“... ... ... ... ...”
Silence. And a lot of thought. Royalteach still stared Kai down, but his mouth was stretched into a straight line. Eventually, those stiff lips separated. Kai held his breath in anticipation as he listened with Jun.
“I understand your point, Nakamura.”
It was almost enough to make Kai want to strike a victory pose.
“However, it’s still a point made by a brat. It’s only a matter of time before your dignity loses to your instincts, and I assure you that you’re not a good judge of when that’ll happen.”
“Broyalty, come on! You’re being unreasonable!”
“Jun, stay out of this!” Royalteach shouted, shutting down Jun’s attempt at providing backup. Kai had to step forward himself.
“I think it’s a little disrespectful to keep calling me a ‘brat.’ What am I supposed to say to that?”
“That’s exactly my point,” said Royalteach as he flashed an indomitable grin. “There’s nothing you can say. Nakamura, if you want to convince me that you’re not a brat... you’ll have to prove it.”
“Y-Y-You don’t mean a f-f-fight, right?!” Kai stammered, immediately flying into a panic. He recalled that Jun did tell him to run away if he was about to get clocked. He could call himself the Ten-Thousand Punch Legend all he wanted, but he couldn’t hide his shaking knees. However, to his surprise...
“You idiot, don’t be ridiculous. A teacher would never hit a student.” Royalteach’s grin turned to a frown as he chastised Kai for jumping to the wrong conclusion. He continued, “I hear from Jun that you’ve got quite the skills.”
Royalteach reached into the pocket of his slacks and whipped something out.
It was... a Switch.
“Do you always walk around with that?!”
“As any man should.”
Kai blurted out the first thing that came to mind, and Royalteach responded in a way that made it hard to tell if he was joking.
“Well... I can’t deny that every man should.” Kai took him up on his challenge and pulled out his own Switch from his messenger bag.
“Ah, so you brought yours, Nakamura.”
“Of course. I came to play video games at my friend’s house, after all.”
“Ah yes, of course you did.” Royalteach’s gaze sharpened as though he had found a worthy opponent. “Very well; come inside. We’ll do battle with these.”
“So, you just need to see my skills, right?” Following the direction Royalteach jerked his chin in, Kai took off his shoes and stepped inside. It was his first time entering Jun’s home.
“Hold on! Broyalty, this is nuts. Kai, don’t go along with this.”
“C’mon,” said Kai, shaking his head at Jun’s concerns. “We’re just gonna play a video game. It’s not like anyone’s gonna get hurt.”
“Geez, you’re letting your ego go to your head again... Well fine, just don’t blame me for whatever happens!”
Jun pursed her lips. This time, she was exasperated for real. Still, she stayed by his side, making it clear who she was rooting for.
Their duel would take place in the living room. Kai sat down on the cushion Royalteach pulled out for him and faced his opponent. They sat head to head, close enough to let them check each other’s screens and make sure no cheating was going on.
Jun sat next to Kai, of course, making a statement that she’d fight for him even if it meant defying her own brother. Royalteach pouted a bit after seeing his sister oppose him, but his face quickly grew stern as he sat cross-legged and made his declaration of war.
“The game will be Monster Hunter GU. The match will be decided by who can complete the Hellblade Glavenus G5 quest the quickest.”
“...That’s a pretty tough mission to handle solo. Sure you’re up to it, Teacher?”
Honestly, Kai wasn’t even sure he was up to it. The mission was so hard that hitting the three-faint limit and failing was a real possibility. Kai hadn’t played an MH besides World in quite a while, so could an adult who didn’t have the time to obsess over games possibly keep up?
“Hmph. Don’t underestimate an MH veteran.” Royalteach’s indomitable grin returned. It reminded Kai of when this teacher told Matsuda’s gang not to bite off more than they could chew.
“Be careful,” warned Jun. Even she was taking this seriously. “Broyalty’s the one who taught me Monster Hunter. He’s good.”
All the more reason why I can’t slack off, thought Kai as he put his game face on. He powered up his Switch, selected MHGU, and logged in with his account. Once the game started, he carefully balanced his equipment loadout for a time-attack run. He had put a ton of time into this game, so there was no item he lacked.
“You’re gonna go with water-element weapons, right?” asked Jun.
“Yep. I’m running Dual Blades.”
“So the Plesioth Machetes might be a better choice over the Deviant Mizutsune weapons.”
“Yep. That’s what suits my playstyle.”
Kai and Jun sat in front of the small screen of the portable game console and discussed their strategy. Mr. Sister Complex still looked cocksure, but he was better off ignored.
“Gonna use the Hellblade set for armor?”
“Maybe, but I want some more skills, so I wanna customize it a bit,” Kai told Jun.
“Like for Repeat Offender?”
“...Yeah. That’s gonna be critical.”
He replaced the head armor with a piece from a Gunner’s set and equipped a Kushala Cista GX to his torso. This gave him the defense he needed as well as access to some powerful DPS skills.
“Oh, but Kai, you’re giving up Divine Blessing...”
“It won’t matter for a challenge like this!”
Kai gave a fiery rebuke to Jun’s worries as he set his style to “Adept.” But his fingers stopped when it came time to choose his Hunter Art.
“I could pick Wolf’s Maw III to get more damage output...”
“Absolute Evasion is what I’d pick,” said Jun. Her firm suggestion was to choose safety over a high-risk, high-reward attack. The two had been through hell and back in this game, so her advice came from the perspective of a reliable partner who knew his habits inside and out. This counsel was worth its weight in gold, and Kai would do well to heed it.
“Yeah, a first-rate hunter knows better than to overestimate their skills.” Kai no longer hesitated to set his Hunter Art to Absolute Evasion. All that remained was to pick his items.
“Got your Cool Drinks?”
“Okay, got ’em.”
“And Dash Juice?”
“I have some Megas.”
“Energy Drinks?”
“Dash Juices have that covered.”
“Ah, fair. So, just need your Potions and Max Potions?”
“I’ll bring what I need to combine for them.”
“Don’t forget your Book of Combos, then.”
“Okay, got it.”
The careless mistake of forgetting to bring vital items on a quest was a common occurrence in MH, so Jun helped Kai double-check to ensure that didn’t happen. Royalteach spent the whole time making comments like “You two get along better than I thought...” or “Hey, maybe mind your personal space?” or “If you’re just showing off then I swear.” It was hard to tell if he was just nagging or actually complaining, but Kai and Jun didn’t hear a word of it. They were lost in their own little world.
“...Are you ready, Nakamura?”
Hence why Kai couldn’t imagine the reason behind Royalteach’s disgruntled look when he finally asked that question.
“Yeah!”
Kai just gave an earnest response. Jun’s constant assistance made his answer brim with confidence.
“...Okay then, go accept the quest.”
“You got it!”
Kai headed to the Hunter’s Hub to meet up with Royalteach, who had finished his preparations long ago.
...On second thought, maybe I should get a look at Teacher’s equipment first.
Kai squinted hard at the screen. Hey, if you knew the enemy and knew yourself, you didn’t need to fear the result of a hundred battles. Royalteach made no attempt to hide his Switch, so Kai took a look over at his screen.
And he found something he couldn’t believe.
“Ah... aaaaah... aaaaagghhh,” Kai subconsciously wailed, dumbfounded. It was that surprising. It was that much of a jaw-dropper. He just wanted to see what loadout Royalteach would take into this ultra-difficult quest out of curiosity and competitive spirit, but what he saw his opponent wearing was...