«nanas.h.i.+»：Good game

«コウキ»：Good game [1]

Thus, the next day, as per usual, I was fighting online battles in AttackFamirizu [2] — colloquially known as ATAFAMI. Since opponents have the ability to chat with each other, it was part of gaming etiquette to exchange such formalities at the end.

Naturally, this time had also been my victory. Steadily, increasing my rating [3]. After the ratings had been reset four months ago, in a number of weeks I had ascended to the rank of number one in j.a.pan, and even now I was safely maintaining that position. My online handle was «nanas.h.i.+». The reasoning behind it might be a bit embarra.s.sing, but I had gone with 名無し[nanas.h.i.+] (nameless[4]) purely on the basis of it looking cool. Tomozaki Fumiya, my real name, had absolutely no relation to it.

Before the ratings had been reset, I guess there had been a few instances where I had fallen into a slump, but nevertheless for the most part I had consistently maintained my number one rank. It was probably safe to say that, at least domestically, there were no contenders.

Atafami, due to its seldom seen degree of perfection, currently held the highest gamer population in the current compet.i.tive online gaming world. In other words, being number one in this game meant that, saying I was the most skillful gamer in j.a.pan would be a justified statement. Probably.

As for my tag «nanas.h.i.+», regarding that, there existed another ATAFAMI player with the one of a kind naming sense, «NO NAME». While not to the extent of s.n.a.t.c.hing away my number one status, for these past few months they had continuously attached themselves to the number two spot in the rankings. Moreover, as far as I could tell, ever since attaining the second place rank, NO NAME was also such that they had never given up that position. In other words, 『nanas.h.i.+』 and 『NO NAME』 currently held a monopoly over first and second place.

Since there was also similarity in the name, within the Internet gaming community, there existed a 「Could it be that two accounts are the same person?」 rumour that was plausibly making the rounds.

Therefore the I of nanas.h.i.+ will declare. nanas.h.i.+ and NO NAME are, completely different people. However, in the ATAFAMI world, the matter of how NO NAME had suddenly turned up during the past few months, the matter of the improbable speed with which they had ascended all the way up to second place, and then more than anything else, the matter how nanas.h.i.+ and NO NAME directly confronting each other was an event that had yet to materialize, all these points lent themselves to the authenticity of the theory that they were one and the same. At any rate, since their character of choice was the same «Found», there were even similarities in playstyle. Most likely, it would seem that they had used the archives of my battle recordings for reference.

«nanas.h.i.+»: Good game

«YuKichi»: Good game. You're incredibly strong, aren't you?

«nanas.h.i.+»: Thank you. Then.

Thus with yet another victory, I left the room. Well, even I had suffered defeats before but, recently, those had become more down to the issue of an internal battle with myself. An incident where I had lost to my opponent in terms of technique execution, first of all did not exist; all those times where I had lost had been down to my own mistakes. However for this reason, even now when I held first place, effort was still worth putting in, for it could be said that there still remained some room for improvement.

With that reason in mind, while thinking about things such as reducing my mistakes made in the next fight —

I caught my breath.

In the opponent column, a single name was displayed. [5]

«NO NAME»     Rating: 2561

I could feel the blood in my body beginning to rush to my brain. My prior thoughts had been, that NO NAME was simply imitating my playstyle. However, their actions taken immediately following the commencement of the match proved completely different.

I charged my opponent, with the aim of executing a combo. However, NO NAME simply stayed in place on alert, starting to acc.u.mulate firearms.

This was, in times where it had become a Found mirror match, the only action that I considered disadvantageous to me.

Thus, this was no coincidence. I evaluated the situation without even considering that possibility.

They had performed their research on me, but rather than it being a simple blind imitation, they had even gone so far as constructing countermeasures for my individual style. For some reason, this was something I held confidence in.

What was even more astonis.h.i.+ng was, things like NO NAME's unmatched accuracy, and the overwhelming skill with which they were able to escape from combos. If I let up just a little in my operation, they would immediately escape from the combo. Things like their movement around the stage and conception of a situation from which to start a combo still had a ways to go before reaching my level, but if it was their combo escaping technique we were talking about, then in all honesty ── they had already surpa.s.sed me.

Rather than that, perhaps it's just that my combo escaping technique was currently too poor. As for why, I was too strong, so in the first place, instances when I had been caught by a combo were scarce. In other words, this was one of my very few weak points.

To sum up, 『Not receiving an attack from the onset is good, therefore it is only the skill of escaping combos that is unnecessary』.

Such a consideration, such a premise. For this reason, supposing an occasion where NO NAME possessed approximately the same level of movement or combo conception as I, the difference in skill at escaping combos would probably bring about my loss.

── and it is likely that, NO NAME had such things included in their outlook.

As for why I knew that. It was simple.

NO NAME was, in comparison to their level, way too skilful at escaping combos.

