Story of a Rhythm Game Couple

Chapter 25. Deal with the devils

"Who are you?" The guy shifted his gaze and turned around to look at Asahi, who was standing across the yard.

Just as Asahi was stepping out, a commotion was happening a few blocks to the left of the FunZone entrance. A guy was gripping a girl's hands and pinning her to the wall. The girl in question, Sana, was on the verge of tears; her hands clearly hurt from the force being used against her. As someone who had just had his so-called confession rejected a few hours earlier at Kourin, he showed no intention to let her go anytime soon.

The guy appeared visibly upset and frustrated at the interruption. But the intensity in Asahi's gaze remained unabated. Seizing the moment, Sana used all her strength to break free from his grip and ran as fast as she could towards Asahi, hiding behind him as she clung to his arm tightly. She was trembling in fear.

As if a switch had flipped, the guy's demeanor changed to one of sarcastic amusement.

"Oh... I see how it is now," he sneered, his tone dripping with mockery. "Ain't you the guy rumored to be Sana-chan's secret boyfriend here? I thought it was just some stupid words of mouth; I never expected to see the real person here."

"Don't just use her first name like that. She didn't give you permission." Asahi replied, narrowing his eyes.

"Why should I care about that?"

"..."

Asahi's silence seemed to embolden him even further.

"Besides," the guy added. "I'm simply here to ask for her company in the upcoming tournament... Oh, wait, you must be the one that she chose to play with, yeah?"

"..."

"I'll take that silence as a yes. I see. You're really an interesting person."

"..."

Asahi stayed composed and decided not to respond to any of his nonsense. The more he talked, the more trembling he felt from Sana's hands.

From this one-sided conversation, Asahi could deduce that the guy was likely a MaiDan player who frequented Megami Arcade, and he wanted to partner with Sana for the GCC3 tournament for some reason. However, upon discovering that Sana had already partnered with Asahi and submitted their qualifier's scores to the host, his intention became futile.

"Were you stalking us?" Asahi asked.

The neighborhood was very far from Kourin University, and no student from there would just show up here haphazardly. Asahi hoped the guy didn't follow them the whole way from school, even if he had a sneaking suspicion about it.

The guy remained silent about Asahi's inquiry. Instead, he approached them slowly, his disdainful expression unchanged.

"How unfortunate. If she had decided to pair with me instead of a nobody like you, she would have gotten to know the taste of being a champion."

"... Can you just get the fuck away from her? She said she wanted nothing to do with you anymore."

The impatience and anger in Asahi were growing. He was starting to lose control over his words.

Asahi was particularly baffled by the guy's persistence. He had been rejected by Sana once at school for whatever reason, yet he still had the guts to tail her all the way from school to this obscured neighborhood, even attempting to use physical force against her too. Reporting this to the police would undoubtedly result in serious repercussions for him, but Asahi chose not to escalate the situation any further. He just wanted the guy to leave them alone.

"Say, how about this?" He moved uncomfortably close to them, then continued. "I'll play this one game with you. For the GCC3, I'll team up with someone else, and if your team wins, I'll leave you and Sana-chan alone. How does that sound?"