Rapid Fire King:Volume1 Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Love Triangle

1

Takamura felt like his life was a narrow one.

His entire world consisted of home, school, the clubroom, the baseball field, the arcade, and the lines connecting those five.

If that did not count as narrow, then there could not be much to the world in his opinion.

He was currently in his world’s third location: the clubroom.

It was lunchtime.

The small room was half-filled with lockers. He and Naka the Ace sat across from each other at the long-legged table in the center of the room while they viewed the team roster.

They were choosing players for the next practice match.

After two more of those, it would be time for the summer qualifiers to begin.

That would begin the summer battle for Koshien.

They had not chosen their regular members yet, but Takamura and Naka were almost guaranteed a spot.

The others would be decided in the upcoming practice matches, but the coach had asked them to choose players for the next one.

…Why us?

While hoping this would not make things awkward with the underclassmen, he stared at the roster and groaned.

“Hmm.”

He had to groan. Because…

“There’s slim pickings this year.”

“We can put some second or first years in the outfield. From what I saw yesterday, they need more practice on defense than at bat.”

“But we don’t want to neglect batting practice either,” pointed out Takamura.

Naka crossed his arms and nodded. And…

“When you get down to it, Takagi isn’t at your level yet. He’s got the individual defense down pat, but he has trouble seeing the big picture.”

“If he can do it on the individual level, it’s only a matter of time until he gets the rest. He’ll get a lot better soon.”

“You sure are dispassionate about this. Why are you defending your own rival?”

Takamura scratched his head.

Maybe he was dispassionate, but those were his honest thoughts. What else was he supposed to say?

Naka looked back down at the roster.

“Can’t you be a little greedier about this?”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” he said.

He thought back to what he had felt playing that video game the night before. Deep down, he enjoyed getting good at things.

He tried applying that to baseball here.

“I get that getting good at things is fun. But…”

“You don’t want to make a regular position your primary goal?”

That was exactly what he had been planning to say.

That forced him into silence, since he could not argue with what Naka said.

Then Naka sighed up toward the ceiling.

“Y’know,” he began. “That describes what you’re doing pretty well. Listen. Getting good, becoming regulars, playing in the games, and winning those games is the ultimate reward and objective of what we do. We’re willing to push through a lot of hard times to do that. But you’re different, aren’t you?”

“Are you saying the way I act seems to be making fun of Takagi?”

“I’m not saying that,” said Naka. “You’re enjoying yourself and that led to you being a regular. There haven’t been that many hard times for you and you don’t get all worked up about the games. Getting a regular spot like that is honestly impressive. But…that has a way of disgusting the people without the same talent. They all think it’s effort in, results out. You earn the jealousy of the talentless who are having a hard time of it.”

“Naka, you don’t hold back, do you?”

“No.” The corners of Naka’s lips curled up. “I hate hard times too. Unfortunately, I’m a prodigy, so I don’t feel that pressure. And I don’t let my guard down either, so I don’t feel any jealousy like they do. However…”

“However?”

“You never put your guard up. With you, it’s less about baseball and more about-” Naka slapped his forehead. “Sorry, I almost said too much.”

2

Takamura tilted his head at Naka’s explanation.

“Said too much about what?”

Naka waved the roster at him as if to say “forget it”.

Takamura did not understand. Less about baseball and more about what?

But when he tried to ask again, Naka only held out a hand to stop him.

“I said too much. I was being ridiculous. It would only hurt you to hear it.”

He refused to say more.

But the conversation had given Takamura a lot to think on.

…A regular spot, huh?

Holding one of those spots was part of what he considered the fun of baseball.

He liked baseball.

But he also did not think of playing as a regular and winning games to be his main goal in the sport.

Did that make him dispassionate?

Why?

…Because I’m only playing baseball because I like it.

You could maybe call it a hobby.

Meanwhile, other people worked hard at it.

Takagi probably worked harder at it than him, so did that make the other boy more suited for the regular spot?

…Is it wrong for me to be here?

It scared him that he had nothing he could say to deny that thought.

Feeling something cold in the bottom of his heart, he gulped. He was at a loss for words.

“–––––”

But Naka spoke to him instead.

“Hey, now. Don’t get all bent out of shape over it.”

“Oh, right.”

He looked down at the roster, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

…Becoming a regular because you enjoy baseball and wanting to become a regular to enjoy playing baseball aren’t quite the same thing, are they?

Which stance was better for a high school baseball player?

His stance was generally preferred. Especially by the adults.

…But it isn’t enough.

“Do you want to be a regular?” he asked.

Naka looked up and gave a clear answer.

“I do. And I know I can.”

His voice was low. Low enough to reverberate in Takamura’s ears and the pit of his stomach.

I had a feeling, he thought.

The others did not just want to enjoy getting good at something. They were aiming for a regular spot and looking beyond even that.

They had a goal, and that let them get serious about it all.

…Serious, huh?

That was where the difference between him and them was found.

There was a difference, but he could still be with them for now.

He could be with them because he was good at the game. But what if the time came that he could not?

…Would I want to get even better at baseball so I could be with them?

He did not know.

He had never asked that question before. He had never considered the possibility of losing his spot here.

