(Well, I'm here...)

(But since we don't have practice today, I think I'll take this opportunity to play some video games to my heart's content.)

Let's see... Puyo Puyo was over here somewhere...

Hey, you're one of the Wonderhoy Button Mashers!

Oh, hello...

Thank you for stopping by.

Which game are you thinking about playing?

Um, Puyo Puyo...

Did you make sure to bring your special champion's card? It'll give you access to every game, so please enjoy!

Thank you.

(W-Wow... I really get to play for free...)

Okay, lemme look at the play modes...

Pretty sure “Puzzle League” is the one for ranked matches.

Ah, they're rated matches.

As for my player name... I'll just go with “pomelo” as usual. Now, for my first match...!

(Oh, they made another mistake...

I guess it is my first match. It probably wasn't going to make me play against someone strong.)

(Alright, let's finish this!)

I won...!

I'm glad I put in the effort to work on my building skills.

There doesn't seem to be anyone else here, so I might just keep playing and see how many wins I can stack up...

(Oh, they're building from the bottom left... They seem to know what they're doing. I may be in for a tough battle...)

(They're fast, but I've also improved a lot. I should be able to keep up.)

(I just need to keep building chains while popping things along the way, and send over some Garbage Puyos to keep my opponent from completing their chains!)

(Th-They're dealing with everything really well... They're definitely good... But!)

My build's complete! Now I just need to...!

Yes...!

I did it!

Impressive. You were able to outbuild and defeat your opponent despite them being at a higher level.

Eep!

A-Aoyagi...?!

When did you...? Wait, were you watching me play just now?!

Yes. I also stopped by to play some Puyo Puyo and saw you playing, so I decided to observe your match.

O-Okay...

(Oh no! He probably heard me yell, “Yes!” and “My build's complete!” just now... No, he definitely did!)

In any case, you won in a nice fashion. Have you been practicing since that gaming tournament?

Huh?! Uh, yeah...

I did a little research on how I should be building and stuff...

Just a little...?

And you were able to do this well? That's pretty incredible.

To be fair, I was only able to do what I did probably because my rating's still low. My opponent did make some mistakes, but they were still really good.

And I'm guessing people of your caliber play at way faster speeds than this, Aoyagi.

I'm sure you'll also become used to playing faster as you gain more experience.

More experience, huh? I suppose even for first-person shooters you have to make adjustments based on how a game's going or your opponent's playstyle.

But I have to agree with you about gaining more experience since playing against real people is the best way to get better at PvP games.

Right.

Oh, since we're on the subject, how about we play a match...?

Huh...?

I still have a long way to go as a player, but I should be able to teach you some basic building patterns and such.

You're going to teach me? Are you sure?

Of course. I mean, I've had the pleasure of meeting a strong rival, so it'd be nice if we could push each other to become better.

And you just said so yourself Kusanagi. The best way to get better at PvP games is to play against real people, no?

Yeah, I did...

(But learning to play a game from someone... It's like...)

(I-It's like we're really friends...!)

What do you say?

Um... O-Okay...

I think I'll take you up on your offer...

Excellent. Thank you.

Sure. Thank you as well.

(I initially wanted to enter that tournament to win the tickets for that show...)

(But to think that I'd end up meeting a new gamer buddy...)

(I might try entering another tournament...)