42: How to Beat Your Rival!
A single girl enters the shop.
A drill-haired ojou-sama with bluish-white hair. It’s Aroma-Eustia.
Necca, the hot-blooded boy who’d been having various exchanges with me at the counter, and I greet her.
“Ah, it’s the lady who came to the shop and collapsed the other day.”
“I-I’m Aroma.”
“Welcome, Aroma-san. What brings you here today?”
I’ve only met Aroma-san once before, the other day.
Even though she calls me Master Manager and such, it’s not like I’m constantly by her side training her.
Or rather, simply put, it seems Aroma-san lives quite far away, so she doesn’t have many opportunities to come to the shop. Alice-san also said that Eustia is a prestigious family.
She must be busy as an ojou-sama (young lady) in various ways.
Well, I don’t know if Alice-san in Europe and Aroma-san living in Japan have the same lifestyle.
“I had some free time, so I came to visit.”
“Heh, same as me then!”
“Um… you are… Necca-sama… if I recall correctly.”
“You know about me?”
Yes, Aroma-san nods.
Apparently, she had watched the large-scale amateur Fighter tournament “Future Ignition Fest” that Necca participated in before and knew his name.
That was quite a large-scale tournament, and it was packed with content—conspiracies, settling of grudges, and more.
That was what sparked Necca and Crow’s friendship, and with his parent’s job transfer, Crow moved to this town.
Since then, the two have been polishing their skills as best friends every day……
“Oh right, I’ve got time right now. Aroma-neesan, wanna Fight with me?”
“Eh!? M-me!?”
Today, Crow is absent, and other familiar regulars are also absent, so Necca has been at loose ends.
And just then, a strong-looking Fighter who knows him appears.
It’s natural to seize this opportunity and challenge them to a Fight. However……
“But, um, a Fight with me… wouldn’t be very fun, I think?”
“……? There’s no such thing as a Fight that’s not fun! Let’s do it!”
Aroma-san is a user of what’s called a Lockburn deck.
Decks that win by not letting the opponent do anything can sometimes make opponents uncomfortable. That said, there’s no need to worry about that with Necca.
“It’s no problem. Necca is a strong Fighter.”
“Hehe, hearing you say that makes me embarrassed, Manager-san……”
“Master Manager-sama……”
That said, I do understand Aroma-san’s hesitation.
So, it’s good for me to throw her a lifeline.
As a result, Aroma-san is convinced by my words and agrees to Fight Necca.
“Daaah! I lost!”
“I-I won…”
The result is Aroma-san’s victory.
Honestly, it could have gone either way, but Aroma-san won. In terms of experience as a Fighter, Necca has more years under his belt.
I thought Necca would have the advantage.
But still, it was a splendid Fight.
“You both had a great Fight.”
“It’s rare for Necca to lose~”
Haku-san and Atsumi-chan, who happened to be at the shop, offer their words.
That’s an unusual combination, isn’t it?
“Mmm, it hurt that my bluff failed!”
“That last Counter Effect… if I’d mistimed it, I would have lost.”
And as for the two who actually Fought:
A cheerful Necca and an exhausted-looking Aroma-san.
Aroma-san had been forced to play quite delicately against the strong opponent Necca.
The lock she’d established was broken through three times. Honestly, it’s impressive she managed to recover.
As a result, she herself seems quite exhausted though.
“So, how was it? Aroma-san.”
“Manager-san, aren’t you gonna ask me?”
“There’s no need to ask you.”
Right away, I ask the victorious Aroma-san for her thoughts.
After all, I’m called Master Manager, so there might be advice I can give.
“Fights… can be this exhausting.”
“Fights against strong Fighters are draining when you’re not used to them… Pro Fighters sometimes do this multiple times a day.”
“It’s a long road ahead…”
Aroma-san still lacks experience as a Fighter. She’ll grow stronger and stronger from here on, but for now, there are probably more things she’s not used to.
“That was fun, Aroma-neesan!”
“Y-yes… It was very educational for me too. And also……”
Also? Necca tilts his head.
“Master Manager’s words… that strong Fighters will enjoy Fighting with me too. I understood the meaning of those words.”
“I’m strong? Hehe, of course!”
Being competitive and having no doubt in his own strength is what makes Necca great.
Aroma-san, who lacks confidence in Fights and has low self-esteem, seems impressed somehow.
And, there’s one more thing I need to say to Aroma-san.
I don’t forget to throw it at her.