At that level, it becomes uncommon to be caught in a combo by an opponent; in other words, the number of chances to practice escaping combos steadily diminishes. That's why, without being limited to NO NAME, within the super top rankers, myself included, the kind of players who were strong at attack but poor in defensive battles were numerous.

However, this NO NAME. Considering their second place ranking in j.a.pan, they had way too much experience in defensive battles. No, rather than that, that was probably their specialty.

This implied, that NO NAME had numerous opportunities to be struck by combos ── no, if I had to say it fully, 『Regularly, for the sake of practice, was deliberately letting combos connect』, that was the kind of meaning this carried.

In other words NO NAME was, throwing aside immediate gratification such as their win percentage or exhilaration from playing.

With their terminal strength, their ranking in the long term in view, they fought. Even if as a result their circ.u.mstances were to become unfavourable in their immediate battles, even if their winning percentage decreased, even if their ranking or reputation were to fall, instead opting for the results several months later.

People who might call such a person a namepu [6] would be wrong, for this was fully-fledged training.

At the very least, I was unaware of any other player who had abandoned all immediate pleasures without exception, and then produced clear 『Results』.

NO NAME. I'd had the intention of staying the number one rank in j.a.pan forever, but perhaps there was no longer any allowance to declare as such. This much could be said, however. In the present state of affairs, within j.a.pan, if there ever were to materialize an ATAFAMI player that surpa.s.sed me, then.

It would likely be NO NAME, a single person.

As I reflected on that, the outcome was decided ── a manifestation of the present difference in abilities, I was victorious with two lives remaining.

«nanas.h.i.+»: Good game.

Then, the final courtesies. The acknowledgements in the chat. As soon as I received the response from my opponent, I would leave the room.

«NO NAME»: Do you live in Kantou?

Hn? Asking where I live. I wonder what the intention might be.

«nanas.h.i.+»: Yes, it is Kantou…

«NO NAME»: If you feel so inclined, would you like to meet up?

«nanas.h.i.+»: Eh, by that, do you mean one-to-one in real life?

«NO NAME»: Yes, precisely that. If possible, I'd like to have a talk, and revenge match.

An invitation to an offline meeting. In addition to that, likely one-on-one. Just what might it mean?

What's the deal here. Certainly, recently the hurdle of meeting someone you had met online had been lowering, and in actuality, thinking about it normally, it wasn't even that dangerous of a thing. In this way, considering the connection between the first and second rated in ATAFAMI, trying to meet them would probably make for an interesting experience. With that being the case…

«nanas.h.i.+»: Understood, I'm ok with that.

«NO NAME»: Thank you! Your closest station, which might it be? I'm the one who invited you, so I'll make my way from here.

«nanas.h.i.+»: Ehh, let me see…

I designated a station, and we arranged for a meeting place and time. Rather than the station closest to me, I chose the terminal station one stop away from my house. This way would probably provide the other party with a more convenient commute.

«NO NAME»: Understood! Then, next Sat.u.r.day, at 14:00. I look forward to meeting you!

In this way, right after the long awaited showdown, with such offhand acceptance, a face to face offline meeting [7] with NO NAME had been arranged.

Translation Notes:

[1] They actually say お疲れ様でした here, but in this context it carries the same meaning as Good game. j.a.panese gamers may shorten it to simply おつ, which I suppose is the equivalent of gg.

…I guess I should also mention his opponent's username is kouki. It's not that important though, you can forget this random scrub.

[2] Look, I decided I'd rather not go with the literal translation of アタックファミリーズ here because well, I thought it was too easy to read that one the wrong way. So I went with this more subtle stylization. Just a personal choice, though I could decide to change this in the future. If you can't read katakana, don't mind me and continue as you were.

[3] The rating here refers to a number as in elorating for chess. The higher the number, the higher up you are in the world rankings.

[4] 名na / 無しnas.h.i.+: Broken up, literally means name/without.

[5] He's probably placed in some sort of matchmaking queue after each game finishes.

[6] Literally from 舐め・る[name・ru] (to make fun of) and pu from プレイヤー[player]. I suppose it means you're so confident about beating your opponent, you find ways to bad manner them during the game. DO NOT p.r.o.nounce it the English way as in 「my name: ru」. For the correct p.r.o.nunciation just pop it in google translate.

[7] Original: サシオフ, which probably comes from 差し(face to face) and offline meeting.

I'll be honest, I have close to no experience with fighting games, hence some parts may have been awkwardly translated due to me not being familiar with the context.

The next few parts of chapter 1 are about 20 pages each. Depending on how fast I can decrypt all dat grammar, they could take up to two weeks. We'll have to see, though.

Ah, and the next part also has two ill.u.s.trations of Hinami Aoi. I also intend to add the ill.u.s.trations at the front of the book at the same time as the next update.