“N-Nice to meet you,” Kai replied.
“Ohohohoho!” she chortled. “What was that pathetic greeting?! I see that you have been thoroughly intimidated by the great Mirei herself! Kinoyama! Do you not think our victory has been decided?!”
“It is as you say, my lady.”
“...Hey! Kinoyama! You. Are. A. Pedestal! Stop moving!”
“D-foughhh...!”
“Um,” said Nanaka, gingerly approaching them. “Would you happen to be students from Kongouin Academy?”
“Exactly! How perceptive of you! ‘First: live beautifully!’ With my gorgeous face embodying our school’s motto so well, I’m sure it was trifling for you to notice!”
“Um... I don’t really know anything about your motto,” Nanaka confessed, “but your name was the same, so...”
“Then you must surely be blind,” Mirei declared. “I regret having praised you. I had my hopes for the rumored Shiraseki Kai, but I suppose that after coming all this way from the backwater that is Niigata, it can’t be helped that all of you are so boorish—wait, what’s this?” Mirei kicked Kinoyama’s rump, and he began to move, sliding across the floor while maintaining his four-legged stance in order to make his way over to Aya and Aina.
“What?” Aya asked in a standoffish tone. “You’re too loud. Step back.”
“My, a shy one, aren’t we?” Mirei teased. “Your hairstyle is modeled after my own, is it not?”
“Huh?”
Now that she mentioned it, Kai noticed that both of the girls were blonde. On top of that, they were both extremely short.
“But this is no good,” Mirei noted regretfully. “Look, the ends are frayed. If you want to mimic me, then live beautifully.” She snapped her fingers, and a girl instantly came to her side with ninja-like movements to hand Mirei something.
“Use this hair treatment,” she commanded. “Also, with hair like that, I’m sure you don’t take care of your skin, either. Here, this is a set of my favorite cosmetics. I wonder if you know how to use it? If not, feel free to take a gander at the instructions left within.”
“Wha—I don’t need this!” Aya declared hotly. “Who do you think you are?!”
“I am Kongouin Mirei!”
“Geez, shut up! Why are you yelling when I’m right in front of you?!”
“No need to be so sheepish. Well, you there, standing beside her. Do lend her a hand if she can’t figure... oh?” Mirei kicked Kinoyama again.
“Heeheehee!” he yelped enthusiastically, carrying her over until she was staring down Aina.
“...You’re quite beautiful,” Mirei noted, her eyes shining with glee and melting in pleasure as though she had set her sights upon the most beautiful gemstone known to man.
“Really? Thanks! ♪” Aina hummed. “And you’re... Kongouin Mirei-san, right?”
“...Perhaps a tad too beautiful,” Mirei concluded.
“...Huh?”
“I will create the most beautiful game this world has ever seen. As such, I have studied every form of beauty on this planet... There is simply no universe in which I would miss a stunning specimen like you.”
“Aww, but I’m just a regular high school girl...” Aina gushed. “Right, Kai-kun?”
The memories of her entering the club and the events at his house prevented Kai from nodding along when Aina added the word ‘just’ to her statement. She had left far too much of an impression on him for that. Besides, he could definitely see the beauty that Mirei was talking about. Aina was definitely gorgeous; he could say that without any reserve.
“There’s no need for you to turn to that potato for support,” Mirei told her. “After all, you are beautiful.”
Kai noted that he had suddenly been demoted to potato. The girl who had done so was now observing Aina with all the focus of a person peering through a keyhole.
After some deliberation, Mirei seemed to have come to a conclusion. “...Could it be?” she finally asked. “Yozakura?”
It only lasted for an instant: Aina grit her teeth and her expression stiffened for a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Mirei to confirm her suspicions.
“Indeed, there is no room for doubt!” she declared. “Yozakura Aina! To think you would grow to be so dazzling! I see the sands of time have polished you into a true beauty! I suppose it’s no wonder I didn’t notice! For that Aina to be in a place like—”
“Hey?” said a quiet voice, cutting her off. “Is it fun to run your mouth about someone else like that?”
A terrified whimper escaped from Mirei’s mouth.
By contrast, Aina’s face was a brilliant smile. The corners of her lips were more perfectly symmetrical than a bisque doll, and the tails of her eyes were nice and relaxed... but her gaze told a completely different story.
“Juuust kidding! ♪” Aina said melodically. “Ahh, if you’ll excuse me. I have to go and ‘water the flowers’!” She twirled around in place and her dark, lustrous hair twirled with her as she winked goodbye, and was gone before anyone could say another word.
Mirei had frozen in place like a grade-schooler in a haunted house, but she returned to her wits once Aina had left. “...I see. I had presumed you to be unworthy of being our opponents, but allow me to revise my opinion,” she declared. “Ladies and gentleman of Meikun High—under my command, Kongouin Academy shall do its utmost to bestow a most beautiful defeat upon you!”
“You sure bark loud for a group that only has graphics,” Aya sneered. “All your development competitions have been trainwrecks.”
“Ah-chan, don’t say that...” Nanaka mumbled.
“Hmph. I am well aware that we at Kongouin Academy are the butt of many jokes: ‘They’re letting the money do all the talking,’ they say. Thus, our ability to win a development competition that measures fundamental skills is considered laughable.”
“That’s your fault,” Eru snapped. “It’s not the illustrations’ fault you failed.”
“It is as you say,” Mirei concurred. “As expected of the esteemed Kuroba Eru.”
“Oh? I don’t remember becoming acquainted with someone like you.”
“I said that I study all that is beautiful, did I not? Your drawings are certainly so... Yet, how unfortunate,” Mirei concluded. “Your art could be considered Meikun’s sole weapon, and still it poses no threat to us.”
“Dear me, you sure do like to talk before we’ve even begun,” Eru jabbed back.
“Do you mean to suggest we cannot know until the deed has been done? I wonder,” Mirei mused. “I’m sure you country folk are here to enjoy a riveting summer’s challenge, but we are here with resolution. ‘It’s not the illustrations’ fault,’ indeed. The beauty we create is faultless, and I will not permit anyone to defame it. We simply don’t have time to lose to a leisure club like yours.”
No matter who Mirei was, Kai thought, her mouth had run for a little too long. He could see that Nanaka was moving in to speak, but his own mouth was already open.
“...If money could buy an enjoyable experience, no game developer would have to struggle again. So, I understand why you’d be upset that people bash your work... But it’s not like resolution can guarantee fun, either,” he put in. “And even if it could, I still don’t think we would lose to you.”
Mirei was clearly affected by his words, as she pouted her lips and furrowed her brow. “I wasn’t aware that potatoes were capable of speech,” she retorted acerbically. “Shiraseki Kai, what sort of resolve do you claim to have?”
“‘As a creator, speak with your output.’ ...Isn’t that right? If you want to win so badly, then you should heed the words of our judge,” Kai suggested.
“...I take it you have no intention of revealing your hand... Haha! It seems that you at least learned something from your time at Tsukigase! You—excuse me, you all seem to be somewhat amusing... Allow me to offer my apologies for my rudeness,” Mirei offered graciously.
“...Thanks.”
“Yes, well, I’m quite looking forward to when we next meet. Now then, I bid you adieu,” she said, gathering her skirts with both hands in order to bob a curtsy at them. “Kinoyama, let us go home!”
A stomping sound was accompanied by a nightmarish “D-foughhooo!” and Kinoyama took off with his lady still atop him. Mirei had drawn out her fan, and the sound of her “Ohohohohoho!” could be heard well after she had left the room.