’t keep this up forever...!
Are they aiming to totally crush me, the small fry, first...!?
But y’see, how it works is this: if you focus all your efforts on one opponent, you leave the other one totally open to attack!
And now, we’ll get a display of A-no’s legendary skills...!!
“A-no...! Now...!”
When I turned my head, the sight that greeted me was...!
“...Bam! ...Huh? W-Wham!!”
A-no struggling to even play the game.
Huh? Really? A-no-san...?
You love retro games, right?
Seems like you completely suck at them, though...?
“U-Uh? Huh?”
Kaboom.
A-no blew herself up with her own bomb.
Huh? She’s that bad?
Or, like, she plays like it’s her first time...?
And then, of course, because I’d been looking away from the screen, I got hit with a bomb and blown up as well.
“...Hey, A-no?”
“...W-Whaaaat...?”
A-no looked up at me, wide-eyed and teary.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s cute and all, but that doesn’t help us right now?
“You’re... really bad at games, huh?”
“...W-What, am I not allowed to be bad at games and like them!?”
“...I mean, yeah, but like, you’re even worse at it than me!”
“...T-That’s not... true...”
“...How many stages of Mustache Brothers can you beat in one go?”
“I-In one go!? You can’t clear a stage with just one...!”
“You’re the type to suck at games no matter how much you try ‘em, huh!?”
I ended up raising my voice without meaning to.
“...P-Press ‘continue’! The good thing about games is that you can always press ‘continue’!”
“Huh!?”
“I’ll keep fighting with all my might no matter how many times it takes! Games foster a never-give-up attitude, and I love them for it!”
A-no began to argue with me, eyes gleaming.
“...U-Ummm...”
Contrasting A-no’s spirit were the shaky voices of the Gaming Club as they spoke to us.
“...C-Could you... please leave already...?”
Faced with mine and A-no’s glares, they’d already given up on their previous acts.
““Shut it! One more time! Press ‘continue’!””
Raising our voices together, we demanded a rematch.
The gaming club members reluctantly restarted the game, the thought of “Do we have to...?” written all over their faces.
<-- Chapter 1 Part 1 || Chapter 1 Part 3 -->
Insert scene change, and here I am in the school building again.
Over here, a bunch of the rooms had been converted into exhibits.
Each club had its own myriad of displays, programs, and festivities that they were presenting to the public.
There I saw another familiar figure.
“Hey, A-no!”
“Oh, E-ki! Nice work!”
A-no called my name, raising her hand in greeting.
With slightly tanned skin, spandex shorts worn beneath a skirt cut short for ease of movement, and a short, evenly-cut hairstyle, she gave off a fresh and cheerful impression.
And, as always, her lean figure that offered no air resistance was—
“Die!”
“Whoa!?”
With no warning whatsoever, A-no let loose an immensely sharp punch towards my face.
No, seriously, it’s good that I avoided that!? What was that about!?
“...W-What was that for!?”
“You were looking at my chest and thinking something rude like ‘no bumps or air resistance whatsoever’, weren’t you!?”
“...Huh!? You can read minds!?”
“You said it out loud!!”
And so occurred our usual back-and-forth.
“Oh, right. What were you up to?”
“Hm? Oh, there was this one exhibit I was interested in~”
“Which one?”
“It’s over here~”
There I saw a sign saying “Organized by the Gaming Club: Retro Game Tournament”.
Oh, I kinda have a bad feeling about this...
“A-no...? You wanna enter this?”
“Obviously! What kinda retro gamer would I be if I didn’t? Wanna enter with me, E-ki?”
Ah... This is foreshadowing, isn’t it?
It is, right?
Some weirdos are gonna show up again, aren’t they?
As I thought that, we headed over to the registration booth.
“Buhahahahaha! A girl like you intends to join our tournament, huh?”
“...Ready to swiftly die?”
...What’d I tell you?
What is going on!? Do weirdos just gather at our high school for some reason!?
The one wearing a weird hat was so plump you’d hardly assume he’s a high school student.
The one wearing glasses was a scrawny little guy who seemed like he’d never look you in the eye.
“The rules for this match are simple! With your team of two, you shall battle us, from the Gaming Club, in Bomb Man! I waited too long to introduce us, huh? I am the president of the Gaming Club, Meijin Yamada!”
“I will introduce myself... I am Kouta Yoji...”
