Unwanted Rivalry

It took Saturday and most of Sunday for me to get past chapter 25. I forgot how long this part of the story was since it contains the climactic end to the warlock Calibash. For now, at least. I think my dad told me this was the last part my grandpa wrote before he disappeared. Considering how highly acclaimed the story was, I couldn’t imagine how different the game would be if he was still around.

I reported my progress to Hargrave and he said we could do dungeons the following Monday after school.

September 9th 2018

Steve, Sun, and Ryuuji are playing Starfight, currently relaxing at the Voiceless Meadow. Although Ryuuji is leveling up at a decent speed, jumping to 61 from playing the story, Sun is proud that she’s at a higher level than him. Going up 20 levels within 4 months isn’t something one would normally brag about, but he feels the burn.

With his previous character, AkaNinja which was level 81, he stopped caring about numbers after a while. Not to mention it gets increasingly difficult after hitting level 70. Though all of that makes Sun wonder,

“If it’s that difficult then how do the legendary players level up so quickly?”

“And QueenofSnow always beats the rest. I don’t get it either.” Ryuuji says, just as baffled.

“Who cares. Let’s pick what area to go to next.” Steve says despite not needing anything at the moment.

Ryuuji recommends the Sands of Catia so he can get more scarab dust for new armor. Steve has no issues with that since there are a lot of flying beasts to help Sun practice her aim.

“You’re helping to improve her skill?!” Ryuuji says with a gasp.

“Because I asked for it~” Sun hums.

“Yeah so shut up Ryuuji! I’ll do anything Sun asks if it means she’ll make lunch for me again!” Steve then realizes what he just said, “Ah- I meant to keep that last part to myself.”

“So that’s the only reason?” Sun asks, disappointed.

The couple remains silent while Ryuuji laughs in the background. He didn’t need to do much this time for Steve to make a mistake. Sun then lets out a sigh.

“It’s fine. I’ll forget I heard anything this time.” She’s sure to emphasize the last part.

“Thank you darling~”

After going through hell last week, Ryuuji missed these interactions and overall it ended up being one of his favorite Starfight sessions.

They play in the Sands of Catia till nightfall. Sun leveled up her two shooting spells and was able to improve her aim. Ryuuji also got what he needed to create armor resistant to certain spells. Since he will undoubtedly be outmatched in some rounds, he’s preparing extra protection.

September 10th 2018

Seiji is waiting at Hanabi’s house to walk to school together. She and her family went on a short trip over the weekend so they weren’t able to talk much. This is also why he waited to mention the tournament.

“I’m surprised you want to participate.” Hanabi says.

“I am too. I was gonna deny the invite right away, but then thought it might be fun playing an event with friends instead of a bunch of Hargrave fans.”

“I won’t stop you.” Hanabi then points directly at Seiji, “But you definitely have to win!”

Enthused by her approval, Seiji grins, “Of course! And then we can update our armory with the prize money.”

They both know this also means they won’t be able to play together in the game for now since he’ll be busy preparing. Hanabi claims it won’t bother her, but Seiji promises to continue picking her up each morning. That makes Hanabi feel delighted.

********************

After school, the 3 boys meet in Starfight so Ryuuji’s training can begin. He can’t believe Hanabi wasn’t upset about the tournament, but he considers she may look at it the same way Seiji normally would: not worth the time.

The prize money for the winning team is 10,000,000 meel each. Unlike with every other type of battle, all the players get the same amount. If it wasn’t that way, Seiji would end up with most of it.

“You should charge him for training too.” Steve recommends.

“Good point. I’m not getting much out of it.” Seiji says.

“But…we’re all friends aren’t we?” Ryuuji says, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

Disgusted to hear that coming from him, Seiji escapes the conversation by entering the dungeon first, with the other two following close behind. After 2 hours of various battles, Ryuuji goes up 9 more levels to 70.

Seiji then suddenly states the name; “QueenofSnow.”

“What did you say?” Steve asks.

“I just got an invite to meet QueenofSnow.” Seiji says. “It’s not too far from here either. Maybe we should take a break.”

