The Little Sister's Friends Come Over (2)

꒰ঌ The Little Sister's Friends Come Over 2

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Geez. What exactly is she trying to accomplish…? After that, I returned to my room, feeling irritated. I was planning to take an afternoon nap, but after talking with my sister all the sleepiness had been stricken from my body, so now I was in no mood to sleep.

Sitting at my desk, I brought the laptop out of standby mode For now, let's try using the internet browser. I thought I would try checking out that 'Siscali Wiki' site that Naruko had mentioned. This would also be the first time I was using the internet with this computer. As soon as the browser opened up, I was greeted by a familiar site. It was homepage for the otaku SNS service Naruko had signed up for. The community Naruko was a member of, as well as the friends she had made through that community, were displayed on the screen. In the midst of those names, I found the two I had also met before, 'Mio' and 'Ruby'.

Orange Naru: Just a while ago I saw the markings of an erogamer.

That brat. She must have posted that after our conversation. Does she have no concern for human dignity? I can't really dig much farther into this than I have already. Peeking at other people's private things is wrong. I clicked on the search bar on the upper half of the screen. Hmm… What was it…? Ah, that's right, Siscali… a space, and then Wiki… now enter.

When I entered in and confirmed this information, I was able to easily find the 'Siscali Wiki' page. On the left hand side of the screen, a bunch of lined-up menu titles were visible (character names, special move names, etc.), and when I clicked on one of them the corresponding information would appear on the right side of the screen. It was an exceedingly simple way to organize a webpage.

Whoa… what is all this? I was astonished by the sheer amount of information on the site. This game hadn't been released that long ago, and yet there was already such detailed walkthrough information on the site… of course, there were details about the game's system, and there were walkthroughs for the campaign mode (with video links) and charts of all the skills in the game. There were also detailed walkthroughs of how to plan the growth of your character to maximize parameters, damage calculation formulae, and also a list of all endings and a scenario flowchart… I think. I'm not an expert at this stuff though. Normally, I would only use the internet from my cell phone to check the sport news or music chart, so I had really underestimated the usefulness of these walkthrough sites. From the day the game went on sale, people who had played the game to 100% completion had been constantly updating 'Siscali Wiki' and filling out the database, so in a sense I guess it was natural that the site would be so detailed. But, still, it was pretty amazing, I thought. Only by liking the same eroge, people could collect those feelings and make such a top-quality database like this… the same feelings that I had come into contact with a month before with that whole situation came to me once again from this site.

Hmm. A wry smile leaked out through the corners of my mouth. Geez… so this is what 'otaku' are like… what a dedicated bunch. Well, I guess this is what they called passion. And, of course, as far as the public was concerned, this stuff was pretty useless. That's how it was.

For a little while, I gazed at the screen… but I didn't even know where to start. Even so, I could clearly tell from the site contents that the site was written in a style that was supposed to be easy to understand. Still, the people who contributed to the site were probably core gamers, so how they viewed the game was probably a bit different from how genuine beginners like me did. So it would be pretty tough getting through all this.

After comparing the Siscali instruction booklet to the site over and over again, I finally was able to somewhat understand the contents of the site. According to the site, Siscali's campaign mode has a pretty high degree of difficulty, so for super beginners like me, it would be pretty difficult to clear it. But, Naruko also cleared it. She's also a beginner at fighting games, so if she can do it, there isn't any reason I shouldn't be able to do it as well. There has to be a way to do it.

I found a link on the side of the Wiki page titled 'Beginners Please Read', and clicked on it. Then, the right side of the screen was filled with walkthrough information for beginners. There, I found the encouraging statements that I detail here.

Beginners Please Read — Campaign Mode Playthrough Instructions! First, let's get those little sister's levels up quickly!

Siscali's online mode is divided into two large modes.

There is the Battle Mode , where all of the world's little sisters do battle, and aim to be the strongest.

There is also the Co-op Mode , where to prevent the destruction of the little sister's worlds, little sisters band together and complete various missions as a team.

(Some parts omitted)

In Co-op Mode, it is possible to use your save data even if you have not cleared the game.

If you are a beginner, then forge a strong character online, and tackle the campaign mode! Surely, you will soon be able to exact revenge on those you could not beat up until now!

However, leeches are not welcome! Only accept missions that are suited to your level!

I can't make heads nor tails of this… I don't know what a 'leech' player is, and saying it like it's an obvious concept doesn't help. But, somehow or other, I had come to a bit of an understanding.

Uhh… it's like this, right? First of all… if I don't clear the offline mode (the one which had me looking at a game over screen multiple times), then I won't be able to play in the online battle mode. In other words, as I was now, I couldn't do anything online except cooperate with other players and fight against computer opponents. Why did they have to put in such annoying restrictions? Well, sure, it's probably true that people who haven't even been able to clear the campaign would have a hard time playing online… but that's a pretty high standard to hold people to. Since, just like I had seen before, the campaign mode's degree of difficulty was certainly pretty high. Was online gaming really like that? Well, whatever.

