Chapter 30: Brought Along
You don’t need to remember the rules.
"Is it about time now?"
"Yeah, I’ve said everything I wanted to say."
"I see."
Freed from my staring contest with the wall, I sat down next to Kirishi-tan in front of her PC desk.
On my laptop, the stream looked the same as always, except the captured game screen now dominated the center while our face cams—mine and Kirishi-tan’s—had been shoved into the corners.
Kirishi-tan’s desktop setup, though, had two monitors. One side monitor was for streaming and avatar control apps, while the main one showed the game. Looked pretty handy.
"Two monitors sound nice. Maybe I should get one too."
"Go for it. It’s convenient."
"Would it even work with a laptop?"
"...You’re using a ridiculously high-end gaming laptop and you don’t know that?"
Top Chat: Is it really that high-end?
Top Chat: I did think it ran surprisingly smooth, though.
"I’d have to check the specs to be sure, but yeah, it’s probably high-end. How’d you pick it, anyway?"
"I told the clerk, 'I’m gonna stream games, give me the best one.'"
Top Chat: Did they actually give you the best one?
Top Chat: Or did you get scammed?
Top Chat: Given how you ordered, I guess we can’t even call it a scam…
"They said they’d cover my university laptop costs, so I didn’t hold back."
Top Chat: Ah, one of those education budget black holes.
Top Chat: Change topic! We demand a topic change!
"Yeah, let’s change the subject!"
"I don’t think it’s a black hole, though."
"Uh-huh, right, sure. Totally not a black hole. Got it. But let’s change the topic anyway."
Top Chat: Definitely doesn’t believe him.
Top Chat: The more we hear about Elf-san’s insane specs, the more we’re like, 'Yeah, if I were a parent, I’d want to give you genius-level schooling too.'
Top Chat: Facts.
Top Chat: So, what happened after you two met at the supermarket?
"Kirishi-tan had an umbrella, so we shared it."
Top Chat: Shared umbrella moment!!
Top Chat: Wait, did we just miss a hidden yuri flag here?
"She lived nearby, so I dropped by Kirishi-tan’s place afterward."
Top Chat: D R A G G E D H E R I N !!
Top Chat: I can’t believe it, Elf-san’s about to get devoured! Thank you, thank you!
Top Chat: Bless you, Kirishi-tan!!
Top Chat: Respect!
"Wrong! Elf was soaked, so I lent her a towel, that’s it!"
"That wasn’t all, though."
Top Chat: Eh
Top Chat: Eh
Top Chat: Eh?!
Top Chat: ...Kirishi-tan?
"She also lent me a hair dryer."
Top Chat: The air just froze.
Top Chat: Elf!!
Top Chat: Thought we were witnessing something forbidden, damn it.
Top Chat: Forgive us for our filthy imaginations.
Top Chat: LMAO.
"After that, Kirishi-tan treated me to lunch, and since the rain started pouring harder, we decided to stream."
"Elf, you seriously…"
"Was that wrong?"
"...You’re just being you, so whatever. Let’s get the game started."
"Got it!"
Top Chat: Shining smile.
Top Chat: Elf-san is so pure…
Top Chat: What game are you playing?
"First up, this one. 《Wire Connection》."
"What kind of game is it?"
"It’s a variation of the so-called 'Pipe Puzzle' game. You play as the CEO of a power company, and the goal is to supply electricity to more cities than the other players."
"Hmm."
"If you connect your company’s power plants to cities before other players do, you’re considered the supplier for that city. The connections are made using 'Power Line Cards'—various shapes of them are distributed randomly to your hand each turn. Since there are only a few cards that can cross other players’ power lines, sometimes it’s worth placing power lines strategically just to block your opponents."
"Got it."
Top Chat: Sounds like a pretty simple rule set.
Top Chat: • Connect your power lines to cities first.
Top Chat: • Power Line Cards are distributed randomly each turn.
Top Chat: • Very few cards can cross other players’ lines.
Top Chat: Thanks for the summary!
"It’ll be you and me as the Elf-Kirishi Alliance versus four AI on the highest difficulty. Since this time’s co-op, I’m counting on you."
"Leave it to me!"
Top Chat: Uh, you said that casually, but isn’t that super rough?
Top Chat: …Can you even win with half the moves?
Top Chat: Nope. As someone who’s played this game to death, this is reckless. Highest-difficulty AI are insanely smart—you cannot win like this.
Top Chat: And yet… humans just can’t resist setting up death flags.
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