Story of a Rhythm Game Couple

Chapter 5: The first assignment

"So it's decided. Imai-san will handle the first part, I'll do the middle, and Noguchi-kun will take care of the last part. I know we are all busy, but please do be mindful of the time, as the submission deadline is in two weeks. I need some time to finalize our work too, so no extensions. Are we clear?"

"Okay, Sajou-kun."

"Kay!"

It was just in time that the bell rang, marking the end of today's classes for Asahi.

"Great! If anything comes up, give me a heads up!"

Unlike yesterday, in the afternoon, Asahi was assigned a presentation project in a group of three. Since the course was divided into ten different topics, the class did a raffle to determine which topic they were to cover.

After the quick drawing, the list of topics and the groups of students who were responsible for the presentation was decided. The groups who had to present early seemed to have it rough, while ones with later topics could have an easier time. Asahi's group was in third, so even though they didn't have to present their work in the very first week, they didn't have much time either.

The class was dismissed early since it was nothing more than an introduction to the subject, but Asahi and his group, including Sajou and Imai, who were two of his acquaintances he had made earlier last week, decided to stay back to deliberate on the topic and set up a deadline.

After getting everything he needed to know to do the assignment, Asahi was to excuse himself. But at the same time, Sajou and Imai seemed like they had some sort of club activity as well, so they both got to their feet and left together with Asahi for the front building. While Sajou and Imai made their way upstairs in the building, Asahi kept going forward to the parking lot, ready to bike home.

Compared to yesterday, he was dismissed from university a few hours earlier, but he skipped FunZone for today. He thought he might want to get home for some make-up napping, as he was really drowsy when he woke up in the morning. Though not explicitly written in his schedule, a little afternoon nap wasn't something so unusual for Asahi, but today he was really looking forward to it.

When Asahi opened his eyes again, the clock indicated that it had been a bit over one hour and a half since he hopped on the bed. The nap took great effect, now that he felt more energetic than ever.

It was almost time for dinner preparation as well. Since he had just gone grocery shopping the other day, he gathered all the necessary ingredients and set them out on the cooking tables, then started to process them.

While the pan was heating up, the phone vibrated in his pocket, so he took it out to see what was going on. There were a few new messages on ZEN from Sana. Apparently, she had also been texting him during his nap.

"Don't you go to FZ today?"

That was Sana's second message to him, after the photo of the plushie pair from her profile picture and the rironchi goal established earlier. FZ was probably her abbreviation for FunZone, so it seemed like she had gone to FunZone again today. Attached to the message was the image of her play on TiamaT. Even if it wasn't a rironchi, her score of 100.93% was an extremely impressive score for any average player.

"Hey, stop being so good at the game!"

Though Asahi meant it as a joke, with his score at only 100.91%, it was clear that Sana's score was better than his. The difference of 0.02% didn't seem like much, but at the level of their skills, it was enough to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the player.

"Wait, that's a lot of photos."

Asahi murmured to himself, as Sana had also sent a few more of her upscores and some rironchi on easier difficulties as well. He didn't comment much on those scores and simply left a reaction icon.