A simple Sunday, free of gangsters, crime and all jazz, arrived to the scene. The gang that was supposed to have a fun time at arcades earlier day took a refuge in Nanami's house. They have decided to not go anywhere due safety reasons. It can get tiring dealing with mafiosos every day, so they just hoped one day without them. One day where they could relax for real.
The gang, compromising of five folk, all dozed off on couch, since Chiaki's bed was occupied by another participant of the stay over, their teacher Chisa Yukizome. After a bit of a debate a day earlier, Chiaki managed to convince her to have the most comfortable sleep possible. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang didn't exactly disagree on sleeping on the couch, since the alternative seemed to be the floor. Events from the day earlier were still on their mind, but they attempted to repress their worries with a nice, comfortable sleep. Some of them, like the dreaming gal Chiaki herself, had dreams amid the calming sleep. Others, not so much. One of them was Hajime, who was just about to wake up. Through out some time, he had an odd feeling on him.
"Hm, I feel something somewhat heavy…..and soft on me. It's actually kind of a nice feeling...I have to admit. Yeah, just...comfortable..." Hajime thought about it on who or what was giving him such a feeling. It was almost making him fall back to sleep, but he persisted. Then he found out the source of it.
It was Hope's peak's de facto sleepyhead herself, Chiaki. Not only she was sleeping on him as if he were her bed, she was clinging onto him like a baby. Not helped by the accompanied snoring and even drooling. The dreamer was also mumbling and murmuring in her sleep, albeit quietly. The ahoge boy was in quite for a treat when he saw his fellow classmate sleeping so carefree on him.
"W-what the heck?! W-when did you get here?" Hajime's face became as red as a cherry upon the sight of sleeping Nanami. His ahoge reacted too, with him feeling like he was succumbing into softness. "I can't even move...She has completely trapped me in her….softness….What am I thinking?!".
He needed a plan for others not to see him with Nanami glued on him. Not to mention all other oddities that were happening, such as the unexpected smell of in-pan-cooked cakes.
"Gah, everyone else is-…" Hajime looked around, but soon that "everyone" became "everyone except one" when he saw that someone was missing. Ibuki and Mayuri were still sleeping on the couch, so that meant only one thing. "...Wait, Fujisaki is already awake? And what exactly is...that smell? It smells like...pancakes? What's going on?".
Despite the situation he was in, he thought of a plan.
"Hmmm...perhaps it would be best to take her back to bed." Hajime suddenly lifted her, carrying her as if she was her bride. Chiaki still slept and snored like a little baby. She was also surprisingly lighter than expected, there were no issues with just lifting her up. Even carrying her wasn't too big of a deal. He decided to take her to bed, as silently as possible. Luckily, no one saw the logistics of sleeping Nanami, so he successfully took her to her bedroom. It seemed like Chisa was already awake, since the bed was unoccupied. Hajime tucked the sleepyhead in her bed, while also giving her that rabbit plushie of her to hold on. Temptation to pat her on her head was too big to just let it slide.
"Alright, rest here. Wake up when you feel like it, but don't sleep through out the entire day." Hajime patted her on her bed before he returned to the couch, with Ibuki and Mayuri still sleeping, thankfully for him. He sat down without disrupting both of them and took a breath. He was still confused on why the house smelled like pancakes.
"Ah, now I'm back. I should probably check up on Chihi-" Hajime thought of himself before his train of thought was quickly derailed by a sight he did not expect. "What the-?!".
Suddenly, the sleepyhead returned with her might, sleepwalking as she mumbled some incoherent yet quiet noises. The walk itself was rather awkward, yet coordinated enough to make her not bump into things. After looking like a sleep induced zombie, she stopped right in front of Hajime, only to do something he expected even less.
Bomf.
She fell on him, asserting herself back as the dominant sleeper. No one will stop her at deciding where she would sleep, such is the duty of the apex dreaming gal. Hajime, however, was having a chain reaction of total bewilderment, embarrassment and excitement within him at the same time.
"A-are you kidding me?! N-not that I'm complaining, but…" flustered Hajime before he noticed that someone yawned. It wasn't the soft, quiet yawn of Chiaki, it was quite louder and had more of a noticeable voice. Then he looked at the source of the yawn.
Ibuki Mioda has awakened. Before her energy became fully stored for the day, she went on all fours and did what felines usually do: kneaded the couch. It was exactly cat-like, to the point it felt like Ibuki was just a cat trapped in a human body. That description felt more than true a lot of times. Hajime just got even more baffled than before.
"...D-did you just knead right now?" stuttered Hajime upon witnessing Ibuki unleashing her inner cat on the world. Anything cat reminded him of a certain pink haired maid.
"Meeeoooowww." Ibuki began her day with such noise, while sporting quite a dopey look on her face. It was like an actual cat smile that would make other cat obsessed people quite jealous. "Good meow-meow-meowning, Hajime!".
"Oh god, the cat girl fully corrupted her." thought Hajime to himself, living with the fact that his life was never the same after he visited MayQueen. No matter where he goes, he cannot escape the cat. "Ah, uhm, I'll take that as a yes.".
After her vision became clear, Ibuki noticed that a certain gamer gal was sleeping on Hajime. Needless to say, her energy skyrocketed upon that sight.
"Oh….OH! What do I see, what do I see?" Ibuki's eyes lit up as she started looking with great interest at Hajime and the one who treated him like a bed.
"I-it's nothing, I swear it's nothing!" Hajime attempted to quell the situation from embarrassment. Little did he know that Ibuki was not the only one who saw him in such state.
"Hehehe, someone has taken a liking in you.~" giggled Mayuri, who still looked half asleep. It didn't help that it sounded like a tease, which made the situation even more embarrassing.
