The paranormal club finds themselves inside the clubroom of the Video Games Club. The walls are ordained with various posters, and there’s a sizable shelf of games from several console generations. Front and center is a large television with a console already hooked up with the latest fighting game.

Alice takes her place on the couch that sits in front of the television and retrieves her arcade stick from underneath it. She cracks her hands as Akina takes a seat next to her, choosing to simply take a normal pad. The rest of the two clubs take various seats around the two, with Yuudai quickly taking a seat between two of his clubmates. His face holds a look of both fear and despair.

“Ready to take me on in the glorious arena of fighting games?” She looks at Akina.

Akina shrugs, takes the controller, and sits down. “Yes.”

Y2K yells “Good luck!” as they start the game up, the opening music hyping everyone up for the battle to come.

“I’ll make sure to go easy on you, since this is best 3 out of 5. There’s plenty of time to play with you,” Alice says with more than a hint of confidence in her voice as she instantly moves her selection square to her favorite character. Akina scoffs, but remains silent otherwise, focusing on picking her own character.

“Ready or not, the flame will be extinguished! Round one, fight!” blares out of the TV signalling the beginning of the fight, and no sooner do they gain control of their characters than Alice launches into a opening combo. Akina, figuring her opponent would be foolishly aggressive, jumped back which caused her opponent to miss in a fashion leaving her wide open for Akina’s own rushdown combo.

Kirika yawns, not fully understanding the game mechanics, while Cerys just looks bored. “What top levels of skill I’m seeing here…” she says lazily. Her lacidasiness doesn’t last long, however, as she’s quickly yanked into the commentary “booth” set up in front of a webcam just off to the side of the TV by Mayumi.

“Oh, it looks like Malphael is going for his ICBM Buster combo loop!” Mayumi says excitedly, trying to inject some hype into the bout. Cerys just taps her mic, trying to test if it’s actually working or not.

On the screen, Akina’s character dodges another attack and runs in to hit a combo. This time, though, Alice was quick enough to block it, though she still gets some chip damage. “The gamer bitch didn't realize that autocombo was really negative on block!” Mayumi notes to the viewers at home.

The baiting game continues as Akina continually steps back to give a fake opening to her opponent who continually falls for it, then punishes her with a quick but effective combo.

Alice growls, running out of life with every missed attack. “You aren’t too bad, but wait till you get a load of this!” She presses some quick inputs, the screen flashes, and… nothing happens due to Akina having ample time to block the attack after the taunt.

“It’s always bad to be cocky when you can’t back it up.” A quick jab, then another, then the screen flashes again as Akina counters with a super attack of her own, effortlessly connecting.

Mayumi throws some salt into the wound with her commentary. “If they’re all like this, The Video Game Club is free!”

This is backed up by the cheers of the paranormies in the crowd. “Yeah, go Akina!” Kirika yells excitedly.

Y2K whistles, but then catches herself. “Well this is no Spirit Dawning levels of competition, but it seems Aki- the banchou kid's got it!”

The second round of the set begins, once again with Alice throwing a combo out the gate. Just like before she whiffs it immediately which allows Akina to not only retaliate, but retaliate with a Material Finish. The screen flashes with Akina’s character flying into the air, circling the moon, then crashing back to earth with a kick that instantly wins her the round.

Alice clicks her tongue at her rotten playing thus far, but quickly gets back into a competitive mindset. “Alright, you’re pretty good!” she says while pointing some finger guns at her opponent. “But, now I’ll stop taking it easy on you and pick my real main!” She quickly picks her controller up again and picks a different character, while Akina remains on her original pick.

The new fight begins with Akina being the first to attack, hoping to roll out a small combo. Alice is able to counter it, and tries to set up her own combo, which she whiffs just as hard as every other combo she’s tried.

“Akina needs to look out not to be too cocky. The difference between winning and losing is thin.” Cerys says just loud enough for Akina to hear.

Akina jumps into the air for an aerial attack, but this gives Alice a chance to set up a power move. She charges her arm back, her fist sparkling with fire, then releases the buttons, causing her character to smash his arm forward… or at least that was what is supposed to happen. Instead the energy explodes, causing herself damage. “Of course, the 1 in 75 chance hits right now.” Alice laments.

