Cafeore goes in, using his projectile for cover.
Gekido techs the throw. His defense is on point!
You piss me off, Gekido.
Gekido!
He cancels a crouching medium kick, pressing home his advantage!
I know that combo.
Hakkei into Tenku Kick only works if the opponent is crouching for the first hit,
meaning he chose the perfect combo route after hit confirming.
That situational awareness and rushdown relying on the crouching MK...
are key to Cafeore's signature "all-in" playstyle!
Meanwhile, Emperor Gekido is playing a defensive neutral game for now.
How will the match develop from here?
Aya-san.
Teya-senpai.
How has your day gone?
I made it out of my first pool as a winner.
If I can win my next pool, I'll be through to tomorrow.
What about you?
I got matched against this scary-looking guy,
but he was nervous, too, and I scraped a win.
By some miracle, I managed to advance as a winner, too.
There's nothing miraculous about it.
You spent forever in the lab and took SF6 seriously.
I've seen all the effort you put in.
Uh, you getting embarrassed is making this awkward.
Oh, um, I mean...
Thank you, Aya-san.
Oh, I know.
Don't you think we should go eat lunch while we have time?
Well, I guess so, but I wanna watch at least this match first.
It's certainly attracting a lot of attention.
Those players are well-known pros, aren't they?
The thing is, I checked the brackets, and it looks like...
My next match is against whoever wins this.
He sticks the landing!
Cafeore takes the first game!
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By the way, Aya-san, did you check Discord?
My phone's not getting any signal. Maybe there's just too many people here.
Did I miss something?
Mio-san ended up in the losers bracket after her first match.
It's just like the first time I played against her.
She has wild ups and downs.
This girl just won't die.
She's down to the magic pixel and trapped in the corner,
but she's freakishly determined to stick it out.
Who is this gaming rich girl?
Whoa. For real?
She walked in with a throw then?
She's just plain good.
Players whose matches have finished, please come here to report.
Good game.
G-Good game.
Man, I got you down to one pixel of health in the corner.
I can't believe you hung in there.
And that last throw.
Who just walks in like that when one light punch will kill them?
If there's a reason you thought that would work, I'd love to hear it.
Well, when I'm playing someone...
I focus, then all of a sudden, I instinctively feel like, "Oh, I can land a throw now."
This will hit.
He was down to the magic pixel and trapped in the corner,
but Gekido stuck it out with freakish determination.
He's just too good at staying alive.
The game count is now 1-1!
Gekido.
Since that day...
I've never stopped being pissed at you.
Move it, old-timer.
That's my spot you're sitting in.
Oh, yeah?
Well, then...
Why don't you make me move, kid?
Who the hell...
is this guy?
Cafeore finishes with a Spinning Bird Kick.
That combo can also go into an SA, but Cafeore chose to save his meter.
If either player gets caught out now,
this match is over!
H-Here we go! That's Gekido's...
killer "gamer smile"!
He's known for it overseas, and it proves he means business!
What the...
Gekido started poking with crouching MK.
It's like he wants to meet Cafeore on his home turf.
You tryin' to tempt me?
Bring it the hell on!
And they're both in burnout!
I don't believe it!
Any hit means a super! Any touch still means chip damage!
Every one of these kicks flying back and forth spells certain death!
He got in my head.
What a waste of time.
Boring-ass losers.
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Nothing's worth my effort.
Ryoya!
Is it true you crushed it at another SF5 tournament?
You kick ass at running and gaming, man.
I bet you could even go pro.
That day, you made me think...
that maybe these things...
these fighting games were deep enough to be worth going all in on.
They're both timing their crouching medium kicks to whiff punish,
and still closing in, pixel by pixel.
It's almost like...
...they're playing chicken.
That's why you piss me off, Gekido!
They both just stepped on the gas!
They're racing into death's domain!
What's wrong? Is that all you've got...
Gekido?
Hey, Cafe. Think we can go all the way, you and me?
All the way to the other side of that screen?
I'm coming for you.
A forward...
...walk!
You really think I'll fall for that...
a second time?!
He whiffed his Super Art.
He blew the hit confirm?
No. He didn't make a mistake.
He was led into it.
He played me.
A Critical Art punish!
This hotly anticipated match between teammates goes to Gekido!
Blue Lightning
White Lily
To pool 93
Cafeore
To pool 93
Okay!
To us all making it out of our first pools...
Cheers!
I was honestly nervous about entering at first.
I kept thinking, "Am I good enough?" and
"What if people don't want me there?"
I mean, it's open-bracket. Beginners and people entering just 'cause are welcome.
Still, taming the nerves is tough.
My jumping medium kicks keep coming out early today.
Oh, same. Today, of all days, I keep making mistakes with my dash inputs.
It happens to everybody.
What sort of mistakes have you made?
Well...
I mean, I don't really get stressed.
You don't?
Is that even possible?
Are you human?
I've been that way since SF4.
Well, I stopped stressing out when I got to my second match.
Maybe we're both just good with stress.
You still ugly-cried when you lost your first match.
Why would you tell everyone that? What's wrong with you?
You'll ruin my image as the cool one.
"The cool one." Sure.
Ugh, it's them again.
Their know-it-all attitudes bugged me so much, I basically picked a fight.
This is so awkward.
I'll just eat quickly and go.
Ow.
I'm telling the teacher on you, uggo.
My mom's the head of the PTA.
You're cooked!
Here.