So then, I had to get through the campaign mode. First of all, in this Siscali game, when you repeatedly clear the same missions you would get experience points, so that your character can get stronger by 'leveling up'. Up to now, I didn't realize this, and just kept on trying to push forward. That's why, no matter how many times I tried, I would lose to the same enemy. But, leveling up would also be easier in cooperative play online, it seemed.

Even though it was an eroge (Naruko would get angry if I said this though), they had still put so much into the gameplay portion. I thought that an eroge was, like the name suggests, a game in which all you do is do ero things… but I guess there are a lot of different types of eroge too. I mean, for me, I really didn't see why they made this game into an eroge. The 'ero' part came when you defeated an enemy, and as a reward you would get those kinds of scenes… honestly, I think they should cut out all that stuff and sell the game like that. If people under the age of 18 can't buy the game, then their customer base gets narrowed, right? Well, maybe there are complicated factors that I just can't see.

I continued to read on the Wiki page. The remaining contents of the beginner's guide ran something like the following:

Second, be careful of the beginner killer 'tentacle ox sister'! Otherwise, we will advise you on all the places where it is easy to make mistakes…

Third, here are easy instructions for which stats to level up. At the beginning, the parameters you should raise are…

Fourth, make good use of the first person view! If you learn to effectively switch between viewpoints, you will dominate 3D battles!

Fifth, a final way to success! Make sure to outfit your favorite little sister with your rarest items!

"Oh. I see now… " With renewed vigor, I eagerly nodded. "I see now that I have no idea what's going on."

If the person writing the Wiki article heard me, he would probably be heartbroken. But I really just can't understand things that I don't understand. I can't help it. There's too many specialized terms in this. Well, I guess one thing I did understand is that I should play online in the cooperative mode.

Skimming the beginner's guide page from start to finish, I closed the browser. Then, I clicked on the Siscali icon on my desktop, and started the game application. The 'Little Sister Wars — Siscalypse' menu appeared on my display. While looking through the instruction manual I had on hand, I connected Siscali to the internet. It seemed that Naruko had already configured the game for online play, since on the first click I was able to easily connect to a server.

Player 'Orange' has been logged on.

"Huh?" What's this? I had logged on with Naruko's username? Is it because she had configured it that way? I'm not too sure what's going on, but it seemed as if I was able to connect, so whatever.

When I connected, I saw a bunch of borders that separated the screen into areas like notebook paper, with names like 'Lobby Screen' and etc. In a window in a corner on the right, I could also check the player data for 'Mio'. There were a bunch of English words and numbers displayed there… but the one thing I could understand at a quick glance was…

Win:003/Lose:046

So it was like this, was it? I couldn't make heads or tails of the other ratios next to that one, but this one was probably her win-loss ratio. It was a count of the number of times 'Orange' had won and lost in battle mode. Hey, what is this, almost all of her matches have been losses…

The separated sections on the display were all named some kind of 'room', and when I clicked on one, for example, something like this would show up:

For expert players! This is the procrastination room! (Above ground only, no flying). Battle. Participants ½

Beginner's leveling-up room~. Cooperative Mission 02. Participants ⅔

In this way, the information for each of the rooms was displayed. Players could enter in one of these rooms, or they could make a new room with their own conditions and rules. I had heard that this type of online game system was relatively popular. What exactly should I do…? With the lobby window in front of me, I scratched my cheek.

So, I should just choose a suitable room, enter it, start talking (I guess they would call it 'chatting') with other players, and start a cooperative game… but I stopped suddenly while choosing my first room. I don't know why, but the thought of chatting with people I don't know and playing a game with them made me hesitate. Was it just me…? Or maybe everyone felt like this the first time they played an online game. For me, although I can't say for sure… another factor was probably the emotional burden of having to play an eroge.

Maybe I should stop here today… I moved my mouse pointer to the logout button, and suddenly…

Ping! a light sound rang, and a small window appeared on the upper portion of the spring.

You have received a message from Mio Argonoutai.

Huh? Recognizing the player name, I stared intently at the screen. Mio was an otaku friend of Naruko's, and the leader of the 'Otaku Girls United!' community. Last month, she helped Naruko out a lot at the offline meet-up that Naruko had gone to. So, she plays Siscali too…? What a small world… well, no, this was probably a pretty popular game right now, even within her community.

Right now, there are more than ten thousand people connected to this Siscali server. Unfortunately, I didn't have any exact figures for how well this game sold, but… it's possible that this game sold absurdly well. I mean, this type of thing isn't unusual, right? In this world, there were at least a few tens of thousands of erogamers who liked little sisters. I had always thought that my own sister's hobby put her completely in a minority, but perhaps in the otaku community, she was actually in a majority? Wasn't this type of stuff a bit too popular!? This world is really this bizarre!? Well, setting that aside, I turned back to the message that I had received.