But now someone was moving to take that spot.

…What if he catches up?

Just as he thought that…

“Huh? What are you doing here?”

The clubroom door opened and a second year stepped in.

Naka turned toward him and showed him the roster sheet.

“Choosing players. Kanbayashi, we’ve got you as cheerleader.”

“Cool. I’ve always thought I had some nice legs.”

Kanbayashi did not sound all that interested as he began rummaging through his locker.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, I just thought we could play some catch to work off lunch.”

Kanbayashi shut his locker and looked to Naka and then Takamura.

After a moment’s hesitation…

“Senpai, the first years like how you play shortstop. They were talking about it on the train back from the last practice match.”

“Were they?”

“Yeah. The first years were playing outfield behind you, right? They said they could tell which way the ball would fly based on your movements. I play first base, so I’m not really sure what they mean.”

“Hah. That’s what shortstop is all about.” Naka crossed his legs. “Shortstop might look like an awkward in-between position, but Takamura has to move forward or shift side to side to tell the outfielders which direction he thinks the ball is going to go.”

“Oh, is that how it works?”

“Not everyone can get all fired up about the pitches and catching fouls like the first baseman.”

“Hey, I pay attention to other stuff. Sometimes.”

Naka smiled bitterly as he got to the point.

“The shortstop is like the defense’s control tower. He’s gotta see the big picture. He has to move before actually chasing the ball. Not many people can do that.”

Takamura scratched his head at that.

The unexpected praise was a little embarrassing.

Kanbayashi then gave a casual look around.

“Come to think of it, the girl from the newspaper wasn’t her yesterday.”

Naka looked up.

“Iwa-san was here today, but she’s been out a lot lately.”

“Eh?”

…Iwata’s been out?

That was the first Takamura had heard of it.

They were in different classes and they did not go to or from school together. Well, they did sometimes, but not always.

Naka was in Iwata’s class, so he would know about this. Still…

“Is that true?”

“Yeah, you didn’t know?”

He had not, so he tilted his head.

“But she’s here today, right?”

Naka nodded with a look that said “you really didn’t know?”

“Yes, but she’s been out once or twice a week recently. When people ask about it, she always says she’s busy at home. She hasn’t told you anything?”

“No, she hasn’t.”

…She’s busy at home?

He recalled seeing her on the Super Cub last night, but he did not think that was her helping out at home.

While he wondered about this, Kanbayashi seemingly spoke his mind.

“Do you think something happened?”

Naka gave him an unpleasant smile.

“Oh? Curious, are you? You into older girls? You’d better be careful with Iwa-san. She’ll knock your front teeth out.”

“No, um, the girl who works as her assistant is more my type.”

“Oh, the one with the brown hair?”

“Yeah, her. Don’t you think she’s cute?”

Takamura and Naka exchanged a glance, looked to Kanbayashi, and gave their conclusion in unison.

“She’s way out of your league.”

1

On his way back to class, Takamura decided to visit the arcade today.

He felt like he needed something to cheer him up after all his thinking in the clubroom.

More than that, he had realized why he could not dodge the bullets while playing the night before.

He had realized why he kept getting hit. It was something surprisingly simple and the solution was also simple.

He recalled his gameplay from the night before while walking down the hallway.

…First…

First, he pictured the title screen.

Next, he hit the start button in his memories.

“And.”

He started the game.

It was set to very hard.

The dirt ground appeared and a white fighter appeared from the bottom of the screen. That was his ship.

A few gray enemy fighters appeared from the top of the screen.

He had immediately noticed how fast the enemy was.

The enemy helicopters, fighters, and tanks appeared from the same place as usual, but the timing of their shots was entirely different.

Not the speed of the bullets, but the speed of the shooting.

On normal difficulty, the enemy would fire two or three breaths after appearing. At the very least, he was given some time to react.

But not so on very hard.

As soon as the enemy appeared on screen – about half a breath at most – and the bullets were flying toward his ship.

And while the enemy flew toward him…

…If I destroy them, they fire at me from within the explosion.

It was almost like they were trying to take him out with them.

Also…

…The bullets are sped up too.

On normal, the bullets were only a little faster than his ship could move, but on very hard, they were twice as fast as him.

They were so fast it felt like he could hear them roaring toward him.

Also, the enemies were stronger and the bigger ones took a lot of shooting to destroy.

The enemies the same size as his ship still went down in a single shot, but the larger cannons and mid-sized ships could survive even a few solid seconds of shooting.

All of the enemies that had given him a bit of trouble before had become truly formidable foes.

The enemies fired sooner, their bullets moved faster, and they took more hits to kill.

A beginner like him stood no chance against that multifaceted difficulty increase.

He game overed almost immediately.

And last night…

“This is the level he was playing on.”

It hit home how serious that Freeter had been.

Once he had accepted that and found he did not stack up, he had returned the difficulty to normal.

And he had hit the start button.

Something surprisingly had happened 15 minutes later.

All of a sudden, he found himself on Stage 4.

He had never been able to beat even Stage 1 before, but he made it the fourth one and game overed after losing all his lives on the early part of that stage.

“Huh?”

He did not continue, so the words “game over” slowly rose up on the screen.