Akina takes the chance and hits a pair of combos that empty the rest of Alice’s life meter out. The game begins a second round, but Alice opts to forgo it and take the loss instead. “I’m clearly outmatched here. Good game.” They shake hands, and no sooner do they release their grip than Alice runs out of the room, barely contained sobs can be heard as she leaves the room.

Akina stares in her direction. “Even in a game my fighting skills are unmatched,” then wipes her hand on her uniform and returns to her clubmate’s side. “I hope all of these matches won’t be such a waste of time.” she says as she sits down.

Hailey gets everyone’s attention, announcing, “Next up, the two vs two speedrun. The game tonight will be…” she looks at the sheet of paper the schedule was hastily written on. “Assaultfrogs, the classically tough game from the HomeCom. Both teams ready?” She asks the other three girls who have already taken their seats next to each one excited to get started, besides the only non Japanese girl in the group. They all answer affirmative, allowing Hailey to count them down. “Alright, we’re starting in 3, 2, 1, go!”

As both teams get off to clumsy starts, Mayumi looks over to check on Yuudai. He’s visibly shaking, unnerved by Megan inching closer and closer to him, he can now feel her breath on his neck. She jumps off the commentary booth and quickly takes a seat next to Yuudai, interspersing herself between the two. She puts on a sultry voice and asks “Hey Gachi, how’s tricks?”

“T-tricks? W-who’s tricks? Yuudai asks nervously.

“Your tongue. With all that magic it does, I thought I’d give it a nickname~” This causes Yuudai to nervously tug at his collar as Megan gives them both a dirty look.

“I h-h--have no idea what you’re talking about, haha!” Yuudai says, causing Mayumi to lean in and whisper in his ear.

“Are you actually gay or are you just trying to save your ass?" Yuudai just responds more nervously with another chuckle.

Miyu leans in over Mayumi’s shoulder. “Oh Yuudai can use his tongue still?” She says with a giggle. Yuudai winces, but Mayumi’s unstartled.

“Look yandere, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. If you really wanna get a bit of meat, you gotta take the subtle approach.” she says with a bit of flair.

Yuudai again tries to cover for Miyu. “Th-there’s nothing wrong with what she’s doing! Y-you really shouldn’t tell others what to do, y-you know?” he manages to stutter out.

Mayumi looks annoyed, gets incredibly close to Yuudai, her breasts rubbing against his arm and her breath on his ear. "Look, there is nothing healthy with what she did to you and if you just keep leading her on, she's going to do worse," she whispers. “You could take this bitch. Hell, I could probably take this bitch.“

Yuudai gulps, then whispers back, “You don’t know her like I do.”

“If you just bend over for anyone who remotely threatens you, you're just gonna get fucked." Mayumi whispers, tracing a finger along Yuudai's thigh.

Miyu again invades everyone’s personal space, bending in and somewhat loudly exclaiming, “What are you two whispering about? Secrets make me VERY VERY upset.” The look on her face shows a slight hint of madness.

“I'm just talking about all the dirty things we could do together… and have done together.” She licks her lips exaggeratedly at Miyu.

Yuudai shoots back up at the tone that Miyu took, quickly covering for them both “Sh-she’s joking! We were just t-talking about how our f-friends were doing in the game!”

Mayumi sighs, then turns to Miyu and says “I honestly don't see what we see in him." She shrugs. “Maybe we should go talk about his good points outside, where he can’t hear us. His ego might grow a bit… and match some other parts of him.” She says with a sly wink, moving towards the door.

Miyu furrows her brow as Mayumi saunters out, then looks at Yuudai. “Sorry, Yuuyuu, but I’m going to need to have a chat with your new friend about... her manners.” She stands up, pulls a little blade out of her pocket, and marches out the door.

The door opens once again right after Miyu steps out, letting Kobun walk in. He comes in, stands next to Yuudai, and sets his backpack down. “What the hell is wrong with those girls?” He turns and asks his shaken neighbor.

Saito swoops in to retort for his bud “Damn, dude. How about you tell us how many clubs you’re in instead? This is the third time we’ve ran into you.” Kobun just shrugs and sits down.

