Meanwhile, that same afternoon, Yui’s room.
“Take this! And that!”
Yui was all by herself, gaming.
She was about to finally get some studying in, only for a single DM from Mina to condemn her to a fate of neverending practice. “Rio came over today. She’s a Bash Bros god!”
The moment she saw it Yui went, “She’s what?!”
She had actually asked Rio to teach her after school and was, shockingly, refused. It was an abrupt request, true, but Rio had never turned her down before. With comments like “Sorry, Yui. It’s... for your own good.” there was clearly something fishy going on.
To think that she was gaming over at Yuuki’s. As Yui wracked her head at the abrupt turn of events, Mina shot her another DM.
“She tutored me too. Rio’s the best teach ever!”
Teach, she says. What about the kind, gentle Yui? Looks like I need to break her in. I should bring her a cookie next time around. In any case, how did things turn out this way?
Yui had a ton of questions but, first and foremost, she had to know who invited who.
“How did Yuuki talk her into coming?”
“He called her his lover.”
“Pfff!” Yui blew air out her mouth and nose at once.
As she hastily wiped the snot off her face with a tissue, Mina sent her a follow up text. “Jk.”
“Lol. Good one.”
I lied, it wasn’t a good one. Mina, you and your silly little jokes. Despite her cool response, Yui was starting to get paranoid. The fact that Mina’s joking about this is bad. I need to remind her that I, big sister Yui, am her brother’s gf.
“If Rio’s ’teach’ then what am I?”
“Uhh, Yue?”
“You meant big sister Yui? :)”
Yui added a smiley face just because. Its purpose remained unclear.
“Hmm, you don’t really have big sister energy. You have, well, Yui energy.”
Yui wasn’t sure if Mina was complimenting or insulting her. She has to be messing with me, right?
“Yuukie said Rio got me that panda plush. He also said you couldn’t get it.”
Just had to sneak that last part in, didn’t you, Yuuki?
Mina then sent her a giggling sticker, Yui squeezing her fingers against her phone. “You were the first one to go ‘let’s get this for Mina’ though. Thanks, Yui. Love you!”
M-My heart. O, the preciousness. A true angel. How could you get angry at this innocent little thing…
Yui typed up a reply, her fingers vigorously hopping about. “Love you too, Mina. Let me pet you. Good girl. How about a kiss as well?”
“I think I’ll pass.”
Why do you both have to be like that? Yui felt like immediately deleting the message but it was already too late.
“Do it to Yukkie instead…”
“In due time. In due time, little one.”
“Hmm? Are you... embarrassed?”
Mina sent her a pointing and laughing sticker this time around. Yui went quiet, her grip tightening once more.
“Rio’s so good at Bash Bros even Yuukie was all like ‘You’re amazing, Rio!’. Don’t see that everyday.”
Yui had no idea Rio was good at video games.
Didn’t she say they were for children? Maybe this “pretending to dislike something you actually don’t” thing was the play all along. I mean it got a reaction out of Yuuki. Yuuki.
“That makes you the worst one. By a mile.”
Yui typed “Talk more shit and I’ll bury you” before quickly deleting it. “Sucks to be me, haha.” She sent instead, closing Line.
Earlier Yui put on the “aren’t I cute when I get salty over losing at a video game” act and it appeared to have no effect on Yuuki. Yet his reaction to Rio was extremely positive.
Does he... have a thing for pro gamer girls?
To bounce back, Yui had to put on a show of absolute, unconditional power. If she, a trash mob in Yuuki’s eyes, were to pull an upset over Rio, the resulting shock would be guaranteed to change this perception.
Yui, sitting at her desk after just placing Rio’s notes down, tossed her pen aside, picking up the controller and booting up Bash Bros.
And so, back where we left off.
“First I go bam. Then I go po–”
My Maki senses are tingling! Yui ripped her eyes off the TV, whipping her head to the left. Nothing. Then she must be ri-- left! No... still nothing. Maybe my Maki senses are o–
“What’re you doing?”
Yui jumped in her chair. She whipped her head around, only to see Maki staring weirdly at her from the door.
“I see you’ve awoken to your psychic powers.”
“My what?”
Maki approached Yui cautiously, kneeling down right beside her. “You’re playing a video game, really? Aren’t midterms just around the corner?”
“Some battles you can’t afford to lose, Maki.”
“It’s just a video game…”
So long as no one took her seriously, there was no path forward for Yue. She had her pride too. Then there was Yuuki and Rio. The two were highly suspect.
What if she’s... after Yuuki too? What if it’s not Yuuki -> Rio but Rio -> Yuuki? The thought reared its ugly head. Not good. Very not good.
“Inviting her over to his place... that’s cheating!”
“Quite the accusation, despite you not even dating.”
“Wh-What do you know? You have no idea what I’m talking about.”
“Your rival, right? The one you brought up the other day. Uphill battle, huh?”
Uphill? Upmountain, you mean? Scwew me. I don’t stand a c-c-chance.
From what Yui had gathered, Rio had no shortcomings. Looks? Check. Smarts? Check. Athletic ability? Checkity check.
She wasn’t the most agreeable but that was more a strength if anything, not a shortcoming.
“If a bird has no shortcomings, make some.”
“What? Tsk tsk tsk, you don’t get it, do you? You have to compliment the enemy.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’ll see you complimenting others and think ‘wow, what a nice girl.’ You feel me?”
I feel you.
Yui, itching to test the new strategy out and do a little bit of probing, sent Yuuki a DM.
“I heard professor Rio swung by your place today.” She waited, yet there was no response. Worried that she might’ve come off too vague, Yui nervously sent him a follow-up DM. “Rio’s amazing, isn’t she? Getting Mina to study.”
Yuuki responded after a bit. “She is, yeah.”
“She’s smart, pretty, athletic too.”
“Sure is.”
That’s it? All that did was raise Rio up even more. As if Ms. Flawless needed buffing. I’ve been set up.
Yui thought she’d give Maki a piece of her mind, only for her to immediately withdraw saying she had to take a bath.
I need to debuff her, but how? There has to be something incriminating. Think Yui, think.
“Rio’s a surprisingly big eater. I shared my bento with her, right? She absolutely demolished it.”
“Girls with an appetite are the best.”
Yui had unwittingly dug her grave deeper. Although in doing so, she did acquire an unexpected piece of info.
Into big eaters, are we?
“You know, I like to bust out the ol’ soda and large chips while reading manga myself sometimes.”
“Ew.”
Why ew? Not into junk food? No, focus. What else is there?
“Is it just me or can Rio get a little angry sometimes?”
“I think anger is a necessary response at times.”
“Yes, exactly. I can go into angry mode too. If the situation calls for it, of course.”
“Like losing at a video game?”
What kind of loser rages at a video game?
Noticing that she’d been self-debuffing for some time now, Yui’s fingers stopped. Trying to bring Rio down was a terrible mistake. I can’t. I can’t anymore.
“It’s more fun watching you play though. You seem very passionate.”
Hmmm. Mmhmm. Yui stared at the words on screen, a smile creeping up her face.
“You got this.” She hyped herself up, turning back to the TV and picking up the controller.