"I don't think Nijima-senpai likes all of this noise!" A fifth, softer and warmer voice came through the PC speaker, causing the argument to come to a grinding halt. There was a loud boom over the mic, as if Akechi had slammed his hands down on his table. "That is pretty weird, man." Akira added, stifling a laugh. "Doesn't matter, it's weird to see some guy kissing your brother!" "You literally walked into his room at a bad time?" Akechi contested. "Not until you buy me ramen as an apology for kissing Akira in front of me!" "But don't worry, it's just us, Akira, Ryuji, Crow-"įutaba groaned. "They're my Valiant team, so they wanted to play with us today." Futaba shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm sorry, what *is* this?" Makoto asked, looking to Futaba. "PAINT-" Yusuke's voice cut out aggressively. "Are you really that broke, king?" This time, Akira's voice became audible, "Because I'm working like. "Are y-" Ryuji's voice was painfully loud as it rushed from the speakers, "-idding?" "Oh my god, I'm begging you to replace that fucking thing," said a deeper, much more audible and crisp voice Makoto recognized to be Akira's boyfriend, Akechi's, "Jesus Christ, at this point I'll even buy a new one for you." "Were you unaware that we-" another voice, too formal and delicate to not be Yusuke's, blurted, his words warped by the static of the microphone. "Skull, your mic's cutting out." Futaba sighed. "Yo-" an upbeat, muffled voice blasted through the speaker system hooked up to Futaba's PC, "What's u-" "We've got a lot to show you, so get comfy!" She relaxed her spine against the plush back of it and focused on Futaba's monitor, which displayed the image of five different banners with little words written underneath. Makoto took a seat, finding the chair to be oddly ergonomic.
"Okay, c'mere!" Futaba patted the seat of a fold-out chair that sat at her desk, beside her gaming chair. I don't have the time to play many video games."įutaba cackled, rubbing her hands together. "Have you ever heard of Valiant?" Futaba asked. "Okay, okay, we'll have some later- but try this for now!" Pushing the can into Makoto's arm, Futaba sighed. "What about water?"įutaba wrinkled her nose. "Well, you can't play video games without one!" Futaba replied, "It's like, a cardinal rule of gaming!" Futaba cracked open a cola and passed it to Makoto.