“What could she want with you?” Ryuuji asks.

“I heard a rumor that she was considering joining the tournament. Of course it has to be my least favorite legendary player, she’s so obnoxious.”

“Yes, and Hargrave has such a charming personality.” Ryuuji complains.

“I don’t like her either. Let’s just ignore her and get back to what we were doing.” Steve says.

Ryuuji notices that just like yesterday, Steve tried to change the subject when that name was mentioned. He never met her himself nor did he ever look into who she is. He just knows she’s from the U.S. and typically plays on a different server.

However, it’s an unwritten rule that the legendary players should only contact each other when absolutely necessary. Otherwise, they stay out of one another’s business. Ryuuji finds that to be ridiculous, but in part due to their popularity, the game has become a major part of those players’ lives. As such, they prefer to discuss important news that may arise.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Seiji pushes them to transport to the Flaming Field. The area consists of grass that has grown with the colors of red and orange. It is said this is the result of a legendary dragon dyeing the land with its fiery breath.

There they see QueenofSnow, a mage with a coat that is colored with a mix of blues with snowflakes scattered about. To their surprise, Sunshine and Flora Mae are standing beside her. Rather than speculate, Seiji accepts her communication request, only to be bombarded with laughter.

“Hahaha!” She laughs with all her might, “Why hello there Hargrave. To think we’d have the pleasure of meeting twice in one year.”

“The pleasure’s all yours. What do you want?” Seiji gets right to the point.

“Lovely as always. I just wanted to confirm the rumors I’m sure you’ve been hearing.” After a dramatic pause, QueenofSnow raises her voice, “They are all true!! I shall be joining the tournament with these two ladies as a team.”

A tournament with two legendary players. This is the first time something like this has occurred. Besides not having much interest, they tend to avoid events like this so as to not receive a mass amount of requests from other players to join their team. That’s why, before announcing their participation, both of them already established their own.

“There are 3 time zones for the tournament to make it fair to all players around the world. What reason do you have to join this bracket?” Steve argues, lacking his usual pep.

“So angry~ We’ve only been apart for 1 month and that’s how you treat me, little bro?”

“We’ve always been like this, though.” Steve reluctantly states.

“That is true.” Sun says, being familiar with both siblings.

She hasn’t seen his sister since she was young, but remembers her ‘explosive’ personality as Steve would always put it. Oftentimes when she noticed them hanging out, she would jump right in to tease her little brother. It’s now obvious that she enjoys doing that with anyone.

“Hold on. Your sister is one of the legendary players?” Ryuuji tries to comprehend this new information.

“What? You didn’t tell your friends about me, Steve? You too, Sun?” Queen asks, genuinely surprised.

“I actually forgot.” Sun admits.

“No I didn’t, SARAH!” Steve says her real name with disgust, “I didn’t want to be associated with your character and have Hargrave hate me!!”

Seiji avoids responding to that and if anything, Queen reminds him of Ryuuji when he first arrived at school, though he only heard about it. Having witnessed it firsthand, Sun can see what he means, much to Ryuuji’s dismay.

“Well, I certainly didn’t expect you to be friends with Hargrave. Does that mean he’s also a little high schooler? Perhaps I should spread some rumors around to destroy your image.” Queen snickers just thinking about it.

Already tired of her teasing, Seiji clicks his tongue. Anytime they meet within the game, he always gets caught in her pace and can’t escape. This time is no different. He tries to attack her from a different angle, even if he may regret it later.

“Out of all of us, you always reach max level with each new expansion. I managed to beat you once and plan to again.”

“Oh, a challenge? Just don’t forget your words.”

“She only gets to level up so quickly because our dad spoils her. Since she works for his company, he gives her off anytime she asks. It doesn’t matter if it’s for a week or a month.” Steve says.

Queen becomes upset by his remark and her tone shifts. “If I’m the spoiled one, how come dad last minute decided you had to be the one to go to Japan instead of me?”

“There are various circumstances related to that…” Steve murmurs.

