Chapter 7 – Graduation
The arena is filled with cheers. Genki and Kimiko are cheering the loudest. However, the rookie hunters look annoyed and angry.
Junto, Genki and Kimiko head up to the top floor. They stand there surrounded by some cheering rookies. Kimiko is happy that she placed her faith in Junto.
“I knew that you could do it, Junto!”
Junto begins to think about the future of Killjoy which can now flourish without the rookie hunters.
“Right. With Ritsuo out of the way, the rookie hunters shouldn’t be a problem anymore.”
A group of angry rookie hunters come over. The top floor goes quiet.
“You might have beaten Ritsuo, but that doesn’t mean that we have to follow the agreement you had with him.”
A mysterious figure who is sitting and has his face covered by a hood begins to talk.
“You had a deal. If you don’t abide by it, then I’ll have no choice but to take on all ten of you.”
The ten of them laugh.
“Who the hell are you? You can’t be serious.”
The mysterious character smiles.
“I’m deadly serious.”
The rookie hunters look at each other and laugh.
“It doesn’t matter what rank you are, you can’t beat all ten of us at once.”
The mysterious man stands up.
“Then let’s arrange a battle, right now. I’ll even let all ten of you go first.”
One of the rookie hunters laugh.
“It’s on.”
They head over to the reception to set up the ten versus one. Junto is curious about this.
“Genki. Are they allowed to have a ten versus one match?”
Genki looks a bit worried.
“If both parties agree then yes. You don’t get points for any variation of battle other than 2v2 or 1v1 though. It used to be different, but those are the rules now. Two versus one matches are still somewhat common though, in the instances where two lower ranked players want to face a higher ranked player. But if it’s ten versus one and they get the starting moves, I don’t see how that guy can win.”
They all head down into the arena. The staff bring out a larger Killjoy table. The screen does not show a name for any of the players. It just says ‘Unranked’.
The rookie hunters go first. Card after card is thrown with a wide variety of different effects. However, the mysterious man is as still as a corpse. Ten turns at once, yet the mystery man is acting as if it is nothing.
“That’s all? Then I guess it’s my turn. I only need one card to take out all ten of you.”
The mysterious man takes his hood down to reveal long flowing hair as the arena goes silent. Everybody’s jaw drops. Junto is confused as he faces Genki who’s also stunned. Someone in the arena shouts.
“It’s him! Rank 89, Azuma Koyama!”
Junto is shocked by this as the arena erupts. Azuma speaks to the rookie hunters who are paralysed with fear.
“Welcome to the highest tier of Killjoy.”
Azuma plays a card which reads ‘Your opponent faces a storm while in the water of the ocean. The water level constantly goes above his mouth’.
Suddenly, to all of the rookie hunters, they are now playing Killjoy in the middle of the ocean and constantly going underwater and having waves hit them. They all begin struggling to breathe as some of their mouths fill with saltwater. The panic for a few seconds.
They all begin to fall to the sides as only one of them is able to reach and hit the Killjoy button successfully, thus ending the game for all of them.
Azuma Koyama begins to walk away from the Killjoy table as the arena continues to erupt.
Genki begins to talk to Junto.
“You’re lucky nobody knew he was here. On the days when he battles, every Killjoy player tries to get into the arena. You can’t even move around here when that’s the case. That’s how much of a legend this guy is.”
Genki begins to leave.
“Let’s get out of here. The rookie hunters won’t bother us again, I’m sure of that.”
Junto is hesitant at first but agrees and begins to leave. Kimiko follows shortly after.
A muscular man notices Genki leaving the arena amidst the hype. The man recognises Genki from behind.
“Boy wonder.”
Genki stops in his tracks as he recognises the voice calling out to him.
“I heard that you were playing Killjoy again. Did you think you could hide from me forever?”
Genki turns around to face the man as Junto is curious about what is going to happen.
