Haku heaves a sigh of relief. He's glad he didn't have to explain about his retirement to Kaiun earlier. It was only mentioned once in their conversation and in a fleeting way too. The rest of the meal, they talked about their pets and the food. It was an enjoyable lunch. Haku is glad he got to meet up with him today before he left for Madrid.
Haku doesn't really feel like returning home yet. He wants to let his mind wander free and he thinks he'd need to walk mindlessly around the city for that. The bakery from the other day came to his mind. It'd be perfect to sit in that small café, sip some coffee and eat bread peacefully right now. Haku took a train and reached the café within 20 minutes. He could see the man was there behind the counter from outside.
Haku pushed the door open and, almost feeling like a gush of air smacking Haku in the face, the man greeted him with a loud lively voice, "WELCOME!!" Haku chuckled instantly. This man keeps catching him off-guard. He'd expect that to come and yet he's still surprised by it.
"You're the giggly guy from the other day!" said the man while smiling at Haku.
"I want a hot latte and a croissant" Haku said to the man and before he could reach for his wallet from his bag, the man told him, "Pay after you eat!" Haku got suspicious of that. What if he'll tell him he doesn't have to pay for them again?
Haku didn't question it though and he went ahead to take a seat while he waited for the man to serve his order. The café doesn't seem to have many customers so even though it is rather small and crampy, it didn't feel busy or suffocating. The area is full of fake plants and he just noticed there is a calico cat sleeping in a cat's bed under the mirror at the corner of the café.
"It's my cat, Ume." The man said as he handed Haku his order. The man's voice was rather soft than what he's used to so far that it surprised him for a moment.
"She likes sleeping and that's all she does during the day." The man said before he left to return to the counter.
Watching Ume sleeping, with her abdomen expanding and contracting as she takes her breath and seeing her fluffy fur dancing in the air made Haku feel very relaxed. He felt like he could spend hours just watching her.
"Let's move on to the next segment and talk about the retirement of one of Japan's greatest players, Haku."
It shook Haku for a moment to suddenly hear his name. He searched around the café and saw the man was watching a gaming program live-streamed through an online video sharing platform, YouTV from a small television on the wall across the counter and right next to the door. The placement of the TV tells him very clearly that it is there solely for the man rather than the customers and it made him giggled a little bit. He knows nothing about this man but he can still firmly say it's so very like him to do this. Haku has never realized the guy has been playing a video this whole time. Now Haku is not sure whether the man actually knew him or not. If he does, then that explains why he refused to accept his money the other day. If he doesn't, then he will now. Haku contemplated covering his face, but decided not to. He wants to stay here as himself, and he wants to hear what these people talk about him.
He recognized the voice of the hosts. They are the casters for the tournament, Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Suda. They have casted for his game since he debuted until the point of his retirement so they know him very well, both personally and professionally. Aside from them, there is also Mr. Matoi, a prominent streamer in the country, who joined the talk. Haku has never met Mr. Matoi before so he's very interested to find out how he thinks of him.
"Let's go through his background. His name is Haku, 24 years old this year. He has been playing for the team Kinsman as their ace player for the past 5 years and has been active in the scene for 10 years."
"10 years??" Mr. Matoi interrupted. "Does that mean he was 14 years old when he first started?"
"Yes, he was," Mr. Tanaka said while he almost chuckled. Mr. Matoi himself was actually a retired pro-gamer and a legend in the scene himself. Mr. Tanaka must've not expected to hear that from him because he's certain Mr. Matoi is the last person to be surprised by that, but he understood his intention and explained the context calmly,
"The people playing in e-sports always start young. Their reaction time and the ability to react and adapt on the spot is at peak performance at such age. This is the reason pro-gamers in their mid-20s are considered veterans and a lot of them would start retiring at this age because they start to feel they can't keep up with younger players and the ever growing quality of gameplay."
Mr. Suda cut in to add his piece, "Haku is now 24 years old, it is not too strange for him to choose retirement at this age but he's still one of the best performing players we have right now that even young players in their 10s could not outperform."
"True, indeed," Mr. Tanaka said as he nodded. "Just to make it easy for you to understand why Haku is a great player and his retirement is a huge loss for our gaming community, let's read out his achievements so far." Haku could hear a sound effect followed after, which he can assume is the sound of a visual aid showing up on the screen.
"When Haku first showed up in the scene 10 years ago, he took the community by the storm for finishing the season at first place in Asia ranked game leaderboard. He was quickly signed to a team in the same year and in 2015, he participated in an Asia invitational competition. He ranked first in the total number of kills out of the 12 teams participating and 3rd place in ratings for the same competition even though his team didn't win a single match that time."
Mr. Suda swings his pen forward and tags on, "His performance improves each year. He was the kill MVP for the Sunry Japan Invitational Tournament in 2017. Among the invited teams at that time were top teams from Japan and Korea like High King and COL."
Mr. Suda then added, "And just last year, he played in a one vs one community match participated by top players from East Asia and he won first place. It made a huge noise in the foreign community at that time. Among the participants are young promising players as well so it clearly proves that skill is not the issue here."
Mr. Tanaka nodded to Mr. Suda and he continued from there, "These games we have pointed out just now are invitational events or community events and they are less significant compared to the official competition. In the official competitions, Haku had performed very well as well. He was the kill MVP for 5 separate years, in 2015, 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He also ranked 1st place in ratings in 2017 and 2021 and 2nd place in ratings for 7 separate years in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023."
"We can say the only other player better than him is Kaiun." Mr. Suda brings up Kaiun's name.
"Why do you think he decided to retire then?" Mr. Matoi began taking a step forward to progress on this topic.
"Despite having spectacular individual ratings, he hasn't been able to win a single title since his debut till now. The closest he's gotten was 2nd place for the past five years, only having lost to High King," Mr. Tanaka answered.
"High King is Kaiun's team, right?" Mr. Matoi asked. "Yes," Mr. Suda answered.
"Would that be enough reason to retire?"
Mr. Suda and Mr. Tanaka looked at each other simultaneously. Both of them then lowered their heads, deep in thoughts. Their sudden silence made even Haku's heart drop. He'd like to know. He'd like to know what these two people, who have watched him from his teenagerhoods to current time, think of this decision. Mr. Tanaka broke the silence first,
"This is very out-of-character for Haku, to be honest. The Haku that I know love competing more than anyone else. No matter how many losses he experienced, disappointment he had to face, tears he had cried, he'd always come back. Even if his legs are trembling and giving up on him, he'd walk forward. What could be the reason that made him retire? I would like to know that myself and I wish we could ask him now." Mr. Tanaka said while looking straight into the camera lens, almost as if he's talking directly to Haku.
"Are you this Haku person?"
The man's voice was so close to Haku's ears that he jumped a little and when he turned around, he realized he was standing in front of the counter. He looked back at the seat he took earlier and turned to the counter again to check the distance. He was so engrossed that he didn't even realize he'd walked there.
"So you're this Haku person." Haku turned to look at the man who was smiling widely.
"I am." He answered firmly.
"Does that mean you're unemployed right now?" Haku's eyebrows went upwards and looked at the man. "Well, technically, yes." He answered.
Then, the man asked cheerfully, "Then, how about working here?"
