Hinata and Nanami!!

[abroge]

Aa...

[Hajime stares at the arcade screen where his spaceship used to be, hands still on the controls. Well, that ended a lot more quickly than he'd been expecting. Then again, Chiaki had warned him this was one of the harder cabinets in the arcade and he was the idiot who thought he could maybe show off a little and beat it.

I didn't even clear the first level... he says to himself, knowing he'll probably be the only one of them that'll actually feel sorry for him. Letting out an embarrassed chuckle he steps away from the cabinet, rubbing at the back of his neck a little.]

Wow, you weren't kidding when you said this one was hard, huh...? How are you even supposed to beat that fleet? They were everywhere...

Comments

[cheatcoded]

[ The entire time he'd been playing, Chiaki had been unthinkingly pantomiming what she'd do in his situation - dodge here, fire there, hands moving in practiced motions against her imaginary joystick. Doing that, it's easy to see where he'd made sub-optimal decisions... or at the very least, ones she wouldn't recommend.

But somehow she has a feeling that just pointing them out outright wouldn't be very kind. It's not his fault, anyway; he's new to this game, so he doesn't know the best strategies for beating it yet. It's a tough game to take on as a beginner. ]

Mm... it requires a lot of planning in advance. Otherwise they can overpower you like that pretty quickly...

[ That's being empathetic, right? ]

[abroge]

[Not really!!]

Ah...I see...

[Something that requires a lot of planning in advance, and yet he's not sure what planning he could have even done... Is she referring to like...ship positions and where they'd be? That kind of stuff would be impossible for someone like him. He takes another step back, gesturing to the cabinet.]

Do you wanna show me how a pro does it? I don't think trying it again would get me anywhere.

[Watching her play it wouldn't be bad, and maybe he'd pick up on a few tips and try it afterward! Who knows, he could take notes and maybe at least get to level two.]

[cheatcoded]

...Okay. I can show you some of the strategies I use.

[ Maybe that'll help him figure out where to start, anyway. She's pretty sure this is one of those games where practice plays a large role as well - it probably took her a few tries before setting the high score on the machine, just feeling out the mechanics for herself.

So after feeding in the right amount of coins, she'll get started with her own attempt. The strategy she's modeling for him is mostly about trying to back the other ships into a small space: first by shooting down the ones closest to her, then chipping away at the sides to trim the fleet into a smaller mass to work with. At the very least, that'll probably help him survive a little longer the next time, she thinks. ]

It just takes a lot of practice, I think... but if you narrow them down like this, then it's easier to avoid their lasers.

[ "Lots of practice" is also a reason why her reaction speed's a little faster, which definitely helps with dodging any counter-attacks as well. Clearly Hinata hasn't been playing enough games lately... ]