True Madness Versus True Madness

Setting aside the fact that she had been scheming behind my back again, her intentions themselves weren't bad, so I ended up letting it slide. "Hmm... this is actually pretty good."

"Right?" ...It definitely wasn't just because the pasta Oh Seeun had ordered as an apology happened to suit my tastes better than expected.

"Ahem... Anyway, about the STD... I mean, should I call it SC now? When are we planning to negotiate with them?"

As soon as the topic of pro gaming came up, Oh Seeun's expression brightened slightly before she flashed a mischievous grin and silently held up all five fingers.

"In five days?"

"Nope. After you get into the top five in the rankings."

"...Pardon?" So she was saying I had to reach the top five in solo queue rankings first before we even started negotiations?

"That late?"

Oh Seeun shook her head lightly. "Timing isn't what matters. What matters is how much presence and influence you have."

"At your current pace, considering win streak points and MVP bonus points, reaching Challenger shouldn't take long. As for the top five rankings... if you play properly, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

If the current momentum continued, her words weren't exactly unreasonable.

"Then I suppose it's about time to give up on the pure priest one-trick."

But playing only a mid priest was already proving difficult.

"As expected, you're quick on the uptake." Seeing Oh Seeun's reaction, I could tell she had been steering things in this direction all along. Of course, since this was an unavoidable step ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if I wanted to become a pro gamer, I didn't feel any strong resistance.

"Still, it was pretty fun operating the priest aggressively since it brought out its damage potential. It's a shame that you can't just play aggressively all the time if you're aiming for ranking competition."

"Huh...? You were being stubborn because of in-game reasons like that?"

"Of course?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Oh Seeun thought for a moment before opening her mouth again with a look of determination.

"Wasn't it because you enjoyed watching the faces of your opponents when they lost to a priest...? That's what I've always assumed..."

Before she could finish speaking, I stood up from my seat. She looked visibly flustered and quickly followed after me.

"Ah, sorry, sorry...! I really messed up, so please don't go..."

"It's fine."

"Just forgive me this once..."

"...This is really the last time, okay?"

"Yep!"

Honestly, I have no idea which part of me that personality came from... It's truly incomprehensible.

"Um... You didn't just have some weird thought right now, did you?"

"No."

Her senses are ridiculously sharp even in moments like this...

"Anyway, we've pretty much finished eating, so let's move on to something else."

"Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"How about the study or the movie theater?"

"No thanks."

Then why did you even build them... It seemed that now that she had achieved her initial goal, she was determined to head to either the bar or the bathroom, just like she had mentioned in the garage earlier.

"Why are you so obsessed with the bar and bathroom...?"

"Ah... You caught me."

Of course I did.

"If you're asking why I'm obsessed with the bar and bathroom, it's because when I first designed this house, those were the places I most wanted to experience with you?"

"I see..."

No... When she looks at me with such pure eyes while giving that reason, it makes it really awkward to argue or refuse.

But I was certain there was some hidden scheme behind those pure eyes, just like what happened at the circuit earlier. While I didn't want to get caught up in her pace anymore, considering that her schemes weren't particularly threatening, I figured it might be okay to let her have this one.

'This is tricky.'

In that brief moment, countless thoughts raced through my mind as I searched for an appropriate response in real time.

'Ah. This should work.'

One plausible way to refuse came to mind.

"It seems like we want different things, so how about we settle it with a fair competition?"

"A competition? You want to race again...?"

Oh Seeun looked slightly fed up, but the competition I had in mind wasn't that.

"No. Not a race. Let's compete in a game. Since we competed in the garage according to your wishes last time, this time we'll compete in the PC bang according to my wishes."

The match at the circuit hadn't had any stakes, but this game would decide our next destination. Since I had spent all day gaming yesterday, I would naturally have the advantage, making this quite an unfavorable condition for Oh Seeun.

However, when I deliberately called her "sis" and strongly expressed my opinion, Oh Seeun eventually gave in.

"...Alright, let's do that."

