Speed Demon

Yusei waved his hand forward. From the black void, another holographic screen appeared, this time showing a list of various songs from all times. Scrolling a brief moment, his finger finally stopped at one song near the bottom of the list.

“I choose… this one.”

A light surprise showed on the girls’ face.

“I expect no less from you,” nodded Hanabi. “Speed Demon is perhaps the hardest map in Dash Dash Ramp.”

“Against you two, I have to go all-out,” Yusei let out a smile of confidence.

“But is it the right choice, perhaps? After all, your partner seemed like he’s never played this game before.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Hanabi?” As if waiting for that taunt, Yusei answered. “Lewis entered the NLS course through scholarship. Though he hasn’t played an actual game before, if there’s anything he doesn’t lack, it’s skill.”

“It looks like you’ve placed a lot of trust in his skills, Y…”

“Hanabi,” Yusei’s face tensed before the girl could finish her last words, whatever they were.

“President. Anyway, let’s hope that this boy deserves the trust you’ve saved for him.”

“Everything is proven on the field,” the young man answered. “Now, shall we begin?”

“Feel free to start any time you want.”

Not wasting another moment, Yusei waved his hand once more. This time, the screen that appeared was long and narrow – much narrower than the ones Lewis had seen before. On the screen was instead a few buttons on two ends of a slider bar, ranging from the lowest number, zero, to the highest one being a hundred.

Without any hesitation, Yusei flicked his finger through the screen and adjusted the bar to its highest value.

“As expected,” exclaimed both Mirai and Hanabi, who were giving out nods of praise. “You plan to get the highest score possible to win even on your own.”

“Highest score?” Lewis mumbled. With the information, he had a vague idea of what role the slider bar played. And soon enough, the black-haired girl standing near him had already given the answer:

“Dash Dash Ramp’s difficulty setting adjusts the speed which the platforms appear. Naturally, the higher the speed, the more platforms there will be, meaning the higher score you’ll get. But level 100 is notoriously hard, since the faster time the platforms appear, the faster they also disappear. And if you can’t land on the platform in time, you might even lose points compared to the lower levels. Easy enough to understand, right, newbie?” Turning to Lewis, she let out a smirk.

“I-I can figure that out myself,” feigning a cough to hide his embarrassment, Lewis directed his gaze towards Yusei. The fact the young man before him chose the hardest level brought Lewis both sadness and joy. Joy, because it meant that Yusei was taking a big gamble – that he was aiming for the biggest win possible, so that Lewis didn’t have to try as hard. Sadness, because it meant that Yusei didn’t actually trust Lewis’s skills like he said.

However, Lewis didn’t have time to be sad for long. Over at the designated area, Yusei had already started his performance.

“Speed Demon” was the hardest song in Dash Dash Ramp. Combined it with the level 100 modifier, it became famous for its almost impossible to follow beatmap that was hard enough to see with your eyes, let alone having to actually coordinate your body to jump to the respective platforms in time. For ones with the knowledge, seeing a player tackle the so-called hardest level would always be a joy – they either got to witness a legend in the making or get a good laugh at the foolish individual.

Lewis, ever since meeting Yusei, had already developed a strong trust towards him. Though he hadn’t seen any of the skills the Student Council President possessed, the fact that he was the first to come to help, and the fact that he got to the position where he was, were all the boy needed to know that his benefactor would match his expectations.

However, soon after the game sounded its starting signal, Lewis knew that he was wrong.

Yusei didn’t match his expectations. He went past it in the most astonishing way possible.

Since he was still only a freshman at Aoba, there were things that Lewis didn’t know about, one of them being his upperclassmen and their abilities. Yusei, though popular among the students because of his status as the Student Council President, was still mostly shrouded in mystery. And a single detail that the boy didn’t know was enough to send his jaw to the ground at the moment.

Yusei, like a violent, yet elegant storm, dashed through the platforms in a speed almost unimaginable to a human being. His movements were so fast, bursts of wind formed with each of his step, and yet there was little sound in each step he made. And with each passing step, the young man’s image only became blurrier, to the point of being completely unseen after just shy of half a minute – not even a fourth of the song.

Lewis was hopeless to any chance of keeping up with Yusei’s performance. In fact, the only reason he knew that the young man was still going was the insanely fast rate of platforms appearing, being lightly pressed by the weight of Yusei’s body, then disappearing without a trace. Though he couldn’t follow the events happening in front of him, it didn’t stop his eyes to be completely glued to the glittering stage. However, it also meant that he was missing the expressions of his opponents – both girls were wearing faces of complete trust and confidence, as if seeing such a feat was just a normal day for them.

In the end, Yusei finished his score with the highest possible – a record-breaking one million – 10000 platforms crossed, multiplied by the difficulty level.

“A… Amazing…” Lewis could only utter such words before the marvelous performance. Contrary to the boy, however, Yusei didn’t show any joy as he returned to his original spot. If anything, his stern look and squinting brows suggested a sense of worry.

“… What’s wrong, President?” Lewis could see the abnormal face once he got closer as well.

“I thought it’d be higher…” the red-haired young man lightly shook his head. “The record, I mean.”

“But… that’s plenty, right? There’s no way that anyone could beat your score, not even two people combined!”

Though Lewis’s words showed optimism, anyone could tell that the tone of his voice was shaken. And with Yusei slowly shaking his head, the boy’s confidence was soon destroyed:

“I wouldn’t say that.”

Lewis didn’t want to believe those words. However, his opponents made him believe them.

“Now, it’s our turn~”

After the cheerful announcement, Mirai started her performance.

Her level chosen was level 70 – a harder level compared to the average, but nowhere near the hardest in terms of difficulty. It was not fast like Yusei. It was not flashy like Yusei. However, the way she performed was more explosive than ever. In the most literal sense possible.

As soon as the first platform showed up, Mirai jumped. A jump so massive, if there was a ground underneath them, there would be a giant crater. A jump so strong, the resulting shockwave was like another giant storm. Unlike Yusei, however, the storm was not elegant. It was brutish, barbaric, and wild. But it was enough to blow away every single platform that appeared at the same time as the first one.

In the end, the black-haired girl only moved 5 times. Her score, however, was 666000 – just a few platforms shy from a perfect run.

Before Lewis could be surprised by the result, the other girl had also made her move.

If there was one word to describe Hanabi’s movement, it was “light”. Similar to Yusei, she moved quick as the wind. But unlike Yusei, there was only grace in her steps, and not a single ounce of power. The girl jumped from platform to platform like a ballerina twirling over the dance floor. By the time Lewis had realized the situation, Hanabi’s performance was already over – a 500000 even score on a level 50 stage. Meaning that Yusei’s advantage that brought them to a previously insurmountable lead had already crumbled to dust.

Just when Lewis was at his lowest, a firm hand patted on his back, and a soothing, but confident voice sounded:

“Did you really think I was trying to win on my own? I just wanted to give us the best advantage possible. Now go get ‘em, Lewis.”