But he tilted his head while viewing those eight letters.

…What just happened? How did I get to Stage 4?

He had never even beaten Stage 1 before.

This was not some miraculous breakthrough because he had no idea how he had managed to do it.

…What does this mean?

He did not know, so to find out, he played again. He figured that must have been a fluke.

But…

“Huh?”

On his second playthrough, he reached the warship boss at the end of Stage 3. The warship’s final cannon shot him down and he could not recover. If he had done a little better, he would have reached Stage 4.

“What is going on?”

He was on a roll.

That fact did not make him happy and he knew that was a sad fact about his personality.

He thought about this.

…I know why this is happening.

Only one thing had changed since before: he had played on very hard earlier. It had to be that.

But that was too vague to be a real reason.

He had to figure out why playing on very hard had allowed him to reach Stage 4 on normal.

“What’s different between very hard and normal?”

And what had those differences changed in him?

…What is it?

The answer was obvious.

The enemies fired sooner, their bullets move faster, and they took more hits.

If he brought all that together…

…What does it mean?

He decided to think about this carefully. Because he felt like this issue would determine whether or not he could stick with shoot ‘em up games. If he figured this out, he might just get good at these games.

So he slowed down and thought. What was it like playing on very hard?

“Well…”

…The attacks were intense, but it wasn’t completely one-sided.

He had somehow made it halfway through Stage 1.

He had made progress.

How had he done that?

…I was attacking too.

It was more than that, of course.

…I watched the enemy movements, based my decisions on that, fired, and…

“Dodged?”

That’s right, he realized.

He had managed to dodge those speedy and rapidly-fired bullets.

His previous thoughts had pointed to how he had done so.

“I was watching the enemy movements.”

Because they fired so soon, he had been watching the entire screen to see where they appeared.

“That’s it.”

He compared his previous playstyle to what he had done while on very hard.

How had he been viewing the screen before?

“It was naturally focused on my ship so I could dodge.”

Basically, he had always been watching just where his ship was. Because if he watched his ship and saw the bullets approaching it…

“That seemed the easiest way to dodge things.”

But was it really?

“No.”

He was confident of that now.

“I can’t dodge the bullets if I’m only looking at my ship.”

Why was that?

…If I tense up and focus in, it narrows my vision.

While watching his ship and dodging, if the number of enemies and bullets grew, his tense vision narrowed down on just the area around his ship.

If he saw a bullet from the beginning, he could predict where it was going and dodge it. But if a second bullet was fired from outside his narrowed field of vision, he could not react. The second bullet would seem to suddenly appear out of nowhere inside his narrowed field of vision.

That explained how the bullets kept sneaking up on him.

So how could he avoid narrowing his field of vision?

“By keeping an eye on the entire screen and not focusing on just the one point.”

It’s like being a shortstop, he realized.

The shortstop was a defender between second and third base, but he could watch the batter and he was not restricted by having to guard a base.

That was why he acted as a control tower for the other defenders, but…

…That requires keeping an eye on the big picture.

He had to watch the batter, keep the score in mind, watch the defenders, predict how everyone would move, and move to the best position before actually pursuing the ball.

It was the same here.

When applied to shoot ‘em up games…

…I have to view the entire screen and grasp the movement of all the enemy bullets.

And if he had to make a slight adjustment in position…

…Only then do I shift my gaze to look at my ship, but while already preparing for the next bullet.

It was simple enough once he thought about it.

The enemy bullets were flying toward him.

So instead of focusing on his ship and its immediate surroundings, it was better to understand when the enemies appeared and when they fired.

If he knew that, the bullets could not hit him.

Since the enemies had fired sooner on very hard, he had been forced to think about all the enemies appearing all over the screen.

It made him look at the entire screen.

That had stuck with him when he returned to normal and he had managed to reach Stage 4.

“I see.”

He had figured out the trick to dodging.

That meant there was a trick to it. So…

…There’s a way to get good at this.

That realization brought something like a tremor to his body.

…I see.

He had to suppress a laugh.

He felt like he had finally arrived at the starting line.

He could dodge the enemy bullets from now on.

He could survive.

So instead of simply playing the shoot ‘em up games, he could work to understand them and get good at them.

“Wow.”

He had goose bumps.

…I’m hopeless, huh?

It still felt weird doing all this for a mere video game. He doubted he could tell his friends or parents about this.

But he had learned the trick to dodging.

Without that trick, shoot ‘em up games were just about getting killed.

But with it, he had found a new possibility.

Instead of the possibility of being destroyed, he had the possibility of not being destroyed.

He could get good.

Once he did that, would he be able to play like that Freeter had? And…

…Will I figure out what it means to take something seriously?

He did not know how serious you could really get about a video game, but this was the newest and most definite form of “serious” he had discovered.

If he could experience that, maybe he could learn to trust himself a little. Maybe he could think of himself as someone who could take things seriously.

So he decided to visit the arcade today.

While deciding to start playing shoot ‘em up games at the arcade, he started up the stairs to his classroom.

But just then…

“Oh, Takamura.”

He heard a girl’s voice from the side.

It was Iwata’s familiar voice, so he turned to find the ponytail girl stepping out of a classroom at the bottom of the stairs.