“And… Aroma-san, you had fun too, didn’t you?”
“Eh……”
“——This Fight.”
“…………Yes!”
At those words, Aroma-san nods with a beaming smile.
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Apparently, aside from her purpose of coming to play, Aroma-san had another objective.
It was a consultation. About the Magical Fighter matter—she had something she wanted to talk to me about.
“I see… a rival, huh.”
The consultation was about the existence of another Magical Fighter who appeared before Aroma-san.
Apparently, she’s an emotionless beauty like Erea was before she mellowed out.
It’s such a standard rival attribute you could call it ironclad.
……When you think about it that way, Aroma-san, an ojou-sama Lockburn user, is abnormally abnormal. Everything else about her is conventional though.
“Yes… that girl tells me not to get involved any further.”
“She probably knows various behind-the-scenes circumstances, so she doesn’t want civilians getting involved.”
“Is that… what it is? To me, that girl’s feelings of rejection toward me are so strong that… I don’t really understand.”
Well, there are individual differences.
However, if you express it roughly, that’s what it comes down to… which is true for most rival Fighters. Specifically speaking……
“Hmm? So you fought someone like Crow?”
“Ah… Necca-sama.”
As it happens, Necca’s rival… Crow was similar.
By the way, we’re avoiding specific names so it’s not a problem if someone overhears, since we’re having this conversation in a way that avoids issues.
If they don’t bring up names from their side, not stepping into their secrets is common sense among Fighters.
“Ah, Crow is my rival and…”
“Um, the person who faced off against Necca-sama in the Future Fest finals… right?”
“Yeah yeah. By the finals he’d mellowed out, but in the old days, Crow was like Aroma-neesan’s rival too.”
Well, he was a typical cool-type rival, Crow was.
In this respect, they both feel like orthodox protagonists.
And Necca and Aroma-san have something else in common.
“At first, I couldn’t beat Crow at all.”
“Well… that’s true. I also don’t feel like I can beat that girl at all……”
Early on, the rival is clearly stronger—that’s another commonality.
This is also, if you call it a common story, it’s a common story.
And that’s precisely why Necca has advice he can give to Aroma-san.
“At first, I really didn’t want to lose to Crow. Back then he was an annoying guy, and I was competitive too. But I couldn’t win at all.”
“……Is it different now?”
“Now… I mean. The reason I became able to win was because I tried to understand Crow.”
Understanding your opponent. Simple, but difficult.
Especially with Crow, since early on he was quite a nasty rival.
“Not just as an enemy, but I acknowledged Crow as an opponent to surpass. Once I did that, I naturally became able to beat Crow.”
“That’s… somehow wonderful.”
“Well, Aroma-neesan seems to want to know more about that person anyway, so maybe it was unnecessary advice.”
Saying that with a wry smile, Necca turns his attention to Aroma-san’s deck.
“……In neesan’s case, you need to do something about being controlled by your deck first, right?”
“That’s… right. Though it’s difficult.”
Being controlled by the deck. That’s a good way to put it.
Due to past events, Aroma-san’s compatibility with cards has become somewhat distorted.
To bring it to the form Aroma-san desires will still require much effort.
“What’s this, Necca’s starting to carry himself like a senior now.”
“Whoa! Don’t pat my head and treat me like a child while saying that!”
After patting and praising Necca, who threw out perfect words,
I add my own.
“If Aroma-san isn’t giving up yet, you’ll have to try tackling things one at a time. That rival too, and Aroma-san’s daily life.”
“Gaining experience… right? I understand, Master Manager-sama!”
It seems Aroma-san was able to make this experience meaningful.
I’m satisfied being able to witness Necca’s growth too… but.
“The first step to becoming stronger! That is deck reinforcement. So Aroma-chan, please take this.”
At that moment, Erea suddenly appears and pushes something onto Aroma-san.
It’s… a box of the pack that contains [Angel Michiru].
“Um, this is……”
“Please accept it without concern, ohoho……”
Actually, after that, Erea bought another carton of the reprinted [Michiru] packs.
With this, she finally gathered three [Michiru] cards, but she pulled [Michiru] from the very first box. As a result, boxes remained.
And since Erea has bought nearly six cartons of this pack, all the cards except [Michiru] are duplicates and there’s little point in opening them… so she’s distributing them apparently.
Don’t trouble Aroma-san too much, I think as I watch.
TIPS: After working hard to collect three [Michiru] cards, Erea calmly realized that if she’s putting them in her deck, one would be enough.
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