Fastest Challenger

When Taiga Oono, who had disappeared for a week, appeared on the last day of the challenge, it immediately caused a stir once again.

"Look! The gaming genius is here!"

"Who's the gaming genius?"

"It's the monster who's been dominating the top three spots in the leaderboard for three games!"

"What?! Where is he? I want him to be my mentor!"

Because Taiga Oono had appeared in this challenge area before, the number of players here in the following days was much higher than before.

Many people came out of curiosity.

In the minds of many players, Taiga Oono had become their idol. Even though the challenge hadn't ended yet, his top rankings in three games had remained unchallenged, and no one had surpassed them.

It was almost certain that these records were set in stone.

So, why did Taiga Oono appear again this time?

Amidst the crowd's attention, Taiga Oono arrived at the registration point.

At this moment, he seemed to have some kind of privilege, and everyone who knew Taiga Oono admired him and willingly made way for him. It seemed like the natural order of things.

However, Taiga Oono still felt somewhat uncomfortable with this.

This time, Taiga Oono was here to break his own records.

After a week of busy preparation, he finally managed to refresh his records.

He was able to compress the completion time of Super Mario to eight minutes, Contra to twenty-two minutes, and Tetris to maintaining level 15 speed for twenty seconds.

So far, no one had surpassed his previous records, so he should be able to ensure that no major issues arise now.

This time, he didn't even have to queue up. He just registered his name three times at the registration desk and sat in front of one of the challenge game machines under the gaze of all the players.

Then, he easily broke his own records again, and this time, these records were probably unattainable for anyone else.

Taiga Oono even started planning how to enjoy his trip to Hawaii.

Winning the first place in each of the three games would grant him a seven-day trip for each game. So, if there were no special restrictions, maybe his whole family could go on a 21-day vacation.

This was quite a rare opportunity.

Naturally, Takayuki had also arranged the interview team. After the final list of challengers was announced tomorrow, they would follow Taiga Oono to witness the excited reactions of his parents.

It was an opportunity to change the entire family, brought by electronic games. It was a very good positive publicity.

But things took a little turn.

The next morning, Takayuki received a phone call as soon as he woke up.

The call was from an employee responsible for tracking speedrun players recently.

"President, today I did the final statistics for several challenge arenas, and there have been changes in the final list."

"Oh, changes? Is there a change in the latest completion time for Metroid?"

Takayuki believed that the records for the other three games were unlikely to change.

The records for Super Mario, Contra, and Tetris were achieved by players who had mastered them over many years of speedrunning. And now, the gaming industry had just started to rise in the past year or two, and nobody had seriously studied speedrunning yet. Taiga Oono's records were a bit of a shock, and it was unlikely that anyone would surpass them. However, it was normal for someone else to surpass one of Taiga Oono's records.

"No, President, the records for all four games have been updated, and they were all achieved by the same person, and the records are terrifying."

Takayuki was taken aback.

Another person had broken the records for all four games simultaneously?

That sounded a bit outrageous.

"Tell me more."

...

On the other side, Taiga Oono was particularly spirited today.

Or rather, he hadn't slept all night because he was too excited.

He had already planned his itinerary for the future.

But just to be sure, he decided to check the rankings again today.

So, he left home early, and on the way to the arcade, he was recognized by a few scattered people who greeted him happily.

Taiga Oono gradually tried to adapt to this state, responding politely to everyone.

Now, he was much more improved than his previous withdrawn state and seemed to be gradually emerging from his psychological shadow.

In the early morning, many players also gathered towards the arcade. They also wanted to witness the final day's challenger list.

Of course, they didn't expect to get the first place themselves.

But the specific rewards for the challenge had been announced before. The second and third rankings could respectively receive three million and one million yen as rewards. Fourth to tenth rankings could receive a reward of one hundred thousand yen. And the top one percent of the players could receive a first-party game for either the SFC or GB.

These players also wanted to see if their names were within this range.

Even if they weren't, they could still go to the store to get a custom keychain.

It was said that the type of keychain varied according to the percentile rank.

So, as Taiga Oono approached the arcade, more and more people greeted him. Many of them followed behind Taiga Oono with an admiring expression, with children being the majority. After all, children were more likely to spontaneously admire someone powerful, unlike adults who were more restrained.

In this way, Taiga Oono arrived at the arcade surrounded by a group of people.

However, because the arcade's opening time was at eight o'clock, they arrived a bit early and had to wait for it to officially open.

During this process, many people crowded around Taiga Oono, with some eagerly asking about his future plans.

Some even persisted in wanting to continue asking Taiga Oono to be their mentor, believing that a gaming god like him was worth learning from.

Taiga Oono was now radiant, not caring about others' admiration, as their admiration couldn't bring him a better life.

He was now only interested in the rewards to come.

Finally, the door of the store slowly opened, and everyone immediately turned their attention to the door.

"Mr. Oono, please go in first!"

Someone immediately bowed respectfully and said.

These people were actually more like half-joking enthusiasm, but their respect for Taiga Oono had not diminished.

Taiga Oono had gotten used to this kind of adoration, so he didn't refuse and walked into the arcade, heading to the television set where the rankings were to be announced.

The arcade staff also walked up to the TV set and turned it on, presenting the latest rankings to everyone.

Super Mario 1 Speedrun Challenger: Takagaki, Fastest Time: 2 minutes 16 seconds.

Contra Speedrun Challenger: Takagaki, Fastest Time: 5 minutes 43 seconds.

Metroid Speedrun Challenger: Takagaki, Fastest Time: 34 minutes 2 seconds.

Tetris Highest Speed Level Holder: Takagaki, Highest Level: 18. Duration: 10 seconds.

Upon seeing the list, Taiga Oono's originally hopeful expression instantly stiffened.

All the people beside him were also stunned on the spot.

And Taiga Oono's brain felt like it was buzzing.