Methods of Viewing the Enemy Bullets

When Focused on Your Ship’s Vicinity:

Above left image: When focused on your ship’s vicinity because you fear being hit, you are so focused on your ship that you fail to see anything more than a short distance away. (See below)

Below right image: In this case, you are defenseless against the enemy bullets arriving from outside that field of vision. (See above)

Thus, the bullets passing through that unseen area become impossible to dodge.

*Area in gray cannot be seen.

When Focused on the Entire Screen:

When the entire screen is in your field of vision, there is of course nothing outside of it. (See right)

By viewing the entire screen, you can keep a general idea of the enemy bullets’ paths and the enemies’ location.

Then again, focusing on your ship allows for more precise dodging, so players generally keep an eye on the entire screen and switch to focusing on their ship when some tricky dodging is necessary. Once they are done dodging, they will return to viewing the entire screen.

2

It was Iwata.

It felt like a while since he had last seen her.

And before he could say anything…

“Don’t you wish we could switch to our summer uniforms already?”

She removed her coat to reveal the jumper dress below.

“I suppose,” he replied and opened his uniform’s collar to show his agreement. “So what’s the deal? Did something happen?”

“Eh?” She placed the jacket over her shoulder and briefly looked up at the ceiling. “Um, well, I guess you could say that.”

She chose not to elaborate.

What was this about?

Since she had called out to him, she had to have some business with him. He started to ask her about that, but he realized he had something to ask her as well.

…About last night.

Where had she gone on that Super Cub?

He was also curious about what Naka had said about her being out of school once or twice every week.

Iwata still said nothing about why she called out to him. She was only hemming and hawing.

So to fill that gap, he decided to ask his question first.

“Hey.”

He paused for a moment to choose his words.

Her absences might be a private issue. It was almost certainly something she would want to keep within her family, so he chose not to ask her too directly.

“Come to think of it, you weren’t at the game yesterday, were you?”

She finally looked at him again.

“Oh.” She gave a bit of a trouble smile. “You noticed? Well, let’s just say I had to help out at home.”

“At home, huh? Must be tough.”

“Y-yeah, it is.” She did not seem able to look him in the eye. “Whenever I’m out, just assume that’s the reason.”

“Hm? Are things busy at your place recently?”

“At home, yes.” Her smile became a thin and bitter one. “I’ll tell you what this is about eventually. But you noticed, huh? Did you realize I wasn’t where I usually am?”

“Eh? Where you usually are?”

He tilted his head and she did the same in response. She raised her right hand and swung it to the side.

“You know, in the right stands.”

It was his turn to swing his hand to the side a little.

“No, it wasn’t that. An underclassman of mine has a thing for your brown-haired assistant, so he’s always keeping an eye out.”

“An underclassman?”

“Yeah, named Kanbayashi. He said he was always keeping tabs on your underclassman.”

Before he could say any more, she roughly brushed back her ponytail.

“Oh, I see.”

She shook her hair and it hit his elbow. Only when he felt that did he notice her expression.

“Wait…are you upset?”

“That question is only going to make it worse.”

She raised her elbows and opened her mouth, but…

“Oh, never mind.”

She shut her mouth, stared at his face, and then let her shoulders droop. She let out a deep sigh.

Meanwhile, he could only frown.

“What’s with you?”

“It’s nothing, really. Forget it.”

When she added “anyway”, he decided not to ask anything more.

She rested her elbow on the railing and stretched up toward him on the other side.

“Takamura.”

She was apparently getting to her main point.

He sensed a subtle change in the atmosphere, so he waited for her to speak.

And…

“The thing is.”

With those words, he sensed something off about her.

It was her expression.

That expression was different from before.

Her eyebrows were lowered instead of raised like they usually were.

It felt like an anxious look to him, but…

…Eh?

He had never seen this look on her face before.

If she really was anxious about something, what was it? He did not know how to take that drooping expression, so he was unsure how to react.

…Hold on.

Just before he asked her what was up, she opened her mouth again.

“Um.”

She looked him straight in the eye, so…

“Wh-what is it?”

His response sort of tried to reclaim control of the conversation, but she ignored that and kept going.

“Are you free on the way home today?”

She looked away while asking that question. Her hands moved like she was toying with some invisible object.

“I mean, I wasn’t there for the game yesterday, right? So I want to ask about it on the way home.”

“To make up for being out?”

“Y-yes.”

He breathed an inward sigh at her response.

…Oh, is that all?

That anxious expression had left her face. Now her face only asked “can you do that for me?”

Had he imagined that previous anxiety?

…Well, she must have a lot of work to do for the newspaper, so I would like to help her out on the way home.

However, something stood in the way of that.

The arcade.

He wanted to go there today.

He wanted to test out what he had learned last night. He had discovered the trick to dodging bullets, so he wanted to see if it worked in actual arcade games.

However, he doubted Iwata would understand that, so he worked to come up with an excuse.

“Umm.”

She must have seen his hesitation because she leaned forward a bit and opened her mouth.

“You can do that for me, right? Our club stays late too, so I won’t be leaving until around 6.”

He somewhat panicked at this.

…What do I do?

However, she was looking up at him with a somewhat unsure expression.

