The drawing did not use a classic lottery box with a hole in the top.
“All our battles are fought digitally. We can’t be using an analog option like that.” With that declaration, a giant screen came down from the ceiling behind Hifumi Tetsuma. The lecture hall went dark and the projector began to whirr.
The display showed a 3D model of a giant gacha machine. There were a ton of plastic capsules all tossed together, each of which held a plate with a school’s name etched on it. The only difference from a normal gacha machine was that there were two slots for the prizes to come out of instead of one.
Tetsuma tapped on his smartphone. The machine churned out two balls, which split neatly in two with a satisfying clack sound to reveal two nameplates. With this, the first set of opponents had been decided.
“But wait, there’s more,” he announced. As if the animation had been waiting for his cue, the plates began to turn. On the other side, the plates had the words ‘Weapon’ and ‘Feels Good’ written on them, respectively.
“These two are your topics,” he informed them. “It’s technically a rule for you to include this prompt in the design of your game, but I’ll leave the interpretation up to you. You can take ‘Weapon’ to mean swords and guns, or you can argue that ‘Thought is man’s greatest weapon!’ or whatever to expand your bounds. Anyway, this one’s on the easier side to understand—boooring.”
The drawing continued on without much else to note. Meikun High’s name didn’t appear until the very end, when the 3D model was completely out of capsules. The other plate that came out alongside theirs read ‘Kongouin Academy.’ It seemed their opponents were to be the infamously bourgeois team at Kongouin.
And then, the plates flipped around to display their topics: ‘Character’ and ‘Breath.’ These two words would be their theme for the competition.
The projector screen had shifted its perspective back to the empty gacha machine. Despite having been completely exhausted of capsules, it continued to wobble as if there were more to come. Then, it suddenly popped up and exploded into pieces. The special effects were beautifully done and had far more work put into them than they deserved.
“Alright! That’s it, we’re done! C’mon, get out! Hurry up and go home so you can start development! Your job is to turn in a fun app in two weeks’ time, so—”
A member of the event staff frantically ran up to Tetsuma and whispered something into his ear. “...Tch. Apparently, there’s going to be a party in the next room over after we’re done here,” Tetsuma told them. “Sounds like they set up some food that’s way too good for you brats, too. Go if you want. Sorry to say so, but I hate these kinds of pointless social events, and I’m going home.
“So long, kiddos. I’m not expecting much, but I wish you all the best of luck.” Tetsuma gave them an emphatic thumbs-up and left the scene with the same thunderous footsteps as his initial entrance.
His departure caused the razor-sharp tension in the air to soften. Some students stood around and discussed the results amongst themselves, while others made their way out immediately. It seemed a lot of the schools were Summit regulars, as Kai could see people with different uniforms chatting with one another.
“Should we go to the party?” Nanaka asked everyone.
“Anything is fine,” Eru answered.
Hooked by the promise of food, Aya suggested, “They have sweets, so why not go?”
“I wonder what kind of yummy food they prepared. I’m so excited! ♪” Aina concurred.
“Then... let’s go,” Kai agreed. It wasn’t as if there was an entrance fee, and they still had time before their train home departed. With the offer of a free meal, they had nothing to lose, even if they didn’t have a more concrete reasoning to attend.
“Okay!” Nanaka exclaimed. “Plus, we should go greet our opponents at Kongouin Academy.”
“Ah, that too,” Kai agreed. He hadn’t even considered that.
“Oh?” Aya eyed him curiously. “Senpai, are you gonna pretend to greet them and start a fight? Sounds good to me! Go tell those Kongouin pricks to add sparking to BeauSt!”
“Cheers to that!” Aina joined in.
Aya and Aina nodded together and exchanged a quick high-five. Kai didn’t quite understand why, but the two of them got along strangely well. “That’s just your personal grudge,” he lectured.
“It’s the user’s grudge,” Aya corrected.
“That’s still not my problem,” he insisted.
“...If you’re going to dawdle like this, I’m going on ahead,” Eru said as she made for the door.