"Y-you too?!" Hajime became even more red in the face, it was like a cherry transforming into the raw color of crimson. He was surrounded by three dorks, who just didn't give him a break.
"Mayushii doesn't think there's anything wrong. Cute is justice!" reassured Mayuri in her own innocent way, adding a pumped up fist emphasize that there wasn't anything wrong with being in such situation.
"Those are words to live by, Mayuri!" Ibuki supported the claim that being cute is, quite indeed, justice. Meanwhile, Hajime's dignity was dying internally while two peppy girls were having a laugh.
"C-can we address the elephant in the room already?" interrupted Hajime their tomfoolery in order to address the lack of presence of certain someone. "Has either of you seen Fujisaki this morning?".
"Come to think of it...where is Fuji-chan?" Mayuri thought about upon noticing that he was no longer present on the couch. It took her a while, since her thought process is a bit on slower side. Not as slow as Chiaki's, but still no speed champion.
"Ibuki did hear some noises in the morning, but Ibuki's eyes were completely shut, like a jammed door of a toilet right when you need to do the deed." noted Ibuki while also remembering that there was a sound either in the night or in early morning.
"...That comparison aside, let's investigate, shall we?" Hajime initiated the search for the programmer and to an extension, their instructor as well.
"Are you gonna take Nana-chan as well?" happily asked Mayuri in sort of a teasing way. She even winked at him to make the situation even more embarrassing. Hajime, knowing he couldn't exactly leave Chiaki behind ever, had no option but to agree.
"...Y-yeah, of course…" and so, Hajime agreed to carry her while they were on their search. The search itself took an exhausting long time of less than a minute before they just stepped near the kitchen and found their friend. On one hand, they were glad to see he's still there. On other, he was wearing an apron. Why exactly he was wearing an apron, one could imagine.
"Ah!" Chihiro was just as surprised as others were. He seemed to already have some stains of what it seemed like to be batter. Considering the smell and currently the batter, it was already dawning upon them what was he and possibly Chisa up to. Except for Chiaki, she was still dreaming.
"There you are! We were just wondered where were you." cheerfully greeted Ibuki before she has noticed the batter on his apron."Oh, you're cooking up something as well?".
"Oh, uhm, sorry about that. I should have told you guys, but I didn't sleep well tonight." apologized Chihiro, even though none of them felt like he should. At the very least he was safe and not in the hands of mafia.
"Did you have a bad dream, Chihiro?" assumed Hajime, considering that's usually the reason why someone tends to not sleep well.
"Well….I didn't have dreams at all. I was just too anxious to fall asleep. Don't wanna cause any worries, though, because I….well...have a look." elaborated Chihiro before he lead them all to kitchen, where the source of the smell and batter revealed itself.
Pancakes, so many pancakes that it wasn't even funny anymore. It was like Chiaki's house became a pancake factory. Despite so many pancakes on one plate, the kitchen was scarily clean, to the point it was unnatural. The person responsible for the great pancake creation was none other than Chisa Yukizome, who was oddly fiery about it. She was like if Road Runner made pancakes, minus the "Meep Meep" sounds. Pancakes just kept rolling.
"Woooah!" Mayuri gasped at the awe of so many pancakes present right in front of her eyes.
"Oh...my goodness! This has just become pancake heaven!" cheered Ibuki as well. Upon hearing both girls, Chisa turned around to see the gang after she finished the last pancake.
"Mooorning, guys!" Chisa happily waved at them. Mayuri and Ibuki returned the wave, while Hajime was sort of confused.
"Um, good...morning, Miss Yukizome." Hajime greeted with some hesitation.
"What do you think, guys? Chihiro and me prepared something for just for you! Betcha you didn't expect this!" Chisa proudly put her hands around her hips, adding a nod of satisfaction as well.
"Certainly unexpected, to say at least." said Hajime as he was just looking how much pancakes she made. There could be leftovers, if not flat out stockpile of pancakes for a week. He wondered if it was necessary or not.
"That's right! We got a bit earlier and went to the store. I was looking for something to eat, only to find out that Nanami's fridge barely has anything in it! Naturally, I had to bring in supplies, but Chihiro also volunteered for the task!" Chisa explained on how a simple Sunday morning became pancake based Sunday.
"W-well, I just wanted to help, that's all." Chihiro downplayed himself, just to be humble about it. However, some details from what Chisa said were not as pleasant to hear. Even though all of them were hiding it for that moment, they were all concerned about how Chiaki seems to just neglect herself.
"You really need to take care of yourself, you heard that?" Hajime cautioned her while she was still sleeping while being carried. Suddenly, she started sniffing, looking around to find out what smelled so delicate yet pleasant.
"...Huh? What's that smell?" mumbled Chiaki as she sluggishly opened her eyes to see that her kitchen was suddenly occupied by pancake. Of course, she became confused. Drowsily confused.
"Oh, look who has awakened!" Ibuki announced sleepyhead's awakening. It was finally time for Chiaki to participate in their activities.
"Oh heck!" Hajime became startled when he noticed that Chiaki became fully awake. The latter took a while to notice that she was being carried. Upon noticing that, she also took some time to notice that it was Hajime who carried her like a bride or a baby. With a rather noticeable blush on her face, she just stared at the ahoge boy very awkwardly. In a way, she looked like a guilty puppy. "Good….morning, Chiaki."
"...Heh...morning." softly giggled Chiaki after rubbing her eye, slowly gaining her energy back. The vision of pancakes became clear. "When….did all of this happen?".
