"Come on, Saiki. I've got the title of claw machine master. Let's settle this once and for all."
Ten minutes later.
Itsuki was completely defeated.
"Wait, Saiki, there's still this—dart throwing. Heh, let me tell you, back in middle school I was amazing at this. They called me the Dart Prince."
Then...
Itsuki stared at Saiki's darts, all stuck right in the bullseye, and fell into deep thought.
Itsuki was completely defeated.
"Alright, I'm the 'Billiards Messenger.' I won't lose at this."
...
Itsuki was completely defeated.
Three hours later, Itsuki had lost all his shine. He knelt on the floor, muttering to himself, "How is this possible? Total defeat... impossible. I'm the game center overlord."
"Uh... Itsuki, you okay?" Chitose looked at her boyfriend, who had completely lost his spark, and for a moment didn't know what to say. She hadn't expected Saiki to be this strong.
(Yare yare, did I overdo it?)
Who told this guy to start by bragging about his girlfriend right off the bat.
Saiki turned his head, looked at the now-dull Itsuki, and headed toward the exit. [Today's matches were really rewarding. See you tomorrow, Itsuki.]
The next second, Itsuki yanked him back. The excited Akazawa Itsuki grabbed Saiki's shoulders. His art style suddenly shifted—face flushed, grinning like an idiot. "You think you can just win and run? It's not over yet. Come on, let's settle this once and for all."
[Seriously, we've already compared pretty much everything there is to compare in here. That's enough. Let's just end it here.]
Itsuki turned his head, scanning for something else they could compete in. His eyes lit up when he spotted Street Fighter IV. He pointed at it. "This one! Street Fighter IV. I'm known as a Street Fighter expert."
(seriously, how many titles do you even have?)
Saiki helplessly shook his head. [Fine, you win. This is really the last one. After this, we go home.]
In the end, they ended up in front of the arcade machine. Next to it, a girl wearing an eye mask and cap had a crowd gathered around her.
Saiki couldn't help but comment, [Is this game really that fun?]
Itsuki said in surprise, "Eh, Saiki, don't tell me you've never played this game."
[Nope.]
Chitose walked over and shook her head. "Forget played—you look like you've never even heard of it. This is the most popular fighting game in the world: Street Fighter IV. Its ranked matches have been held in game centers all over Japan..."
Itsuki looked at Saiki. [I didn't expect you to have never even heard of it. Can we really compete like this? Isn't this kind of damaging my dignity as a man...?]
"Let's do one round, Saiki."
(Where did your dignity as a man go?)
"Eh, Saiki's never even played. How is he supposed to compete with you?" Chitose watched her boyfriend's excited state and didn't know what to say anymore.
"What's the problem? I'll just teach him. Come on, Saiki."
[Sure, whatever.]
"Alright, watch closely." Itsuki sat at the controls and started instructing Saiki.
"Okay, pay attention. This is jump, this is forward, this is left, this is right, this is punch, this is special move, this is dodge, this is block. Then you do this and that, and like this. OK, got it?"
Itsuki performed a flashy combo to demonstrate for Saiki. Saiki's mouth twitched. [Got it.]
"Great! Then let's settle this once and for all."
Actually, Saiki hadn't really paid attention to Itsuki's controls at all. He had been watching the girl sitting next to them playing her matches. Right now, that girl had just won her last fight with 100 HP remaining—not a single drop lost—against the guy she was PKing. Then she turned her head and noticed Saiki observing her moves.
"Hey! Saiki, we're starting. Stop looking around."
Itsuki saw that Saiki was ready but still distracted, so he reminded him.
Saiki turned his head back. [Yeah, yeah, yeah.]
Itsuki's character charged forward aggressively, triggering a flying kick straight at Saiki's head.
Saiki sidestepped and countered with a punch, taking away several tens of percent of health.
"Oh, not bad." Itsuki praised him when he saw Saiki could actually handle the controls.
Two minutes later.
Itsuki stared at the screen showing Saiki had defeated him with 100 HP intact and fell into deep thought.
Then he grabbed Saiki's shoulders. "You're definitely lying to me, right? You've played this game hundreds of times, haven't you? You're a pro!"
[Seriously, I'm not lying.]
"I don't believe you."
[Whatever.]
"Oh, this glasses-wearing guy plays pretty well. Wanna go a round with me?" Saiki glanced over and saw that the girl who had been sitting nearby was now watching his gameplay from extremely close range.
Itsuki also noticed her. He remembered she was the expert who had just beaten her opponent with 100 HP, not losing a single drop.
"Alright, Saiki. One last final match with me. Let this girl take my place and fight you instead."
[I refuse. Didn't we already agree this was the last one?]
Itsuki cried as he hugged Saiki's leg. "Ahh, just one more, please!"
Saiki couldn't bear to see Akazawa Itsuki looking so pitiful anymore. [Fine, but this really is the absolute last one.]
"Great!" The next second, Itsuki perked right back up, standing beside the girl with a beaming smile.
"It's all yours, young lady."
"OK." The girl smiled back.
The match began. Saiki attacked first, unleashing a big move with a powerful airplane kick. The girl jumped to dodge it.
[Using a high-difficulty vacuum super move right off the bat... Is he really a beginner?]
While the girl was still in the air, Saiki started a combo. She blocked it upon landing, then counterattacked, landing her own combo on Saiki first.
When her combo reached the fifth hit, Saiki spotted the opening and countered. The girl hadn't expected her combo to be read so easily. She then got hit by one of Saiki's full combos. Her health bar kept dropping steadily until she was finished off with a one-hit kill.
Match over.
[Yare yare, finally done.]
In this match, Saiki had barely won with 60 HP remaining.
...
"I... lost."
Just as the girl was about to look up and invite another round, she saw Saiki and the others already heading toward the exit.
When she tried to chase after them, someone behind her spoke up. "Wait, U.M.R! You still have the championship finals! Where are you going?"
The girl stopped. "I still have a match to play... I don't know if I'll ever run into that person again."
...
On the way home, Chitose handed them each a bottle of drink. "Phew, today was really fun."
Itsuki took a sip and looked at Saiki. "You're really something else, you know that? Top of the class is one thing, but you're insanely good at all those games and sports in there too."
[Just got lucky.] Saiki took a sip of his drink and smiled in reply.
"Lucky." Itsuki gritted his teeth, glaring at this guy who was still being humble in Versailles style.
[He's definitely getting revenge on me for bragging about my girlfriend earlier.]
Itsuki punched Saiki lightly in the chest. "Next time, we're settling this again."
Saiki Kusuo: Nah, I'll pass.