“Ah! Eru! Wait, wait!” Nanaka chased after her and the other three followed slightly behind.
The party was being held in the room opposite the lecture hall in which the drawing had taken place. This was a simpler room with level flooring, in which tables had been lined up against the wall like a buffet. A handful of tables had been placed in the middle of the room so that guests had a place to put their plates down.
Kai overheard the conversations of the students around him as he lined up for the buffet. The majority were talking about Hifumi Tetsuma: some passionately applauded his speech while others were more cynical, calling his entire performance an obvious act. However, it was a fact that he was the center of conversation, for better or worse.
“Everyone’s talking about that guy,” Nanaka said.
“Yeah, they are,” Kai agreed.
“I get it.” She took a bite of the fruit on her plate and continued, “‘There’s no textbook on how to make a game.’ ...I was just talking about my future with you, so I felt like he was saying that directly to me.”
“Nanaka-san,” he protested, “that was an extreme case, so—”
Amidst the hubbub of the party, a piercingly high voice landed its mark like an arrow in Kai’s ear. “Goodness me,” it said, “how trite! Everywhere I turn, the masses are hooked on that bald old man. I have been surrounded by superficial drones who yield themselves to passion without logic! Say... do you not agree, ladies and gentleman of Meikun High?”
When Kai turned to see where it came from, he saw... a boy that looked like a mushroom. He was a mushroom—Kai was sure of it. There was no other way to describe him. He wasn’t quite a thick matsutake, but more of a gangly white mushroom. Despite being all skin and bones, he was nearly two meters tall. The unhealthy bluish complexion on his face was adorned with glasses as round as the bottom of a milk bottle and a neatly trimmed bowl cut.
Was that his voice? thought Kai. As soon as the question arose in his mind, the boy shook his head and gestured to his own feet. Kai obliged him and looked down to see a girl.
“No! No, no, no! You looked down on me, didn’t you?!” With her index finger pointed toward Kai, the girl looked like a spear sticking out of the ground. She must have been the one who was talking, he noted. She looked even shorter than Aya, with hair that had been tightly coiled into a pair of golden drills (which Kai had only ever seen in anime) that swayed to the rhythm of her melodramatic movements.
“What...! What utter humiliation-ation-ation!” she cried out dramatically. “Kinoyama!!!”
“As you command.” The mushroom boy slithered into place in front of her with a motion that was difficult to put to words, and got down on all fours. The short girl mercilessly placed her feet on his back without a moment’s hesitation. “Ohhhhooo...!” The mushroom boy let out a disgusting sigh of ecstasy as he was stepped on, like he was preparing to release a cloud of spores.
After having mounted the boy, the girl overtook Kai in terms of height. Now she puffed out her chest, stretched her spine, and tilted her head back in order to be able to look down on them. “Hmph,” she chuckled contentedly.
“Um...” Kai ventured, “Who might you be?”
“Y-You...! You mean to say you don’t know who I am...?! I see the miniscule amount of time you spent on the front page of the School Social Game Link has gone straight to your head!” the girl scoffed. “What an unscrupulous man you are!”
“It is just as you say, my lady,” Kinoyama, the boy upon whom she was standing, echoed.
“Wha— Kinoyama! Don’t move!” she scolded him. “It’s scary when I sway about! Commit yourself to being a pedestal!”
The girl dug her heel into his back and he let out another vulgar squeal. “D-fough! As you wish!!!” The sound he made caused Kai physical discomfort.
The girl slipped a dazzlingly ornate fan out of the pocket of her uniform and opened it once to show off. Then she snapped the fan shut and pointed it toward Kai with vigor. “Very well,” she concluded, “I suppose it is our first time meeting, now that I think of it. Since you are so sorely lacking in both tact and height, I suppose I shall shoulder the burden of maturity and offer my name. I am Kongouin Mirei! No need for formalities, you shall call me ‘Lady Mirei.’ Also, it is nice to meet you!”