On a Godless Planet:Volume3B Chapter 41
Chapter 41: Bad Omen[edit]
–Curse everything…
Oh, except for big boobs.
●
This tournament has taken an odd turn, thought Kuwajiri as she watched on.
The tournament had begun inside the clubroom.
…I’m decent enough at Tetris.
She liked games with an obvious process and an obvious result. Kido was the same there.
She was currently acting as a mercenary for the Olympus gods. They had a lot of supplies, so it was expected they would hold five tournaments to distribute them all. The game club members had been sent out as mercenaries for Irish mythology and others, so a lot of the games were game club against game club.
But right now Beisu, playing for “the guards”, was up against Sumeragi, who was playing for the game club.
“The lead up to all this made me think Human-senpai was good at this game.”
But that wasn’t the case.
“Nooooooo!? I suck at this! I even ate a chocolate banana to turn into Girl-ragi, but I’m still no match for him!”
“Yes! I win!!
Next to him, his wife god gave him a “why are you so into this?” look, but that was just how people reacted to contests.
“Yeah, that was bound to happen.”
“Hm? Um, Norse Knowledge God-senpai? Human-senpai said he was unbeatable at Tetris, so why is he losing so badly?”
“Oh, that,” replied Raidou. He sat next to Temanko-kouhai, drinking the Yebisu Beer Shifu had given him.
“Tenma, you’ve played Tetris before, right? The Game Boy version. While waiting your turn in a board game.”
“Yes. The logic of the game is simple. I like that kind.”
“Do you remember the controls?”
“Yes,” replied Temanko-kouhai, miming holding a Game Boy.
“Left and right move the blocks in those directions. Down drops the blocks. And the buttons rotate the blocks…right?”
“Right. Sega Tetris, the arcade version, has the same controls.”
But…
“The Famicom version is completely different.”
●
“Kwahhhh! Wh-what is with these controls!? Why wouldn’t the Famicom version work like the Game Boy version!?”
<My, oh, my. Out of the tournament in the first round? A poor performance, ape. …The Famicom version is actually a port by BPS since they had the household-use license, so it has the same controls as the earlier PC version.>
“Um, what’s the difference?”
“Left and right still moves the tetrominoes.”
But…
“But up and down rotates the tetrominoes and the buttons drop them.”
●
“Ahhhhhh! N-no! My muscle memory keeps making me press the button when I want to rotate the tetromino!”
“Ha ha ha ha ha! Too easy! I’ve trained up on the 68 version! Good thing that one uses this same control scheme! There, that’s two wins! Victory is mine! Yes!”
“Dammiiiiiiiiit!”
●
“D-damn! I was slag-terred by the controls! What’s next!? What’re we playing next for the tournament?”
“Hm. How about a sports game?”
“Yeah! That’s a great idea! I’m great at all of those!”
“You have a Mega Drive, right?”
“Eh? Um, wait, Raidou-senpai?”
“Then I know just what to play. There’s a soccer game with simple rules and controls: World Cup Soccer for the Mega Drive.”
●
“Oh? I’m not all that good at this kind of game, but I keep scoring on the idiot.”
“Gwahhhhh! N-no! The smallest mistake leads to giving her a point!”
“Izumi really seems to be struggling. Is there a reason for that?”
“World Cup Soccer for the Mega Drive generously lets you choose from 24 countries’ teams. Sumeragi chose Japan because of his faith in Senpai-san. …And this game has an interesting quirk.”
That was…
“It’s a Japanese game made by Sega, but Japan is by far the worst team in the world.”
●
<More accurately, Japan and China are tied for the lowest number of points.>
“What do you mean?”
<In Mega Drive World Cup Soccer, each team is rated 1-5 in the categories of Speed, Skill, Defense, Keeper, and Total. Japan’s are devastatingly low at 1-1-2-1-1. Similarly, China’s are 1-2-1-1-1, but they have a 2 in Skill, which allows you to get past the opposing team’s defense. And since soccer requires going on the attack to win, Japan is ultimately the worst team.>
“Sega must have wanted to be fair to the rest of the world.”
