The afternoon hot spring ended with casual conversation.
Bathing felt incredibly comfortable, especially in that special environment, surrounded by people to talk with.
After the bath, everyone returned to their rooms to rest for a bit.
The weather outside was cold. It's best not to expose yourself to the cold right after bathing, as it's easy to catch a cold.
After a short rest in their rooms, everyone gathered again in the entertainment area.
More specifically, they gathered in the massage section of the entertainment area.
Aside from massage appointments, there were also several high-end massage chairs.
They had just enjoyed the hot spring, so it was a reasonable next gathering spot.
Ren exited his room and walked down a long corridor. The dim lighting gave the hallway a strangely nostalgic, retro feel.
As he made his way through, the sounds around him grew louder. The sound of a game in particular stood out clearly to Ren's ears.
There were only four people in the group who were really into games.
Ren didn't even need to guess and simply followed the sound.
"Ha! If this were Street Fighter, you wouldn't be able to rely on observation to read my moves!"
Sanzenin Nagi laughed triumphantly.
"Ugh… 583…"
Chika lowered her head and clenched her fists in frustration. Without even looking at the screen, it was obvious she had lost badly.
A quick glance from Ren was enough to understand what was happening.
The Spectator's enhanced observation allows Chika to read someone's true intentions through their expressions and movements.
But in a game, your attention is focused on the screen. You can't analyze your opponent's body language in real time, so it's naturally hard to predict their next move.
Ren walked over with a smile.
"Let's go another round."
"Wuwu~ Amamiya, I lost so badly!"
Chika turned around and hugged Ren, starting to sob. In the gaming field she was supposed to be good at, she had been utterly crushed by Nagi.
"There, there."
Ren gently patted Chika, soothing her crushed ego.
"I've told you this before. A Spectator is just that, an observer. You're not an actual participant in the game. It's because you haven't fully understood either the game or yourself that you lost so badly to Sanzenin."
Chika looked up at Ren with teary eyes.
"What should I do?"
Ren instinctively stroked her head, calming her down, then offered his advice:
"Play your role properly."
"The Spectator's physical strengthening lets you determine someone's true thoughts by observing their actions and speech. Mental strengthening enhances focus and observation, which improves your ability to read your target."
"Every game is built on patterns. The characters' moves follow a logic set by the developers. What a Spectator should do is observe those characters' actions and then infer the real intention behind them—attacks, positioning, movement."
Chika's eyes lit up instantly.
"So I should observe the game characters' movements to predict Nagi's next actions?"
Ren smiled and nodded slightly.
"Exactly. Don't focus on Sanzenin. Focus on the game."
"Oh! Nagi, let's go again!"
Just like that, Chika went from teary-eyed to pumped up in an instant, filled with fighting spirit and eager anticipation.
"Hah, you think you can beat me just because Ren gave you a few tips?"
Faced with the renewed challenge, Sanzenin Nagi didn't back down. She didn't believe Fujiwara Chika could adjust that quickly.
And at first, she was right.
The game began, and Nagi still held an overwhelming advantage. With her skillful control, she slowly whittled away the health of the character controlled by Chika.
However, this time was noticeably different from the complete beatdown earlier.
Chika's character no longer got wiped out without resistance. Instead, she managed to deal over half damage to Nagi's character.
"…No way."
Nagi could feel the pressure.
Chika's mechanics hadn't improved, but she accurately predicted several of Nagi's big moves, dodged what should have been guaranteed hits, and even landed counterattacks with only half-decent execution.
The second match started soon after.
This time, Chika's counterattacks were more frequent—more than double the first round. Her execution still wasn't polished, and she couldn't chain stylish combos, but even those simple counters were starting to frustrate Nagi.
She still lost the second match.
But this time, Nagi's character only had a sliver of health left. If the skill gap wasn't so large, the outcome could've been completely reversed.
"Ohhhhhh!"
Even though she lost again, Chika jumped up in excitement.
"…That was actually kind of crazy."
Though she won, Nagi felt the pressure big time.
She had barely scraped out the win. If her technical edge wasn't so strong, she might have lost embarrassingly.
"Her skill hasn't improved at all, yet she pulled that off just by observing."
The counterattacks were simple, but the fact that Nagi was almost defeated using just observation made one thing clear. If Chika's technical skills were on par, she would've lost both rounds.
"It's honestly terrifying how high her observation ability is."
Aizawa Sakuya, also a gamer and someone who had studied game mechanics, understood better than most just how absurd Fujiwara Chika's performance was.
"It's not just observation. Her concentration is insane. In the second round, she interrupted almost every one of Nagi's attacks, cutting them off cleanly and even retaliating."
Saginomiya Isumi wasn't good at action-heavy games, but after being dragged into enough matches by Nagi, she'd developed some appreciation for them. Even if she lacked the hands-on skill, she understood what she was seeing.
In conclusion, the Spectator's observation ability was absolutely outrageous.
(To be continued.)
***
For every 200 PS = 1 extra chapter. Support me on P/treon to read 30+ advanced chapters: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves
(Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)