Steve was told by his father not to say anything, not even to his sister, but Ryuuji knows this has to do with the fact that his own father was unknowingly fired. Steve is the one who was first informed and since he’s Ryuuji’s friend, the sibling’s positions were switched. Sarah is allowed to travel to Japan, but not until everything is settled. In the meantime, she was left to watch over their family’s main company in California.

But Queen had no intention of talking about that and gets back to the topic of ‘destroying Hargrave’s image’.

“Anyway, I don’t need petty rumors to do that. No, for you see, that’s what this tournament is for.” She says with full confidence.

“You think you can beat me?”

“Not alone, but this team is another story.” Queen proclaims.

Out of everyone, the person who has been the most quiet is also the one who probably knows the most about this game: Hanabi. Concerned, Seiji is about to ask her, but Queen speaks as if reading his mind.

“Flora actually has a respectable goal for this battle. Go ahead, give him a hint.”

A hint should be easy to come up with, but Hanabi can’t think of anything. Instead, she says the first thing that comes to mind, baffling everyone.

“I…want you to praise me more!!” The flustered Hanabi then tries to clarify, “No wait–”

But Queen cuts in with her boisterous laughter, “Haha that’s a great answer! Let’s leave him with that. After all, if he can’t figure it out on his own then he will never understand.”

“I really can’t stand you.” Seiji says in a bitter tone.

“Yes, that’s how it should be. If all of the legendary players were best friends then the game would be no fun.” Queen says in a devious manner before switching back to her casual tone, “And on that note we shall take our leave. I’ll be sure to take good care of your girls. Bye~ bye~”

QueenofSnow cancels all communication and her group leaves the area.

“That was a mistake. Talking to her, I mean.” Ryuuji gives his opinion.

“She’s like that in real life too, it’s awful.” Steve complains.

“I would say I feel bad, but apparently I’m like that too.”

“In a more tolerable way.”

Now with 3 against 1, Ryuuji finds it futile to attempt to convince them otherwise. Although Hanabi kept to herself, she probably agrees with them. Ryuuji wants to believe he wasn’t that annoying at least.

Meanwhile, Seiji continues to analyze what he heard, ‘praise me more’? What does that mean? He compliments her all the time, whether it’s about her cooking, gameplay, or kindness. He knows Hanabi isn’t the best at conveying her feelings, maybe it’s related to something else? Whatever it is, there’s something lacking in their relationship, and it’s currently on his shoulders.

“Sorry about my sister.” Steve knows he doesn’t need to apologize on her behalf, but can tell the conversation got to Seiji and does so anyway.

This brings him back to the game, though he still feels lost. “I’m used to her antics. It’s Hana…I have to try and talk to her in the morning.”

“Is it alright if I ask what she meant by ‘meeting twice in one year’?” Steve says.

Similar to what Seiji explained earlier, all four of them had a meeting after the news broke out about the company being bought. The main purpose was to discuss if it would affect their passion for the game. Sometimes a new company will make drastic changes to an already efficient system and loses many players as a result. He thought it was too early and therefore pointless to think about, but LuxeDeLore insisted.

“This was before I met you, Ryuuji. I have no idea if QueenofSnow knew at the time that it was her father’s company.” Seiji adds.

“Probably not. After the news was leaked, my dad did his best to keep the company name a secret. He didn’t tell me until a few weeks later.” Steve tries to keep the extent of his thoughts to himself but lets it out with a whine. “Ah~ hearing all of this makes me even more jealous. My sister would tease me, but we weren’t always this bad.”

Steve and Sarah started playing Starfight around the same time. They both enjoyed it and would sometimes wait until they could play together to tackle new monsters. Then all of a sudden, she started getting further and further ahead of him, eventually reaching a point where it was impossible to catch up.

That’s when a rift started to form and Steve switched focus to playing with Sun instead. Then, when Sarah became a legendary player, it was over. They never played again and barely talk to each other.

“Is it really that big of a deal?” Ryuuji asks, “My ninja was legendary for being one of a kind, but that never mattered when playing with others.”

“That’s surprising considering your personality.” Steve pouts.

