CH ss - 31

SS 31: The Couple Approaching the Epilogue

Translated by: chocolalaProofread by: Seiryuu

“Well, Yamato-kun! Today we’re going to choose a new game to play!” In the literary club room as usual, Yuzu proposed with great enthusiasm.

I nodded deeply at her words as I sat in my chair without preparing the game console. “I agree.”

After all, the RPG we had been playing for a long time was cleared the other day. So we needed to find a new game anyway.

“Fortunately, we have a lot of games left behind by the alumni here. There are only a few retro games here, which is a shame, but masterpieces are timeless.”

She spread out the games that had been secretly hidden behind the shelves so that the teacher would not find them on the desk.

“Let’s see, out of all these RPGs… Hmm,” I pondered.

As I started to sort through the games, Yuzu said something unexpected, “Wait, Yamato-kun. This is a good time to try other genres of games as well.”

“Other than RPG? Well, if you wanna play it, I don’t mind, but which one?”

Although I personally had no interest in them, since I had been letting Yuzu go along with my favourite RPGs, it would be good for me to accommodate Yuzu this time.

“Hmmm… Firstly, how about musical games?” Yuzu grabbed onto a game where you had to press buttons to match the music.

“Musical games…? I haven’t played them much.”

“Then the more reason to give it a go!”

So I launched the game, both anxious and expectant of the unknown.

And when we got to the title screen, Yuzu suddenly opened her mouth as if she had an idea, “Oh yes, since we’re playing a competitive game, let’s have a penalty for the loser!”

“You always come up with things at the last minute…” I frowned at her sudden thought, but Yuzu only happily grinned at me.

“Isn’t it a good idea? We’re both beginners, so we’re on even terms.”

“Hm, alright…”

A little bit of penalty would also serve as spice for the game. With a slightly heightened sense of apprehension, I glanced at the game screen.

“Anyway, the one who loses has to eat wasabi-filled s’mores, okay!”

“I won’t lose, ever!”

This was no longer a little ‘spice’, she brought in the REAL spice!

As the music started to play on the TV, Yuzu took out a pack of biscuits and a tube of wasabi from her bag; they looked very intimidating. I concentrated on the screen, ignoring it as much as possible, and then the screen was divided into two parts for the game and there were instructions on which buttons to press.

It was a genre I didn’t play often, but I knew how to play. I pressed the buttons as instructed, keeping my body in rhythm.

“Urgh… No! I missed it.” But then again, I could not control it perfectly, and I missed the timing on some of the instructions.

“Ow, Ha! It’s expected but I truly have an excellent sense of rhythm!” On the other hand, Yuzu seemed to have a much more consistent record than I did.

At this rate, the wasabi-filled s’mores would end up my way; I had to avoid that at all cost!

“Yuzu, you are good at playing musical games,” I began to talk to Yuzu to the extent that it did not interfere with my own playing.

“Right? Fufufu, Yamato-kun, be ready for the penalty!”

“Aa, you can play games, and now looking at you like this, you look lovely when seen from the side.”

“Wh-what are you saying, so suddenly!” Yuzu’s voice sounded a little alarmed, as if she had noticed that my banter was taking a strange turn.

“No, no, no, I’m just being honest. Yes, I’m going to lose anyway, so can I just look at your pretty face until the song is over?”

“Wai…N-no, of course not! Just what nonsense are you spouting now?!” Yuzu was getting antsy upon listening to my cringy lines.

Then… Her control on the game was hampered!

“Ah, whoa, I missed that! Huh, AHHH!” Once the rhythm was broken, a shaken Yuzu could not recover her original momentum.

In the meantime, I continued to play steadily, and by the time the song finished, I had turned the score around.

“I won! It’s my win, Yuzu!”

“You’re cheating! Is that even valid?!” Naturally, Yuzu, the loser, protested to me.