I was feeling strangely refreshed right now.

'She called me sis...'

Normally, I would have taken the lead in the conversation or our destination. After that, I would have dragged her to the bar or bathroom and satisfied some of my own desires... but...

'Sera is too cute...'

My affection for Sera, which had become severely twisted somewhere along the way, completely canceled out those plans.

'Well, whatever. This will just become another memory with our Sera.'

"Hello? Are you listening?"

Ah. I must have been lost in thought for too long and missed what Sera said.

"Sorry. Can you say it again?"

"I'm all ready. I said I'd show you that priest is a serious pick."

"I see... I'll be right in."

After saying that, Sera immediately entered the capsule. As I was preparing to go in as well, one problem occurred to me.

"Ah. Now that I think about it, my nickname might look a bit weird from Sera's perspective... Well, it shouldn't be a big problem, right?"

"Our saintess is very generous, so she'll let it slide... Probably."

I tried ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to rationalize it to myself as I entered the lobby that Sera had created in advance.

As expected, there was a slightly horrified reaction to the nickname, but our generous saintess kindly let it slide.

"She really was so nice back then."

Something I'm confident in, huh...

"Hmm... She probably won't want a priest mirror match... Then I guess I'll go with this."

After some thought, I chose Illusionist. It was a class specialized in psychological warfare and variable plays using clones. At the same time, from the priest's perspective, it was a complete counter with its ultimate that forced movement on the opponent and skills that applied binds.

No matter how well Sera was doing lately, I had thoroughly analyzed the game for several years before she even arrived in this world. I had even unintentionally learned her patterns while editing her gameplay recently, so with a counter pick in hand, I was certain I couldn't possibly lose.

It really was obvious. There was no way I would lose.

"What the..."

All I could see in front of me was the priest's confident figure, dodging every skill and not even giving me a chance to go for a kill.

This wasn't part of the plan... The chance to see drunk Sera or embarrassed Sera didn't come often. Besides, she would soon start preparing to become a pro gamer in earnest, so it would be hard to casually ask her to play around.

"I didn't expect her to adapt this quickly and take it so seriously..."

If that was the case, maybe I should have asked her to try becoming a pro gamer a little later, but it was already far too late for regrets.

"...Let's just watch a movie."

I shook off my thoughts and stepped out of the capsule to find Sera waiting with a satisfied expression.

"So, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what movie are you thinking of watching?"

"I'll generously give you the choice."

The now completely arrogant Sera had made the wrong decision by handing me the right to choose the movie.

"Alright. I'll pick something fun, so go into the movie theater upstairs first. I'll bring popcorn and drinks right away..."

Acting as if I was devastated by the overwhelming defeat that had shattered all my plans, I disappeared from Sera's sight for now. As expected, Sera followed my explanation without any suspicion and headed straight to the screening room.

"If I can't see her embarrassed or drunk, I can at least see something else."

With a victorious smile, I picked Annabelle from the movie list—the one with the creepy doll on the cover.

Sera still hadn't caught on to the situation. She sat quietly until the movie started and the title Annabelle appeared. That's when her expression began to freeze.

"Ahaha... As expected, I know my weaknesses best."

Sera looked like she wanted to get up and leave, saying she couldn't watch anymore. But then she seemed to remember that I had said I would bring popcorn and drinks, so she had no choice but to sit back down.

"Ah... She's too cute..."

"Shall we move on to the highlight now?"

Actually, the movie theater had another door between the first and second floors in addition to the ones at the front and back, so I planned to quietly enter through there. The moment right before the movie's first horror point arrived—

"Boo!!"

"Kyaaaaa!!!"

I suddenly appeared behind Sera and scared her.

"Ahahaha! Did I scare you a lot?"

"Huuu... Seriously... Haa..."

Sera seemed quite startled. She slid down from her chair and sat on the floor, then whispered softly once she had calmed down a bit.

"...I'm... going to kill you..."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I'm going to kill you..."

Uh...?