Chapter 9 – The Story Of Azuma Koyama
A few days later, Junto thinks back on the events that came to pass and how Azuma Koyama is his ultimate goal. After heading home late one night, he decides to message Genki and Kimiko that they should all head to the arena together tomorrow morning. When the morning comes, they do just that, but upon arriving at the arena, they notice it’s incredibly packed. Junto and Kimiko wonder about the cause.
“What’s going on?”
Genki and Junto begin to move through the crowd and see who is battling as Genki comments.
“Clearly a big match is taking place. I wonder who was scheduled to battle.”
As they begin to push to the front of the crowd and get a glimpse of the ongoing match. Junto notices that Azuma Koyama is one of the contenders.
“Azuma Koyama. But who is that he’s facing?”
Genki recognises the face.
“We’re watching a big game. That scary looking man is Kosei Yamada, rank 88. He’s Azuma’s rival. They’ve fought at least ten times. Nobody has beaten Azuma Koyama in a very very long time, but if anyone will, the money is on him.”
Down at the Killjoy table, the game is nearly over.
“Pathetic. Koyama, you can only beat me because you’ve been playing for double as long as I have. What have you even given this game?”
Azuma Koyama pulls his sleeve down to reveal his arm. It’s filled with cuts of different ages.
“This is the price of Killjoy!”
Kimiko is horrified by this.
“What the hell is that?”
Junto responds.
“Realistic integration…”
Azuma Koyama plays his next card. It reads ‘Your opponent feels like he has just been shot by a gun. The pain will remain for the rest of the game.’
Kosei panics as he has never experienced a similar pain with his own realistic integration. Suddenly the sensation of a new type of pain kicks in.
“That’s a new card?”
Kosei reluctantly reaches and presses the Killjoy button in pain.
Some people begin to leave the arena. Junto, Genki and Kimiko sit down. Junto turns to Genki.
“You’ve been playing longer than any of us. You said that Azuma Koyama hasn’t been beaten in a long time. Has anyone ever beaten him?”
Genki begins to feel very uneasy.
“…Yes.”
Genki hesitates to continue.
“There was one man who every veteran tries their hardest to forget. We don’t even like to use his name. ‘The worlds nastiest Killjoy player’ is the title that was unanimously assigned to him.”
Genki continues as the atmosphere around them goes dark.
“Remember when I told you there was actually a rank 99. It was him. But he had no intention of reaching rank 100 because he feared it would put an end to the game we know as Killjoy. Whenever he’d get close to rank 100, he’d intentionally lose matches to go back down in rank. He just enjoyed watching people suffer. That was his only motivation to play.”
Junto wonders about how this mysterious character was so good at Killjoy.
“How did he beat Azuma Koyama?”
Genki begins to recount the story.
“Remember how I said 2v1 games can’t get you points. They used to but they also used to be played different. We called them ‘bounceback games’. This might be tricky to explain to someone who has never heard of them. So, in a regular 2v1 now, the turn order is enemy 1, enemy 2, player 1. In a bounceback game, the turn order is player 1, enemy 1, player 1, enemy 2. It was to ensure that there was an even number of turns. Now that you know that, I’ll get on with my story. It all started roughly 6 years ago…”
Roughly six years ago, when Genki was still a boy. Azuma Koyama is now rank 96 and his apprentice, Fuyuki Saito is rank 82. Azuma and Fuyuki share an inseparable bond. Not only are they master and apprentice, but they are best friends.
“When we reach rank 100, we can use the powers of this game to eliminate all evil. We can end this game, with us at the top.”
Fuyuki smiles at Azuma.
“We’ll be there in no time. One of us is bound to reach the goal. There is only one obstacle that stands in our path.”
Azuma nods in agreement.
“He is the only player I worry about facing. Tenma Onizawa.”
Fuyuki looks determined.
“He is nothing to us. All of our training, everything we did for this game, we can remove that obstacle. We only need to beat him once to knock him down.”
Azuma agrees.
As they both continue to play games, they garner the attention of the worlds nastiest Killjoy player, Tenma Onizawa.
One day, Azuma and Fuyuki stand in the arena. Somebody enters the Killjoy arena and people begin to move away in fear. Azuma and Fuyuki look at the man.
“Tenma Onizawa…”
Tenma approaches them both.
“So, you want to reach rank 100. I think you both know that I can’t let that happen. Nobody reaches rank 100.”
Fuyuki gets angry.
“Then face us in a bounceback game! Take us on!”
Azuma tries to calm Fuyuki.
“Fuyuki…”
Tenma thinks about the proposition.
“Are you willing to die for this game?”
Fuyuki nods his head. Tenma smiles as an aura of darkness emits from him.
“Then we shall battle.”
The duel began. The most infamous battle in Killjoy history. The screen reads ‘Azuma Koyama and Fuyuki Saito vs Tenma Onizawa’.
Tenma goes first. He plays a card that reads ‘Intense headaches bother your opponent throughout the rest of the game’.
Fuyuki looks at Azuma.
“Azuma, you’re up!”
Azuma nods as he plays his first card. It reads ‘Your opponent faces a storm while in the water of the ocean. The water level constantly goes above his mouth’.
Azuma and Fuyuki looks confident but their expressions quickly sink as they notice that Tenma shows no reaction to this card.
Tenma instead plays his next card, ‘Your opponent can no longer move his arms forward’.
Both Azuma and Fuyuki are confused by these low tier cards which Tenma is playing.
Fuyuki plays his first card. It reads ‘Your opponent feels as if he has been stabbed’.
