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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 551 Part 2

ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 551: Combination With Little To No Margin Part 2

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The time of their meeting was set to take place at approximately 8:30, and because of that he thought it would be a good idea to actually arrive at the scene early. Originally, it was his idea to maybe go to the café inside of the station and kill some time there until the appointed time was here, but……

「「Ah!!」」」

At the current moment, even though there were roughly two more hours until the appointed time was here, Rakuro happened to bump into none other than Saiga Rei at the front of the station.

「G-Good morning? I guess?」

「Ah, morning…… I JUST HAPPENED TO GET HERE MYSELF!」

「Y-Yeah. I can see that.」

What a coincidence for the two of them to actually meet at the front of the station at this strangely early time! Looking at Saiga Rei, Rakuro could see it in her eyes: she must have calculated that it would be a good move to arrive at the appointed place earlier than they planned, and the shock upon seeing him here…… Guess that the two of them must have thought alike and came up with the same kind of idea. And no matter how you look at it, a situation quite like that is something that was a staple in many different dating sims. Or actually, it was that kind of cliché that you would actually expect to occur at every single time. Normally it is used as a gag or a comic relief, but sometimes it would also be used in some serious scenarios and situations, to signify the importance of the scene. Rakuro happened to play those types of games as well, but it was a long time ago now…… Maybe a few months? Or maybe even a year and a half back? It was honestly quite hard for him to remember properly.

「Be that as it may, we still have some time until the train that would get us to the JGE comes here. Would you like to do something else in the meantime, Saiga-san? We need to kill some time either way here. Umm, Saiga-san?」

「N-No, not at all! Yes! Let’s do just that! Yes! That’s a great idea! Umm, clothes! Yes, clothes! Good!」

Hmm, clothes? Ohhh, yeah that’s right. Huh? Umm, oh yeah. Pencilgton once told me that in a situation like that it is always a good idea to give the woman a compliment about how her clothes look. That should always score you a whole lot of points, right?

「Now that I think about it, this is actually the second time we see one another wearing plain, everyday clothes, right? Back then you wore a kimono, but today’s not the case, I see. That dress…… Yeah, I think it looks good on you. It’s really lovely.」

「FUGYUH…………!!!!!! Y-You too, Rakuro-kun!! Those clothes look really good on you! Yes! Very good, indeed!!」

Ah, there we go! Let’s get this show on the road! However, it would be a good idea to watch out, because we might get thrown off road relatively quickly and relatively easily!

It was certainly a good thing that I came here early. Yes. Hooray for turning in early when you know that you have to wake up early!

For the time being, the two of them were really standing out from amongst the gathered crowd of people, so they decided to enter one of the many coffee shops around the area, or at the very least those that were opened up this early in the morning, and wait there until it would be time for their train to arrive.

「COFFEE…… COFFEE, HUH!?」

It’s really a shame that Riot Blood is not going to be available in establishments like this one, because honestly, I would really need one of them right now just to be on the safe side, but it’s not really nearly as bad as I thought it would be…… Now then, what is the breakfast set that they are serving here? Ohh, this looks promising. Now, let’s hope that it tastes just as good as it looks.

「Umm, excuse me! I would like to order this Original Blend Café Au Lait and Seafood Egg Benedict Set……」

A short while later.

「Ah, well then…… Umm, as for me…… I would like a Weiner Plus Coffee and Vegetarian Egg Benedict Set……」

Saiga-san was also ready to place her order after a moment of intense deliberation.

「「…………」」

For a moment out there, there was a silence between the two of them. For some reason, the shop’s clerk was smiling at the two with a really warm expression painted all over her face. Could it be because of the atmosphere that was surrounding the two? Or maybe the way in which they were both looking at one another in complete silence?

「Fufufufu…… A Seafood and Vegetable Eggs Benedict Sets, right? Very well, then. Please wait a moment. Your orders will be with you shortly.」

Kuh, the day only managed to begin, and from the get go I am being forced to say all those difficult-sounding names…… What the hell even is this, Egg Benedict? It sounds like some sort of a special move in a fighting game, if I’m being perfectly honest here.

「Ahh…… Maybe it would also be a good idea to make a plan for what exactly are we going to do once we get there, don’t you think?」

「Y-Yes, that’s actually a good idea…… Umm, look, I know that we are going for the JGE, but…… Where do we even want to go once we get there?」

「Huh? Ahh, yeah, about that…… Maybe we should go and see if ShangriLa Frontier really has a booth there? Who knows, it might be really worth our while.」

Yes, that’s because it was the game that the two of them were playing together, so it made a whole lot of sense to visit it together as well. Especially since it was the game that was keeping its position on the absolute top of the popularity charts when it comes to video games in Japan at the current moment. So going there was perfectly reasonable.

Basically, the JGE is the kind of event that allows both the big shots of the industry as well as the smaller developers an equal opportunity to show their product to the greater audience and maybe gain some players outside of their targeted niche, who would want to try it just for fun or the heck of it. It was also the best place to announce some of the newer titles that were already in development or would be making their debut in the not so distant future. In that regard, even the developers of games such as Nephilim Hollow would probably be there, although their booth would surely be of smaller size than the bigger developers. And it was actually really nice to see a game such as NephHoll to be here, especially since it used to be such a depopulated game back in the day.

「It seems that one of the goods that will be available to purchase there is going to be the artbook with the various pictures portraying the NPCs from the game.」

「…… I’m not actually all that fond of the merchandise like that, but let’s just give it the benefit of the doubt and assume that it will be as good as the game itself.」

Ah, so does that mean that some illustrators got asked to draw their favorite waifus and husbandos if they had any? That’s usually the case with things like that. Other than that, some illustrators would occasionally draw their rendition of their own characters if they happened to be actively playing the game. Yeah, the power of science combined with the devotion to the fictional character is truly a thing to be feared indeed.

「Say, Rakuro-kun? Is there some developer out there that you particularly like or care about?」

「Huh? Ahh? Umm, well…… Yeah, I guess there is……」

I mean, yeah, technically there is, but……Their newest game is going to be the first one after they have exploded in popularity after being more or less unheard of and having flown under everyone’s radar…… Before that, they were making about ninety percent of shitty games where the vast majority of the budget was directed towards the character designs with utter disregard to everything else. But having a notorious reputation like that, when the developer suddenly announces that they are working on the new project completely out of the blue like that, there is no way that people won’t pick up on this and won’t try to at least see what the deal is all about.

「I’m terribly sorry for the delay. Here is your order; one Seafood and Egg Benedict Set and one Vegetable Egg Benedict Set…… By the way, could it be that the two of you are on the date today?」

「A DATE, YOU SAY……!?」

「Hahaha, this person here is my gaming friend. Today, we have decided to go together for this big annual event called JGE: Japan Game Expo.」

「Oh my, is that so……? Well then, have fun at the event, you two!」

「Yes, thank you very much. That is exactly what we are going to do…… Huh? S-Saiga-san!? Is everything alright!?」

Ahh, yeah, that’s not good. I can see that Saiga-san is NOT alright at all. Quite the opposite, actually. It seems that she has completely frozen in place.