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Stratus.  That was a name she was well familiar with.  Somebody who came to the arcade just as much as Tomoko did, and was able to keep on square footing with her at all times.  It wasn't uncommon for her to set a high score just above Stratus's, then return a couple days later to see Stratus had just barely gotten over her own high score.  Whoever they were, they were an interesting opponent, always upping the ante just a little bit at a time.  Today, like many days, Tomoko had discovered one of her high scores had been topped.  And, as always, it was Stratus.

And, as always, Tomoko was not leaving this arcade until she took her #1 spot back.

Stepping up to a fighting game machine, Tomoko slipped a couple of tokens into the slot and started her game.  As long as Tomoko didn't mess up, getting her #1 spot back would be a doable task by all means.  Moving the cursor to select her character, she...

Tomoko messed up.  She accidentally chose the character right next to her main.  A garbage-tier character she had never played for that very reason.  She wasn't winning this.  No way.  She had been defeated.  Gently, Tomoko leaned forward and placed her head on the arcade machine, waiting for the AI opponent to put her out of this arcade run's misery.  She would have to try again once this was over.