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“Did you see that? She just took 70% of his HP with one combo.”
“That looked brutal…”

The audience started muttering amongst themselves.

“Why couldn’t he break out of that combo though?”
“He could’ve just used blitz or psych to fight back.”

The game had various mechanics to break free from a combo, like the Blitz Shield that repelled an attack, or a Psych Burst that made one invulnerable while pushing opponents away.

But…

“He tried… But she read his timing and avoided it.”

Meanwhile the guy who had been on the receiving end merely grinned, looking intrigued.

His eyes were different too. Earlier he had acted aloof, like his attention was somewhere else, but now they were sharp and focused on the screen, like a beast about to pounce on his prey.

“…You b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲.” Seeing his aggressive grin, Kou cursed at him. She realized that until now, he had just been toying around with her, and only now was looking at her like an actual opponent.

It was time for the tie breaker round. This time both sides were focused and made full use of all resources available to them. It looked violent, but somehow neither side could deal much damage to the other.

“Ah, Kou, if you move so frantically your hood might…” Subaru tried saying something, but Kou was so focused that she could not hear him.

Their special attacks were slowly chipping away at each other’s health gauges, but their blocks were perfectly timed so it was only by small amounts. In a situation like this, attacking no longer mattered as much, and instead the first one to fail a block would lose.

The crowd around them watched in silence, gulping with tension as they waited for the outcome…until the announcer’s voice ended the fight with a “Time is up”.

The winner was the one with slightly more HP left, Kou. Some sighed at the anticlimactic end to their fight, but they still clapped for both the contestants.

“…Phew, that was a good match.” She had won, even if it was only thanks to the timer running out.

Feeling relieved that she had somehow managed to secure the win, she stood up and confidently held out her hand for a handshake, smiling radiantly…or maybe triumphantly.

“…Hm? Is something wrong?” But for some reason her opponent just stared at her open-mouthed, without reacting to her words. The applause and cheers also began to die down, until there was only a deafening silence.

“Kou, your hood, it fell back.”
“…Ah?!”

She only noticed that when Subaru pointed it out. All of her movements during the match had made the hood slide back, and now her whole face was exposed. By the time she hurried to put it on, it was already too late…

“We need to run, now!”
“Ah, yeah! Sorry everyonee!”

Before anyone could react, Subaru took Kou’s hand and ran away from there with her. She went along with him to escape the arcade, though she still took the time to apologize to everyone who had been lining up to challenge her.

◇◇◇

“That was incredible!”
“And that girl was so cute too.”
“Was she an albino? I don’t remember seeing anyone like that around here before.”

The arcade was in an uproar after Kou left.

But since the girl in everyone’s mouths was no longer there, they quickly shifted their attention to her last opponent, who had offered such a good fight against her in the end.

“That’s too bad though, that was the perfect opportunity to get closer to a cute girl.”
“Nah, I’m good…”

While they tried to talk with him about it, he just gave a vague response and did not really engage in more conversation.

That young man had essentially grown up alone, without friends and without wanting any, simply immersed in playing games on his own. He could not understand the appeal of being close to a cute girl like everyone else there.

It was the first time he had seen someone like her, with white hair and skin, which left a strong impact in his mind, almost like her face had gotten ingrained in his eyes. But that was it… And more importantly…

«Destiny Unchain Online has been downloaded»

He felt the notification on his NLD was much more important now.

Destiny Unchain Online was a game with a large emphasis on PvP, and he had wanted to start playing when it first came out, but sadly it was only available within Japan.

At the time he had been in a tournament overseas, and it took him a month to be back. By then game codes were out of stock nearly everywhere, so he was unable to obtain the game.

But recently a new server had been added, opening access to many more players, including him. He only went to the arcade to kill time since the new user registration system was under maintenance, and he still needed to download the game client.

“Hey, wanna go for a match with-”
“Sorry, I need to go now.”

He raised his unkempt hair like he was shaking off an annoyance and then left the arcade.

At least I managed to have some fun fighting that girl.

He had not expected to lose against anyone at the arcade, even if it was only by the time limit. He could not help but smile realizing he had become slightly overconfident. But he also vowed in his mind that if there was a rematch, he would win that time.

“Huh, what a weirdo… Hm?”

The guy who had tried challenging him was left a bit confused, but then looked at a nearby poster on the arcade and noticed the person pictured in it resembled the young man who had just left.

“Wait, was that him? A pro… Wait, then who was that girl who won against him..?” The guy became even more confused at that discovery, looking at the young man leaving in the distance.

The poster was an advert in support of a Japanese player who was participating in a famous global esports tournament overseas. And the defeated challenger from earlier looked just like that player, at least when he pulled his hair up.

His name was there too, Hikami Suzaku, a pro gamer still in high school.