I paused my hand on the Garapon, my interest piqued by the sudden announcement of a video game tournament. I turned my full attention to Alice as she began her explanation.
"Now then, let's keep it brief... Since I'm sure many of you are wondering, 'What on earth is a video game?' I’ll give you the gist. It’s a form of entertainment from Kaito-san’s home world—specifically, the one Machina created. Let’s have a look while I explain... Right over here."
At Alice’s signal, a massive monitor flickered to life behind the commentary booth. It displayed the screen of an incredibly famous fighting game where up to four players could scrap at once.
"To put it simply, you use these controllers to move the characters on the screen. Think of it like using a magic tool to control a puppet in a duel. We can have four people playing at the same time, and since I had a bunch of folks with too much time on their hands—people who can build basically anything—I made them mass-produce these consoles. I put the most pressure on the one who spent her time building that ridiculous 'House of Curses' museum... Anyway, since we can run multiple matches of four simultaneously, the pace should stay nice and snappy."
"Say, Shaltan? You’re actually quite ruthless when it comes to the Earth God, aren't you?" Fate asked.
"You have to treat that one with a heavy hand. If you coddle her, she gets a big head and starts running wild... Case in point: she went off the rails this time too and built that bizarre museum, didn't she?"
"Ah, p-please don't bring up topics that are so hard to answer... I mean, the Earth God might be a total softie when it comes to you, Shaltan, but I can't afford to say anything so reckless."
Alice did treat Machina with a certain casual disregard, but that was a testament to their bond as best friends; it was a dynamic that only worked because they were so close.
Then again, just as Fate had pointed out, Machina really was a sucker for Alice. She was a complete pushover whenever Alice was involved, so I had a feeling she’d been smooth-talked into mass-producing these game consoles as well.
"Still, Shaltan," Fate continued, "even if this is an otherworld game, isn't there a massive gap between a Peerage-class high-ranking demon and a normal person? Won't the matches be completely one-sided?"
"Oho, as expected of Fate-san! A stellar question. If they were trading real blows, you'd be right, but in the realm of video games, the rules are different. As I mentioned, this game comes from Kaito-san’s world. That means it was designed for humans—or rather, for the reaction speeds of the human race without the benefit of magical physical enhancement. The stronger you are, the slower the game’s responses will feel."
"I suppose that makes sense. Kai-chan’s world didn't have magic, after all."
"Exactly. So, since we're all here, why don't we have Fate-san give it a try? The controls are a breeze..."
As always, the two were perfectly in sync. Alice and Fate kept up a lively banter as they explained the mechanics, leading into Fate’s test play.
This was a famous title back home. I’d played it with Aoi and Hina, and even a few other acquaintances here in this world. Just as Alice predicted, I recalled everyone having a difficult time adjusting to the reaction speeds.
"Wait... what? Why?! I definitely guarded that!" Fate cried out.
"You pressed the button too early. By the time the opponent actually attacked, your guard had already dropped. Timing is key."
"Timing, huh? Alright, so I just have to line it up perfectly with the attack... Hey! Why did it hit me?!"
"Fate-san, you probably think your timing was perfect, but it was actually too perfect. You aren't accounting for the lag between pressing the button and the character on the screen taking action. Just for reference, this console takes about 1/300,000th of a second—roughly the speed of light—for a button press to translate into a character's movement."
"Isn't that incredibly slow?!"
"To a normal human, that’s faster than the blink of an eye... but regardless, you can't move properly unless you calculate that discrepancy. Plus, the machine won't register inputs if you mash buttons faster than a certain threshold. Even if you understand it intellectually, your body tends to react on instinct, so fully adapting to it mid-tournament is going to be a tall order... Well, except for a certain 'bug' we know."
I see. Listening to Alice, it sounded like even the Six Kings and ordinary people could have a fair fight. As for the "bug," she was almost certainly talking about Lilia-san. I’d actually played this game with her once. She was confused for the first few rounds, but after that, she started pulling off frame-level operations. She was naturally terrifyingly good.
However, she was plagued by atrocious luck. She was constantly getting struck by random stage hazards or caught in gimmicks, which meant her overall skill level ended up being roughly on par with mine, Aoi’s, or Hina’s.
Out of everyone I had played with, the most talented was... Amel. She had been fascinated by the very concept of an otherworld game, and her eyes had lit up at the flashy special moves. More than anything, she seemed to genuinely love playing with friends, and since we had played together numerous times, I’d wager she had the highest experience level in the entire venue.
Of course, she often left herself wide open because she was too busy trying to pull off flashy combos or finish the fight with a special move. Even if she was strong, she wasn't invincible. It looked like the tournament would be a pretty even match after all.
Serious-senpai: "A four-player game with simple controls... just what kind of brawl is this supposed to be...?"
???: "I don't know, it could be some kind of Bon-erman..."
Serious-senpai: "That wouldn't have special moves or combos, would it?"