“That again. You shouldn’t take your frustrations out on other people.” Ryuuji says.

“Do you really have a right to say that?” Seiji points out.

“No, but I did anyway.”

With a feeling of dread hanging above the team, they call it quits for tonight. They accomplished a lot so it’s not like it was a wasted session.

September 11th 2018

The next morning, Hanabi exits her home to walk to school and is surprised to see Seiji waiting by the road. He did promise to pick her up this week, but she didn’t expect him to wait without a word. She immediately runs over to him.

“What are you doing? You could have at least knocked.”

“It’s just, after last night’s conversation I thought I should wait here.”

“I’m sorry.” Hanabi lets out a huff, “I know you never liked talking about QueenofSnow. I didn’t realize she picked on you so much.”

“She does annoy me, but more importantly, are you mad at me?”

“No, there’s just something that’s been bothering me. It started to stand out the more we hung out with our friends.”

“Another hint, huh.” Seiji says.

“I’m sorry…” Hanabi says after seeing his disappointment.

She agrees there is some truth to Queen’s advice, to have him figure it out himself so he can learn, but it’s difficult. Even if she did tell him, she can’t figure out how to say it without sounding ‘selfish’ as she sees it, causing a heavy weight to fall on her as well.

Seiji moves past that, having already decided last night that he will fix this, and asks what made Hanabi decide to team up with QueenofSnow of all players.

Their initial meeting was by accident. Sun and herself were standing around the area where people are actively signing up for the tournament. Although they both stated they weren’t interested, Hanabi started to waver and couldn’t resist going there. Since Seiji and the others already submitted their team, it was too late to join them, but figured there was a chance they could find someone else.

It was then that they received a communication request from ‘QueenofSnow’. Sun doesn’t recognize the name, but Hanabi knows right away that she’s one of the legendary players. Teaming up with her significantly raises their odds of beating Seiji so she accepts right away. However, QueenofSnow starts speaking in English which baffles Hanabi, causing her to forget to turn on the translation option. Sun speaks up, but also in English.

They teach English at school, but it’s one of Hanabi’s worst subjects. She can only understand a few words exchanged, including the names ‘Sun’ and ‘Sarah’ indicating they at least introduced each other. Other than that, she has no idea what they’re talking about. Sun notices and switches to Japanese.

“Sorry Flora, do you not understand English?”

“No, not really.” Hanabi reluctantly admits.

“Is this better?” Queen also speaks in Japanese.

“Y-yes, thank you! Sun, I didn't know you could speak English so well!” Hanabi says.

Sun tries to think back to whether or not she mentioned being raised in America. It happened so long ago, she doesn’t see any point in mentioning it.

“Anyway, this is Steve’s sister. I met her when I was young.”

“You know one of the legendary players?! That’s awesome!” Hanabi says with excitement.

“What are you two doing here? Joining the tournament?” Queen asks.

“Possibly. We need a player who can help beat Hargrave.” Hanabi explains.

“Ooh? What a coincidence, I also want to beat Hargrave.”

Shortly after that, they formed a team and entered the tournament. Hanabi planned to tell Seiji about it this morning, but QueenofSnow insisted on meeting last night. She didn’t expect her behavior to change so much after the boys arrived. She was much more ‘tame’ when talking before. Seiji would have preferred if that didn’t happen, but he knows there is no controlling Queen.

“Now that you’re in the tournament, let me remind you,” Seiji points directly at Hanabi, “Yesterday you told me I had to win no matter what.”

Hanabi grumbles as she considers her options. If Seiji wins the prize money, it will technically be hers as well since they’re always a team. Though if she wins, then she’ll get to decide how it’s spent. Not that Seiji has ever stopped her from doing so. Feeling proud, she nods,

“I decided to retract my statement. You have to lose!” Hanabi declares.

“It’s nice to hear your strong resolve.” Seiji says.

Putting aside their current problem, both are now looking forward to the tournament, determined to defeat one another. No matter who they fight first, they are confident they will get the chance to face each other. Having legendary players on their team helps guarantee that.