He scratched his head with a mixture of embarrassment and confusion.

…Does she have some kind of sensor that detects when I’m up to something?

Then it hit him.

“Oh, right.”

“Oh, right what?”

“Um, nothing. …You need to know about the game you missed, right?”

“Yes.”

She nodded and he somewhat looked away while answering.

“Then how about I stop by your place on the way home?” I can’t believe I’m saying this, he thought with a bashful smile. “I’ll be staying at practice until the very end today, so, um, it’ll be pretty late. A lot later than your club.”

That was a lie.

They only had strength training today, so they would be done sooner than the newspaper club.

But the school building and the baseball field were far enough away she would have no way of checking.

So he had chosen to lie so he could head back early.

…That’s kind of mean of me.

But at the same time…

…She wouldn’t understand if I told her about the arcade.

He felt this lie was better for both of them than getting into an argument about that.

And when he looked back at her…

“I see.”

Her eyebrows were back to normal and she looked up at the ceiling before nodding. With a snort, she started counting on her right hand, perhaps to check over her schedule for the day.

“How many times is that now?”

“Eh? For what?”

“Nothing,” she replied.

Before he could say anything more, she rested her elbow on the railing again.

“So you’ll be late?”

“Yeah, out on the baseball field. That’s pretty far away.”

He emphasized the part about the baseball field.

That seemed to clinch it for her. She smiled bitterly before responding.

“Then it doesn’t have to be today. It can wait.”

He spoke from his heart when he saw the bitterness of her smile. The bashful smile vanished from his face.

“Sorry.”

She looked up at him. Her expression briefly vanished, but then she smiled with her eyebrows somewhat lowered.

“It’s fine. You apologized, so I’ll forgive you. …Some other time, then.”

She took an audible step away.

And he saw her turn to the right.

“Huh? You aren’t headed back to your classroom?”

She pointed in the direction she had turned, toward the school building’s central hallway.

She gave him a slight smile and her hair swayed as she turned her head his way.

“I have some business this way.”

She did not elaborate and she pointed in that direction again while keeping her back to him.

Instead of turning around, he watched her walk away. Once she turned left at a corner in the hallway, she disappeared from view.

“Where is she headed?”

He thought about the direction she had gone.

That left turn took her to the second year classrooms. It was perfectly plausible that she had to speak with a second year for newspaper club business, but it was odd for her to not just say so.

…Then what else is there?

He recalled the school’s classroom layout and realized where she was going. If you walked past the second year classrooms, you would reach the library and the guidance counselor’s office.

It was common enough for third years to have some business with the guidance counselor, but Takamura had yet to visit even once.

But Iwata had gone there.

“Makes sense. She’s busy at home and she has a future to plan for.”

He sighed while climbing the stairs. He felt like he was falling behind.

And yet he was still planning to visit the arcade.

“What is wrong with me?”

1

“Really, what is wrong with me?”

At five till five, Takamura left Haijima Station.

That was early. He knew it was rare for him to be here at this time.

The taxi loading zone was even more crowded with students than normal. It was more of a city square than a loading zone, so the taxis pulled up wherever they pleased, making a mess of things.

While glancing over at the rumbling of engines and movement of people, he walked to the arcade.

But the piano music in his headphones was slow.

The keyboard notes used the leisurely playing speed to tell him not to rush.

…What is wrong with me?

He knew this was not the time for this, but he could feel the events and thoughts from school vanishing into the hustle and bustle of the city.

School was out. He was free to do what he wanted.

He knew he would find his battlefield if he turned the corner in front of the station and passed by the café there.

Once more, he walked in front of the white arcade as if it did not interest him at all.

“…”

He stopped and looked around as if someone had called out to him.

He saw no one he knew.

So he took a breath, removed his headphones, and quickly hit the switch for the arcade’s automatic doors.

The door opened and he was met by noise and a slight tension.

He stepped inside.

2

Once inside, the noise grew even louder. It seemed to envelop him.

And inside…

“Oh.”

The place was full of students. He could tell this was not when he was usually here. Most of them were high school aged and the next most noticeable group was the elementary school kids.

There were enough of them to clog up the aisles between cabinets.

There would normally be more open space, but it was so crowded walking around was a challenge.

“Incredible.”

His honest opinion slipped out.

He parted the wave of students near the entrance and made his way to the game he was interested in.

It was a shoot ‘em up game.

It was the game the Freeter had beaten.

It was Super Rapid Fire.

He cut through the crowd and pulled his bag on through to arrive in front of that cabinet.

Once there, the crowds had lightened up around him. The people had been gathered around the popular fighting games, but the shoot ‘em up game section was less popular. A lot of the people here were sitting down to watch a friend play instead of playing for themselves.

And the seat at the Super Rapid Fire cabinet was open.

He looked straight at that cabinet. However…

“Eh?”

It was another game.

The screen displayed an unfamiliar title. It did seem to be a shoot ‘em up, but it had a medieval setting and was not Super Rapid Fire.

…Huh?

Super Rapid Fire was not there.

“Um.”

Unsure what this meant, he looked around but did not see the red ship of Super Rapid Fire on any of the screens.

It was not there. So…

“Huh?”

