Chapter 3: Let the Battles Begin!
The next morning, I found myself standing barely awake amongst a crowd of people at the backstage of some theater. Brief flashback mode start.
After wasting valuable resting time with the neighbouring team, I finally decided to hit the bed and call it a day. However, since I had gone to bed at close to 3:00 AM, when I was dragged out of bed by Haruhi, I had only managed to get five hours of sleep. Of course, she didn't seem the least bit tired, like one of those soldiers who took medication to stay awake without fatigue. The same would apply to Koizumi, Nagato, and Asahina. I was practically force fed breakfast, then loaded into the back of a van. Almost like a kidnapping, if you will. Nara was driving again, and I faded in and out of consciousness the whole trip. And after half an hour or so, I was grabbed again and hauled off into some massive building. And before I knew it, I was standing where I am now; at the back of a stage, behind some curtains, with the rest of the SOS Brigade. Am I seriously the only one who was completely exhausted by last night's events?
"Attention everyone! The opening ceremony is going to begin."
The announcement came from a girl wearing a blue game master uniform. I don't think I've been introduced to her yet.
"Hey, Kyon!" Haruhi whacked me in the back with the force of a hammer. "Stand up straight, and fix your hair! Don't make the SOS Brigade look pathetic in front of all these people!"
The impact sent a jolt through my body, sending me perfectly upright before. Is that seriously how you treat a guy who's down and out like me? That's quite uncalled for.
"You look like a loser when you droop down with hair like that! I won't let one person such as you mess this up for all of us!"
Haruhi laid down the law as she pointed a menacing finger at me. Damn girl. I should seriously consider mutiny during the course of this competition.
Koizumi smirked at me. "Didn't get enough sleep last night?"
Go figure I didn't. I quickly patted my hair down as best as I could. I don't know how Koizumi still had that irritating smile of his when he slept even later than me.
"Dealing with the Celestials has constantly kept me on my feet." Koizumi glanced at Haruhi as he whispered that. "I've become accustomed to the alterations to my usual sleeping pattern."
Trying my best to keep my eyes open, I took a quick look around at the teams. There were eight teams of five including us. Not surprisingly, no one was wearing their school uniforms. That seems like a lot of school spirit. I also spotted Hisao standing with his team. Oddly enough though, he was the only one on his team who seemed to be sleeping while standing. Shizune and Misha were totally fine.
When the proceedings actually started, it was sort of like a school's opening ceremony for a new school year. Nara and the other GM girl were the masters of ceremonies, calling up important individuals to give speeches. Since I was hardly awake to begin with, I didn't pay attention to a single word spoken, but I did see that the people giving them wore formal attire, like business people. After the speeches were done, the teams were introduced either by their school name or by a club name. When it was our turn to introduce ourselves though, it was the first time I got a good look at the audience in the theater, and much to my surprise, there were at least a thousand people there. Most of them were kids or high school students, but there were also a handful of adults scattered here and there. While I was analyzing the crowd, Haruhi was busy shouting a cheer at the audience. Enthusiastic as always, I suppose. After all the teams were introduced, the GMs finally introduced themselves.
"Before we begin the main event, allow us to introduce the GMs." Nara motioned to the girl next to him. "This is GM Akira Takano. She'll be handling the game selections and matchmaking."
Akira returned the gesture. "Thank you. And this is GM Nara Hishikawa. He will deal with all technicality issues, and any hardware problems that may arise."
"Now that we've introduced everyone, let the battles… begin!" Nara turned and pointed a finger at a big screen used for a projector.
A cheer came from the audience. Wow, this actually feels like a competition. It doesn't hold a candle to the level of something like the Olympic Games, but…
"The game selection will begin now." Akira nodded at someone sitting at the back of the theater.
With the press of a button on a laptop, the projector lit up, and words started scrolling down like pictures in a slot machine. Eventually, the words came to a halt, and the name of the game displayed was "Counter Strike".
"The game has been chosen; a five on five battle, and now…the opening matchups!"
The words Counter Strike faded away and the names of the teams swirled into view like a vortex. Four names remained after the animation had ended.
"The first two games have been decided!" Nara gave an excited shout. "The SOS Brigade will take on the home team, Yagami High's Coalition, and the Ouran Academy Host Club is opposed by the Yamaku High Student Council!"
Dang it. I was hoping to avoid an opening round confrontation so I'd be able to snooze for a bit.
"Alright, we're in the opening matches! Let's show them what we're made of!" Haruhi did a fist pump, and then held up Nagato and Asahina's hands in some sort of a cheering stance.
"Koizumi…" I faced the SOS Brigade's yes-man. I think the look on my face was enough to convey my message. I really, really, don't want to do this.