Tenma twitches his face but this is the only reaction he has. Fuyuki turns to Azuma.
“This man is insane. Why isn’t he reacting?”
Azuma notices another issue.
“More importantly, what could he be planning with those low tier cards?”
Tenma interjects.
“You people talk too much.”
Tenma then plays the card ‘The opponent is now muted’.
This leaves Azuma and Fuyuki unable to communicate via words but their bond is so tight that they can still understand each other from behaviour alone.
Azuma gets his next card ready.
‘How do you like drowning while your feet scorch?’
Azuma plays his next card which reads ‘The floor is now magma which burns your opponent’s feet.’
Tenma again shows no reaction.
Tenma plays his next card. It reads ‘Your opponent’s movement slows.’
Suddenly both Fuyuki and Azuma begin to move slowly. Something begins to bother Azuma.
‘Something feels wrong here.’
Fuyuki plays his next card. It reads ‘The opponent gains the sensation of a grenade exploding up in his hand’.
Tenma goes again. Tenma plays a card that reads ‘Your opponent has the sensation of a drill burying into their skull’.
Azuma grits his teeth is pain but tolerates it.
Azuma responds with the card ‘The most recent card to affect you, also affects the opponent.’
Tenma barely reacts. Whatever was previously bothering Azuma begins to bother him even more.
‘I need to figure out what Tenma’s plan to win is…’
Suddenly a realisation hits Azuma.
‘Have I been playing Killjoy wrong? It… it can’t be. He’s the only other one whose figured it out. Killjoy isn’t simply just in our heads.’
Azuma looks at the Killjoy button. He attempts to move his arm forward but the card that Tenma previously played, prevents him from moving his arm forward. Azuma looks at Tenma who smiles, not knowing that Azuma has now figured out what is happening. Tenma plays his next card.
‘Your opponent can’t breathe until they end their next turn.’
Back in the present day, Genki explains what just happened.
“At this point in time, Killjoy might not have been physical but it wasn’t all mental, the cards used to simulate the effects on the body in the same way as if the painful experiences were really happening. For this entire game, Tenma was slowing their heart rates and causing an intense headache, making blood rush to their heads. And now, they had no oxygen and no way of communicating their surrender.”
Back in the past, Azuma Koyama has figured out the secret of the current state of Killjoy.
Azuma looks on in fear.
‘Shit. This isn’t a game of Killjoy, this is a death sentence!’
Azuma wonders why Fuyuki hasn’t played his next card yet. Azuma turns to Fuyuki.
‘Fuyuki?’
Blood comes out of Fuyuki’s nose. Fuyuki falls off of his chair and hits the ground. The game ends. Fuyuki has passed. That was the first and last death to ever occur in the Killjoy arena.
Later, Azuma sits at home and suddenly stands up as music plays. He begins to smash everything in his house. Screams of rage emit from Azuma.
“THAT BASTARD!”
Azuma goes back to the Killjoy arena and plays more. He beats every top rank player that dares challenge him. Less than a week after his friends’ death, he comes across Tenma Onizawa. Tenma smiles as Azuma has a proposition for him.
“One more game. If you beat me, then I’ll quit playing, forever. As a consolation prize, if you survive five or more turns, I’ll quit playing for a few years. It’s a win-win for you.”
Tenma smiles and the fated rematch began. Azuma has the first turn.
Azuma speaks before playing his first card.
“Don’t… say anything. I know this is wasting a turn. I just can’t bear to hear you speak.”
The first card Azuma played was ‘The opponent is now muted’.
Tenma knew Azuma was struck heavily with grief and filled with rage. Tenma assumed that this would make him an easy mark but he was wrong. After turn seven, Tenma began to realise that something was up.
‘Heh. That little punk will have to stop playing for a few years anyway. I need to drop a few ranks so I’ll just hit the Killjoy button now. I’ll leave him without the satisfaction of truly beating me.’
Before Tenma could do so, he then noticed something. In the previous turn, Azuma played the card ‘Your opponent can no longer move his arms forward’.
Tenma begins to wonder about what Azuma is planning. Azuma looks over at Tenma.
“You really are stupid. You thought that I’d be struck by grief and would play to win. No… I’m playing for revenge. Because, I figured out the secret of Killjoy. The one thing only you knew.”
Azuma plays his next card, it reads ‘Your opponent can’t breathe until they end their next turn.’
Azuma has some choice words for Tenma.
“What’s wrong, Tenma? Don’t you like the way that your body reacts to the cold? I’m doing to you, what you did to Fuyuki.”
Tenma is paralysed with fear. Tenma struggles to breathe and slumps his body over the Killjoy table and falls to the ground. Though Tenma did not die that day, he has been permanently hospitalised. He now spends his days with a drip in his arm and an oxygen tube in his nose.
Back in the present, Genki is finishing the story.
“After this, Azuma Koyama explained the secret flaw in Killjoy to the Killjoy staff and they changed the entire way the cards work. The cards are now entirely mental. You will no longer have the bodily effects from Killjoy cards such as less oxygen. Furthermore, a bunch of safeguards have been implemented such as player not being allowed to use the mute other players and can’t move arms card in tandem. Thus, making sure that nobody dies or gets lifelong injuries in Killjoy again.”
Junto and Kimiko look on in both horror and surprise. Genki continues.
“Azuma stuck to his word, he didn’t play for a few years and so his rank went down a lot. But ever since he returned, he hasn’t lost a single game. The determination in his eyes, it’s like Fuyuki still lives inside him.”
