Despite being interrupted by his friends, Hakuta only began to understand the weight of what he had been just about to do. For a moment, it seemed he was about to give Shiuka a kiss. And not just some teasing one that she gave him before, but a real one on the lips with passion to go along with it.

That would’ve been a hefty mistake. It would’ve completely changed their relationship and it shocked him that she didn’t even attempt to stop him. What was she thinking? No wonder Ninka considered it to be a good way to try to flirt with a boy.

“Anyway, how have you guys been?” Hakuta asked now he was joined with Yuusen and Itsuki once again. “You two do know I would’ve liked to hang out with you, right?”

“Sounds like you had plenty of action without us.” Yuusen laughed in response. “We saw you chasing around that one dude with that mask.”

“Oh, you two saw me.” It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that some people who knew him might’ve seen his actions. He did travel a good distance trying to track down the masked figure. Of course, they knew it was Hakuta, so neither of the boys thought he was doing to do anything bad to the person.

“Yeah, you catch that person?”

“I’m sorry.” Shiuka spoke up, now learning the truth about what she assumed to be a massive creep trying to take girls and do inappropriate things with them. “You’re the freak chasing people around?”

“Look, I can explain.” Hakuta told her the full story in an attempt to clear his name. He talked about how he recognized the person by their mask as someone he had met long ago. It was a meaningful encounter to him, so he didn’t want to lose the opportunity to tell them he wished to be friends with them.

“That’s still totally weird.” She replied after hearing him out. Shiuka wasn’t mad at him about it, since he didn’t hurt the person. Other than maybe giving them a good fright. “But I guess you don’t get to meet a lot of people who really like games.” Though she had hoped their group was friend would’ve been good enough for him. It seemed this wasn’t the case at all.

“I wonder where they went?” He wondered aloud, now that he was able to talk with the others about the masked person. “If they came here, then they probably wanted to play against some people.”

“Hopefully they didn’t decide to run off after getting scared by you.” Itsuki laughed. “But if they were going to be playing against people, wouldn’t they just be over there?” He pointed them over down the aisle to show another game area set up for people who wanted to play against strangers in person.

There were less people than before, as most had wanted to see some real professionals compete instead of some randoms. That said, there were still a good amount just playing a couple fighting games like ‘Slam Sis’. When he had shown them the spot, it was then that Hakuta had seen the person he had been seeking once again.

“I’m going.” He quickly got up from the table and rushed over without saying anything else to the others. This shocked them, which prompted them to quickly have to chase him so he wouldn’t leave them behind.

“Hakuta, wait for us!” Shiuka said in a futile attempt to get him to slow down.

“Ah, that’s just Hakuta for you.” Yuusen told her. “When he sees something important to him, he just goes for it without waiting for us.” It was something he had developed over his years growing up with the boys. Usually they didn’t care about most things he cared about, so there was never a need for him to tell them he was going elsewhere to do something.

“Boys are really weird.” Their friend group confused Shiuka. How they were able to stick through things after all this time made no sense. Surely at some point Hakuta would’ve decided to leave them for those would have more in common with him. But it appeared that he did deeply care for their feelings.

Hakuta reached the gamer square before any of them. When he arrived, he saw the masked person playing a match against someone and somehow beating them easily. It made no sense to him how they were able to be so good while wearing that mask. That looked like it should obscure vision and make it a challenge to be decent. Yet it seemed natural for them.

“Ugh, you win again.” The boy playing against them said, taking another loss. “I think I’m done for now.” They got up and when they saw Hakuta, handed him the controller. “You probably shouldn’t try, they’ve beaten everyone else here.” Of course, he wasn’t worried about the warning. It didn’t matter to Hakuta if he won or lost against this person.

“So we meet again.” He said, sitting down beside the person. It was at this point the others were able to catch up and saw him with them. “Maybe you might be getting bored, but I’d like to say my offer to play with you still stands.”

The person didn’t respond to him, at least not with words. His friends were confused when they saw the masked figure simply select their character, then pointed at the screen and his controller to tell Hakuta to get himself ready. “Awesome, thanks.” They began their match while his friends watched on.

“Weird, they don’t talk at all.” Itsuki commented on the stranger’s silence.

“I mean, they took the time to wear a mask. I doubt they want us to know their identity.” Even though it would be unlikely they’d get the person’s identity from just their voice alone. Yuusen could see why someone would want to be cautious after all the other measures they took.

“I guess so.” Shiuka mindlessly agreed as she watched the pair. The look on Hakuta’s face was one of pure joy. It was nothing like when he would play with her at home. Perhaps because he finally had a chance of doing it with someone who seemed to greatly share in his passion. Someone who seemed to be at his skill level. If anything, they appeared to be much better than him.

She smiled in watching him light up from how much fun he was having. It was rare to see him actually enjoying himself, or perhaps she simply didn’t see it as often as she thought it should happen for someone in his position. But here he was, with a total stranger, and loving every second of it.

“Heh, looks like you beat me again.” Hakuta took another big loss against the person. It was less humiliating both because there were less people around and it wasn’t as bad of a defeat compared to the last time. “I’m glad we got to play again, but we really can’t stay in touch?”

“Heh, he’s really desperate for a pal.” Itsuki quietly chuckled, which earned him a bit of a bump from Shiuka who was enamored by the sight.

“I think it’s nice he wants to make friends.” She always knew him as the guy who was cold to most. To her probably most of all before they moved together. So if this was all it took to get him out of that shell, then it was welcomed in her book.

Unfortunately the masked person shook their head to reject his offer. This was a massive disappointment for the boy who hoped things would be different than the last time. Though as it turned out, it would be when the person gave a hand signal to tell him to wait for a moment. They grabbed a piece of paper and wrote something down on it, then handed it to him.

“Hmm?” At first, it didn’t make any sense to him. The word on it had no meaning on its own until he realized what it was supposed to be. “Oh, this is your username online? You’re ‘TheMaskedDemon’.” It was a rather edgy name he would expect from a lot of young kids online. But it made a lot of sense considering this person literally was in a mask. Though he wouldn’t call them a demon. “Thanks, I’ll send you a friend request as soon as I get home.”

The person gave him two thumbs up in response. Then they stood up and headed out as if they were done with the event. With the day heading towards night, it made sense that the event would also be heading to its logical conclusion. “Goodbye, have a safe trip home.” He called out to them as they walked away. All he got in return was a simple wave back as they went out of view.

“Wow, it’s like watching a romance movie where they have to bid farewell.” Yuusen commented on the scene the other three just received. It was odd how little they were a part of this moment for Hakuta. They had become bystanders, an audience to a movie during this little moment.

“It’s just so sad.” Despite making fun of him earlier, Itsuki had tears in his eyes. He had been moved by the display and inherent unfairness of the situation. “That he might never see them again.”