Hailey then walks back in front of the TV, looking a bit more nervous than usual. “W-well, Since there was two strangely simultaneous console malfunctions, neither team completed the game in the time limit. That one’s gonna have to do down as a draw, I guess!” She chuckles nervously as she looks at the list in her hand. “Next up we have… Terra and… Why too jay?” She squints at the list before Y2K takes the ‘stage’ and corrects her in English.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Kay, Y2K. Like za virus that will being about your and!” She strikes a pose she thinks is cool, and everyone else is too polite or uninterested to say otherwise.

“Well, miss Kay, here’s your controller! And one for you too, Terra!” She takes two gun-shaped controllers off a nearby shelf, blows some dust off them, and hands one to each competitor before plugging them into the console.

“Are we allowed to have these in school... yo?” Y2K asks.

Hailey laughs and responds, “Of course, nobody’s going to mistake red or blue plastic for a real weapon. Besides, where would a high schooler even get such a thing?” She then turns back to the others, announcing “The game they’ll be playing is Lifeless Manor 2. the most famous light-gun game of the last century!”

Saito perks up “Hey, isn’t that the game Raidou was playing?” he asks Yuudai. Yuudai is unshaken enough to give out a little shrug. “Y-yeah, probably, right.”

Hailey continues, “The aim of the game, no pun intended, is precise shooting and quick reflexes. Highest score at the end of the game wins, so get those combos up!” She then turns to the two competitors “When I say go, we begin!” She pauses, then counts down. “3, 2, 1, go!”

The game begins, both players holding the guns at the screen. “Agent S, we have to find Agent H! Follow Agent I into the city to find him!” the opening cutscene says, before two zombies suddenly pop up on the screen, incredibly close to the camera.

Y2K lets out a yelp and jumps back, almost dropping the gun, whereas Terra calmly shoots the zombie dead, even taking the chance to shoot Y2K’s zombie for bonus points.

Y2K quickly regains her composure as best she can, embarrassed at falling for a jumpscare, and tries to make up for it. She does well, keeping up with Terra through the level. They both keep an eye out for powerups, coming upon a room with one for each player. They both try to aim at their respective pickup, but don’t notice an axe-throwing zombie in the back. He throws one at each player, and while Terra is able to barely readjust her aim in time to shoot it away, Y2K isn’t as lucky and takes another hit.

She grumbles and plays well from then on until they reach the first miniboss. While they both shoot well, Terra forgets how to damage the enemy and takes a few hits before they finish it off, nearly evening the scores.

This leads to another cutscene, and with Y2K now feeling a renewed confidence, she takes a moment to listen to the crowd. She hears Katsuki wonder out loud, “I really wonder where Yuuri is. She never misses stuff like this. Heck, she might even shoot better than this new girl.”

Y2K turns around and waves to get Katsuki’s attention. “Psst, it’s me!” she says as she lowers the hood on her hoodie.

“Huh? Who are you?” Katsuki responds.

“No, it’s ME!” she says even louder, taking her fake glasses off. “It’s me, Yu-” She’s stopped mid-sentence as the damage sound comes from the TV, the game having restarted without Yuuri noticing.

“Aww, What’s wrong, distracted?” Terra mockingly says.

Yuuri responds through clenched teeth “I-it’s just startup jitters!”

As she taunts, Terra mistimes her shot and it hits a NPC running across the frame, killing him and causing her to lose points and health as a result.

“Looks like you’re the distracted one now!” Yuuri says back with a laugh, realizing this is her chance to get back into things. She carried a slight lead into the second miniboss, named THE WHEEL.

Terra plays patiently, putting her mistakes behind her as she sharply aims at the weak points. Yuuri, however, lets her confidence overtake her and she starts shooting a bit haphazardly to try and get more points. She doesn’t notice, though, that her health is very low, and after missing one of her trick shots, the game freezes while asking if she wanted to continue.

Before anything else can happen, Haley steps in front of the screen. “By losing her one life, Miss Kay is eliminated from the competition, meaning the games club win!” Yuuri begins to protest this before-unknown rule, but notices that Terra had overtaken her in points again and decides to simply accept the loss.

She sits next to Saito, who mocks her as she sits down. “I thought you were the ‘arcade champion’. What happened, Y2K?” He puts a sarcastic emphasis on the name, leaving Yuuri to just pout.

“Meet me at an arcade later and I’ll show you!” she retorts to Saito’s amusement.

“I’m sure you will, ‘champ’”. he responds with a laugh, messing with her hair to get her to pout more.