“I think they overdid it!”
<This is about what Japan’s global position was in ‘89. To give some advance information, the Japanese interest in soccer will grow and the J1 pro soccer league starts in ‘93. As time passes, Japanese soccer begins to make its presence known to the world.>
“I need it to be known now! Right now!”
●
They’re enjoying themselves, thought Shifu as she played Monopoly in the courtyard.
…It’s just about midnight.
They were all at least a little drunk, so the board gaming was really casual. Shifu took a sip from the can of Black Label Tooru had given her and realized she was laughing more than usual.
But as summer approached its end…
“I didn’t expect to have a party like this with gods of different mythologies and lands.”
Those who were too drunk already were sleeping in the clubrooms that had been opened up as break rooms. They had split the rooms between boys and girls and everyone was already used to doing this. And…
“Oh, Athko-chan. You’re looking tipsy, so maybe you shouldn’t get near the grassy part in the center.”
“Oh, sorry. I’ve barely had anything to drink, but the mood seems to be getting to me.”
“Why should she stay away from the grass?”
“Come to think of it, I was warned about that when I got here too.”
“Yeah,” said Shifu.
“It’s a depression, right? So whenever someone gets drunk in the courtyard and pukes, it just stays there.”
“Eh? Eh? You mean…?”
“Yeah. Mythologically, I feel like some weird god is going to form there. It’s probably fine since everything’s all mixed together, but you never know, so I wouldn’t step there.”
“But we already stepped in it during our duel.”
“These things happen. Don’t worry about it.”
Shifu was laughing again when Kido approached. She was carrying plastic shopping bags filled with sweetbreads.
“I joined one of the tournaments on a whim and won.”
“Oh? I thought Tooru was going to give the other groups an advantage since Sumeragi-chan is too good, but did he let us win the 3rd game? What game did you win anyway?”
“A golf game. Called Birdie something or other.”
●
<Birdie Rush is a Famicom golf game released by Data East in 1987. It has a top-down view and the course always advances upwards, which is normal enough, but the game has two unique traits.>
- The power bar for swinging doesn’t give you a miss if you don’t swing.
- There are no random elements, making it highly repeatable.
“So…it’s entirely digital?”
“Yes. I thought it would require reflexes and that my unlucky nature would affect the randomness, but I could wait to press the swing button when I was ready and I could always hit the ball where I was aiming.”
“I made it all the way to the final round, but I couldn’t beat Kido-senpai’s machine-like swinging.”
<In that sense, the game is perfect for beginners. It also allows expert players to hit holes-in-one consistently, which isn’t realistic, but that is what makes it playable by anyone.>
●
While excited voices made a racket here and there, Kido sat in a chair near Shifu and sighed.
She decided she would wait until the excitement in the clubroom had died down before she went to sleep.
“Want a drink?”
Kido swallowed her reflexive refusal and just about reached out to take the beer, but she stopped herself.
“I was asked to drink at home.”
Then she left some of the sweetbreads with Shifu. And…
“Instead, I will take a few bottles of beer home with me. Izumi likes Western food, so something dry would be good.”
“Now that’s more like it.”
“A lot happened. …I would say ‘today’, but that was yesterday now.”
Kido looked up into the courtyard sky where smoke from the food stands was rising.
“And I am sure something will happen tomorrow even after TJ-san deals with the flooding.”
●
“I was obliterated…”
Sumeragi left the still-overheated clubroom and stretched.
His god followed him out.
“You gave it a good try. And we were given even more supplies, so Raidou-san and the others are arranging a new tournament.”
“We really are going to be playing games all night long, huh?”
Inside, they were all gathered around the Famicom playing a two-player game.
The guards were proving surprisingly capable there.
“Yes! Beat my boss!!”
“Damn! A people’s god beat me!”
“They’re really getting into that. It’s a racing game, right? Those are exciting even when you’ve never played one.”
“Final Lap is a really well-balanced game.”
“It is?”