How do you do, Orange-san? If you have free time, would you like to talk?

She seriously seems like a different person online… without thinking, I let a smile come to the surface.

This 'Mio' acted like a 'well-mannered girl' online, but irritatingly, what she was like in person was completely different. She barely reached 140 centimeter tall but she was older than me. She was a really weird girl, whose fashion sense and way of speaking all reeked of gross otaku. Facing that Mio now, I — This isn't Orange… sorry about that. This is her brother.

When I made that response, I received another message: Mio Argonoutai has sent you an invitation to a chatroom. When I clicked that message, a new chat window popped up.

Mio: Ah, if it isn't Haruto-kun. It's been quite a while since we last talked. How are you doing?

Orange: I'm alright. You seem to be as lively as usual. Thanks for always helping my sister out.

Mio: No no. I should thank Orange-san as well for always helping me out. Lately she's been losing to me constantly in this game, and because of that, I can keep my win percentage above 80%.

So the 'Lose: 046' thing was her doing, was it!? Dammit, because of her, I have to… as my forehead twitches in annoyance, I typed a response.

Orange: You're pretty good at games, aren't you?

Mio: Well, I guess you could say that…

Oh really?

Orange: Well, I was wondering if you could give me a few pointers. I mean, my sister is forcing me to play this game… so I was thinking that I should get good at this game and then crush her.

Mio: Eh heh heh. You two are certainly getting along well. It makes me jealous.

It was nothing like that. What the hell is she saying?

Mio: Have you read the Beginner's Tips page on the 'Siscali Wiki' site?

Orange: Yeah, just now actually. But I couldn't make heads or tails of it… especially… What was it? It was saying things like I should make good use of first person view or something. Well, I mean, I guess I understand what they were trying to say… but… well…

Mio: Ah, could it be that you're getting a case of 3D drunkenness?

Orange: 3D drunkenness?

Mio: It's what we call a sick feeling, like carsickness, that can happen when you play 3D games. You can easily get this feeling especially in FPS — that is, games played from first person view.

Orange: Ah, if you put it that way, that might be it. Yeah, perhaps that's it…

I agreed with what Mio had said. When I played 3D games, it definitely felt like I was a bit dizzy. That's probably why I haven't been able to get any better at the game at all.

Orange: You sound like you know a lot about this stuff, don't you?

Mio: I was the same way when I started playing. But if you practice, then at least to some extent you can get better at it, you know?

Orange: Practice? How?

Mio: For example, how about you live your real life like an FPS game? Walk around regularly with an assault rifle, and keep your head straight forwards. And if you want to change direction, turn your entire body at right angles. And then, if you see anybody within your enemy search area, regardless of whether or they're friend or foe, quickly aim at them while moving into a crouched position. Like this, I was able to completely cure my problem!

Orange: Only a complete weirdo would do something like that! I don't want to go that far to fix this!

But seriously, she did that!? Geez, I had completely forgotten that this person was seriously like this! She might sound like a proper girl, but she really was an extremely bizarre person!

Mio: Complete weirdo… Haruto-san, that's quite rude. I already told you once before, didn't I? That normally, I'm quite an obedient girl.

Orange: An obedient girl wouldn't do something like point guns at people on the street! That's definitely something only you believe! And it's not like the people around you would say anything bad about it to your face, so at least reflect on how people around you were reacting to you!

For example, how would her friends feel if she aimed an assault rifle at them?!

Mio: Well, they completely understood, actually. "Phew… I'm glad. This hobby's much better than the last one," they said.

Orange: Is that something they really can just accept like that?! What the hell did you do before that?!

And so our exchanges continued like this for a while. Even though this was pretty much my first time chatting online, I had already gotten so worked up. Well, however you look at it, this woman can be really good at getting people riled up. Just by being there, she could get people excited. She was the so-called 'mood maker'. While I was thinking about these things, I dangled my wrists in front of me. Because I had been typing so quickly, they were very tired. I paused. Meanwhile, Mio continued talking nonstop. However, I really couldn't keep up with her high-paced talk.

Mio: Haruto-san? Why aren't you talking?

Because my fingers are tired. Just wait a bit, please.

Mio: Ah, is this what they call the silent treatment?

Orange: It's because my fingers hurt after having to type out so many responses to your ridiculousness!

She really doesn't know what it means when she's ignored, does she!? As I put on a bitter expression, Mio changed the subject with a "Well, anyways…"

Mio: If you want, I'll give you a detailed walkthrough for Siscali over the phone. My cell number is…

And then she gave me her number.

After training hard with Mio, as I expected, I was able to get better at the game. Although, that girl now knew my cell phone number… little did I know that I would soon come to regret this

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