: even without the flat-chested jokes, it feels like Mashiron is in quite the mood today
: is it because she's with her genmates? Awww, that's adorable
Limbo results: Mashiron in first, me in second, Chami-chan in third, and Hikari-chan in fourth.
“Challenge number three. This will be the last challenge today.”
Graciously, Mashiron moved on like nothing had happened and announced the last challenge.
“Let’s quickly revisit the scores, shall we? Hikari-chan and I are tied for first with ten points, while Awa-chan and Chami-chan are close behind with eight each. It’s still anyone’s game.”
It was obviously concerning that Hikari-chan was tied for the top spot, but the scores were close. If I could clinch this last challenge, I’d win even if Hikari-chan got second. Let’s do this thing!
“Then without further ado, let’s announce the last challenge.” She paused, glancing around. “So where is it?”
Normally, this would be the moment a staff member handed Mashiron a slip of paper with the challenge on it, but instead, a group of them approached, each carrying some kind of...contraption?
The heck is that? It looked like a bizarre assembly of tubes and pipes and springs and whatnot, all attached to straps that seemed designed to fit over someone’s body like an exoskeleton. The closest thing I could compare it to was the Dai League Ball Training Cast from Star of the Giants.
We stood there in a confused daze as the staff members came over, fitted each of us with one of these strange contraptions, and left without saying a word.
O...kay?
Only then did someone finally hand Mashiron the paper slip. “Oh, thanks,” she mumbled, snapping out of her daze as she took it. “Um, let’s see.” She began to read aloud, “It’s final, it’s fun, it’s Live-On! The last challenge is...Senior Citizen Beach Flags!”
Senior Citizen...Beach Flags?
We glanced around the studio, and sure enough, directly across from where each of us stood was a small, flag-shaped object.
Mashiron squinted at the page as she continued reading. “Here are the rules. What we’re now wearing—reflected in our 3D models on the stream—is a Senior Citizen Experience Exoskeleton. In these suits, we’ll race to grab the flags, about twenty meters away, just like in a normal Beach Flags game. The exoskeletons simulate what it feels like to move at different ages, so we can better understand the challenges faced by our senior citizens. Furthermore...”
The color drained from her face.
“The age setting...is set to one hundred and twenty.”
“What?!” we all yelled.
Immediately, we turned to the staff for an explanation. But none came. They just smiled at us—one of them held a remote control—and gestured for us to squat down.
Fuck if I didn’t have about a billion questions for them, but something in my bones told me it was wise to just go along with it.
So we got low, and when we did, the one with the remote hovered their hand over the button, pressed it, and—
“Wh-Wh-Whooooooaahhh?!” we all shouted.
Overwhelming weight had crashed down on me, paralyzing my previously limber and unencumbered body.
“My body isn’t...listening to me!” Chami-chan cried out.
It was as if every muscle in my body had vanished, leaving just the brittle bones beneath. As Chami-chan so eloquently put it, even the act of standing up was a leg-shaking, knee-buckling affair. My spine refused to straighten, and moving even slightly was impossibly taxing.
What... What fresh hell is this?!
I forced my head around to glance toward the staff once again, but they were already filing out of the studio room to leave us poor saps behind. The sight of their backs filled me with panic, and in that moment, an unsettling thought crystallized out of my confusion.
“W-Wait!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, arresting them. “There’s a time limit, right? Please tell me there’s a time limit! This isn’t—this isn’t one of those things where we’re just stuck here forever until someone reaches a stupid flag, is it? Tell me it’s not! Please!”
Realizing what I was getting at, my genmates all widened their eyes in fear and looked to the staff members.
They paused. Exchanged glances among themselves. Then, with expressions of radiant satisfaction, as if they had just saved the world, they walked out of the studio and shut the door behind them.
“Come back here!” I shouted. “Come back here right now, you motherless knaves!!!”
“Whoa, these suits are awesome!” Hikari-chan said. “It’s like Hikari’s a completely different person!”
“Knew it,” Mashiron sighed. “I wish I was wrong, but alas. Two normal challenges in a row was just too good to be true for Live-On. This is where all the effort went.”
“We really ignored all the red flags, huh?” Chami-chan said. “No pun intended.”
Live-On! How come trying so hard with these absurd, nonsensical ideas is when you pull out all the stops?!
: Yes... Yes...!
: lol. lmao, even.
: This is what we came here to see
: This (The Looming Calamity)
: So this is how they're getting around the tiny studio room restriction LMAO
: Ah yes, I was getting worried we were going to have a totally normal off collab
: "Even if they wanted to make us suffer, there's limits to what they can do" - Awayuki Kokorone
: the fact that they came up with this idea is crazy. the fact that they actually made it is insane.
: Live-On production team member: time to put that engineering degree to good use!
: the fact that they even gave them a few normal challenges is proof that management trusts them