Chapter 55: Momentary Thoughts Part 3 Part 1

「Nnn…… Recently I feel like I’ve been doing nothing but ShanFro related stuff……」

I murmur that to myself while jogging around the neighborhood while wearing a fashionable long sleeved jersey. I was struggling with keeping my breath in check.

Since Full Dive games required the players to be in top physical condition and could be quite a strain on the body, it was important to keep exercising regularly in real life as well. After all, poor physical condition could influence your in-game performance.

That’s why even when I am going shopping, I would run there instead of walking and I would purposefully choose a location that was farther away from my house than usual. …… Honestly, I was starting to regret that just a little bit.

「Ahh……」

The sunlight was mercilessly shining down on me, generating heat that was even making the asphalt under my feet feel less solid than usual. What a motivator to go outside during the summer, let me tell you.

When I finally arrived at the convenience store I felt as though the beads of sweat that were dripping down my forehead were actually drops of blood from the received damage.

「Haa…… Haa…… Haa……」

Times like these, you really learn to appreciate air conditioning. It was humanity’s strongest weapon against the cruelty of nature. As I walk through the convenience store, I wipe the sweat off my brows with the sleeve of my jersey. For now, I was running low on energy drinks, and since the next two weeks are going to present a rather harsh schedule for me, I want to have at least a dozen or two in close proximity.

「Hm?」

Suddenly, I feel like I saw someone who wasn’t supposed to be here out of the corner of my eye. It was around the magazine rack, where I spotted a particular magazine that was on display.

There, on the cover, was a picture of a good-looking young man with a smile that seemed to be openly mocking everyone who dared to look at him.

「Weekly Full Diver Special Feature: The Exclusive Interview with a Professional Gamer Uomi Sakai!」 , huh?」

A professional gamer, just like Modorokatsu, huh? I felt like I wanted to give the interview a read, but something in the guy’s face on the cover was making me think twice about that for some reason.

But there was another thing on the cover of the magazine that drew my attention. It was the article about one of the things we spoke about while eating sweets and drinking tea, something that was about to happen in two weeks time.

「ShangriLa Frontier Summer Update…… Huh, this is what Pencilgton was talking about……」

That’s right, it was an article regarding the godly game that I was playing right now. Not that I was a big fan of magazines like that…… Now that I think about it, why wasn’t there something like “Weekly Sh*tty Gamer” or something like that……?

「Hmm, let’s see…… I see. New area “Vast Ocean”, “Pioneering Fleet”, new continent that was never seen before, new profession called “Rider”…… that’s actually quite a lot.」

In the article there were many in-game shots of wild nature untouched by human hands, some shadowy figures with the ancient ruins in the background and all the other things you would often see in the promotional materials for new games or additional content. It was all to boost the hype before the new patch hits the servers.

I had my hands full for the summer right now, but I know that this patch is going to attract a whole new batch of players who will want to try it out. What a shame that sh*tty games can’t get advertisements like that. Is there anything else in this article?

「What the…… Hoo…… Fumu, fumu……」

Ooupsie, just like that I happened to have read the whole article. There was still much that I needed to do, so I had to get back home soon. I put two twelve packs of energy drinks into my cart and headed to the register with it. But wait, do I want to buy some sweets as well?

「Here you go.」

「That will be 8930 yen total.」

I give the single ten thousand yen bill to the cashier and then receive a heavy plastic bag and my change. Nowadays card payments were becoming more and more common, but I still thought that the paper money was the way to go. Nothing could beat the feeling of a ten thousand yen bill held in your hand.

「Now then, time to go back……」

「Ah, umm! You’re Hizutome-kun…… right!?」

「Hm?」

Thinking that there aren’t that many people by the name Hizutome on this street at the moment, this voice must have addressed me. Looking back towards the convenience store, I could see a young girl in a plain white dress through the waving summer heat. That hairstyle, what was it called again……? Bubbly? Nah, it was something different.

No, no, that’s not important right now. I cannot be too sure, but I do believe that I have seen this girl somewhere…… Ah, were we in the same class……? Umm…… Not good, got to remember her name quickly……

「Umm………… Saiga… -san?」

「Y, yes! My name is Saiga! Saiga Rei! F, fancy meeting you here!」

「Umm, y, yeah.」

Says Saiga-san while being bright red on the face and shaking her hands frantically. Somehow, she reminded me of Emul just a little bit…… Ahh, now I’m starting to remember. Saiga Rei, a girl from my school with whom I was in the same class last year and this year as well. From what I remember, a whole lot of people were always lamenting “Why couldn’t I end up in the same class as Saiga-san!?”.

During that time the sh*tty games were all that I could ever think off every day, but I remember that little tidbit perfectly well.

「T, that’s right! It’s awfully hot today, isn’t it!?」

「I, it sure is! And it’s only July! I heard that August is going to be a lot worse!」

If that’s true, then I don’t want to go outside at all! Can’t you buy energy drinks via the Internet? …… No, no, no, what about hygiene standards? But it’s so hot……

「Umm, umm…… This bag looks so heavy! What did you buy, if it’s not a secret, of course!」

「Eh? Ah, this? Energy drinks. There is this new game that I bought and I am going to play it for another two weeks, so I thought I might as well prepare myself for that……」

「B!」

B……?

「By any chance, that game wouldn’t happen to be ShangriLa Frontier!?」

I could understand why she said that. Today, ShanFro was hitting the peak of its popularity, so it wasn’t that surprising for a non-gamer to associate game = ShanFro. Her eyes were shining when she asked me that.

「Oh, umm, yeah, that’s right. It is ShanFro.」

「U, um……!」

Saiga-san suddenly freezes up. Seeing her like that, I unconsciously took a step back, just to be on the safe side. If this was inside of the game, I would have assumed that she lagged a little bit.

「M, me shoo! ShanBro…… brey…… ash well……!」

「He?」