NOVEL NEXT Chapter Volume 1 6 part3
TL: learning2tl
TLC: Kagefij
ED: Fractal
At those bold, scathing words coming from a side of me only Nakamura has seen, the gallery erupts.「Hyuu!」「Well said!」「That is Tomozaki, right!?」「He's finally gotten fired up!」. Noisy, noisy. Whatever. If you're going to leave me no choice but to do it, I'll do it. In accordance with the stage that you've so graciously prepared, I'm going to take this seriously. Go ahead and hate yourself for picking a fight with me in a matter concerning AtaFami. On the AtaFami stage, I'm the strongest character, you know.「As usual, you can really talk, huh? Tomozaki?」. I can vaguely hear Nakamura complaining about something. He's clearly mad. As if I'd care. If you're going to hit me, then hit me. If doing that will end the matter, I don't care if you do it. But if you're going to play, then play. That is all.
「Enough of all that. Are you playing or are you not?」
Without looking in Nakamura's direction, I coldly spit out those words as I pick up my controller. Fine. Provided we start the match right away, I can just take a back seat and leave myself on autopilot. It's equivalent to stepping into a bucket upstream and letting the current carry me to the mouth of the river. No need for any superfluous logic here. Only using my conditioned senses and past experience should be more than sufficient to bring this event to its rightful conclusion.「Of course I'm playing. Hurry up and choose your character.」. It was questionable as to whether or not I had actually heard those words before doing so, but I was already habitually selecting my usual character of choice. *Tch*
. The explosive sound of a clicking tongue could be heard from somewhere nearby. Ah, 's that so. Nakamura then proceeded to choose his character. Foxy as usual, huh. Let's do this.The instant the fight begins, I am already darting towards Nakamura. In response, Nakamura performs a light skip and fires off two long range shots. A technique which combines the landing animation of a small jump and long range attacks to eliminate any openings after firing. A delicate technique that the previous Nakamura could never have used. He sure has practiced. However, that won't be enough to stop my movement. No hesitation, no hurry, no carelessness. I simply continue to make Found move in the appropriate way that I know. Time for some tricks.
Look, Nakamura. Whether or not you've been able to achieve something with your practice, I don't care, and it's irrelevant. To you, those things might be tremendously impressive. However, from my point of view, they might as well be worth nothing. To me, Nakamura is like an ant from that country somewhere in Africa which has grown wings and become able to fly. Oh, is that so? It's the same as that. The trick that Nakamura has set up in response to my charge, I'll crush it with technique and experience. Using Blink, I narrowly dodge the timings five consecutive times. *Gacha-cha-cha-cha-cha*. There's no way he can respond to these absurd movements he has never seen before. I grab hold of Nakamura, who is full of openings, and string together a combo until the instant death. First life.
「What just happened?」「Such gross movements.」「Nai waaー」「Eh?」. The gallery of spectators is bewildered. Too bad, but this set is going to end with another three repeats of what just happened. However, as one might expect, five rapid uses of Blink is more of a technique relying on the element of surprise so it won't work a second time. That's why it is clear that the next thing I should do is, naturally, different from the previous. *Pikaaa*, I could see my paths to victory shining. There's seven or eight ways to go about doing this, but which one should I choose? Well, I guess this one will do.
I perform an offensive dash, purposely delaying the timing a bit, and come to a halt at a point just past Nakamura's guard. Nakamura had stepped forward and attempted a grab, leaving himself completely exposed. Too bad for you. I've passed by you, so I'm now right behind you. Avoiding his throw, I reach over my shoulder and grab the defenseless Nakamura. Throw. Combo. Second life.
「Eh?」「You can't escape?」「Once you get caught it's the end?」「So cheap.」「Nai wa.」. It's actually possible to escape, you know. That is, if you're good. Getting more and more flustered, Nakamura's precision has been continuing to fall. With this, there are numerous paths I can take. *Pikapikapikaa*. It's dazzling. There's really too many of them. I guess I'll go straight this time. If I hesitate too much, my eyes will start to hurt. It's not like it matters which one I choose anyway. Regardless of my choice, Nakamura will get taken down in the end.
A jump followed by an offensive dash. He guards it, and I get grabbed.「Ohhh!」「He's caught!」. The crowd gets excited. This is the first time that one of Nakamura's attacks has made contact. Nakamura probably intends to execute a combo, but there's something he likely isn't aware of. It's certainly true that when up against a full health Found who is unable to alter their falling trajectory, Foxy can throw them and execute a combo. However, if the Found is able to slip away, then instead Foxy will be the one left wide open to combos. Well, I guess that without any practice partners who can do that to you, there's no way to realize this fact. It's your environment you should blame.
Booom, third life.
「……」「……」「……」. The gallery plunges into silence. Well of course. So far, I had taken his life twice by executing combos after a throw up until the instant death. However, just when the opposite finally happened and they were thinking to themselves 'Nakamura grabbed Tomozaki!', Nakamura was instantly taken down mid-air. Now that that's taken care of, all that's left is to take out the trash. From here, it'll simply be like an assembly-line. In front of my very eyes there is already an expanse of connected, shining paths. Regardless of which direction I move in, I will arrive at my intended destination. As if taking flight, I kick the ground. My body floats, dancing towards space. Looking down, from the right edge of the expanse, an absurdly complicated line can be seen stretching out. Wherever I head, the point of arrival will be the same so I might as well get some practice. I'll try following that line, shall I.
I run towards Nakamura, and perform a Small jump. Mid-air backwards A. Blink to the right. Side A. Small jump. Mid-air up A. Land. Jump. B. Slightly charged mid-air shot. Land. Dash to the landing point and grab. Downwards throw. Jump. Mid-air forwards A. Mid-air forwards A. Mid-air jump. Down B. Landing. B charged. Jump. Mid-air jump. Down B. Up B. Landing. Small jump. B Shoot. Dash. Off the cliff. Mid-air forwards A. Mid-air jump. Down B.
Fourth life.
Game set.
Translator Notes:
We’re not used to dealing with this kind of scene.