…I came all this way to play that game.

His vision briefly grew dark at its absence. Not finding what he had been hoping for seemed to even erase all the surrounding noise.

“Hold on. Is this for real?”

He shook his head. The elementary school kids bumping into him as they swarmed past snapped him out of it and he looked at the cabinet in front of him again.

But it really was not Super Rapid Fire.

“Then where is it?”

He gulped.

…What if it’s gone?

He realized his pulse was racing.

That may have been why he was so quick to take his next action.

He forcibly avoided a group in school uniforms standing in the aisle and walked to the counter.

Once there, he placed his hands on the wooden edge.

The Owner was sitting behind the counter with his back to Takamura, but he was not working. He was reading a weekly manga magazine some student must have left behind.

Takamura called out to him. But…

“Excuse me.”

His voice was drowned out by all the other noise.

The games and voices were loud. The elementary school kids were particularly loud, so he could not be heard. That was why he leaned out over the counter and tried again.

He used his excellent lung capacity to shout like he was at an athletics festival.

“Excuse me!”

The Owner’s shoulders shook and he dropped the manga magazine.

He turned around in a hurry, his mouth opened in an “ah” or “eh” shape, and his eyes focused on Takamura. Then he stuck a hand in his pants pocket and started to stand up.

He must have thought a coin was jammed in a machine.

That was not it.

So Takamura asked a question when the Owner came to a stop. He made sure to shout again.

“Where is the shoot ‘em up game over there!?”

“Where…what?”

Takamura thought about his question.

…That was kind of contradictory, wasn’t it?

He pointed at the cabinet behind him and tried again.

“Th-the game that was in that cabinet! Where did it go!?”

He noticed he had stuttered a bit, but the Owner opened his mouth, nodded, and then pointed up.

He pointed at the ceiling. No, at what lay beyond the ceiling.

“The second floor. The games that were here are taken upstairs for a while, so it’s up there.”

“Upstairs?”

“On the second floor, yes.”

Takamura looked up, which of course only showed him the ceiling.

…So that’s where it is.

He had been on the second floor a few times and he could imagine the rows of cabinets there. He could picture Super Rapid Fire being among those.

“Upstairs, huh?”

He made up his mind.

He briefly clenched his back teeth and strength filled his eyes.

When he looked forward again, he saw the Owner looking back at him.

He looked the man in the eye, and…

“Thank you.”

That was all he said before turning around.

3

To reach the second floor, he had to first leave the first floor. The stairway to the second floor was located next to the entrance and it faced the outside road.

Once outside, even the station area noise seemed quiet.

The sun was starting to set, so the sky was growing dark. It was late April, but it still grew dark by 5. Purple dyed the sky from the east while the west was still a bright scarlet.

He narrowed his eyes at the lingering light in the west.

That was when someone passed by in front of him.

It was a man in glasses. Even with the setting sun shining in from behind him, Takamura could tell he was wearing a brown suit.

His glasses reflected some of that sunlight. After passing in front of Takamura, he turned right toward the stairs up to the arcade’s second floor.

Takamura watched him go.

“…!”

He knew who this was.

Without this man, he never would have been here.

It was the Freeter.

So he moved on reflex. He turned right and found himself climbing the stairs to the second floor.

He took the steps two at a time.

His leaping body quickly overtook the Freeter.

He pushed on the glass door at the top of the stairs and burst into the arcade’s second floor.

1

The second floor was like an entirely different arcade.

It had fewer customers than the first floor.

There were only three people here, including himself.

The stairway gave the second floor an L-shape and the cabinets here were only set up along the walls. The number of games was probably about the same as downstairs. The second floor was smaller, but the lack of a counter and racing games allowed for more games.

His position at the top of the stairs gave him a view of all the screens.

He searched for Super Rapid Fire’s screen from among them.

…It sure is quiet up here.

There was no sound.

…Why is that?

He figured it out quick enough: the games were not making any noise.

No, some of them were. But…

…Only the ones someone is currently playing.

The ones only running their demos were silent.

…But they’re always making noise on the first floor.

The silence seemed to make them less game-like, but that did not change the fact that the games here were silent.

Conversely, the music and sound effects of the few being played echoed through the room.

He sensed something else while listening to that.

…It’s not as hot.

But he shook his head and refocused his gaze. He remembered he was here to find Super Rapid Fire.

So he looked closer.

“Ah.”

There it was.

The game he wanted was in the center of the games along the wall bordering the road.

The title was displayed large on the screen.

…Found it.

His hesitation vanished and he walked toward the cabinet.

He heard footsteps from the stairs.

That Freeter was walking up.

…I wonder if he’s here to play Super Rapid Fire too.

He reached into his uniform’s inside pocket and pulled out his wallet while walking over. Even he could tell he was rushing himself as he grabbed a 50-yen coin from within.

He pulled it out.

…Okay.

He stood in front of the cabinet.

The title text looked up at him. He was ever-so-slightly reflected in the clear acrylic panel used to protect the screen.

The difficulty was displayed below the title: normal.

He had thought the games on the second floor had their difficulty lowered, but apparently not this one.

That’s fine, he thought. I’m glad I’ll get the full experience.