<As Balancer, I suppose I should address the topic of balancing. Namco’s Final Lap is a port of an arcade F1 game of the same name. In two-player mode, the car in second place gets a big boost to its stats, which means not even beginners will fall too far behind and will still have a chance at winning. It gained a lot of popularity back when people went to arcades. The assistance system feels like the lower-placed cars are attached to the top player by a rubber band, so it became known as ‘rubber banding’ and was adopted by many later racing games.>
“The arcade version let up to 8 people race each other, but the Famicom version reduced that to 2. But it has more courses and background music and a championship mode where you upgrade your car as you go, so it’s a good port.”
“Yes! F1 physical attacks rule!!”
“Damn! Get back here! Let me hit you!!”
“Those two are getting worked up. What’s that about?”
<Well,> said Balancer.
<Unlike the arcade version, the Famicom version lets you ram your opponent from the side to push them.>
●
“Ram them?”
“That’s not usually part of F1, is it?”
“Nope. But it makes the races way more exciting. If you use your nitro on a turn and force you way to the inside of the turn, you can shove your opponent outwards and make them crash into a sign.”
I had a thought as I heard shouting from the clubroom.
“Next weekend, I should go to Akihabara, buy a PC Engine, and set it up in the clubroom. It has a lot of competitive and cooperative games like Final Lap Twin, so it would be great for times like this.”
“Oh, can I go with you?”
“Yes! Please do! You probably won’t understand what you’re seeing, but it can be fun to see a world you know nothing about!”
As I said this, I noticed a hand raised toward me.
I looked over to see it belonged to…
“Um, TJ, was it?”
“That’s right. You may have forgotten already, but I brought the manga drawn by my underclassman. Want to read it?”
“Ohh! What kinda manga is it!?”
TJ raised her index finger in front of her nose.
And she took a look around at the stands that were now only supplying drinks and sweetbreads and at the people sleeping in the courtyard.
“The girl who wrote it is a little on edge getting her latest manga done, so I don’t want her to know I’m showing you this. I went and grabbed the copy we’re required to submit to the club union.”
“Th-that’s really considerate of you!”
“She shows a lot of promise.”
“I see,” I said, taking the manga and finding it to be of decent size.
“Then I’ll check it out.”
I checked inside the 16-page B5-size manga with Senpai at my side.
●
I turned the page. That was all it took for…
“Ahhhh! Senpai’s overwhelming track suit boobs are resting on my left arm, letting me feel their weight better than anytime this summer! You could say my summer break only truly began now! Thank you so much!”
“Can you read silently?”
“S-sorry. He gets like this every so often.”
●
The manga had a somewhat odd beginning.
“It’s set in Comiket!”
“She’s never actually been, but she really wants to.”
But it wasn’t just using Comiket as a setting.
“The protagonist is a student at…this school, I think?”
“I would prefer not to say much. I want you to experience it from the manga alone.”
Okay, I thought, reading on and finding the premise was complex.
The main character had apparently slept in and had to hurry to Comiket. If that was from Tachikawa, not even the first train would make it in time to be at the front of the entrance line. And if he had only woken up at 7, he would be hopelessly late.
“At that point, you might as well wait and leave so you’ll get there when it opens or at lunchtime.”
But the main character didn’t do that.
He had some objectives other than going to Comiket. One of them was…
“To bring one of the manga club girl’s something she forgot?”
The girl had left the item in the manga clubroom.
“Her emotions.”
It floated in the clubroom looking like a heart symbol or like a cross.
It was an important item. She had worked hard to draw her manuscript, but if she had forgotten her emotions when people came to read the manga…
“It will all become a lie.”
Then a new character was introduced.
The next scene was at Makuhari Messe where Comiket was being held. A student arrived riding on a giant bird.
They seemed genderless. They knew nothing and only had expectations. And…
“The artist girl inside the event site doesn’t realize she’s forgotten her emotions.”
So the main character was running. He stuffed the emotions in a bag and first started toward the train station.
But he saw something there.
“The world is lined up!?”
●
A double-page spread showed Makuhari Messe in the distance from Tachikawa Station. It wasn’t actually visible from there, of course.
