It had been about two hours since Nana destroyed [Bari-Bari Health-kun], and now was the time before the second half started.
“Aahhh!….that was exhausting!”
Michael, who was the MC for the [Punching Power Competition], ran into the waiting rooms for the tournament officials.
Sebas followed her from behind him while carrying two lunch boxes. The sight of Michael running caused Sebas to sigh once again. It was almost like Michael did not get tired at all.
“Michael… I can’t keep up with you right now.”
“Oh, I’m sorry! But I can finally rest, and today’s bento looks luxurious!”
“Well, I don’t have to work after this. Shall we take our time and watch the finals until tomorrow?”
Sebas sat back in her chair and handed her lunch box to Michael while breathing a sigh of relief.
After Nana destroyed [Bari-Bari Health-kun], Sebas and Michael both managed to get the event underway and safely close the punching power competition.
And immediately after, they were caught by the administration committee members, who demanded an explanation about what had happened in the event.
Still, they had to plan tomorrow’s main event and the final.
That’s why those who asked to be sent home early with the excuse of having to watch the second half of the official streaming.
(Rinne’s influence… or perhaps the power of the Takajou group? It’s both gratifying and terrifying. But thanks to that, I’ve seen some amazing things)
Nana’s destruction of Bari-Bari Health-kun should have been a terrible accident, but it was handled in a flash as if everything had been planned for.
Almost like everything went according to Rinne’s plan.
Nana.
Nana of the [HEROES].
If you were to ask her who is the hottest topic in the world at this moment, her name would definitely come up.
Because right now, videos clip from the stream of [Punching Power Competition] are exploding on social networking and video sites.
She can pierce steel with her bare hands and tear through iron plates like paper. The fact that she is much smaller than Sebas in terms of height, looks like a little girl, and yet has the power of a heavy machine is a disturbing fact.
Superhuman is a word that is almost always attached to this monster. For better or worse, that’s what social media take on her.
[There is a girl with amazing physical abilities!] and some people get excited about it. In contrast, others are skeptical, saying, [No no no, this is definitely staged].
You can call it a sensation, or perhaps a hot topic, or whatever it is, the fact is that the conversation goes in both good and bad directions.
And thanks to her profile being listed on the official account of [Punching Power Competition] page, Nana’s official streamer account has been gaining followers at a tremendous rate in this very second, and she has received countless questions on her channels.
And, of course, Michael and Sebas were a part of the receiving end.
As the MC of the event, it was inevitable, but even Sebas was bewildered by the reactions on the social networking sites.
(I saw it happen right in front of me, and I still can’t believe it.)
Even after seeing all her feats firsthand, the person called Nana still appears [normal].
And that was the strangest thing in Sebas’s eyes.
If you ask her if she is pretty, she is probably in the cute category. She may not be particularly beautiful, but she is good-looking enough to be considered cute.
However, her appearance is not as remarkable compared to Rinne or Touka, who is also on the same team. She is also small in stature.
There’s nothing special about her appearance, and her character is somewhat normal too.
The way she answers, with the exception of her declaration to get the first place, are… normal.
Nana was calm and well behaved, a type that MC likes because of how easy this kind of person is to handle. But she is also not the type that could rile up the audience.
Yes, she was…
Ordinary.
No matter where you look, there is no sign of her exceptional features from the outside.
Nana’s character feels… ‘ordinary’, as if she was doing so intentionally.
But still, there are some things that they learned through the interview.
The most obvious one is that Nana does not see things from the same perspective as ordinary people.
When she declared that she would [take first place], that was her simply stating a fact, an inevitable truth.
It was not slip up, pride, or arrogance, but a fact that [Nana] was the strongest of them all.
There’s no intent ridicule to her opponents. She simply said so because she firmly believes that she is the strongest.
If Sebas is forced to use a metaphor, she will say that it was the same attitude as a top-class player.
The attitude of someone who understands their own ability enough to separate themself from others and could easily declare their superiority over the lower-ranked opponent.
Nana has the atmosphere of someone who has seen the peak.
(In this world, some people have seen things from a different perspective, not only in games but in all things. But I think that kind of people appeared more often in the world of martial arts and sports)
For now, let’s ignore her power to pierce steel in the real world.
In VRMMORPGs, which Nana usually plays, status is variable, and one can raise to gain power that could easily destroy steel.
And [Status] was something that determines everything in virtual space.
However, in the VR shooting genre, or more specifically, in the world of esports, there is no difference between players’ base status.
Or, more precisely, there should not be.