“Buhahahaha! This guy’s character is to only speak in four-word sentences! Sorry if it’s hard to understand!”
So they really are just acting, huh.
And they’re even apologizing for it.
“...Hey, A-no... Are these guys... famous?”
“Huh? How should I know?”
“Oh, okay~ ...By the way, there aren’t any legends about you, right?”
“Wh—What? Legends? N-No, there aren’t...”
Ahh, there it is, there’s that thing strong people always say.
Well, whatever. I’ll just be over here casually enjoying playing a game again.
Anyway, Bomb Man, huh?
That’s one nostalgic title.
There’s a limited time until each bomb explodes, and while you choose the strength with which you want to kick it, you need to time it so that it makes your opponent explode. That’s how you win. It’s simple, but that’s what makes it so intense.
Looks like it’s a really old version of it, too; it’s on a console I’ve never used before.
“Oooh!! It’s a FamiPlay! Look, E-ki, it’s a FamiPlaaay!
“This console’s called a FamiPlay?”
“Yep! It’s a retro game treasure that came out before the Super FamiPlay!”
A-no was getting really excited about it.
I do feel like there are a lot of old games that are enjoyable in their simplicity, yeah.
It’s true that I’ve never played this version of Bomb Man before, but I’ve played another one in the past, so maybe I can be a bit helpful here...!
“Alright! We’re here, so we may as well try to get a victory!”
A-no, a retro gamer, is here with me, so it’ll be fine!
“Okay~! Don’t hold us back, E-ki!”
A-no’s fired up too; we can do this!
“Heh... I’ll match... your desire to win!”
“...How foolish of you.”
Without a moment’s delay, the game began.
The scene that blinked to life before me was a familiar one.
Walls were positioned around us to form a sort of maze.
In this game, figuring out how to drive your opponent into a corner is key.
It’d been so long that I’d forgotten the controls, but I gradually remembered how to play.
But...
“Fuhahahaha! If you just play as you normally do, there’s no way you’ll beat us!”
“...You can’t win alone.”
The Gaming Club members were able to fight skillfully together.
If you throw the bomb when there’s still time left before it explodes, and your partner kicks it, you can confuse your opponents on when and where the bomb will fly, so it’s a pretty clever trick.
I’ve been just barely dodging them, but I can’t keep this up forever...!
Are they aiming to totally crush me, the small fry, first...!?
But y’see, how it works is this: if you focus all your efforts on one opponent, you leave the other one totally open to attack!
And now, we’ll get a display of A-no’s legendary skills...!!
“A-no...! Now...!”
When I turned my head, the sight that greeted me was...!
“...Bam! ...Huh? W-Wham!!”
A-no struggling to even play the game.
Huh? Really? A-no-san...?
You love retro games, right?
Seems like you completely suck at them, though...?
“U-Uh? Huh?”
Kaboom.
A-no blew herself up with her own bomb.
Huh? She’s that bad?
Or, like, she plays like it’s her first time...?
And then, of course, because I’d been looking away from the screen, I got hit with a bomb and blown up as well.
“...Hey, A-no?”
“...W-Whaaaat...?”
A-no looked up at me, wide-eyed and teary.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s cute and all, but that doesn’t help us right now?
“You’re... really bad at games, huh?”
“...W-What, am I not allowed to be bad at games and like them!?”
“...I mean, yeah, but like, you’re even worse at it than me!”
“...T-That’s not... true...”
“...How many stages of Mustache Brothers can you beat in one go?”
“I-In one go!? You can’t clear a stage with just one...!”
“You’re the type to suck at games no matter how much you try ‘em, huh!?”
I ended up raising my voice without meaning to.
“...P-Press ‘continue’! The good thing about games is that you can always press ‘continue’!”
“Huh!?”
“I’ll keep fighting with all my might no matter how many times it takes! Games foster a never-give-up attitude, and I love them for it!”
A-no began to argue with me, eyes gleaming.
“...U-Ummm...”
Contrasting A-no’s spirit were the shaky voices of the Gaming Club as they spoke to us.
“...C-Could you... please leave already...?”
Faced with mine and A-no’s glares, they’d already given up on their previous acts.
““Shut it! One more time! Press ‘continue’!””
Raising our voices together, we demanded a rematch.
The gaming club members reluctantly restarted the game, the thought of “Do we have to...?” written all over their faces.