Story of a Rhythm Game Couple

Chapter 7: The final boss

Asahi's technical score was almost at max. Just a while ago, he was still a long way off, but there was only one chart left now. The chart, which was part of a recent collaborative event, was at level 15, which, in terms of difficulty, was deemed to be the highest-rated chart in difficulty. The whole event was released last week, while Asahi was occupied with his moving and renting processes.

The song's name was PARADOXXX, and the chart was unfathomably difficult. One can imagine the chart as a compilation of all the hardest patterns in the game, somehow amplified to a level of pure agony, say: the more frequent appearance of faster minijacks, the lengthier duration and uncomfortable positioning of the infamous cross-handed trills, the abrupt shift in timing of the already hard-to-read slides and flick notes to match the song's tempo, and so much more. On top of that, it was longer than any song in the entire game, clocking in at 3 and a half minutes. The chart was really monstrous.

Despite that, unlike many other events in the past, PARADOXXX wasn't designed to "cash grab." Usually, for an event featuring a difficult chart or a highly anticipated song, players have to spend a lot of time grinding for event points, running through the event area, or doing a particular challenge before they can get their hands on the song, which is usually quite costly. However, when players logged into the game, they discovered that the song had already been unlocked, and the event's points could only be used to obtain cosmetics such as name plates or frames for their player data card at the top of the screen. No one really understood why such an end-game chart was released in such an anticlimactic way, but Asahi could immediately get into playing it without wasting a dime on grinding event points.

Since the chart was available to play without an additional cost, a lot of players tried their luck. During the past week, there were only 4 people who could SSS+ the chart, with the highest score being an AP at 100.92%. In the past, every chart ever released got its first rironchi after only a few days, no matter how hard it was, but this one didn't seem to follow that pattern.

Asahi played PARADOXXX a few times before, and the highest score he could achieve was SS rank at 99.73%. He was really taking a leap of faith to get 100.85%. To be honest, even Asahi himself didn't think it was possible to go that far, so for now he would try his best to see how well he could do.

For his first attempt on the chart today, he got a 99.34%. It was a downscore, obviously, but it was a surprise to him that he could almost replicate this old score after only one attempt.

"Hey, I think I can at least get a... Katou?"

After the result screen showed up, Asahi turned around, as he wanted to say something to Sana, but apparently she had gone off somewhere else. Her belongings were pretty much still on the sofa, so he thought she must have gone to other cabinet areas, or maybe she was using the restroom. Asahi didn't pay too much mind and continued his game.

"Full Combo!"

It was the voice of the main character that he had set in the game echoing from the cabinet as the screen turned into a fireworks display with the words "Full Combo" in green. After over half an hour of grinding the chart, the result was not only his first FC on the chart but also his first SSS score, barely enough at 100.03%.

Asahi seemed to be satisfied with his progress, as he picked up his phone and took a photo of the score screen.

"Hey, rank SSS, finally! Well-done, Noguchi-kun"

Suddenly, he heard a small round of applause and some compliments from behind him. Sana had returned and probably watched him play for a while. She brought along a relatively big paper bag and placed it next to her backpack.

"Oh, you're back! Where have you been, Katou?"

"Was just strolling around the arcade!"

"I see."