"Suuuurpriiiiiiseeee!" Chisa spread her arms, showing her work towards the now fully awake Nanami. Hajime put her on a chair not only because he felt like she can't be carried all the time, but because she needed something to eat. Chisa gave her the first pancake, but not only that, she also offered her spreads. There were two main options: cocoa spread, akin to Nutella and strawberry marmalade. Before she began eating, Chiaki just observed the pancake curiously.
"….Oooh, pancakes. They look not as thick as they usually show them." noted Chiaki after finally speaking up, noticing that pancakes she saw in video games were usually more fatter, accompanied with maple syrup and sometimes butter on top of the pile.
"Yeah, they really are thin. I was expecting some of that thickness too." added Ibuki as well, more referring to native pancakes, which made those mentioned earlier thin in comparison.
"That's because those are European pancakes. I remember Sonia talking about it, how do they differentiate from American and Japanese ones. I never knew there were so many pancakes in the first place. I initially wanted to go with American ones, since I know how to make those, but I'm trying out something new. I hope you guys like it." explained Chisa on how Sonia gave her the knowledge of various pancakes all around the world. At that moment, such knowledge expanded upon the rest of the gang.
"Wait, that's a Crêpe, right?" Hajime pointed out that he might have heard a similarly named food before.
"It is? Oh goodness, I think it is, but Sonia also called it pa...pa...palaccinka. It gets confusing at times. So many pancakes…" realized Chisa as she smacked her forehead, then stuttered at saying a foreign word of the Mediterranean origin out loud.
"Is there a guide on pancakes? Even Ibuki is lost on it." Ibuki scratched her head as she tried to comprehend the world of pancakes.
"Pancake is pancake!" declared Mayuri that no matter the name, all pancakes are pancakes. She even sounded oddly passionate and fiery about it.
"Yeah….pancake is pancake." agreed Hajime, although bewildered by all the times pancakes got mentioned within a single conversation.
"Now now, let us enjoy pancakes, guys!" announced Chisa as they all sat down on their seats and enjoyed their pancakes. Each of them choose what kind of spread would they use, like how Ibuki would spread chocolate all over pancake and "nom" it like a squirrel. Some chose to not be experimental, like Hajime just eating an ordinary pancake. They also had their own ways to eat, but one of them particularly stood out.
"Hey, Hajime. Look at Mayuri." Ibuki poked Hajime's shoulder as she pointed at Mayuri. The member of the Future Gadget Lab just consumed pancakes like a crocodile, to the point of barely chewing at all. Surprisingly so, considering that she was the second smallest member of the gang. It was especially noticeable in comparison to how Chiaki ate pancakes, who just softly and carefully nibbled them.
"I am looking at her. She's just….devouring them." commented Hajime while also being baffled at how quickly Mayuri ate pancakes. Suddenly, so many pancakes seemed like it wasn't enough of them.
"Akane has a competitor now, doesn't she?" joked Ibuki while also giving him a mischievous wink.
"...Mayuri's more comparable to that pink puffball when it comes to eating." reiterated Hajime, with Mayuri's appetite reminding him of a certain video game character known for that exact trait. The Future Gadget Lab member noticed their discussion and tilted her head in curiosity.
"Hm? What were Haji-tan and Ibu-chan discussing?" asked Mayuri. Ibuki and Hajime took a while to come up with something due awkwardness.
"Oh, it was nothing, Mayuri." Hajime tried to hide the conversation, assuming that Mayuri would feel insulted by them.
"Hajime said you look like Pinkie Boye when you eat." Chiaki exposed him in front of Mayuri, partially because she thought it was cool to compare Mayuri to one of her favorite video game characters.
"Oh, I do? Hehehe, I like that! All Mayushii needs is dark god slaying capabilities and Mayushii will be the next Pinkie Boye...or rather Pinkie….what would be a variant for girl?" laughed Mayuri at the prospect of such comparison, although the "dark god slaying capabilities" part of her sentence came not only rather off, but oddly serious. Overall, it was relieving that she took it with a laugh.
"When...when did dark gods come into play?" Hajime raised his finger due to not only the sheer unexpectedness of it, but because it was Mayuri who said it.
"Every final boss aside from few games is usually like that in those games." elaborated Chiaki on what exactly Mayuri meant.
The time for pancake induced breakfast went up. All of them had their stomachs full for about half a day, but there were still some leftover pancakes, just enough for the next day.
"So guys, what do you think of pancakes I have made?" queried Chisa, just that she knew she did a good job making them happy.
"Amazing!" Mayuri praised without hesitation. The entire gang agreed with her, Chisa's skills in making food was top notch. All of them still felt the sweet yet satisfying aftertaste of pancakes.
"Dawww, thank you! You are so sweet.~" accepted the compliment from the gang, although she was blushing a bit. It was just making her happy that she pleased them greatly.
"Yep, they are amazing...I haven't had pancakes before, so...good first impression, I think." complimented Chiaki, but she revealed something that came off as a surprise to everyone.
"Wait, you never had pancakes before?" asked Ibuki, wondering how come she never had something as common and simple as pancakes.
"Yeah...never before." confirmed Chiaki, although slightly confused for why exactly they seemed so surprised. The way she worded herself caused a feeling of sadness within Chisa. It was starting to get clear that Chiaki rarely had any nice memories before Hope's Peak, considering how she missed out so much in her life. All Chisa could do was give her a soft smile, reassuring her that her life at Hope's peak will be as wonderful as possible.
"I'm glad that I gave you the first experience of pancakes. If you want to try anything, just tell me, Chiaki." reassured Chisa with a rather subdued but very soft smile. Chiaki blushed on the sight of it, since she wasn't so sure why was Chisa especially so soft at that moment.
"Oh gosh...T-thanks, Miss Yukizome. I will ask...when the time is right." stuttered Chiaki, who despite being rather embarrassed about it, she was always glad to see that Chisa supported her.