As the game club finishes celebrating the win, Hailey continues. “This leaves the record at 1 win, 1 loss, and 1 draw for both teams. We have a tie, everyone!”

The two clubs murmur amongst themselves before Saito stands up and asks the obvious question. “So, what now? We just letting it end with both teams even?”

Hailey ponders for a moment, but is interrupted by Kobun standing up and moving in front of Saito, his backpack in hand. “I have the perfect solution, and I think you’d be the perfect opponent.” Kobun slides the zipper on his bag open, pulling out a copy of XIDD Double Dance Industry 7th Recording.

Saito smirks, then looks over Kobun’s shoulder to Hailey. “Yo, you got pads, right?”

Hailey blushes, “Of course we have pads, we’re not in middle school anymore! How dare you even ask!?”

Kobun shakes his head, then walks over to a cabinet and pulls out two dance mats. “He means these, Hailey.” She stares at him, then at Saito, then hangs her head with embarrassment and walks off the stage.

Saito watches her confusedly, shrugs, then walks up to the ‘stage’ to help Kobun with setting the game up. After it’s all set, he asks “So, what’s the rules?”

Kobun looks serious. “Alright, three songs. Roshambo for the first pick, then trade off after that. Winner is the one with the most points, or the survivor in the case of a song failure. No hidden songs, main playlist only, and we’re on Hot Club difficulty.”

Saito scoffs, “Not going to World Disco difficulty? I’ll wipe the floor with you.”

“Oh, you’re World too? In that case, let’s max it out.” Kobun changes the difficulty up to max, his own smirk spreading across his face.

“One last thing before we start.” Saito says. “Let’s have a good game, dude.” He holds his hand out, Kobun returning it with a grip-shake-fistbump combo.that Saito matches.

Saito won with rock breaking scissors, giving him the chance to pick first song. He mulls the idea over in his head before settling on a song. This allows Kobun to make his pick, then Saito picks his final song as well, setting up the three songs.

As the bass from the music begins to pour out of the speakers, Yuudai begins to hear banging of a different kind. He turns to the door, seeing it shake as if being pounded against. “Hey, guys…” he says, before another loud bang gets the attention of the audience. Yuudai looks at the others, who are all staring at him. “Should I get that, or…” he asks as if trying to plead them to say no, but nobody reacts. With a sigh, he rises from his chair, says a silent prayer, then opens the door.

He steps back just in time to avoid the two girls falling in, rolling to the middle of the room. Miyu gains the upper hand on Mayumi, pulling at her hair while straddling her chest. “I bet you didn’t even know YuuYuu loves it when I pull his hair like this!” she yells, leaning down into her face. Mayumi spits in it, causing her to recoil a bit.

“H-hey!” Kirika jumps out of her chair, quickly moving in. “D-don’t hurt Mayumi-senpai like that!” She sees Miyu ignore her, instead rearing back for a punch. She suddenly gets a burst of courage, yelling loudly “I SAID STOP!”. This catches Miyu’s attention, causing her to look at Kirika. This is just enough to catch a glimpse of Kirika’s glowing eyes, putting Miyu into a daze.

The sudden distraction gives Mayumi enough time to push her off. “Get off me, you delusional lunatic bitch!” Miyu flops to the ground, breaking her out of the fog. She gets back up and tries to tackle her again, but Yuudai steps between them. “H-hey, you two! Stop the fighting a-already!”

Miyu stops in her tracks, instead diving into his torso with a hug. Her obviously fake sobbing resonates through the room, only barely losing to the dance music in the background. “Sh...she’s mean, she’s awful YuuYuu! She attacked me, called me names, she even tried to tell me lies about you! You have to get rid of her, YuuYuu! Don’t let her ruin your good name!” Yuudai stares at her nervously, stammering while trying to formulate an answer.

Mayumi attempts to move in and try to reach her around Yuudai, but Kirika gets in her way. “Mayumi-senpai, I’m glad you’re not too hurt!”

Mayumi growls, “The fight’s not over, short-” She looks up at Yuudai, who’s giving her a pleading look. “Grrr… Nevermind. I’m fine.” She pats Kirika’s head to vent her frustration.