He only managed to stay still for a moment.

He inserted the 50-yen coin in the slot.

He heard the piano sound that indicated a coin had been inserted.

He jumped at how loud it was.

Worried someone was watching him, he looked back.

He immediately saw the color brown.

“Ah.”

The Freeter stood not too far away.

It was the man’s brown suit he had seen.

He could of course see more than that. He had to be seeing the man’s face and legs too.

But he did not have the guts to view the man’s face.

He looked forward again to see a message on the screen: Push 1P or 2P Start Button.

The cabinet had two joysticks and sets of buttons positioned on the left and right sides.

There were two start buttons as well.

He was sitting at the 1P side on the left.

So he pressed that button.

The game began with that man watching from behind.

2

Takamura saw the runway on the screen in front of him.

That straight line looked like a long highway and a red aircraft with a thick design raced along it.

It floated up and its shadow appeared on the ground.

Takeoff.

At the same time, his finger began to move.

He began rapid firing.

His finger rapidly shook to audibly press the button.

He immediately heard a voice from behind.

“Oh, that’s-”

It was the Freeter, but what had he been about to say?

Takamura did not know.

But it became obvious enough a moment later.

The screen suddenly lit up.

There was an explosion there, but his ship was fine.

The explosion had occurred almost directly below his ship. A red blast filling up nearly a third of the screen had appeared there.

Flames engulfed the ground.

The world pictured on the screen shook.

At the same time, an explosive sound echoed two or three times from the cabinet.

“Geh!”

That odd sound came from Takamura.

He knew exactly what he had done now that the explosion was fading away.

…That was the bomb button!?

He had hit the bomb button instead of the bullet one.

…I totally forgot.

Most shoot ‘em up games let you fire a more powerful secondary weapon commonly just called a bomb.

You only had so many of those, but they created an explosion that filled a third of the screen and did major damage to every enemy in range.

Your own ship would not take any damage.

Not only did the explosion damage the enemies without damaging you, but it eliminated the enemy’s bullets too. That meant you could fly into the blast to avoid taking any damage at all.

So normally…

…You use your bombs as a last resort when surrounded by enemy bullets, or as an attack to quickly take out an enemy with a brutal attack.

That was one of the strategic elements of shoot ‘em up games. Since you only had so many of them, strategy was crucial.

In Super Rapid Fire, you started the game with three bombs.

Takamura had just fired one of those.

The reason was quite simple.

…I mixed up the buttons.

He glanced down at the button arrangement real quick.

There were two buttons side by side. He had accidentally hit the one on the right.

He knew exactly why he had mixed them up.

First, there were no labels telling you what they did.

But more than that, it was due to the home console he had been playing to practice. That system’s stick had three buttons lined up, but few shoot ‘em up games used three buttons. In that case, the left and right ones would fire bullets and the center one fired a bomb.

He had gotten used to hitting the far right button to fire bullets.

But a mistake was a mistake.

Arcade games costed money.

In Super Rapid Fire, you started with three lives. Counting all three lives, you were given a total of nine bombs.

A game cost 50 yen, so….

…Each bomb is worth about 5.5 yen.

In that sense, accidentally firing one was a painful loss.

“Oh.”

He came back to his senses when the first enemy flew in from the top of the screen.

He could see it.

But his mind was preoccupied with regret over the bomb, so he was slow to respond. Should he dodge or fire? He knew he was shaken, but that kept him from trusting his own judgment here.

…Fine, let’s just do this!

His fingertips were tense, but he tried to brush off his worries by rapid firing the correct button this time.

However…

…That’s way too slow.

What his fingers produced could not be called “rapid”.

He was simply repeatedly tapping the button.

That was not what he wanted to do. He pictured something much faster in his mind, but his nerves and his stupid mistake had tensed up his entire hand.

Oh, no, he thought, but that only shook him more and created new tension in a negative feedback loop.

…A-argh.

What is happening? he wondered. Everything had gone so well the night before and that thought only made him panic more.

Something like confusion filled his mind.

So he lost a life almost immediately.

The slow bullet fired by the enemy flew straight toward his ship.

It hit him.

His ship flashed bright and exploded.

With an explosive sound effect, a game life worth approximately 17 yen went up in smoke.

At the same time, he gasped.

He was shaken after losing a life, but that loss also reset his mood.

…U-um.

He managed to regain some control of his mind and could comprehend the events on the screen once more.

But that clarity led to another piece of misfortune.

He noticed the man in a brown suit faintly reflected in the screen’s acrylic panel.

He could see him. Which meant…

…He can see me.

Takamura felt himself blushing.

The heat and dampness made the inside of his uniform feel heavy.

…C-compared to last night…

This was about the worst start he could have had.

And he ultimately failed to even complete Stage 1.

Shoot ‘Em Up and Arcade Terminology

1up: An item or score level that gives you an extra life.

A Real Man Only Needs One Credit: A sign of love.

Activate Your Kinetic Vision: Fighting spirit is crucial.

Adlibbing: Simply reacting instead of following a plan. Happens a lot at higher stages.

Arcade: A dark, cramped, uncomfortable space that has since become a target of nostalgia.

Arcade Game: Any game made for use in an arcade.

