Chapter 3: Ishimaru's game
"Hey bro. Today's your turn to scare Naegi, right?" asked Mondo to his bro as he was helping him arranging his own room.
"Yes, it is!" exclaimed the Moral Compass.
"But do you even play games? Want me to help you finding one?" the Biker asked.
"There's no need, bro! I know one game…" Ishimaru said.
"Really? Is it scary? Wait, what are you doing with this?!"
To this question, the teenager put down the tiger underwear back in the drawer.
"I wouldn't say that. But it will certainly make Naegi-kun scream."
That evening, 30 minutes after the beginning of the challenge.
"I'M DONE! I'M F-"
"Naegi-kun! Language!"
"-FREAKING DONE! THIS IS BULLSHHHHHHRIMP! SPIKES! GRAVITY! FFFFFIRETRUCK!"
Suddenly the door burst open as Naegi exited the room with heavy steps and walked down the hallway, trying to look menacing, under the surprised eyes of his classmates. They had to admit, he looked more cute than menacing walking like this.
The luckster approached a dorm door, on the door was the name of a student from class 76, it was…
"ETHOS!" Naegi yelled as he banged on the door.
The door opened and a black and red haired older teenager came out, he had grey eyes and a scar on the left corner of his lips. The Ultimate Destruction looked down on the younger student.
"Oh hi, Makoto! 'Sup?" he greeted with a confused smile.
"Destruction ground. Now!...please." said the luckster.
"Huh?"
"Rrrrrrrraaaaaaa!" shouted Naegi, armed with a sledgehammer, smashing it against a dark wall, not even leaving a scratch on it.
Behind him was Ethos staring at him with wide eyes, clearly confused and wondering why the fluffy luckster was so mad. He kind of reminded him of a little cartoon-like bunny angrily jumping around.
In the main building, behind the windows, the rest of the 78th class was looking at their classmate screaming in rage against a wall.
"Well… he screamed. Does that count?" asked Taka to his bro.
"Uh… I guess? But what did you do to him?" asked the biker, scratching the back of his head.
"A game that horrified me. That left a scar in my mind. I made him play-"
"Geometry Dash?" said Naegi, reading the title of the game as some blocks were gliding on the game's floor from left to right, "But Ishimaru-kun, this isn't a horror game."
Ishimaru coughed in his clenched hand and pointed at Naegi.
"It maybe not be one. But this game horrified me! My old classmates told me I would never be able to complete this game. Ah! The frustration!" he closed his eyes, trembling a bit.
"O-Ok… Alright, I never thought I'd be playing this game. It never crossed my mind." smiled the luckster. "It shouldn't be that hard, right?"
"... Then, let's try with the first level. It's easy enough, just press the spacebar to jump. You'll move automatically to the right, you must avoid the obstacles like walls or spikes."
Naegi started with the first level, it was rather easy as he finished in the second try, he died when the little block he was playing turned into a plane and he had to keep the jump button pressed to go up. But he quickly mastered the moment. Then he proceeded with the second level. This one also was easy, third try and it was done.
"So it's actually some sort of rhythm game, right?" Naegi smiled, he was actually having fun.
The music was actually very nice and the controls were easy! What could go wrong?
The difficulty. That's what could go wrong. He learned that in the fifth level, where after 15 tries, he died at the same spot. Then the five next tries, he died at the beginning. In a place he should have already mastered.
Naegi let out a loud frustrated sigh as he quit the level and try another one, unfortunately, there were only higher levels left. So he picked the another one.
It was worse. It was very hard! He couldn't even go through 34% of the level. So he tried practice… and even on practice mode he was having difficulties at the 75% moment. After retrying 80 times. He had enough. So he tried a slightly easier level. And something happened.
"I jumped! I pressed the spacebar! You saw me press the spacebar, right?!" he shouted at Ishimaru who didn't know what to reply.
Naegi was getting very frustrated as he clenched his fist and pressed the button with it.
"Now I'm pressing, right?! Can you feel it stupid game?!" The ahoge boy shouted as he was now 'pressing' the button harder than necessary.
"Naegi-Kun! Calm down! This is Fujisaki-san's laptop!" exclaimed Ishimaru, grabbing the teenager's shoulder.
"You're right. I'm sorry. Breathe…" he took a deep breath and started the level again. To die on the first spike.
He exploded.
"And after that he got out of the room and is now releasing his frustration in Ethos' destruction ground." Ishimaru explained to his classmates as yells from the ahoge boy were heard in the background.
"You made him play Geometry Dash? AND told him to calm down in a frustrating level? Cruel… I like it." smirked Junko.
"You did make him scream… So I guess it's a win?" said Kirigiri, looking outside.
Naegi let out a mighty roar as he smashed one last time the sledgehammer into the wall, scratching it while Ethos was trying to calm him down as he would do with a Raptor.
OMAKE
"Can I try the game?" suddenly asked Mondo, "my boys never let me play it before."
"Hmm… You see, it's a raging game. And you have the tendency to loose your temper very quickly, bro." said Taka.
"Now I really wanna try it! Please."
"Fine, I'll be behind you to stop you if you go overboard." The Moral Compass conceded as he led his bro inside the room, in front of the laptop still on, "Here's the first level. Press space to jump, avoid the spikes and walls."
Mondo started the level, he jumped over the first spike. He went to 10% and died. He stood silent. He started again and died again, he suddenly stood up, the laptop between his hand and over his head, ready to smash it down. Ishimaru immediately jumped into action.
"BRO STOP!"
Who should go next?
Asahina and Sakura? Kirigiri? or Yamada?
