Haku's phone won't stop ringing and it's disturbing his sleep. He reached his hand out for the phone from under his weighted blanket and took a look at the name on the screen, it was his mother. He knew why she was calling. The Kinsmen must've published the announcement of his retirement on the team's Twiddler account. He took the call and was greeted with a rather rare hissing voice from her, "Haku, is it true??"

"Why are you calling so early in the morning, mom?" Haku asked her.

"What do you mean so early in the morning?? It's 12 in the noon!" She huffed. "Haku, is it true??" She asked him again hurriedly but Haku didn't respond. "Why?" She asked him another question and Haku stayed silent again.

She read the room instantly and didn't push for an answer anymore, "Take good care of yourself, Haku. You know very well that I support whatever decision you make, right? There isn't a day I've ever felt disappointed in you, so I hope you never felt that way. Eat well and come back home if you need it."

They both stayed silent for a moment, waiting for the other to start speaking again. Then, his mother began again, "I'll just ask this, Haku. You don't have to answer me if you don't feel like it, but I feel it's my obligation as your mother to ask this explicitly." She took a deep inhale and asked, "Are you sure about this? Is this really what you wanted?"

The answer is no, Haku is not sure about it himself. He just felt very tired and burnt out. He felt he needed space. Does it have to go to the extent of retirement? Haku doesn't know the answer for that either. For now, he wants to take a step back from the competitive scene and recollect his mental and physical strength. He can't tell her this yet because he knows it will make her worried so he changed the topic and they talked for another 30 minutes. Haku stayed under his blanket after the call ended. He's glad he's got a very supportive and understanding mother. A lot of his pro-gamers friends' parents opposed their decision to make gaming their career but his mother didn't only give him her permission, she had even helped him buy a high-end PC and accompanied him for room-hunting when he decided to move to Tokyo.

Haku got up from his bed and went straight to the kitchen. His throat was feeling thirsty so he drank a glass of water. Today, he's got lunch with Kaiun before he flies to Madrid for the international championship. He's got two hours left to get ready but he's not in a hurry. Haku took a seat on his sofa in the living room and began playing with his phone. He checked his retirement announcement post.

We would like to announce that Yutaka, Banri, Kento, and Hiroki have decided to part ways with the team.
They are currently free agents and looking for a new team to sign.
Meanwhile Haku is retiring from the competitive scene.
We wish them all luck for their future endeavors.

Haku closed his eyes for a moment. Reading this announcement finally made his retirement felt real and official. He's truly retiring now. He then opened his eyes and read the community's reaction to it in the post's replies and quotes. There were a lot of voices of disbelief and concern.

"Is he okay?"
"No! We lost such a great player."
"Haku is retiring? I can't believe this! I thought he'll play forever!"
"This is so very unlike Haku! He loves competing!"
"Why is he retiring?"
"Does someone who's close to him check on him to make sure he's okay yet?"
"We'll never find another player like Haku ;;"
"Haku hasn't streamed since the games! Is he okayyyy??"
"He's the best player that we have after Kaiun! No way!"

Then, there are malicious responses too.

"Can't believe it took him this long to retire."
"This is so laughable, just giving up like that."
"It's impossible for him to win the title with his current game skill, he must've known it best himself haha"
"Why does it have to be Haku and not the rest of the other members??"
"It took him this long to realize he's a loser??"
"He'll never win against Kaiun, it's quicker to just not attempt it again anyways."
"Good, I'm tired of him. There'll be new, younger, and better players that'll worth Kaiun's time."
"Kaiun wins!!"
"This is good news! I don't have to watch him anymore!!"

Haku closed the post and began searching up online forums and news articles to read the community's reaction to his retirement. Most of them are very similar, some are either celebrating or cursing him out while some are very shocked and were saying that they didn't see it coming and that it is too early for retirement. Haku is in agreement with them. He does feel it is not time for a retirement yet either. To be very honest, he himself does not know why he decided on retirement. He wished he knew the answer too. This is the reason why he still couldn't get back on streaming and talk to his fans, he would not know what to say when they asked.

Haku then opened the message application, LANE and saw so many contacts from his pro-gamer friends and school friends alike. He read them all one by one, mostly a message of encouragement and congratulations on his retirement and some others are voices of concern. He's thankful they're only leaving messages rather than giving him a call. He's not in the state to take one right now. In fact, he is not even in the mood to respond to their messages yet. He'll get to them tomorrow.

Before he closed the messaging app, he scrolled through it once again to see if there's any message from Kaiun and found there's none. He's sure Kaiun has seen the announcement so there's no way he's not curious about it like everyone else too. Haku is scared of the possibility Kaiun might ask him about the news later on when they meet and he honestly has no idea how he should respond to that if it's brought up. Haku also can't help but think about what Kaiun feels about it. He was thinking what if Kaiun thought he's running away as well, like what the community wrote on the post. He knows Kaiun is not the type to judge people that way but he can't help himself right now.

Haku shook his head to dismiss those thoughts and began checking his emails next. There are multiple requests for interviews from different news outlets and talk programs. Haku has to respond to this as it is part of his work principle so he began sitting down and writing a polite response to decline them all. While responding to each of them, his mind began thinking about the future. Where will he go from here? What is there after retirement? Should he become a coach? Coaching has never been Haku's cup of tea. He prefers playing the game himself and it feels quicker that way than telling people what to do. Should he become a caster for the games? Haku has never had a way with words. Even in a group gathering, he'd just sit around and enjoy himself listening to everyone's story rather than sharing his own. Should he work for an esports team? That seems plausible. Haku has a bachelor's degree so he is qualified if he wants to try. Does he want to try though? He has never worked in an office before and he doesn't think it suits him either. In the first place, he hates going outside. What about becoming a full-time streamer? It is the closest thing to his work as a pro-gamer and he's been streaming anyways but… 

Haku closed his phone and got up from the sofa. He feels it is best to clean the house first before getting ready so he reached for the duster and began dusting his furniture and curtains. Then, he dusts off the kitchen counters with a clean rug before he finishes it off by sweeping the floor. Now that he's gotten the basic cleaning done, he returns to his room and starts choosing his outfit. He likes simple outfits so he's going with a coat, a basic white t-shirt and Jeans pants. He tried on a cap but it didn't feel right today so he put it back on the wardrobe. Then, he checked for his accessories: some rings, bracelets, and a necklace. He tried them on one by one and he feels it is a necklace day today. After choosing his fit, he went to the shower to clean himself.

He has no idea where they'll be having lunch. Kaiun is a rather impromptu person, so they never make a plan beforehand. Wherever his instinct leads him to, that is what they'll be having and that's how they'll decide their lunch today too. Haku still remembers, one time when they went out for lunch last year, Kaiun saw an owl cafe and he went straight into it without a single word. He didn't even remember anything about the food because they were too engrossed with playing with the owls that day. Just thinking about that day made Haku giggle. Haku is honestly very excited to meet Kaiun today.