"Now about you. Anything you have on your mind on what to do today?" asked Chisa, wondering about what to do on such day. Going out was not an option, so they had to settle for indoor activities. Chiaki generally preferred indoor activities anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. She required a bit of time to think about, but then she remembered something. There was a time when Chisa mentioned that she's also a Pinkie Boye fan. It was when Chiaki was gaming with Sonia.
"I think I know what to do, Miss Yukizome." Chiaki got an idea as she went to the living room to set up a console of a time where home consoles switched to third dimension. The thing about older consoles that gave her a bit more time to set up was that AV cables once used were no longer compatible with newer TVs. Luckily she had an HDMI converter, so that they could play it properly. After the console was plugged in, Chiaki also inserted all four controllers in it, allowing four people to play the game. Last step required was the cartridge itself. It would have been really easy to just inserting in the console and call it a day, but the cartridge decided to play finicky. It just didn't start up.
"Mmmph….work, please." pouted Chiaki as she removed the cartridge from the console and cleaned the interior with a cotton swab. After cleaning it, Chiaki inserted the cartridge into console again. That time, the appearance of logo of a sleeping dog along with a three-dimensional letter N reassured her that the game was working. The gamer gal returned to the kitchen and invited the entire gang to the living room. A title screen with green checkered background, along with five characters standing in front of it, awaited them. It wasn't really a bombastic title screen, just a tranquil with showing characters they needed to know. Those were the puffball himself, a fat penguin king, an artist girl, puffball look-a-like character and a fairy.
"Oh, that's a game from my childhood! I wanna see if it's as good as I remember!" cheered Chisa as the memories of the childhood game were all flooding back to her. She was remembering it like it was yesterday, but she still wanted to give the game a fair chance. Others were intrigued by the game as well. It certainly was a product of it's time, but compared to a lot of games, it looked visually rather pleasing. Must be due cartoonish art direction and generally simple yet endearing graphics the system could provide.
"Are you guys okay with this game?" asked Chiaki before they would officially start playing the game. All of them, especially Chisa, approved the choice of that day's session. Chiaki smiled, knowing how eager they seemed to be and thus they started playing the game. Well, they almost started, but not before one issue was addressed.
"Hmmm….the game could only have four players, yet there's six of us….we should probably take turns." Chiaki thought about it before she turned around to see opinions on others about it. "Hey, it seems like that we can't play this game all together...so are you guys okay if we switch up from time to time?".
"No prob! We can take turns." Mayuri was one of the first to answer. No one else seemed to object.
"Then...lets start." announced Chiaki as she navigated through menus to find the mini-games. "Multiplayer, it should be.".
She decided that the first mini-game would be one called 100-Yard Hop, which seemed to be based on a hopping race. It was quite a simple game, with only two buttons required: one for one space jump and other for two space jump. After it was decided, the players, which were Chiaki, Hajime, Chisa and Ibuki, chose their characters. Chiaki chose the artist gal, Hajime went with the look-a-like, Chisa went with puffball himself and Ibuki went with the penguin king.
"Watch this! I'm gonna run laps around your asses!" boasted Ibuki that her victory is one hundred percent reassured.
The mini-game began, as characters on screen started hopping on circles. Chiaki's artist gal was going nuts, doing for a nearly perfect run. Mayuri noticed just how fast Chiaki's fingers were when she played that mini-game.
"Woah, Nana-chan has ninja fingers!" commented Mayuri as the game went on. Hajime and Chisa were nearly tied, with them just making some mistakes that prevented each other from leading. They weren't even close to Chiaki's run.
Meanwhile, Ibuki wasn't even close to anyone. She somehow managed to jump in every single obstacle possible, be it a puddle or a frog. It was starting to embarrass Ibuki for how she managed to flop every single time.
The game didn't take long before the victors were decided.
"I win." Chiaki quietly announced her victory. She was decisively ahead of everyone.
"Yay! Second place!" cheered Chisa, just being happy that she was in second place. For her, it didn't really matter if she won, fun was more important.
"Well, not a last place at the very least." said Hajime upon arriving at third place. Not too bad, he thought.
Meanwhile, Ibuki, who had her time set to be one minute after everyone, was shocked at the revelation that the game owned her.
"H-how?! H-how did Ibuki get wrecked?!" stammered Ibuki upon the sight of her absolute loss at a children's game. She was lucky that the group wasn't really competitive or else she would have been laughed at.
"Ibu-chan, I think it's because you kept jumping in puddles." said Mayuri to her.
"Ngh! I thought splashes would give me boosts! Ibuki was foolish!" Ibuki clenched her teeth as she stretched herself. And thus, the first mini-game was done.
"Should we go for a different mode now?"asked Chiaki if there needs to be a change in mini-game. Variety was always welcome after all.
"Hmm, how about that one? That one looks cool!" Chisa suggested the one where the mini-game was about collecting fallen fruit. It reminded her of her own experiences.
"What about you, guys?" further asked Chiaki.
"I'm okay with that one, I think, though this one looks like it has more action." Hajime pointed at the mini-game, where the objective was to make other characters fall from the sky. The battle took on a floating square, made out of breakable cubes.
"I want that one! Ibuki will reign supreme!" Ibuki decided for the battle on the floating square before she remembered that it was time for controller change to previous spectators. "Hold on, now we have to switch up now, right?".
"Yep, that's what Mayushii has heard." nodded Mayuri.
"Anyone want to take my place? Just so that it's a fair game." Chisa offered her controller for switch up.
"I think I'll do it." Chihiro raised his hand to her access to the controller.
"Here ya go!" Chisa freely allowed him to take the controller, taking her place with ease.
"Avenge me, Mayuri! Do it for Ibuki." Ibuki offered the controller to the remaining spectator.