Auto Difficulty Setting: A system for the game to automatically adjust its difficulty based on your number of power ups, rapid-fire speed, and remaining lives. When a game is in a cabinet with a rapid-fire device installed, this can be fairly deadly.

Board: The game’s rom board inside the cabinet. Swap it out and – tah dah – the cabinet runs a different game.

Cabinet: The box the game is inside. Includes the monitor and control panel. Used to be shaped like tables, but they are now upright models with a diagonally positioned monitor.

Credit: What you purchase when inserting a coin. Most games display on the side of the screen how many credits have been purchased.

Eaten: What you call a coin when the game does not give you a credit. Also called a coin jam. Creates tension with the arcade workers.

Fighting Spirit: Necessary for high-level adlibbing when you don’t have a plan or can’t keep up with the plan.

Gamer: Someone who loves games. Or only loves games? No, that’s going too far.

Get Good: Sometimes, this is the only way to beat something.

Hyah!: Shouting this while rapid firing increases your fighting spirit by 20%.

High Scorer: Someone who plays to get the best score. Or someone with the best score.

Insane Mode: When the enemy attacks most fiercely. If it takes long enough to defeat a boss, the boss tends to enter this mode. Also called the insane pattern.

Item: Anything in a game that provides some kind of effect when acquired by touching it with your ship. Common examples include power ups, speed ups, bombs, and bonuses.

Learn By Dying: Necessary words for anyone wanting to beat a shoot ‘em up game.

Pattern: A set series of steps to get through a game (i.e. a winning pattern). Or a series of steps the game uses (i.e. the enemy attack pattern).

Perfect Dodging: Dodging bullets such that they seem to graze your ship. Also called enlightenment, perfect reflexes, or seeing the paths.

Rapid Fire: Rapidly tapping the button with your finger. There are different methods, such as making your finger vibrate, alternating between your index and middle finger, or rubbing your fingers side to side.

Safe Zone: An area where no enemy attacks can reach you.

Shooter: A gamer who primarily plays shoot ‘em up games. But the people who openly use the term tend to dodge more than they shoot.

Single Credit Win: Completing a game with a single credit and without continuing. The eternal goal of arcade regulars.

Test Switch: A switch used to change the board’s settings. Arcade workers can even increase the bass from a game they like.

1

It was 5:45 PM.

Takamura stepped onto his home station’s platform with his uniform jacket draped over his arm.

He had just barely made it onto the train home, so he had boarded a car in the middle.

His home station was a small one with just the one ticket gate toward the front end of the train, so he could not leave the station right away unless he boarded the front car.

When he disembarked with his headphones in his ears, he found himself at the back of the line to leave the station.

He looked up in the sky after seeing the students in school uniforms, office workers in suits, and middle-aged women with plastic shopping bags clogging up the ticket gate.

The western sky had grown a dark blue and the rest of the sky was already black.

There were stars in the sky. He lived in an area where the stars were visible. He did not see that as living out in the sticks. He thought it was a good thing.

But he was not in the mood for stargazing right now. The piano music from his headphones sounded terribly distant.

His failure in the arcade was sticking with him.

So was his memory of running away.

He sighed and spoke aloud.

“I can’t believe this.”

Some space opened up in front of him, so he walked toward the ticket gate. He did not have a special case for his train pass. He simply kept it in his wallet and that was in his back pocket, not the pocket of the jacket over his arm.

He weakly pulled out his wallet and showed his pass to the worker at the ticket gate.

Once through there, he reached a T-intersection with railroad crossings on either side. There was a bicycle parking area past those.

He always used the left one because it was a larger and there was a convenient fence he could chain lock his mountain bike to.

After descending the short stairway from the ticket gate, he started to cross the left railroad crossing.

A girl on a bicycle rode by in front of him.

Her bike had straight handlebars, which seemed courageous for a girl.

He looked at her.

A lot of things crossing his path today had left him speechless.

When something did leave his mouth, it was his nickname for the girl.

“Iwa.”

It was Iwata who passed by in front of him.

2

Takamura stopped partway up the stairs.

Iwata crossed the railroad crossing and continued to his right using the street alongside the railroad.

She had not noticed him.

But he had noticed her.

And he had noticed something else as well.

“I thought she had newspaper club work.”

…Weren’t they working until 6?

That was what she had said at lunchtime. She had suggested they head home together at that time because it was also the average time for baseball practice to end.

But it was not quite 6 and here she was.

It took an hour to reach here from school.

She had to have left school by 5 to be here now.

“What does that mean?”

He scratched his head.

…Wait.

He was confused.

…The newspaper club did meet today, right?

His imagination got the better of him and he had a thought that was a little too convenient for a guy like him.

But…

“No, it couldn’t be.”

He quickly erased that thought from his mind.

“It isn’t that. It isn’t,” he told himself, while asking another question.

…Then why did she leave so early today?

He tilted his head while starting to walk again.

But his eyes were turned in the direction she had gone.

He could hear the gentle piano music.

His thoughts alone remained motionless, as if even the music had left them behind. Again, he felt like he was falling behind everyone.

Once in the bicycle parking area, he saw his mountain bike’s bright paint job shining in the light of a sunlamp.

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