“It’s you, Taisei…”
Taisei gets closer to Genki and for the first time, Junto notices a sense of intimidation coming from Genki. Kimiko glances towards Junto as he realises that she’s noticed this also.
“I was so sad that our duel all those years ago made you quit Killjoy.”
Genki pretends not to care.
“Oh, really? I didn’t think that somebody like you could care about anything.”
Taisei grinds his teeth.
“I won’t be satisfied until you follow through with what you said.”
Junto is curious about what was said. Taisei begins to elaborate.
“If I could beat you three times in a row, you agreed that you’d give up playing Killjoy for good. You signed a contract, after all.”
Genki snaps back as he tried to think of a way out.
“That’s what we agreed, sure. However, you’ve only beaten me once.”
Taisei clenches his fist and begins to get angry.
“Then let’s duel again. Right here and right now.”
Genki tries to dodge the fight.
“I’m under no obligation to duel against you, Taisei.”
Taisei smiles sinisterly and points over to the reception desk.
“Really? Let’s see what the Killjoy staff think about that.”
Genki knows the rules well enough that they would instantly side with Taisei. A contract was signed, after all. It was a miracle that this hadn’t come to light sooner. Genki tries to buy himself some time.
“I’ll give you a duel. But you need to give me two months. Otherwise, it’s not fair. I stopped playing Killjoy for all these years while you were still playing. I dropped so far down that I’m a rank 41. I’m guessing that you’re in the sixties?”
Taisei is quick to retort.
“I’m rank 62.”
Genki shrugs his shoulders.
“See, we’re not even in the 10 rank difference range. It would be plain unfair.”
Taisei smiles.
“Fine. I’ll give you exactly two months, then we have our second duel. It won’t matter what rank you are then. Let’s set it up at the reception.”
Genki and Taisei head over to the reception. As they set up the game, Kimiko talks to Junto.
“What do you think that was about?”
Junto looks over at Genki and Taisei.
“I have no idea. Whoever that was, they seem to go way back.”
The next month went by. Genki, Junto and Kimiko spent all of their free time battling in the Killjoy arena and raising their ranks. However, one month after the duel against Ritsuo, an important event was about to occur in their lives. Their school graduation.
At Junto and Kimiko’s graduation, they both seemed to be less happy then the other students. All that was going through their minds was one thing, Killjoy. Hiroki was present at the graduation but he strategically avoided Junto in private and made sure that Junto did not have any opportunity to be alone with him and ask him anything else about his secretive Killjoy history.
The crowds of people cheer as the students begin to leave the school gate. Kimiko approaches Junto and speaks softly.
“You don’t seem too happy about graduating?”
Junto looks over at Kimiko.
“I’ve been trying to get a moment alone with Hiroki, but he’s been staying in public as much as possible. It’s like he knows I want to talk with him.”
Kimiko looks uneasy as she becomes hesitant to speak.
“Well, it’s graduation. No more school. This means more time for Killjoy, right?”
Junto smiles at this fact.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
Kimiko begins to walk on ahead.
“Well, I’ll meet you there later. Text me a time.”
Later in the day they head to the arena. The Killjoy arena is bustling with people. Since Ritsuo was defeated, more and more people have been picking up Killjoy. Junto look over at the leaderboard at the number one player. He has somehow levelled up twice in the past month.
“Azuma Koyama. Rank 91.”
Kimiko is surprised about Junto’s shock.
“You shouldn’t be so surprised. Since you defeated the rookie hunters, more new people are playing Killjoy. That means more people are able to reach greater heights, and more people are in the ten rank range for Azuma Koyama to battle.”
Junto looks determined.
“Then I need to play even more.”
Kimiko smiles alongside Junto.
“Then let’s play Killjoy.”
The rumours of a new group of players began to spread. The ones who defeated Ritsuo and the rookie hunters. Determined to reach rank 100, they played every second of the day. Junto has reached rank 33 , Kimiko has reached rank 21 and Genki has reached rank 48, attempting to reach rank 50 before his duel against Taisei next month.
