Chapter 161: For Whom We do Our Best (For a Fee) Part 2

Pencilgton says so and then laughs. That gesture might have looked marvelous if it was her real appearance, but right now she was her last avatar from Galaxia Heroes, a female character wearing a trench coat and a huge TV display instead of her head. It look weird, to say the least.

Incidentally, her facial expression was a pixelated human head, switching in between various emotions. But how does it know when to switch to what emotion? Some sort of sensors? Or maybe a program?

When Natsume-san heard the word “cosplay” she cocked her head as if asking what was that about, and Pencilgton continued to speak, poison dripping out of her tongue almost all the time.

「Good? You see, the purpose of the Exhibition Match is to show the public what’s the game is like and what is its strong points. So it’s not important to win or lose, but to be as much entertaining as it can possibly get for all the audience out there in the stands or over the Internet.]

「That is why this thing is not really a battle, but more like an entertainment. It is something on a completely different level.]

Natsume-san leans forward, as if being drawn in by Pencilgton’s poisonous words. That was the end for her. She took the bait. And once Pencilgton gets her hand on someone, they are going to be her puppet for as long as she wants them to be.

「So, how can we possibly fulfill both our own ambitions and the overall purpose of the Exhibition Match?]

Well, this time around we’re going to have our work cut out for us.

「It won’t actually be playing games for that time. It will be more like a high-end TV Drama all that time…… If not something even bigger.]

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「Now, then……]

There is a whole lot of work that needs to be done, and something tells me that none of the task before us would be easy.

If the battle against Wezaemon was a fight that overwhelmed a single blade called “Sanraku”, this battle was going to over-exhaust multitude of blades this time around.

Even one person is enough to make the gears of fate start turning, and if you add someone like Pencilgton to the equation, it suddenly turns out that a party of three of ours might as well be able to defy the virtual gods, kick the fabric of reason to the curb and go beyond what’s considered impossible.

Honestly, it would be better for us to find a way to win. Sure, our opponents are American that are consider to be the best in the entire world, but it’s not like we didn’t beat the impossible odds before. Like the battle against Night Prowler, for example.

However, surely in the eyes of others like Natsume-san the path we have chosen for ourselves is an unnecessarily thorny one. Surely in their eyes we are nothing more but a trio of idiots.

「Hm?」

I know it is Katsu we’re talking about here, but let’s send him an e-mail.

「Why is that? Well……」

Why would they even do that?

The answer was send back to him in form of two rather short emails.

Subject: Re: Why?

From: Sanraku

To: Modorokatsu

Body: Weren’t you going to take this event seriously? That’s the sole reason you wanted us in on the action? So you’d better not think of backing away now.

If everything goes well, you’re treating us all to yakiniku.

Subject: Re: Why?

From: Pencil Warrior

To: Modorokatsu

Body: It’s important for you to face off against Sylvia, right? That is also the reason why Onee-san decided to take a break from her busy schedule and come here in the first place.

And guess what, we are going to actually wear cosplay!

If all goes well, you’re gonna treat us all to sushi.

「…… Even though I already paid for all their accommodations and fees, huh?」

All this time Kei felt a whole variety of emotions: fear, sadness, anxiety and loneliness. But somehow, the words of his friends trying to squeeze even more money out of him…… he felt really grateful for that. He then threw his mobile terminal back on the bed.

When it comes to personal motivation, the RwH 6 tournament was pretty low on the ladder, but if his friends were encouraging him to do his best, what other choice he had but to actually go there and do his best?

「It’s alright, I don’t have a clue what a Cream Puff Cult exercise is, but it means that I have to wrap this thing up quickly and go back to work!」

Now knowing what he needed to do, Kei decided to boot up the device in his room and sink into the depths of Virtual Reality.