"May the four selected teams please remain on the stage."
I don't think I'd be able to leave the stage no matter how badly I wanted to, so I obediently remained in place. After the other teams left, the remaining teams were left to face their opponents.
"…These guys are sort of intimidating, don't you think?"
Directly opposing us was a team of all guys; a team that from just looks alone told me that we were in for it. The team members are as follows: A gruff-looking dark skinned guy wearing sunglasses (sunglasses indoors?); a foreigner with blonde hair, the kind that seemed to be popular with the girls; a buff guy with black hair and a pony tail; a guy wearing glasses who looks like he'd be the class rep type; and another guy with blond hair but wasn't a foreigner, although he concerned me the least.
Haruhi stood facing our opponents without the slightest trace of fear or anxiety. I don't know how anyone can face these guys and not be at least a bit frightened, but it seems that Haruhi has a knack for standing confidently against any odd. Overconfidently I might even say.
Akira tapped her microphone again to make sure it was working before speaking. "I will now do a roster listing for each team. From the home team, we have Harima Kenji, Harry Mackenzie, Togo Masakazu, Haruki Hanai, and Imadori Kyosuke. From the SOS Brigade, we have Haruhi Suzumiya, Mikuru Asahina, Yuki Nagato, Itsuki Koizumi, and Kyon."
Akira turned her index finger towards the other competitors. "From the Ouran Academy Host Club, we have Haruhi Fujioka, Tamaki Suoh, Kyoya Otori, Mitsukuni Haninozuka, and Hikaru Hitachiin. From the Yamaku High Student Council, we have Hisao Nakai, Hanako Ikezawa, Shizune Hakamichi, Shiina Mikado, and Kenji Setou."
"Huh…" At the mention of the name Haruhi Fujioka, Haruhi (Suzumiya) turned in the boy's general direction to check him out. "He's not half-bad looking."
Focus, Haruhi (Suzumiya). We have bigger problems than him. Look at the people standing across from us.
"D cup, D cup…It's gotta be D cup…"
My focus, however, was redirected by the random muttering from one of our opponents. The one named Imadori Kyosuke was, from my vantage point, staring at Asahina's chest while muttering that. I don't think anyone else, even Asahina, noticed this. Now that bugs me. When this is all said and done, since I can't beat up anyone on stage, I'll drag this guy out the back doors and teach him a lesson about giving people indecent looks. Especially at Asahina.
"Well, let's get to it then." Nara led us away from the stage, and out the backdoor of the theater.
After a few seconds of walking, we reached a small room with five computers, reclining chairs, and headsets. I could tell they were high end because of all the aesthetics and logos written on them. So many logos that I didn't even want to bother looking at anything asides the Intel one. The room was rather bland asides that though. It was painted completely white. The computers were already booted up, and the multiplayer menu of Counter Strike was on the monitor of all of them.
Nara gave me a friendly pat on the back. "Try to get at least one kill. And remember, this will be broadcasted to the audience."
Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Maybe I'll sneak in a few minutes of sleeping time while I'm at it.
"Alright peoples, this is what we've been waiting for! Now get on those machines and let's roll!" Haruhi wanted in battle positions, and we had not much of a choice but to obey.
Koizumi and I warmed up a bit yesterday against bots, but Haruhi, Nagato, and Asahina hadn't as much as even touched Counter Strike yesterday. That means Koizumi and I are the only ones who even have a clue as to how to play the game. This is turning out to be an even bigger disadvantage than the time we took on the Computer Research Society.
"See that lobby?" Koizumi pointed at the server named "SOS vs. Yagami". "We're going to use that one."
Thanks for the words of wisdom. I'm sure next you can help me type my name into the user profile creation menu.
After entering my name successfully, and entering the lobby, we were informed by the GMs that we were supposed to be the counter-terrorists, and that the map we'd be playing on is de_dust2 or something like that. After a 10 second count down, we were all loaded up and put into the game. And as per regulations, all of us started with only the default pistols and $800.
"Wah…how do I move my person around?" Asahina frantically pressed buttons to try and get her character to move around. I'm not even sure if she was moving the mouse.
"Use the WASD keys to move around. The direction of movement corresponds directly to the direction of the keys relative to your character. Use your mouse to look around." The handsome freak gave Asahina a quick demonstration.
"Move it and stop sitting around!" Haruhi by this time was well out of the spawning zone.
I wasn't too far behind her. Someone needs to back her up, and I guess I'm elected. Koizumi will have to deal with Nagato and Asahina's inexperience. Though I think Nagato will pick up the game faster. Wandering through the desert like map, Haruhi and I quickly reached a hallway of some sort, and it was connect to two exits, one straight and one right. Here is where the first encounter started. One of the enemies had wandered into the dark hallway near the middle of the map from the right exit, and did not notice the two of us coming up.