"Hehehe, will do!" giggled Mayuri as she took the controller from Ibuki.
Thus the second mini game began. It was arguably even more simplistic than the earlier one, with its only controls being left and right input on the joystick. That's all there was to it and the mini-game couldn't get simpler: it was just collecting fruits.
As it went on, the progress of it was similar as before: Chiaki in the lead, Hajime and Chihiro tied and Mayuri lagging behind big time. But even though they were playing a game, there was a worry that popped in Chiaki's head during their playthrough.
"Hmmm...perhaps we need a game that makes us work together. Having the same outcome constantly would bore them...probably." Chiaki thought about it, possibly changing the game. A worry that her friends would be unhappy was an often one and it seemed like it arrived at that moment.
Just as quickly as the one before, the mini-game came to an end.
"Another victory for me." Chiaki silently announced another victory of hers. Funnily enough, the second and third place were one.
"Oh wow, a tie between you and me." noted Hajime.
"Yeah...I tried my best. How did I do?" asked Chihiro as he turned towards Chiaki for possible advice.
"I think you hesitated a little. You should be more confident with your approach of the game." advised Chiaki, encouraging him to play a bit more relaxed, yet still competitive enough. Chihiro seemed to have a thing that he would hesitate a lot in anything competitive.
"Ah, so...that. I'll figure that out." said Chihiro after listening Chiaki's advice. At the very least those two lads were tied.
"I lost!" Mayuri proudly and happily announced her loss, which nearly gave Ibuki a stroke of embarrassment.
"D-dang! Not even Ibuki's proxy warranted her a victory…" complained Ibuki about her second losing streak. It was the perfect time for Chiaki to speak up about changing games.
"Guys, would you mind if we went for another Pinkie Boye game? It has more co-op modes, something I think that it would be better to play….maybe." asked Chiaki, thinking about a more modern game in the franchise that also allowed co-op.
"Well, I've been a bit out of the loop regarding Pinkie Boye, so I wanna see how the franchise evolved!" Chisa supported her decision to swap out game. Unless the game took really long or really was that engaging, it was always good to spice things up. Others supported her decision as well, although Ibuki did it partially because she wanted to win one game. At the very least, one game.
"Well...actually, lemme show." Chiaki went out to set up the more modern console for one of later installments of the Pinkie Boye franchise. The process was really quick, the cartridge was read by console without any issues and the whole set up was so streamlined, that it felt like ten seconds at least.
It also didn't take much for the game to appear on the screen. There were massive differences compared to the old relic almost immediately. The models had much, much larger polygon count, textures were in high resolution, the animations were smooth (although the game ran at thirty frames per second) and the whole graphic user interface looked much more polished, but also the art style was sort of different as well. It had a more "anime" look to it, so to speak.
"Oh, it's all HD now! It looks so pretty!" Chisa's eyes sparkled upon how much changed for her childhood series. It was all fresh, but Pinkie Boye remained Pinkie Boye for quite some time.
"It had to be, since it's a new console." rationalized Hajime.
"Yeah, hardware specs get more advanced as the time progresses. Massive differences can be spotted in performance within a span of a decade." added Chihiro some of his knowledge to the conversation.
"I wonder how will video games look like in another decade." Chiaki scratched her chin as she thought of possible ways how the future of gaming would look like. One hope she had was that retro games would still be played.
"Hard to predict, since technology changes so much that we could have entirely new ways to play games, such as virtual reality and such." said Chihiro while also bringing up some promising tech that still had ways to go.
"Yea, the game does look really different from the old one just by menu alone. It has quite a different aesthetic." noted Ibuki while spotting differences between the old game and the new game.
"The old one reminded Mayushii of a children's book. This one feels more like a cartoon." Mayuri added her own comment as well. She wasn't sure which style she liked more. The older one had a more homely feel to it, while newer one had a more refined look to it.
"If I recall correctly, there was a cartoon about him, right?" Chisa suddenly brought up a rather old video game adaption of that seemed, while not overwhelmingly popular, it had its audience.
"There was?" Chiaki tilted her head in curiosity, not even aware that the cartoon existed. The rest of the gang was for quite a shock, since Chiaki was all things video games. Or so it seemed like she was only video game things, but not the whole franchise thing.
"Huh? You, of all people, don't know about it?" sputtered Ibuki in a rather dramatic way.
"I...just stick to games, usually. Don't really follow other media as much...I think. They often take...lets say, creative liberties with source material." Chiaki explained herself that more often than not, video games in another form tend to butcher the source material a lot. That was especially apparent in the old adaptions, but newer ones are trying.
"That must bother you, right?" asked Hajime, wondering if it genuinely bothered that much.
"...Yeah, a lot sometimes." grumbled Chiaki as she crossed her arms.
"Then we should watch it to see how accurate it is!" happily suggested Mayuri. The Future Gadget Lab was also in the mood to watch some animation, since she was such an Upa fan.
"Why not? It's a great opportunity to relive some childhood memories or to create new ones. But now, I think we should play the new game first." Chisa approved of Mayuri's sudden suggestion, but also advised that they would go through the mode first.
Chiaki already knew what mode to decide: True Arena, where the ultimate battles took place. The hardest versions of bosses were present there, but there could also be some secret ones.
"Oh heck, that mode looks hardcore." commented Ibuki on how its interface resembled furious fire, ready to consume everything on its path. The difficulty was decided with how much Tabasco would Pinkie Boye pour in the stew. Chiaki decided that they would go with the hardest difficulty possible. So much Tabasco was poured, that Pinkie Boye had an uncharacteristically devilish look on his face. That spooked Ibuki big time. "M-max difficulty already?".