However, being on different teams also means their lunch will be separate as well. Sun and Hanabi want to discuss their strategies as much as possible before the battles begin next weekend. Seiji has no problem with that. He still plans to pick her up each morning since Hanabi looks forward to it.

“Sun should be telling your teammates about our lunch break decision.” Hanabi says.

“I can tell she already did.” Seiji says, annoyed by what he sees.

Just past the school gate, Steve is sitting on the ground, hanging his head, with Ryuuji standing beside him. He’s looking away with his arms crossed, probably thinking the same as Seiji. Although they’re both older than him, it feels like he has to be the one to carry them both. Unfortunately, not just in game with Hargrave’s strength.

“I suppose I’ll go to class ahead of you, Leader Hargrave.”

“I would rather ignore him, but when you call me that, it feels like I can’t.”

Hanabi runs to school, waving to Ryuuji and Steve as she passes them, though only the former notices. Seiji takes it slow, choosing to walk instead, not ready to deal with this drama.

“I guess he heard the news?”

“Yeah, he’s pathetic.” Ryuuji says, looking down on his friend.

Having heard their remarks, Steve jumps up and begins to cry out at both of them.

“If you ask me, this situation is dumb! How do you think it is to not see someone for almost a decade, and then be torn apart almost instantly?!”

“Calm down, you spent a good month together until now. Besides, you’re the one who suggested we make a team without them.” Ryuuji points out.

Steve responds with a growl. Seiji can’t deny not having lunch with Hana bothers him, but he understands their reasoning. She’s a Starfight expert, knowing even more than Seiji about some things. There’s no doubt they want to keep their strategies a secret. However, Steve continues to complain.

“This is all my sister’s fault! She always has to ruin my fun.”

Ryuuji watches as the situation unfolds and comes to a realization; this has nothing to do with him. For once, he’s not the center of attention and gets to watch from the sidelines. This is awesome! he thinks. Ryuuji makes a suggestion while smiling from ear to ear.

“Why don’t we meet to discuss strategies too? Maybe after school instead.”

“Dammit Ryuuji you’re enjoying this aren’t you?” Seiji asks.

“What was that?!” Steve shouts.

“Hmmm, yeah I am. It’s refreshing to not have anything to do with the problem for once.”

The two abandoned boyfriends give Ryuuji a fierce glare, but it has no effect on him.

“Let’s hang out at Seiji’s when I don’t have work.” Ryuuji suggests.

“W-why my place?” Seiji asks.

“Har- I mean Seiji’s home? To get to see the desk and computer Hargrave uses…it must be amazing!” Steve shouts with excitement, eyes sparkling at the thought.

“I can just tell you what computer I use!”

“No, it’s not the same. Seeing is believing.”

Noticing him starting to panic, Ryuuji leans in and whispers to Seiji, “Didn’t you want to get over this problem?”

Now he’s conflicted. Ryuuji has a point, but does it really have to be like this? After letting out a grumble, Seiji folds.

“Fine, we can meet at my place, but we’re not there to fool around! Also, bring a laptop.”

Steve and Ryuuji salute Seiji and simultaneously say, “Yessir!”

Since Ryuuji doesn’t have a laptop, Steve will ask his dad if he can borrow some from the company. They’re primarily used for research, but also to test some aspects of the game so it’ll be perfect.

With Steve in his own little world, Ryuuji pats Seiji on the back to reassure him this will all work out. Unhappy with these results, he scoffs and walks away.

********************

Starfight Tips;;

The legendary player QueenofSnow is a mage played by a female who resides in the United States. She is consistently the first to reach max level when a new expansion is released. She usually plays with a small group of friends, but will join other parties ‘when she gets bored’, as she would say. With a boisterous personality, she is the least shy about her ‘legendary’ status and tends to brag about it whenever possible. Despite that, her popularity continues to grow, never dwindling. [True name: Sarah McMullin]

Starfight has a translation option that will translate other languages into text of the user’s own language. The company constantly improves this feature to make it as accurate as possible and has mostly been successful.