But it was in the manga.
And a massive line of people was drawn from the event site to the station.
“Pilgrims?”
“Are they all going to Comiket?”
No. As the main character hurried on, the pilgrims noticed and turned his way.
“They are telling him to stop, aren’t they?”
“Oh, Kido-san! Got curious and came over, did you!?”
“Everyone in the clubroom is so fired up I had to step out to cool off. …This is the manga drawn by TJ-san’s underclassman, correct?”
“Ohh! Kido-senpai’s shocking track suit chest size! The double boobs language is resting on my right arm and telling me tonight will be full of 3D fulfillment and fractals! And I was just saying stuff without thinking about what it means! Thank you so much!”
“Why does that make level up Revelation Boards appear?”
●
I saw the expressionless pilgrim-like figures turn around and speak.
“ ‘Stop.’ ”
“ ‘The item taken to the event site is already complete.’ ”
“ ‘What you are bringing her was not forgotten.’ ”
“ ‘It was thrown out to complete the item.’ ”
“ ‘So stop.’ ”
“ ‘Taking that to her is meaningless.’ ”
“ ‘No one will appreciate it.’ ”
And the main character replied.
“I don’t care!”
That girl was already in line at the site.
“I need to get this to her.”
●
But the pilgrims would not allow it. A massive number of figures gathered into a clump and attacked the main character.
“But then his friends show up to save him.”
After the surprise arrival of the friends, they told him to go on ahead. And…
“To be continued!”
●
“Wait! It’s really incomplete!?”
“That’s why she’s drawing the second half now and adding a prologue.”
TJ wanted to help out her underclassman any way she could.
“So look forward to that.”
“W-well, I am curious what happens next.”
TJ appreciated that. And the human…
“That’s right. I can’t give my opinion until it’s complete, but depending on how the story goes, it could be really good.”
“I know what you mean. She’ll finish it tomorrow, so if possible I’d like you to read it after I’ve dealt with the flood and everyone’s gone home.”
“Oh? What’s all this?”
“TJ(?)’s underclassman wrote a manga that could turn out really good.”
“Really? Can we read it?”
“Yeah, sure. The game club can keep this copy. I was thinking of heading home to prepare for tomorrow. …Don’t tell Souko-san you’re reading it, okay?”
And when TJ noticed a few more curious people emerge from the game clubroom…
…If only we could have done Comiket.
●
It was late at night.
Souko was working to finish her manga. She had finished her work on the additional pages.
“–––––––”
She was trying to focus, but the clubroom seemed so dark.
The courtyard had already gone quiet, meaning…
…Everyone’s either passed out drunk or worn out from playing!
She wished she could have played with them. The only bright point of the evening had been the yakisoba and chocolate banana her friends had bought for her. Some ramune and some taiyaki that had gone cold sat on the low table she was using as a work desk.
She would occasionally grab a bite or a gulp while she added white-out and fixed her art.
…I can do this.
She would complete it. No, she had thought it was complete once already, but this time she felt a strange sense of loss she hadn’t before.
The false “completion” from that evening had been the result of desperation. Once she finished, she felt exhaustion followed by a realization that she and her relationship with Touto-senpai had changed due to completing it.
“But now…”
She felt something she hadn’t noticed then. People could advance their position and lose something through the act of creation.
If she completed this, Touto-senpai would retire and she would be on track to become the next club head.
She did have her thoughts on that. But…
“–––––––”
Speaking them wouldn’t accomplish anything. She simply worked toward her second completion while feeling the things she hadn’t noticed that evening.
You could lose things by drawing.
Now that she realized that, she wished she didn’t have to complete it. But once she finished the work and completed the manga…
“It will be time to have people read it.”
It would happen tomorrow morning, before Touto-senpai calmed the flood and everyone went home.
●
The human.
He could define myths, create stories, and expand the scope of the gods.
Souko thought.
…If…
If the human reads what I have made, what kind of story will he imagine?
And…
“When that happens, how will Touto-senpai judge me?”
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