Yuudai meets Miyu’s gaze, his hands on her shoulders. “I want to know… how did you find me?” Miyu looks at him with fake tears still in her eyes only managing to stutter. “I left school. I dyed my hair. I did everything I could to get away f-” He barely stops himself from saying “from you”, not wanting to enrage her.

“I-it was easy, YuuYuu!” Miyu reaches inside her pocket and pulls out her phone, showing Yuudai her lock screen without looking away from his face once. Yuudai looks at it and can only make out a few words: “Chiba Golden Boy transfers to Miyafuji.” His eyes widen as he tries to read it over and over again to make sure he is reading it right. After Miyu puts away her phone again Yuudai puts his best fake smile on as Miyu continues. “As far as you dying your hair, I could tell your hair anywhere! It’s the exact same thickness, and… and scent, hehe!” She leans in close to his face. “Plus, you missed the roots, silly~”

The entire audience is sickened, but too curious to look away. Only the two dancers are oblivious to the creepy display going on. The upbeat EDM going on in the background only adds to the uneasiness. Yuudai collects himself enough to reply. “I-I’m surprised anyone could find me! I should have done a better job, haha,” He tries to joke. “You did… a good job, yeah! Good, detective level work!” He stammers out uneasily, trying to not sound as displeased as he actually is. “I-it’s good to have an old friend from my old school here too, t-to ease th-the transition!” he finishes with.

Miyu starts fawning over the compliments, not noticing Mayumi marching over and pulling him away. She spins him around and grabs him by the collar, forcing his face to line up with hers. “Look, I did all this to save your ass. I fucking fought a bitch I don’t even know how crazy she is to prevent that from happening. She. Is. Not. Going. To. Kill. You. Grow a fucking pair and tell her to fuck off."

Yuudai grabs her shoulders and whispers back, “No, you’re right. You don’t KNOW her. You don’t know what she can…” he shudders. “And -HAS- done. Do you think one fight will stop her? She’ll see it as a challenge, not a warn-.” Yuudai suddenly gets yanked away, Mayumi only barely noticing the knife Miyu is now swinging at her.

Mayumi leans back, but suddenly the knife stops in its tracks, just above the arms covering her face. “Grrr…. w.. why can I not… take care of this trash….?” Miyu says, trying to will the knife down, but being unable to force it down any farther. Mayumi blinks for a second, then grabs the wrist, twist it, and forces Miyu’s grip open, the knife clattering to the floor.

She stares Miyu in the eyes, saying, “I guess you didn’t know I was a telepath.” As soon as the sound rings out, Mayumi smirks, spins around without losing her hold, and slams the back of her fist into Miyu’s face. Miyu falls to the ground and has no time to react before Mayumi’s knee is pushed into her back, and her arm twisted into a chicken wing hold. “To tell ya the truth, I forgot I could do that myself.”

Miyu struggles in vain, her free arm thrashing about, just out of reach of the knife. “You fucking BITCH! You better let me FUCKING go RIGHT FUCKING NOW! I’ll only cut off ONE of your FUCKING DIRTY HANDS!”

Akina starts booing from the back of the room. “Booooo! How can you even call yourself a crazy stalker if you can’t even beat up a druggie?”

Yuudai watches on. “Oh god… she knows where I go to school now. She just got her ass kicked by one of my friends… She’s… She’s gonna kill me! oh god!” Yuudai begins to panic a bit, then quickly pushes Mayumi off. She loses her grip on Miyu’s arm, allowing Yuudai to help Miyu up. “H-hey, are you okay? You’re okay right? Y-you can forgive that, r-r-right?”

Miyu opens her mouth, but Mayumi shouts first. “Hey, what the FUCK gachi?!? I’m doing this to save YOUR ass! And you just go and protect HER? When you know she only wants to HURT you? Man, you know what? FUCK THIS. Fuck this, and fuck you. You’re on your own, good luck staying in one piece.” She then storms out of the room.

Yuudai stares at the door as Mayumi leaves. “But, I’m trying to protect…” He’s broken up by Miyu getting his attention again. “Don’t worry about that whore. We’re finally together again. That’s all that matters…” she laughs “...for now~.”

As the crowd looks on as the sickening display of “affection”, suddenly the music stops. Everyone’s attention is broken up by Saito’s loud, yet exasperated voice. “I… I won! We won guys! I did-” He turns and sees the situation in the room. “What…. what the hell.. happened here? Was the… music too intense?”