"Eat lead!" Haruhi smashed her left mouse button as fast as she could.
I didn't even get a single shot away, as Haruhi's aim was surprisingly precise. The shots nailed the guy right in the head. Took it right out of him. First kill of the competition scored by Haruhi Suzumiya. It seems like the guy that was killed was that Imadori guy from earlier. Of course though, what followed next was not good news.
"What?!" Haruhi stared at her monitor in blank surprise when both she and I were gunned down by the two people coming in from the front exit. Apparently, Imadori had been bait.
"Hey, Koizumi." I turned my chair to face him. "Any luck with them?"
"What do you expect?"
"Grr…" Haruhi hand both hands on her monitor like she was about detach it and throw it at the wall.
That was just one death. No need to make a fuss. There's plenty where that came from, so no need to break anything just yet.
"Hah…" I clicked on my minimap to enlarge it, and saw that Asahina had finally been able to move, and Nagato was already in combat with the enemy. Koizumi was staying back at the bomb zone near the fight and completely out of danger for now.
"Koizumi! Get in there and slaughter them!" Haruhi barked out orders to the SOS Brigade's Deputy Chief.
"With all due respect, Miss Brigade Chief." Koizumi gave an exaggerated resigned sigh. "If we all charge into the enemy, we will surely be defeated if they are more skilled than us. We must use the map to our advantage. At times like this, a simple trap can prove to be effective."
As he said that, Nagato was taken out of the game, after killing exactly zero enemies, and hurting maybe only one of them. Asahina was gunned down after stepping out into the open.
"Koizumi, you're the last man left. Don't let the SOS Brigade down!" Haruhi turned back to her own monitor to watch the now four versus one round.
Using spectator mode, I viewed the map using a free-fly camera. All four of the enemies remaining were closing in on bombsite B now, and two of them were at low health. The third was at okay health, and the fourth was at almost 100% health. If Koizumi can pull a win out of this, I'll be impressed. Seeing as how he usually loses in his games against me, I don't think he has a particularly good chance of winning though.
One of the enemies was planting the bomb now. It was at this moment when Koizumi decided to strike. Having attached a suppressor onto his weapon, he silently took out the one planting the bomb, and then finished off one of the hurt enemies with a head shot before moving to new cover. Now fully aware of the fact that their enemy was there, our remaining foes decided to fan out and find Koizumi. Koizumi turned a corner and hid behind a crate. One walked past him without noticing, and Koizumi immediately cashed in by firing a few rounds into his back. The problem now was that the last two competitors in this round were both at high health, and I don't know if their skill levels are the same. Koizumi crouched down and walked back past the corner, and glanced out into the open. It was at that moment when two gunshots came. Both hit Koizumi, dropping him down to only 15 health. Koizumi quickly turned back, and ran in the opposite direction. Yeah, he's definitely on the ropes now.
"Koizumi, come on! Just one more guy, just get him!" Haruhi wasn't being particularly helpful by distracting Koizumi.
"Hmm." Koizumi paused behind an archway, and looked out into the open again. No one was there.
Then suddenly, an announcement lit up everyone's screen: "The timed bomb has been planted."
"This complicates things." Koizumi smirked and walked out into the open. Seeing the enemy who planted the bomb, he took a few shots at him. I don't know if the shots hit him or not, but the enemy was now alerted to Koizumi's new position. Koizumi ducked behind the archway. Just then, something unexpected happened. A red cylinder landed in front of Koizumi's feet and detonated, killing him instantly.
"Terrorists win!" The announcer relayed the demise of the SOS Brigade for everyone to hear.
"What?!" Haruhi couldn't believe what had just happened. "Did he cheat?! How did he do that?!"
"Settle down, Haruhi." I used the calmest voice that I could manage. "We're given $800 to start with. That is more than enough to buy grenades and stuff. I just didn't think of that at fi-"
Haruhi's hand shot out and grabbed me, silencing me before I could finish. "You knew about that and you didn't tell us?! Why?! We lost because we didn't know that! And don't say I-"
"You didn't ask." It was my turn to cut her off. "Let's get back to it. There are 15 rounds, and that was only round one. It's early, so don't panic."
"Hmph!" Haruhi turned around with a huff, looking greatly displeased. "There'll be punishment for you after this if we don't win!"
Yikes. That is never a good sign. I'm going to hope that we won't have to deal with any supernatural stuff because of Haruhi's frustration. Especially not closed space. We'd be short a team member if Koizumi has to go deal with it, and that'd make things even worse.
I took a deep breath, as round two was about to commence.
…