C-Rank Ranked Match — The Moon's Guidance

I logged out in a rush and hurried straight to the living room.

Miss Tsukigami was sitting at the low table, prim and upright. Someone like her, looking so wildly out of place at our shabby little table… truly, a lone flower blooming in a wasteland!

“G-good evening…”

“Good evening.”

For now, I sat down across from her.

“Here you are.”

Azuha had brewed black tea in our finest teacup and set it in front of Miss Tsukigami. For me, though, it was barley tea in a hundred-yen-store cup.

“Well, I’ll be in my room, then.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Azuha.”

Azuha headed back to her room.

“That girl. She’s quite something.”

“Huh? You mean Azuha?”

“That’s right.”

A-amazing. She can tell just by looking. Isn’t that basically esper territory?

“That’s true… Her full-dive aptitude is sky-high. And as far as I know, she’s the best at games I’ve ever seen.”

Azuha’s reflexes in particular are unreal. In full-dive fighting games she was in a class all her own. She’s just about the only person who ever beat me clean, on even footing. When we were little I played against her more times than I can count, and in the end our record settled somewhere around fifty-fifty. In raw gaming talent, she’s my equal, maybe even better. But…

“She’s got zero interest in games, though, so there’s no way she’d ever pick up Infinity-Space.”

Yeah. Azuha has no drive at all when it comes to games. I don’t think she’s ever stuck with a single one for more than three days. She’s the sensible sort, the “if I’ve got time for games I’d rather be studying or working out” type.

Still, if Azuha ever did play Infinity-Space, I bet she’d make a fantastic rival.

“I see. What a shame…”

It was a shame, sure enough. But something about seeing Miss Tsukigami disappointed over it… I didn’t like it.

“I-it’s fine, really! I-I’ll be the one to take you down for sure, Miss Tsukigami!”

“Mm. I’m counting on you.”

Our eyes met.

Ugh… there’s something sweet in the air… I can’t take this! I need to change the subject!

“So, why are you here today?”

“To see you.”

“Y-yes.”

Well, obviously.

“That last Ranked Match. I watched it.”

“Wh-what?! Th-that’s… that’s such an embarrassing thing to have seen…”

“It wasn’t embarrassing. Your movements were exactly as special as I’d thought. But I still haven’t seen the depths of you. I haven’t been able to. At the next Ranked Match, I want you to show me.”

“I-I’ll give it everything I’ve got!”

Did she come here to cheer me on…?

“By the way, how did you get this address…?”

“It was in the student directory.”

The security at my high school! It’s way too leaky!

“Today I came to apologize for something I’d neglected.”

“You, apologizing? To me, Miss Tsukigami? Oh, I really don’t mind getting killed, so it’s totally fine!”

“It’s not about that. Before any of that — the reason you logged in up on the moon was my fault.”

“Huh…”

Miss Tsukigami lowered her gaze.

“Players with the talent to defeat me get drawn up onto the moon. Besides you, two others were carried up there the same way.”

“What?! No, wait — even if that’s true, who in the world would set something like that up…?”

“My father. My father developed Infinity-Space, so he can tinker with its settings as much as he likes.”

“Eh—EEEEEHHH?!”

Oh! Come to think of it! I remember hearing that Miss Tsukigami’s father is the president of a major game maker!

“Infinity-Space is a game my father made for me. For my sake — so that I would notice the ones with real talent — he built that setup into it. It’s a selfish thing…”

So Miss Tsukigami hadn’t been the one who asked for that setup in the first place. In that case, I didn’t really think she had anything to apologize for.

“Let me make it up to you.”

“No, no, it’s really okay! A-actually, losing everything back then… some good things came out of it too…”

The G-AGE mission surely only triggered because I’d put so many rounds through the M1911. Without that whole ordeal, I’d never have come across it.

“This next Ranked Match — your team is entered again. You’re taking part too, aren’t you?”

“Y-yes.”

“I’ll give you some advice.”

“Advice?! I’d absolutely love to hear it!”

Miss Tsukigami had to be the strongest player in all of Infinity-Space. Advice from her was worth its weight in gold.

“Infinity-Space has an effect that develops the human brain.”

“Huh…”

What is that, that’s terrifying.

“Not everyone’s brain evolves. Only a very small fraction — a limited few — can reach that domain. ‘Limitless possibility (Infinity Burst)’ — that’s what I call it.”

“I see.”

Is she joking? I don’t know how to react.

There was no way I could believe a person’s brain function evolved from a mere game.

“You have that talent. If, at the next Ranked Match, a moment comes when your heart leaps, I want you not to hold it back. Throw yourself into that pulse, that surge. Pay no mind to the eyes of others — just give yourself over to the pleasure. Do that, and a boundless sense of omnipotence will surely wrap itself around you.”

Her eyes were dead serious. That wasn’t the face of someone telling a joke.

“Understood…”

Even so, honestly… Miss Tsukigami’s eyes were beautiful. Truly like sapphires. So dazzling that I ended up looking away.

“I’ll be going, then.”

“R-right. Ah, but… the roads are dangerous at night. Um, what should we do…?”

“No need. I have a car parked out front.”

Ah, maybe her family had come for her.

“I’ll see you to the door!”

“Thank you.”

I walked Miss Tsukigami to the entryway.

“Thank you so much for today.”

“Not at all. I’m sorry for barging in so suddenly.”

“…”

“…”

The words fell away between us. And yet… I still didn’t want to part. Somehow, I didn’t want this to be over yet.

Right. With school out for the summer, if we didn’t promise anything, the next time we met would be after the break ended. Nearly a month away. So…

“Um, uh… th-the thing is—!”

“Let’s exchange contact info.”

“—?! Y-yes!!”

We pulled out our phones and added each other as friends.

“If you manage to win the Ranked Match—”

Miss Tsukigami slipped her phone away and looked me straight in the eye.

“If I do…?”

“Let’s go to the summer festival together. To celebrate.”

A cold tone. A mechanical voice. And yet a faint pink had risen to her cheeks.

“Absolutely! I’ll win!!”

Miss Tsukigami gave a small nod and left.

I stepped out into the hall and looked at the street outside.

“Whoa.”

Parked on the street out front sat a fancy black car, glossy from bumper to bumper, buffed to a gleaming, sparkling shine. And then an old man in a butler’s uniform climbed out of the driver’s seat, opened the rear door, and courteously ushered Miss Tsukigami inside.

A-a real rich person… I’ve only ever seen that kind of thing in manga.

We live in different worlds…

Even in this world, she was up above the moon.

The way things stand now, I’m nowhere near able to reach that place. But someday… someday, I’m certain of it, I want to fill that lonely hole inside her.