"Yeah, it's challenging enough. Base game is, well...too easy." Chiaki justified her decision, deeming the rest of the game to be way too easy, that it would become not fun quickly. Once the difficulty was selected, a rather massive character roster appeared. It even included final bosses of previous entries, such as some power hungry jester or floating egg wizard.
"Woah, there's so many of them nowadays! It's hard to believe it used to be just four in the past." Chisa kept fangirling over the new game, already impressed with how many new features did the game have in comparison to her childhood game. "I do have one question, though.".
"Hm?" Chiaki tilted her head towards her teacher.
"Is the final boss the stuff of nightmares?" casually asked Chisa like it was a normal thing in the series.
"Yep, it is...I think." confirmed Chiaki. Hajime, who was still not the lore master of the series, was rather bewildered with that revelation.
"Is that a tradition of the series or something?" piqued Hajime with a rather confused tone in his voice.
"Mhm." happily nodded Chiaki.
"I mean, it does make sense. You're fighting for dreams, so it's only logical that the enemies will be nightmares, right?" Ibuki somehow managed to explain it to him. Considering that the puffball was Hero of Dreams or a similar title like that, it made too much sense for the final opponent or a villain to be something out of worst nightmares. Hajime couldn't even argue with that. With the conversation over, they all chose their characters. Funnily enough, they all played the same characters as they did in the Pinkie Boye 64. After the character selection, the marathon of boss fighting began.
Even on the highest difficulty, the fiercest bosses fell under the combined wrath of Chiaki, Hajime, Chisa and Ibuki. All it mattered that Chiaki's character didn't lose all of her HP. Not that she did lose any HP, since some of the strategies used for bosses were quite nuts, almost resembling a tool assisted speedrun. Both Chisa and Hajime did their best, but Ibuki just kept fainting. It didn't really matter, since she was constantly revived by Chiaki. The final boss of the run, possibly the most lore intense creature of the series, was also among the victims of Hope's peak gang.
Their run was rewarded with a triumphant victory screen.
"We did it!" Chisa pumped her fists after she contributed to the victory. They all gave each other high fives for completing the highest difficulty boss rush with such ease.
"You guys did it!" cheered Mayuri as well, giving them high fives. Considering how much of their energy the boss rush took them, they thought about easing off a bit with the cartoon.
"So, now's the cartoon time, right?" asked Hajime, to which the response was a positive nod. Chihiro, who was the closest to the TV remote, went on an online app to find the show. He typed something like "Pinkie Boye Cartoon" and after he pressed OK on the remote, full episodes were shown.
"Hmmm...which episode should we play? Should we watch it chronologically?" Chihiro asked others for what episode would they watch.
"The first we find! Ibuki watches as she feels like!" suggested Ibuki to just go with their gut.
"Is the series even made to be watched in chronological order?" asked Hajime, just in case the series was made to be watched in a linear fashion.
"Well, cartoons made for children usually don't have an overarching narrative, so it's okay what order are they watched." answered Chisa, who seemed to be more experienced about the field than expected. One has to wonder how many of them did she watch recently, if she had time.
"Yuki-chan, how many cartoons have you watched?" innocently asked Mayuri, wanting to know if Chisa was secretly a cartoon fan as well. Chisa blushed for a bit, not wanting to sound embarrassing right in front of them, but the truth had to come out.
"A lot more than I should, hehe…" giggled Chisa while also revealing the truth about her watching cartoons. No one really minded, everyone was a nerd and a dork in that group. It would be unfair to judge her for it. After that conversation, it was decided that the first episode they've found would be played first. It was a rather peculiar one, with a thumbnail representing a gloriously yet poorly drawn caricature of the penguin king of the series.
"Watching starts now, let's gooooo!" declared Ibuki as the programmer friend pressed on the button to play the episode. Their viewing of the episode has begun.
Of course, like any other show, it began with an opening theme. The opening was some kind of a march, singing praises of its titular protagonist. Chisa, Ibuki and Mayuri all danced to it while Chiaki observed the show, noticing that most of the designs were generally accurate to the source material. The exception seemed to be new original characters and penguin king character, which she found to be odd.
The episode began with a girl character showing a bunch of kids some book with a drawing she did. They seemed to be outside of the castle, which was owned by the penguin king.
"Sis, you really drew that?" asked the brother of that character, curiously observing the drawing made by his sister.
"Keep watching. It's going to move." said the girl as she was ready to present whatever thing she made for them.
"Move?" piqued one of those kids, wondering on what the girl was intending to do. The girl started flipping pages at such speed that the human eye perceived it as animation. The moving pictures showed of the aforementioned girl just hopping with a jump rope. Other characters were impressed with the display of animation.
Chiaki was confused.
"Huh? What?" Chiaki just stared at the screen, confused at so many aspects of it. She also tilting her head as she was inspecting something.
"What's up, Chiaki?" asked Hajime, who was unsure on why was Chiaki so confused.
"It's a cartoon….within a cartoon." Chiaki tried to put words together due to her being baffled by the sheer concept of displaying the functions of animation within an animated series.
"Is there...anything wrong with it?" further asked Hajime, still unsure what was so odd about
"This is getting out of hand. It's too meta." sputtered Chiaki as her brain started to think about a lot things at once. Firstly, the meta aspect. Secondly, the realization that the series never really went that fourth wall breaking. "Wait a sec, when did Pinkie Boye become meta?".
"Well, has it ever happened that you made a game within a game?" Chisa gave out an example in order to make Chiaki understand better. Upon hearing it, Chiaki thought about possible games where you have to create a game within a game. For a moment, not much came into her mind aside from possible game making tools, but then one series came into her mind. It was about some greedy garlic loving treasure hunter entering the business of video games to get rich. There was one game where the player could create so called "micro-games".