You're cute, Arisa, so they pull that crap to get your attention.
Pretty cringe, right?
Uggo.
A-Arisa?
You're cuter, Miyu-chan.
I love you, Miyu-chan.
Thanks.
Isn't that the bratty little girl from earlier?
You're right. I wonder where her parents are.
Maybe she's here on her own.
Why don't we invite her to join us?
I don't know. Some people like to eat on their lonesome.
And did you forget she's our enemy?
But she seems fun, so I'll ask her.
Whoa.
I don't need your sympathy.
That woman is right.
Being at this tournament makes us enemies.
We have no reason to act friendly.
If you keep mouthing off like that,
you'll lose friends.
I hate you.
I hate you, Arisa.
I never want to see you again.
Mio!
Mawashi-uke. Magnificently executed.
Yu-san?
She can move!
Misfortune
I thought I saw something small making a scene.
Lesser Devil, is that you?
The Bloody Macaron!
High School Dorm Monitor
Vice chair
Hana Ichinose
The vice chair of the dorm monitors?
Sis?
"Bloody Macaron"?
"Lesser Devil"?
I've never seen people use nicknames like that outside of '90s light novels.
I bet it'd still fly in LNs now.
Why are you an expert on '90s LNs, anyway?
When I was little, my aunt gave me an "advanced education" with her secret stash
of series she got hooked on in middle and high—
Who gives a crap about light novels?!
Sheesh.
Macaron. You stopped me from awakening my Satsui no Hado.
I appreciate it. For now.
Brawling belongs on the screen, remember?
Mio.
You're bleeding.
No. Now that I stop to think about it,
I won't get or need to brawl with her on the screen, either.
I'll keep winning and advancing.
This happy little friend group will die and drop out like the scrubs they are.
That's the reality.
You're just going to walk away?
I don't know what you have against gaming with friends,
but it doesn't give you the right to attack people out of nowhere.
Aya-san.
I don't mind.
You don't?
Wait. Why not?
Crossing fists with her has me looking forward
to seeing how this little brat will fight in the tournament.
No matter which pools we're in,
we'll run into each other if we keep winning long enough.
I'm challenging you, Little Miss Bratty.
I'll traumatize you.
I'll make you retire, unable to ever touch a stick again.
Old hag.
Okay. Same to you.
She and I are both regulars at a gaming café in Fukuoka.
We both go by girly player names, Macaron and Alice,
and partly due to our playstyles, we got saddled with edgy nicknames.
What kind of playstyle makes people call you "bloody" and "devil"?
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{\fad(700,0)\fnGeorgia\b1\bord3\shad0\fscy120\blur0.3\fs20\fscx95\fax-0.16\c&H091519&\3c&H6AABD3&\frz21.72\frx22\fry348\pos(534,115.5)}Bloody Macaron
Hana-senpai.
Oh? Aren't you a dorm monitor? Inui?
That's me.
Sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you.
I thought you were an obnoxious YouTuber wearing yakisoba as a hat for attention,
so I avoided eye contact and didn't recognize you.
Surprise. It was me, Inui.
I thought you looked familiar.
You're that scholarship student.
And the newcomer with the pretty face.
This is the last place I expected to run into young ladies from Kuromi.
And...
Tamaki.
Keeping your friends company today?
Those two are sisters, aren't they?
I think so.
She did call her "Sis," and their last names are "Ichinose."
No, I'm not. I entered as well.
You mean you still play fighting games?
Y-Yes.
Why?
Tell me. Why?
B-Because I...
I... I...
You...
She wants to get closer.
Any way she can.
To you, Hana-senpai.
That was nightmare fuel.
Yu-san, I never told you my sister plays, too.
Yup. It's news to me.
But...
There's someone I want to catch up to.
I play fighting games because I want to catch that person's eye.
It just kind of hit me
that the person you want to catch up to is probably Hana-senpai.
Was I right?
It'd be ultra-embarrassing if I wasn't.
That's right.
I mean...
I don't get it.
Alarm
Snooze
Sorry. I'm going back for my next match.
I've gotta get back soon, too.
Same here.
Before you go...
I think we'd better clean off your head.
With the vibes between Teya-senpai and her sister,
and whatever's going on between Mio and that brat...
There's a lot going on. But I'd better focus on myself for now.
After all, my next opponent is...
She's not the type of person I'm used to seeing at events like this.
Maybe she entered for the fun of it?
m 0 0 l 100 0 100 100 0 100
A woman?! Oh my It's a woman We've got a girl Huh? A woman? Gekido's opponent is female? She looks about high school age Woman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A girl?! You mean... a high school girl who plays fighting games?! Times sure have changed So, women exist in this word line Woman spotted! Hya-ha! The gender that makes chat go crazy Women gamers are totally normal nowadays Nice, a high-school girl Gekido's gonna lose High School Girl! Wins! gg! Women gamers are normal, but high school girl competitors are rare She entered for fun and gets to play gekido? Jealous Good on her just for competing She could be better than she looks Can a woman do a Dragon Punch? Bet she came with her boyfriend Woman ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Lot of brigands in chat all of a sudden Cecil, move so we can see her face better! Let her win a game, okay? Chat went full brigand so hard, its creeping me out
Translation: William Varteresian Timing: Edgar Cruz Editing: SMR Quality Check: Geoff Mazzolini Translation Check: David Saylor
Fight me!
NNNGH...
Illustration: Otsuka Chon