The Ultimates

Three

As I entered my cul-de-sac, the first thing I heard was Ibuki practicing with her garage band. They always practiced from three to six, three days a week. With their band wanting to make it big, they were always practicing when they could. Even after her band went home for the night, she'd still be playing guitar and singing in her room. Thankfully, everyone in our cul-de-sac was very supportive of her punk dreams, so no one was bothered by her playing.

My house was right in the middle. Makoto's was the house on my right, and my best friend Chiaki's was on the left. As I approached her front door, I entered without knocking. It was common in our cul-de-sac to enter our friends' houses without knocking whenever we were coming over. Everyone was friends with each other, and we all trusted one another.

Unsurprisingly, Chiaki was busy playing the new Super Smash Bros update, mastering all the new characters. She was one of the best gamers in the country, even the world. She'd won multiple competitions and had a large fanbase on online of Twitch streamers. It was a smart way to make some extra money for college, where she planned to go into programming to make her own video games.

"Hey, Hajime," she said, not even looking back at the door.

"Hey. How was school?"

"Boring."

"I'm sorry," I said, hopping over the couch to sit next to her. She ended her match and handed me the spare controller. I was nowhere near her gaming level, but I had gotten good enough from playing with her to last longer than any of her other opponents. I considered that a win in my books.

"Kyoko is coming back soon."

"Really?" I asked. "When?"

"In roughly two months."

Chiaki was adopted into the Kirigiri family when she was only seven. Her dad was serving life in prison, and her mom died when she was five. After spending two years in the foster system, Kyoko's family decided to adopt Chiaki. They encouraged her to follow her video game passion instead of joining the Kirigiri Detective Agency. From the moment they met, Kyoko took on the role of big sister with pride. I knew Chiaki missed her, so it was exciting to have her come back home.

I knew Makoto would be excited to see Kyoko as well. The two of them had been friends for far longer than anyone else in the cul-de-sac. When she left to go to boarding school, he was definitely upset. I assumed that was one of the reasons he entered the lottery to join Hope's Peak Academy. That way, he wouldn't have to go to the high school they were supposed to attend together alone. Most of the students in our middle school entered the lottery to attend, so he was lucky to be selected.

"Have you come up with anymore character ideas for the game?" Chiaki questioned.

"Nothing yet. If I think of something, I will."

The game Chiaki wanted to make more than anything was an RPG about a regular, average individual who was gifted with the ability to switch between dimensions as they pleased. There would be multiple worlds that needed their help, multiple different classes to pick from in each world so the player would never have to settle with one rank if they wanted to switch it up, and each dimension would be its own creation with its own characters and plot and everything.

Due to how many characters she planned to have, she always asked for fun ideas to add to her gaming journals in case they struck a chord with her. For the most part, we'd try to give her good ideas, but if we couldn't think of anything, we'd make up some dumb character that makes no sense, like Mei the Spaghetti Wizard. It was a fun game we all played with each other to see who could come up with the dumbest character.

"Hmm?" Chiaki questioned, glancing back at me. "You have nothing? Not even a joke character?"

"Not really."