Every player will fight under the minimum, fair conditions. Players will hone their individual skills, accumulate knowledge and experience, and pit the fruits of their labor against each other.
In this world of esports, NANA’s extraordinary power has become the most difficult characteristic to utilize.
(Even so, there is no way that Rinne as players are unaware of this. She is not the kind of person who would choose a team member based on preference …There must be something to it. Something that became the reason why [Nana] joined HEROES)
Rinne and Sebas saw each other at countless events and had the opportunity to interview each other many times.
Sebas knew Rinne quite well, and because of that, she was very sure. There is a reason behind the selection of members for this VR HEROES division.
If Sebas were to think about it simply, the reason probably Nana’s aptitude for VR shooting was caused by her out-of-the-box power in the real world.
Or is there some other reason?
Sebas don’t even know what Rinne thought when she selected those members, but she did not only select Nana but also let Touka join the group, and also–
“Sebas? Don’t you want to eat? This bento is delicious!”
“I’m sorry, I was just thinking about something.”
Sebas snapped out of her thoughts as Michael happily shoved the large bowl of fried prawns in her mouth.
“Looks like the second round has already started! Look, the official feed is streaming.”
“Yes, it’s been about five minutes already.”
Sebas returned to the waiting room just barely before the match started, and it had already started while Sebas was lost in thought about that matter.
If it was only five minutes after the start of the game, it’s still early.
Especially in a tournament, people become cautious when they start off, so it is likely that they have only just finished gathering their equipment.
The average duration of a match in Zero Wars VR is approximately 20 minutes.
Twenty minutes per match. This is the time when the safety zone on the field is at its narrowest, and the outcome of the most match is decided there.
However, the speed at which the safety zone shrinks has been slightly modified in the tournament in order to intentionally slow down the development of the match.
They prolong it to 30 minutes. And that is also the approximate duration of the average match in the tournament.
That’s why the match is usually still on at stalemate in this five-minute.
So, even if Sebas had missed some of the early developments, she would have had no trouble following the rest of the games.
“Oh, look! random stream from F block!”
“F… Oh, I see… that block first match has [Heroes] and [Cheese Shock] in it. We’re lucky to see their match right from the qualifiers.”
Due to the number of matches going on at the same time until the second round, it is difficult to live-stream all the matches.
Therefore, a few matches are picked at random and streamed on the event’s official channel.
It was simply by chance that the first match in Block F showed the HEROES and other high-profile teams that are currently in the spotlight.
“[Cheese shock] ace player is Melory! While on HEROES side is… yeah, I’m honestly curious about Nana!”
“There’s no reason not to be.”
Sebas chuckled and nodded at Michael’s words.
How could you not be curious? Of course, everyone would.
Whether she was good or not, she was the one who became the hot topic right now. The more conspicuous she was, the more attention she would get.
As proof, the dedicated channel for showing F-Block has a significantly larger number of viewers.
“The members of HEROES are Rinne, Nana, Touka, and Suupaa… By the way, do you know who Touka is? That’s right! You guessed it. She’s Rinne’s cousin! Hey, how about this Suupaa? you know her Sebas?”
“Yes, of course. She’s famous.”
Sebas nodded to Michael, who questioned her while looking at the simplified profiles of each team.
“Really? What kind of player is she? I’ve studied a bit about the Zero Wars, and I’ve done my best to look up the famous teams, but…”
“Hmm, she’s a player who has a lot of second names, but if I had to characterize her into one thing, it would be….”
[Suupaa].
Depending on who you ask, she is a trauma, an aspiration, or a goal. But, if you have played this game to some extent, you will hear one common word at some point.
She is a monster with a record of 12 consecutive months, number one final ranking in Zero Wars VR Solo queue.
However, if you ask anyone who ever plays with Suupaa, they will know that her raking is just a byproduct of her style.
Yes, it was a byproduct of the essence of Suupaa’s style.
“She is worst of the worst [Kill Kitchen], I guess?”
“Wha?”
Sebas gives an answer Michael had never imagined and makes her sound unintentionally dumb.
Tl note:
Dammit, Michael’s overly energetic dialog is draining me out, lol.
Hmmm, as a former battle royale and fps player, I cannot find an equivalent for this word in English.
Kill Kitchen – A selfish player who prioritizes the number of kills rather than the game-winning condition. In short, they will aim for the biggest number of kills without minding their teammates or even the situation they’re in.
Any ideas? I want to use butcher, but that is also wrong. So I leave that as it is.
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