"...Come to think of it, yeah. Usually a mini game, not really a full game….though exceptions happened." Chiaki started to understand while she was also getting a bit of invested because the cartoon explained her the process of making a cartoon in the simplest form. "Oh, is this how animation is made? I never knew…".
However, those young animated characters were watched by two villainous figures. A french snail and a fat penguin king observed them with binoculars, scheming for a plan of the day.
"Look, sire! I didn't know making a cartoon was so easy!" the french snail said possibly the wrongest thing an animator could hear in near proximity.
"That there flippy book done give me an idea!" spoke penguin king with an unbelievably thick accent. It caught Chiaki completely off guard.
"...When did he sound like that?" noted Chiaki, considering that he either never spoke or did just some random noises in games.
A screen displaying episode's name appeared following the king getting an idea. It was called "BlingBlingBling of the Stars", spin on the actual show's name. In the back, there was a starry blue background, signifying that Pinkie Boye is connected to the stars. The Hope's peak gang didn't pay much attention to it, but someone else did.
"Hold on a sec, weren't they named differently? Didn't they also look differently?" Mayuri pointed out something that made it feel off for her.
"What do you mean, Mayush?" asked Ibuki, not sure what was wrong with it.
"Mayushii remembers that they went by different names. I remember Pinkie Boye himself being named something else. Was it…..gah, Mayushii doesn't remember." explained Mayuri while also trying to remember what was another name of the show.
"Maybe it's a localization?" wondered Chisa, since it seemed like it would have been a logical explanation.
"Mayushii feels like it's something different, but not sure. Not that anyone should really worry about." Mayuri gave an answer that was as vague as it was mysterious. She was definitely onto something that might have been a much bigger than than a mere name of the show. From the tone of her voice, her not remembering seemed like she was hiding something.
"Are you referring to something, Mayuri?" Hajime was one of the folk that noted oddness in Mayuri's sayings.
"Hmmm...I'm not sure myself." answered Mayuri, leaving whatever she had on her mind a mystery. Some of them still wondered at what exactly was she referring to.
In the mean time, the show went on. The penguin king, so called King BlingBlingBling, convinced the entire small population of the kingdom he ruled to make a cartoon for him. The scene cut to them being inside the studio, where they would discuss ideas for the cartoon.
"I am the most important person in this whole joint half pint! I'm the producer!" the penguin king bombastically and proudly declared himself for the most important position in production.
"A producer? What does a producer do?" one of the kids asked, not sure what even was a producer.
"A producer doesn't do anything." other kid roasted the king right in the face.
"Heh…" chuckled Hajime at the conversation in the show but then realized that he was being entertained by a series meant for kids. "...Oh god, I'm laughing at a children's cartoon…".
The first half of the episode displayed the whole production of the series. Considering penguin king's leading capabilities, or lack of thereof, it was quite messy. Drawings were often mocked, some rather unorthodox materials were used, such as ketchup and mustard for backgrounds, script writers sleeping on their jobs and so on. Somehow, the characters within the show managed to put up a cartoon just before the deadline. The second half of the episode began, where cartoon characters would voice their cartoon counterparts within the show.
For the second time, Chiaki was confused.
"What the heck? Now it's an entire cartoon within a cartoon, with characters voicing themselves….What has the world come to?" thought Chiaki, still trying to comprehend what even was happening in the show.
The cartoon those characters made by themselves was something that can be best described as "gloriously terrible". Characters looked like something that caricatures would dream of, the animation was screaming "this was made on very limited budget, please don't be too hard" and it was just a mess overall. It started with the penguin traveling through cosmos with a star shaped spacecraft that jiggled due lack of model consistency.
"Eh, Geh, Nyeh! KINDA STUFFED IN HERE! HEY, WHERE EM I?" penguin character within the cartoon announced his awakening with his bombastic voice. Then he looked at the sun, sporting a face which would be remembered for ages. "EH EH EH, AH AM A SUPAHSTAH WARRIAH!".
As the episode went on, the plot of the cartoon within the cartoon seemed to be about giant monster (in the form of the puffball) attacking the kingdom and eating everything on sight. It also had the plot of penguin coming to that land to save the day.
"Wait a sec, isn't that the entire first episode of the show?" noted Chisa after noticing that the cartoon within the cartoon was basically the first episode of the show, except that in the actual episode, it wasn't the giant pink puffball that attacked the kingdom, it was a giant angry octopus. Chisa didn't mention that detail because anything reminding them of Herman would annoy them.
"So, it's an episode of a show that was recreated within the show that is voiced by the characters of the show?...I need to process this…" thought Chiaki to herself, with the concept even confusing her more.
Characters within the show were absolutely verbally roasting the cartoon they have made themselves. It went on, with puffball chasing the penguin before the latter just stopped and began a conversation with the french snail. They were complimenting their looks before one of the more signature scenes came.
"Have you seen Pinkie Boye today, your Majesty?" asked the snail as he suddenly shifted the art style into a true Shounen-esque one, looking something out of that post apocalyptic manga where one man could defeat anyone with just saying that they're already dead.
"He don't scare me none." the penguin answered, also transforming into that art style, displaying the utter glory and magnificent of his perfection. It made Ibuki spat out a drink.
"W-WHAT?!" yelped Ibuki, utterly startled by the sheer "perfection" of those two characters.
The cartoon within the cartoon started to show its limited budget big time. Animation, as limited as it was earlier, turned into sketches of storyboards, backgrounds were lost and even the script was no more. Characters had to improvise through out all of it.