Unfortunately for her, I had a way of passing it off. “HAHAHA, of course, it is. Anyway, remember when we played the game where we measure our pulses? Didn’t you do something similar back then?”

I pointed a finger at her to take my stand and Yuzu staggered as if she had been shot by a bullet.

“Uhh…?! N-now you mention that, maybe, there was something like that…”

“You can’t apply double standards here, okay! Yuzu, if that was valid back then, then today is valid too. Now, eat my handmade wasabi-filled s’mores!”

When I tried to make s’mores using a tube of wasabi and biscuits that Yuzu had prepared, she stopped me, “Wait, wait, wait! Why don’t we do all the penalties at once at the end? Well, I still want to see the other games! If I eat it now, it’ll affect the next game!”

“Really? Well, if you say you want to extend the execution, I’ll at least listen to you. But I’m definitely going to get it done,” I warned her in advance not to try escaping by making excuses of delaying it or whatsoever.

“You’re so strict with the peculiar things… What more can I expect from a guy who has abandoned all communication skills and refused to read the air. O-okay, but in return, if Yamato-kun loses in the next round, you gotta eat it too!”

“Hahaha. Bring it on! I’ll win again and prepare your next serving of s’mores!” I confidently took on her challenge as she intended to drag me along the mud.

“And the next game… is this!” Yuzu chose a fighting game for our next match. Moreover, it was not any normal fighting game, but a game where four players brawl and smash each other, like ‘Smash Brothers’1

“Owh, that brings back memories.”

“For this one, I can be a bit confident about winning! There was this game at my friend’s and we always play it when everyone is together!”

So she selected the game she had experience in to make sure she could win.

“So childish…”

“I don’t wanna be told that by Yamato-kun who won with sly tricks!” Yuzu gave a perfectly legitimate response.

“There’s no helping it, then. I’ll accept this match.” With the guilt of the earlier game, I decided to accept Yuzu’s challenge.

“You’re on it, right?! Now that you’re in the ring with me, I’ll smash your pride to pieces!” Perhaps because she was so eager for revenge, Yuzu starts up the game with great enthusiasm.

The game was originally a four-player game, but there was also a two-player mode, so we chose that. Yuzu played as an electric mouse monster. I was a pink, round, gluttonous character.

At the signal to start the game, the two of us started to battle. Yuzu’s movements were nimble, as if she was an experienced player.

“Yamato-kun, let’s start! I won’t ever go easy on you!”

“Aye!”

The electric rats launched a series of onslaughts. I kept my guard up and started to counterattack when I saw an opening.

“E-eh?” The unexpected attack made her panic. In the meantime, I continued to attack without hesitation. “He…y, this movement, don’t tell me, Yamato-kun, you’re an experienced player?!”

I grinned in response to her trembling voice and mocked her, “You’ve only just realised?You’re the one who got carried away, Yuzu! I’m going to make you have another wasabi-filled s’mores!”

“What the….!”

Yuzu tried counter attacking with a ghastly expression on her face, but it was clear that I had more experience in this game than her, and the gap between us was widening.

“At this rate…there’s no other choice!” Yuzu muttered to herself as if she was resigned and then she said, “Oh, dear, I’m heating up from all this excitement playing this game! I’m going to unbutton two buttons on my blouse now, but don’t look at me, Yamato-kun! If you turn your head now, you’ll see my bra!”

“Wh-what?!”

This was properly her way of getting back at me for earlier, Yuzu adopted an unexpected psychological tactic.

“Well, the other day, Yamato-kun mentioned that he would never be seduced by my sexual charms, so I guess this is okay?”

“Y-yeah, true!” It was indeed true but perhaps the reason I kept being bothered by the thing happening next to me was due to a man’s nature?

“It’s only for a little while, so don’t worry! I’ll button it up as soon as the game is over!”

Plus, she even threw in a time limit..! I wouldn’t buy into it. I totally had no intention of looking that way, but damn, was I curious!

Thanks to that, my character’s movement was getting dull.

“Here’s my chance!”

“Whoops!”

As soon as my agitation was transmitted to my character, Yuzu launched a counterattack. She unleashed a brilliant series of blows, dealing irreparable damage to my character.

“It’s the killing blow!” Along with Yuzu’s exclamation, my character was blown away to the far distance.

I was startled at how stupidly I lost, I could only exclaim in trepidation, “Oh nooooooo!”

In the meantime, the screen darkened for a moment to switch from the battle screen to the result display screen. However, what was reflected on the TV screen was a fully buttoned up Yuzu, not even one of them loose.

There was no way she could have buttoned it up in the small amount of time then, so that would mean…

“You play dirty! You didn’t even unbutton any from the beginning, did you?!”

“Yeah, right! But Yamato-kun has no right to question me about that!”

Both of us played foul to the fullest. In the end, it all came to nothing…

The two of us exchanged glares for a while, and then both let out a deep sigh.

“Should I say… when the penalty is too harsh, it makes us unable to concentrate on the game properly, don’t you think so?”

I nodded at Yuzu’s words. “Yeah, how about we just eat the wasabi-filled s’mores here and we can reset to zero?”

“I agree. Let’s just finish the penalty game and make peace.”

Both of us prepared our respective s’mores and faced each other.

“Now, how about eating like a couple, Yamato-kun?”

“Aright. Let’s do it, Yuzu.”

Then, both of us chucked the wasabi-filled s’more into each other’s mouth.

At once, a traumatic pungent taste passed through our nostrils and into our eyes, and we both squirmed.

“~~~~~~!” Yuzu held her mouth with her palm.

“”#$%&!” I banged on the desk as I tried to endure the pain.

After a few brief moments of misery, we managed to swallow and were back on our feet.

“Oh no… Nothing good comes out from competing like this. It’s best when we just work together and play RPG in peace.” I was reaffirmed of this fact and Yuzu also nodded in agreement.

“That’s true. RPG is just right for both of us. It’s better to do away with this type of battling game, let’s find a new RPG to play!”

This was the moment when we were in consensus.

“Yup. Then let’s choose something nice.”

As we were selecting among the titles left by the alumni, Yuzu tugged the hem of my shirt and suggested, “Say, it’s a rare chance, what do you think of going to a shop and we can both choose a new game from there?”

“Shop? Why? There’s nothing that catches your interest among this pile?” I asked, but Yuzu shook her head.

“Not that. It’s just I’ve never selected any games to play by myself. If I have to, I guess it’s better to do it together with you.” For some reason, Yuzu seemed to be very happy.

Listening to that kind of get me reeled in as I started to imagine both of us choosing games at a shop and I strangely got excited too.

“Well, that’s not bad…”

“You really got me, Yamato-kun!”

Once that was decided, it was time to get on with it. We quickly packed up all the games we had taken out and hid them in the back of the shelves.

“Wow, this kinda makes my heart race. Isn’t this our first collaborative work?2”

Yuzu said some stupid nonsense, so I chuckled wrily. “You idiot. Our first collaborative work is that, you know: ‘Duping our classmates by pretending to be lovers’. Did you forget?”

“Ahaha, indeed, it is! This is our second collaborative work, then!”

After that, Yuzu naturally grabbed my hand. I also didn’t resist and grabbed her hand in return.

“Then, towards our second collaborative work, LET’S GO!”

“Aye!”

We then left the literature club room and went to buy a new game.

Our epilogue would be further on, no doubt.

chocolala: I wanna say ‘Finally, the SS ends!’ but the author decided to even add extras for SS, lol And they’re even long chapters, no joke. And probably the author was so free he even continued to do more SS ch…

Footnotes

If you’re clueless what this famous game is, wiki itThis kinda doesn’t make sense in English, but the term is used like when a couple first tied the knot, then they do something together, usually at wedding, when they first cut the cake together or sth. lol