"Woah mama, how does Ryota keep it up if the production was like this?" wondered Ibuki about how her Ultimate Animator classmate could even handle it, considering how much of a mess it was in the show. The episode within the show ended with the drawings done by puffball himself, and the last frame was an awkward looking penguin king before the entire film burned in the recording. Then the actual episode ended with characters laughing at the cartoon, calling it so bad it's good. Thus, the first watching ended.
"Oh, we gotta marathon that! That was very fun, right?" Ibuki seemed to enjoy it a lot, there wasn't a moment where she was bored.
"I am absolutely on your side, we gotta watch this!" Chisa supported her claim as well, since she was all fired up like a satisfied kid.
"This was...more fun that it should have been." Hajime admitted, even though he was very embarrassed to say it.
"Seems like this cartoon is making everyone here happy. I don't have issues with watching it more." smiled Chihiro at the sight of his friends just having fun. Mayuri smiled as well.
"….I am...intrigued by this. The thing is, it's not too far off from source material either. Seems to be based on Pinkie Boye Nightmare in Pupupupupuland though." Chiaki took a while to speak up, but eventually, she revealed she was interested in. Some things bothered her, such as the concept of a game based series without being able to play the game, but she did enjoy the educational value of the show.
"Then it's decided!" declared Ibuki as they all decided to marathon the series. It had about one hundred episodes in it, so they had a lot of time to watch it.
The night came and some of the episodes out of one hundred were watched. However, the need for sleep overcame the desire to make an all-nighter that day. It was also the fact that they still had school tomorrow. They were looking forward to it, but at the same time, it was the return to the reality where the threat of Daft Capo still existed.
"Alright guys, it's time for all of us to have some sleep. Tomorrow gonna be a new day." said Chisa just before she went to bed.
"Good night, Miss Yukizome." the gang waved at her as they departed, with the rest of them sleeping on the couch. At the very least that's how the end was supposed to end, but there was one more thing that happened.
Although Chisa already closed her eyes, someone poked her. She opened her eyes and saw that it was Chiaki.
"Hey, Miss Yukizome…" quietly and softly greeted Chiaki, looking a bit shyer than usual. She worried that she bothered her teacher.
"Oh? Chiaki, my dear, what's up?" Chisa rose from the bed and sat on it, inviting Chiaki to join her. Chiaki, knowing that Chisa was okay with it, sat down on the bed as well.
"Ah, nothing much. Just wanted to talk to you. Sorry for keeping you awake at such hours." Chiaki elaborated herself, revealing that she wanted to know something at such hour.
"Nah, it's alright, Chiaki. I always have time for you." reassured Chisa, being prepared at any time to give her a pat. Hard to resist, considering how Chiaki's round head seemed to intice the desire to pat her. "What did you want to talk about, dear?".
"Well...how were you today?" asked Chiaki about what did she think of a day.
"I was having a blast! Everyone was just enjoying themselves today, I just couldn't help myself to smile and relax." Chisa more or less confirmed that she loved it. It was especially relieving not only because she saw her students (along with additional two members) were safe, but she got some free time away from work as well.
"I'm...very happy to hear that. I have made sure that everyone was happy." smiled Chiaki as she put her hand on the place where her heart was. It was a gesture of pure comfort.
"I think you've been great at it for a long time." Chisa suddenly complimented her. She loved doing it, always reassuring Chiaki that she was doing a good job.
"Huh? Really?" blushed Chiaki, being kind of unable to take a compliment. It was always downplaying herself or hiding it.
"Not only did I see it her, but I see it every time we're at Hope's Peak. I can see you are trying your best and I think it's paying off." Chisa said more about it, which made Chiaki blush even harder. She noticed how Chiaki seemed to be really embarrassed about it, so she unleashed a secret weapon: she patted her head. "C'mon, don't be embarrassed about it.".
"But I do wanna know something, something that happened yesterday. Did those gangsters hurt you?" asked Chisa regarding the incident of the previous day, where they saw Daft Capo members with their own eyes.
"Nah, my friends were safe. We all ran as far as we could." reassured Chiaki, but there was something about it that bothered her teacher.
"Why did she…" Chisa noticed that she didn't refer to herself. While she was sure no one hurt her, some of things she does to herself always made her worry more."Come here."
Chisa invited Chiaki to sit on her lap. Her student wasn't sure why she wanted to do it, but she followed her. Then, a hug followed. A big, soft hug that made Chiaki blush at first.
"I just wanna let you know, no one's gonna hurt you or anyone from my class. If they do….well, let's say that Miss Yukizome won't hesitate." reassured Chisa, promising her that no one will hurt her ever. Chisa's softness was starting to make her feel comfort to such levels she never really felt before. While she was often promising protection of others, it was the first time someone promised her that she will be protected.
"I feel...safe around you. Safe...and comfy…" mumbled Chiaki as she way greatly enjoying the hug. It was almost like Chisa herself was her own bed.
"Heh, I'll make sure of that my little Nanami will be the safest and most comfortable girl possible." smiled Chisa, but her softness made Chiaki fall asleep. She even was clinging onto her like a baby. "Oh, she feel asleep. Perhaps I should tuck her in bed.".
However, that decision was met with difficulties.
"Mmmm...it's hard to put her away. She's so soft...eh, gonna sacrifice my own comfort for sake of hers. Just that I have to wake up a bit earlier, but that's all." Chisa decided to act as Chiaki's own bed while she was on Chiaki's bed. She used a wall to lean on it, so that Chiaki would get most comfortable position. Before Chisa fell asleep with Chiaki in her arms, she gave her a pat. The last pat for the day. "Good night, Chiaki.".
And so they managed to fall asleep, with Chiaki looking like Chisa's baby. The next day was a new day, yet it was certainly uncertain, but at the very least they got one day they could relax. That was all they asked and in the end, they got it.